Asia

The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020 —at a rate of $14 million per hour— while nearly five billion people have been made poorer, reveals a new Oxfam report on inequality and global corporate power. If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade but poverty won’t be eradicated for another 229 years.

Responding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, Oxfam Climate Policy Lead Nafkote Dabi said: “Amid a world in parts burning, in parts drowning and in parts starving, the IPCC today tables the most compelling wake-up call yet for global industry to switch from oil, gas and coal to renewables."

In response to the onslaught of super Typhoon Goni, which hit the Philippines earlier this month and left hundreds of thousands without a home, Oxfam together with international and local partners is supporting 49,000 people in the hardest-hit areas of the Bicol region with lifesaving aid.

This paper examines current and planned IFI energy sector support in Asian climate-vulnerable countries. It shows how this is not yet fit for purpose, and recommends how IFIs can intervene at this critical juncture to give governments the confidence to accelerate the transition to renewable energy for all.

Asia’s economic success has been paid for by poor women, who work long hours for poverty pay and do the majority of unpaid care work, according to a new report by Oxfam today.

The Asia Resilience Strategy for 2015–2020 provides a broad framework on inclusive humanitarian and development trajectories focused on the poorest of the poor in the areas of: 1) smallholder agriculture; 2) water; 3) urban resilience; and 4) natural resource management.

Rising inequality poses a dire threat to continued prosperity in Asia, where an estimated 500 million people remain trapped in extreme poverty, most of them women and girls.

A year after the super-typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, we are calling for governments to increase efforts to address the challenges of climate change adpatation and disaster risk reduction.