Press Release May 29, 2008 Moltkes Palæ, Copenhagen
Copenhagen Consensus 2008 Youth Forum According to the next generation of global decision makers, the fight against hunger is top priority. After reviewing more than 40 solutions to the 10 greatest global challenges, the Copenhagen Consensus 2008 Youth Forum concluded that the distribution of vitamins to children to fight malnutrition is the best way to invest in the future of the world. Invited by the Copenhagen Consensus Center and representing 37 different countries, the forum of students scrutinized analyses of some of the greatest challenges facing our world today. Then they ranked the proposed solutions according to their potential to solve the challenges most effectively. The Youth Panel participants, representing China, India, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Japan, Russia, France, England, Mexico, Nicaragua, USA among other countries, considered a total of 30 presentations from internationally renowned economists. Each economist presented the benefits of investing in one specific challenge. Afterwards it was up to the Forum participants to evaluate the costs of meeting the challenges and compare these to their conclusions about the benefits that would result. As distributing vitamins promised to yield benefits of USD 17 for each Dollar spent, the fight against hunger ended on top of the list. ”The students have spoken: The proposed effort to stop malnutrition is a highly favourable investment for the world community. My hopes are that decision-makers of the world will listen to them” – said Director of Copenhagen Consensus Center Bjørn Lomborg. The global Youth Forum gathered in Copenhagen from May 26 through May 28 to answer the question: “If we had $75 billion extra to spend improving the state of the world, how would we spend them?” The answer was that vitamins should have top priority, followed by malaria prevention and the provision of clean drinking water. For each dollar spent on malaria treatment and prevention, global society yields benefits worth USD 20, in the form of reduced public health expenses, prevented deaths, increased future earnings, etc. And each dollar invested in securing clean drinking water for the one billion people in need of it, will give three dollars in return. ”I believe there is a real and practical need for the Copenhagen Consensus approach in the world, as it provides the decision makers with a specific tool to prioritize their budgets”, said one Youth Forum participant Annette Ching’andu, Masters in Public Health, Zambia. “For me it has been an opportunity to bring together different approaches to aid policy. It has been inspiring to meet scholars and students from all over the world – our different backgrounds have complimented each other. I have learned a lot”, said Youth Forum participant Yálani Zamora, Master in Latin American Studies and International Economy, Nicaragua. Later today, the Danish Africa Commission has invited the participating students from the Copenhagen Consensus 2008 Youth Forum to review the work of the commission and to give input to the future work of the Commission. The recommendations will be forwarded to all the commissioners and will be presented to the Commission’s regional conferences in 2008 by Copenhagen Consensus Youth Forum members. The Africa Commission has 18 members, including the President of Tanzania, the Prime Minster of Mozambique, the World Bank president and the president of the African Development Bank “Now the students are well equipped to advise the global decision makers on how best to help the world, and I expect that the Africa Commission will gain some extremely valuable input for their future tasks”, Bjørn Lomborg stated.
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Press Release May 29, 2008 Moltkes Palæ, Copenhagen At today’s Press Conference at Moltkes Palæ, Copenhagen 11.30 AM, the complete prioritized list will be presented and handed out. Two representatives from the Youth Forum (From China and Zambia) and Bjørn Lomborg will be available for comments. The Youth Forum is a parallel event to the Copenhagen Consensus 2008 Expert Meeting, where 8 top economists, including 5 Nobel laureates, rank solutions to ten of the world’s greatest challenges. The ten global challenges selected for the Copenhagen Consensus 2008 are: Air Pollution, Subsidies and Trade Barriers, Malnutrition and Hunger, Conflicts, Terrorism, Global Warming, Disseases, Sanitation and Water, Education, Women and Development The Expert Meeting will result in a prioritized list of solutions, identified in ten extensive economic analyses, prioritized according to their potential for solving the ten challenges most cost-efficiently. The list will be made public at 10 AM on May 30, 2008 at Moltkes Palæ, Copenhagen, concluding a week of presentations, discussions and prioritizations for the Expert Panel. The list of prioritized solutions is composed by a panel of economic experts summoned in Copenhagen from the 25. to the 30. of May 2008 at Moltkes Palæ. The Expert Panel members are: Douglass C. North Robert Mundell Vernon L. Smith Thomas Schelling Jagdish Bhagwati François Bourguignon Finn E. Kydland Nancy Stokey
Nobel Laureate in Economics 1993, Professor of Economics, Washington University in St. Louis, Hoover Inst. Nobel Laureate in Economics 1999, Professor of Economics, Columbia University Nobel Laureate in Economics 2002, Professor of Economics, Chapman University Nobel Laureate in Economics 2005, Professor of Economics, University of Maryland Professor of Economics, Columbia University Director of Paris School of Economics, Former Chief Economist and First VicePresident of the World Bank Nobel Laureate in Economics, Professor of Economics, University of California Professor of Economics, University of Chicago
For further information Expert lists and time schedules are available at www.copenhagenconsensus.com. Director of Copenhagen Consensus Center and originator of the Copenhagen Consensus 2008 conference Bjørn Lomborg is available for comments and interviews. Please contact Head of Press, Tommy Petersen, tp.ccc@cbs.dk, 51290131.
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