As for social issues, the poorest fourth of the world population still has very poor access to energy/electricity, education, health, food, clean drinking water and sanitation etc. In some respects the poorest countries are even worse off than they were in 1992. This is e.g. the case when it comes to food security and nutrition. In many countries it is evident that the per capita intake of proteins has fallen during the past ten years.
The rapid spreading of HIV/AIDS is increasingly hampering the poorest countries’ possibilities of sustainable development. The increase in population is still markedly larger in the poorest countries and the global proportion of the poor is therefore rapidly growing. The richer countries have not met their obligation to allocate 0.7% of their annual GDP to assist the developing countries. On the contrary international aid has dropped over the past ten years and reached about 0.22% in 1997.
New opportunities but little willingness to change
We have larger problems ahead of us than ever before, but on the other hand we have never had better opportunities to solve them. The past ten years have given us new technologies, new knowledge, new international agreements and new forums for negotiations. A new awareness of the limitations of the resources of the earth is also gaining ground in more and more populations, with increasing influence on consumer patterns. But the pace of change is much too slow. The world needs urgent action for sustainable development now; real agreements, binding rules and time limits as well as means for their implementation. But, unfortunately, the rich countries – especially the USA – have shown very little willingness to live up to their responsibilities.
The rapid spreading of HIV/AIDS is increasingly hampering the poorest countries’ possibilities of sustainable development. The increase in population is still markedly larger in the poorest countries and the global proportion of the poor is therefore rapidly growing. The richer countries have not met their obligation to allocate 0.7% of their annual GDP to assist the developing countries. On the contrary international aid has dropped over the past ten years and reached about 0.22% in 1997.
New opportunities but little willingness to change
We have larger problems ahead of us than ever before, but on the other hand we have never had better opportunities to solve them. The past ten years have given us new technologies, new knowledge, new international agreements and new forums for negotiations. A new awareness of the limitations of the resources of the earth is also gaining ground in more and more populations, with increasing influence on consumer patterns. But the pace of change is much too slow. The world needs urgent action for sustainable development now; real agreements, binding rules and time limits as well as means for their implementation. But, unfortunately, the rich countries – especially the USA – have shown very little willingness to live up to their responsibilities.