The first issue of the magazine 'Global Perspectives' in 2009 reviews thepast year and looks at the challenges ahead.Jeffrey Laurenti (Century Foundation) shows us his personal collection of good and bad events for world development in 2008, while philosopher Daisaku Ikeda reflects on 60 years of the International Declaration of Human Rights which was celebrated in December.
Assessing the achievements of last year but also looking at the challenges ahead, several articles deal with the international talks on climate change. Besides some insights from the Poznan Summit they look at the prospects for the upcoming conference in Copenhaagen.
A report by the Global Perspective Monitoring Unit shows the outlook for poverty alleviation in 2009. According to a World Bank Report, rapid growth will allow developing countries as a group to reach the MDG goal to halve poverty by 2015, despite the current financial crisis. However the Sub-Saharan African Region is predicted, notwithstanding gradual progress, to not to reach the target.
Global Perspectives is a bi-lingual (English/German) publication by IPS Europe. It releases monthly editions on various themes of international cooperation and development and is dowloadable for free.
See also the Euforic newsfeed on IPS Europe.
by Martin Behrens