Business Daily (Nairobi)
Ban Ki-Moon
5 February 2010
opinion
Ten years ago, the international community began a new century with a compact to tackle extreme poverty. To promote development.
To save our planet from catastrophic climate change. To focus on the priorities and needs of Africa.
We have made great strides toward the Millennium Development Goals. But there is not much time to the 2015 deadline, and still much distance to travel.
The global recession, the energy crisis, food insecurity, climate change all have made development more difficult, yet more urgent.
Yes, markets may be rebounding. Yet these gains are not finding their way to the villages, the streets and the daily lives of far too many families.
We must remember that the MDGs are more than numerical targets; they hold the world's hopes, dreams, and shared commitments for ending extreme poverty, hunger and disease and ensuring sustainable development for all. Now is the critical time to mobilise action.
That is why we will convene a special MDG Summit alongside the opening of tile General Assembly this September in New York to focus on four key areas of our work.
We will mobilise support for scaling up MDG successes, look at gaps that need urgent action, for example, too many women still die in childbirth and many children still never live to see their fifth birthday.
Thirdly, we will emphasise action in priority policy areas: our development strategies should generate jobs -- productive employment and decent work for all Africans, with a special focus on women and young people.
And of course, we must invest in women and girls. When we empower women, we empower Africa. Let us make sure that girls stay in school and that this generation can complete secondary education.
We should also harness the full potential of knowledge and technology, including Information and Communication technology (ICTs) -- many of which were not even invented when the MDGs were established just ten years ago.
Nowhere are the linkages between sustainable development and climate clearer than right here in Africa.
African nations are among the least responsible yet the most susceptible to climate change impacts.
It is just one month since the Copenhagen Climate Conference.
The Copenhagen Accord represents an important step forward.
African countries who have already become associated with the Accord and must keep up the momentum towards achieving a binding global climate agreement as soon as possible.
Developing countries need assistance to rapidly scale-up clean energy efforts. They also need significant support to adapt to the consequences of climate change.
In Copenhagen, countries agreed on comprehensive support for the most vulnerable.
Some $30 billion is to be immediately mobilised and put into circulation over the next three years for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries.
Looking forward, $100 billion annually is to be mobilised per year by 2020 for developing countries.
We hope to move quickly to secure these resources and implement programmes on the ground.
We will soon launch a high level panel on development and climate change, which will address climate change issues comprehensively in the context of sustainable development.
On peace, we are proud to back the African Union as it fulfils its potential as a strategic and operational partner, under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter.
Earlier this month, we hosted a conference to strengthen cooperation between the UN and regional organisations around the globe -- and highlight our special relationship with the AU.
To make the most of our efforts, African Union Member States should also provide the necessary resources in support of the AU Commission.
Preventive action is far more cost-effective than intervening between warring parties.
That's why conflict prevention should be at the heart of our collective efforts to build peace and security in Africa.
As we look across the continent, our joint work has delivered results throughout Africa.
Cooperation between the United Nations, the African Union, Ecowas and our international partners resulted in the Ouagadougou Joint Declaration.
Partners must support the transition, prepare for the elections and implement the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry that investigated the September 28 massacres in Conakry.
The African continent also faces a number of other critical elections.
Of the 13 nations that have elections scheduled in the coming two years, six are in countries with UN peacekeeping or peacebuilding operations including Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, and the Sudan.
At the same time, millions continue to be displaced in Darfur.
In pursuit of a peaceful resolution to these two conflicts and to avert a crisis with grave risks for regional instability, African leaders supported the UN efforts to pursue a four-track strategy.
First, we will seek to forge consensus among member states on the way forward.
Second, we will continue to strengthen the UN presence on the ground.
Third, we will promote discussions on key post-referendum issues.
Fourth, we will build the capacity of South Sudanese institutions.
Worrying trends
We must keep our focus on emerging and worrying trends.
The resurgence of unconstitutional changes of government in Africa is a matter of serious concern.
These actions run counter to fundamental UN values, international law, and the AU's own Constitutional Act.
We must also guard against the manipulation of established processes to retain power.
We must continue to join forces to confront these and other threats. No one doubts the challenges before us.
The writer is the UN secretary-general, and gave the speech at the recent AU Summit in Addis, Ethiopia.
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