{"id":6381,"date":"2015-07-21T06:44:40","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T06:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=6381"},"modified":"2015-07-21T06:44:40","modified_gmt":"2015-07-21T06:44:40","slug":"extreme-poverty-eases-for-a-billion-people-says-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2015\/07\/21\/extreme-poverty-eases-for-a-billion-people-says-un\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme poverty eases for a billion people, says UN"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Guardian\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that although\u00a0Ban Ki-moon has hailed the achievements of the millennium development goals, he has warned that the world is still riven by inequality. \u00a0The paper begins its report:<\/p>\n

The\u00a0millennium development goals (MDGs)\u00a0have driven \u201cthe most successful anti-poverty movement in history\u201d and brought\u00a0more than a billion people out of extreme penury, but their achievements have been mixed and the world remains deeply riven by inequality, the\u00a0UN\u2019s final report on the goals has concluded. \u00a0Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said that while the 15-year push to meet the eight goals \u2013 on\u00a0poverty,\u00a0education,\u00a0gender equality,\u00a0child mortality,\u00a0maternal health,\u00a0disease, the\u00a0environment\u00a0and\u00a0global partnership\u00a0\u2013 had yielded some astonishing results, it had left too many people behind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All this is worth a read, especially as there are good graphics on the pages. \u00a0The piece ends:<\/p>\n

Ban said that lessons had to be learned from the MDGs as the world prepares to agree their successors, the\u00a0sustainable development goals, which will set the agenda for the next 15 years. \u00a0 \"We need to tackle root causes and do more to integrate the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cReflecting on the MDGs and looking ahead to the next 15 years, there is no question that we can deliver on our shared responsibility to end poverty, leave no one behind and create a world of dignity for all.<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well. \u00a0Maybe. \u00a0I suppose if you're the UN DG, you feel compelled to say stuff like this.<\/p>\n

I've written a few times recently about the SDG mess<\/a> that the UN has created. \u00a0The grab-bag nature of many of the outcomes is well illustrated by one of the goal 4 (education) targets:<\/p>\n

\u201cby 2030 ensure all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture\u2019s contribution to sustainable development.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What the Guardian sais here is worth comparing with the\u00a0study from\u00a0The Copenhagen Consensus Centre<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0asked economists and researchers to look at issues\u00a0covered by the SDGs to see which might be the\u00a0most cost-effective. \u00a0The Centre found that 18 of the 169 would pay back $15 or more for every $1 spent.<\/p>\n

Is this an important focusing of scarce resources, or just more neo-liberalism? \u00a0You choose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Guardian\u00a0reports\u00a0that although\u00a0Ban Ki-moon has hailed the achievements of the millennium development goals, he has warned that the world is still riven by inequality. \u00a0The paper begins its report: The\u00a0millennium development goals (MDGs)\u00a0have driven \u201cthe most successful anti-poverty movement in...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}