Stockholm: development takes on the shade of green

By Joshua Massarenti.

5,000 participants, 1,500 organizations announced and hundreds of delegates from 125 countries. Among them, people like Jerzy Buzek (President of the European Parliament), José Manuel Barroso (President of the European Commission), Dominique Strauss-Kahn (Director of the International Monetary Fund), Morgan Tsvangirai (Prime Minister of Zimbabwe), Ellen Johson-Sirleaf (President of Liberia), Muhammad Yunus (winner of Nobel Prize for peace and founder of the Grameen Bank) and Georges Soros (chairman of the Open Society Institute).

Remarkable numbers for the European Development Days, which will take place in Stockholm from 22 to 24 October, the meeting of the year for the International cooperation’s world.

But it is also an occasion for the European Commission and the Swedish current presidency to assert, thanks to 49 billion euros allocated in 2008, the non-fortuitous European pre-eminence in the International donors’ chart.

The fourth edition of the Dev Days will gather political leaders, parliamentary members, international institutions, local authorities, NGOs, entrepreneurs, university students and journalists, called to confront on the main news issues, such as the economic crisis and climate change.

With the up-coming World Conference on Climate that will take place in Copenhagen in December, desertification risks and natural catastrophes in developing countries will surely be on the top of Dev Days’ agenda.

But climate change is already a key issue, considering numerous alarming reports published on the road to Copenhagen. The World Bank report published last September estimates that poor countries will need around 475 billion dollars by 2030 – 325 billion euros – to cope with the global warming impact.

According to the report, between 100 and 400 million people will be put at risk because of a simple increase of two degrees.

Stockholm will be also the ideal stage to draw industrialized countries’ attention to their responsibilities for 64% of gas emissions, the reason why undeveloped countries are firmly asking for a financial compensation.

Karel De Gucht, the new European Commissioner of development and humanitarian aid, said that the “European Union could contribute with 15 billion euros every year until 2020”, but it seems a daring announcement with the current economic crisis.

Just like the funds for development, the announced aid for climate change will be allocated with the common political lines set from Brussels to its partners. The recent institutional crises exploded in some African countries – among them Niger, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry – are not helpful. And it is no coincidence that democracy will be one of the main topics of the forthcoming Dev Days.

www.afronline.org