ASAP has co-funded a new Oxford University Press anthology, co-edited by ASAP Board President Thomas Pogge, and due to be published in Feb 2016: Global Tax Fairness.

Briefly, the book addresses fifteen different reform proposals that are urgently needed to correct the fault lines in the international tax system as it exists today, and which deprive both developing and developed countries of critical tax resources. It offers clear and concrete ideas on how the reforms can be achieved and why they are important for a more just and equitable global system to prevail. The policy reforms outlined in this book not only advance tax justice but also protect human rights by curtailing illegal activity and making available more resources for development.

ASAP President Thomas Pogge\’s short video on climate change and the Oslo Principles is now available below. The video uses graphics and explanations to argue that governments have a duty to avert the world\’s looming climate catastrophe. Special thanks to Hudson Brown who created the animation. More information on the Oslo Principles is available here.

The Global Poverty Consensus Report (GPCR) is a joint project between ASAP and the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP). It aims to highlight the existing academic consensus on the causes and remedies for global poverty. Based on thirty-nine interviews done by Gilad Tanay in 2012, the analysis was written by Alberto Cimadamore and Lynda Lange. The final report is now available for download. More information on the project is available here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. We are a global community of scholars from a range of disciplinary and geographic perspectives. We are concerned about the refugee crisis that is presently unfolding in the wider Mediterranean region and distressed by the inadequacy of official responses thus far.

Dr. Theron Pummer, Lecturer in Philosophy and Co-Director of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at the University of St. Andrews, is celebrating his birthday by raising money for four highly effective charities working to improve the health of people living in extreme poverty, including Incentives for Global Health (IGH). IGH is sister organization to ASAP, which supports its Health Impact Fund initiative. ASAP President Thomas Pogge has agreed to match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $7,000, and at a discounted rate beyond that. The fundraiser ends at the end of September. As of September 4, Theron had already raised $4,092 towards his $7,000 goal.

This one-time matching gift challenge makes September a great time to donate to IGH. Whether or not you know Theron, you can donate today and have your gift to IGH and other high-impact charities go twice as far.

The other charities that Theron is fundraising for are the Against Malaria Foundation, theSchistosomiasis Control Initiative, and Giving What We Can.

To have your gift to IGH and other high-impact charities doubled, make your contribution by September 31.

Each year, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published a State of Food Insecurity (SOFI) report. The 2015 report has just come out. In an accompanying letter, the FAO’s Coordinator for Economic and Social Development, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, summarizes its message as follows: “With the number of chronically hungry people in developing countries declining from 990.7 million in 1991 to 779.9 million in 2014, their share in developing countries has declined by 44.4 per cent, from 23.4 to 12.9 per cent over the 23 years, but still short of the 11.7 per cent target.” We may not quite achieve the halving of chronic undernourishment envisaged in the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG-1), but we will get quite close.

In the run-up to the grand climate meeting in Paris this December, countries are publishing their commitments. Mexico earned much praise for proposing to cut its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 22% by 2030. But this exemplary reduction is relative to what Mexico might otherwise have emitted in 2030 – and constitutes a substantial increase over its 2013 emissions. Even on a per-capita basis, Mexico is proposing merely to keep its GHG emissions flat at 5.9 tons of CO2 equivalent.

The first cohort of ASAP\’s flagship program Global Colleagues has been matched. Global Colleagues aims to foster collaboration between earlier-career scholars working on poverty-related research who are based in the Global South and more senior scholars working on similar topics at well-resourced research institutions in the South and North. Researchers at an early stage in their career do not always have strong research networks and may lack resources and funding opportunities to achieve their research goals. Experienced researchers can offer support, for example by connecting their colleagues to international networks, offering reading recommendations, and suggesting journals for publication, while gaining valuable insights into the work contexts of their earlier-career colleagues.

Prior to the program\’s launch, the ASAP matching committee received many outstanding applications by prospective earlier-career colleagues. Accepted applicants were matched with senior researchers according to mutual research interests and, where possible, cross-regionally. The first cohort of Global Colleagues comprises 34 pairings:

1. Prof. Solomon Benatar, University of Cape Town, and Dr. Kennedy A. Alatinga
2. Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Anutechia Asongu Simplice
3. Prof. Ananya Mukherjee-Reed, York University, and Dr. Yam Bahadur Kisan
4. Prof. Philipp Lepenies, Freie Universität Berlin, and Dr. Mohamed El-Kamel Bakari
5. Prof. Vitor Blotta, University of Sao Paulo, and Dr. Abdullah Bayat
6. Prof. Clemens Sedmak, Universität Salzburg, and Dr. Prasenjit Biswas
7. Prof. Darrel Moellendorf, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, and Dr. Montserrat Culebro Juárez
8. Prof. Nicole Hassoun, Binghamton University, and Dr. Georges Danhoundo
9. Prof. John Roemer, Yale University, and Dr. Igbinoba Emmanuel
10. Prof. Alberto Cimadamore, University of Bergen, and Dr. Tukur Garba
11. Prof. Ernest Marie-Mbonda, Catholic University of Central Africa, and Francisco García Gibson
12. Prof. Bina Agarwal, University of Manchester, and Abisagi N. Kasoma
13. Prof. Claire Kilpatrick, European University Institute, and Gary Kelechi Amadi
14. Prof. Kunal Sen, University of Manchester, and Ezera Madzivanyika
15. Prof. Ashok Acharya, University of Delhi, and Nahuel Maisley
16. Prof. Marcos Nobre, University of Campinas, and Vong Mun
17. Prof. Kimberly Nicholas, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, and Dr. V. E. Nethaji Mariappan
18. Prof. Barbara Harriss-White, University of Oxford, and Mbunya Nkemnyi
19. Prof. Armando Barrientos, University of Manchester, and Thelma Obiakor
20. Prof. Shalini Randeria, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, and Dr. Godwin Etta Odok
21. Prof. Else Oyen, University of Bergen, and Dr. Prince Osei-Wusu Adjei
22. Prof. Judith Teichman, University of Toronto, and Dr. Victor S. Peña
23. Prof. Luis Cabrera, Griffith University Brisbane, and Dr. Chivoin Peou
24. Prof. Gerry Mackie, University of California San Diego, and Dr. Márcia Pereira Cunha
25. Prof. Jane Kububo-Mariara, University of Nairobi, and Mofizur Rahman
26. Prof. Thomas Pogge, Yale University, and Dr. Gyana Ranjan
27. Prof. Pahlaj Moolio, Paññāsāstra University, and Erumebor Rume Wilson
28. Prof. Claudio Lopez-Guerra, Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico City, and Dr. Nicole Selamé
29. Prof. João Feres Júnior, State University of Rio de Janeiro, and Dr. Papia Sengupta
30. Prof. Gabriele Koehler, Max Planck Institute for Social Policy, and Moses Senkosi Balyejjusa
31. Prof. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, New School, and Dr. Taruna Shalini Ramessur
32. Prof. Sonia Bhalotra, University of Bristol, and Hari Prasad Sharma
33. Prof. David Hulme, University of Manchester, and Tamer Soyler
34. Prof. Craig Murphy, University of Massachusetts Boston, and Mohammed Yimer Tegegne

The Global Colleagues team will support the matched colleagues for the duration of the program and, in the first instance, as they connect to agree on aims, activities and possible projects for the one-year partnership. Throughout the year, the colleagues will maintain regular contact and assess on an ongoing basis the progress made against agreed goals. As much of the program’s configurations are determined by the needs and objectives of the matched researchers, we look forward to learning about the creative means of cooperation emerging from the partnerships in the coming weeks and months.

It is hoped that this program will prove a fruitful learning experience for both colleagues and that it will set in motion a project that sees future cohorts of colleagues matched in the coming months and years.

If you are an earlier-career poverty scholar in the Global South interested in participating in future cohorts of the program, learn more about the program and apply here.

Mid- or late-career researchers interested in participating in Global Colleagues are welcome to contact Robert Lepenies at r.lepenies@asap-deutschland.org.

Any feedback or reflections on this program to inform this and future cohorts would be warmly welcomed. Please contact globalcolleaguesasap@gmail.com.

An article in a leading UK newspaper, The Guardian, features ASAP\’s call for universities to withdraw any endowment funds invested in fossil fuel companies.

Here is the ASAP statement in full:

In light of the urgency of climate change, we, the Directors and members of Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP), strongly support the growing movement to divest university endowments from fossil fuel companies. We applaud the recent divestment commitments made by Stanford University, the New School, University of Glasgow, Syracuse University, and 23 other universities in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. We urge all other universities to follow their lead.

Time is running out. The Cop 21 Summit in Paris in December of this year is probably our last chance to secure binding and meaningful emission reductions. We must convey the strongest possible message ahead of this summit, and the divestment movement offers a highly promising opportunity to do so.

The scientific community agrees that global warming beyond 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels would constitute \”dangerous climate change\” as defined by the UNFCCC,^[1] with wide-reaching negative impacts on human and natural systems.  In order to have a ⅔ chance of remaining below this threshold, we cannot emit more than 1,000 gigatonnes of CO₂ from 2011 on.^[2] At our present rate, we will burn through this carbon budget in only 25 years. And if we burn all currently known and recoverable fossil fuel reserves – as the fossil fuel industry plans – we will produce over 3,670 gigatonnes of CO₂.^[3] That\’s nearly 4 times the allowable budget.

The conclusion is strikingly clear: in the absence of decisive action, we are on track for catastrophic climate change. On our present course, climate change will wipe out crucial gains in development and poverty reduction in the global South, and will trigger food shortages, conflict, epidemic disease, and mass displacement. According the IPCC, these trends will \”exacerbate multidimensional poverty\” and \”create new poverty pockets\” in low- and middle-income countries.^[4] The current response by the international community is inadequate to prevent this from happening.^[5]

Publicly listed and investor-owned fossil fuel companies hold a significant proportion of existing fossil fuel reserves – more than enough to surpass the global emissions budget.  Their business model depends on selling and burning these reserves, and then finding yet more reserves to sell and burn.  By investing in these companies, we are effectively saying that we endorse these activities and are willing to profit from them.

At this moment in history, it is paradoxical for universities to remain invested in fossil fuel companies. What does it mean for universities to seek to educate youth and produce leading research in order to better the future, while simultaneously investing in and profiting from the destruction of said future? This position is neither tenable nor ethical.

We believe that institutions of higher education have a special duty to take this stand. As academics, we are in the privileged position to understand the risks posed by climate change and to make powerful statements in support of action. We support the student-led divestment campaigns at universities around the world. We support the recent decision by the United Nations – and UN General Secretary Ban-Ki Moon – to back the divestment movement.  We support the cities of Seattle, Portland, Bristol, Oxford, and nearly 50 others in their decision to divest from fossil fuels, as well as the 30 foundations and nearly 100 religious organizations that have done the same.  And we support The Guardian\’s campaign to ask the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust to divest, recognizing that investments in fossil fuels are inimical to their efforts to advance global development and health.

In the words of Desmond Tutu: \”We can no longer continue feeding our addiction to fossil fuels as if there were no tomorrow, or there will be no tomorrow.\”

Members of the ASAP Board of Directors, Officers, and Chapter Leaders

Thomas Pogge, Yale University (President)
Ashok Acharya, University of Delhi
Luis Cabrera, Griffith University
Jason Hickel, London School of Economics
Keith Horton, University of Wollongong
Mitu Sengupta, Ryerson University
Miles Thompson, Canterbury Christ Church University
Catarina Tully, FromOverHere
Oskar MacGregor, University of Skövde
Ellen Szarleta, Indiana University Northwest
Zorka Milin, Yale Law School
David Rodríguez-Arias, Spanish National Research Council

Members of the ASAP Advisory Board

Raymond W. Baker, President, Global Financial Integrity
Sonia Bhalotra, University Of Essex
Alberto D. Cimadamore, Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP)
Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, The New School
David Hulme, University of Manchester
Alnoor Ladha, /The Rules
John Roemer, Yale University
Henry Shue, Oxford University
Peter Singer, Princeton University
Paul Slovic, Decision Research

[1]UNFCCC Article 2 states the objective of the Convention is to \”prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system\”, ratified by 189 member countries.

[2] IPCC Synthesis Report, Table 2.2, page 64.  Figures refer to 2011. www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/

[3] Also from Table 2.2 as above – note that this is the most conservative (lowest) available number; other estimates suggest that known recoverable reserves are twice as high as this figure.

[4] IPCC. \”Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability,\” Chapter 13. http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/WGIIAR5-Chap13_FGDall.pdf

[5] See UNEP Gap report 2014 http://www.unep.org/publications/ebooks/emissionsgapreport2014/  Mitigation technologies such as Carbon Capture and Storage are only in the demonstration phase, and would need to be scaled up by ~1000 times to make a significant contribution.

More than 75 senior and earlier-career researchers from universities around the world will take part in ASAP\’s new Global Colleagues flagship project – a response which well exceeded organizers\’ expectations.

The project is designed to promote international collaboration among poverty researchers and help earlier-career faculty working at less well-resourced universities become better integrated into global networks and develop their own research agendas. It matches established senior researchers at relatively well resourced universities in North and South countries one-to-one with earlier career researchers, typically in other countries.

\”We received a great number of applications which – and this is particularly encouraging – are very diverse,\” said Robert Lepenies, who is a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in San Domenico di Fiesole, Italy and serves as Chair of the Global Colleagues Steering Committee.

\”We received notes of interest from very young scholars, as well as scholars already more fully engaged in teaching and research,\” Lepenies said. \”There is an enormous variety in terms of geographic location, and topics represented. We are sure this will make for an excellent first cohort. Further, the multiple disciplinary perspectives on poverty that earlier-career scholars contribute also presents a learning opportunity for ASAP as an organization. We\’re looking forward to watching how the partnerships will develop.\”

Senior researchers from Africa, South Asia, Europe, the Americas and elsewhere were to begin meeting with earlier-career colleagues, who are dispersed across a similar geographic range, in late spring 2015. Senior colleagues will offer advice on research plans and assistance in networking among international researchers with similar interests. Earlier career researchers, many of whom are located in provincial cities, will share insights on their contexts, local development challenges and their own research ideas. Significant benefits are expected to flow for both researchers in each pairing.

Mom Bishwakarma, a PhD researcher in Sociology at the University of Sydney who was raised in Nepal, said he was pleased to be asked to share his own insights as a member of the Global Colleagues Steering Committee. He sees strong potential in the project.

\”The Global Colleagues initiative will be effective in strengthening networking among colleagues, information sharing, selection of research priorities in the global South, enhancing the skills of junior colleagues and helping them explore resource opportunities,\” he said. \”This will be an essential project in the days to come.\”

Colleagues will be matched for an initial one-year period. Shared research interests are given emphasis in colleague pairings, and where possible and most appropriate, pairings are made across international boundaries.

Lepenies is planning to administer pre- and post-participation surveys to Colleagues as part of a research study to determine the project\’s impact, especially in terms of helping earlier-career researchers advance their research aims.

For more information on the Global Colleagues project, contact Robert Lepenies at r.lepenies@asap-deutschland.org.