Agriculture, Food Security, Nutrition and the Millennium Development Goals
Posted by M Bayeh at 17 Jun 2005, 3:22 PM and is filed under MDGs,Annual Report Essay,Poverty Reduction 
by Joachim von Braun, M. S. Swaminathan, and Mark W. Rosegrant
In 2000, the member states of the United Nations committed themselves to creating a "more peaceful, prosperous and just world," to "free[ing] our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty," to making "the right to development a reality for everyone," and to ridding "the entire human race from want."
Are these just more well-meaning words?
Perhaps this time they will make a difference, because the joint declaration also set out eight goals—the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)--and each goal has specific, measurable targets that should be met by 2015. These goals aim to make definite improvements in the lives of the world’s poor people, judged, in most cases, against their situation in 1990. The need for accomplishing these goals is immense. Today, 1.1 billion people live on less than one US dollar per day (the internationally recognized poverty threshold)--430 million in South Asia, 325 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, 260 million in East Asia and the Pacific, and 55 million in Latin America. Too many children live lives characterized by hunger and illness, and all too often succumb to early death. Moreover, another 1.6 billion people live on between one and two dollars per day, often sliding temporarily below the one dollar per day threshold. To enable all these people to live in dignity, the eight goals to achieve by 2015 are:
Full Text
English (PDF 709K) Español (PDF 433K) Français (PDF 542K) Chinese (PDF 1.5M) Arabic
(PDF 781K)
Joachim von Braun is the director general of IFPRI.
M. S. Swaminathan is the chairman of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, the co-coordinator of the Millennium Project's Task Force on Hunger, and president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
Mark W. Rosegrant is the director of IFPRI's Environment and Production Technology Division.
In 2000, the member states of the United Nations committed themselves to creating a "more peaceful, prosperous and just world," to "free[ing] our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty," to making "the right to development a reality for everyone," and to ridding "the entire human race from want."
Are these just more well-meaning words?
Perhaps this time they will make a difference, because the joint declaration also set out eight goals—the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)--and each goal has specific, measurable targets that should be met by 2015. These goals aim to make definite improvements in the lives of the world’s poor people, judged, in most cases, against their situation in 1990. The need for accomplishing these goals is immense. Today, 1.1 billion people live on less than one US dollar per day (the internationally recognized poverty threshold)--430 million in South Asia, 325 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, 260 million in East Asia and the Pacific, and 55 million in Latin America. Too many children live lives characterized by hunger and illness, and all too often succumb to early death. Moreover, another 1.6 billion people live on between one and two dollars per day, often sliding temporarily below the one dollar per day threshold. To enable all these people to live in dignity, the eight goals to achieve by 2015 are:
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Develop a global partnership for development
Full Text
English (PDF 709K) Español (PDF 433K) Français (PDF 542K) Chinese (PDF 1.5M) Arabic
(PDF 781K)
Joachim von Braun is the director general of IFPRI.
M. S. Swaminathan is the chairman of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, the co-coordinator of the Millennium Project's Task Force on Hunger, and president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
Mark W. Rosegrant is the director of IFPRI's Environment and Production Technology Division.
Aunque el ODM 1 plantea una meta loable, puede ser cuestionable que un Gobierno tenga como meta de desarrollo sólamente reducir a la mitad el hambre. La otra mitad que no está "afectada" por esta meta ha de seguir esperando con hambre más allá del 2015. Por otro lado, cada vez más gobiernos de América Latina están poniendo en la agenda pública acabar con el hambre o "Hambre Cero", cuya meta es la total erradicación y la garantía del derecho a la alimentación de todos los ciudadanos.
Acabar con el hambre que afecta a 53 millones de personas en la región es una meta realizable y que debe ser llevada a cabo con la mayor urgencia, siendo el objetivo de la Iniciativa “América Latina y Caribe sin Hambre”, lanzada por Brasil y Guatemala y apoyada por FAO en la región. América Latina y el Caribe tienen los recursos humanos, naturales y financieros y la capacidad institucional para erradicar el hambre, sobrepasando con creces el Objetivo del Milenio 1 y garantizando el Derecho a la Alimentación de todos sus ciudadanos. Tras varios años con crecimiento económico por encima del 4%, y con gobiernos que están revalorizando “lo social”, este parece ser el momento adecuado para plantear la eliminación del hambre de la región como una “marca” político-estratégica que implique un “desafío latinoamericano de desarrollo”. La Iniciativa puede convertirse en un elemento dinamizador de la cooperación en la Región, fomentando la Cooperación Sur-Sur y una mayor inversión en bienes públicos y en redes de protección social, haciendo que las aperturas económicas de los tratados comerciales puedan ser aprovechadas por los más excluidos.
Reply to this
I think eradicating poverty is the first step but this isn't the only problem, racism and terrorism are heavy problems that need to be dealt with too.
Reply to this