The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung at the Forum Social Temático

Porto Alegre/Brasilien, 24 - 29 January 2012

As in the previous years, the activities of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung at the World Social Forum offer a platform for dialogue to trade unions, NGOs and other members of civil society. In 2012 now, the Forum has a special focus:

Capitalist Crisis, Environmental and Social Justice

The network Social Watch will present its Social Watch Report 2012 on sustainable development, which contains reports from 66 countries and also introduces first findings of the Civil Society Reflection Group on Global Development, who demands a comprehensive redefinition of Global Governance.

Equally important is the upcoming Rio+20 Summit, of which one of the possible outcomes will be a process towards the adoption
of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a new framework for development and international cooperation, replacing the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) after 2015 to move away from neoliberalism.

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go to Forum Social Temático website

Saving Tomorrow – Today?
International Perspectives in the Run-Up to the UN Climate Change Conference 2011 in Durban

Nina Netzer and Judith Gouverneur (eds.)

In view of the impending expiry of the first Kyoto obligatory period in 2012 and the modest results produced by the climate conference in Cancún last year, there is tremendous
pressure on the parties to the negotiations at the upcoming World Climate Conference in Durban to conclude the climate negotiations on a successful note. Because it is not very realistic to hope that an accord binding under international law can be concluded within the framework of the UNFCCC, the minimum objective must be to agree on a second obligatory period of the Kyoto Protocol.

Perspectives, FES Berlin, October 2011

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G-20 Two Years After the Crisis
Back to Business as Usual?

Detlef J. Kotte

In reaction to the global financial crisis the G20 emerged during 2008/2009 as a new forum regulating the global economy. But after a successful period of cooperative crisis management, the political will to globally coordinate national policies or rather reform the financial system, has abated. While traditional concepts are endangering the sustainable recovery of the global economy, the financial sector is doing »Business as Usual«. A globalized economy cannot be left to the markets alone, but needs a stable and dependable frame of multilaterally agreed rules. And the reform of the currency exchange rate is of special importance here.

International Policy Analysis, FES Berlin, October 2011

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No Social Justice without Social Protection

Nicola Liebert

While social protection has increasingly become an element of development policy, it was as a consequence of the global financial and economic crisis that the issue finally moved to the top of the international development policy agenda, after it could be shown that countries that had invested strongly in social protection had weathered the crisis better than others. The Social Protection Floor Initiative, which was launched as a UN-wide effort in 2009 and received a boost from the 100th International Labour Conference of the ILO in June 2011, provides for basic health care, pensions, assistance to the unemployed and income security for children. It is not designed as a donor-driven process but strongly emphasises national ownership, including the mobilisation of domestic resources, as well as South-South cooperation.

Perspective, FES Berlin, September 2011

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