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Development Aid Declines
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The 22 member countries
of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, the world's major
donors, provided USD 103.9 billion in aid in 2006, down by 5.1% from
2005, in constant 2005 dollars. This figure includes USD 19.2
billion of debt relief, notably exceptional relief to Iraq and
Nigeria. Excluding debt relief, other forms of aid fell by 1.8%
Sixteen of the DAC's 22
member countries met the 2006 targets for ODA that they set at the
2002 Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development. However, aid
to sub-Saharan Africa, excluding debt relief, was static in 2006,
leaving a challenge to meet the Gleneagles G8 summit commitment to
double aid to Africa by 2010.
Total official
development assistance (ODA) from members of the Development
Assistance Committee (DAC) fell by 5.1% in 2006 to USD 103.9
billion.This represents 0.30% of members’ combined Gross National
Income. In real terms this is the first fall in ODA since 1997,
though the level is still the highest recorded with the exception of
2005. Read more
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'Environmental Problems Can Be Tackled'
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How will economic and social
developments drive environmental change to 2030? What
policies are needed to address the main environmental
challenges? How can OECD and non-OECD countries best
work together to tackle these challenges?
The OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030
provides analyses of economic and environmental trends
to 2030, and simulations of policy actions to address
the key challenges. Without new policies, we risk
irreversibly damaging the environment and the natural
resource base needed to support economic growth and
well-being. The costs of policy inaction are high.
But the Outlook shows that tackling
the key environmental problems we face today --
including climate
change, biodiversity
loss, water
scarcity and the health
impacts of pollution -- is both achievable
and affordable. It highlights a mix of policies that
can address these challenges in a cost-effective way.
The focus of this Outlook is expanded from the 2001
edition to reflect developments in both OECD countries
and Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China, South
Africa (BRIICS), and how they might better co-operate on
global and local environmental problem-solving.
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Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change in Developing
Countries
Until recently, most research and policy initiatives related
to climate change have focused on ways in which societies
can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the
worst effects of global warming. Current scientific evidence
shows, however, that some human-induced climate change is
now inevitable and
is in fact already occurring.
The question of which regions and groups are most vulnerable
to this predicted climate flux and how they might adapt to
it has thus become an important area of research, funding,
and policymaking.
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Book Calls Energy
Efficiency Potentially a ‘Win-Win’ for Brazil, China, and India
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"Everyone agrees energy efficiency is a win-win
situation," Bob Taylor, World Bank energy economist |
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Imagine
a world where developing countries use almost twice as much energy
as they do now and greenhouse gases soar, pushing the planet toward
catastrophic climate change.
That
scenario could become reality by 2030 if developing countries,
particularly fast-growing ones, don't curb their fossil-fuel needs,
warns the International Energy Agency. It says the cheapest and
fastest way to do that is by becoming more energy efficient.
"Everyone agrees energy efficiency is a win-win situation," says Bob
Taylor, a World Bank energy economist and lead author of
Financing Energy Efficiency: Lessons from Brazil, China, India, and
Beyond, released today in Washington. "It reduces environmental
impacts of energy use, it's clearly the cheapest way to go, it makes
money, and it has huge potential."
But, as
the book reveals, it takes years and a lot of effort to jumpstart
energy efficiency in a developing country—or anywhere else. "Only a
fraction of the potential has been tapped," says the book.
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The Poor Also
Need Technology
A new
report by the United Nations challenges the widespread view in the
industrialised countries that science and technology are an exclusive domain
of the rich. "Science, technology and innovation are necessities, not
luxuries, for the world´s 50 poorest nations," says the report by the UN
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
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