Blue Planet Prize Story

8 The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

In order to achieve the first goal, the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, they also set the goal of cutting malnutrition and the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day in half. All 193 UN member states agreed to work toward achieving these goals.

On September 11, 2001, however, the terrorist attacks in the United States took place. The United States moved toward war. This brought dark clouds over the movement to make this world better in harmonious cooperation among countries.

Professor Sachs wanted to do something for international cooperation and asked Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the UN, what he could do. Secretary-General Annan asked Professor Sachs to handle the UN's Millennium Project aiming to achieve the MDGs. Professor Sachs knew the value of these goals and decided to promote the project.

At the same time, Professor Sachs was asked to become the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, where specialists in a wide range of fields gather to work on solving problems regarding climate, environmental preservation, public sanitation, and economic development.

Professor Sachs accepted the offer because the institute was closely related to the Millennium Project. One Millennium Project activity handled by the institute was the Millennium Village Project, which is to provide effective and immediate assistance to villages in Africa suffering poverty.

Professor Sachs recognized the extreme importance of broadening work on global issues caused by our economic activities, issues such as global warming, the worsening of the natural environment, and the explosive increase in population, to solve many other problems.

For example, if global warming becomes more serious, ice sheets in Greenland and the South Pole will melt, causing the sea level to rise and inundate low-lying land, infectious diseases such as Malaria will spread, crop failure will increase, and natural disasters will occur with greater frequency. Our efforts to reduce poverty may be wasted if global warming continues.

In order to solve such global issues, it is necessary to review our existing methods, and to seek cooperation among all the countries in the world. Disseminating this concept, Professor Sachs has succeeded in leading the world to achieve the MDGs.

While working to reduce extreme poverty in emerging countries around the world, Professor Sachs was also concerned about serious problems in advanced countries, problems such as the gap between rich and poor, the worsening of the environment and education. This led him to begin taking a look at the United States, the country of his birth. He warns us that the purchase and consumption of goods is not the road to true happiness, and that we need to consider others more. He points out that we must all work together in sympathy with one another to make a better society and a better future.

Shifting from MDGs to SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals were created as an alternative to MDGs. These goals will be pursued from 2015 to 2030 with the aim of achieving sustainable global development in both developed and developing countries.

While there were eight MDGs, there are 17 SDGs. As with MDGs, the first goal of the SDGs is the ending of poverty in all its forms everywhere. Professor Sachs wants to disseminate SDGs globally and hopes that people will work together to achieve them.

Professor Sachs has a solid belief, which is that a serious and continuous commitment will definitely help solve a problem no matter how difficult it is. Why don't you believe his words and try to overcome the challenge you're facing?