Take Action
Join in to break the deadlock at the UN climate negotiations
Federal Budget '09 - Implications for the global poor
Take action now – Use free resources
Write to Senator Wong the Minister for Climate Change
Join in to break the deadlock at the UN climate negotiations
In order to safeguard the future of our planet and avoid dangerous climate change, a fair and just climate treaty in Copenhagen is not optional, it is a must. The key to a fair and just climate treaty is global cooperation. The UN climate negotiations are at a critical point, but there is a real risk that political deadlock over ‘who does what’ will prevent them from moving forward at the pace that is necessary to secure the treaty we need. This cannot be allowed to happen, and you can help.
As a wealthy developed nation which has significantly contributed to the problem of climate change through our high per capita level of carbon emissions, Australia must accept its ‘double duty’ to cut emissions at home and help finance emissions reductions and adaptation in poor countries to ensure that we avoid climate disaster.
Take Action Now!
Use this text (DOC: 48KB) to write a letter to Senator Wong via her website.
Read the daily UN E-monitors blog from Bonn
Federal Budget '09 – Implications for the global poor
Make Poverty History welcomes the increase to the aid budget and particularly the renewed focus on maternal and child health. Initiatives such as increased numbers of skilled birth attendants will have a very real impact on the lives of women living in poverty, and will go a long way towards rectifying the appalling child and maternal mortality rates in our region. However the previously announced timetable for reaching an overseas aid level of 0.5% of GNI by 2015 has slipped, which will place increasing pressure on subsequent budgets. The gaping hole in the aid budget is the absence of any new money for climate change mitigation and adaptation, risking undoing decades of development work if we do not act on this.
Aid budget in a nutshell:
- Aid budget increases to $3.82 billion (up from $3.66 billion last year)
- Aid as a percentage increases to 0.34% GNI (lower than the expected 0.35% as projected from last year)
- Australia remains one of 6 OECD countries not yet committed to increasing aid to 0.7%GNI by 2015
- Health spending increases to $595 million
- Maternal and child health spending (within health aid) increases to $370 million
- No new spending for climate change mitigation and adaptation
Take Action Now!
Let the Government know we are watching the aid budget, and help us spread the word in the media.
Email the Federal Treasurer:
- Send an email to Wayne Swan and Bob McMullan. Click here (DOC: 44KB) for sample text for your email, which includes Wayne Swan's and Bob McMullan's email addresses.
- Personalise your message for more impact
- Include your name and postcode
Write a letter to the editor:
- Click here to find details of all Australian newspapers online
- Find the email address for the editor in the "contact us" section of your chosen newspaper's website
- Keep your letter short and punchy - ideally 150 words
- Write your letter as soon as possible – within a couple of days
- Write to daily papers and your local paper - the more letters on an issue they receive, the more likely a letter on your issue will get published
For a more detailed analysis of the aid budget, click here (PDF: 388KB) .
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Take action now – use free resources.
Make Poverty History has a set of terrific resources for you to learn more about the linkages between climate change and global poverty.
Climate change will impact on everyone on the planet but the impact will be most severe upon the poorest communities within developing countries. Our resources explore this impact. These resources include a fifteen minute DVD that tells the story of how climate change is already changing the lives of those in developing countries. Watch or download the DVD now.
The other resources include a petition (PDF: 166KB) and a climate change quiz (PDF: 3.6 MB), to help you spread the word and engage your community. The quiz gives you another opportunity to explore the issues, encourage others to learn more, or act as a conversation-starter in a larger group. The media guide could help you if you choose to run a larger more public event. It will help you write to your local paper to tell them about your climate change event or quiz night.
Importantly we also provide a guide for you and your work colleagues, family or friends to write to Senator Penny Wong, the Minister for Climate Change and Water, urging the Government to reduce the impacts of climate change in the developing world.
Sisters on the Planet tells the unique stories of six women from very different parts of the world. They face unique challenges but together are finding solutions and bringing about change. Sisters on the Planet are stories of courage, tenacity and inspiration from a group of women who offer all of us hope in the face of increasingly bleak climate predictions. Click here to view these stories.
Use the resources to inform yourself and your friends. Consider arranging your own local forum in your work place, school or local community. You could show the DVD, run the quiz and share the petition.
The policies that wealthy countries like Australia adopt in the future will have profound ramifications for everyone, including the poorest people in the poorest countries who are the most affected and the least responsible for causing climate change. While these people don’t get a say, you do!
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Write to Senator Wong the Minister for Climate Change
Australia had an opportunity to play a leading role in the United Nations (UN) climate change conference that recently concluded in Poland. However, the Australian Government decided not to take strong action and commit to a minimum 25% emissions reduction target prior to the UN climate change conference. This was followed by the Prime Minister’s belated announcement of a woefully insufficient 5-15% emissions reduction target for Australia.
Australia is now in danger of being seen as hindering rather than championing a global solution to the climate crisis.
Write now urging Senator Wong the Minister for Climate Change to set targets that will avoid irreversible climate change. So print off copies of this letter, either as a PDF File (PDF: 43KB) or a text file (DOC: 33 KB), share it with your friends and post it to the Minister!
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