BRICS and the challenges in fighting inequalitiesOxfam Brasil
Thirteen years after it was conceived by Jim O’Neill, the BRICS has gone through several phases to consolidate itself as a group of countries able to act jointly in the international arena. More than being a new North to global investors, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are protagonists in the spread of hopes throughout the globe to reduce poverty and social inequality, as well as the construction of a new world order, marked by new centers and protagonists.
The existence of a group of countries like the BRICS demonstrates to the whole world that mobility is a real possibility in the international arena. What it does not make clear, however, is whether this mobility will result in profound systemic changes towards an equal and more democratic world. Thus, in order to understand if the BRICS can collaborate in the construction of an equal and more democratic world, it is necessary to understand the world that these five countries are creating for themselves.
Produced jointly by BRICS Policy Center and Oxfam, this document contains four analyses of key issues for the understanding of BRICS and its world, and the possibilities of changes brought to the fore by the joint action of these five countries. The objective of this document is to strengthen the debate between civil society organizations in the BRICS countries on key issues to combat inequality, promote sustainable development, and thus find ways for the BRICS to become a vector to a less unequal and more democratic world.
BRICS and the challenges in fighting inequalitiesOxfam Brasil
Thirteen years after it was conceived by Jim O’Neill, the BRICS has gone through several phases to consolidate itself as a group of countries able to act jointly in the international arena. More than being a new North to global investors, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are protagonists in the spread of hopes throughout the globe to reduce poverty and social inequality, as well as the construction of a new world order, marked by new centers and protagonists.
The existence of a group of countries like the BRICS demonstrates to the whole world that mobility is a real possibility in the international arena. What it does not make clear, however, is whether this mobility will result in profound systemic changes towards an equal and more democratic world. Thus, in order to understand if the BRICS can collaborate in the construction of an equal and more democratic world, it is necessary to understand the world that these five countries are creating for themselves.
Produced jointly by BRICS Policy Center and Oxfam, this document contains four analyses of key issues for the understanding of BRICS and its world, and the possibilities of changes brought to the fore by the joint action of these five countries. The objective of this document is to strengthen the debate between civil society organizations in the BRICS countries on key issues to combat inequality, promote sustainable development, and thus find ways for the BRICS to become a vector to a less unequal and more democratic world.
Oxfam Australia: Banking on shaky ground Australia's big four banks and land ...Oxfam Brasil
Over the past 13 years, nearly 36 million hectares of land — an area almost the size of Germany — has been snapped up in large-scale land deals. These deals have shifted land from local farmers, communities and forests to companies, largely driven by the international demand for agricultural commodities like sugar, palm oil, soy and timber.
As food prices have spiked, commercial interest in land has grown, with large-scale land deals accelerating astonishingly; the bulk of these deals took place over the past five years. Australia’s doorstep — South-East Asia — leads the world as the target region for large-scale land deals.
While land deals by foreign investors in Australia have been contentious domestically, Australians may have missed the extent to which these deals have dominated headlines in developing countries, or how many of these deals have resulted in communities around the world being left hungry
and homeless.
Stories abound of large-scale land deals failing to respect local land rights, violent community unrest and an investment rush that targets the poorest nations with weak land institutions. A review by the World Bank found that many of these deals “... failed to live up to expectations and, instead of generating sustainable benefits, contributed to asset loss and left local people worse off than they would have been without the investment”.
There are reports of foreign land investors paying yearly “lease” fees from as little as seven cents per hectare. Research from Oxfam, the United Nations and other organisations paints a concerning picture of investments failing to support sustainable development in host nations, leading many to dub the phenomenon a global “land grab”.
For the first time, this report reveals worrying connections between all of Australia’s big four banks — ANZ, Westpac, the National Australia Bank (NAB) and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) — and allegations of land grabbing overseas.
LivePlan is an app made by Palo Alto Software that allows small businesses to pitch, plan, and track their business from anywhere. This data is from a survey conducted in Jan 2014. The respondents are made up of 388 LivePlan users. The results report on small business optimism, as well as linking business planning and financial tracking to company growth.