Opinion Millennium goals,ten years on

I recall how the Millennium Development Goals were initially greeted with cynicism — as unachievable,pie-in-the-sky,a photo-op rather than a development framework. Cynicism has been replaced by hope,born of experience,commitment and breakthroughs.

Back in 2000,the situation in Africa was widely regarded as hopeless. Roughly half of Africa’s population was living on less than one dollar a day. AIDS,malaria and TB were out of control. Wars were pervasive; Liberia,Sierra Leone,Sudan,Uganda,Somalia and the biggest of all,Congo,were all entangled in conflicts. The African economies had stagnated or declined for a generation.

When my colleagues and I suggested that AIDS,malaria and other epidemic diseases could be controlled and that Africa’s economic growth could be spurred if the world helped the continent to achieve the MDGs,we were often greeted with derision. Africa,I was told,was simply too violent,too corrupt,too divided.

A decade later,the picture has changed dramatically. AIDS incidence has declined,from an estimated 2.3 million new cases in 2001 to 1.9 million in 2008; longevity has risen tremendously,with millions of Africans now on antiretroviral treatment. Malaria is dropping decisively because of programmes to distribute bed nets and provide medicines. Primary school net enrollments have risen from 58 per cent in 2000 to 74 per cent in 2007. Most of Africa’s major wars have subsided.

Africa’s economy has also picked up. During 1990-2000,Africa’s per capita GDP declined by 0.3 per cent per year. Between 2000 and 2010,per capita growth was around 3.1 per cent per year. Extreme poverty is declining,though not yet fast enough to meet the MDG targets.

The MDGs themselves deserve a lot of credit by providing a powerful organising framework and a bold but realistic time horizon. Dozens of African governments have now adopted national planning strategies based on the MDGs. Nations around the world now have specific,time-bound,outcome-oriented plans that are showing real progress because they are tapping into the synergies of poverty reduction,increased agricultural output,disease control,increased school enrollments and improved infrastructure as targeted by the MDGs.

Asia and the Middle East have become major markets for African agriculture. African leaders broke old donor-led shibboleths by establishing new government programmes to get fertiliser and high-yield seeds to poor peasant farmers who could not afford these inputs. Farm yields soared.

The MDGs have always recognised the need for a global partnership to end poverty,and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN agencies have been persistent in their support of this ambitious agenda. Ironically,though,the main obstacles to achieving the goals by 2015 in Africa are international in origin,many due to high-income countries.

The first challenge is the donor shortfall in honouring specific financial commitments to Africa. The second is human-induced climate change,another visitation upon Africa from the outside world. The region that has contributed by far the least to human-induced climate change is the one bearing the highest price in terms of drought and crop failures. The third threat is large-scale corruption,often fuelled by major American,European and Asian companies. The fourth threat is rampant population growth. The Roman Catholic Church,politically powerful throughout Africa,continues its opposition to birth control and family planning. The fifth threat is trade. Europe and the US preach free trade,but close their markets to African agricultural products.

The sixth risk is that of neglect. US President Obama has spent only one day in sub-Saharan Africa,and has hardly said a word about the Millennium Goals to the American people. Ironically,it is precisely the goals themselves,rather than hundreds of billions of dollars of annual military spending,that can offer the US and other countries a path to security in places like Afghanistan,Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

The world leaders will agree on the right principles at the summit: targeted investments for agriculture,education,health,energy and microfinance; gender equality; the complementary roles of development aid,trade and private financing. When the donor nations have not just talked but have actually pooled their funds to support the national plans of poor countries,the speed of advance has been breathtaking.

On their 10th birthday,the Millennium Development Goals offer the world a realistic path to ending extreme poverty. -JEFFREY SACHS

The writer is director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University,and was from 2002 to 2006 director of the UN Millennium Project