Procesos
of Human and Social Development
By Robert Macfarlane - Sept. 20, 1999
A human centered theory of development must necessarily base itself
on the idea that the progressive development of the external capabilities of
society is a reflection of a progressive development of the internal
consciousness and capacities of human beings, not just the result of external
factors or the creation and application of better tools and instruments. Society
changes outwardly because people change inwardly.
A fundamental premise of our framework is that the process by which
societies develop, companies develop and individuals develop is the same. They
are only various expressions at different levels of the same process of human
development.
We have defined social development as the increasing complexity of
the social organization that enables it to release, organize and express human
energies and creativity more effectively to achieve the goals of the society –
regardless of whether those goals are political, economic, social or cultural.
|
K. Watkins:
Globalization
and Liberalization: Implications for Poverty, Distribution and Inequality
1997
Some concepts come to define entire economic policy eras. For the 1990s,
'globalisation' will be recorded as the dominant theme. States are in retreat in the face
of powerful international economic forces which, we are constantly told, are
circumscribing their sphere of action. The resurgence of laissez faire economic
theory celebrates the fact. While carrying different connotations for different people,
globalisation encapsulates both a description of changing patterns of world trade and
finance, and an overwhelming conviction that deregulated markets will achieve optimal
outcomes for growth and human welfare. Seldom since the heyday of free trade in the
nineteenth century has economic theory inspired such certainty - and never has it been so
far removed from reality.
To the detached observer, noting the contrast between the presumed benefits of
globalisation and developments in the real world, the international economy displays a
number of worrying trends. Most obviously, poverty, mass unemployment, and inequality have
grown alongside the expansion of trade and foreign investment associated with
globalisation. In the developing world, poverty continues to increase in absolute terms,
and the gap between 'successful' and 'unsuccessful' countries is widening. In the
industrialised world, unemployment has reached levels not witnessed since the 1930s and,
in some countries, income inequalities are wider than at any time this century. In a world
of disturbing contrasts, the gap between rich and poor countries, and between rich and
poor people, continues to widen. It is increasingly apparent that this reality will not be
changed through growth alone.
|
U.N. - 1996
Globalization
and Liberalization (Report, June 1996)
The progress of development since UNCTAD VIII has been uneven. A number of
developing countries, particularly in Asia, have sustained the high rates of
growth already in place at the time of UNCTAD VIII, and some have been able to
accelerate growth. Since the last Conference, Latin America has definitely
emerged from the debt crisis that had weighed on economic performance in that
region for a decade. However, in many of the poorer developing countries,
especially those in Africa, progress has been modest. In many cases output has
barely succeeded - or has not succeeded - in advancing at the same pace as
population, and well-being has stagnated or, for some segments of the
population, declined. Overall, the disparities in economic conditions among
developing countries appear to have widened since UNCTAD VIII.
These broad trends have taken place against the background of rapid
changes in the world economy - changes that can be described by the general
concepts of liberalization and globalization. These changes, together with the
growing recognition of the need to ensure that economic advance is sustainable,
are altering the way the international economy operates and affecting the
character of successful policy approaches to development. This report examines
the opportunities for growth and sustainable development offered by the
processes of liberalization and globalization, as well as the risks and
potentially negative consequences for development that might flow from them, and
discusses some of the policy approaches that would allow the opportunities to be
fully grasped and the potentially negative consequences to be avoided or
overcome.
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UNDP - 1999
Human
Development Report 1999. Overview.
People everywhere are becoming connected — affected by events in
far corners of the world.
“The real wealth of a nation is its people. And the purpose of development is to
create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives. This
simple but powerful truth is too often forgotten in the pursuit of material and financial
wealth.” Those are the opening lines of the first Human Development Report, published
in 1990. This tenth Human Development Report— like the first and all the
others—is about people. It is about the growing interdependence of people in
today’s globalizing world.
|
UNDP - 1999
Ten
years of Human Development (1990-1999)
In 1990 the time had come for a broad approach to improving human well-being that would
cover all aspects of human life, for all people, in both high-income and developing
countries, both now and in the future. It went far beyond narrowly defined economic
development to cover the full flourishing of all human choices. It emphasized the need to
put people—their needs, their aspirations and their capabilities—at the center
of the development effort. And the need to assert the unacceptability of any biases or
discrimination, whether by class, gender, race, nationality, religion, community or
generation. Human development had arrived.
The first Human Development Report of UNDP,
published in 1990 under the inspiration and leadership of its architect, Mahbub ul Haq,
came after a period of crisis and retrenchment, in which concern for people had given way
to concern for balancing budgets and payments. It met a felt need and was widely welcomed.
Since then it has caused considerable academic discussion in journals and seminars. It has
caught the world's imagination, stimulating criticisms and debate, ingenious elaborations,
improvements and additions.
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UNDP
Human
Development Reports: global, regional and national
|
M.ul Haq - 1992
Human Development in a changing world, 1992
The 1992 Human Development Report is the third in an annual series sponsored by
UNDP since 1990.
The central thesis of these reports is that it is people who
matter--beyond the confusing maze of GNP numbers, beyond the curling smoke of
industrial chimneys, beyond the endless fascination with budget deficits and
balance of payments crises--it is people who matter. People must be at the
centre of our development debate--what really counts is how they participate in
economic growth and how they benefit from it. Production processes are
indispensable but they cannot be allowed to obscure human lives. The focus of
our reports is on those human lives--how they change over time, how they
contribute to national and global economic opportunities, how they share these
opportunities, how the range of people's choices can be measured--whether
economic or political, whether individual or national. The study of people, in
national and global settings, is our central preoccupation and our overwhelming
mandate.
Our 1990 Report demonstrated that it is not only the income level of a
society that matters but how well that income has been translated into human
lives. Costa Rica has a per capita income only one-third that of Oman but its
literacy rate is three times higher, its life expectancy ten years longer, and
its people enjoy a wide range of economic, social and political freedoms.
|
| UNDP: Human Development Report Indicators |
UNDP - 1996
Growth as means to human development
Is economic growth a meaningful goal? Or is human development the real
objective? If it is human development, growth should be judged not by
the abundance of commodities it produces, but by how it enriches
people's lives.
For many years growth has been a major economic goal of policy-makers
-and political leaders- based on the deeply ingrained view that
delivering a larger and larger quantity of goods and services is the
best way to improve people's standard of living. And growth is often
seen as a solution to other problems, such as building military strength,
increasing employment and reducing budgetary deficits.
But the questioning of such assumptions has become more insistent, and
criticisms of the fixation on the quantity of growth more vocal. The
critics are not just environmental groups, but also a broad range of
people who recognize from the deteriorating quality of their lives that
growth is not the answer to everything. The quality of people's lives
can be poor even in the midst of plenty.
|
Róbinson Rojas - 1997:
The dynamics of unequal social relations:gender, race, income
Economic, cultural-religious and political relations lead to unequal
access to resources among social groups. In the case of industrialized
societies, the market system leads to economic inequalities, and
cultural and racist attitudes create instances of social exclusion
where non-white people and women became the overwhelming majority of
the poor. (See BOX 1) In less developed societies, cultural-religious
variables condemn women to a secondary role in society, which, added to
racial intolerance, create a mirror image of social exclusion as the one
taking place in industrialized societies. (See BOX 2)
|
UNDP -
1995
Poverty Eradication: A Policy
Framework for Country Strategies
Over the past 30 years, developing countries have made remarkable
progress in raising average incomes, reducing infant mortality,
increasing life expectancy and boosting adult literacy. The 1994
Human Deve- lopment Report, produced for UNDP by an independent
team of development consultants, notes that while about 73 per cent
of the world's population was ranked as having low human
development in 1960, by 1990 that figure had shrunk to 35 per cent.
But despite these achievements, poverty remains a paramount
challenge for national governments, as well as for the
international development community. In all developing regions
except East Asia, the number of poor people has been rising since
the 1980s. Today, more than one out of five people around the world
are living in conditions of extreme poverty, on little more than
US$1.00 a day.
Failure to diminish poverty has become a threat to all countries,
rich and poor. As Mahbub ul Haq, Special Adviser to the UNDP
Administrator and architect of the Human Development Report has put
it, "Poverty is no longer contained within national boundaries. It
has become globalized. It travels across borders, without a
passport, in the form of drugs, diseases, pollution, migration,
terrorism and political instability."
|
| IMF: Social Dimensions of the IMF's Policy Dialogue |
| UNCTAD: The Trade and Development Report, 1997 (press release 1) |
| UNCTAD: The Trade and Development Report, 1997 (press release 2) |
| |
| |
| Research Institute for Social Development/United
Nations |
| |
| The Center for Economic and Social Rights |
UNDP:
Occasional Papers and Background Papers
| In preparation for the Human Development Report every
year, the HDRO commissions a number of experts to write papers on issues related to the
theme of the Report. The following is a compilation of selected Occasional Papers written
since 1992. Individually, each paper brings to light a key facet of human development in
different parts of the world. Together, they help establish a framework of tools, concept
and action to address the issue of human development worldwide. The report also draws
from a number of independent research papers by distinguished academics and policymakers.
These background papers are available online and can also be purchased from the UN
publications office. |
2002:
- Measuring Technology Achievement of Nations and the Capacity to
Participate in the Network Age
M. Desai, S. Fukuda-Parr, C. Johansson, and F. Sagasti
- Fiscal Policy, Accountability and Voice: The Example of Gender Responsive
Budget Initiatives
Isabella Bakker
- Political and Economic Institutions, Growth and Poverty – Experience
of Transition Countries
Marek Dabrowski and Radzislawa Gortat 2002
- Trends Toward Transnational Justice: Innovations and Institutions
Richard Falk 2002
- Voice, Accountability and Human Development: The Emergence of a New Agenda
Anne Marie Goetz and Rob Jenkins 2002
- Voice and Accountability: the Media and the Internet in Democratic
Development
Takashi Inoguchi 2002
- Civil Society and Accountability
Mary Kaldor 2002
- State of the Art in Governance Indicators
Adeel Malik 2002
- Basic Social Services for All? Ensuring Accountability Through Deep
Democratic Decentralisation
Santosh Mehrotra 2002
- Mixing Money and Politics: How Campaign Finance affects Democratic
Governance in the U.S.
Lincoln Mitchell and Leo Glickman 2002
- Regional Overview of the Impact of Failures of Accountability on Poor
People
Ahmed Mohiddin 2002
- Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Good Governance, Human Development &
Mass Communications
Pippa Norris and Dieter Zinnbauer 2002
- Expanding Voice and Accountability Through the Budgetary Process S. R.
Osmani 2002
- Civil society, the media and internet as tools for creating accountability
to poor and disadvantaged groups
Enrique Peruzzotti and Catalina Smulovitz 2002
- Political Parties, Justice Systems and the Poor: The Experience of the
Arab States
Nazih Richani 2002
- Civil Society, Media and Accountability in the Arab Region
Naomi Sakr 2002
- Political and Judicial Accountability Failures to the Poor in Latin
America
Sergio Spoerer 2002
- Empowerment, Participation and the Poor
Paul Streeten 2002
- Role of the Media and the Internet as Tools for Creating Accountability to
Poor and Disadvantaged Groups
Katarina Subasic 2002
- The Media, Accountability, and Civic Engagement in Africa
Wisdom J. Tettey 2002
- Poverty Eradication and Democracy in the Developing World
Ashutosh Varshney 2002
- Accountability in Global Governance
Ngaire Woods 2002
- ICT in a Developing Country Context: An Indian Case Study
C.P. Chandrasekhar, 2001
- Energy and Human Well Being
Jose Goldemberg, 2001
- People’s Initiatives to Bridge the Digital Divide
Nadia Hijab, 2001
- Industrialization Options for the Poorest Countries
Howard Pack, 2001
- Global Governance and Technology
Calestous Juma, 2001
- Trends in Digital Divide
S. Nanthikesan, 2001
- The Knowledge Explosion and the Digital Divide
A Sagasti, 2001
- National strategies for technology adoption in the industrial sector:
Lessons of recent experience in the developing regions
Sanjaya Lall, 2001
- Venture capital. New ways of financing technology innovation
Andreas Pfeil, 2001
- Intertemporal Welfare Dynamics
Shahin Yaqub, 2001
- Social technology and human health
David E. Bloom, River Path Associates and Karen Fang, 2001
- Costa
Rica´s Development Strategy based
on Human Capital and Technology: how it got there, the impact of INTEL, and lessons for
other countries
Andres Rodríguez-Clare, Visiting Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard University, 2001
- The Income Component of Human Development Index
Sudhir Anand and Amartya Sen, 2000
- Human Rights in Action: Cambodia Country Study
Kassie Neou, 2000
- Human Rights and Human Development: Thailand Country Study
Vitit Muntarbhorn, 2000
- Informe Sobre Desarrollo Humano 2000: Desarrollo Humano Y Derechos Humanos
En Chile
Jorge Correa Sutil, 2000
- Human Rights, Environment and Development: with Special Emphasis on
Corporate Accountability
Ayesha Dias, 2000
- Egypt Human Rights Report
Bahey El-Din Hassan, 2000
- The United Nations and Human Rights: Achievements and Challenges
Cornelius Flinterman and Jeroen Gutter, 2000
- Rules of International Economic Integration and Human Rights
Jayati Ghosh, 2000
- Human Rights and Human Development: Learning from Those Who Act
Nadia Hijab, 2000
•
New geo-political realities, including the end of the Cold War, make it possible
to address rights and development without being accused of taking a specific ideological stance;
•
South Africa's lead in spelling out economic, social and cultural rights in its
constitution, as a result of civil society activism, is encouraging others to follow;
•
The fact that over a billion people still live in poverty in spite of decades of
development suggests the time has come for a paradigm that is based on rights rather than needs or aspirations -as well as for tools and methodologies to show that such rights can be implemented; and
•
Organizations that do not deal with issues of such compelling importance to
so many people around the world would be marginalized, as Ann Blyberg of the
International Human Rights Internship Program puts it.
Hundreds of thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) promote
development and thousands address the civil and political dimensions of
human rights, but far fewer organizations have a rights-based approach
to development. The times are rapidly changing, and many more groups now
deal with rights and development. There are four main reasons for this shift:
This paper pulls together the experience of 20 people's movements and NGOs
active in the area of rights and development. The list is by no means
exhaustive, and there are several groups doing outstanding work in
difficult circumstances. The ones in this paper were selected to
illustrate different approaches in all five sets of rights, with
an emphasis on rights and development. The groups work at the local,
national, regional, and/or international level, and come from all
world regions, North and South.
- Housing Rights
Scott Leckie, 2000
- Human Development and Human Rights—South African Country Study
Sandra Liebenberg, 2000
- Human Rights and Human Development: India
Dr. Vina Mazumdar, Prof. Lotika Sarker and Prof. S.P. Sathe, 2000
- Human Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Regional Perspective
Juan E. Mendez, 2000
- Human Rights and Human Development: Thailand Country Study
Vitit Muntarbhorn, 2000
- The African Human Rights System: A Critical Evaluation
Makau Mutua, 2000
- Human Rights in Action: Cambodia Country Study
Kassie Neou, 2000
- Separate and Unequal: Trade and Human Rights Regimes
Roger Normand, 2000
- Regional Study on Human Development and Human Rights—Central
Asia
Martha Brill Olcott, 2000
- Human Rights and Sustainable Development in Contemporary
Africa—A New Dawn or Retreating Horizon?
Joseph Oloka-Onyango, 2000
- Country Study - Honduras: The Birth of Citizenship and State Conscience
Andrés E. Perez, 2000
- Has Income Distribution really Worsened in the South? And Has Income
Distribution Really Worsened Between the North and the South?
Pable Rodas-Martini, 2000
- Country Study of Uzbekistan
Akmal Saidov, 2000
- National Strategies—Human Rights Commissions, Ombudsmen, Specialized
Agencies and National Action Plans
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro and David Carlos Baluarte, 2000
- Regional Study on Human Development and Human Rights in Central and
Eastern Europe
Darko Silovic, 2000
- Droits de la Personne et Developpement Humain Au Rwanda: 1984-1999 Bilan
et Perspectives
Jean Rubaduka and Noël Twagiramungu, 2000
- Antecedents of the Idea of Human Rights: A Survey of Perspectives
Polly Vizard, 2000
- The State of Human Development Data and Statistical Capacity Building in
Developing Countries
Jacques Loup, 2000
- UNDP’s Gender-Related Indices: A Critical Review. World
Development 27(6): 985–1010. (GDI, GEM)
Bardhan, Kalpana, and Stephan Klasen. 1999
- Social Impacts of the Asian Crisis: Policy Challenges and Lessons
Jong-Wha Lee and Changyong Rhee, 1999
- Financial Management of Globalization of Developing Countries
Arjun Sengupta, 1999
- Poverty, Human Development and Financial Services
J. D. Von Pischke, 1997
- Globalizaton and Liberalization: Implications for Poverty, Distribution
and Inequality
Kevin Watkins, 1997
- Human Poverty in Transition Economies: Regional Overview for HDR 1997
Ewa Ruminska-Zimny, 1997
- Growth, Human Development and Economic Policies in Japan: 1955-1993
Tsuneo Ishikawa, 1997
- Economic Growth and Human Development in the Republic of Korea
Jong-Wha Lee, 1997
- Poverty Alleviation in China: Commitment, Policy and Expenditures
Amei Zhang, 1997
- Human Development and Shelter: A Human Rights Perspective
Clarence J. Dias and Scott Leckie, 1996
- Growth, Poverty and Human Development in Pakistan
Nurul Islam, 1996
- The Rise and Fall of the "Swedish Model"
Stefan de Vylder, 1996
- Economic and Human Development in China
Amei Zhang, 1996
- Growth, Human Development in Latin American Countries--Long-term Trends
Oscar Altimir, 1996
- Poverty and Human Development in India: Getting Priorities Right
A.K. Shiva Kumar 1, 1996
- Gender Inequality in Human Development: Theories and Measurement
Sudhir Anand and Amartya Sen, 1995
- Measures of Unrecorded Economic Activities in Fourteen Countries
Luisella Goldschmidt-Clermont and Elisabetta Pagnossin-Aligisakis, 1995
- Sustainable Human Development: Concepts and Priorities
Sudhir Anand and Amartya K. Sen, 1994
- Reflections on Human Development
Mahbub ul Haq, founder of the Human Development Report,(available from Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-510193-6)
This work explores a new development paradigm whose central focus is on human
well-being. Increase in income is treated as an essential means, but not as the
end of development, and certainly not as the sum of human life. Development
policies and strategies are discussed which link economic growth with human
lives in various societies. The book also analyzes the evolution of a new Human
Development Index which is a far more comprehensive measure of socio-economic
progress of nations than the traditional measure of Gross National Product. For
the first time, a Political Freedom Index is also presented.
The book offers a new vision of human security for the twenty-first century
where real security is equated with security of people in their homes, their
jobs, their communities, and their environment. The book discusses many concrete
proposals in this context, including a global compact to overcome the worst
aspects of global poverty within a decade, key reforms in the Bretton Woods
institutions of World Bank and IMF, and establishment of a new Economic Security
Council within the United Nations.
- New patterns of Macro-Economic governance
Hans W. Singer and Stephany Griffith-Jones, 1994
- A New Framework for Development Cooperation
Keith Griffin and Terry McKinley, 1994
- Human development Index: Methodology and Measurement
Sudhir Anand and Amartya K. Sen, 1994
- Decentralization : a Survey of Literature from a Human Development
Perspective
Jeni Klugman, 1994
- Decentralization in Chile
Frances Stewart and Gustav Ranis, 1994
- Decentralization in Zimbabwe
Frances Stewart, Jeni Klugman and A.H. Helmsing, 1994
- War, Peace and Third World Development
Dan Smith, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, 1994
- Human Development: An African Perspective
Sadig Rasheed and Eshetu Chole, 1994
- A Means to Closing Gaps: Disaggregated Human Development Index
A. Halis Akder, 1994
- Human Development: From Concept to Action, A 10-Point Agenda
Inge Kaul and Saraswathi Menon, 1993
- Human
Development in a Changing World
Mahbub ul Haq, 1992
- Globalisation and the Developing World: An Essay on the International
Dimensions of Development in the Post-Cold War Era
Keith Griffin and Azizur Rahman Khan, 1992
- Developing Countries in the International Economic System: Their Problem
and Prospects in the Markets for Finance, Commodities, Manufactures and Services
Dragoslav Avramovic, 1992
- Global
Governance for Human Development
Paul Streeten, 1992
- Disarmament
as a Chance for Human Development: Is there a Peace Dividend?
Herbert Wulf, 1992
- Towards
a Human Development Strategy
Keith Griffin and Terry McKinley, 1992
|
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Social Change and
International Relations:
Model
International Organisation (MIO)
Social
Change Site
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International Relations |
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Back
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Background Papers 2007/2008:
Gaye, Amie
Access
to Energy and Human Development [331 KB]
Access to modern energy services is fundamental to fulfilling basic social needs, driving
economic growth and fueling human development. This is because energy services have
an effect on productivity, health, education, safe water and communication services.
Modern services such as electricity, natural gas, modern cooking fuel and mechanical
power are necessary for improved health and education, better access to information and
agricultural productivity.
There are wide variations between energy consumption of developed and developing
countries, and between the rich and poor within countries, with attendant variations in
human development. Furthermore, the way in which energy is generated, distributed and
consumed affects the local, regional and global environment with serious implications for
poor people’s livelihood strategies and human development prospects1.
This paper attempts to examine the linkages between energy services and human
development in developing countries. It does so by comparing modern energy use in
developed and developing countries and argues that a threshold of modern energy is
required to achieve growth and improvement in human development. The paper also
assesses the effect of fossil fuel use on greenhouse gas emissions and developing
countries’ capacity to adapt to climate change. It discusses the dual challenge of
mitigating climate change and meeting the energy demands of developing countries in a
sustainable way.
Kelkar, Ulka, and Suruchi Bhadwal
South
Asian Regional Study on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation: Implications for Human Development [728 KB]
It is now increasingly realised that even with the currently agreed regime of emissions
control, concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) are likely to rise over the next few
decades and over the millennia. Climate change is likely to threaten all life forms on
earth with the extent of vulnerability varying across regions and populations within
regions. The impacts however are likely to fall disproportionately upon developing
countries, in particular, the poor living within them. Reduced capacities to be able to
effectively respond to increased climatic variability and change in the climate
exacerbates vulnerabilities.
Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns and numerous other factors will
impact both natural and human systems. Climate sensitive sectors like agriculture,
forestry, water resources and coastal regions, and, human systems including human
health, human settlements, industry and energy sectors will be drastically affected (IPCC
2001).
Volpi, Giulio
Climate
Mitigation, Deforestation and Human Development in Brazil [1,406 KB]
Climate change mitigation in developing countries is a growing priority for many governments.
Much of the current research into this area concentrates on emissions from industry and
households. However, in many countries changing land use patterns drives carbon flows into the
atmosphere. This Thematic Paper for the UNDP Human Development Report 2007 focuses on
tropical deforestation as a major source of rising carbon emissions and wider human
development problems in the Brazilian Amazon–the largest area of tropical forests in the world.
Consistently with the Terms of Reference, this paper cover five broad themes: (i) the scale, pace
and location of deforestation; (ii) an analysis of the factors driving deforestation, including
public policies; (iii) how deforestation is contributing to carbon emissions; (iv) the human
development effects of deforestation, and; (v) what can be done to address the problem.
Chaudhry, Peter, and Greet Ruysschaert
Climate
Change and Human Development in Viet Nam [224 KB]
Viet Nam is a low-income country, but has recently made spectacular progress in terms of
both economic growth and poverty reduction. The official poverty rate has fallen from 58
percent in 1993, to 19.5 percent in 2004 (VASS 2006). Strong economic growth is likely to
continue following recent accession to the World Trade Organisation, with increased
international trade and direct foreign investment reinforcing Viet Nam’s progress towards
middle-income country status. As Viet Nam continues to be transformed from a highly
centralised command economy, to a more market based one, the urgent challenge is to
ensure that the relatively equitable growth that has taken place to date is sustained.
Inequality is already increasing, with growth and poverty reduction rates in remote areas
markedly lower than those in and around the growth poles of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi,
and this may have significant long term consequences for Viet Nam’s future ability to respond
collectively to climate related vulnerabilities.
IGAD, ICPAC
Climate
Change and Human Development in Africa: Assessing the Risks and Vulnerability of Climate Change in Kenya,
Malawi and Ethiopia [2,305 KB]
Human induced climate change emanating largely from increase in the concentration greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere and sustainable development are two closely related challenges facing
human kind in the 21st century. The challenges associated with the devastating
effects of climate change has been addressed by the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which calls for stabilization of the Greenhouse gases
(GHGs) emissions in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent ‘dangerous anthropogenic
interference’ with climate system, with a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems and the
environment as a whole to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is
not threatened, and enable economic development to proceed in sustainable manner.
Carvajal, Liliana
Impacts
of Climate Change on Human Development [663 KB]
Scientific research throughout the past decades has demonstrated how climatic changes have important impacts
on the livelihoods of people around the world. For most of developing countries their level of structural
and social vulnerability, are a dangerous combination and a formula for impacts of higher magnitude. Therefore,
climatic phenomenon such as tropical storms, floods and droughts, more often become tragedies in these countries.
This paper analyzes the impacts of such phenomenon in the human development of people across the world.
Some of the climate change related issues analyzed in this parte are: Droughts and water security,
tropical cyclones and storms, rising tides, warming seas, coral bleaching, fish stocks, melting glaciers,
heat waves and cold spells and the impact on human health are discussed in this
paper along with the differentiated impact on countries in various levels
human development is also discussed
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Human Development Report 2009
Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development
Human development is about putting people at the centre of
development. It is about people realizing their potential, increasing their
choices and enjoying the freedom to lead lives they value. Since 1990, annual
Human Development Reports have explored challenges including poverty, gender,
democracy, human rights, cultural liberty, globalization, water scarcity and
climate change.
Migration, both within and beyond borders, has become an increasingly
prominent theme in domestic and international debates, and is the topic of the
2009 Human Development Report (HDR09). The starting point is that the global
distribution of capabilities is extraordinarily unequal, and that this is a
major driver for movement of people. Migration can expand their choices– in
terms of incomes, accessing services and participation, for example -- but the
opportunities open to people vary from those who are best endowed to those with
limited skills and assets. These underlying inequalities, which can be
compounded by policy distortions, will be a theme of the report.
The report will investigate migration in the context of demographic changes
and trends in both growth and inequality. It will also present more detailed and
nuanced individual, family and village experiences, and explore less visible
movements typically pursued by disadvantaged groups such as short term and
seasonal migration.
There is a range of evidence about the positive impacts of migration on human
development, through such avenues as increased household incomes and improved
access to education and health services. There is further evidence that
migration can empower traditionally disadvantaged groups, in particular women.
At the same time, risks to human development are also present where migration is
a reaction to threats and denial of choice, and where regular opportunities for
movement are constrained.
National and local policies play a critical role in enabling better human
development outcomes for both those who choose to move in order to improve their
circumstances, and those forced to relocate due to conflict, environmental
degradation, or other reasons. Host country restrictions can raise both the
costs and the risks of migration. Similarly, negative outcomes can arise at the
country levels where basic civic rights, like voting, schooling and health care
are denied to those who have moved across provincial lines to work and live. The
HDR09 will show how a human development approach can be a means to redress some
of the underlying issues that erode the potential benefits of mobility and/or
force migration.
The 2009 Human Development Report will be launched in October of
2009.
Human
Development Report 2007/2008
Fighting climate change: Human
solidarity in a divided world
Climate change is the defining human development challenge of the 21st
Century. Failure to respond to that challenge will stall and then reverse
international efforts to reduce poverty. The poorest countries and most
vulnerable citizens will suffer the earliest and most damaging setbacks, even
though they have contributed least to the problem. Looking to the future, no
country—however wealthy or powerful—will be immune to the impact of global
warming.
The Human Development Report 2007/2008 shows that climate change is not just
a future scenario. Increased exposure to droughts, floods and storms is already
destroying opportunity and reinforcing inequality. Meanwhile, there is now
overwhelming scientific evidence that the world is moving towards the point at
which irreversible ecological catastrophe becomes unavoidable. Business-as-usual
climate change points in a clear direction: unprecedented reversal in human
development in our lifetime, and acute risks for our children and their
grandchildren.
Human
Development Report 2006
Beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the
global water crisis
Throughout history water has confronted humanity with some of its greatest
challenges. Water is a source of life and a natural resource that sustains our
environments and supports livelihoods – but it is also a source of risk and
vulnerability. In the early 21st Century, prospects for human development are
threatened by a deepening global water crisis. Debunking the myth that the
crisis is the result of scarcity, this report argues poverty, power and
inequality are at the heart of the problem.
In a world of unprecedented wealth, almost 2 million children die each year
for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation. Millions of women
and young girls are forced to spend hours collecting and carrying water,
restricting their opportunities and their choices. And water-borne infectious
diseases are holding back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the
world’s poorest countries.
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Human
Development Report 2005
International
cooperation at a crossroads: Aid, trade and security in an unequal
world
This
year's Human Development Report takes stock of human
development, including progress towards the MDGs. Looking
beyond statistics, it highlights the human costs of missed
targets and broken promises. Extreme inequality between
countries and within countries is identified as one of the
main barriers to human development and as a powerful brake
on accelerated progress towards the MDGs.
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Human
Development Report 2004
Cultural Liberty in
Today's Diverse World
Accommodating
people's growing demands for their inclusion in society, for
respect of their ethnicity, religion, and language, takes
more than democracy and equitable growth. Also needed are
multicultural policies that recognize differences, champion
diversity and promote cultural freedoms, so that all people
can choose to speak their language, practice their religion,
and participate in shaping their culture so that all people
can choose to be who they are.
GLOBAL - 2004 |
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Human
Development Report 2003
Millennium
Development Goals: A compact among nations to end human poverty
The
range of human development in the world is vast and uneven,
with astounding progress in some areas amidst stagnation and
dismal decline in others. Balance and stability in the world
will require the commitment of all nations, rich and poor,
and a global development compact to extend the wealth of
possibilities to all people.
GLOBAL - 2003
Human
Development Report 2002
Deepening democracy
in a fragmented world
This
Human Development Report is first and foremost about the
idea that politics is as important to successful development
as economics. Sustained poverty reduction requires equitable
growth-but it also requires that poor people have political
power. And the best way to achieve that in a manner
consistent with human development objectives is by building
strong and deep forms of democratic governance at all levels
of society.
GLOBAL - 2002
Human
Development Report 2001
Making new
technologies work for human development
Technology
networks are transforming the traditional map of
development, expanding people's horizons and creating the
potential to realize in a decade progress that required
generations in the past.
GLOBAL - 2001
Human
Development Report 2000
Human rights and
human development
Human
Development Report 2000 looks at human rights as an
intrinsic part of development and at development as a means
to realizing human rights. It shows how human rights bring
principles of accountability and social justice to the
process of human development.
GLOBAL - 2000
Human
Development Report 1999
Globalization with a
Human Face
Global
markets, global technology, global ideas and global
solidarity can enrich the lives of people everywhere. The
challenge is to ensure that the benefits are shared
equitably and that this increasing interdependence works for
people not just for profits. This year's Report argues that
globalization is not new, but that the present era of
globalization, driven by competitive global markets, is
outpacing the governance of markets and the repercussions on
people.
GLOBAL - 1999
Human
Development Report 1998
Consumption for Human
Development
The
high levels of consumption and production in the world
today, the power and potential of technology and
information, present great opportunities. After a century of
vast material expansion, will leaders and people have the
vision to seek and achieve more equitable and more human
advance in the 21st century.
GLOBAL - 1998
Human
Development Report 1997
Human Development to
Eradicate Poverty
Eradicating
poverty everywhere is more than a moral imperative - it is a
practical possibility. That is the most important message of
the Human Development Report 1997. The world has the
resources and the know-how to create a poverty-free world in
less than a generation.
GLOBAL - 1997
Human
Development Report 1996
Economic growth and
human development
The
Report argues that economic growth, if not properly managed,
can be jobless, voiceless, ruthless, rootless and
futureless, and thus detrimental to human development. The
quality of growth is therefore as important as its quantity
for poverty reduction, human development and sustainability.
GLOBAL - 1996
Human
Development Report 1995
Gender and human
development
The
report analyses the progress made in reducing gender
disparities in the past few decades and highlights the wide
and persistent gap between women's expanding capabilities and
limited opportunities. Two new measures are introduced for
ranking countries on a global scale by their performance in
gender equality and there follows an analysis of the
under-valuation and non-recognition of the work of women. In
conclusion, the report offers a five-point strategy for
equalizing gender opportunities in the decade ahead.
GLOBAL - 1995
Human
Development Report 1994
New dimensions of human
security
The
report introduces a new concept of human security which
equates security with people rather than territories, with
development rather than arms. It examines both the national
and the global concerns of human security.
GLOBAL - 1994
Human
Development Report 1993
People's Participation
The
Report examines how and to what extent people participate in
the events and processes that shape their lives. It looks at
three major means of peoples' participation: people-friendly
markets, decentralised governance and community organisations,
especially non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and suggests
concrete policy measures to address the growing problems of
increasing unemployment.
GLOBAL - 1993
Human
Development Report 1992
Global Dimensions of
Human Development
The
richest 20% of the population now receives 150 times the
income of the poorest 20%. The Report suggests a two-pronged
strategy to break away from this situation. First, making
massive investments in their people and strengthening national
technological capacity can enable some developing countries to
acquire a strong competitive edge in international markets
(witness the East Asian industrializing tigers). Second, there
should be basic international reforms, including restructuring
the Bretton Woods institutions and setting up a Development
Security Council within the United Nations.
GLOBAL - 1992
Human
Development Report 1991
Financing Human
Development
Lack
of political commitment rather than financial resources is
often the real cause of human development. This is the main
conclusion of Human Development Report 1991 - the second in a
series of annual reports on the subject.
GLOBAL - 1991
Human
Development Report 1990
Concept and Measurement
of human development
The
Report addresses, as its main issue , the question of how
economic growth translates - or fails to translate - into
human development. The focus is on people and on how
development enlarges their choices. The Report discusses the
meaning and measurement of human development, proposing a new
composite index. However, its overall orientation is practical
and pragmatic.
GLOBAL - 1990
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Desarrollo
Humano y Derechos Humanos en Chile
Jorge Correa Sutil, 2000 |
| UNDP: Informe
sobre el desarrollo humano 2002 |
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| UNDP: Rapport
Mondial sur le développement humain 2002 |
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