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Oxfam says concern is growing over the potential impact of cyclone Mahasen on people displaced by ethnic conflict in the Western state of Rakhine in Myanmar.

“Oxfam welcomes the steps being taken by the government to ensure all affected communities including those displaced by ethnic conflict are relocated to safe places but swifter action is needed to ensure people are moved before the storm hits” says Jane Lonsdale, Acting Country Director for Oxfam in Myanmar. “It is essential that humanitarian principles are adhered to in moving all affected populations safely to suitable locations and that no one is left out.”

The cyclone, now expected to hit land on the border of Northern Rakhine and Bangladesh around Thursday 16 May is likely to be felt across the Western Myanmar state through heavy rains, high winds and flash flooding. This threatens to devastate people displaced by the ongoing ethnic conflict and stranded in unsafe camps at risk of flooding.

The secondary effects of the cyclone including heavy rains and flash flooding will impact on communities scattered across a wide area, causing damage to property and livelihoods and potentially threatening lives. “The government must not neglect isolated communities which could become forgotten.” says Lonsdale

Access to the areas of impact is vital

Lonsdale expressed concerns over access to the areas of impact, stressing that it is crucial to ensure that international aid agencies can reach the people that will be affected by the impact of the cyclone.

“Currently, permission to travel to Rakhine needs to be processed in advance by the government. Aid agencies such as Oxfam must be able to reach affected communities quickly” says Lonsdale, “The government should ensure travel authority is issued quickly and granted for longer periods. In the event of serious high level impact the government should strongly consider waiving the travel authority system completely.”

Nearly seven million people require humanitarian assistance in Syria.  Another 1.4 million seeking refuge in neighboring countries are in desperate need of shelter, food, and water.  More than half of them are children.

Talks yesterday on Syria between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov offered modest signs of progress towards alleviating the humanitarian situation, halting the violence, and achieving a political solution, said international humanitarian organization Oxfam.

The United States and Russia have both expressed their support for a political process to put an end to the conflict, with Russia envisioning a dialogue involving all sides, and the Obama Administration repeatedly emphasizing the responsibility of international leaders to support the political process. Secretary Kerry's remarks yesterday noted "significant common interests with respect to Syria" and Foreign Minister Lavrov "confirmed [Russia's] commitment to the negotiating process." The day concluded with Kerry and Lavrov agreeing to pursue an international conference on ending the conflict in Syria sometime in the next month.

Noah Gottschalk, Senior Humanitarian Policy Advisor for Oxfam, said:

"By aligning their priorities, two of the world's most powerful countries can facilitate a political solution in Syria. The United States and Russia must build on these talks to increase international diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire and ensure humanitarian aid can reach those in need. Both countries must also commit to an embargo on arms transfers to all sides, and cooperate to ensure it is enforced. The announced international conference is a promising step forward, but this commitment must be honored. There are no easy answers to ending this complex crisis, and increased high-level diplomacy is crucial.

"As an aid organization struggling to keep up with the needs of ever-increasing numbers of Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, Oxfam has seen firsthand the devastating toll this conflict is taking on civilians. Millions of Syrians are homeless and struggling to meet their basic needs.

"The status quo is simply unacceptable. Prolonged conflict will result in more death, displacement and suffering, and threatens to destabilize the region. Increasing transfers of weapons will fuel further violence and human rights abuses, and could spark an arms race with deadly consequences. Our leaders cannot stand by and watch this happen, much less fuel the conflict. The United States, Russia, and the rest of the international community must come together to demand a political process that benefits all Syrians and an immediate end to the bloodshed."

Africa’s remarkable growth, driven in large part by a minerals and energy boom, is threatened by illicit capital outflows and widening income gaps, international agency Oxfam has warned ahead of a meeting of top business leaders at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa.

Several African countries are amongst the fastest growing economies in the world , boosted by new discoveries of oil, natural gas, and strategic mineral reserves. But progress is being undermined by income inequalities and massive illicit capital outflows – often in the form of tax evasion and trade mispricing by extractive industries.

Oxfam International Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said: “Africa’s impressive growth needs to reach further. The continent’s resource boom must be harnessed to benefit all its citizens. If illicit capital continues to haemorrhage out of African countries, efforts to reduce poverty and boost economic growth will be undercut. Resource wealth should promote prosperity on the continent, not undermine inclusive economic growth, fuel corruption, or damage the environment.”

In 2010, Africa’s oil, gas and mineral exports amounted to $333 billion in 2010. But illicit financial outflows from Africa are estimated at up to $200 billion annually, dwarfing the development aid it receives.

Byanyima said: “Too often extractive industries in collusion with corrupt government officials cheat Africa of its wealth and potential for social spending. African citizens must get their true share of extractive industry revenues and royalties paid to their governments.”

Despite being on its way to being a pole for global growth, Sub-Saharan Africa is also home to six of the top 10 most unequal countries in terms of economic disparity. Inequality is bad for social stability, and undermines growth itself. Oxfam calculates that in South Africa, more than a million additional people will be pushed into poverty between 2010 and 2020 unless rapidly growing inequality is addressed.

Byanyima said: “Good progress is being made towards bringing down poverty on the continent, but high inequality and corruption are threatening these gains.”

Oxfam has called for multinational enterprises operating in poor countries to conduct business responsibly by informing and consulting local communities affected by oil, gas and mining projects, and giving them the opportunity to approve or reject a project prior to the commencement of operations.

“Africa is taking control of its own destiny, but to meet its real potential our leaders must stand behind those who growth is leaving behind. Proceeds from the continent’s treasures must be channelled to fighting poverty. Aid to Africa should be used to promote good governance, and supporting civil society to keep their leaders accountable. Until all Africans have the food, education and healthcare they need to be productive citizens, social and economic progress on the continent is going to be held back.”

Refugee numbers in neighboring countries steadily climb

The world risks failing the people of Syria as the scale of suffering increases and the humanitarian fall-out from the crisis worsens by the day, warned aid agency Oxfam today.

With nearly 7 million people in need of humanitarian help inside Syria, the organization is calling on the UN Security Council to help improve humanitarian access by using its influence to urge the Syrian Government and opposition groups to help ensure aid reaches those most in need. This could mean allowing aid to cross lines of control and cross-border from neighboring countries, such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Oxfam GB’s chief executive, Mark Goldring, who is currently visiting Oxfam’s work with refugees on the Syria/Jordan border, said: “The world risks failing the people of Syria at a time when they most need our help. Responding to this crisis is now our number one priority.

“We hear each day that the situation in Syria is desperate for so many but providing an appropriate humanitarian response is extremely difficult – and deeply frustrating. Restrictions on access mean far too many vulnerable people are not getting the help they have a right to.”

Concern about water and sanitation

The organization is using its decades of humanitarian experience in some of the most difficult environments in the world to develop its emergency response to the crisis unfolding in Syria. Concern is growing about the impact of the two-year conflict on water and sanitation facilities, in particular, because of the knock-on effect on people’s health and risk of disease.

In addition, the aid agency is calling for the needs of the 1.3 million Syrian refugees now living in neighboring countries to be fully-met.

In a new briefing paper released today, called “Overtaken By Need”, Oxfam says that three months after $1.5 billion was pledged for the UN’s six-month appeal, just over half of the money has been received, much of it from Gulf countries. Refugee numbers have doubled in the first three months of the year and Oxfam warns that similar or even higher levels of funding will be required for the response in the future as the humanitarian catastrophe worsens.

Funds are particularly short for some organizations – including Oxfam – working with Syrian refugees in neighboring countries.

“The aid effort on the borders has been slow to get off the ground and now needs to be scaled up significantly. A massive increase in humanitarian assistance is required but we fear that instead of being stepped up, the reverse is more likely to happen and aid levels could soon decline,” added Goldring.

Host countries are feeling the strain

In Jordan’s Za’atari refugee camp increased numbers of arrivals mean facilities are stretched to the limit. Oxfam has installed toilets, showers and laundry areas to help 20,610 people in part of the camp but the organization hopes to do more.

There are concerns that failure to respond fully to the humanitarian emergency could have serious consequences on stability across the wider region. Countries that have generously provided help for Syrian refugees, such as Jordan and Lebanon, are already feeling the economic and social strains of hosting such large numbers and need much greater international assistance, the aid agency said.

Lebanon, for example, has received numbers of refugees equivalent in proportion to its population to 50 million Syrians arriving in the EU or 30 million in the US. There have already been riots over poor living conditions and shortages of aid given in refugee camps in Jordan and Turkey. In Jordan, Oxfam is looking at how best to help the vulnerable refugees living outside the camp and in host communities over the next few months.

“When refugees arrive in Jordan and Lebanon they are traumatized and fearful for the future. As the needs of Syrians and refugees increase, so must the response”, said Goldring.

“The future will be very bleak for people affected by this crisis unless they get more support.”

Related links

Donate to Oxfam's Syria crisis response

Read the report: Syria: Overtaken By Need. The world’s failure to meet Syria’s escalating humanitarian crisis

Video on Oxfam's Syria crisis response

Blog: Why Syria is Oxfam's number one priority

Bonn, Germany – Governments must move quickly at this year’s first UN climate change meeting to plug the gaping deficit of funds to help developing countries adapt to climate change and lower their emissions, international aid agency Oxfam said today.

The meeting, starting in Bonn, Germany on Monday April 29, will be the first time governments meet to discuss collective climate change action since last year’s Doha summit, where they failed to agree on any climate finance plans for this year and beyond after the end of the ‘Fast Start Finance’ arrangement in 2012.

A new funding period

2013 is a critical year for climate finance. It marks a new funding period when pledges need to be boosted significantly if governments are to honor their 2009 promise to mobilize $100 billion per year by 2020 in finance to help developing countries adapt to climate change and lower their emissions.

Yet current patterns of climate finance are worrying. Earlier this month, the OECD revealed that funding clearly targeted for adaptation programs fell in 2011 to $1.8 billion from $3.1 billion in 2010, based on data reported by governments to the OECD. The OECD has not released climate finance figures for 2012, but Oxfam’s research suggests that levels of public climate finance for adaptation did not improve last year.

Oxfam’s climate change policy adviser Tracy Carty said the deficit in climate finance pledges must be tackled urgently next week.

No man's land

“Climate finance is in no man’s land. 2013 should mark the start of the new climate finance period, yet almost halfway through the year we’ve seen no new pledges,” Carty said.

“Developed countries must not come to Bonn empty-handed. It’s time for governments to set out exactly how much public climate finance they will provide from now to 2015, and how they’ll scale it up by 2020 in line with their promises.

“Holding back promised climate finance risks stalling and souring progress towards the 2015 agreement governments will be discussing in Bonn, because it undermines developing countries’ trust that developed countries will keep their word.”

Carty said it is crucial for governments to provide detail on how these funds will be spent and where they will come from.

Adaptation programs and resilience

“People in developing countries are dealing with increasingly extreme weather events, putting the food security of millions at stake because of a climate crisis they did not create. Yet Oxfam’s research estimates that as little as 21 per cent of climate finance has gone to adaptation programs that improve their resilience to these impacts.”

“It’s time for governments to explicitly agree that at least half of all public funds for climate change action will go to meet developing countries’ adaptation needs.

“Governments can’t leave it up to the private sector to fill this enormous shortfall in adaptation funding. The private sector has mostly stayed away from funding some of the most important adaptation programs, which help people gain access to the water, food and basic services diminished by climate change, because they offer little or no short-term return on investment.”

Oxfam is also hoping that the Bonn negotiations will help deliver consensus on how responsibility for reducing emissions can be shared fairly between countries. Currently, countries determine their own reduction commitments but this process has so far proved totally incapable of keeping rising global temperatures within a safe threshold.

Northern Mali will descend to emergency levels (1) of food insecurity in less than two months if the security situation and humanitarian access to vulnerable communities do not improve, warned four international aid agencies today following the analysis of experts from the Harmonized framework (2).

As many as two thirds (3) of people from the three northern regions of Mali (Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal) are already living in crisis levels of food insecurity, and some parts of Kidal are already at emergency levels.

Markets surveys carried out recently by Action Against Hunger (ACF), Solidarités International, Welthungerhilfe and Oxfam, operating in these regions, show that prices for some basic foodstuff have spiralled since January 2013, increasing by up to 36 per cent in the Gao region, 30 per cent in the Timbuktu region, and 25 per cent in the Kidal region. In Kidal, an area where 94 per cent of households have to buy their food from local markets, two thirds of the traders who would normally supply the markets have left and trade flows of cereals have fallen by 60 per cent. The markets of Timbuktu and Goundam are also not well supplied with staples.

The ‘lean’ season – when food stocks run low before the next harvest – has started early this year. Herders have not been able to use traditional pastures and water points. At the same time, the value of livestock, particularly cattle and goats, has fallen, making it even harder for pastoralists to buy enough cereals. Alternative employment opportunities are rare and daily labor wages have fallen. In Gao, a day’s work earned about $2.5 this time last year, but today that figure stands at between $1.5 and $2, affecting households purchasing power.

This worrying situation is mainly due to the consequences of the conflict – including roads being closed or inaccessible, the closure of the Algerian border, and the departure of many traders – added to poor production systems and poor agricultural infrastructure, predating the crisis.

“While international attention is focused on the UN peacekeeping mission, we risk losing sight on the current alarming humanitarian situation. Parents are already skipping meals in order to feed their children. People in the North will not be able to find enough food to feed their families through the months ahead before the next harvest,” said Philippe Conraud, Oxfam Country Director in Mali. “It is vital that we act before we reach a point of no return about the food situation.”

According to the Harmonised Framework, the humanitarian assistance planned to date will not cover all the needs. This is due to several priority areas being critically underfunded (4)- as of 24 April 2013, the UN emergency appeal for Mali had only received $106 million of the full amount – as well as difficulties encountered in accessing some areas due to the presence of armed groups, operations by Malian, African and French forces, banditry, presence of mines and other non-exploded ordinance.

Action Against Hunger (ACF), Solidarités International, Welthungerhilfe and Oxfam are calling on the international community and donors to scale up assistance to the most vulnerable. The four organizations recommend scaling up assistance on food, livelihoods, water and sanitation, nutrition, protection and improvement of access to water and health, and resilience building.

Signatory Organizations: Action Against Hunger, Oxfam, Solidarités International, Welthungerhilfe.