Basic Income and Climate Change

Basic Income and Climate Change

“Basic income is one of the necessary components of a global, national and regional policy
mix for socio-ecological transformation”, say Ronald Blaschke from Germany and Min Geum
금민 from South Korea. Their memorandum “Basic income as a necessary component of a socio-ecological transformation and key element for climate justice” was first presented at
BIEN’s 2023 congress in Seoul, South Korea, and has gained support by over thirty
organizations and many UBI advocates worldwide. The authors are still looking for more
supporters to join them in their call for a Basic Income addressing climate change.

Signatures can be sent to blaschke@grundeinkommen.de. The full text can be found here.

Revolutionizing Rural China: Shareholding Reforms as a Catalyst for Economic Empowerment

Revolutionizing Rural China: Shareholding Reforms as a Catalyst for Economic Empowerment

China’s ongoing rural reforms are fostering practices akin to basic income, offering dividends to residents in the vast countryside. This development draws a parallel to the broader discussion of basic income within the context of China’s social security system and policies, such as the DiBao policy.

Since 2016, China has embarked on a reform of its rural collective property rights system. This reform, which involves a unified method of property verification by the central government, has enabled many villages across the country to establish clear ownership of assets. This foundational step has set the stage for the distribution of dividends.

The reform involves transforming collective operating assets into a shareholding cooperation system. The government mandates that villages and towns with these assets quantify them into shares for collective members, allowing for the distribution of earnings based on these shares. This approach leverages China’s collective economic base and equitably allocates previously undefined collective property to each member. Consequently, villagers now own shares and receive dividends, significantly enhancing their sense of financial gain.

However, these dividends differ from the traditional concept of basic income. They are conditional, require ownership in the collective, and do not necessarily follow a regular payment schedule. Despite these differences, the reforms have led to innovative institutional experiments across various pilot projects.

For instance, to include permanent residents and workers without shares in dividend distribution, some collectives have introduced new types of shares such as labor, land, and capital shares. This diversification enables broader participation, aligning more closely with the unconditional principle of basic income.

In terms of periodic distribution, some village groups, like Yongjiang Street in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, have moved from lump-sum to regular payments. This approach, now increasingly adopted by local cooperatives, ensures more consistent financial support for members.

The impact of these reforms is tangible. In Beijing’s Haidian district, for example, villagers like Zhong Ercui have transitioned from traditional employment to becoming shareholders and employees of village collectives, receiving substantial dividends. This shift has significantly improved the economic conditions of thousands of residents in the region.

These reforms represent a significant step in China’s rural development, blending traditional collective economic practices with modern principles of equitable asset distribution and financial empowerment for rural residents.

Written by: Martin Han
Editor: Tyler Prochazka

Basic Income is taking a big step forward in Maricá

Basic Income is taking a big step forward in Maricá

Photo: Maricá Mayor Fabiano Horta with São Paulo State Deputy Eduardo Matarazzo Suplicy

Photo credit: Lucas Martins

By Eduardo Matarazzo Suplicy

It was very inspiring to attend a municipal meeting with thousands of people, residents of Maricá, a municipality of the State of Rio de Janeiro, during a visit on November 2- 4. These residents each received a Mumbuca Card of the Citizen´s Basic Income, from the hands of Mayor Fabiano Horta (Workers Party – PT), his predecessor Washington Quaquá (who was the initiator of the pioneering municipality program), and their team.

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Life on Basic Income: Stories from Southern Ontario

Life on Basic Income: Stories from Southern Ontario

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Ontario.svg

A Canadian research team recently presented a new report on the Ontario Basic Income pilot during a launch event organized by their community partners, the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction. The report, which includes a special foreword from Ontario’s former Premier Kathleen Wynne, who implemented the pilot and also spoke at the event, builds upon the same team’s previous quantitative findings. The new research delves into a qualitative exploration of the Ontario Basic Income, highlighting the personal narratives, perspectives, and lived experiences of participants to provide a nuanced understanding of the policy’s effects on different aspects of well-being. The event’s agenda featured a documentary screening, a panel discussion, presentations on national basic income trends, the unveiling of a zine, and more. The occasion was covered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which reported on the event and its key discussions.

A global sense-making session on Universal Basic Income on October 24

UBI Lab Finland started building an understanding of the many perspectives and possibilities of UBI (Universal Basic Income) on the Hunome ‘social 4.0’ platform (see more about Hunome and why we’ve started using it below). UBI Lab Finland is part of the worldwide UBI Lab Network, comprising over 40 individual local and thematic UBI Labs around the world.

We now invite you to join in this build. We are arranging a global sense-making session in, around, and on Universal Basic Income on October 24 at 5-7 PM Helsinki (EEST) | 3-5 PM London| 4-6 PM Paris | 10-12 AM NYC time.  

Bring your thoughts and knowledge, let’s learn from each other across countries and build shared understanding around UBI globally and locally with the atomic community in Hunome!  

To join the UBI SparkMap and this session on Hunome, register on Hunome:

  • During the registration process, please specify “UBI” in the field ‘How did you hear about us’.
  • You will then receive the Zoom session link on the email you use to register to Hunome.
    Please note that the ‘add to calendar’ item at the end of this page only pencils it in for you but is not known to us.
  • If you have already registered let us know at hello (at) hunome (dot) com that you are interested in joining this session.
  • Once you have registered to Hunome you can go to the ‘Universal Basic Income (UBI)’ SparkMap where you can explore the multiple, multidimensional, and multidisciplinary perspectives there already are in the UBI SparkMap and add your thinking there even before this session (and after it).