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Bjorn Lomberg (BL): The UN, with its 2015-2030 process, is going to set the global goals for the next 15 years in September, following the success of the Millennium Development Goals. Since these could end up determining a large part of the period's $2.5 trillion development aid, it is important we pick targets more effectively. The Copenhagen Consensus has engaged in a project to determine which targets will deliver the most good per dollar spent.

In rich countries, the biggest killers are strokes, heart attacks and cancer, accounting for more than two-thirds of all deaths. But for the poorer world, people often assume that infectious diseases like diarrhea, tuberculosis, Aids, malaria, measles and tetanus are the biggest killers. That is no longer true. While they are still substantial threats, broader availability of medication and vaccines along with higher living standards has caused such communicable diseases to drop dramatically to below 9 million deaths each year. 

FN:s klimattoppmöte i Lima åstadkom inte särskilt mycket, i likhet med alla tidigare möten de senaste 20 åren. Som Albert Einstein sade: ”galenskap är att upprepa samma sak om och om igen och förvänta sig olika resultat”.

What targets should the world set for water and sanitation? 2.5 billion people – almost half the developing world – lack a basic latrine and 1 billion have to resort to what is politely known as open defecation. In India, almost 600 million have to defecate in the open. This large problem was also addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, in his last Independence Day speech, stated the government was targeting sanitation for all in 10 years.

Casi una cuarta parte de todos los alimentos en el mundo se pierde cada año en la ruta desde la recolección hasta el almacenamiento de desperdicios en la cocina del consumidor. En América Latina, más del 25% de todos los alimentos se desperdicia. Si pudiéramos reducir a la mitad los residuos de América Latina, el continente podría alimentar a 100 millones de personas más.

A pesar de los avances en muchas sociedades, en casi todas partes las mujeres aún sufren altos niveles de discriminación. Incluso en los países más avanzados en igualdad de género, están sobrerrepresentadas en empleos de menor paga, infrarrepresentadas en puestos jerárquicos de los sectores público y privado, y son las receptoras en la mayor parte de los casos de violencia doméstica.

It is time to stop our green worship of the electric car. It costs us a fortune, cuts little CO2 and surprisingly kills almost twice the number of people compared with regular gasoline cars.