[E-rundbrief] Info 549 - G8 - Ecological Debt

Matthias Reichl info at begegnungszentrum.at
Fr Jun 1 18:33:25 CEST 2007


E-Rundbrief - Info 549 - Linus Atarah (IPS): G8: 
Sailing Against Ecological Debt. Ergänzung zur Homepageliste G8.

Bad Ischl, 1.6.2007

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Ergänzung zur Homepageliste G8:

  Alternativ-TV: www.g8-tv.org

  (in Englisch und Deutsch)

Die Site berichtet vom 2.6. bis 8.6. jeden Abend live aus Rostock.
Aber schon jetzt gibt es dort eine Menge von Kurzvideos zum Thema "G8" zu
sehen.

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G8: SAILING AGAINST ECOLOGICAL DEBT

by Linus Atarah

HELSINKI (IPS) - As leaders of the world's eight 
richest countries prepare to meet in Germany's 
Baltic resort of Heiligendamm next week, a Fair 
Trade ship has left the shores of Finland and is 
on the high seas heading towards the summit venue.

Estelle's crew of 17 activists say their central 
demand is for the Group of Eight (G8) leaders to 
address the issue of ecological debt owed to the 
developing South by the industrialised countries 
-- and they have set sail to Germany for the Jun. 
6-8 summit to call attention to that goal.

Driven mainly by wind power, the sea voyage will 
take up to a week, depending on the weather conditions.

"The problem of developing countries' debt has 
featured prominently in every G8 summit since the 
1990s, but we do not want to speak of Third World 
debt exclusively in monetary terms," said Teppo 
Eskelinen, of Friends of the Earth Finland.

"All the debts of the developing countries have 
already been paid, because the northern models of 
consumption and production are built on the 
exploitation of cheap resources from the global 
South. Our lifestyle causes destruction of local 
livelihoods in developing countries due to waste, 
pollution, degradation of ecosystems and climate 
change" said Elina Toivonen, the tour coordinator sailing with Estelle.

"The debt question is more meaningful when we 
ask, how much we, the industrialised countries, 
owe to the global South for the environmental 
destruction we have caused," she added.

When the issue of debt is examined in monetary 
terms alone, it glosses over the fact that large 
portions of these loans were meant to promote 
efficiency in the use of natural resources to be 
transferred to the North, according to Eskelinen.

"And when they became indebted, these countries 
were forced by the G8-controlled World Bank to 
export more of their natural resources in order 
to pay off the debt, which further causes severe 
ecological burden on them since they have to over 
exploit their natural resources," Eskelinen told IPS.

At the last G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland two 
years ago, the issue of the developing world's 
debt was the focus of a massive international 
campaign, contributing to a write-off of about 40 
billion U.S. dollars owed by 18 countries, mostly 
in Africa. It saved them about 1.5 billion 
dollars of debt repayments each year.

But, said Eskelinen, "the logic behind third 
world debt should be turned on its head. It is 
the North who should pay back the developing 
countries and not the other way round as has been the practice", he said.

The G8 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, 
Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States -- 
together represent about 65 percent of the world economy.

However, Estelle is not a creation of the G8 
Summit. The idea of using a sailing ship as a 
campaign vessel for development activities was 
conceived in 1985 by Jyrki Pölkki, a musical 
instrument designer who wanted to demonstrate a 
fairer way of trading between the North and South.

The ship would convey goods to the South and in 
return bring back processed, value-added 
commodities from the developing countries instead 
of raw materials. It will be powered by wind instead of fossil fuel.

Estelle is a steel-hulled 53-metre ship 
originally built for North Sea trawl fishing. The 
70-year-old trawler was almost a wreck before 
acquired by the activists, but was transformed 
into a sailing ship using recycled material, with 
the work done entirely by volunteers, most of 
whom had little knowledge of ship building.

In 2002, Estelle sailed to Angola with a full 
cargo of humanitarian aid and returned to Finland 
with handicrafts and various assortments of local 
goods produced by Angolan micro-entrepreneurs, 
Jyri Jaakkola, organiser of the G8 activities here, told IPS.

Promoting fair trade and environmental protection 
remain core driving principles of Estelle's, activists, he said.

During the northern hemisphere summer, Estelle 
will undertake a tour of major European cities in 
Poland and the United Kingdom to spread the idea 
of fair trade to a wider audience, said Jaakkola.

"We would like to show the linkages between fair 
trade and environmental protection. We find that 
there is a close connection between social 
justice and environmental sustainability", he added.

"When producers get a better price for their 
products they can also protect the environment, 
because it is in their interests to do so. But if 
they need to produce as cheaply as possible they 
cannot think of these because their main concern 
would be to exploit large quantities of raw material," Jaakkola said.

While the G8 leaders are engaged in negotiations 
at the official summit, an estimated 100,000 
activists are expected to gather in nearby 
Rostock for parallel sessions of their own. There 
will be over 120 seminars, and Estelle's 
300-cubic metre hold will provide space to some 
of these workshops, Jaakkola told IPS.

One issue likely to feature prominently in the 
summit deliberations, he said, is the move 
towards renewable energy resources and "we would 
like be a practical demonstration of that".

"We have filled our tank with biodiesel procured 
from small-scale Finnish producers. We consider 
the use of biofuel as one possible solution to the problem of climate change".

However, according to Eskelinen biofuel per se is 
not an end-all solution because ultimately it is 
not sustainable. Instead of biofuel controlled by 
large transnationals who perhaps have driven 
people off their land and established monoculture 
plantations, it should come from smaller local 
producers whose needs are adequately met.

"So when talking about the use of biofuel it 
should be not the North once again buying 
indiscriminately large quantities from the South 
in order to have a clear conscience," said Eskelinen.

"Transporting large quantities of biofuel from 
the South is not an efficient way of fighting climate change," he said. (END)

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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
     Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
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