Poverty

New UN Report Shows the Way to Achieving Agenda 2030

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – A new United Nations study has warned that the current growth curve in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis "does not provide the enabling environment" for supporting progress in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

According to the latest World Economic and Social Survey, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires "greater and deeper international coordination in key policy areas including fiscal, monetary and trade."

But the Report launched by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) finds that "such challenges are not insurmountable." In the last 70 years, says the Survey, the world has witnessed episodes of economies experiencing remarkable economic development, which include: Germany and Japan in the 1950s and 1960s, followed by the Asian Tigers – Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 18 July 2017

Photo: Kids in Rishikesh, India. Credit: Wikiwand.

Poverty Impeding Global Sustainable Development

By Santo D. Banerjee

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – While nearly 1.1 billion people escaped extreme poverty between 1990 and 2013 because of strong economic growth that benefited the world’s poorest, "the number of people living in extreme poverty remains unacceptably high, with nearly 800 million living on or below US$1.90 per day," according to a new UN document.

In view of this, "the road to 2030 will not be easy because economic growth alone will not be sufficient to help those remaining in extreme poverty to move out," warns the document prepared for the 2017 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development which kicked off on July 19 and concludes on July 19 after the three-day ministerial meeting.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 16 July 2017

Photo: A bird's eye view of EXPO 2017 Pavillons. Credit: expo2017astana.com

EXPO 2017 Shows the Way to Sustainable Energy Solutions

By Ramesh Jaura

This is the fourth in a series of articles from Kazakhstan which being geographically located both in Asia and Europe, considers itself a Eurasian country. The articles are based on information gathered during a visit from June 7 to June 15 on the occasion of the opening of EXPO 2017 in Astana. Video clips accompany the articles in this series. – The Editor

ASTANA (IDN) - Twenty-five years of independence marked by 25 major achievements leading up to EXPO 2017 that focuses on 'Future Energy' have catapulted Kazakhstan on to the world map, firmly challenging the prevailing view that this, the world's largest landlocked transcontinental country, is still part of the Eurasian steppes.

Touted by some as the 'Disneyland for Adults' and 'a virtual reality beyond science fiction' by others, EXPO 2017 shows the ways to access affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. It is seventh of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to transform our world by 2030, by way of ending "poverty in all its forms" as envisaged in Goal 1. - WATCH THE RELATED VIDEO -

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 21 June 2017

Asian-Fuelled Heritage Tourism Could Be An SDG Enabler

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) - The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit, held for the first time in Southeast Asia, pivoted on how Asia-fuelled tourism would impact the industry worldwide. The discussions also centred around whether tourism could be an enabler of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if it were heritage-focused offering community experiences – rather than “exotic” sites – so that significant leakages of tourism revenue could be tapped.

Financial leakages in tourism occur when revenues arising from tourism-related economic activities in destination countries are not available for re-investment or consumption of goods and services in the same countries. Financial resources 'leak away' from the destination country to another country, particularly when a tourism company is based abroad and when tourism-related goods and services are being imported to the destination country.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 29 April 2017

Children await the arrival of King Norodom Sihamoni on the streets of Siem Reap. Credit: Neena Bhandari

Education & Jobs Crucial As Cambodia Records Pro-Poor Growth

By Neena Bhandari

SIEM REAP/BATTAMBANG, Cambodia (IDN) - The once conflict ridden, impoverished country of Cambodia has made significant strides towards stability and progress, but it is still facing several socio-economic development challenges.

In 2016, it became a lower middle-income country after recording an annual average economic growth of seven percent over the past decade. “The country’s economy has trebled and the number of people living in poverty has halved in the last 15 years. We have to set development issues in the context of those successes,” says Nick Beresford, United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Cambodia Country Director.

: Neena Bhandari; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 March 2017

Photo: Dr Richard Munang, Africa Climate Change and Development Policy expert with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Credit: Ngala Killian Chimtom

‘Innovative Volunteerism’ Key to Africa’s Development Blueprint

By Ngala Killian Chimtom

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – Africa’s present is defined by its vast but unexploited potential but the picture could be changed by leveraging catalytic sectors in which the continent holds comparative advantage, through dedicating available resources.

Dr Richard Munang, Africa Climate Change and Development Policy expert with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) believes that these resources – both physical (technological, institutional, financial and demographical, the dividend to be derived from having most of its population under the age of 25) and non-physical (including intellectual, partnerships, policies and networks) – could be utilised for a comparative advantage with a global competitive edge through what he calls “innovative volunteerism”.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; OPINION; 22 March 2017

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 19 January 2017. Credit: World Economic Forum/Valeriano Di Domenico.

Conflict Prevention Needs UN Reform and Much More

By António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

"The best prevention for conflict and the best prevention for other negative impacts on societies is, of course, sustainable and inclusive development," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in remarks at the special session on “Cooperation for Peace: Tackling the Root Causes of Global Crises” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 19. He also urged the need for "a new generation of partnerships, partnerships not only with governments, not only with civil society and academia but equally partnerships with the business community". Following are detailed excerpts from his remarks.

DAVOS (IDN-INPS) - We live in a dangerous world. We see a proliferation of new conflicts; old conflicts seem never to die. Conflicts are becoming more and more interlinked, more linked with the new threat of global terrorism.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 20 January 2017

Photo: An early morning outside the Opera Tavern in Stockholm, with a gang of beggars waiting for delivery of the scraps from the previous day. Sweden, 1868. Credit: Y. Broling in Ny illustrerad tidning 1868. - Julius Ejdestam: De fattigas Sverige, Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

The Poorest Are a Fast Decreasing Breed

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - President-elect Donald Trump is about to make the American rich even richer with his plan to cut their taxes. A cause for shame. Nevertheless, the history of America is that poorer people have done better than is commonly thought over the last two centuries.

Today they have indoor plumbing, heating, electricity, smallpox and tuberculosis-free lives, adequate nutrition, much lower child and maternal mortality, doubled life expectancy, increasingly sophisticated medical attention, the availability of contraception, secondary level schooling for their children and a shot at university, buses, trains and bicycles, much less racial prejudice, longer retirement, a rising quality of the goods they buy, better working conditions and the vote.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 06 December 2016

Photo: ACP Secretary-General Dr Patrick I Gomes (left) and UNIDO Director General LI Yong (right). Credit: UNIDO

The Challenge of Sustainable Industrial Development

By Dr. Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

Note: The following text is based on ACP Secretary-General's address on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) on 21 November 2016 in Vienna.

VIENNA | BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) - UNIDO cooperation has been very fruitful in strengthening investment capacities in the 79 member states of the ACP Group, particularly to promote sustainable energy, value addition to commodities and development of small and medium enterprise.

In responding to the questions: How the ACP Secretariat is contributing and will be contributing to the promotion of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Developments Goals we are happy to highlight two principles that underlie the approach of the ACP Group to sustainable development.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 22 November 2016

Family in Sierra Leone. UN Photo/ Martine Perret

UN Has Good and Bad News for the Poor

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) - Those in their late 20s but still living in poverty have been assured that the United Nations continues to have them on its radar. Though recent estimates show that despite significant gains since 2002 – the number of people living below the poverty line dropped by half – 1 in 8 people still live in extreme poverty, including 800 million people who do not have enough to eat.

An estimated 2.4 billion people have no access to improved sanitation, 1.1 billion people have no access to electricity and 880 million people live in urban slums. In fact opportunities continue to remain scarce for the world’s most vulnerable people – 59 million children of primary school age are out of school and the youth unemployment rate is 15 per cent, more than three times the rate of adults.