Political: G8 summit (world poverty / climatic change)

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Right, I labled this thread political so you all know what I'll be attempting to talk about...

if you don't like politics, then please feel free not to post.

this is mostly based on this article... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4662297.stm

but I will summise...

G8 summit (in breif)...

No real break through in climatic change discussions, GWB still defies any Koyoto style agreement, prefering a new technologies approach rather than a reduced emissions approach.

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IMHO, he's both right and wrong, he is completly right that we need to focus our energies on newer cleaner technologies, and that we should not stiffle the industrial growth or productivity of the nations... however since new technologies are a future event, and environmental damage is happening in the present, he is also wrong not to consider reduced emissions targets.
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World poverty has not been erradicated, the debt has not been dropped outright, but it has been reduced tothe tune of twenty eight billion pounds... including trade deals on AIDS medication,

Tony Blair said:
"All of this does not change the world tomorrow, it is a beginning, not an end,"

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IMHO, a fantastic result really, whilst it would have been awesome to completly drop the debt, it's somehow not really feasible, it wasn't all that long ago these countries were at war with each other, stiffling their own development, aid money was missapropriated by corrupt governments. and thus far there are no real guarentees that won't happen again. in fact...
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It now appears doubtful that agreement has been reached to increase the share of GDP given to developing countries to the UN target of 0.7%, amid scepticism that the money would be spent appropriately.

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right, that was the highlights...
I'm sure some people will be happy, some will be sad, people will agree and disagree...

Certainly I am sure that the G8 leaders had the power to change the world, and have done so, (though perhaps to as bigger extent as they could have)...


Anyway, that's my 2c for the minute...
please do not use this thread as an excuse to kick off at each other, First sign of trouble and this threads gonna get locked.
 
Reduced emission targets may adversely effect the economy and put us in deep trouble. I'm not against for setting some goals for the future, but I'm against setting drastic goals like what Kyoto did. That would kill the economy.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world...n/2005/06/25/1119321938910.html?oneclick=true

"The scale of the task facing British Prime Minister Tony Blair in his drive to help Africa was laid bare on Friday when it emerged that Nigeria's past rulers stole or misused £220 billion ($A521 billion)."

You are totally right about aid money being stolen in Africa. If you think aid money was misused you are right.. but the shocking thing is, look at the amount that has been misused. Probably way more then you would expect...
 
IMO this wont resolve anything... half of the problem is the african governments, not the other world leaders...
 
I believe we need to work on the problem of starvation and AIDS epidemis in Africa first. Global warming and climate change is devastating in the long term, giving us time, but in Africa, a much different story. Maybe GWB was right to defy the Kyoto treaty ? Maybe, as technology grows, it will become greener and be a more renewable source, yet we may have already destroyed our planet until that time. I guess we will just have to see to find out ...
 
I don't think we have destroyed this planet at all. I think we may have effected it by a small amount. What would kyoto do? It would slow technological advancement because businesses would spend less.. is that really helpful?

At any rate the problems in Africa are uncurable... the governments so totally corrupt there is nothing we can do. We can dod some minor work in providing food aid, but any economic assistance is squandered in one way or another. We can provide all the food assistance we want.. but as long as there is no long term framework there isn't going to be an end to poverty.
 
global warming... well there have always been fluctuations in the global climate, ice ages for example, the world warming by a couple of degrees isnt a big deal imo, yes all the pollution and that rubbish is bad, but not because of global warming, the climate is going to fluctuate anyway, its only natural that it will do that...
 
I pat you all on the back!:D I see a first here and it is truely nice to read a
few well thought out and fairly written posts about something that is noticeably concerning to all that is not filled with screaming and yelling and the like. I could stand to see and read a lot more like these... Please do keep it up.;)
 
Well, what i have a problem with is since 1960 Africa has gotten 500 billion dollars and look how far we've gotten. Alas, I think tis time they know what to do, they can bypass corrupt govnments and such. If we really want to end world poverty we need to do this right, not go in half ass, we need to do this Public Enemy Style!

Fight the Power, Fight the Power that be
 
Unfortunately those corrupt governments rule many of these countries with an iron fist, and any attempt to bypass them doesn't really end up working.
 
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