g20voice

It’s still an under reported tragedy. Over 20 million people in neighbouring Pakistan have lost all but their lives as flood waters continue to surge forth – even three weeks on since heavy rains hit the country.The UN has called for a $460 million response plan to deal with this humanitarian disaster – far worse in its impact than many in recent times put together - the Haiti earthquake, the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and the 2008 Cyclone Nargis.

We have just had another G8 Summit. As other blogs here have discussed, there are clearly problems with the G8. Campaigners, lobbyists and developing country governments put huge amounts of time and attention into deceasing returns.

During the last eight weeks, while I’ve been in Niger, I’ve often been overwhelmed by the scale of the problems people face here. It’s not just the current food crisis and the number of people who are going hungry now but also the future and what this has in store.

The G8 summit has now drawn to a close and the Deerhurst resort in Muskoka will be getting back to normal. The world leaders flew back to Toronto by helicopter with Obama and Cameron flying together to start their bilateral meeting. Apparently Cameron and Merkel will be watching the England v Germany World Cup match together tomorrow and the press are invited can't imagine he'll look anything other than awkward!

The WHA is seen by some as an ineffective UN meeting but it has much greater legitimacy than the G8/G20 on account of its democracy. Unlike the rich countries' clubs of the G8 and G20, all countries, however poor, have the right to speak out and to vote.