26 August 2008
The 2008 G8 summit took place in Toyako on Hokkaido Island from 7-9 July. The full text of the Toyako G8 Communique can be found on the Japanese G8 website. The Summit took forward the agenda established at Gleneagles 2005. The G8 reaffirmed their promises on development - including the delivery of $50 billion in extra aid by 2010, ($25 billion to Africa); to achieve universal access to HIV/AIDs treatment and $4bn in ‘Aid for Trade’ by 2010. There was significant further progress in several key areas including:
On climate change: At Toyako the G8, for the first time, explicitly made the link, which the UK has been advocating for some time, between climate change and development. Progress on development will reverse if climate change and environmental degradation are not tackled, while the manner in which countries pursue growth and development has a profound impact on climate and the natural environment. The G8 has now committed to halving global emissions by 2050 and agreed an additional $6 billion dollars for the Climate Investment Funds to fund clean technologies, climate resilience and measures to tackle deforestation. These funds will help bridge the way to a post-Kyoto agreement in 2012.
On Food Security: The G8 agreed to a new Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food to coordinate the response to the food crisis. They also agreed US $10 billion dollar package to meet both short-term humanitarian needs - including increases in food aid - and to improve food security and agricultural output over the longer term. The agreement at Toyako to develop international standards on biofuels is equally important. This will ensure that policies for the sustainable production and use of biofuels are compatible with food security, and the G8 will work with others to develop science-based benchmarks and indicators for biofuel production and use.
On Health: The G8 delivered a strong package of support to developing countries. They have agreed a timetable to deliver US $60 billion in aid for diseases over 5 years. They also endorsed scaling up the number of health workers to 2.3 per 1,000 in key countries, which should equate to 80% of mothers being accompanied in childbirth by a trained health worker. This will ultimately ensure that a further 1.5 million health workers are recruited in Africa. Furthermore, in the fight against malaria, the G8 agreed to provide 100 million bed nets, helping close the global short fall and save 600,000 lives.
On Education: The G8 reaffirmed their commitment to universal primary education and agreed to meet the current shortfall of $1 billion needed for funding country education plans through the Fast Track Initiative. This will pay for 10 million children to go to school.
The 2008 G8 Summit also saw further development of the process to involve several key emerging economies in a dialogue about the biggest challenges the global economy is facing today. The Heiligendamm Process is a dialogue between the member states of the G8 and Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa (the G5).
The Heiligendamm Process is an important first step for more structured engagement between the G8 and the key emerging economies - critical to ensuring we are all able to meet our shared global responsibilities including development and climate change and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
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