ABSTRACT
We live in a world of collapsing ecosystems and environments, from fisheries and rainforests to clean air and water, as well as persistent, extreme poverty in most developing countries, where climate change is only one of many serious challenges. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), agreed at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 (by 189 countries), attempt to create a road map for improvement in the main problem areas. The plan reflects high aspirations in many development dimensions, but little progress can be expected without major policy changes, as Africa’s disappointing performance, in particular, so far suggests.1 Generous technology, aid and knowledge transfers need to be complemented with radical policy changes in environmental protection, gender equality, international trade and poverty alleviation.
