World Growth

World Growth calls itself "a non-profit, non-governmental organization established to bring balance to the debate over trade, globalization, and sustainable development".

World Growth seems to have been set up to counter the worldwide anti-globalization movement. World Growth implies that globalization means connectedness and harmony and equates the anti-globalization movement with violence. In fact the anti-globalization movement exists to draw attention to the inequities, social disruption, and exploitation that has been exacerbated in third world countries by the terms of so-called free trade. With regard to violence at, say, G8 summits, World Growth does not mention the violence that has been initiated by the police against non-violent demonstrators.

World Growth states:

Unfortunately, not everyone welcomes the interconnected world that we now live in. In recent years, we have seen a dramatic increase in protests against globalization, including violent demonstrations in places such as Seattle (1999), Cancun (2003) and Gleneagles, Scotland (2005). These protests have often been accompanied by attacks on corporations that do business on a global scale.

The high media profile of the anti-globalization movement has created a disturbing imbalance of information about international organizations and multinational businesses. World Growth seeks to restore balance to the debate by documenting how globalization promotes health, wealth and freedom.

Activities

World Growth is the sole named source for a press release issued by Soyatech eNews ("news and intelligence for the soybean and oilseed industry") attacking environmental and social justice groups that have criticised the activities of the palm oil industry. Using a stance that has become common for polluting and damaging industries, the press release claims the moral high ground and condemns activists as immoral for adopting stances "that would force poor countries to give up successful strategies to reduce poverty".

The Soyatech press release of 29 September 2009 says:

Today at the United Nations climate change meeting in Bangkok, the NGO World Growth ... released a new report ... exposing the damaging economic and environmental consequences for developing countries of misguided campaigns by Western "green" groups to halt production of palm oil, the most sustainable vegetable oil available. In particular, the study's provocative findings demonstrate that palm oil has been more effective than most commodity crops in reducing poverty.

Friends of the Earth has produced several publications that argue that palm oil is unsustainable, a major driver of rainforest loss, and devastates rural communities and ecologies.

The 2005 FoE report, "Greasy palms: The social and ecological impacts of large-scale oil palm plantation development in Southeast Asia", documents land conflicts arising from large-scale palm oil plantations in Indonesia. FoE quotes data from the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA), which by September 2002 had recorded 530 cases of land conflicts related to palm oil plantations, more than twice the number recorded in July 2001. According to the KPA, between mid-1998 and early 2002:

• At least 479 local people and activists defending community rights were tortured in 41 conflicts.
• At least 12 were killed in 14 cases.
• At least 134 were shot in 21 cases.
• At least 25 were abducted in 7 cases.
• At least 936 were arrested in 77 cases.
• At least 284 houses or huts were burned down or destroyed in 25 cases.
• No less than 307,954 hectares of peasants' land was affected by crop damage, destruction and burning.
• No less than 1,901 peasants and activists were terrorised in 157 cases.
• Other forms of violence include rape (1 case recorded) and disappearances, which were reported in 88 different cases.

People

As of October 2009:

• Ambassador Alan Oxley – chairman and founder. This is Oxley's biography on the World Growth website:

Alan Oxley was a career diplomat with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with postings at the United Nations in New York and Geneva. He served as Australia’s Ambassador to the GATT and Chairman of the GATT Contracting Parties, the predecessor to the World Trade Organisation.

Ambassador Oxley is the founder of World Growth, a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to exploring how globalization can be harnessed to reduce poverty. He also serves as Chairman of the Australian APEC Study Centre at Monash University.

Ambassador Oxley is Managing Director of ITS Global, a consulting firm on international governmental and multilateral activities, particularly those with a direct bearing on international trade issues. Ambassador Oxley is one of the world’s leading experts on globalization and international trade. He is a sought-after analyst on international trade issues and frequently appears on television and the press such as Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune and New York Times.

Oxley is a regular participant in Lavoisier Group events. This Australia-based organisation promotes scepticism of current scientific consensus on global warming. He is the co-host of the Asia-Pacific pages of Tech Central Station - a conservative website funded by ExxonMobil and General Motors Corporation among others.

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