archive

The world’s poor people

From F&D, a special issue on reinvigorating the Millennium Development Goals. Bono on how the MDGs can live up to their promise. It’s been 10 years since world leaders created eight antipoverty goals to be achieved by 2015 — here are three suggestions to aid and inspire the process. So what’s wrong with the MDGs? Can the MDGs be saved? From FP, the MDGs aimed too high, and millions will still be poor and suffering in five years' time, but screaming for billions more in aid money makes light of the significant gains that have been made; and with just five years left, how much good has been done? From Five Books, an interview with Jeffrey Sachs on the MDGs; an interview with Richard Jolly on children and the MDGs; and an interview with Roger Thurow on hunger. A report argues that most of the world’s poor people no longer live in poor countries — as the world’s hungry dips below 1 billion. A look at why big agriculture is the only option to stop the world going hungry. Research suggests developing countries may not benefit from adopting international treaties. An interview with Linda Polman, author of The Crisis Caravan: What's Wrong with Humanitarian Aid? Make health care, not birth control, the priority: Claiming that our inbred propensity to war can be prevented by aggressively reducing the birth rate is a de facto declaration of war on the world’s poor. A world too full of people: Politicians of western countries avoid talking about population control, but if we invest in family planning we might just save our planet. Bright lights, big city: Does it work for girls in the developing world?