Sustainability: Achieving the Millennium Goals

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The Millennium development goals were established to commit countries to sustainable development growth.
GOAL 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
TARGETS
1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day
2. Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
3. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
GOAL 2 : Achieve Universal Primary Education
TARGET
1. Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling
GOAL 3 : Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
1. Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education, no later than 2015
GOAL 4 : Reduce Child Mortality
TARGET
1. Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the mortality rate of children under five
GOAL 5: Improve Maternal Health
TARGETS
1. Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
2. Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health
GOAL 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
TARGETS
1. Halt and begin to reverse, by 2015, the spread of HIV/AIDS
2. Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it
3. Halt and begin to reverse, by 2015, the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
GOAL 7 : Ensure Environmental Sustainability
TARGETS
1. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of
environmental resources
2. Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
3. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
4. Achieve, by 2020, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers
GOAL 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
TARGETS
1. Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system
2. Address the special needs of least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing states
3. Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt
4. In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries
5. In cooperation with the private sector, make available benefits of new technologies, especially ICTs

Task: Access Latin America’s progress in meeting the development goals. My thoughts….
Latin America is still around 50 % below success rate for achieving their goals. According to UN experts the gap between the rich and the poor is growing and creating an ever pending hurdle. Latin America cannot rely on foreign aid to help reach Millennium Goals and does not have the means to achieve the goals independently. The levels of inequality are drastic and Latin America. Latin America would have to redistribute 30 % of the national income in order to halve poverty, how they plan on doing this is beyond me without causing serious social upsets. “According to the Andean Development Corporation, the proportion of the population living on less than two dollars a day amounted to 37 percent in Brazil, 39 percent in Mexico, 45 percent in Argentina, 48 percent in Venezuela, 50 percent in Colombia, 54 percent in Peru and 62 percent in Bolivia.” (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=27437) However, Cuba should be applauded for their effort in meeting equitable health and education standards. Cuba is among the top 20 best performing countries. How are they doing this? Cuba is redistributing income from major industries to fund health and education. This cannot extend to other political systems. Latin America is a very large region and some countries are more on track then others. In regards to empowering woman we need to see this goal met globally. The general conclusions I drew on Latin America were constructed in reference to “The millennium development goals a Latin America and Caribbean perspective.” General conclusions are as follows:
The region is on track to meet the target on hunger. In fact, 15 out of 24 countries have reduced under nurished. It is nonetheless disturbing to note that most of the countries that started out with the highest levels of hunger have not been progressing fast enough to stay on track towards this target.
Latin America had 11% of the overall population living with less than $1.25 a day in 1990, compared to 2011 with 7% of the overall population.
Latin America and Caribbean, the under-five mortality rate decreased from 52 deaths per 1.000 live births to 23.
The shortage of jobs and their poor quality are impeding indication of failure to meet goals. The crisis did not make things better. Open unemployment rose from 6.9% in 1990 to 10% in 2004, and low- productivity agricultural activities and the informal urban sector absorb over one half of the region’s workforce.
The amount of progress made towards some of the targets (including those dealing with gender equity in education, access to an improved water source and the reduction of child mortality) indicates that the region is on track to achieving them.
The degradation of the natural and built environment, which has adverse effects on the poor population in urban and rural areas alike, is serious and is growing worse. SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT, it is not fair that Brazil can destroy the Amazon and the world does not have a say. The degradation of the environment is even worse then we thought and global biodiversity is dropping off at an alarming rate. Without biodiversity there would be no life, no chance for medicine and no chance to learn.

Efforts are being devoted to reducing poverty and hunger in the short run as a matter of the utmost urgency; investments also need to be made in human capital.
The crisis has crippled the millennium goals, I think the strategy and schedule should have been more concrete in order to achieve these goals. The goals seem out of reach to me, it would require complete redistribution of wealth. The most important area for development I believe is education. Education provides the foundation and skill sets for individuals to advance themselves. Below I have inserted a picture from Millennium Goals conference, look how many blue chairs there are. Where is everyone?

Comments Off on Sustainability: Achieving the Millennium Goals / 17 Jan 2012 por Lauren Musiello
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