Education

It seems like a great idea: to improve education in Bangladesh, we should equip classrooms with computers, moving the next generation to the cutting edge of knowledge. But while such an idea is alluring and has gotten wide traction around the world in the last decade, we need to look at the evidence. And it is surprising.

Today, 99 percent of Bangladesh's girls and 97 percent of boys are enrolled in primary school. The great progress in primary education over recent years is the reason that the country has met the two Millennium Development Goals related to primary schooling: universal enrollment and gender equality.

Traktat Paryski obiecuje utrzymać wzrost temperatury poniżej 2°C. Jednak rzeczywiste obietnice złożone tutaj nie dokonają niemal niczego, by to osiągnąć. Istnieje szeroka zgoda co do tego, że dla utrzymania wzrostu temperatury poniżej 2°Cmusimy zredukować emisje CO₂ o 6000Gt.
 
UNFCCC szacuje, że jeśli każdy kraj spełni wszystkie złożone obietnice obcięcia emisji dwutlenku węgla między 2016 a 2030 rokiem i nie będzie żadnych wycieków do roku 2030 emisje CO₂ zostaną zmniejszone o 56 Gt.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's diversion of $1 billion of development funds to climate aid might please climate activists at the Paris summit, but it's one of the least effective ways of helping the world's poor.

What would help is support for an end to the $680 billion wasted on annual fossil fuel subsidies that not only increase CO₂ but suck dry the public purse in many developing countries, keeping funds from areas that need it.

Over the past three days, after years of build-up, world leaders have been getting down to the business of setting some of the most important priorities for the next 15 years.

At stake is $2.5tr in development aid, and countless trillions in national budgets. Unfortunately, because of politicking and a desire to please everyone, this massive budget will achieve four-times less good than it could.

At the United Nations in New York today, world leaders are gathering to finalize the Global Goals -- the targets that will replace the Millennium Development Goals and shape trillions of dollars of spending over the next 15 years. There is much high-minded rhetoric here at the United Nations that development is all about people.

This has been a key theme during the consultations on the targets that took years and have brought us to this point. As United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has put it, "People should be at the centre of our vision".

The global elite has little idea what afflicts the poor, says Pope Francis. He’s right — but that observation sometimes applies to him, too.
In his US visit, the pope is already creating headlines about the urgent need to respond to climate change. Invoking the need to “protect the vulnerable in our world,” he calls for an end to humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Later this week, world leaders will gather in New York at the United Nations to endorse international development goals for the next 15 years. It is the culmination of a four-year process for setting priorities to help the world’s most disadvantaged people—a process beset from the start by horse-trading, haggling and endless consultation. In a bid not to offend anyone, the new development agenda is expected to include an incredible 169 targets for investment. Giving priority to 169 things is the same as giving priority to nothing at all.

Over the next 15 years, some two billion children will be born, 90% in the poorest parts of the world. Providing these kids with a better start would be one of the greatest achievements that humanity could make. Doing so also would be one of the most efficient uses of the resources that the world dedicates to development.

Během následujících 15 let vynaloží mezinárodní společenství 2,5 bilionu dolarů na rozvoj, přičemž bezpočtem dalších bilionů přispějí národní rozpočty.V září se představitelé 193 vlád světa sejdou v sídle Organizace spojených národů v New Yorku, aby se dohodli na souboru globálních cílů, na něž se tyto prostředky použijí. Jedná se o obrovskou částku, a proto je životně důležité, abychom dospěli k nejchytřejším možným rozhodnutím.