Africa Progress Panel (London)
16 June 2008
document
Findings and recommendations of the Africa Progress Panel, set up to monitor the delivery of promises made by economically developed to developing countries, published in "Africa's Development: Promises and Prospects - Report of the Africa Progress Panel 2008."
The sharp and sustained increase in world food prices is of great concern. Unless some way can be found to halt and reverse the current trend in food prices there will be a significant increase in hunger, malnutrition, and infant and child mortality. Many countries are already experiencing the reversal of decades of economic progress and 100 million people are being pushed back into absolute poverty. As countries adopt export bans on key commodities such as rice, prices in world markets are rising even further.
In the immediate term, the supply of food to the world's most vulnerable citizens must be increased by raising the level of financial assistance to the governments of affected countries and aid agencies. Every effort must also be made to increase the quantity of food on international markets, so that the World Food Programme (WFP), relief organisations, and individual governments are able to purchase food as needed.
Developed countries should immediately review their economic and financial policies to ensure that the production of enough food to feed the world is not threatened. In the short to medium term, safety nets, targeted food aid, cash voucher programmes, and other types of interventions must be also carefully reviewed and redesigned as necessary, to meet the challenge of sustained high food prices.
In the longer term appropriate policies and substantial new investments are needed to raise agricultural productivity and increase food production in Africa and around the world. These will necessarily include investments in key inputs such as fertilizer, improved feeds, effective water management and new crop varieties, and the linking of farmers to markets via investments in roads and other types of infrastructure.
Trade
There is a critical need for a rethinking of trade policy in order to boost agricultural production around the world. Biofuel subsidies and export controls are not currently the focus of multilateral trade negotiations but must be addressed as part of an overall strategy to liberalise agricultural production. Trade policy as it concerns fertilizer markets must also be included in multilateral negotiations—currently, the market for fertilizer is not generating the quantity response needed to address the shortage in food production.
Policies on grain storage and buffer stocks must also be reviewed. Also, in light of climate change and the resulting decline of agricultural productivity in some parts of Africa, expanded access to markets, fair world trading rules, and improvements in the capacity to trade are critical for job creation, income and accompanying purchases of food. In sum, efforts to liberalise trade must be combined with strategic thinking about the problems we are facing in the global economy.
There has been no progress on multilateral trade negotiations since 2005. The G8 has repeatedly emphasised the importance of the Doha Development Round, but talks have remained deadlocked since 2006. While pressing for the impasse around Doha to be broken, we ask for an early harvesting of gains in trade liberalisation for Africa. The G8 and African governments should also prioritise rural development, by strengthening the mechanisms by which the poor can have access to markets. Only then will the full benefits of an open trading system be realised. The delivery of promises on aid for trade must not be held hostage to trade deals.
Climate Change
Climate change will affect Africa more severely than other regions of the world, and will have a devastating impact on food production and the livelihoods of the rural poor. Many of the poorest, particularly in urban areas, are already facing the consequences of high food prices; the loss of agricultural productivity will make this situation even worse.
The G8 must lend strong support to address the problems of climate change, by investing in adaptation and the prevention of deforestation, and by increasing funding for renewable energy in Africa. Renewable energy, such as solar, wind and geothermal, is very viable in Africa—every effort must be made to move away from coal-based projects towards these sources.
Infrastructure
The availability of infrastructure is critical to the development of Africa's private sector, including a reliable supply of energy and safe roads. In particular, connecting farmers to markets has taken on a new urgency. Strategies to respond to these needs should be developed in parallel with efforts in the field of water access and sanitation – an MDG made even more relevant by the food crisis and the underutilisation of the potential for the expansion of irrigation in Africa. Infrastructure is currently a key constraint to enterprise development—almost 60 percent of enterprises indicate that it is their main brake on expansion. There is enormous scope for improvement of infrastructure, with a focus on regional projects. Increased funding from a variety of sources—both public and private—for regional infrastructure projects is critical.
African governments must make every effort to attract private capital for the funding of infrastructure projects; regulatory and pricing reform, as well as monitoring mechanisms to prevent corruption, will need to be ramped up to achieve this goal. Governments should also attract sovereign wealth funds to Africa for investment in infrastructure—the 1% solution proposed by World Bank President Robert Zoellick can generate an estimated $30 billion for infrastructure investments. Multilateral banks and other actors can devise new and better instruments for underwriting and guaranteeing investments in frontier markets as well as at regional and sub-national levels.
China and India, as well as Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and others, have become significant investors in infrastructure in Africa. China is now Africa's third largest trading partner and, together with other new entrants, has brought new dynamism and significant new resources. These countries have created greater opportunities for Africa's development, particularly in the areas of infrastructure, development finance, and trade. If Africa's development is to stay on track, it is crucial for both old and new actors to comply with agreedupon principles of cooperation in the areas of aid, trade, development finance, and debt sustainability.
Aid Levels and Aid Quality
While the G8 must play a leading role in addressing the food crisis, it must also keep its existing pledges towards Africa's progress. The G8 has made substantial progress in the area of debt relief, helping to lift millions of Africans out of poverty. Individual countries have also made significant increases in their levels of assistance. However, the pledge to double assistance to Africa by 2010, made at the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in 2005, is not likely to be fulfilled. The volatility of aid continues to be problematic as well, imposing a great burden on countries' abilities to plan investments. There are several ways that the G8 can deliver assistance more effectively, particularly in the area of programmable aid:
1) The G8 must make funding sources and timetables available in a timely manner, along with stated pledges. Each member country should provide a detailed outline on the potential and availability of funding as well as how and when funds will be delivered for stated pledges. This information should be released immediately prior to or after each summit, to ensure that pledges and statements made at the summits are honoured fully. Finally, funding shortfalls against the 2010 targets should be addressed immediately— through a special plan to meet the pledge made at Gleneagles.
2) The proportion of aid that is tied must be clearly identified by every member of the G8, and must be decreased over time.
3) The G8 must take steps to reduce the volatility of aid, and support innovative efforts to improve aid quality. Providing information on forthcoming aid disbursements in a timely manner will help to reduce volatility, as will commitments that are made over a multi-year time horizon.
4) In light of existing pledges as well as the need for additional resources to address the food crisis and the problems of climate change, the G8 should renew its discussion of innovative financing mechanisms.
Good Governance
The Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) launched by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the African Union Convention on Corruption, and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) have had significant success in improving governance. Sustainable democracies are emerging in many countries although setbacks in elections in some countries have been a great disappointment. African governments are increasing their revenue base and using more of these resources to meet the costs of economic development. In addition, civil society is playing an important role in holding governments accountable in many countries.
But there is still much work to be done. Some countries are yet to move to healthy, functioning democracies. And other parts of Africa continue to experience terrible and violent conflict, as well as economic and social chaos. In particular, the conflicts in Darfur and eastern Congo continue to take many lives and threaten the stability of the region. Zimbabwe is in total economic collapse with severe political and social implications. The resolution of these crises will require greater and more consistent efforts by the African Union as well as leadership by individual African governments, and the international community as a whole. Strong G8 action to stop corruption by its own businesses in Africa must complement Africa's efforts for better governance.
G8 support for NEPAD and the APRM is critical as well. While the G8 has expressed support for training peacekeepers and for the Africa Standby Force, levels of funding are still inadequate. In general, the African Union's potential as a homegrown peacekeeping body and regional forum is severely limited by resource and capacity constraints. Donors have so far failed to appropriately fund and equip its operations in Darfur. This tragedy calls now for exceptional efforts from all parties involved. African governments must also lend more financial support to the African Union in order to make progress on stated goals of fighting corruption, strengthening institutions, ending conflict, and improving governance.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Africa Progress Panel. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
