Millennium Goals offer security to rich nations
Leading economist Jeffrey Sachs says ending poverty will relieve security concerns of rich nations.
Dr Sachs, best-selling author of The End of Poverty currently serving as Special Adviser to the UN on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), says conflict in places such as the Horn of Africa is fuelled by poverty:
"This isn’t a crisis about Islam, this isn’t a crisis about geopolitics, this is essentially a crisis of extreme poverty. Whether it’s Darfur or Somalia or other conflict regions, people are in conflict because they’re so poor they cannot stay alive — that’s what needs to be addressed for security for rich countries."
Of course, the primary purpose of tackling poverty is not to benefit the rich, but to reduce the misery of the impoverished. Sachs cites targeted investments as simple as mosquito nets and medicines that would help end poverty.
In an effort to advance the MDGs by means of evidence-based policy, Sachs is overseeing a 5-year UN experiment in 78 villages in Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Malawi. The Millennium Villages Project has already had proven successes in tackling food insecurity and malaria. The Project is said to differ from development efforts of the past by trialling integrated interventions directly linked to the MDGs, with the participation of village committees as well as district and national governments.
Sub-Saharan Africa is currently at greatest risk of missing the MDGs — 8 specific targets concerning hunger, health, education, the environment and more — agreed by every country in the world in order to halve extreme poverty by 2015.
The Millennium Development Goals can be met, however, if donor countries abide by their commitment (at the 2002 Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development) to give 0.7% of their GDP in aid.
How much does your government give? Press them to meet this internationally agreed goal of less than one percent of national wealth. It’s in all our interests.
