Remember Live 8

July 2005, the sun shone on the Scottish capital Edinburgh, Bob and Bono gave themselves a congratulatory slap on the back and declared that "poverty is history" [http://www.guardian.co.uk/g8/story/0,13365,1525718,00.html]. Meanwhile, a grinning Gordy Broon and other assorted G8 finance ministers pulled the rug from under the feet of developing nations.

Back in 2001 at the so called development round of global trade talks at the WTO the richer nations were supposed to put the interests of developing nations ahead of their own. However, it has become increasingly evident that since then the richer WTO nations have aggressively pushed an unfair deal that will increase the poverty of the worlds poorest nations.

Fishing is a prime example of this. Fishing has been a staple of many local economies since time immemorial. The current plan to liberalise the global fish market seriously endangers the economies of countries as diverse as Brazil, Senegal, and Pakistan.

Allowing industrial fishing by foreign trawlers in national waters has already had a devastating effect in Mauritania (one of the world's poorest countries) where over fishing by foreign boats has already killed out some native species such as the Saw fish.

Furthermore, over demand by foreign fleets has led to the growing risk of food insecurity in those countries which rely most heavily on fish as a staple food.

You can read more about this issue at:
http://www.actionaid.org.uk/100810/taking_the_fish.html

 


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