Washington Post (March 20)
“Our long economic winter is a pleasant summer in distant places.” Developed nations have battled economic insecurity over the past several years, but things have actually gotten better in much of the world. Extreme poverty “has been declining in every developing region” and, for the first time since 1981, the rate of extreme poverty is less than 50% in Africa. The UN’s first Millennium Development Goal was to halve the global rate of extreme poverty by 2015. That goal was accomplished in 2010. With these achievements in mind, things aren’t as bad as they might otherwise seem.
Tags: Africa, Developed nations, Developing nations, Extreme poverty, Millennium Development Goal, UN
Wall Street Journal (December 3)
FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, “makes the United Nations seem like a model—well, almost—of transparency and good governance. Even the International Olympic Committee, no stranger to corruption and foul play, benefits by comparison.” The Journal is upset by recent allegations of vote buying and collusion in site selection, which may have benefitted Russia and Qatar at the expense of the UK and the U.S.
Financial Times (October 20)
A UN report has put “a price on the priceless,” valuing global environmental damage at $2-4.5 trillion each year. Though the estimate is wide, it is still useful. The estimate drives home the extent of the damage we inflict on the natural world. “Pricing the toll of human activity also allows us to prioritize our actions more rationally.”
Tags: Damage, Environment, UN
