The Guardian: World poverty is shrinking rapidly, new index reveals – A groundbreaking academic study by Oxford University’s poverty and human development initiative, predicts that countries among the most impoverished in the world could see acute poverty eradicated within 20 years if they continue at present rates. The study of the world’s poorest one billion people uses a new measure, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which includes ten indicators to calculate poverty – including nutrition, child mortality, sanitation, and electricity assets. The academics believe old methods of looking at income levels ignore other deprivations in, for example, nutrition, health and sanitation. “As poor people worldwide have said, poverty is more than money – it is ill health, it is food insecurity, it is not having work, or experiencing violence and humiliation, or not having health care, electricity, or good housing.” (Tracy McVeigh)
NYTimes: Environmental Woes Could Reverse Global Development – An annual United Nations report says that climate change and other environmental disasters could put 3.1 billion people into extreme poverty by 2050. Though the world has become fairer overall, “environmental threats are among the most grave impediments to lifting human development, and their consequences for poverty are likely to be high.” The report highlights the fact that nations with the lowest development indexes are often not the polluters, but they are bound to suffer more from a warming climate. Because of environmental challenges, development — not just income levels, but also education levels and life expectancy — would see a sharp decline, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. (Christopher F. Schuetze)
Devex: US cooperation with Nigeria now ‘a question mark’ – Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to pardon a former government official charged with money laundering in 2005 has led one of its top donors to review its relations with the African country, which could include development cooperation. The US has expressed “deep” disappointment over the decision, arguing that this provides “a setback for the fight against corruption” in the country. The US plans to spend about $600M in foreign aid to Nigeria this year, the bulk of it on health. (Jenny Lei Ravelo)
The Guardian: Ali Hewson: ‘In the next 20 years, Africa is going to blow our minds’ – Ali Hewson just launched the new capsule collection from the African fair trade fashion label, Edun at Paris fashion week. For this collection, they brought together a range of young African creative talents from across the continent. “I really feel that what Africa is going to do creatively in the next 20 years is going to blow our minds,” and “we just wanted to harness some of that energy,” said Hewson. (Sean O’Hagan)
