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	Facing up to Inequality - Within & Between Countries by UN News, agencies   World leaders have committed to ending poverty everywhere for all people by 2030. Achieving this aim means facing up to the need for dramatic declines in inequalities - in income, in opportunity, in exposure to risk, across gender, between countries and within countries over the next decade.   Inequality is a well-recognized barrier to poverty eradication, as well as many other development challenges.   It features in multiple dimensions across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the universally adopted plan to promote prosperity and social well-being while protecting the environment.   Income inequality among countries has declined somewhat in recent decades, driven primarily by growth in East Asian and South Asian economies. But there are many countries, particularly in parts of Africa, Western Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean where income levels have continued to fall further behind, exacerbating income inequalities between countries.   The latest United Nation's analysis in the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2019 indicates that per capita income levels essentially stagnated or declined in 47 developing and transition economies last year.   Most of these countries have been falling behind for several decades. This poses an enormous challenge as countries strive to reduce poverty, develop essential infrastructure, create jobs and support economic diversification.   Most of the lagging countries are highly dependent on commodities, stressing the importance of both diversification and effective management of natural resource wealth to tap into their development potential.   Several countries have also suffered long-standing armed conflict or civil unrest and political instability. If this trend continues, eradicating poverty and creating decent jobs for all will become increasingly out of reach.   Weak economic performance is also linked to insufficient investment in quality education, health services, social protection, programs for marginalized groups and mitigation and adaptation to climate change.   Faster GDP growth alone will not necessarily lead to broad-based improvements in living standards. Deep inequalities also persist in the distribution of income within countries, acting as a major barrier to development progress.   High inequality within countries is associated with social exclusion and fragmentation; weaker institution-building and governance; and increased risk of violence and internal conflict.   Fundamental transformations are needed going forward, to narrow the income gaps between and within countries.   According to UN estimates, without significant changes in behaviour, at least 500 million people may remain in poverty by the year 2030, including about 30 per cent of the populations in Africa and the least developed countries (LDCs).   In Africa, where the population is expanding at a rate of more than 2 per cent per year, reducing the level of extreme poverty to below 5 per cent by 2030 will require a combination of double digit GDP growth and dramatic declines in inequality.   This is well-outside the realms of historical precedence. Integrated and cross-cutting policy measures that both raise prospects for economic growth and reduce income inequalities are essential to shift the world towards a more sustainable and inclusive path.   This includes investing in education, health care, social protection programs, resilience to climate change, and financial and digital inclusion, to promote sustainable development.   Broadening access to quality education is also crucial, coupled with employment policies, such as raising minimum wages and expanding social protection.   Prioritizing rural infrastructure development, through public investment in transport, agriculture and energy, can also support poverty alleviation and narrow inequalities within countries.   While there is no one-size-fits-all policy prescription that guarantees delivery of a more equal and prosperous society, one overarching message is clear: calls to eradicate poverty are meaningless without concerted and committed policy action to reduce inequality.   Jan. 2019   We need more urgency to achieve the 2030 Agenda's promise to the world's people, Human Rights Council told.   Many countries are failing to protect and promote the interests of all their people, despite pledging to do so in 2016, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said.   In a special meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva to review progress on achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, Michelle Bachelet insisted that 'overall, we are not on track' to meet its ambitious aims:   'The 2030 Agenda is a commitment to achieve greater international cooperation for a more equitable international order', she said. 'But above all, it is a promise extended to people previously locked out of development: the marginalized, disempowered and excluded communities; the millions of women, racial, religious and caste minorities, indigenous peoples, migrants, persons with disabilities, Roma and the poor'.   Acknowledging 'real progress in some countries' on tackling extreme poverty; mortality rates for the under-fives; and promoting education, particularly in Asia; Ms. Bachelet listed numerous obstacles that continue to prevent fair development for all.   The unequal position of women is a major impediment, she insisted, along with hunger, war and climate change.   'Conflicts are destroying people's lives, hopes and ability to earn a decent livelihood in the places they were born', she said. '44,400 people are forced to flee their homes every day because of conflict or persecution. Climate change is generating overwhelming environmental disasters, which devastate basic infrastructure and exacerbate tensions and conflicts'.   Questioning whether the world's nations were meeting the 'great goal' of leaving no-one behind by 2030, the UN rights chief cited International Labour Organization (ILO) data, which indicated a growing gap between the rich and poor, despite workers higher productivity.   'With just 12 years left to 2030, we need a greater sense of urgency about achieving the Agenda's promise to the world's people', she said.   Inequalities widening everywhere   At Ms Bachelet's side, former High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson echoed the need to address widening inequalities 'both between and within countries', insisting that wealth and opportunities were 'increasingly concentrating in the hands of the few'.   Such inequalities, create winners and losers, Ms Robinson maintained, serving to 'catalyse social unrest, deepen divides and increase xenophobia; all major concerns for the realization of rights'.   Ms Robinson, who heads a climate justice foundation that seeks to protect the rights of people who are affected by climate change, noted its impact on vulnerable communities.   'When dams flood the land of indigenous people, mining pollutes local water supplies and infrastructure projects displace impoverished communities, development efforts are being realized at the expense of the realization of human rights for all', she said.   Governments in many parts of the world were 'failing to provide essential services', Ms Robinson continued, 'including access to healthcare, education, quality housing, sanitation or drinking water with little accountability. Populations are routinely denied access to information and justice; this must change. Human rights norms constitute a bulwark against incoherent and unequal progress towards the SDGs and should be used as such'.   After calling for Governments to link their efforts to limit global warming with implementation of the 2030 Agenda for rights-based sustainable development, Ms Robinson highlighted how the Human Rights Council had showed what was possible, by tasking its subsidiary bodies and investigators to incorporate the sustainable development goals into their reports.   'I urge all states and other actors to make use of the synergies between human rights and the 2030 Agenda', she said, 'by integrating development reporting with human rights reporting, and by working closely with rights holders, national human rights institution and equality bodies to ensure transparent and effective approaches'.   http://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/sustainable/sdgs-human-rights.html http://theelders.org/news/putting-human-rights-heart-sustainable-development Visit the related web page
	Rising carbon emissions make crops less nutritious, threaten global health by Samuel S. Myers Planetary Health Alliance, agencies   Sept. 2018   Around the world, food security is being threatened by man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Some of the threats to our food system are relatively clear: warmer temperatures and changing climates bring about droughts, heat waves, sea level rise and more frequent and intense extreme weather events-all of which can disrupt food production.   But hidden in the biochemistry of the crops themselves lies another major threat to our public health and food supply. As CO2 concentrations rise, the levels of some key nutrients in staple food crops are lowered. In other words, by emitting historically high levels of carbon pollution, we are literally making our food less nutritious.   Food crops grown at higher carbon dioxide levels have lower amounts of protein, zinc, and iron, all of which are essential nutrients for human health. Specifically, on average, food grown at CO2 levels expected by 2050 will contain 10 percent less protein, 6 percent less iron, and 7 percent less zinc.   This is particularly concerning as over 2 billion people worldwide are already thought to be deficient in one or more of these nutrients with very significant consequences for their health.   Our new research, published in Nature Climate Change, puts the massive scale of these nutrient deficiencies into stark perspective. We found that, as concentrations of CO2 approach 550 parts per million by midcentury, hundreds of millions of people are likely to become newly susceptible to chronic deficiencies of protein and zinc. And billions more are likely to suffer from a worsening of their existing nutrient deficiencies.   In the most tragic of ironies, the poorest, who have been least responsible for elevating CO2 levels, will be most vulnerable to these nutrient losses because their diets are less diverse and generally contain lower levels of iron, zinc, and protein.   Just how bad could it be for the most vulnerable populations? By 2050, we estimate that nearly 2 percent of the global population, or 175 million people, could be pushed by anthropogenic CO2 emissions into zinc deficiency.   That's on top of 1.5 billion who are already deficient in zinc intake. Another 122 million (or 1.3 percent) would join the 662 million who are already protein deficient. And while it's more complicated to project iron deficiencies, we found that nearly 1.4 billion highly vulnerable people - children under the age of 5 and women of childbearing age - will live in regions that we identified as having the highest risk.   What do these numbers mean? They mean more children dying of pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea, and other infections as their immune systems are compromised by lack of zinc. They mean more women dying in childbirth and infants failing to survive because of iron deficiency. They mean reduced IQs and chronic stunting and wasting in children, and reduced work capacity in adults.   The most vulnerable people are those who are consuming simple, plant-based diets. Specifically, the populations of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East are most vulnerable to CO2-driven nutrient losses. But the impacts of nutrient loss would be felt all over the world, even in the United States, where core crops like wheat and rice would deliver less nutrition per calorie after being processed into bread, pasta, cereals, and other products that wind up in cabinets and on kitchen tables.   Some critics may argue that CO2 is 'plant food' and claim the loss in nutrients will be balanced out by increased crop production. This works in theory - a phenomenon often referred to as CO2 fertilization - but not in reality. This small anticipated increase is more than offset by the very real impacts of climate change, which are already disrupting systems of food production and lowering crop yields, through changes in temperature, soil moisture, and extreme weather events.   Additionally, even if a population were able to increase caloric intake enough to offset CO2-driven nutrient losses, the change in the ratio of calories-to-nutrients consumed would ensure new health problems including obesity and metabolic diseases.   This isn't to say that all hope is lost. We hope that our research will be used by countries to better prepare for what could be a dangerous drop in nutrition from their typical diets. Governments can and should monitor their crops over time to track nutrient levels as CO2 emissions increase.   Beyond that, there's potential for encouraging dietary diversification or the use of different cultivars of certain crops - such as rice and legumes - some of which have shown different sensitivities to elevated CO2. Focusing on these more nutrient-resilient cultivars could help lessen the health risks to local populations, as could bio-fortification of crops with added nutrients and the simple (but expensive) deployment of nutrient supplementation programs for particularly vulnerable populations.   Stepping up research in each of these areas is imperative for governments around the world, particularly those with the highest carbon footprints who have been most responsible for creating this new public health threat.   Of course, the best and most certain way to ensure the healthiest and most nutrient-rich crops, and to protect the most vulnerable populations, is to rapidly reduce CO2 emissions from human activity.   * Samuel S. Myers, MD, MPH, is a principal research Scientist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the director of the Planetary Health Alliance. This article was featured in the publication The Hill. Access the study (subscription required): http://go.nature.com/2wk2wIf http://planetaryhealthalliance.org/education Visit the related web page
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