May 27, 2005

The G8 should rethink the logic of corporate globalization and economic models of excessive competition that have widened the gap between rich and poor and aggravated destruction of the environment says World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a letter to UK prime minister Tony Blair. The UK government is presiding the G8 in 2005.

The letter, sent to Blair ahead of the next meeting of the G8 in Scotland in July, holds up a vision of life in dignity for all in just and sustainable communities, and suggests that only promoting an economy of sharing and justice can provide a solution to poverty and environmental destruction.

The letter urges G8 members to "consider seriously how to operationalize goal number 8 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)," i.e., the goal of a global partnership for development. Signed by 190 countries in 2000, the MDGs aim at reducing poverty by the year 2015. "This goal will determine the success of the remaining seven," Kobia suggests.

On external debt, the letter enjoins the G8 to "cancel 100% of illegitimate debts for poor countries," and proposes a number of measures to reinforce such action including the suggestion that the IMF and World Bank sell their gold reserves.

On trade, among other measures, it asks the G8 countries to "give poor farmers in developing countries a chance to participate in just trade," notably by "immediately eliminating all export subsidies in donor countries."

On climate change, Kobia welcomes Blair's initiative to put this issue on the forthcoming G8 agenda, and notes that G8 countries "must accept responsibility for record emissions over decades."

Referring to WCC support for the people and churches of the Pacific "who are beginning to experience the consequences of global warming," he asks G8 members "to take decisive action for rapid greenhouse gas emission reduction" and to develop "a strategic plan for committed global action post-2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol will end."

The full text of Kobia's letter to Blair is available on the WCC website at: http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/g8-05.html.

World Council of Churches