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Millionaires, economists, and eminent politicians implore the G20 to tax the super-rich

In the last decade, billionaires around the world have more than doubled their wealth, from $5.6 to $11.8 trillion. We need a global push to increase taxes on the richest citizens back to past levels that most people believe were fairer and more useful for society. Without this adjustment, extreme wealth and inequality will continue to skyrocket.

A report released in April 2023 by the Inland Revenue Department found that the effective tax rate of the wealthiest families in New Zealand is 9.4%. This is less than half the rate of middle wealth New Zealanders which is at 20.2%.1 One of the main reasons for this disparity is the fact that a large proportion of the income earned by these wealthy individuals stems from capital gains, which is not taxed in New Zealand.2 The report focused on the tax rates of 311 families in Aotearoa with a net worth of over $50 million, and highlighted the glaring inequality in wealth distribution which is being exacerbated by the current tax system.

These findings reiterate the findings in Oxfam International’s 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index where New Zealand had a very low ranking of 136 out of 161 countries in terms of the tax system’s contribution towards inequality.3 This means that the tax system in Aotearoa is among the world’s least effective in reducing inequality.

Following the release of the IRD report, over 230 wealthy New Zealanders signed an open letter calling on the politicians of New Zealand to tax them more. They stated “We would willingly pay more tax to help lift families out of poverty and ensure everyone thrives – an investment that would pay off many times over.”4 This letter was coordinated by Oxfam Aotearoa and Tax Justice Aotearoa.

Shalomi Daniel, Economic and Gender Justice Lead for Oxfam Aotearoa explained, “the people of Aotearoa need a better tax system that alleviates, and does not perpetuate inequalities. We need a tax system that reduces poverty and inequality and ensures that everyone, and not just a wealthy few, has access to nutritious food, warm housing, quality healthcare and education for their children”

In an open letter to the G20, close to 300 millionaires, economists, and political representatives from almost all G20 countries call for a new international agreement on wealth taxes to “stop extreme wealth from corroding our collective future”. It says that people all over the world are “desperate for change”.

“Much work has already been done. There is an abundance of policy proposals on wealth taxation from some of the world’s leading economists. The public wants it. We want it. Now all that’s missing is the political will to deliver it. It’s time for you to find it.”

“The findings in these reports on income and tax inequality in Aotearoa are deeply concerning. But despite public polling showing clear support for decisive tax interventions to address this crisis, in the lead up to the election this year we’ve seen very little appetite from the main political parties to address this issue” says Rachel Dobric from Oxfam Aotearoa.

Morris Pearl, Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and former Managing Director at BlackRock, said: “The leaders of the world’s largest economies must coordinate swift and decisive action to reduce dangerous levels of inequality; if they fail to tax extreme wealth, the results will be a perpetually weakened global economy, the decline of democratic institutions, and worsening social unrest. The G20 must act.”

The open letter was organized by inequality campaigners Patriotic Millionaires, the Institute for Policy Studies, Earth 4 All, Millionaires for Humanity, and Oxfam. The full list of signatories here.

Tax and wealth facts⁵

  • Only 4 cents in every dollar of tax revenue comes from wealth taxes.
  • Since 2020, the richest 1% have captured almost two-thirds of all new wealth. Billionaire fortunes are increasing by $2.7bn a day.
  • For every dollar of new wealth gained by someone in the bottom 90%, one of the world’s billionaires has gained $1.7m.
  • Half of all millionaires will not pay any inheritance tax and will pass on $5 trillion tax-free to the next generation.
  • The average tax rate on the richest has fallen from 58% in 1980 to 42% in OECD countries.
    Tax on capital gains – typically the most important source of income for the top 1% – are only 18% on average across more than 100 countries.

1 Inland Revenue, Tax and the Economic Income of the Wealthy, (April 2023) https://www.ird.govt.nz/-/media/project/ir/home/documents/about-us/high-wealth-research-project/hwi-research-project/factsheets-supporting-hwi-report/tax-and-the-economic-income-of-the-wealthy.pdf?modified=20230420234159 accessed on 31 August 2023

2 Max Rashbrooke, New Zealand’s millionaires pay lower tax rates than millionaires – it’s time to fix the system, (April 2023)  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/27/new-zealands-millionaires-pay-lower-tax-rates-than-cashiers-its-time-to-fix-the-system accessed on 31 August 2023

3 Oxfam Aotearoa, Aotearoa top 10 in global inequality index, but tax system’s inequality impact 136th, (October 2022)

https://www.oxfam.org.nz/news-media/media-releases/aotearoa-top-10-in-global-inequality-index-but-tax-systems-inequality-impact-136th/ accessed on 31 August 2023

4 https://www.sharingwealth.nz/

5 https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/survival-richest

 

CONTACT DETAILS

Rachel Schaevitz/ Oxfam Aotearoa Communications Manager / rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz

Unfair share report: Unequal climate finance to East Africa hunger crisis

Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan have incurred $7.4bn of livestock losses alone as a result of climate change

Despite being largely responsible for the worsening climate crisis in East Africa, rich nations paid Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan just $2.4 billion in climate-related development finance in 2021, in stark contrast to the $53.3 billion East Africa says it needs annually to meet its 2030 climate goals.

Oxfam’sUnfair Share Report published today, shows that the biggest polluting nations have fallen short of meeting both the climate and the humanitarian funds East African countries need to recover from their climate-fuelled hunger crisis. It highlights the impact of climate change on the future of the region.

Oxfam in Africa Director, Fati N’Zi-Hassane said: “Even by their own generous accounts, polluting nations have delivered only pittance to help East Africa scale up their mitigation and adaptation efforts. Nearly half the funds (45%) they did give were loans, plunging the region further into more debt.”

A prolonged drought and erratic rainfalls have killed nearly 13 million animals, and decimated hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops, leaving millions of people without income or food. These four East African countries have incurred up to an estimated $30 billion of losses from 2021 to the end of 2023. Oxfam calculates that these countries also lost approximately $7.4 billion worth of livestock.

As a result, over 40 million people across the four countries are suffering severe hunger because of a two-year drought and years of flooding, compounded by displacement and conflict. Despite the soaring humanitarian need, rich nations have only met about one third of the UN appeal for East Africa this year.

“At the heart of East Africa’s hunger crisis is an abhorrent climate injustice. Rich polluting nations continue to rig the system by disregarding the billions owed to East Africa, while millions of people are left to starve from repeated climate shocks,” said N’Zi-Hassane.

Industrialised economies have significantly contributed to the climate crisis, which now disproportionally affects regions like East Africa. The G7 countries and Russia alone have been responsible for 85 percent of global emissions since 1850. This is 850 times the emissions of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan combined.

“Global financial institutions are also complicit in contributing to the debt spiral that many developing countries are in. Onerous repayment cycles (to IFIs, bilateral and private creditors) prevent vulnerable countries from adapting to climate change or fully recovering from these consecutive shocks, like climate-fuelled hunger crises..”

Extreme weather, now more severe and frequent, is the primary driver of hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and in part in South Sudan, where climate change has made the drought 100 times more likely.

“These pummelling shocks have depleted people’s reserves, leaving those already vulnerable with nothing to fend for themselves. Since the last drought in 2017, the number of people who need urgent aid across the four countries has more than doubled – from 20.7 million to 43.5 million,” said N’Zi-Hassane.

The climate crisis has taken its toll especially on women and girls. Women in Somalia told Oxfam they now have to walk more than four hours every day to fetch water, often in treacherous journeys – a significantly increased distance compared to previous droughts. Too often, when food is scarce, mothers eat last and least; and girls are the first to be dropped out of school or married off at a young age so there is one less mouth to feed.

Nimo Suleiman, a displaced mother of two from Somaliland, said “I have witnessed previous droughts but I have never seen anything like this before. The closest water point for us is five kilometers away, the road to the water point is not safe and very hot, but our family’s survival depends on us making that journey.”

“At the first African Climate Summit, Oxfam urges African leaders to speak up and hold rich polluting nations to account for this climate crisis. Rich nations must immediately inject funds to meet the $8.74 billion UN humanitarian needs for East Africa in order to save lives now,” N’Zi-Hassane said.

“It is equally crucial for the biggest polluters to pay their fair share of the money East Africa needs to strengthen its efforts to help its most vulnerable citizens prepare for the next climatic shock. These funds must be sustainable, in the form of grants rather than loans.”

“Leading up to COP28, African voices must be loud in demanding rich polluting nations to drastically cut their emissions, and to compensate East Africa for all their climate loss and damage so that the region can recover from these worsening climate shocks.”

Notes to the Editors

  • Read Oxfam’s “Unfair Share” report.
  • Oxfam is holding a roundtable at the African Climate Summit on 5 Sept .
  • The $2.4 billion figure is based on the OECD records of “Climate-related development finance” statistics reported figures in 2021 for Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, which capture both bilateral and multilateral climate-related external development finance flows. For more detail on the OECD methodology please see the OECD Methodology note.
  • Out of the total $2.4 billion funds provided, only $1.33 billion were in the form of grants (54.5%) while $1.09 billion were in the form of loans (45%). Source: OECD
  • The figure $53.3 billion is the four countries identified annual needed funds for the period 2021 to 2030, in their “National Determined Contributions” (NDCs) to enable them to implement their climate goals under the Paris Agreement. It includes: $62 billion for Kenya, $316 billion for Ethiopia, $55.5 billion for Somalia and $100 billion for South Sudan.
  • According to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the East Africa region’s average annual loss from climate change until 2030 is 2-4% of its annual GDP. For Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, the total combined GDP in 2022 is $260 Billion.
  • Oxfam calculated livestock loss for Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia based on 2021 and 2023 estimates of the total government reported loss of 12.95 million heads of livestock – including 6.85 million livestock in Ethiopia, 2.6 million livestock in Kenya and 3.5 million livestock in Somalia. Ethiopia and Somalia have not provided an estimate of the value of the lost livestock. The approximate cost of per animal head in the region is $ 576.9, totalling $7.2 Billion for all 12.95 million livestock lost.
  • Food insecurity figures are based on IPC classification of the number of people in crisis or worse levels of food insecurity (IPC3+) for Ethiopia (11.8 million), Kenya (5.4 million), Somalia (6.5 million) and South Sudan (7.7 million).
  • Humanitarian need figures is based on the 2023 UN Humanitarian Response Plans for Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan and Kenya.
  • Humanitarian need figures for 2017 are based on 2017 Humanitarian Response Document for Ethiopia; Somalia and South Sudan , and the 2017 Flash Appeal for Kenya.

Contact Information

Rachel Schaevitz, Communication Manager, rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz

Water dilemmas: The cascading impacts of water insecurity in a heating world

Climate-induced water insecurity poses one of the biggest threats to humanity and will lead to more hunger, disease and displacement

Oxfam water engineers are having to drill deeper, more expensive and harder-to-maintain water boreholes used by some of the poorest communities around the world, more often now only to find dry, depleted or polluted reservoirs.

Today, during World Water Week, Oxfam publishes the first of its series of reports, “Water Dilemmas”, about the growing water crisis, in large part driven by global heating from greenhouse gas emissions. The report describes how climate change will impact water security in different regions, leading to more hunger, disease and displacement.

Carlos Calderon, Humanitarian Advocacy and Partnerships Lead for Oxfam Aotearoa said, “This new Oxfam research is focused on the global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) situation, but it paints a picture that illustrates the complexity of elements that, combined, will continue to increasingly affect women, girls, boys and men in the decades to come. Changing weather, poverty, inequality, gender-based violence, political instability and conflicts are impacting the availability and quality of adequate water systems. All governments, particularly those from rich countries, should responsively take action at a global scale. The clock is ticking. Our children will judge us for our actions today, or for the lack of them.”

Nafkote Dabi, Oxfam Global Climate Justice Lead, said: “While global warming is being caused by oil, coal and gas, its harm is fundamentally being experienced as a global water crisis. This poses one of the biggest threats to humanity and will lead to more hunger, more disease and more displacement, especially for the countries and communities least prepared for climate change.”

Oxfam in Africa Water and Sanitation Lead, Betty Ojeny, who is working on the frontline of the drought response in East Africa, said: “One in five boreholes we dig now in the region I work, ends up dry or with water that is unfit for humans to drink. We have to dig deeper wells, through baked soils, which means more expensive breakages. This is happening at a time when donor funding for water is declining.”

“We’re having to use expensive desalination technologies that are sometimes glitchy, especially in the more hostile terrains where we have to work. We’re seeing climate change biting now and these problems are only going to get worse,” Ojeny said.

Ojeny works in Oxfam’s biggest current humanitarian response in East Africa where over 32 million people are facing acute hunger and starvation because of a five-season drought, made worse by conflict and poverty. Areas elsewhere in the same region are being hit by destructive flash floods and unpredictable rains, devastating people’s crops and livelihoods.

“Global warming is increasing the frequency and severity of disasters, including floods and droughts, which will be hitting countries harder and more often in years to come. The huge lack of investment in strengthening water systems is leaving countries open to catastrophe,” Dabi said.

The report found that by 2040, East Africa could be hit by an 8 percent rise in precipitation, with a cycle of floods and droughts leading to a potentially catastrophic 30 percent rise in surface runoff. This washes away nutrients from exhausted soils, and destroys infrastructure. It says 50-60 million more people could be at risk of malaria by 2030.

It says the West Africa region will suffer similar problems as a result of this water crisis. Both regions are facing 8-15% more intense heatwaves and falls in labour productivity by 11-15%, amid mass migration, rising poverty and hunger, crop changes and livestock loss, and more water-driven conflicts.  

“Already today, because of droughts, many of Oxfam’s installed water systems are rendered obsolete as pastoralist communities are forced to migrate to look for new pasturelands. This is undermining the communal management of water, which is key for sustainability and enhancing people’s resilience,” Ojeny said.

“In South Sudan we already see flooding washing away sanitation facilities and submerging boreholes, rendering them useless. More water-borne diseases like cholera are putting immense pressure not only on our water and sanitation work, and also stretching our public health operations too,” she said.

By contrast, the report says across the Middle East region by 2040, rainfall will decrease markedly instead, as will water levels and river runoff, sparking worsening food security. Heatwaves will rise by 16% leading to a drop in labour productivity of 7%, with water prices rising with the demand.

Countries across Asia meanwhile will be affected more by sea-level rise, potentially over half a meter by 2100. Along with surface run-off and glacier melt, this will affect fresh groundwater aquifers, especially in coastal areas where hundreds of millions of people live. The report also signals more heatwaves in Asia (8%) and a decline in labour productivity, by 7%, leading to more poverty and migration. It says diseases like malaria and dengue could rise by a staggering 183%.

All this will have knock-on effects on people’s food sources and productivity, fuelling hunger. Oxfam calculates that in 10 of the world’s worst climate hotspots, chronic hunger is projected to rise by a third in 2050 as a result of climate change – that is 11.3 million more people going hungry than without climate change – a landslide derailing of the UN’s “zero hunger” target. 

The reports says that decades of underinvestment in water systems, poor water management, and erosion, pollution and overuse of subterranean aquifers are worsening this water crisis. Millions of already disadvantaged people are now left ill-equipped to face the harmful consequences of the climate crisis. Only 32% of the $3.8 billion global UN humanitarian appeals for water and sanitation was funded last year and countries most at risk of water insecurity are failing to invest in water infrastructure.

“The worst scenarios that the world needed to avoid have already begun. Under today’s emissions trajectories, billions of people face no safe future in the worsening water crisis, happening under such political nonchalance. Rich polluting nations must immediately and drastically cut their emissions, and fund water infrastructure in poor communities.”

“We are still able to alter course toward safety if we choose, but we must act fast. Governments need to fundamentally refocus their attention and investment into our water systems as an absolute policy priority. They must urgently meet the UN’s $114 billion-a-year ambition for the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, which will save lives today and impact virtually every other UN goal for 2030,” Dabi said.

Contact details

Please contact:

Rachel Schaevitz | Communications Manager | rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz

Carlos Calderon | Humanitarian Lead | carlos.calderon@oxfam.org.nz

Notes to Editor:

  • Read Oxfam’s “Water Dilemmas” report. The report builds on existing scientific literature and climate models, along with witnessed and anecdotal evidence, to highlight the impacts of climate-driven water insecurity on food insecurity, conflicts, displacement and migration, gender inequality and disease in four regions (Asia; Middle East; West Africa; Horn, Eastern and Central Africa or HECA).
  • For decades Oxfam has supported millions of highly vulnerable people with life-saving water and sanitation systems, in partnership with authorities, local partners and communities around the world. Oxfam is a leading agency in the humanitarian and development water and sanitation sector.
  • Last year, Oxfam looked at 10 of the world’s worst climate hotspots – Somalia, Haiti, Djibouti, Kenya, Niger, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, and Zimbabwe – which have repeatedly been battered by extreme weather over the last two decades – and found that their hunger more than doubled in just six years. The 10 worst climate hotspots were calculated looking at countries with the highest number of extreme weather-related UN appeals since 2000, where climate was classified as a “major contributor” to these appeals. Source: Oxfam’s “Footing the Bill” report May 2022 and Oxfam’s “Hunger in a Heating World” report Sept 2022.
  • Projections of the population at risk of hunger in the 10 countries by 2050 with and without climate change are from the International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI) International Model for Policy Analysis of Commodities and Trade (IMPACT). Globally, IFPRI projects that about 70 million more people will be at risk of hunger because of climate change in 2050, including 28 million additional people in East and Southern Africa. Source: 2022 IFPRI Report: Climate Change and Food Systems
  • Only 32% of the $3.8 billion global humanitarian appeal for the WASH sector for 2022 was funded. Source: UN OCHA Financial Tracking Service.    
  • The UN SDG6 states that meeting the water, sanitation and hygiene 2030 target requires increasing progress six-fold
  • In East Africa, over 32 million people across Ethiopia (20.1 million), Kenya (5.4 million) and Somalia (6.6 million) are estimated to be experiencing crisis or worse levels of hunger. Source: Ethiopia’s Humanitarian Response Plan for 2023 , Kenya’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) March-May 2023 report, and Somalia’s IPC report April- June 2023

Bangladesh’s Monsoon: At least five killed in Cox’s Bazar camps

At least five people were killed in the Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps today, as the monsoon floods that hit Southern Bangladesh earlier this month caused severe landslides and left a trail of destruction. Oxfam is mounting a response to address the immediate needs of the most affected people.

“Nearly 300,000 people across 60 union parishads in Cox’s Bazar have been impacted and thousands have been displaced. The monsoon floods lent another hard blow to hundreds of thousands of refugees already recovering from the fury and destruction of Cyclone Mocha last May,” said Ashish Damle, Oxfam in Bangladesh Country Director.

Oxfam staff tell how in the Ukhiya camp-09, one mother and her one-year-old daughter were washed away by the landslide. In Bandarban, Chattogram region, 30,000 people were stranded, and hundreds lost their homes due to landslides.

“People most urgently need food, cash and temporary shelters. They also need essential supplies for children, hygiene kits, raincoats and torchlights. Oxfam, together with our partners, are scaling up response to ensure those most affected receive the support they desperately need. But the heavy rains have also impacted essential infrastructure making our operations challenging”, said Damle.

 

For media inquiries and further information, please contact:

Rachel Schaevitz, Communications Manager, Oxfam Aotearoa

rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz 

Oxfam welcomes support from political parties for fossil fuel free Pacific: We need to stop polluting, and start paying

Oxfam Aotearoa says all major parties must show they are listening to Pacific demands on climate change ahead of this year’s general election.

At a pre-election debate on Thursday night, Oxfam raised two key demands that all parties must support: an historic proposed Pacific leaders’ climate change declaration, and an increase and continuation of much-needed climate finance.

“These issues are crucial to Oxfam and to our allies in the Pacific”, says Climate Justice Lead Nick Henry. “Pacific governments have shown incredible leadership this year in their call for a regional Just Transition away from fossil fuels. We are seeking unanimous cross-party support for the Port Vila Call at the Pacific Islands Forum in November, and a scale up of the crucial financial assistance we provide to countries to adapt and respond.

“Achieving the vision of a fossil fuel free Pacific will require every country in the region to do our bit, and we still need to see these parties’ plans to deliver on our own part of this goal here at home. The good news is that we have the solutions: wealthier countries like ours need to urgently stop polluting, and start paying . These plans must include a full, fair, fast and funded transition away from fossil fuels here in Aotearoa – shutting down oil, gas and coal on land and at sea for good – and ongoing commitments to pay our fair share of climate finance.

“It’s past time we listen to the people who are on the frontlines of this crisis. Climate change is here and now, and our Pacific neighbours have known this and borne the brunt of its impacts for years. This summer’s cyclones in Aotearoa are an unavoidable reminder that we aren’t immune ourselves.

“As we near the election, we want to see all political parties making commitments to act in line with climate justice. Reopening our coastlines to exploitation by the riskiest players in this dirty global industry is a step in the wrong direction. The science shows there’s no room for new oil, gas or coal if we’re to keep warming to 1.5 degrees. The call to end the era of fossil fuel pollution has never been stronger. The offshore ban put New Zealand on the map for our climate leadership – we simply can’t afford to take such a massive backwards step as to undo it.”

Oxfam’s key asks

 As part of the Climate Shift coalition, Oxfam is calling on all parties to:

  • End new oil, gas and coal exploration and extraction on land and at sea, and commit to the Port Vila Call for a Just Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific.
  • Stand with affected communities in the Pacific by renewing and scaling up our climate finance commitments, with new and additional funding to address loss and damage caused by climate change.

Parties’ positions at the Council for International Development and New Zealand Institute for International Affairs pre-Election Debate

ACT

  • Did not comment on whether they would maintain and scale up New Zealand climate finance post-2025.
  • Support for the Port Vila Call for a Just Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific would depend on whether or not the ‘Pacific’ is defined to include New Zealand. Additionally mentioned ACT’s commitment to reopen offshore fossil fuel exploration and production.

Green Party

  • Would maintain and scale up New Zealand climate finance post-2025.
  • Supports the Port Vila Call for a Just Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific, and would support a Leaders’ Declaration at the Pacific Islands Forum.

Labour

  • Would maintain and scale up New Zealand climate finance post-2025.
  • Supports the Port Vila Call for a Just Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific, and would support a Leaders’ Declaration at the Pacific Islands Forum.

National

  • Did not comment on whether they would maintain and scale up New Zealand climate finance post-2025.
  • Did not comment on party support for the Port Vila Call for a Just Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific, and would “wait and see” what happens at the Pacific Islands Forum to determine whether they would support a Leaders’ Declaration.

Black Sea Grain Deal: Time to rethink how to feed the world

In response to Russia pulling out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Hanna Saarinen, Oxfam food expert, said:

“While this grain deal has played a part in calming skyrocketing food prices, it is not the cure-all for world hunger. Hundreds of millions of people were hungry before Russia invaded Ukraine, and hundreds of millions continue to be hungry today. Famine, something which should not exist in this day and age, is one step away in Somalia and South Sudan. Yet less than 3 percent of grain from this deal went to the world’s hungriest. Somalia received a mere 0.2 percent.

“Now that this deal is off the table, it is even more urgent to rethink how to feed the world. Global hunger will not be solved by growing crops in only one of the world’s few breadbaskets. We must stop this unhealthy reliance by diversifying production and investing in small-scale farmers in poorer countries to increase food production where needed.”

Notes to editors

Experts are available for comment.

Last week, the FAO State of Food Security Report was published. It revealed:

  • Over 3.1 billion people – or 42 percent of the world’s population – could not afford an adequate diet in 2021.
  • 4 billion people were moderately or severely food insecure in 2022 2022 – nearly 30% of the global population.
  • In Somalia, 1 in 3 people are facing acute hunger with the country facing a prolonged climate-induced drought despite being one of the countries least responsible for the climate crisis.
  • In East Africa alone, over 8 million children under five – nearly the entire population of Switzerland – suffer acute malnutrition.

In response, Oxfam called for bold action to end world hunger.

Only a fraction of the grain and other food goods under the Black Sea Grain Initiative was shipped to world’s poorest countries – while approximately 80 percent has been shipped to richer countries according to Oxfam’s calculations based on data from the Joint Coordination Centre