Oxfam New Zealand acknowledges the death of our ex Chair Peter Conway. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this deeply sad time.
News & Media
Let Them Eat Coal
Climate change is already affecting what we all eat, and is the biggest threat to winning the fight against hunger. Coal is the biggest single cause of climate change, yet industrialised countries are still burning huge amounts, despite efficient, affordable, renewable alternatives being available. Coal power stations in the G7 countries alone emit twice as much fossil fuel CO2 as the whole of Africa.
We can only afford to burn 20 per cent of coal reserves if we want to keep warming below 2°C – and even less to keep it to the safer level of 1.5°C. Already at the current warming of 0.85°C over pre-industrial times, vulnerable communities, including our Pacific neighbours, are struggling to cope with more fierce storms, floods and droughts. Cyclone Pam has been a sobering example, decimating crops and causing hunger on a wide scale across Vanuatu and beyond.
Olivier De Schutter, Former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food (2008–14): “Coal-fired power stations increasingly look like weapons of destruction aimed at those who suffer the impacts of changing rainfall patterns as well as of extreme weather events.”
One month on: reaching Nepal’s most isolated
One month on since the first earthquake hit Nepal, Oxfam is working with mountain guides and porters to deliver life-saving aid to the most remote communities before the imminent monsoon hits the country.
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Focus on poverty urged as aid budget increases
Increases to New Zealand’s international aid budget announced yesterday are welcome, but there is concern about whether the money will reach the most vulnerable.
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Nepal’s second quake a double disaster
A second earthquake in Nepal is a double disaster leaving many of the survivors of the first earthquake shocked and fearful of further tremors.
Race to reach Nepal earthquake survivors before monsoon rains
Survivors of Nepal’s massive earthquake are in a race against time to secure shelter and adequate sanitation before the monsoon rains begin in early June.
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