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Millennium development goals summit: live updates World leaders begin gathering in New York today for a three-day UN millennium development goals summit to review ambitious anti-poverty targets adopted in 2000. Follow updates throughout the summit This page will update automatically every minute: On | Off
A woman gazes out from a window in her shanty in a slum area in the heart of Manila on September 6, 2010. Photograph: Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images
12.19pm: Over the next three days, the great and the good will be discussing how far the world has gone in meeting the MDG agreed at a UN summit five years ago. The event will culminate in an address by Barack Obama on Wednesday. Others, among the 140 leaders descending on New York, include President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao.
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Of the eight goals, the UN agrees that the goal of halving poverty and hunger and cutting in half the number of people without clean water will be met. Progress on the other goals, ranging from helping women and their newborns to environmental sustainability, are mixed. Here are the eight MDGs Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower women Reduce child mortality rate Improve maternal health Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Ensure environmental sustainability Develop a global partnership for development The Guardian's health correspondent, Sarah Boseley, will cover the event from New York and we'll be pulling material from around the world over the course of the next three days. Post your thoughts below or email me at mark.tran@guardian.co.uk. There is already a wealth of material on our new Global development site, which includes Madeleine Bunting's piece on the eight goals set out in 2000. In today's paper, we return to 10 newborn African babies who were featured five years ago as part of the Guardian's focus on Africa during the Make Poverty History campaign. Here is the official UN summit site. If you wish to be part of the summit on twitter, you can follow us on GdnDevelopment, Sarah Boseley in New York, or look out for tweets with these tags #gdndevelopment #mdgs. Add your voice to our Audioboo stream to the UN MDG summit in New York. We will feature some of our favourites. 1.04pm: In prepared remarks for the summit, the World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, says that the World Bank has helped to save the lives of 13 million people with its MDGrelated funding for the world's poorest since 2000. Here are some of his main points: • Over the last three decades, developing and emerging economies have made progress in overcoming poverty. In 1981, 52% of people in developing countries lived in extreme poverty; by 2005, that share had been cut by more than half. Efforts by developing countries were paying off right up until the crisis, with poverty falling sharply in east Asia, Latin America, and eastern and central Europe.
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• The triple-blow of food, fuel and financial crises since 2008 has slowed down and even reversed progress towards the MDGs in many countries around the world. The World Bank estimates that 64 million more people are living in extreme poverty in 2010, and some 40 million more people went hungry last year because of the crises. He also makes a plea for "joined-up" thinking. "We need to interconnect the various goals. It is not enough to build health clinics if there are no roads for mothers to gain access to them. It is not enough to train teachers or provide textbooks, if children have to struggle with homework at night in the dark. People do not live their lives in health sectors, or education sectors, or infrastructure sectors, arranged in tidy compartments. People live in families, villages, communities, countries, where all the issues of everyday life merge. We need to connect the dots." 1.19pm: With purse strings tight because of the economic crisis, expect much talk over the next few days on how to get the best bang for development bucks. The head of the US Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, told Reuters that it was time to rethink strategies for tackling poverty to focus on economic growth, accountability and fighting corruption. Shah said President Barack Obama's administration, which remained committed to boost the US aid budget to $52bn (£33.3bn) from about $25bn, was pushing for a new approach to making aid more effective. He called for more rigorous accountability standards, programmes that emphasise local economic development over handouts, and a more aggressive effort to bring new scientific and technological innovations into development work. With US congressional elections on Nov 2 and voter frustration over the slow economic recovery and high unemployment, Shah said it was vital to show Americans that their tax dollars were not going to waste. 1.39pm: Britain's thinktank on international development, the Overseas Development Institute, has a useful country-by-country assessment of MDGs. ODI's report card makes a crucial distinction between absolute versus relative progress. Relative progress measures a country's progress against initial conditions whereas absolute progress measures change regardless of initial conditions. Low-income countries, especially those in Africa, tend to rank top on absolute progress, whereas middle-income countries tend to do better at closing the gap. Vietnam and Ghana have done particularly well, ODI reports.
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Vietnam made unprecedented progress in improving the lives of the poor. It featured in the top 10 of several indicators, including halving the proportion of underweight children, and reducing the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day from nearly two thirds to one fifth in just 14 years. Ghana outperformed all other countries around the world by reducing hunger by nearly three-quarters, from 34% to 9%, between 1990 and 2004. It will achieve MDG 1 before 2015. 1.52pm: The Africa-based health development organisation (Amref) has been producing these punchy videos featuring African teens talking about progress towards meeting the various MDGs. Here is a report on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, the first millennium development goal. 2.13pm: Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, will fly to New York before the Lib Dem conference has finished. He is under pressure from his party to ensure that the coalition government spends 0.7% of gross national income on overseas aid by 2013, the Press Association reports. David Hall-Matthews, from Camden, who chaired the working group that prepared a paper on aid sent a message to Clegg. "Nick, please will you take a copy of this on the plane with you to read and check the first line on page 17. O.7% of GNI to be spent on aid is a Liberal Democrat commitment, it is not an aspiration, like you told Andrew Marr this morning." The coalition government has protected the aid budget from any cuts, a decision that is not popular with voters. A recent survey reported that over half of Britons think aid is wasted, although, paradoxically, most people think it morally right to give aid to poorer countries. 2.26pm: It won't be just policy wonkery over the next three days. Delegates will be shopping and dining as well. The Associated Press has an entertaining piece about the other side of summitry - gridlock and restaurant bookings. Restaurants are clearing space for world leaders and their entourages, the Waldorf-Astoria is fluffing the pillows in the presidential suite and people who live on Manhattan's east side are just hoping to get into their buildings without a police escort. Antonio and Mario Cerra, the father and son owners of a UN-area Italian steakhouse called Padre Figlio, were busy last week booking tables for countries such as East Timor. It has a reservation for 35 at Padre Figlio, which in the past has hosted events for Nigeria and Grenada.
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Antonio Cerra said the diplomats will eat hearty Italian food with luxurious touches like black truffles, now in season. "They know not to ask for Russian food," he said. "They know not to ask for kosher. They get pasta, seafood, steak, boom." Cerra said high-level delegations typically take a private room with their security details occupying one or more tables at the periphery not drinking wine. "Soda, water, juice," he said. David Pogrebin, the general manager of the French restaurant Brasserie, said his entire restaurant was booked during the 2009 general assembly for a luncheon with UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. "The black cars were literally triple-parked," Pogrebin said. "They don't carpool." 2.34pm: There's more side events than you can shake a stick at at these summits. Sarah Boseley has just been to a symposium called Women: Inspiration and Enterprise organised by the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood hosted by Sarah Brown, wife of former PM, Donna Karan and Arianna Huffington.
Sarah emails: "They've just held a brief press conference that was mostly photo op on a New York rooftop. Huffington said Brown (global patron of the alliance) "had moved seamlessly from being the first lady of England to the first lady in changing the world". 3.13pm: Sarah Boseley, who interviewed Sarah Brown ahead of the summit, has just sent this report on that symposiu. Over o the other side of New York from the UN building, powerful, ambitious and wealthy women – together with some from Africa and Asia who won prizes to get here – have gathered for the first ever Women: Inspiration and Enterprise Symposium. It's hosted by the White Ribbon Alliance, which campaigns against the deaths of women in pregnancy and childbirth in developing countries. It's happening today to put pressure on world leaders at the UN MDG summit to prioritise women's health. Sarah Brown is hosting it, together with Donna Karan and Arianna Huffington. Kathy Lett is telling jokes, Amanda de Cadenet – photographer and former Big Breakfast host – Ashley Judd and Diane von Furstenberg are among the glitterati. Queen Rania of Jordan was there to receive an award for her work on behalf of women in the developing world.
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There's little doubt that a good many women have come to find out how to succeed like they have. But the hosting trio, in a brief press conference that was mostly a photo-op on the rooftop over breakfast, were at their most "heartfelt" (in London, one would say gushing) in their praise of each other and dedication to the cause of maternal mortality. Women in fashion are increasingly looking at the inside, not just the outside, said Karan, and together they can change the world. "Really looking into your heart and soul - at that point you know there is not any question for you," she said. Huffington praised the other two as "two women I greatly admire because they have made their lives about something beyond their own success in ther world. They are the role model for all of us." Sarah Brown, she said, "has moved seamlessly from being the First Lady in England to the First Lady in changing the world. That is fantastic. Donna has never stopped. She is a phenomenal businesswoman, designer, artist..." 3.17pm: To coincide with summit, more than 60 public TEDxChange satellite events will be held around the world. They are organised as viewing parties and discussions around a live webcast from New York, convened by Melinda Gates. Around two thirds of the events are being held in Europe and North America, with the remaining third spread across Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. (Registration required.) 3.24pm: You can follow a live webcast of the summit here. Right now, it's all procedural stuff, as in "please don't overrun your speeches and please stay in your seats when somebody finishes speaking". This Twitter list is worth following. 3.30pm: We're off. The summit has opened with the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, making his welcoming remarks. Here's a snippet from AP. "We brought new urgency to an age-old mission," he said. "And now, we have real results. New thinking and path-breaking public-private partnerships. Dramatic increases in school enrolment. Expanded access to clean water. Better control of disease. The spread of technology from mobile to green." But Ban called the advances "fragile" and declared "the clock is ticking, with much more to do." He urged the leaders to deliver the needed resources "above all by exercising political leadership." "Despite the obstacles, despite the scepticism, despite the fast-approaching
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deadline of 2015, the millennium development goals are achievable," the secretary-general said. 3.34pm: President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been busy kicking Roma out of France, is now at the podium. He says much progress has been made, but much remains to be done. He asks donor countries whether they will use the unprecedented economic crisis as a pretext to do less or "will we do our utmost to live up to our promises?" He says France will increase its aid by a fifth over the next three years. 3.44pm: In his welcoming remarks, Joseph Deiss, the president of the general assembly, called on governments to send "a strong message about our will to achieve" the MDGs by the target date of 2015. "We must do it, we want to do it and we can do it," Deiss said. "We do not have the right to fail. The eyes of the world are upon us." Ban Ki-moon emphasised the importance of investing in women and girls. "There is more to do for the mother who watches her children go to bed hungry – a scandal played out a billion times each and every night. There is more to do for the young girl weighed down with wood or water when instead she should be in school. And more to do for the worker far from home in a city slum, watching jobs and remittances disappear amid global recession." Ban is expected to unveil a global strategy for improving women's and children's health, with studies indicating that a boost in this area will have an enormous multiplier effect across all the MDGs. • UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon opens summit by urging rich countries to 'send a strong message of hope. Let us keep the promise' • Sarkozy urges aid donors not to use economic crisis as a pretext to do less • More than 140 world leaders are expected. Amid high security even UN staff and permanent correspondents are subjected full screening to enter the UN building 4.01pm: Check out a new Guardian interactive - charting progress on poverty. Sign up to receive our email newsletters on the UN summit. We'll be sending one out each day of summit, then fortnightly. Register here.
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4.13pm: ActionAid has put out this video urging help for poor women farmers. 4.39pm: WaterAid makes a plea for more investment in sanitation and clean water. "Diarrhoea is the biggest killer of children in Africa today. The terrible truth is that these deaths could be prevented with sanitation and clean water. It's not rocket science. No one needs to die from diarrhoea in the 21st century", said Mariame Dem, WaterAid's head of west Africa region. WaterAid cites new figures from the World Health Organisation showing that sanitation is now the most off-track MDG target in sub-Saharan Africa, and the second most offtrack target worldwide after nutrition. 4.47pm: Someone else blogging on the summit. Broker, a magazine and website, is in New York to "spectate on developments and longer term strategic choices as the MDGs approach the final whistle".
4.54pm: What it's like covering these jamborees? Sarah Boseley gives us a flavour in her latest missive. Reminds me of happy days covering the UN. Hang in there Sarah, there is no place like the UN for networking. Everybody drops in, not just dignitaries but celebrities. We all wanted to meet the likes of Geri Halliwell of Spice Girls fame when they came by. A yellow cab refuses to take me to the UN building on 1st Avenue. When I get there via train and walking, I see why. A massive police cordon has stopped all traffic movement beyond 2nd Avenue and only those with plastic passes on metal chains can get through. Lucky I queued half an hour for mine – which still necessitated filling out forms even though it had been approved a week ago - last night. Media arrangements at the UN are designed to make clear to us what a lower species of life we journalists are. There is a packed media room in a building styled like a warehouse and two video screens relaying – silently – the speeches of one government leader after another in the main chamber. Headphones are available should you want to listen. I caught a snatch of Bolivia advocating sport for children to distract them from "this perversity" - not sure which one - before calling for access to water as a human right. The media are restricted to the warehouse, but every now and
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then we are offered a "stake-out". This turns out to be access to a roped-off and heavily guarded section of a corridor, where we can gather to listen to a dignitary. It was announced that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was at the stake-out – but when I got there he must have moved on. A few cameramen stood there with their heavy gear, shifting from foot to foot, and a few important people swept past and with their entourages, but that was all. 5.20pm: The UN development fund for women (Unifem) outlines four priority areas for urgent action. • Expanding women-friendly public services • Guaranteeing land and jobs for women • Increasing women's voice in decision-making • Ending violence against women and girls It will unveil new "gender justice" statistics later today at an event that will be webcasted. Key data and related reports are available on the Unifem website. 5.27pm: The Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has just echoed Sarkozy, in calling for a small tax on financial transactions, to fund the MDGs. The idea of such a tax, notably advocated by former economist James Tobin, has been knocking around for years. Don't hold your breath. 5.35pm: You can follow coverage of the summit through the Voice Project, founded by Oxfam, bringing together bloggers from around the world. On gender issues, a couple of comments on Huffington Post. Evelyn Leopold, who covered the UN for Reuters, discusses maternal mortality. The statistics for maternal mortality have improved by 34%. That means a woman is no longer dying every minute, but one woman is still dying every minute and a half. Mary Robinson and Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel peace laureate, call for more women to be involved in discussions on climate change. The battle to protect the environment is not solely about technological innovation -- it is also about empowering women and their communities to hold their governments accountable for results.
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5.50pm: The international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, says he will push for all aid to be more transparent and more accountable. Here's what the Department for International Development wants to see coming out of the summit. • An internationally agreed action agenda setting out the steps that need to be taken to meet the MDGs by 2015. • Collective international action to reduce the number of mothers and babies dying around the world and to fight to prevent the spread of diseases such as malaria. • A strong focus on transparency and accountability and the need to maximise the impact of aid. • Agreement to work together to address issues of conflict, fragility and violence which are hindering progress. 5.59pm: Here are pictures from this morning' session. Quite a few empty seats in some of the photos, but I'm sure it will be a full house on Wednesday when Obama shows up. 6.02pm: ActionAid likes Sarkozy's call for a tax on financial transactions. "It's fantastic that France is proving that even in tough economic times, money can be found to tackle poverty. As chair of the G20 from next year President Sarkozy is in pole position to lead progress on a financial transaction tax. This tiny tax on major financial deals would cost banks little, but raise big bucks for the world's poor," said ActionAid's head of policy, Meredith Alexander. 6.21pm: There are reports galore at this summit. Here is one from the UN economic commission for Africa and the OECD thinktank on progess in Africa. From the executive summary. The loss of growth in 2009 and its impact over the next two to three years have set back the impressive progress that Africa had started to make towards the millennium development goals (MDGs), and has left the legacy of significantly greater challenges over the five-year period remaining, to 2015. Two other significant developments since the last report in 2009 have been the greatly increased international attention on climate change and the growing engagement between Africa and emerging economies. There is increasing awareness of the fact that climate change – which is not a problem of Africa's making – will impose major costs and will have profound impacts on its prospects for economic growth and poverty reduction. The growing engagement with emerging economies – reflected in the diversification of Africa's trading partners – has been another key factor in
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helping to cushion the impact of the crisis, and will profoundly alter the development landscape to 2015 and beyond. 6.34pm: Eliza Anyangwe who was at the TedX event in Accra, Ghana sent this. We sat patiently through poor broadband connection and applauded every speaker. But we gave rapturous applause to Graca Machel; freedom fighter, president of the foundation for community development and wife of Nelson Mandela. Machel, who was speaking from New York, moved the TedXAccra group with her focus on Africa, saying: "Everybody seems to have a plan for Africa, but we need a plan developed by Africans for Africans." This was met with obvious agreement from the room. The view in Accra is that the MDGs don't measure the solidarity and the links between different African communities - the networks that will be essential to maintain progress in development. Neither do they measure African's self-confidence or happiness. Machel indicated that the MDGs were not bad, but there were too few voices included within them. 6.49pm: Foreign Policy magazine has its own take on progress on each of the eight MDGs by Elizabeth Dickinson, who neatly encapsulates how everything is connected. In the last half-century that the world has been trying to do "development," perhaps the biggest lesson that analysts and aid workers have learned is that cutting poverty is pretty much an all-or-nothing proposition. You can't, for instance, improve education if you don't empower women; you can't feed people if you don't shore up the international trading regime; and you can't reduce inequality when corruption pervades. She says MDG 7 - ensure environmental sustainability - has been a disaster, as the world didn't meet its 2010 targets to stop the loss of species, and 13m hectares of forest are still uprooted each year. With climate change accelerating, these problems may well get worse before they get better, she asserts. Also on Foreign Policy is a typically thorough piece by Colum Lynch on all the diplomatic jostling and manoeuvring that can be expected in the next few days on nondevelopment issues from Rwanda to Iran to Sudan. 7.06pm: While world leaders congregate at the UN, a "social good summit" is taking place today at the 92nd Street Y, a community centre in the upper east side. The summit will discuss
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the ways in which new media can help achieve the MDGs. Two Oscar winners are scheduled to appear, Geena Davis and Edward Norton. 7.10pm: The delegates are still out to lunch. The live UN webcast is showing an entrance with a revolving door, riveting stuff. Meanwhile, more on the TEDxChange events that have been going on around the world. Mariam Cook, who attended the London even, writes: TEDx London is buzzing with 400 attendees. Hooked up to TEDxChange in new York along with 80 other TedX events around the world we have heard an upbeat series of speakers emphasizing progress, national success stories and solutions. Melinda Gates appealed for innovations in development to be drawn from all sectors' She used the example of Coca-Cola to argue for the importance of real time data and measurement, and enlisting the help of local entrepreneurs to accelerate progress toward development goals. The disappointment in London was palpable when the audio connection between London and new York was lost - so Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's speech could not be shared with the global TEDxChange audience. 7.27pm: Sarkozy's call for a financial transactions tax receives more support from NGOs. Tearfund, a Christian relief and development agency, and a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), put out this statement. 'It's great to see France and Spain advocating a financial transaction tax, which would benefit the world's poorest people. This strong lead is exactly what the world needs if we are to raise the additional money that is needed to meet the commitments we made through the millennium development goals and to tackle climate change, which is already affecting some of the world's poorest communities." The trouble is the US does not seem too keen on the idea. 8.00pm: This is what the prime minister of Bhutan, Jigme Thinley, told delegates. "Since happiness is the ultimate desire of every citizen it must be the purpose of development to create enabling conditions for happiness. As it is likely that the relevance of eight MDGs will remain beyond 2015, my delegation would like to propose that we include happiness as the ninth MDG." 8.15pm: Proceedings have resumed with the president of Croatia making the first post-lunch
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presentation. Judging by the number of empty seats, many are still out to lunch. On that note, it's time to wrap things up until 12.30pm tomorrow. Next Previous Blog home
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Comments in chronological order (Total 11 comments) Show all comments in new window Post a comment Staff Contributor
watercouncil 20 September 2010 1:22PM Of the eight goals, the UN agrees that the goal of halving poverty and hunger and cutting in half the number of people without clean water will be met. But, to date about 1 million people are still without access to safe water and more than 2.6 billion lack access to basic sanitation. Ger Bergkamp, Director General of the World Water Council writes in an article today: "While a few countries may reach the water and sanitation targets, insufficient emphasis is put on the role of water to reach the Millennium Development Goals [...] At the UN summit, world leaders need to recognize that improving access to water and sanitation benefits the capacity to reach all of the MDGs. There is a clear correlation between clean water, basic sanitation, ending extreme poverty and socio-economic development. In many ways, providing access to safe water is a catalyst for broader change and development." Recommend? (0) Report abuse
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Strummered 20 September 2010 2:56PM "Antonio Cerra said the diplomats will eat hearty Italian food with luxurious touches like black truffles, now in season." Cynical moi? Recommend? (4) Report abuse Clip
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Jeneral28 20 September 2010 4:04PM The goals are GLOBAL targets (see the writings of Sir Richard Jolly, Jan Vandermoortele for eg) and the stastical targets in each goals are not meant to be achieved by each country especially those in Africa. Therefore, the great need is to have context-specific development plans (not just targets) toreach a collective target--the MDGs. It is also fine that the MDGs are cheerleaders for increasing aid and development focus, but the greater need is for ideas to be set out for a route really out of development. Check out more in my post "Why I still believe in the MDGs". I'm not sure all world leaders and policy makers even understand what the MDGs are and are not. http://ipeanddevelopment.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/why-i-still-believe-in-themdgs/ Recommend? (0) Report abuse Clip
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Jeneral28 20 September 2010 4:08PM Robert Zoellick should start by affirming that his neo-liberal agenda inthe past (as US Trade Rep) has kept developing countries locked into poverty. Recommend? (2) Report abuse Clip
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Halo572 20 September 2010 4:10PM 'The Millennium Development Goals can still be met if enough work is done, the UN secretary general has said.' That applies to a lot of small things in life but they never get done, mostly because people don't care or can't be bothered. Add in that it isn't going to generate any profit and it isn't really that hopeful is it. Let's face it, improving the world isn't exactly as useful as speculating on property or commodities or packaging up debt and selling it on in some pyramid selling scheme. Now that is much more worthwhile. Recommend? (1) Report abuse Clip
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Jeneral28 20 September 2010 4:31PM @Halo572 what is exactly used in speculating on property? That has created more negative effects--you should know what--than anything worthwhile. Recommend? (0) Report abuse Clip
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andrebreton 20 September 2010 5:54PM Hmmm‌and there was me thinking the Millenium came round a decade ago‌ Do the world's ruling classes care? Of course not! Ending world hunger cost (according to UN) = $195 billion Amount spent on Military research by the US alone last year = $720 billion Enough said. Recommend? (1) Report abuse Clip
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RudyHaugeneder 20 September 2010 7:15PM Climate change is rapidly and badly affecting the world's food growing regions and that, despite some Millennium Development Goals almost being met, means these accomplishments will soon disappear -- especially in worst-hit places like most of Africa, China and India. And when that happens, and it will, very soon, the poverty and disease that prompted the Millennium Development Goals will be seen as the good times. Doubt it? Ask a serious international commodity analyst how much of the world's grain belt, for example, has been inked "red" for current and future disasters. You are likely to be shocked. Recommend? (1) Report abuse Clip
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Jeneral28 21 September 2010 4:20AM Yes the myth is that the MDGs has made the world spend too much on it. Spend too much? the spending is not the issue, it's the abuse of spending. Aid, especially from countries like the US, has never been used for development purposes but instead for political/military purposes. Even if the aid is for development, it is usually neoliberal condition linked aid, which has been known to cause(to no surprise) the debt crisis of the 1980s, theAsian Financial Crisis and volia, the current economic mess-which countries willingly increased their debt by bailing out banks! Recommend? (0) Report abuse Clip
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JazCummins 21 September 2010 11:03AM @watercouncil thanks for the link, and your views on water's prominence, I've sent that to Mark (mark.tran@guardian.co.uk) who'll be running the live blog again today. Similarly Jeneral82 thanks for the post on why you still believe, great to hear more of your thoughts here.
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RudyHaugeneder thanks for raising the issue of climate change's impact on food growing regions, I see you've been following John Vidal's series from Peru which delves into this issue, one we're hopping to discuss more. (Community Co-ordinator) Recommend? (0) Report abuse Clip
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BethanHelpAge 22 September 2010 2:26AM “Washington Consensus dead, long live social protection!” Its hard to get inspired by the language in an Summit outcome document, but the trades unions are all excited about that today. Sharon Burrow, Secretary of ITUC along with Jane Stewart, special representative to the UN for International Labour Office amongst others have been highlighting the step change in attitudes at the UN and internationally towards decent work, social protection, and ultimately, on the role of the state and the need to tackle inequality. In Outcome Document language which refers to the need for decent work, social protection and the Global Jobs pact, they see a recognition of a new development agenda and a new role for the state – one where governments’ economic policies are a servant to the real economy, to real jobs, where sustainable growth means providing a minimum floor of basic services and cash transfers to people in poverty - not just as a short-term fiscal stimulus, but as long term guarantee. A ray of hope indeed, and one supported to some extent by the IMF – which yesterday announced in a high profile meeting of world leaders its support for governments’ role in supporting sustainable growth and job creation, and its willingness to work with the International Labour Organisation – this is a shift in global attitudes indeed, and one which could only have been brought about by the global financial crisis. And the how would this new consensus respond to the challenge of global population ageing? The ITUC fully supports the need for social pensions as “the fastest way to get to universal social protection and provide a dignified retirement” - well bless you Ms Burrow, it’s a good day indeed to see global trade unions reaching out to the 70% of the global working poor who do not work in the formal economy, are usually unaffiliated to trade unions and cannot afford to save for retirement. The real work, of course, will be the battle turning this language into meaningful change for working age older poor people on the ground, as the Brazilian and Latin American union activists vocally stressed. ‘Down with the Washington Consensus, long live social protection!’ A new development tax on financial trading?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/sep/20/un-mdg-... 22/09/2010
Millennium development goals summit: live updates | Global development | guardia... Page 18 of 18
Elsewhere, the press pack was mobbing a meeting opened by Queen Rania of Jordan. The subject? A financial transactions tax which could provide $30 billion per year for development. By taxing short term financial trades (the sort that recently brought the world to its knees) at 0.005%, meeting organisers claims to have found a source of innovative financing for health, education and all manner of other development projects which wouldn’t affect the working of financial markets (though the potential for the tax to tame financial market volatility must be a bonus). Unsurprisingly, the UK and the USA have been reluctant to support - but the governments of Japan, France and other countries speaking at the meeting may just go it alone anyway. Royal good luck to you – we at HelpAge can think of a few ways to spend the money – just 3% of global GDP would fund social pensions for the world’s poorest older people, how’s that for an innovative idea?! Bethan Emmett HelpAge International Recommend? (0) Report abuse Clip
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/sep/20/un-mdg-... 22/09/2010