G20 Voice

G20Voice is a group of 50 bloggers inside the London Summit connecting world leaders with the rest of the world. G20Voice has been organised by a coalition of non-profit organisations – Oxfam GB, Comic Relief, and Save the Children – with the support of the Blue State Digital and the UK Government.

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ConflictVoice bloggers will be covering the cost of armed conflict and the United Nations discussions on the Arms Trade Treaty. Oxfam initiated ConflictVoice. The bloggers are expressing their own independent views and don't necessarily represent the views of any organization.

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g20breadandbreakfast:

PODCAST NUMBER 4: Labor calls out Obama on Green Jobs, we forget to check out Joan Jett at The Point (dammit!), lots of tear gas, lots of anarchists, and lots of belly laughs!

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President Obama will announce Friday that the once elite club of rich industrial nations known as the Group of 7 will be permanently replaced as a global forum for economic policy by the much broader Group of 20 that includes China, Brazil, India and other fast-growing developing countries, administration officials said Thursday.

The move highlights the growing economic importance of Asia and some Latin American countries, particularly since the United States and many European countries have found their banking systems crippled by an economic crisis originating in excesses in the American mortgage market.

For more than three decades, the main economic group was the Group of 7 — the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. During the Clinton years, Russia was gradually added, not because of the size of its economy, but to help integrate it with the West. Administration officials said the group would still meet twice a year to discuss security issues. But for practical purposes, the smaller group will become more like a dinner club that defers to the broader group on the economic issues that have dominated summit meetings for nearly three decades. The development, as Mr. Obama was hosting a summit meeting here for leaders of the Group of 20 — 19 countries and the European Union — also highlighted the lingering disparity between the elite group of mostly Western powers and the mass of poorer nations. For all of Mr. Obama’s talk about greater inclusiveness for countries like Brazil and China, the meeting in Pittsburgh remains dominated by the financial crisis that began in the United States and has preoccupied the old boys’ club.

The issue that many developing countries feel much more strongly about — knocking down barriers to trade, especially in politically sensitive sectors like agriculture — is barely likely to be part of the official discussions.

Rather, the packed agenda includes proposals to raise capital requirements for financial institutions, rein in executive compensation and reduce imbalances between shop-till-you-drop countries like the United States and export behemoths like China, Germany and Japan.

Even as Mr. Obama participated in his first Group of 8 meeting in July in L’Aquila, Italy, he seemed to have doubts about its suitability as a forum for solving the world’s problems. At the time, his aides characterized the session as merely a way station between Group of 20 meetings.

“We view this meeting and this discussion as a midpoint between the London G-20 summit and the Pittsburgh G-20 summit,” said Mike Froman, the president’s chief negotiator.

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Panelists on a discussion about efforts to fight global warming ahead of a key Copenhagen summit in December said it’s crucial for the G-20 take steps toward breaking gridlock over how emissions reductions will be financed.

At issue is how developed nations will compensate developing nations for their efforts to help cut greenhouse gas emissions. The Copenhagen summit is seen as a last best chance to implement a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

“Without an adequate finance package in place by Copenhagen, there is no deal,” Alden Meyer, Director of Strategy and Policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a Thursday discussion organized by the U.S. Climate Action Network.

Speakers said they hoped leaders of the G-20 countries would give their finance ministers clear direction on setting up financing. David Waskow, Climate Change Program Director for Oxfam America said he hopes leaders instruct their governments to “seize the moment” on climate change.

“What needs to emerge here is a clear commitment, and a sense of energy and purpose on the way to Copenhagen,” Waskow said.

But Meyer said that “the finance ministers frankly haven’t done their homework” up to this point. Speakers were discouraged by the amount of progress so far and said G-20 leaders must establish a timeline and process to reach an agreement by Copenhagen.

Kumi Naidoo, chair of the Global Campaign for Climate Action, said that “everything is up for a fight in the next couple weeks,” and that it is too soon to throw in the towel.

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Optimism is the leitmotif surrounding the upcoming Pittsburgh Summit. Yet certain concerns remain. A year ago, as the dramatic recession unfolded around the world, many were convinced we were heading for a repeat of the Crash of 1929.

Due to measures adopted at the G-20 Summit in London last April, the worst threat in decades to the global economy was contained.

After a 9 percent reduction, global trade has rebounded, thanks to the injection of U.S.$250 billion in flexible, unconditional credit. Nearly 50 million jobs will be lost in 2009, but there are signs that the worst is past. Another U.S.$750 billion went to stimulate demand and stabilize the current accounts of many -- particularly developing -- countries hit by the drastic cutback in foreign trade and credit.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva/g-20-pittsburgh-summit-re_b_295978.html

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Globaldashboard.org's Alex Evans is a part of G20Voice.

Alex Evans is a non-resident fellow at the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University, where he runs CIC’s work on scarcity and security. His current areas of research are on the international implications of rising food prices (a joint project between CIC and Chatham House), and the changing nature of influence in 21st century diplomacy (with Demos). He co-edits www.GlobalDashboard.org, the global risk and foreign policy blog.

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Rodrigo Alvares brings Brazil to the G20Voice

Rodrigo Alvares is 28 years old, born and raised in Porto Alegre (southern Brazil).

He created the political weblog A Nova Corja (The New Scum) five years ago to exercise new kinds of journalistic coverage while in college. A natural born reporter, he works to find out all about the corruption of brazilian politicians and tries to estimulate readers to take responsibility about it.

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Daniel Kaufmann covers governance and corruption for G20Voice

Daniel is a researcher and practitioner on governance and development, with experience in practical and analytical challenges of development. With colleagues Daniel, developed new survey methodologies and indicators to measure governance and corruption around the globe Visit his blog at thekaufmannpost.net

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www.curvaspoliticas.com's Monsterrat Nicolas joins G20 Voice.

Born in the Southern Hemisphere but raised in Scandinavia, Montserrat Nicolas lives her consultant life in Washington DC with her kid and long-suffering mate. After a short career at the cash register of a local supermarket, and a brief stint at a vet clinic, she studied archeology, some econs and ultimately history and IR. Currently, she produces boring communications strategies and tries to spice up her analysis on hemispheric affairs. She’s a columnist for LA NACION, and penned a book, which looks at the differences among poets, politicians and intellectuals at www.curvaspoliticas.com Her friends dread her cooking, but love her well-stocked bar.

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Diana Vogtel brings cliamte foucs to G20 Voice.

Diana is a part of www.350.org an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis, with the mission to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis--to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.

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Kady O'Malley brings a Canadian perspective to G20Voice

Kady covers Canadian federal politics for www.Macleans.ca, and blogs regularly about life on the Hill at "Inside the Queensway". An unabashed infophile, she spends a frightening large portion of her day monitoring the political blogosphere, both in Canada and the United States, and is facinated by the complex and fractious relationship between old and new media.

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Vikki is a hybrid Tech PR and blogger, acting as UK Tech correspondent for BitchBuzz.com (an independent women's lifestyle network with readers spread across the US and UK). She is also for responsible for growing Six Degrees' New Media and Digital division, and as such is a self-proclaimed digital obsessive. Vikki has been a contributor to Mobile Industry Review, is contributing Green Tech Editor for The GIN lady (Green, Independent and Natural) and is about to help launch an online video project.

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Sokari, is a Nigerian social justice activist who has been directly involved as in various campaigns and advocacy projects for 20 years.

She founded www.blacklooks.org, in 2004, which covers a range of issues and is one of the few African blogs reporting and commenting on LGBTIQ rights in Africa and the Niger Delta.

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Faik Uyanik,  has worked in several Turkish media outlets including news channel NTV and business channel CNBC-e.

He is an economics graduate and currently doing his Phd in Journalism. Mr. Uyanik works for the BBC Turkish section in London,  his blog www.faikuyanik.com he covers a range of issues from local to global.

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"Father of Indonesian bloggers"  joins G20Voice.

Blogging since 2001, Enda Nasution has just recently launched the first Indonesian Web 2.0 political site: www.politikana.com

Dubbed by Indonesian media as the “Father of Indonesian Bloggers”, Enda was also the first Chairman of Indonesia’s blogger summit,  Pesta Blogger in 2007.

You can read all of Enda's blogs enda.goblogmedia.com

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Jill from www.jackandjillpolitics.com is blogging with G20Voice at the G20 Summit.

Cheryl Contee, aka Jill Tubman, writes  for the award-winning and top-ranked  political blog JackAndJillPolitics.com which she founded in 2006.

Apart from her work on jackandjillpolitics.com, Cheryl is also partner and co-founder of the social media consultancy Fission Strategy, and a boardmeber of  Netroots Nation, the preeminent organization and conference for technology and progressive politics.