Due to environmental degradation there are likely to be severe water shortages in many parts of Africa, and 67 million more people could be at risk of malaria epidemics by the 2080s. If we will not fight climate change the gap between rich and poor will rise and water scarcity will soon become a new reason for war.

Despite a rhetoric of human rights and development, the European Union is still far from utilising its unequalled economic and commercial power for a fairer approach to global relations. Recently, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique signed individual new interim Economic Partnership Agreements. Oxfam and European Alternatives believe that these agreements seek to benefit rich-country exporters and firms at the expense of poor farmers and workers.