AFRICA STANDING TALL AGAINST POVERTY CONCERT - Accra Ghana

Over 300,000 people packed into Ghana’s Independence Square in Accra on Saturday  3
September 2005 for the marathon 15 hour Africa Standing Tall Against
Poverty Concert featuring Africa’s leading musicians, leading civil
society personalities and anti poverty campaigners. The concert was
telecast live on Metro TV, attracting a television audience of over
700,000 within Ghana alone.

Tags: Africa Make Poverty History Music

Southern Spain is facing the worst drought since record was first begun. Crops are failing, reservoirs running empty daily temperatures are in the mid to high 40’s and last week here in Velez Blanco it hit an amazing 55C.  In nearby Portugal97% of the population  are living in near drought conditions. Fires in both countries are now a regular occurrence and only last week 14 fire fighters died fighting one of the hundreds of fires that have taken place.

Urbanisation, golf courses and swimming pools

“Thanks to what meteorologists call "unusual" climatic circumstances, including freak rain which ran off the land without replenishing the water tables, much of Europe is now bone-dry, dun-brown and baking. There has been barely any steady rain for a year or more in many places and it’s dawning on the EU and the authorities of half a dozen countries that this pan-European phenomenon will affect everyone and could well continue into next year.”  Scorched Earth  -  John  Vidal in the Guardian

The problem as I see it here in Spain  largely to do with the incredible growth in urbanization mainly holiday homes for Northern Europeans who do not seem to have an understanding of water conservation. The holiday home and tourism boom has resulted in demands by everyone for a swimming pool and golf courses that  litter the Spanish costas. Velez Blanco, a mountain village, which has always had plenty of water is now facing similar problems as the coast as more and more British move in and for every new house there is a new pool. Recently after much debate and objection my local farmers, a huge golf complex with 2000 housing units and a hotel is being built in the area. Like other projects in small towns and villages there is not much to be gained by locals as builders are imported, food imported, service providers are imported often from Northern European countries. Even where local labour is used the sum benefit to the local community is invariably negative especially when water and the environment are compromised.

One 18-hole course can use as much water in a year as a town of 10,000 houses.

"You need about nine liters of water per square meter per day to keep a fairway or tee looking green, "As the average 18-hole course is about 360,000 square meters and needs watering about 300 days a year, it means that they need a lot of cubic meters.

Another possible contributory factor is the large scale intensive farming that takes place in drought prone regions of southern Spain in Murcia and Almeria.  Whether the drought is caused by global warming or is simply cyclical one thing is sure that too much water is wasted and there needs to be a serious rethink on how we use water and what we use it for. In my local village we have two springs that provide all our drinking water for free. Everyone is supposed on only use 25 liters a time which I think is a fair amount. Yet people come from miles around and leave with 100s of liters of the mineral based spring water every week – GREED and that is where the real problem lies. Someone once came with a tanker to fill up from the spring till the Mayor put a stop to cars stopping outside the taps.

Privatisation of Water

Some 3000 miles south of Velez Blanco, Niger is experiencing yet another drought and death. There appears to be a number of reasons why there is now a drought crisis in Niger: failure of rains last October / November;  Niger was attacked by the locusts that swarmed most of West Africa last year and early this year; the government of Niger playing games pretending that the situation was not that bad; because Niger is  poor and has always been poor and poor people have voices but no one listens – requests for aid fell on largely deaf ears. $30 million requested so far $10 million has been  received. Condoleeza rice on a visit to West Africa Senegal misses Niger but promises Senegal money as long as they sell to the US what the US wants at the price US demands and in return for the import of US products.

Niger is one of the countries in receipt of World Bank/IMF funds on condition that utilities are privatized – one of those utilities is Water. In March this year thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Niamey in protest against water privatization. Privatization of water is one of the main demands the G8 are imposing on those countries seeking debt relief and further aid.

Privatisation of water is not the cause of the present drought. Niger is a desert country, part of the Sahara; there is very little rain; the majority of people in Niger are poor;  Niger cannot afford to privatize water and privatization of water will lead to further pauperization of the people of Niger and it will also have a negative impact on health care and other public services. 

In South Africa six privatisation contracts have been awarded to mainly French companies (Saur, Suez and Vivendi) since 1992 (Public Services International Research Unit)

The losers have been the poor communities for whom the right to water which is a fundamental and inalienable  human right, is denied. There have been increases in  environmental pollution, preventable diseases, violence between neighbours and communities as people steal water from each other and a loss of dignity.    In Ghana
for example water charges increased by 95% in a country where 35% of the population has no access to clean water.   In 2000 South Africa   had the worst outbreak of cholera as a direct result of the inability of poor communities to pay for water.

Mineral Water

Developing communities across the globe, from Niger to South Africa, from Spain and Portugal  and across the Atlantic to Brazil are feeling the impact of multinationals as they exploit water sources, privatizing domestic supplies and or  commercializing natural spring water and then selling that water back to the product back to locals or exporting it.

Brazil has 17% of all the reserves of underground drinking water and most of it is in the San Lorenzo region.  San Lorenzo  waters are famous for the minerals they contain which local people believe have healing properties. However the waters are now being taken over by Nestle who have begun pumping millions and millions of liters of San Lorenzo’s natural waters and bottling them for sale.  BBC  -  Face the Facts

“This is a threat to the whole region because Nestle have illegally demineralised it and have pumped far too much water………This is not just a Brazilian issue,  it is a planetary issue and a powerful example of the future that lies ahead of us.”

“Pure Life” is not just bottled water it is a concept. The idea behind it is that it is purified water and must be the same whether in Asia, Africa or   Brazil. So they take the water, demineralise it, clean it and then put the same amount of minerals back into the water”. 

Nestle is the global leader in the exploitation of water across the globe. It has 67 bottling factories and sells in more than 130 countries.  In Pakistan, Nestle, the world leader in bottled water, invented a “blue print factory” that could be shipped to any location in the world. It chose Pakistan for a number of reasons one of which is it is the only country in the region that has an unregulated ground water sector which means anyone can simply dig a hole and extract as much water as they want without paying a penny. The water “Pure Life” has been produced in Pakistan, Asia, Africa and South America includingSan Lorenzo.

Nestle market the product as  "Capturing nature in it’s purest form".    

"By the end of 1997, the Group was present on every continent, and the purchase of San Pellegrino gave it the leadership in the Italian market. In 1998, for the first time in its history, Nestlé associated its name with a bottled water: Nestlé Pure Life……. The brand was launched in Pakistan and soon appeared in Brazil, followed by Argentina, Thailand, the Philippines, China, and Mexico in 2000. In 2001, India, Jordan, and Lebanon followed, and in 2002, Egypt, Uzbekistan and the United States."

In short Nestle  now owns  and distributes "nature"  on "every continent".

The damage done by Nestle to the local community is irreversible. It is so delicate that even the cars and parking are impacting on the environment. Nestle is so arrogant that it doesn’t even care that it doesn’t have a license to remove the waters. Nestle proceeded with its exploitation of San Lorenzo water by building a huge wall around its bottling and processing factory that is so deep, it is disturbing the water reservoirs. The pumping of ½ million liters a day has already impacted on the healing spa waters of San Lorenzo  and the small local businesses that rely on tourism for their income.   

The people of San Lorenzo have taken Nestle to court for the illegal and excessive exploitation of the water. The Court ordered the factory to close, Nestle appealed and the ruling was annulled pending a final judgment which is still awaited some 4 years on.  The ruling has allowed Nestle to continue with the factory and damage to the environment as the ground water continues to sink. The only concession Nestle made was to stop demineralising the water. What Nestle will do when it has finished up the supply of San Lorenzo water is  pack up the pre packed factory  and then simply move on leaving the local community with no water, no income, a wasted environment and all the rubbish from its factory.

Communities across Brazil have begun a campaign to protect the countries water reserves from privatisation. The ideology driving the campaign is one that we need to take up in Africa, Europe and across the globe.   

"Water is a most important issue. It is not a merchandise, it is the source of life”. There are many areas where private enterprise can work and get money but not in this fundamental area of water and the environment”.

Nestle has recently introduced its Pure Life water to the Nigerian market with an aim

"to evolve from a food company to a nutrution, health and wellness company."

implying that Nestle’s Pure Life water will be part of the solution to solve Nigeria’s  water supply and sanitation problems.

It is not just in the developing world that Nestle is operating and meeting resistance to its comodification of water. In the Great Lakes region of the US and Canada
residents have also been fighting a similar battle. The Great Lakes region supplies 20% of the world’s surface water. Sanctuary Springs like San Lorenzo is an ancient spring and wildlife preserve.

5 years ago when locals found out that Nestle planned to build a factory to draw millions of liters of water from the waters that supply the Sanctuary Spring, they objected. The people told Nestle “you are not wanted here” they did not believe Nestles plan would work without compromising the environment.  As in San Lorenzo locals took Nestle to court to prevent them from operating in the region. Again the initial court ruling was in favour of the residents. However again as in San Lorenzo, Nestle appealed the ruling and the plant went ahead with its pumping of water. The damage that has been done to the water flow and wildlife is again irreversible. 

Only 1% of the worlds water is available for human and environmental needs and multinationals such as Nestle, Suez and Vivendi are very quickly taking ownership of this most presious resource.  As citizens of the world we should join this woman from the Great Lakes and ask

 Why should some corporation have the right to come in here for the privatization of our water. It just does not make sense to me and I know that I am right and the David and Goliath battle I will fight it to the end.

Tags: water Multinationals Niger Brazil famine

On the day when Geldof et al were busy  trying to make themselves feel good at the expense of Africa, in another venue not far from Hyde Park,   Wangari Maathai was addressing the African Diaspora in London at the Africa Diaspora and Development Day in London. 

Hers is one of the millions of African voices that Geldof, Blair Bush etc have ignored and in fact tried to supress.

"Allow me to thank you most sincerely for inviting me to share this day
with you. This is a historic time, when the spot light is on Africa. It
is appropriate for us to recognize and applaud the efforts of our
friends, both within the G8 and in the wider civil society, who are
trying to improve the quality of life in Africa.

I also take this opportunity to congratulate the organizers of this
meeting. I know that a lot of time has gone into the planning and
mobilizing and that the experience will be rewarding.

The African Diaspora & Development Day is a great idea and I
congratulate you for organizing this annual event to celebrate Africa
by bringing together Africans in the diaspora around a common theme. It
is indeed a noble vision to advance the well being of Africa &
Africans. This year’s theme of “Enterprise Africa!” reflects the need
to mobilize resources of the African diaspora to create & sustain
enterprises, jobs & wealth in the region. Congratulations for your
enterprising spirit.

I know you continue to celebrate & appreciate the decision by the
Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to the environment
and to link it with democratic governance and peace. You may also have
read about my comparing these three themes and the situation they
create to a traditional African stool. Just like such a stool needs
three solid legs to be stable, so does any stable state. And just as
the legs, the body and the basin of the stool are made from one log, so
leaders and citizens must mould the three pillars simultaneously. One
cannot try to build democracy in order to LATER manage resources
sustainably and create peace. Managing resources accountably,
responsibly and sharing them more equitably is more likely to nurture a
culture of peace. This is only possible if there is adequate democratic
space for everybody; space where the rights of all, including the weak
and vulnerable, and space where the rule of law is respected.

As I travel across the world sharing this message I find that people
are concerned about this shift in the concept of peace and security.
There can be no peace without sustainable management of resources,
justice and fairness. Indeed most of the conflicts and wars are over
resources: who will access, exploit and utilize them? Who will be
excluded? Those who feel excluded, exploited and humiliated can
threaten peace and security.

One of the worst outcomes of injustices is poverty. It robs human
beings of their dignity. When people are poor and when they are reduced
to beggars, they feel weak, humiliated, disrespected and undignified.
They hide alone in corners and dare not raise their voices. They are
therefore, neither heard nor seen. They do not organize but often
suffer in isolation and in desperation.

Yet all human beings deserve respect and dignity. Indeed it should be
unacceptable to push other human beings to such levels of indiginity.
Even before any other rights, perhaps it may be time to campaign for
all human beings to have the right to a life of dignity: a life devoid
of poverty in the midst of plenty because such poverty demonstrates
gross inequalities. As long as millions of people live in poverty and
indignity, humanity should feel diminished. A time such as this gives
all of us, and especially those in leadership, the opportunity to
reduce poverty.

There is a lot of poverty in Africa. This is largely due to economic
injustices, which must be addressed not only by the rich industrialized
countries but also by leaders in Africa. This is partly because, as I
have said elsewhere, Africa is not a poor continent. Africa is endowed
with, for example, human beings, sunshine, oil, precious stones,
forests, water, wildlife, soil, land and agricultural products. So what
is the problem?

Well, many African people lack knowledge, skills and tools to add value
to their raw materials so that they can take more processed goods into
the local and international markets, where they would negotiate better
prices and better rules for trade. In such situations, Africans find
themselves locked out of productive, rewarding economic activities that
would provide them with the regular income they need to sustain
themselves. They are either unemployed or underemployed and they are
certainly underpaid. They may wish to secure a well-paid job, but if
they do not have the tools, nobody will hire them. Neither will they be
able to take care of their housing, healthcare, education, nutrition,
and other family and personal needs. Secondly, Africans have been
poorly governed. This continues to allow the exploitation of resources
in Africa without much benefit to the ordinary people.

It is for that reason that I commend the African Diaspora for believing
in small and medium-sized enterprises. Indeed a thriving small
enterprise culture is key to enabling Africans to exploit their
capacities and fulfil their aspirations for jobs and economic security.
According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization 90
percent of all businesses in Africa are small & medium sized
enterprises. We must support this sector and ensure that it grows and
thrives. Many of you in the Diaspora can ensure that this sector grows
in countries where you come from.

I understand that Africans in the diaspora are estimated to send back
to Africa each year some 200 billion US Dollars. Such money assists
both your families and the national economy. We need to encourage each
other to sustain interest and commitment. We need initiatives that are
simple, attainable and that generate visible success in a short space
of time. This creates momentum, trust, excitement and goodwill around
solutions that ordinary people themselves own and believe in.

Even then within Africa, despite the fact that a lot remains to be
done, I am encouraged by the increased willingness on the part of the
African leadership to commit to gradual improvement of governance,
especially through comparatively more free and fair elections, creation
of NEPAD, sub-regional political and economic coalitions and the
African Union.

Recently I was requested by the African Union to lead a process of
mobilizing the African Civil Society. My role is to create an organ to
advise the African Union on the best way to involve the African people
as active participants in the creation of a New Africa. I was also
appointed by the eleven (11) Heads of States within the Central African
sub-region to be a Goodwill Ambassador for the Congo Basin Forest
Ecosystem These are all initiatives that demonstrate a new renaissance
that needs encouragement and support from friends, partners and the
diaspora.

I want to encourage you to support campaigns to save African forests
and biodiversity. The importance of forests and the many services
humanity gets from them is well known: ecological balance of the earth;
they absorb carbon; prevent loss of soil and subsequent
desertification; they offer safeguards against flooding; they are
reservoirs for genetic resources; the control rainfall patterns and
serve as catchment areas for freshwater and rivers. Forests have been a
source of wealth and inspiration throughout centuries.

Other environmental issues confronting us include climate change and
air pollution. Nature provides so many “services” that the decline of
ecosystems worldwide will have adverse effects on our well-being but we
are told that Africa will be especially adversely affected by climate
change. Unfortunately, many services from forests are taken for granted
even through without such green life, humankind would not survive on
this planet. Despite that and the many efforts to save the environment
degradation continues, especially in Africa.

Distinguished guests,

Let me draw your attention especially to the Congo forest ecosystem. As
we speak, 200 million hectares of forest are under threat of
extinction; 400 mammalian species and more than 10,000 plant species
not to mention livelihoods of over a million indigenous people who
depend on the forest resources of the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem.

We recommend to G8 that the Convergence Plan for the Conservation and
Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa be a
priority and especially with respect to the “Climate change and
Africa”. A financing mechanism should be created by cancelling the
debts of these countries and putting the money in an independent Trust
Fund.

We thank the G8 countries for cancelling the debts of the 18 HIPIC
countries, but urge that the other countries in the region also be
considered. This is because, even though they are able to make debt
payments, they do so at the expense of education and healthcare, and
indeed sacrifice the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals.

We owe gratitude to the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, and his
initiative (The Africa Commission) and hope that other G8 countries
will support his recommendations, especially in the area of debt,
doubling of financial assistance and better terms of trade.

While it is sometimes understandable why governments may wish to give
conditional aid, patronizing sovereign states undermines their
authority, respect and trust before their people. With greater
improvement of governance in Africa, it would be more appropriate to
give aid that is not tied so as to allow governments to address
priorities identified by them and their citizens.

Distinguished delegates,

As for the Diaspora, you are the face of Africa and you have a special
responsibility to be good ambassadors of Africa by working hard,
respecting the law of the land, and being responsible and accountable
member of the society in which you live. Remember, it is especially the
Diaspora that could influence the perception of African people and the
attitude towards them.

In many industrialized countries like Britain and Japan, there is 3R
campaign ( reduce, repair & reuse, recycle), which calls for more
sustainable use of the resources. Individuals and groups can engage in
initiatives, which support the spirit of the Kyoto protocol and
sustainable development.

In Japan, a campaign incorporating the 3R is strengthened by the
beautiful concept of mottainai, which urges people not to waste
resources but to instead use them with respect and care. Awareness and
commitment at a personal level is very important.

These examples are simple and workable ideas that we can practice
individually everywhere: recyling plastic, reusing plastic bags,
planting trees, printing on both sides of the paper, saving water – all
in the spirit of mottainai.

As we continue the struggle on behalf of our people, let us remember
that we are not alone. We have friends and we build on bricks laid by
our ancestors who laboured and even died so that we, their children,
might regain respect and dignity. This is out time, let us give our
best."

Pambazuka News / AFFORD

Via Kenyan Pundit  -  Group blog by African journalists   covering  G8/Live8 on AfricaVox

Two very good sites dealing with trade, aid, development, debt etc

Global Issues

Reality of Aid

The BBC World Service has an interesting series all this week "Africans on AFRICA".Worth listening to