Will World Bank's plans to eradicate poverty by 2030 succeed?
Jim Yong Kim, President of World Bank, has set out on an ambitious goal. He is looking to remake the world in his own image that will surely appear utopian to many. What Kim wants is to have “a sustainable world where all households have access to clean energy. A world where everyone has enough to eat. A world where no one dies from preventable diseases.” That looks like a tall order but the World Bank has a plan of its own. It is to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. At a time when the world is yet to recover from a full-blown recession and where more than one-fifth of the population still languishes in dire poverty, Kim's chances of fulfilling his dreams may look improbable, if not impossible.
However, this bleak economic picture is not deterring the World Bank from pursuing its lofty goals. Its stated mission “to end extreme poverty within a generation” has not been compromised. The target itself is an update of the Bank's Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set in 2000. It was born out of the Bank's desire to end the misery of 1.3 billion people living on less than $1.25 a day. The MDG goals, according to World Bank, are reasonably supported by the organization’s data, which showed a drop in absolute poverty from 43% in 1990 to 21% in 2010.
However, there are two impediments in the way of accomplishing Kim’s dream. First, the environmental challenge of climate change could act as a big dampener to economic growth and development. The lives of 360 million people would be in jeopardy by the turn of the century if the root causes of climate change and its devastating effect on food grain production are not tackled. Experts predict that catastrophic climate changes would be brought about by noxious emissions and increasing pollution to the environment. Environmental abuse would lead to a rise in the global temperature by as much as 4 degree Celsius – an outcome that must stopped at all costs. Second, the developing and underdeveloped nations will need to catch up with the richer nations through sustainable economic development if they aspire to lift their teeming masses out of poverty.
The problem is that lifting the first impediment can have a negative impact on the second. That is because industries in the developing world are mostly environmentally non-compliant and polluting. So enforcing emission norms would mean shutting down manufacturing units. That is one reason why the geographical pattern of poverty reduction is largely lopsided – only 45 out of 84 developing countries are on track towards meeting the environmental goal. Likewise, the prospects of achieving sustainable economic development appear not too bright considering that it requires adroit planning, inclusiveness and uniform wealth distribution, which are often missing in the developing countries’ economic agendas.
Jim Yong Kim, President of World Bank, has set out on an ambitious goal. He is looking to remake the world in his own image that will surely appear utopian to many. What Kim wants is to have “a sustainable world where all households have access to clean energy. A world where everyone has enough to eat. A world where no one dies from preventable diseases.” That looks like a tall order but the World Bank has a plan of its own. It is to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. At a time when the world is yet to recover from a full-blown recession and where more than one-fifth of the population still languishes in dire poverty, Kim's chances of fulfilling his dreams may look improbable, if not impossible.
However, this bleak economic picture is not deterring the World Bank from pursuing its lofty goals. Its stated mission “to end extreme poverty within a generation” has not been compromised. The target itself is an update of the Bank's Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set in 2000. It was born out of the Bank's desire to end the misery of 1.3 billion people living on less than $1.25 a day. The MDG goals, according to World Bank, are reasonably supported by the organization’s data, which showed a drop in absolute poverty from 43% in 1990 to 21% in 2010.
However, there are two impediments in the way of accomplishing Kim’s dream. First, the environmental challenge of climate change could act as a big dampener to economic growth and development. The lives of 360 million people would be in jeopardy by the turn of the century if the root causes of climate change and its devastating effect on food grain production are not tackled. Experts predict that catastrophic climate changes would be brought about by noxious emissions and increasing pollution to the environment. Environmental abuse would lead to a rise in the global temperature by as much as 4 degree Celsius – an outcome that must stopped at all costs. Second, the developing and underdeveloped nations will need to catch up with the richer nations through sustainable economic development if they aspire to lift their teeming masses out of poverty.
The problem is that lifting the first impediment can have a negative impact on the second. That is because industries in the developing world are mostly environmentally non-compliant and polluting. So enforcing emission norms would mean shutting down manufacturing units. That is one reason why the geographical pattern of poverty reduction is largely lopsided – only 45 out of 84 developing countries are on track towards meeting the environmental goal. Likewise, the prospects of achieving sustainable economic development appear not too bright considering that it requires adroit planning, inclusiveness and uniform wealth distribution, which are often missing in the developing countries’ economic agendas.
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