Tremendous progress has been made in reducing world poverty. People live longer, in better health and conditions, fewer children die in young age from preventable diseases, more children can go to school, and adult literacy, especially of women, has risen enormously. Nevertheless, poverty persists in its many dimensions and the number of poor people in the world has increased. This is especially the case in countries hit by the financial crises and by natural or political disasters. Over 1 billion people live on less than $1 per day, and 3 billion live on less than $2 a day. These people lack access to basic needs like water and food, and face denial of opportunities and choices. They lack information and access to health and education facilities, productive assets or the market for their goods or labour. They live in inadequate or illegal housing -- without piped water, electricity, infrastructure or security of tenure. They lack political freedom and therefore feel isolated and powerless. Social exclusion by ethnicity, caste, geography, gender or disability is not seldom. They often have no way of being heard in places where the decisions which affect their lives are made.

People in poverty survive based on the hopes for a better world for their children. They develop enormous creativity, strength and dynamism to solve their daily problems. Their own skills, values and cultures, their strong social bindings within their communities, and their detailed knowledge of their own environment are their assets. Where poor people are given additional rights and choices, they are able to make good use of them and manage to establish an existence worth living for. For many, the prospects of a sustainable livelihood are, however, worsening as population growth and economic growth accelerate environmental degradation. Therefore, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, proclaimed in 1992 that eradicating poverty is also an indispensable requirement for sustainable development (Principle 5).

UN Photo

And further, in order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it (Principle 4). In fact, significant progress has also been made worldwide in the last decade in the field of the environment. Environmental institutions have been set up, and international cooperation and public participation, as well as civil societies' action, have increased. Legal frameworks, market-based instruments, environmentally-friendly technologies and cleaner production processes have been developed and applied.

Despite this progress, the environment has continued to degrade. Emissions and wastes, especially caused from high consumption in industrialized countries, pollute the earth and destroy ecosystems, and often the poor have to bear many of its costs. Water stress, desertification, deforestation and loss of biodiversity are major environmental dangers. The urgency of many environmental problems has not been realized by big parts of society and policy makers. Progress towards a global sustainable future is just too slow, and the continued degradation of natural resources, shortcomings in environmental responses and renewable constraints may increasingly lead to food insecurity and conflict situations. Neglecting the global environment would eventually jeopardize all sustainable development objectives.

Sustaining hope for continuing progress for poor people in a healthy environment is to be considered as the greatest challenge the world and the United Nations have to tackle more rigorously. Quicker and more substantial progress should be possible if we build on our experience and the lessons learned in eradicating poverty and improving the environment.

As we move towards a global society in the new century of globalization, the United Nations has to ensure that the poorest people in the world benefit from the process and are not excluded or marginalized.

The increasing globalization of the world economy offers not only new opportunities but also many challenges and dangers which need to be managed and watched carefully by the United Nations. The opportunities of increased world trade, quickly advancing and disseminated technologies in all sectors and cheaper transport of goods and information are expected to lead to more long-term progress, prosperity and security worldwide.

The challenges and dangers of globalization, however, are often understated, and its unbalanced growth impacts are not realized. The least developed countries are the ones in danger of not being able to take advantage of the opportunities so that globalization can lead to an increase in inequality. In fact, the last decade has shown increasing concentration of income and wealth among people, companies and countries.

The disappearing borders and increased interdependence of markets and societies have manifold implications. For example, a crisis or disaster in one area is more easily transmitted and felt in another area, like what has happened in the case of the Asian financial crisis. In a global society, people may lose their traditional and national values and their confidence. A more fragile and vulnerable society may lead to undesirable trends like nationalism, combined with religious and political fanaticism. New conflicts and insecurity may arise from globalized crime or spreading diseases. The incentive to increase production in a globalized world may result in further degradation of the environment. Little is known about the real impacts of globalization. What might seem purely economic, social and environmental issues are clearly latent and potentially explosive security matters. Therefore, the United Nations has to ensure that these issues will not lead to new conflicts and that globalization will have a human face which preserves people's hope for ongoing progress.

The United Nations is the universal organization endowed with the authority for dealing with the global issues that concern the international community. It has to demonstrate its strength and leading position in global matters. To succeed, it needs to mobilize greater political will worldwide. Sustaining the hope for continuing progress in the fight against poverty and a degrading environment, as well as in maintaining peace and security, has to be an issue of highest priority to the United Nations in the new century. Only the hope for a better future will give us the power to go on working to achieve a sustainable development.

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