Where Food And Energy Compete
Since 2007, global food and energy prices have been increasing steeply, hitting economies reliant on energy and food imports with great force like a silent tsunami. Rising food costs have led to social unrest in some 30 countries. Food and energy security is more closely connected with political stability than ever before. How to balance food security and energy needs is becoming a burning topic in the international community.
Living Modified Organisms, At Your Nearest Store
Over the last two decades, there has been rapid advancement in the development and application of modern biotechnology -- a technology that involves taking genetic material from one organism and inserting it into another to give it a desired characteristic. This new technology is complex and arouses much debate.
Bailing Out Humankind From Its Social Insensitivity
A host of world leaders met at UN Headquarters in New York on 12 and 13 November 2008 for an inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue on a Culture of ¹ú²úAV, at the initiative of King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.
The MDGs in the European Region and Beyond: A Holistic Approach Needed to Correct Uneven Progress
The regions covered by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) -- the whole European continent, North America and Central Asia -- are characterized by a tremendous diversity in levels of economic development. While most countries of Western Europe and North America have levels of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita well above $20,000, for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) and South Eastern Europe (SEE), the level is below $10,000.
The MDGs and the Least Developed Countries: The Challenges for Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States
When world leaders vowed at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 to spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, they recognized that special measures would be required for the weakest members of the international community to achieve this goal.
Accelerating Development in Fragile States: The Role of the OECD Development Assistance Committee
One sixth of the world's population lives in fragile States, which are also home to one out of every three people surviving on less than a dollar a day. Of all the children in the world who die before reaching their fifth birthday, half were born in these countries. Of all the women who die in childbirth, one in three dies in these countries. While other developing countries are making progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), these fragile nations, ranging from Haiti to Nepal, from Burundi to Uzbekistan, are falling behind.
The MDGs in the African Region: Efforts Need to Be Scaled Up to Accelerate Development
The midpoint to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) -- the time-bound and quantified targets, agreed by world leaders at the 2000 Millennium Summit, for improving the human condition and ensuring gender equality and environmental sustainability -- was reached in September 2007.
Hans Singer: The Gentle Giant of UN Economists
Of the many economists who have worked for the United Nations, Hans W. Singer was the one who did more, and for more different parts of the Organization, than any other.
Scaling Up Development Efforts for Africa: A Global Partnership for Development is Vital for the Region
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) constitute a shared vision of global partnership based on mutual accountability. Developing countries have the primary responsibility for achieving these Goals.
The Millennium Campaign: Successes and Challenges in Mobilizing Support for the MDGs
It was the best news for decades, when in 2000 world leaders acknowledged that the most urgent matter at the dawn of the new century was to put an end to poverty, and that the world has the resources and the know-how to do so.
The Norway-Tanzania Partnership Initiative: A Model for Reducing Child Mortality and Improving Maternal Health
On 29 November 2007, Norway and the United Republic of Tanzania signed a bilateral agreement to support Tanzania's efforts to reduce child mortality and maternal mortality. The modality for support is to channel funds through a common financing basket for the health sector, together with a number of bilateral and multilateral partners, with no earmarking of the Norwegian funds.
The MDGs in Asia and the Pacific: Regional Partnerships Are Key to Addressing Gaps in Implementation
Progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Asian and Pacific region is uneven. We achieved success in some, but faltered in others. Even in areas of success, in-country and intra-country disparities persist. The pace of progress is too slow.
W. Arthur Lewis: Pioneer of Development Economics
W. Arthur Lewis' best-known contribution to development economics was his path-breaking work on the transfer of labour from a traditional to a modern capitalist sector in conditions of unlimited supplies of labour.
Financing for Development to Reach the MDGs: The Experience in the Arab Region
Across the Arab region, progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been uneven. Arab countries with higher income per capita stand with better prospects for achieving the Goals than their low-income counterparts.
Indigenous Peoples and the MDGs: Inclusive and Culturally Sensitive Solutions
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summarize the development targets agreed to at international conferences and world summits during the 1990s. At the end of the last century, world leaders distilled the key goals and targets in the Millennium Declaration adopted in September 2000.