Seville’s commitment: An important step to rebuild confidence in global cooperation

Activists, who attended the talks in Spain, and many of them from the global southern countries, called for a greater leadership and commitment than the richest countries to help address the long -time structural inequality.

The Fourth International Conference on Financing Development holds a strong symbolic weight, which is reflected in the agreed priorities in Seville’s commitment. However, organizations warn that there is still a lot of work that must be done before promises turn into concrete actions.

Time is appropriate

That is the message of Paula Civilla, representative of the International Institute for Environment and Development and is the London -based research center – which has worked for decades in sustainability and climate justice in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. She said: “This summit came in a decisive time to try to restore confidence in international cooperation, especially after the Kofid-19 pandemic, which revealed a lack of global solidarity.”

One of the main goals of the International Institute for Environment and Development in Seville was to ensure that the financial obligations declared already reach the local communities on the front lines of the climate crisis.

To achieve this, the organization emphasizes the need to address issues such as external debt – which drains public budgets – and support innovative mechanisms such as mixed financing to direct resources to those who desperately need them.

Civilla warned: “We see countries spending on debt payments more than they spend on health care or education, while inequality is exacerbated.”

Housing crisis

Housing solutions associated with sustainable development are significantly absent from the results of the summit. Mrs. Sevilla said: “It is unfortunate that it was not even mentioned, at a time when we face the crisis of the global living cost – not only in the global south, but also here in Spain. Housing is a deep concern and lack of confidence among citizens, and it has been completely ignored.”

Nevertheless, its organization is working to take advantage of Seville’s results to find ways to direct funding towards providing more homes at reasonable prices.

Commenting on the initiative led by Spain and Brazil to work towards imposing fair taxes and addressing tax evasion by the richest world – while enhancing transparency and accountability – the representative of the International Institute for Environment and Development said it could be a useful path towards correcting the aspects of structural inequality.

Tax for development

She said: “We need to lead from the global north, where there are many major taxes of taxes in the world. Without their commitment, we will not advance.”

It also criticized the absence of the United States from the summit – not only as a diplomatic obstacle, but also as a disturbing precedent after the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development.

She emphasized: “We are talking about people who prepare their pharmaceutical tablets to find out how many days have their lives. This is tragic.”

With only five years remaining to achieve the sustainable development goals, Mrs. Civilla warned that time is running out – and that Seville’s commitment would be meaningless without real change.

She concluded her speech by saying: “We need political leadership, will to cooperate, and a commitment to protecting the democratic space. In the end, it is organized people who maintain hope and the leaders are accountable.”

Seville’s commitment in short:

• Seville’s commitment determines a new global road map to collect the trillion dollars needed every year to achieve sustainable development, based on previous international agreements.
• It calls for more fair tax systems, address tax evasion and illegal financial flows, and to strengthen public development banks to support national priorities.
• The agreement highlights the need for new tools to relieve debt pressure on weak countries, including debt swap plans, and options for suspending payments during crises, and improving transparency.
• Countries have committed to enhancing the ability of multilateral development banks, increasing the use of special withdrawal rights, and attracting more special investment to support development.
• It also aims to make the global financial system more comprehensive and accountable, while improving coordination, stronger data systems, and a broader participation of civil society and others.

The commitment to Seville’s work curriculum, which includes more than 130, is already ongoing to convert pledges into real results on the ground.