A Gift For The Whole World?

Imagine. It is the morning of Christmas Day. The whole world is waking up to find that Santa has brought the gift that we would all love to receive more than anything:

• an end to hunger worldwide
• clean water and sanitation for all
• basic health care for all
• basic education for all

Are we just dreaming? Could it ever happen?

Let's get real. For example, what would it actually cost? A book that I recently read diligently quoted the United Nations Development Program. "Above current expenditures" we would need:

• $12 billion for the clean water and sanitation
• another $13 billion would take care of both the food and health care
• and only $6 billion would be needed to cover the bill for basic education

That's around $30 billion in total. Let's blow away any sceptics and multiply that by a factor of 5. After all, inflation swells the figures each year and just about all projects overrun on cost. The question is, could we afford $150 billion to buy our Gift For The World? Could we ever find the money?

Well, consider a few unexpected items "above current expenditures" for which we have found the money in recent times:

• $800 billion paid by the USA for operations in Iraq (some estimators say $3 trillion)
• $20 billion paid by the UK for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
• $130 billion for Japan to clean up after the 1995 Kobe earthquake
• over $500 billion made available by the European Central Bank just a few days ago

The internet is awash with similar examples from credible sources. My point is that the inflated estimate of $150 billion to buy the Gift For The World is affordable. The USA alone could comfortably cover it. And if the top ten or so world economies chipped in, their contributions would amount to just pocket money.

Now, here is the good news.

Back in the year 2000, the United Nations Development Program signed up 189 nations to "The 8 Millennium Development Goals" to be achieved by the year 2015. These goals include promises to eradicate hunger and to achieve universal primary education; those are just the top two items.

There are only four years left to achieve all the promised targets. How are we doing?

The answer is on the website of The United Nations Development Program

The world is on track ... and progress in many developing countries is being sustained. This is despite setbacks caused by the economic downturn and the effects of the food and energy crises.

It is, of course, far more complicated than the above quote suggests. But isn't it amazing to discover that we are actually trying ... and getting there.