United Nations (UN)

It is an intergovernmental organization responsible for maintaining international peace and

security, developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, and
being a center for harmonizing the actions of nations.[2] It is the largest, most familiar, most
internationally represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization in the world. The
UN is headquartered on international territory in New York City; other main offices are in
Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna and The Hague.

The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future wars,
succeeding the ineffective League of Nations.[3] On 25 April 1945, 50 governments met in San
Francisco for a conference and started drafting the UN Charter, which was adopted on 25 June
1945 and took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations. Pursuant to the
Charter, the organization's objectives include maintaining international peace and security,
protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, promoting sustainable development, and
upholding international law.[4] At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; this number grew
to 193 in 2011,[5] representing the vast majority of the world's sovereign states.

The organization's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by
the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union and their respective allies. Its missions
have consisted primarily of unarmed military observers and lightly armed troops with primarily
monitoring, reporting and confidence-building roles.[6] UN membership grew significantly
following widespread decolonization beginning in the 1960s. Since then, 80 former colonies
have gained independence, including 11 trust territories that had been monitored by the
Trusteeship Council.[7] By the 1970s, the UN's budget for economic and social development
programmes far outstripped its spending on peacekeeping. After the end of the Cold War, the
UN shifted and expanded its field operations, undertaking a wide variety of complex tasks.[8]

The UN has six principal organs: the General Assembly; the Security Council; the
Economic and Social Council; the Trusteeship Council; the International Court of Justice; and
the UN Secretariat. The UN System includes a multitude of specialized agencies, such as the
World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, and
UNICEF. Additionally, non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with
ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UN's work. The UN's chief administrative
officer is the Secretary-General, currently Portuguese politician and diplomat António Guterres
since 1 January 2017. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from
its member states.

The UN, its officers, and its agencies have won many Nobel Peace Prizes, though other
evaluations of its effectiveness have been mixed. Some commentators believe the organization to
be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called it ineffective,
biased, or corrupt.
History of the United Nations

In the century prior to the UN's creation, several international treaty organizations such as
the International Committee of the Red Cross was formed to ensure protection and assistance for
victims of armed conflict and strife. In 1914, a political assassination in Sarajevo set off a chain
of events that led to the outbreak of World War I. As more and more young men were sent down
into the trenches, influential voices in the United States and Britain began calling for the
establishment of a permanent international body to maintain peace in the postwar world.
President Woodrow Wilson became a vocal advocate of this concept, and in 1918 he included a
sketch of the international body in his 14-point proposal to end the war. In November 1918, the
Central Powers agreed to an armistice to halt the killing in World War I. Two months later, the
Allies met with Germany and Austria-Hungary at Versailles to hammer out formal peace terms.
President Wilson wanted peace, but the United Kingdom and France disagreed, forcing harsh
war reparations on their former enemies. The League of Nations was approved, and in the
summer of 1919 Wilson presented the Treaty of Versailles and the Covenant of the League of
Nations to the US Senate for ratification. On 10 January 1920, the League of Nations formally
comes into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations, ratified by 42 nations in 1919,
takes effect. However, at some point the League became ineffective when it failed to act against
the Japanese invasion of Manchuria as in February 1933, 40 nations voted for Japan to withdraw
from Manchuria but Japan voted against it and walked out of the League instead of withdrawing
from Manchuria. It also failed against the Second Italo-Ethiopian War despite trying to talk to
Benito Mussolini as he used the time to send an army to Africa, so the League had a plan for
Mussolini to just take a part of Ethiopia, but he ignored the League and invaded Ethiopia, the
League tried putting sanctions on Italy, but Italy had already conquered Ethiopia and the League
had failed. After Italy conquered Ethiopia, Italy and other nations left the league. But all of them
realized that it had failed and they began to re-arm as fast as possible. During 1938, Britain and
France tried negotiating directly with Hitler but this failed in 1939 when Hitler invaded
Czechoslovakia. When war broke out in 1939, the League closed down and its headquarters in
Geneva remained empty throughout the war. Although the United States never joined the
League, the country did support its economic and social missions through the work of private
philanthropies and by sending representatives to committees.

The earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the U.S.
State Department in 1939. The text of the "Declaration by United Nations" was drafted at the
White House on 29 December 1941, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister
Winston Churchill, and Roosevelt aide Harry Hopkins. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but
left no role for France. "Four Policemen" was coined to refer to four major Allied countries,
United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Republic of China, which emerged in the
Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the
Allied countries.[a] "On New Year's Day 1942, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill,
Maxim Litvinov, of the USSR, and T. V. Soong, of China, signed a short document which later
came to be known as the United Nations Declaration and the next day the representatives of
twenty-two other nations added their signatures." The term United Nations was first officially
used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter
was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, which Stalin approved after Roosevelt
insisted. By 1 March 1945, 21 additional states had signed.

During the war, "the United Nations" became the official term for the Allies. To join,
countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis.

Founding

The UN was formulated and negotiated among the delegations from the Allied Big Four
(the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China) at the Dumbarton Oaks
Conference from 21 September 1944 to 7 October 1944 and they agreed on the aims, structure
and functioning of the UN. After months of planning, the UN Conference on International
Organization opened in San Francisco, 25 April 1945, attended by 50 governments and a number
of non-governmental organizations involved in drafting the UN Charter. "The heads of the
delegations of the sponsoring countries took turns as chairman of the plenary meetings: Anthony
Eden, of Britain, Edward Stettinius, of the United States, T. V. Soong, of China, and Vyacheslav
Molotov, of the Soviet Union. At the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mister Eden,
Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mister Gromyko for Mister Molotov." The UN officially
came into existence 24 October 1945, upon ratification of the Charter by the five permanent
members of the Security Council—France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the UK and
the US—and by a majority of the other 46 signatories.

The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, and the Security
Council took place in Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, London beginning on 10 January
1946.[28] The General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the
UN, construction began on 14 September 1948 and the facility was completed on 9 October
1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as
international territory. The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN
Secretary-General.

Cold War era

Though the UN's primary mandate was peacekeeping, the division between the US and
USSR often paralysed the organization, generally allowing it to intervene only in conflicts
distant from the Cold War. Two notable exceptions were a Security Council resolution on 7 July
1950 authorizing a US-led coalition to repel the North Korean invasion of South Korea, passed
in the absence of the USSR, and the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement in 27 July 1953.
 On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly approved a resolution to partition Palestine,
approving the creation of the state of Israel. Two years later, Ralph Bunche, a UN official,
negotiated an armistice to the resulting conflict. On 7 November 1956, the first UN peacekeeping
force was established to end the Suez Crisis; however, the UN was unable to intervene against
the USSR's simultaneous invasion of Hungary following that country's revolution.

On 14 July 1960, the UN established United Nations Operation in the Congo (UNOC), the
largest military force of its early decades, to bring order to the breakaway State of Katanga,
restoring it to the control of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 11 May 1964. While
traveling to meet rebel leader Moise Tshombe during the conflict, Dag Hammarskjöld, often
named as one of the UN's most effective Secretaries-General, died in a plane crash; months later
he was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1964, Hammarskjöld's successor, U
Thant, deployed the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, which would become one of the UN's
longest-running peacekeeping missions.

With the spread of decolonization in the 1960s, the organization's membership saw an
influx of newly independent nations. In 1960 alone, 17 new states joined the UN, 16 of them
from Africa. On 25 October 1971, with opposition from the United States, but with the support
of many Third World nations, the mainland, communist People's Republic of China was given
the Chinese seat on the Security Council in place of the Republic of China that occupied Taiwan;
the vote was widely seen as a sign of waning US influence in the organization. Third World
nations organized into the Group of 77 coalition under the leadership of Algeria, which briefly
became a dominant power at the UN.[44] On 10 November 1975, a bloc comprising the USSR
and Third World nations passed a resolution, over strenuous US and Israeli opposition, declaring
Zionism to be racism; the resolution was repealed on 16 December 1991, shortly after the end of
the Cold War.

With an increasing Third World presence and the failure of UN mediation in conflicts in the
Middle East, Vietnam, and Kashmir, the UN increasingly shifted its attention to its ostensibly
secondary goals of economic development and cultural exchange. By the 1970s, the UN budget
for social and economic development was far greater than its peacekeeping budget.

Post-Cold War

After the Cold War, the UN saw a radical expansion in its peacekeeping duties, taking on
more missions in ten years than it had in the previous four decades.[48] Between 1988 and 2000,
the number of adopted Security Council resolutions more than doubled, and the peacekeeping
budget increased more than tenfold. The UN negotiated an end to the Salvadoran Civil War,
launched a successful peacekeeping mission in Namibia, and oversaw democratic elections in
post-apartheid South Africa and post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia. In 1991, the UN authorized a
US-led coalition that repulsed the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Brian Urquhart, Under-Secretary-
General from 1971 to 1985, later described the hopes raised by these successes as a "false
renaissance" for the organization, given the more troubled missions that followed.

Though the UN Charter had been written primarily to prevent aggression by one nation
against another, in the early 1990s the UN faced a number of simultaneous, serious crises within
nations such as Somalia, Haiti, Mozambique, and the former Yugoslavia. The UN mission in
Somalia was widely viewed as a failure after the US withdrawal following casualties in the
Battle of Mogadishu, and the UN mission to Bosnia faced "worldwide ridicule" for its indecisive
and confused mission in the face of ethnic cleansing. In 1994, the UN Assistance Mission for
Rwanda failed to intervene in the Rwandan genocide amid indecision in the Security Council.

Beginning in the last decades of the Cold War, American and European critics of the UN
condemned the organization for perceived mismanagement and corruption. In 1984, US
President Ronald Reagan, withdrew his nation's funding from United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) over allegations of mismanagement, followed
by the UK and Singapore. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General from 1992 to 1996,
initiated a reform of the Secretariat, reducing the size of the organization somewhat. His
successor, Kofi Annan (1997–2006), initiated further management reforms in the face of threats
from the US to withhold its UN dues.

From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, international interventions authorized by the UN
took a wider variety of forms. The UN mission in the Sierra Leone Civil War of 1991–2002 was
supplemented by British Royal Marines, and the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was overseen
by NATO.[63] In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq despite failing to pass a UN Security
Council resolution for authorization, prompting a new round of questioning of the organization's
effectiveness. Under the eighth Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, the UN intervened with peace
keepers in crises such as the War in Darfur in Sudan and the Kivu conflict in the Democratic
Republic of Congo and sent observers and chemical weapons inspectors to the Syrian Civil War.
In 2013, an internal review of UN actions in the final battles of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009
concluded that the organization had suffered "systemic failure". In 2010, the organization
suffered the worst loss of life in its history, when 101 personnel died in the Haiti earthquake

The Millennium Summit was held in 2000 to discuss the UN's role in the 21st century. The
three day meeting was the largest gathering of world leaders in history, and culminated in the
adoption by all member states of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a commitment to
achieve international development in areas such as poverty reduction, gender equality, and public
health. Progress towards these goals, which were to be met by 2015, was ultimately uneven. The
2005 World Summit reaffirmed the UN's focus on promoting development, peacekeeping,
human rights, and global security. The Sustainable Development Goals were launched in 2015 to
succeed the Millennium Development Goals.

In addition to addressing global challenges, the UN has sought to improve its accountability
and democratic legitimacy by engaging more with civil society and fostering a global
constituency. In an effort to enhance transparency, in 2016 the organization held its first public
debate between candidates for Secretary-General. On 1 January 2017, Portuguese diplomat
António Guterres, who previously served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees, became the
ninth Secretary-General. Guterres has highlighted several key goals for his administration,
including an emphasis on diplomacy for preventing conflicts, more effective peacekeeping
efforts, and streamlining the organization to be more responsive and versatile to global needs.

The United Nations (UN) is an international organization formed in 1945 to increase

political and economic cooperation among its member countries.

Almost every country in the world is represented in the UN, including the U.S. A few states
lack membership despite exercising de facto sovereignty, either because most of the international
community does not recognize them as independent (North Cyprus, Somaliland, Abkhazia), or
because one or more powerful member states have blocked their admittance (Taiwan, Kosovo).

United Nations (UN), international organization established on October 24, 1945. The
United Nations (UN) was the second multipurpose international organization established in the
20th century that was worldwide in scope and membership. Its predecessor, the League of
Nations, was created by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and disbanded in 1946. Headquartered
in New York City, the UN also has regional offices in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi. Its official
languages are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

The UN is made up of five principal organs: the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretariat,
the International Court of Justice, the UN Security Council, and the UN Economic and Social
Council. A sixth, the UN Trusteeship Council, has been inactive since 1994.

UN General Assembly
 This is the UN's main deliberative body, where all members have equal representation. It is
headquartered in New York City, and its responsibilities include setting the UN's budget,
appointing rotating members to the Security Council, and passing non-binding resolutions that
express the opinions of the international community.

UN Secretariat

The UN Secretariat is the executive wing of the UN, charged with implementing policies set
by its deliberative bodies. Its head, the Secretary-General, is the UN's top official. The
Secretariat, which is based in New York City, includes the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations, which dispatches UN soldiers–known as "blue helmets"–on missions authorized by
the Security Council.

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is based in The Hague and has two main functions: to
settle disputes submitted by member states according to international law and to issue advisory
opinions on legal questions submitted by UN agencies.

United Nations (UN), international organization established on October 24, 1945. The
United Nations (UN) was the second multipurpose international organization established in the
20th century that was worldwide in scope and membership. Its predecessor, the League of
Nations, was created by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and disbanded in 1946. Headquartered
in New York City, the UN also has regional offices in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi. Its official
languages are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. For a list of UN member
countries and secretaries-general, see below.

According to its Charter, the UN aims is to save succeeding generations from the scourge of
war,…to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,…to establish conditions under which
justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law
can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.

In addition to maintaining peace and security, other important objectives include developing
friendly relations among countries based on respect for the principles of equal rights and self-
determination of peoples; achieving worldwide cooperation to solve international economic,
social, cultural, and humanitarian problems; respecting and promoting human rights; and serving
as a centre where countries can coordinate their actions and activities toward these various ends.
 The UN formed a continuum with the League of Nations in general purpose, structure, and
functions; many of the UN’s principal organs and related agencies were adopted from similar
structures established earlier in the century. In some respects, however, the UN constituted a
very different organization, especially with regard to its objective of maintaining international
peace and security and its commitment to economic and social development.

The United Nations came into being in 1945, following the devastation of the Second
World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security. The
UN does this by working to prevent conflict; helping parties in conflict make peace;
peacekeeping; and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish. These activities
often overlap and should reinforce one another, to be effective. The UN Security Council has the
primary responsibility for international peace and security. The General Assembly and the
Secretary-General play major, important, and complementary roles, along with other UN offices
and bodies.

Changes in the nature of international relations resulted in modifications in the

responsibilities of the UN and its decision-making apparatus. Cold War tensions between the
United States and the Soviet Union deeply affected the UN’s security functions during its first 45
years. Extensive post-World War II decolonization in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East
increased the volume and nature of political, economic, and social issues that confronted the
organization. The Cold War’s end in 1991 brought renewed attention and appeals to the UN.
Amid an increasingly volatile geopolitical climate, there were new challenges to established
practices and functions, especially in the areas of conflict resolution and humanitarian assistance.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the UN and its programs and affiliated agencies struggled
to address humanitarian crises and civil wars, unprecedented refugee flows, the devastation
caused by the spread of AIDS, global financial disruptions, international terrorism, and the
disparities in wealth between the world’s richest and poorest peoples.

History And Development

Despite the problems encountered by the League of Nations in arbitrating conflict and
ensuring international peace and security prior to World War II, the major Allied powers agreed
during the war to establish a new global organization to help manage international affairs. This
agreement was first articulated when U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter in August 1941. The name United
Nations was originally used to denote the countries allied against Germany, Italy, and Japan. On
January 1, 1942, 26 countries signed the Declaration by United Nations, which set forth the war
aims of the Allied powers.

The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union took the lead in designing the
new organization and determining its decision-making structure and functions. Initially, the “Big
Three” states and their respective leaders (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Soviet premier Joseph
Stalin) were hindered by disagreements on issues that foreshadowed the Cold War. The Soviet
Union demanded individual membership and voting rights for its constituent republics, and
Britain wanted assurances that its colonies would not be placed under UN control. There also
was disagreement over the voting system to be adopted in the Security Council, an issue that
became famous as the “veto problem.”

The first major step toward the formation of the United Nations was taken August 21–
October 7, 1944, at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, a meeting of the diplomatic experts of the
Big Three powers plus China (a group often designated the “Big Four”) held at Dumbarton Oaks,
an estate in Washington, D.C. Although the four countries agreed on the general purpose,
structure, and function of a new world organization, the conference ended amid continuing
disagreement over membership and voting. At the Yalta Conference, a meeting of the Big Three
in a Crimean resort city in February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin laid the basis for
charter provisions delimiting the authority of the Security Council. Moreover, they reached a
tentative accord on the number of Soviet republics to be granted independent memberships in the
UN. Finally, the three leaders agreed that the new organization would include a trusteeship
system to succeed the League of Nations mandate system.

The Dumbarton Oaks proposals, with modifications from the Yalta Conference, formed the
basis of negotiations at the United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO),
which convened in San Francisco on April 25, 1945, and produced the final Charter of the
United Nations. The San Francisco conference was attended by representatives of 50 countries
from all geographic areas of the world: 9 from Europe, 21 from the Americas, 7 from the Middle
East, 2 from East Asia, and 3 from Africa, as well as 1 each from the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist
Republic and the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (in addition to the Soviet Union itself)
and 5 from British Commonwealth countries. Poland, which was not present at the conference,
was permitted to become an original member of the UN. Security Council veto power (among
the permanent members) was affirmed, though any member of the General Assembly was able to
raise issues for discussion. Other political issues resolved by compromise were the role of the
organization in the promotion of economic and social welfare; the status of colonial areas and the
distribution of trusteeships; the status of regional and defense arrangements; and Great Power
dominance versus the equality of states. The UN Charter was unanimously adopted and signed
on June 26 and promulgated on October 24, 1945.

The Formation of the United Nations, 1945

On January 1, 1942, representatives of 26 nations at war with the Axis powers met in
Washington to sign the Declaration of the United Nations endorsing the Atlantic Charter,
pledging to use their full resources against the Axis and agreeing not to make a separate peace.

At the Quebec Conference in August 1943, Secretary of State Cordell Hull and British
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden agreed to draft a declaration that included a call for “a general
international organization, based on the principle sovereign equality of all nations.” An agreed
declaration was issued after a Foreign Ministers Conference in Moscow in October 1943. When
President Franklin D. Roosevelt met with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in Tehran, Iran, in
November 1943, he proposed an international organization comprising an assembly of all
member states and a 10-member executive committee to discuss social and economic issues. The
United States, Great Britain, Soviet Union, and China would enforce peace as “the four
policemen.” Meanwhile Allied representatives founded a set of task-oriented organizations: the
Food and Agricultural Organization (May 1943), the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration (November 1943), the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (April 1944), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (July 1944),
and the International Civil Aviation Organization (November 1944).

U.S., British, Soviet, and Chinese representatives met at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington in
August and September 1944 to draft the charter of a postwar international organization based on
the principle of collective security. They recommended a General Assembly of all member states
and a Security Council consisting of the Big Four plus six members chosen by the Assembly.
Voting procedures and the veto power of permanent members of the Security Council were
finalized at the Yalta Conference in 1945 when Roosevelt and Stalin agreed that the veto would
not prevent discussions by the Security Council. Roosevelt agreed to General Assembly
membership for Ukraine and Byelorussia while reserving the right, which was never exercised,
to seek two more votes for the United States.

Representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco April-June 1945 to complete the Charter
of the United Nations. In addition to the General Assembly of all member states and a Security
Council of 5 permanent and 6 non-permanent members, the Charter provided for an 18-member
Economic and Social Council, an International Court of Justice, a Trusteeship Council to oversee
certain colonial territories, and a Secretariat under a Secretary General. The Roosevelt
administration strove to avoid Woodrow Wilson’s mistakes in selling the League of Nations to
the Senate. It sought bipartisan support and in September 1943 the Republican Party endorsed
U.S. participation in a postwar international organization, after which both houses of Congress
overwhelmingly endorsed participation. Roosevelt also sought to convince the public that an
international organization was the best means to prevent future wars. The Senate approved the
UN Charter on July 28, 1945, by a vote of 89 to 2. The United Nations came into existence on
October 24, 1945, after 29 nations had ratified the Charter.

PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS

The term “human rights” was mentioned seven times in the UN's founding Charter, making
the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the
Organization. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into
the realm of international law. Since then, the Organization has diligently protected human
rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground activities.

A child has a meal at a food distribution centre in the Rwanda camp for internally displaced
persons (IDPs), near Tawila, North Darfur. More than 8,000 women and children living in the
camp benefit from nutrition programmes run by the World Food Programme (WFP).

DELIVER HUMANITARIAN AID

One of the purposes of the United Nations, as stated in its Charter, is "to achieve
international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or
humanitarian character." The UN first did this in the aftermath of the Second World War on the
devastated continent of Europe, which it helped to rebuild. The Organization is now relied upon
by the international community to coordinate humanitarian relief operations due to natural and
man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone.

PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

From the start in 1945, one of the main priorities of the United Nations was to “achieve
international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or
humanitarian character and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for
fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”
Improving people’s well-being continues to be one of the main focuses of the UN. The global
understanding of development has changed over the years, and countries now have agreed that
sustainable development – development that promotes prosperity and economic opportunity,
greater social well-being, and protection of the environment – offers the best path forward for
improving the lives of people everywhere.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its order on the request for the indication of
provisional measures filed by Nicaragua on 11 October 2013 in the case concerning Construction
of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica).

UPHOLD INTERNATIONAL LAW

The UN Charter, in its Preamble, set an objective: "to establish conditions under which
justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law
can be maintained". Ever since, the development of, and respect for international law has been a
key part of the work of the Organization. This work is carried out in many ways - by courts,
tribunals, multilateral treaties - and by the Security Council, which can approve peacekeeping
missions, impose sanctions, or authorize the use of force when there is a threat to international
peace and security, if it deems this necessary. These powers are given to it by the UN Charter,
which is considered an international treaty. As such, it is an instrument of international law, and
UN Member States are bound by it. The UN Charter codifies the major principles of
international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in
international relations.

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Role of the UN in the contemporary world

India has played a pivotal role in the United Nations right from its inception and has
aggressively pushed forward the values of the UN Charter, Ambassador Asoke K. Mukerji has
said.

He was delivering the first Institute Lecture for this academic season-Role of the UN in the
contemporary world-on Wednesday.The talk was a part of the Ministry of External Affairs
Distinguished Lecture series.

Mr. Mukerji is currently an elected member of the governing Council and Executive
Committee of the United Service Institution of India (USI), which is India’s oldest think tank,
and a member of the National Executive Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

He served in the Indian Foreign Service for more 37 years, before retiring from New York
as India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in December 2015.
His tenure was marked by the remarkably swift implementation, within 75 days and with the co-
sponsorship of 177 countries, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposal for the UN to declare
an International Day of Yoga. He headed the Indian negotiating team for the adoption of Agenda
2030 on Sustainable Development by the UN General Assembly.

Noting that India had been at the forefront of responding through the UN to global
challenges he said: “India has pushed forward the values of the Charter through various
initiatives. The Declaration by United Nations was formally launched on 1 January 1942 at a
conference of 26 allied nations in Washington DC, convened by President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt of the United States. The intention was to create structures of global governance under
the broad framework of the UN to both secure and sustain the peace that would come after the
Second World War ended. Though divided between British India and Indian Princely States,
India was one of the 26 participating nations in this Conference. India participated in the UN
process as an original member. Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai, then India’s Agent-General in the
United States, signed the Declaration on behalf of India.”
 “Any assessment of the role of the UN in the world today would have to begin with a
survey of the structures that the UN has created, because the responsiveness of the UN to the
issues confronting the world can only be gauged by the effectiveness of its structures,” he
maintained.

Elucidating on the changes that have occurred, he said: “It would be fair to say that since
the UN was created in 1945, the political landscape of the world has undergone radical change.
This is illustrated by the membership of the UNGA, which was 51 in 1945 stands at 193 today.
The main driver of this has no doubt been the process of decolonization, which was accelerated
by the independence of India in August 1947, and which culminated with the admission of scores
of newly independent developing countries.”

The second broad change that has occurred since 1945, he said is the steep rise in the
numbers and aspirations of people across the world for a more prosperous life, which has been
accelerated by emerging technologies. The third momentous change for the UN is focused on
asserting human rights and empowerment.

“In the larger framework of international relations, the UN is confronted more and more by
the emergence of trans-boundary, global issues, involving both states and non-state actors, which
make its core function of international cooperation more relevant today than ever before. This
includes challenges like terrorism, organized crime, humanitarian disasters, and securing the
global commons in the maritime, cyber and outer space domains,” he stressed.

Earlier he referred to the three pillars of the UN—Peace and security, Global Socio-
Economic issues and Human Rights and touched all three of them separately through interesting
slides. The photographs—including the historic photo from 1953 showing Vijayalakshmi Pandit
taking over as the first woman President of UN General Assembly and that of Sir A Ramaswami
presiding over the first session of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in
1946—all mirrored the strong presence of India in the UN.

Stressing on the need to unify the three pillars of the UN, he said that the Security Council
should also be reformed sooner or later.

“In all the structures of global governance today, decision-making reflects the democratic
norms of transparency, accountability and majority voting. Even the IMF has agreed to reform its
system by 2019 to enable emerging economies equitable representation in its decision-making.
Only the UN Security Council continues to be deadlocked on this issue, which is an aberration in
the 21st century, especially when the clear majority of the 193-member states of the UNGA are
democracies.”

The only way to break this deadlock, he said is through amending the Charter by a UNGA
resolution. “The most successful method adopted by the UNGA in recent years, while
responding to challenges posed by sustainable development or upholding human rights, was to
adopt a multi-stakeholder approach to inter-governmental negotiations. These were web-cast to
provide transparency and accountability. A similar approach by the UNGA on Security Council
reform would generate public pressure on more than 128 member states for adopting a resolution
to amend the Charter.”

It is generally accepted that the United Nations (UN) has been given the mandate by the UN
Charter of 1945 to play a role for maintaining international peace and security, for using
international cooperation to address global socio-economic, cultural and humanitarian issues, and
for upholding respect for human rights and non-discriminatory fundamental human freedoms.
These are often called the three pillars of the UN system.

The second broad change that has occurred since 1945 is the steep rise in the numbers and
aspirations of people across the world for a more prosperous life, which has been accelerated by
emerging technologies.

The third momentous change for the UN is linked to the first two, focusing on asserting
human rights and empowerment. In the larger framework of international relations, the UN is
confronted more and more by the emergence of trans-boundary, global issues, involving both
states and non-state actors, which make its core function of international cooperation more
relevant today than ever before. This includes challenges like terrorism, organized crime,
humanitarian disasters, and securing the global commons in the maritime, cyber and outer space
domains.

In all the structures of global governance today, decision-making reflects the democratic
norms of transparency, accountability and majority voting. Even the IMF has agreed to reform its
system by 2019 to enable emerging economies equitable representation in its decision-making.
Only the UN Security Council continues to be deadlocked on this issue, which is an aberration in
the 21st century, especially when the clear majority of the 193-member states of the UNGA are
democracies.

The role of the united nations in contemporary world politics and evolve in today’s world
over time. it can be viewed from different angles or perspective. UN key role in these aspects is
better illustrated by efforts to solve the nuclear problems of Iran and North Korea which the
world body’s nuclear watchdog, IAEA is overseeing. The war on terror is equally among UN
tasks and is working on ways and means of countering the modern-day scourge. Nobody can
dispute UN huge contribution to efforts at tackling social-economic humanitarian and cultural
problems facing human-beings. Finally, UN is the place where the fight to promote human rights
and other liberties is being spear-headed.

Before the creation of the UN, man was unable to think up a more effective instrument of
maintaining global peace and security. UN headquarters in New York is the venue where ways
of settling the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Sudan and several other places are
discussed. UN personnel are participating in 15 peace keeping missions, out of which Russia is
involved in ten. UN plays a leading role in disarmament and in the regime of nonproliferation of
weapons of mass destruction.

CONTEMPORARY WORLD POLITICS AND THE ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS

World politics and the role of the United Nations has come under heavy criticisms in
modern times. Despite substantial change in the world in the 1990s connected with the
disintegration of the Soviet Union and collapse of the bipolar world, the UN still plays a very
significant role.

By the end of the 20th century there was observed a certain decline of the UN role, which
was evidenced by the NATO operation in Kosovo undertaken without a Security Council
authorization, the war in Iraq launched by the US in 2003 despite an obvious discord on the issue
even inside the NATO (France and Germany were against the military operation). The year 2003
can be regarded as a “culmination” of the unipolar world system.

The situation started to change when the United States started to get bogged down in the
war in Iraq, and popular protest began to grow inside the US. In 2008 a sub-prime crisis broke
down in the US, which further grew into a world economic crisis. By the end of the presidential
term of George Bush Jr. the international reputation of the country was severely undermined. All
this in addition to the emerging crisis lead to the victory of Barak Obama in the presidential
election, and to a sufficiently radical change in foreign policy: the Americans began to rely more
on the principles of international consensus and to refrain from unilateral actions.

Paradoxically, the world economic crisis resulted in a sharp increase of the UN role, as, in
fact, the Security Council was the only negotiation platform where the world leading nations
could discuss current state of international affairs. The crisis also entailed a considerable growth
of the role of G20 which was commissioned to remodel the global financial system. At the same
time, it became entirely obvious that the US, even with the use of its power and economic
potential, would be unable to uphold their dominant position in the world all by itself. With the
onset of the world financial crisis the unipolar world model was buried once and for all. The
process went along with the arrival to the international foreground of the countries with
considerable financial resources, vast territory and population.

1) The socioeconomic challenge: We must ensure that our planet is habitable, even
comfortable, for billions of people, even as powerful demographic shifts transform the global
economy.

2) The diplomatic challenge: States must strike the right balance between self-determination
and stability. Conflicts where states fight for territories are vanishing; most armed violence now
arises from populations claiming the same territories (e.g., ex-Yugoslavia) and/or new regimes
coming into power (e.g., Arab Spring upheavals). Therefore, the world must be governed as a
whole. The UN is the necessary mediator for this global management.

The sixty-seventh UN General Assembly, now under way, is expected to address issues like
the rule of law at the national and international level, and the Palestinian Authority’s bid for non-
member state recognition. Four experts recently contributed their thoughts about the role of the
United Nations and the future of global governance to this expert roundup.

Philippe Moreau Defarges from the Paris-based Institut Français des Relations
Internationals (IFRI) writes that three preconditions must be met for successful global
governance: balancing world powers, garnering regional support, and fostering an environment
of trust. For Fen Osler Hampson, Paul Heinbecker, and Gordon S. Smith of the Ontario-based
Centre for International Governance Innovation, minilateral groups like the G20 can help the UN
move forward.

Michael Fullilove, of Sydney’s Lowy Institute for International Policy, says the UN must
work toward being more representative of all its member states, and contends that Australia
obtaining a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council would further this important goal.
Similarly, Xue Lei of Shanghai’s Center for Maritime and Polar Studies is critical of the current
structure of the UN Security Council, and argues that the UN body must adapt to reflect the
geopolitical shift in power from West to East.

Global Governance to Combat Illicit Financial Flows

1) The socioeconomic challenge: We must ensure that our planet is habitable, even
comfortable, for billions of people, even as powerful demographic shifts transform the global
economy.

2) The diplomatic challenge: States must strike the right balance between self-determination
and stability. Conflicts where states fight for territories are vanishing; most armed violence now
arises from populations claiming the same territories (e.g., m-Yugoslavia) and/or new regimes
coming into power (e.g., Arab Spring upheavals). Therefore, the world must be governed as a
whole. The UN is the necessary mediator for this global management.

International Organizations

The sovereign state is reshaped both internally (via citizens and media) and externally (via
global opinion and geopolitical forces). The order is governed by a universal social contract,
governed by the UN. There is no other way to transform the jungle of states into a society.

Today, state legitimacy rests on myriad moving parts: marshaling public opinion; garnering
the support of other states; passing mandates at international organizations. Any international
intervention without UN agreement suffers from an inherent weakness (e.g., the 1999 NATO
operation against Serbia; the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq). Only the UN can provide the broadest
legitimacy, but it does not guarantee immunity from controversy: last year’s UNSC resolution
1973 on military action in Libya serves a stark reminder of this.
Preconditions for UN Success

Three things are necessary to ensure successful global governance:

Balancing world powers. Global governance must make allowances for these imbalances
and even organize its dynamics around these realities.

Garnering regional support. Regional actors know the issues on the ground and can set up
adapted configurations. Peace must be a two-way process: top-down, bottom-up.

Fostering trust. In an open and democratic world, nothing should be imposed; rather,
everything should be negotiated. Most peacekeeping operations are fraught with myriad
challenges, including protagonists with conflicting perceptions; traumatized and suspicious
populations; indifferent or weakly motivated peace keepers; and governments that prioritize self-
interest at the international community’s expense. The concept of state building must evolve into
society building.

Michael Fullilove

United Nations commentators usually fall into two camps: groupies and bashers. Neither
group espouses a particularly balanced or realistic view of the international organization.

The groupies defend the organization at all cost. Their catchcry is, "My UN, right or
wrong." The blame for delay or mistakes is always laid at the feet of the member states, never
the secretariat. Serious problems pointed out by critics are waved away, to the long-term
detriment of the organization that they think they are protecting.

Bashers, on the other hand, believe that nothing good ever happens in Turtle Bay. They
decry talk of a rule-based international order and fixate on the UN’s shortcomings.
 The truth is that the UN is both flawed and indispensable. It is important because it provides
the forum where states come together to discuss mutual problems.

The other reason it matters is that, to a significant extent, the Security Council can confer
legitimacy on the use of force, or deny it--which in turn affects the risks and costs of an
operation. The UN bashers hate this fact, but the Iraq experience requires them to face it. The
Council is the world’s preeminent crisis management forum.

Australia is a candidate for an elected seat on the Security Council in 2013-2014. As a

medium-sized country located in the Asia-Pacific, we would help make the Council more
representative. I have no doubt Australia would contribute positively to the Council’s
deliberations. Most importantly, Australia has demonstrated a willingness to spend blood and
treasure to contribute to international peace and security--in world wars, UN peacekeeping
operations, and non-UN missions such as the regional mission in Solomon Islands.

I very much hope that Australia’s candidacy is successful so that we may lend our shoulder
to the Security Council wheel.

Xue Lei

In our rapidly globalized world, the challenges to humankind are myriad and complex. The
task for global governance is to focus on the interconnectedness and interdependence of all these
challenges and threats. It needs to provide the international community with a roadmap leading
to the ultimate goal of sustainable peace and development. And with the rise of emerging
powers, the need for a new global architecture has become even more urgent and critical.

As the only global institution with comprehensive competency and universal membership,
the UN is uniquely positioned to deal with these multiple and complex challenges. On the
operational level, the UN has a well-established institutional framework for deliberation,
decision-making, and implementation. But more importantly, the UN can confer a unique
legitimacy upon mandates and actions on an international level. The UN has always been the
forum for countries to have their views heard, regardless of size, influence, or political system.
Therefore, the UN should never be absent from discussions on global issues. If anything, it needs
to get more involved in various initiatives ranging from the alleviation of poverty to prevention
of conflicts around the world.

However, the United Nations has long been plagued by concerns about efficiency and
effectiveness. Further reform of the institutional framework and working approaches of member
agencies is needed, with the aim of helping the UN adapt to a changing world. On the other
hand, the rise of emerging powers and the waning of established Western influence have, in
effect, made this world more fragmented, crowded, and heterogeneous.

The heterogeneity is reflected in the UN’s weakened mandate, especially in the security
area. The attempts of Western powers to impose their concepts and ideas on the UN have been
met with great resistance from the emerging powers, as the debates arising from the 2011 NATO
military intervention in Libya demonstrated. Current differences regarding the situation in Syria
also show that emerging powers are determined to break the Western domination in the UN
Security Council. It also means that countries need to have a more open and candid dialogue,
with the aim of forging a new global consensus based on equity, fairness, and inclusion. Only
with this new global consensus can the UN fulfill its role of promoting sustainable peace and
development.

Fen Osler Hampson, Paul Heinbecker, and Gordon S. Smith

As we adapt to emerging global threats, let’s not lose sight of what we have achieved. The
UN has largely fulfilled the chartered goals established in San Francisco sixty-seven years ago,
and, in doing so, has spawned an extensive body of international law, treaties, norms, practices,
and institutions that govern most facets of interstate relations. With these "apps," the UN Charter
has become the world’s central operating system--the motherboard of global governance--
making it possible for ideas such as the Millennium Development Goals to become policy
drivers, and for other organizations (notably NATO, the G8, the G20, and civil society) to
function more effectively.

Nevertheless, in too many ways, it remains our parents’ UN. As we all struggle to adapt to
the realities of a rapidly changing world, from climate change and population growth to
pandemics and transnational organized crime, we are inadequately served by an unaccountable
and anachronistic Security Council; a Secretary General chosen in a process akin to a papal
election (and beholden to the Council); and various sub-appendage (like ECOSOC, UNESCO
and the Human Rights Council) of questionable utility.

What to do? In an age of "messy multilateralism," minilateralism offers hope. Universal

entities like the UN need minilateral groups of key countries that can work together across
regional boundaries to achieve results that can be commended to the membership at large. The
G-20 is one such minilateralist invention. Recently, G-20 member countries stabilized financial
markets, coordinated regulatory reform, and launched an economic stimulus, thereby quite
possibly averting a global depression. They have also taken preliminary steps toward global
macroeconomic governance by addressing issues like monetary policy, exchange rates, and debt
levels, which were once regarded as the exclusive province of sovereign governments.

So far, G-20 leaders have focused on their self-prescribed economic and financial mandate
because, undoubtedly, they must get these issues right. But that does not mean that the G20
should ignore security challenges until the economic Shangri-la emerges.

The G-20 is not a panacea. But G-20 leaders could help the international community bring
UN architecture and processes into the twenty-first century. Areas in need of most reform
include the outdated membership configuration of the Security Council and the selection process
(and empowerment) of the secretary general.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 global goals designed to be a

"blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all". The SDGs, set in 2015 by the
United Nations General Assembly and intended to be achieved by the year 2030, are part of UN
Resolution 70/1, the 2030 Agenda.

The Sustainable Development Goals are:

1. No Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
3. Good Health and Well-being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
 6. Clean Water and Sanitation
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
10. Reducing Inequality
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
13. Climate Action
14. Life Below Water
15. Life On Land
16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships for the Goals

The goals are broad based and interdependent. The 17 sustainable development goals each
have a list of targets which are measured with indicators. In an effort to make the SDGs
successful, data on the 17 goals has been made available in an easily-understood form. A variety
of tools exist to track and visualize progress towards the goals.

In 1972, governments met in Stockholm, Sweden for the United Nations Conference on the
Human Environment, to consider the rights of the family to a healthy and productive
environment. In 1983, the United Nations created the World Commission on Environment and
Development (later known as the Brundtland Commission), which defined sustainable
development as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs".[7] In 1992, the first United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED) or Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro, where
the first agenda for Environment and Development, also known as Agenda 21, was developed
and adopted.

In 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also

known as Rio+20, was held as a 20-year follow up to UNCED. Colombia proposed the idea of
the SDGs at a preparation event for Rio+20 held in Indonesia in July 2011.[8] In September
2011, this idea was picked up by the United Nations Department of Public Information 64th
NGO Conference in Bonn, Germany. The outcome document proposed 17 sustainable
development goals and associated targets. In the run-up to Rio+20 there was much discussion
about the idea of the SDGs. At the Rio+20 Conference, a resolution known as "The Future We
Want" was reached by member states.[9] Among the key themes agreed on were poverty
eradication, energy, water and sanitation, health, and human settlement.
 The Rio+20 outcome document mentioned that "at the outset, the OWG [Open Working
Group] will decide on its methods of work, including developing modalities to ensure the full
involvement of relevant stakeholders and expertise from civil society, Indigenous Peoples, the
scientific community and the United Nations system in its work, in order to provide a diversity
of perspectives and experience".

In January 2013, the 30-member UN General Assembly Open Working Group on

Sustainable Development Goals was established to identify specific goals for the SDGs. The
Open Working Group (OWG) was tasked with preparing a proposal on the SDGs for
consideration during the 68th session of the General Assembly, September 2013 – September
2014.[10] On 19 July 2014, the OWG forwarded a proposal for the SDGs to the Assembly. After
13 sessions, the OWG submitted their proposal of 8 SDGs and 169 targets to the 68th session of
the General Assembly in September 2014.[11] On 5 December 2014, the UN General Assembly
accepted the Secretary General's Synthesis Report, which stated that the agenda for the post-2015
SDG process would be based on the OWG proposals.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary-General from 2007 to 2016, has stated in a
November 2016 press conference that: "We don’t have plan B because there is no planet B."[13]
This thought has guided the development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Post-2015 Development Agenda was a process from 2012 to 2015 led by the United
Nations to define the future global development framework that would succeed the Millennium
Development Goals. The SDGs were developed to succeed the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) which ended in 2015. The gaps and shortcomings of MDG Goal 8 (To develop a global
partnership for development) led to identifying a problematic "donor-recipient" relationship.[14]
Instead, the new SDGs favor collective action by all countries.

The UN-led process involved its 193 Member States and global civil society. The resolution
is a broad intergovernmental agreement that acts as the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The
SDGs build on the principles agreed upon in Resolution A/RES/66/288, entitled "The Future We
Want".[15] This was a non-binding document released as a result of Rio+20 Conference held in
2012.

Ratification
 Negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda began in January 2015 and ended in
August 2015. The negotiations ran in parallel to United Nations negotiations on financing for
development, which determined the financial means of implementing the Post-2015
Development Agenda; those negotiations resulted in adoption of the Addis Ababa Action
Agenda in July 2015. A final document was adopted at the UN Sustainable Development
Summit in September 2015 in New York.

On 25 September 2015, the 193 countries of the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030
Development Agenda titled "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development".[4][17] This agenda has 92 paragraphs. Paragraph 51 outlines the 17 Sustainable
Development Goals and the associated 169 targets and 232 indicators.

Description

There are 169 targets for the 17 goals. Each target has between 1 and 3 indicators used to
measure progress toward reaching the targets. In total, there are 232 approved indicators that will
measure compliance.[18][19] The United Nations Development Programme has been asked to
provide easy to understand lists of targets, facts and figures for each of the 17 SDGs.[20] The 17
goals listed below as sub-headings use the 2-to-4 word phrases that identify each goal. Directly
below each goal, in quotation marks, is the exact wording of the goal in one sentence. The
paragraphs that follow present some information about a few targets and indicators related to
each goal.

Goal 1: No poverty "End poverty in all its forms everywhere."

Extreme poverty has been cut by more than half since 1990. Still, around 1 in 10 people live
on less than the target figure of international-$1.25 per day. A very low poverty threshold is
justified by highlighting the need of those people who are worst off. SDG 1 is to end extreme
poverty globally by 2030.

That target may not be adequate for human subsistence and basic needs, however. It is for
this reason that changes relative to higher poverty lines are also commonly tracked. Poverty is
more than the lack of income or resources: People live in poverty if they lack basic services such
as healthcare, security, and education. They also experience hunger, social discrimination, and
exclusion from decision-making processes. One possible alternative metric is the
Multidimensional Poverty Index.
 Children make up the majority – more than half – of those living in extreme poverty. In
2013, an estimated 385 million children lived on less than US$1.90 per day. Still, these figures
are unreliable due to huge gaps in data on the status of children worldwide. On average, 97
percent of countries have insufficient data to determine the state of impoverished children and
make projections towards SDG Goal 1, and 63 percent of countries have no data on child poverty
at all.

Women face potentially life-threatening risks from early pregnancy and frequent
pregnancies. This can result in lost hope for an education and for a better income.[citation
needed] Poverty affects age groups differently, with the most devastating effects experienced by
children. It affects their education, health, nutrition, and security, impacting emotional and
spiritual development.

Achieving Goal 1 is hampered by lack of economic growth in the poorest countries of the
world, growing inequality, increasingly fragile statehood, and the impacts of climate change.

Goal 2: Zero hunger "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote
sustainable agriculture."

It states that by 2030 we should end hunger and all forms of malnutrition. This would be
accomplished by doubling agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers
(especially women and indigenous peoples), by ensuring sustainable food production systems,
and by progressively improving land and soil quality. Agriculture is the single largest employer
in the world, providing livelihoods for 40% of the global population. It is the largest source of
income for poor rural households. Women make up about 43% of the agricultural labor force in
developing countries, and over 50% in parts of Asia and Africa. However, women own only 20%
of the land.

Other targets deal with maintaining genetic diversity of seeds, increasing access to land,
preventing trade restriction and distortions in world agricultural markets to limit extreme food
price volatility, eliminating waste with help from the International Food Waste Coalition, and
ending malnutrition and undernutrition of children.
 Globally, 1 in 9 people are undernourished, the vast majority of whom live in developing
countries. Undernutrition causes wasting or severe wasting of 52 million children worldwide,
[29] and contributes to nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children
per year.[30] Chronic malnutrition, which affects an estimated 155 million children worldwide,
also stunts children's brain and physical development and puts them at further risk of death,
disease, and lack of success as adults. As of 2017, only 26 of 202 UN member countries are on
track to meet the SDG target to eliminate undernourishment and malnourishment, while 20
percent have made no progress at all and nearly 70 percent have no or insufficient data to
determine their progress.

A report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) of 2013 stated that the
emphasis of the SDGs should not be on ending poverty by 2030, but on eliminating hunger and
under-nutrition by 2025. The assertion is based on an analysis of experiences in China, Vietnam,
Brazil, and Thailand. Three pathways to achieve this were identified: 1) agriculture-led; 2) social
protection- and nutrition- intervention-led; or 3) a combination of both of these approaches.

A study published in Nature concluded that it is unlikely there will be an end to malnutrition
by 2030.

Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for
all at all ages."

Significant strides have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing some of the
common killers associated with child and maternal mortality. Between 2000 and 2016, the
worldwide under-five mortality rate decreased by 47 percent (from 78 deaths per 1,000 live
births to 41 deaths per 1,000 live births).[29] Still, the number of children dying under age five is
extremely high: 5.6 million in 2016 alone.[29] Newborns account for a growing number of these
deaths, and poorer children are at the greatest risk of under-5 mortality due to a number of
factors.[29] SDG Goal 3 aims to reduce under-five mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000
live births. But if current trends continue, more than 60 countries will miss the SDG neonatal
mortality target for 2030. About half of these countries would not reach the target even by 2050.
[29]

Goal 3 also aims to reduce maternal mortality to less than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Though the maternal mortality ratio declined by 37 percent between 2000 and 2015, there were
approximately 303,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2015, most from preventable causes.[29]
In 2015, maternal health conditions were also the leading cause of death among girls aged 15–
19.[29] Data for girls of greatest concern – those aged between 10-14 - is currently unavailable.
Key strategies for meeting SDG Goal 3 will be to reduce adolescent pregnancy (which is
strongly linked to gender equality), provide better data for all women and girls, and achieve
universal coverage of skilled birth attendants.

Similarly, progress has been made on increasing access to clean water and sanitation and on
reducing malaria, tuberculosis, polio, and the spread of HIV/AIDS. From 2000-2016, new HIV
infections declined by 66 percent for children under 15 and by 45 percent among adolescents
aged 15–19.[29] However, current trends mean that 1 out of 4 countries still won't meet the SDG
target to end AIDS among children under 5, and 3 out of 4 will not meet the target to end AIDS
among adolescents.[29] Additionally, only half of women in developing countries have received
the health care they need, and the need for family planning is increasing exponentially as the
population grows. While needs are being addressed gradually, more than 225 million women
have an unmet need for contraception.

Goal 3 aims to achieve universal health coverage, including access to essential medicines
and vaccines. It proposes to end the preventable death of newborns and children under 5 and to
end epidemics such as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and water-borne diseases, for example. 2016
rates for the third dose of the pertussis vaccine (DTP3) and the first dose of the measles vaccine
(MCV1) reached 86 percent and 85 percent, respectively. Yet about 20 million children did not
receive DTP3 and about 21 million did not receive MCV1. Around 2 in 5 countries will need to
accelerate progress in order to reach SDG targets for immunization.

Attention to health and well-being also includes targets related to the prevention and
treatment of substance abuse, deaths and injuries from traffic accidents and from

hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination.[34]

Goal 4: Quality education "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote
lifelong learning opportunities for all."

Major progress has been made in access to education, specifically at the primary school
level, for both boys and girls. The number of out-of-school children has almost halved from 112
million in 1997 to 60 million in 2014.[36] Still, at least 22 million children in 43 countries will
miss out on pre-primary education unless the rate of progress doubles.

Access does not always mean quality of education or completion of primary school. 103
million youth worldwide still lack basic literacy skills, and more than 60 percent of those are
women. In one out of four countries, more than half of children failed to meet minimum math
proficiency standards at the end of primary school, and at the lower secondary level, the rate was
1 in 3 countries.[29] Target 1 of Goal 4 is to ensure that, by 2030, all girls and boys complete
free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education.

Additionally, progress is difficult to track: 75 percent of countries have no or insufficient

data to track progress towards SDG Goal 4 targets for learning outcomes (target 1), early
childhood education (target 2), and effective learning environments.[29] Data on learning
outcomes and pre-primary school are particularly scarce; 70 percent and 40 percent of countries
lack adequate data for these targets, respectively.[29] This makes it hard to analyze and identify
the children at greatest risk of being left behind.

Goal 5: Gender equality "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls."

According to the UN, "gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a
necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world."[38] Providing women
and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political
and economic decision-making processes will nurture sustainable economies and benefit
societies and humanity at large. A record 143 countries guaranteed equality between men and
women in their constitutions as of 2014. However, another 52 had not taken this step. In many
nations, gender discrimination is still woven into the fabric of legal systems and social norms.
Even though SDG5 is a stand-alone goal, other SDGs can only be achieved if the needs of
women receive the same attention as the needs of men. Issues unique to women and girls include
traditional practices against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, such as female
genital mutilation.

Child marriage has declined over the past decades, yet there is no region that is currently on
track to eliminate the practice and reach SDG targets by 2030.[29] If current trends continue,
between 2017 and 2030, 150 million girls will be married before they turn 18.[29] Though child
marriages are four times higher among the poorest than the wealthiest in the world, most
countries need to accelerate progress among both groups in order to reach the SDG Goal 5 target
to eliminate child marriage by 2030.

Achieving gender equality will require enforceable legislation that promotes empowerment
of all women and girls and requires secondary education for all girls.[39] The targets call for an
end to gender discrimination and for empowering women and girls through technology[40] Some
have advocated for "listening to girls". The assertion is that the SDGs can deliver transformative
change for girls only if girls are consulted. Their priorities and needs must be taken into account.
Girls should be viewed not as beneficiaries of change, but as agents of change. Engaging women
and girls in the implementation of the SDGs is crucial.

The World Pensions Council (WPC) has insisted on the transformational role gender-
diverse that boards can play in that regard, predicting that 2018 could be a pivotal year, as "more
than ever before, many UK and European Union pension trustees speak enthusiastically about
flexing their fiduciary muscles for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG5,
and to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls."

Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation "Ensure availability and sustainable management of water
and sanitation for all."

The Sustainable Development Goal Number 6 (SDG6) has eight targets and 11 indicators
that will be used to monitor progress toward the targets. Most are to be achieved by the year
2030. One is targeted for 2020.

The first three targets relate to drinking water supply and sanitation. Worldwide, 6 out of 10
people lack safely managed sanitation services, and 3 out of 10 lack safely managed water
services. Safe drinking water and hygienic toilets protect people from disease and enable
societies to be more productive economically. Attending school and work without disruption is
critical to successful education and successful employment. Therefore, toilets in schools and
work places are specifically mentioned as a target to measure. "Equitable sanitation" calls for
addressing the specific needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations, such as the
elderly or people with disabilities. Water sources are better preserved if open defecation is ended
and sustainable sanitation systems are implemented.
 Ending open defecation will require provision of toilets and sanitation for 2.6 billion people
as well as behavior change of the users. This will require cooperation between governments, civil
society, and the private sector.

The main indicator for the sanitation target is the "Proportion of population using safely
managed sanitation services, including a hand-washing facility with soap and water". However,
as of 2017, two-thirds of countries lacked baseline estimates for SDG indicators on hand
washing, safely managed drinking water, and sanitation services.

From those that were available, the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) found that 4.5
billion people currently do not have safely managed sanitation.[45] To meet SDG targets for
sanitation by 2030, nearly one-third of countries will need to accelerate progress to end open
defecation, including Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) has made it its mission to achieve SDG6.[48]
[49] SuSanA's position is that the SDGs are highly interdependent. Therefore, the provision of
clean water and sanitation for all is a precursor to achieving many of the other SDGs.

Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy "Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and
modern energy for all."

Targets for 2030 include access to affordable and reliable energy while increasing the share
of renewable energy in the global energy mix. This would involve improving energy efficiency
and enhancing international cooperation to facilitate more open access to clean energy
technology and more investment in clean energy infrastructure. Plans call for particular attention
to infrastructure support for the least developed countries, small islands and land-locked
developing countries.

As of 2017, only 57 percent of the global population relies primarily on clean fuels and
technology for cooking, falling short of the 95 percent target.

Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth "Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable
economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all."
 World Pensions Council (WPC) development economists have argued that the twin
considerations of long-term economic growth and infrastructure investment were not prioritized
enough. The fact they were designated as the number 8 and number 9 objective respectively was
considered a rather "mediocre ranking [which] defies common sense".

For the least developed countries, the economic target is to attain at least a 7 percent annual
growth in gross domestic product (GDP). Achieving higher productivity will require
diversification and upgraded technology along with innovation, entrepreneurship, and the growth
of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Some targets are for 2030; others are for 2020.
The target for 2020 is to reduce youth unemployment and operationalize a global strategy for
youth employment. Implementing the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization
is also mentioned.

By 2030, the target is to establish policies for sustainable tourism that will create jobs.
Strengthening domestic financial institutions and increasing Aid for Trade support for
developing countries is considered essential to economic development. The Enhanced Integrated
Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries is mentioned
as a method for achieving sustainable economic development.

Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure "Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive
and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation."

Manufacturing is a major source of employment. In 2016, the least developed countries had
less "manufacturing value added per capita". The figure for Europe and North America
amounted to US$4,621, compared to about $100 in the least developed countries. The
manufacturing of high products contributes 80 percent to total manufacturing output in
industrialized economies but barely 10 percent in the least developed countries.

Mobile-cellular signal coverage has improved a great deal. In previously "unconnected"

areas of the globe, 85 percent of people now live in covered areas. Planet-wide, 95 percent of the
population is covered.

Goal 10: Reducing inequalities "Reduce income inequality within and among countries."
 Target 10.1 is to "sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a
rate higher than the national average". This goal, known as 'shared prosperity', is complementing
SDG 1, the eradication of extreme poverty, and it is relevant for all countries in the world.

Target 10.3 is to reduce the transaction costs for migrant remittances to below 3 percent.
The target of 3 percent was established as the cost that international migrant workers would pay
to send money home (known as remittances). However, post offices and money transfer
companies currently charge 6 percent of the amount remitted. Worse, commercial banks charge
11 percent. Prepaid cards and mobile money companies charge 2 to 4 percent, but those services
were not widely available as of 2017 in typical "remittance corridors."

Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe,
resilient, and sustainable."

The target for 2030 is to ensure access to safe and affordable housing. The indicator named
to measure progress toward this target is the proportion of urban population living in slums or
informal settlements. Between 2000 and 2014, the proportion fell from 39 percent to 30 percent.
However, the absolute number of people living in slums went from 792 million in 2000 to an
estimated 880 million in 2014. Movement from rural to urban areas has accelerated as the
population has grown and better housing alternatives are available.

Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production "Ensure sustainable consumption and
production patterns."

The targets of Goal 12 include using eco-friendly production methods and reducing the
amount of waste. By 2030, national recycling rates should increase, as measured in tons of
material recycled. Further, companies should adopt sustainable practices and publish
sustainability reports.

Target 12.1 calls for the implementation of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on
Sustainable Consumption and Production.[62] This framework, adopted by member states at the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, is a global commitment to accelerate
the shift to sustainable consumption and production in developed and developing countries.[63]
In order to generate the collective impact necessary for such a shift, programs such as the One
Planet Network have formed different implementation methods to help achieve Goal 12.
Goal 13: Climate action "Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts by
regulating emissions and promoting developments in renewable energy."

The UN discussions and negotiations identified the links between the post-2015 SDG
process and the Financing for Development process that concluded in Addis Ababa in July 2015
and the COP 21 Climate Change conference in Paris in December 2015.[66]

In May 2015, a report concluded that only a very ambitious climate deal in Paris in 2015
could enable countries to reach the sustainable development goals and targets.[67] The report
also states that tackling climate change will only be possible if the SDGs are met. Further,
economic development and climate change are inextricably linked, particularly around poverty,
gender equality, and energy. The UN encourages the public sector to take initiative in this effort
to minimize negative impacts on the environment.[68]

This renewed emphasis on climate change mitigation was made possible by the partial Sino-
American convergence that developed in 2015-2016, notably at the UN COP21 summit (Paris)
and ensuing G20 conference (Hangzhou).[53]

At a 2017 UN Press Briefing, Global CEO Alliance (GCEOA) Chairman James Donovan
described the Asia-Pacific region, which is a region particularly vulnerable to the effects of
climate change, as needing more public-private partnerships (PPPs) to successfully implement its
sustainable development initiatives.[69]

In 2018, the International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC),[70] the United Nations body for
assessing the science related to climate change, published a special report "Global Warming of
1.5°C"[71]. It outlined the impacts of a 1.5 °C global temperature rise above pre-industrial levels
and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, and highlighted the possibility of avoiding
a number of such impacts by limiting global warming to 1.5 °C compared to 2 °C, or more. The
report mentioned that this would require global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide
(CO2) to fall by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching "net zero" around 2050, through
“rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities.[72]
This special report was subsequently discussed at COP 24. Despite being requested by countries
at the COP 21, the report was not accepted by four countries – the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia and
Kuwait, which only wanted to "note" it, thereby postponing the resolution to the next SBSTA
session in 2019.
Goal 14: Life below water "Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
for sustainable development."

Sustainable Development Goal 14 aims “to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas
and marine resources for sustainable development.”[75] Effective strategies to mitigate adverse
effects of increased ocean acidification are needed to advance the sustainable use of oceans. As
areas of protected marine biodiversity expand, there has been an increase in ocean science
funding, essential for preserving marine resources. The deterioration of coastal waters has
become a global occurrence, due to pollution and coastal eutrophication (overflow of nutrients in
water), where similar contributing factors to climate change can affect oceans and negatively
impact marine biodiversity. “Without concerted efforts, coastal eutrophication is expected to
increase in 20 per cent of large marine ecosystems by 2050.”

The Preparatory Meeting to the UN Ocean Conference convened in New York, US, in
February 2017, to discuss the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14. International
law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), stressed the need to
include governance instruments to consider “anthropogenic activities taking place outside of the
ocean”. Concerns regarding ocean health in destructive fishing practices and marine pollution
were discussed, in looking at the role of local communities of small island developing States
(SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs) to not forget that oceans are a large part of their
economies.[78] The targets include preventing and reducing marine pollution and acidification,
protecting marine and coastal ecosystems, and regulating fishing. The targets also call for an
increase in scientific knowledge of the oceans.

Although many participating United Nations legislative bodies comes together to discuss
the issues around marine environments and SDG 14, such as at the United Nations Ocean
Conference, it is important to consider how SDG 14 is implemented across different Multilateral
Environmental Agreements, respectively. As climate, biodiversity and land degradation are
major parts of the issues surrounding the deterioration of marine environments and oceans, it is
important to know how each Rio Convention implements this SDG.

Oceans cover 71 percent of the Earth's surface. They are essential for making the planet
livable. Rainwater, drinking water and climate are all regulated by ocean temperatures and
currents. Over 3 billion people depend on marine life for their livelihood. Oceans absorb 30
percent of all carbon dioxide produced by humans.[81][full citation needed] The oceans contain
more than 200,000 identified species, and there might be thousands of species that are yet to be
discovered. Oceans are the world's largest sources of protein. However, there has been a 26
percent increase in acidification since the industrial revolution. A full 30 percent of marine
habitats have been destroyed, and 30 percent of the world's fish stocks are over-exploited.[81]
[full citation needed] Marine pollution has reached shocking levels; each minute, 15 tons of
plastic are released into the oceans.[82][full citation needed] 20 percent of all coral reefs have
been destroyed irreversibly, and another 24 percent are in immediate risk of collapse.[83][full
citation needed] Approximately 1 million sea birds, 100 000 marine mammals, and an unknown
number of fish are harmed or die annually due to marine pollution caused by humans. It has been
found that 95 percent of fulmars in Norway have plastic parts in their guts.[82][full citation
needed] Microplastics are another form of marine pollution.

Individuals can help the oceans by reducing their energy consumption and their use of
plastics. Nations can also take action. In Norway, for instance, citizens, working through a web
page called finn.no, can earn money for picking up plastic on the beach. Several countries,
including Kenya and Tanzania, have banned the use of plastic bags for retail purchases.
Improving the oceans contributes to poverty reduction, as it gives low-income families a source
of income and healthy food. Keeping beaches and ocean water clean in less developed countries
can attract tourism, as stated in Goal 8, and reduce poverty by providing more employment.[83]
[full citation needed.

Characterized by extinctions, invasions, hybridizations and reductions in the abundance of

species, marine biodiversity is currently in global decline. “Over the past decades, there has been
an exponential increase in human activates in and near oceans, resulting in negative
consequences to our marine environment.” Made evident by the degradation of habitats and
changes in ecosystem processes, the declining health of the oceans has a negative effect on
people, their livelihoods and entire economies, with local communities which rely on ocean
resources being the most affected.[88] Poor decisions in resource management can compromise
conservation, local livelihood, and resource sustainability goals.[89] “The sustainable
management of our oceans relies on the ability to influence and guide human use of the marine
environment.”[90] As conservation of marine resources is critical to the well-being of local
fishing communities and their livelihoods, related management actions may lead to changes in
human behavior to support conservation programs to achieve their goals.[91] Ultimately,
governments and international agencies act as gatekeepers, interfering with needed stakeholder
participation in decision making.[92] The way to best safeguard life in oceans is to implement
effective management strategies around marine environments.

Climate action is used as a way of protecting the world's oceans. Oceans cover three
quarters of the Earth's surface and impact global climate systems through functions of carbon
dioxide absorption from the atmosphere and oxygen generation. The increase in levels of
greenhouse gases leading to changes in climate negatively affects the world's oceans and marine
coastal communities. The resulting impacts of rising sea levels by 20 centimeters since the start
of the 20th century and the increase of ocean acidity by 30% since the Industrial Revolution has
contributed to the melting of ice sheets through the thermal expansion of sea water.

Sustainable Development Goal 14 has been incorporated into the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD),[94] the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC),[95] and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).[96]

Goal 15: Life on land "Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and
halt biodiversity loss."

This goal articulates targets for preserving biodiversity of forest, desert, and mountain eco-
systems, as a percentage of total land mass. Achieving a "land degradation-neutral world" can be
reached by restoring degraded forests and land lost to drought and flood. Goal 15 calls for more
attention to preventing invasion of introduced species and more protection of endangered
species.[98] Forests have a prominent role to play in the success of Agenda 2030, notably in
terms of ecosystem services, livelihoods, and the green economy; but this will require clear
priorities to address key trade offs and mobilize synergies with other SDGs.

The Mountain Green Cover Index monitors progress toward target 15.4, which focuses on
preserving mountain ecosystems. The index is named as the indicator for target 15.4.[100]
Similarly, the Red Index (Red List Index or RLI) will fill the monitoring function for
biodiversity goals by documenting the trajectory of endangered species.[98] Animal extinction is
a growing problem.

Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions "Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for
sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and
inclusive institutions at all levels."

Reducing violent crime, sex trafficking, forced labor, and child abuse are clear global goals.
The International Community values peace and justice and calls for stronger judicial systems that
will enforce laws and work toward a more peaceful and just society. By 2017, the UN could
report progress on detecting victims of trafficking. More women and girls than men and boys
were victimized, yet the share of women and girls has slowly declined (see also violence against
women). In 2004, 84 percent of victims were females and by 2014 that number had dropped to
71 percent. Sexual exploitation numbers have declined, but forced labor has increased.

One target is to see the end to sex trafficking, forced labor, and all forms of violence against
and torture of children. However, reliance on the indicator of "crimes reported" makes
monitoring and achieving this goal challenging.[102] For instance, 84 percent of countries have
no or insufficient data on violent punishment of children.[29] Of the data available, it is clear that
violence against children by their caregivers remains pervasive: Nearly 8 in 10 children aged 1 to
14 are subjected to violent discipline on a regular basis (regardless of income), and no country is
on track to eliminate violent discipline by 2030.

SDG 16 also targets universal legal identity and birth registration, ensuring the right to a
name and nationality, civil rights, recognition before the law, and access to justice and social
services. With more than a quarter of children under 5 unregistered worldwide as of 2015, about
1 in 5 countries will need to accelerate progress to achieve universal birth registration by 2030.
[29]

Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals "Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the
global partnership for sustainable development."

Increasing international cooperation is seen as vital to achieving each of the 16 previous

goals. Goal 17 is included to assure that countries and organizations cooperate instead of
compete. Developing multi-stakeholder partnerships to share knowledge, expertise, technology,
and financial support is seen as critical to overall success of the SDGs. The goal encompasses
improving North-South and South-South cooperation, and public-private partnerships which
involve civil societies are specifically mentioned.

Allocation

In 2019 five progress reports on the 17 SDGs appeared. Three came from the United
Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), one from the Bertelsmann
Foundation and one from the European Union.

Cross-cutting issues
 Three sectors need to come together in order to achieve sustainable development. These are
the economic, socio-political, and environmental sectors in their broadest sense.[110] This
requires the promotion of multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research across different
sectors, which can be difficult, particularly when major governments fail to support it.

According to the UN, the target is to reach the community farthest behind. Commitments
should be transformed into effective actions requiring a correct perception of target populations.
However, numerical and non-numerical data or information must address all vulnerable groups
such as children, elderly folks, persons with disabilities, refugees, indigenous peoples, migrants,
and internally-displaced persons.

Women and gender equality

There is widespread consensus that progress on all of the SDGs will be stalled if women's
empowerment and gender equality are not prioritized holistically – by policy makers as well as
private sector executives and board members.

Statements from diverse sources, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), UN Women and the World Pensions Forum have noted that investments
in women and girls have positive impacts on economies. National and global development
investments often exceed their initial scope.

Education and sustainable development

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is explicitly recognized in the SDGs as part
of Target 4.7 of the SDG on education. UNESCO promotes the Global Citizenship Education
(GCED) as a complementary approach.[115] At the same time, it is important to emphasize
ESD's importance for all the other 16 SDGs. With its overall aim to develop cross-cutting
sustainability competencies in learners, ESD is an essential contribution to all efforts to achieve
the SDGs. This would enable individuals to contribute to sustainable development by promoting
societal, economic and political change as well as by transforming their own behavior.

Education, gender and technology

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are free open education offered through online
platforms. The (initial) philosophy of MOOCs was to open up quality Higher Education to a
wider audience. As such, MOOCs are an important tool to achieve Goal 4 ("Ensure inclusive and
equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all").[117] At the
same time, MOOCs also contribute to Goal 5, in that they are gender neutral and can give
women and girls improved access to education.

SDG-driven investment

Capital stewardship is expected to play a crucial part in the progressive advancement of the
SDG agenda:

"No longer absentee landlords', pension fund trustees have started to exercise more
forcefully their governance prerogatives across the boardrooms of Britain, Benelux and America:
coming together through the establishment of engaged pressure groups [...] to shift the [whole
economic] system towards sustainable investment"[118] by using the SDG framework across all
asset classes.

In 2018 and early 2019, the World Pensions Council held a series of ESG-focused
discussions with pension board members (trustees) and senior investment executives from across
G20 nations in Toronto, London (with the UK Association of Member-Nominated Trustees,
AMNT), Paris and New York – notably on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United
Nations General Assembly. Many pension investment executives and board members confirmed
they were in the process of adopting or developing SDG-informed investment processes, with
more ambitious investment governance requirements – notably when it comes to Climate Action,
Gender Equity and Social Fairness: “they straddle key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
including, of course, Gender Equality (SDG 5) and Reduced Inequality (SDG 10) Many pension
trustees are now playing for keeps”.

Implementation and support

Implementation of the SDGs started worldwide in 2016. This process can also be called
"Localizing the SDGs". All over the planet, individual people, universities, governments and
institutions and organizations of all kinds work on several goals at the same time. In each
country, governments must translate the goals into national legislation, develop a plan of action,
establish budgets and at the same time be open to and actively search for partners. Poor countries
need the support of rich countries and coordination at the international level is crucial.
 The independent campaign "Project Everyone" has met some resistance.[122][123] In
addition, several sections of civil society and governments felt the SDGs ignored "sustainability"
even though it was the most important aspect of the agreement.[124]

A 2018 study in the journal Nature found that while "nearly all African countries
demonstrated improvements for children under 5 years old for stunting, wasting, and
underweight... much, if not all of the continent will fail to meet the Sustainable Development
Goal target—to end malnutrition by 2030".

There have been two books produced one by each of the co-chairs of the negotiations to
help people to understand the Sustainable Development Goals and where they came from:
"Negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals: A transformational agenda for an insecure
world" written by Ambassador David Donoghue, Felix Dodds and Jimena Leiva as well as
"Transforming Multilateral Diplomacy: The Inside Story of the Sustainable Development Goals"
by Macharia Kamau, David O'Connor and Pamela Chasek.

Tracking progress

The online publication SDG-Tracker was launched in June 2018 and presents data across all
available indicators. It relies on the Our World in Data database and is also based at the
University of Oxford.[125][126] The publication has global coverage and tracks whether the
world is making progress towards the SDGs. It aims to make the data on the 17 goals available
and understandable to a wide audience.

The website "allows people around the world to hold their governments accountable to
achieving the agreed goals". The SDG-Tracker highlights that the world is currently (early 2019)
very far away from achieving the goals.

The Global SDG Index and Dashboards Report is the first publication to track countries'
performance on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The annual publication, co-produced by
Bertelsmann Stiftung and SDSN, includes a ranking and dashboards that show key challenges for
each country in terms of implementing the SDGs. The publication features trend analysis to
show how countries performing on key SDG metrics has changed over recent years in addition to
an analysis of government efforts to implement the SDGs.
At country level

United States

193 governments including the United States ratified the SDGs. However, the UN reported
minimal progress after three years within the 15-year timetable of this project. Funding remains
trillions of dollars short. The United States stand last among the G20 nations to attain these
Sustainable Development Goals and 36th worldwide.

United Kingdom

The UK's approach to delivering the Global SDGs is outlined in Agenda 2030: Delivering
the Global Goals, developed by the Department for International Development. In 2019, the
Bond network analysed the UK's global progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
[130] The Bond report highlights crucial gaps where attention and investment are most needed.
The report was compiled by 49 organizations and 14 networks and working groups.

Europe and Russia

Baltic nations, via the Council of the Baltic Sea States, have created the Baltic 2030 Action
Plan.

The World Pensions Forum has observed that UK and European Union pension investors
have been at the forefront of ESG-driven (Environmental, Social and Governance) asset
allocation at home and abroad and early adopters of "SDG-centric" investment practices.

India

The Government of India established the NITI Aayog to attain the sustainable development
goals.[132] In March 2018 Haryana became the first state in India to have its annual budget
focused on the attainment of SDG with a 3-year action plan and a 7-year strategy plan to
implement sustainable development goals when Captain Abhimanyu, Finance Minister of
Government of Haryana, unveiled a ₹1,151,980 lakh (US$1.7 billion or €1.5 billion) annual
2018-19 budget.[133] Also, NITI Aayog starts the exercise of measuring India and its States’
progress towards the SDGs for 2030, culminating in the development of the first SDG India
Index - Baseline Report 2018

Bangladesh
 Bangladesh publishes the Development Mirror to track progress towards the 17 goals.

Bhutan

The Sustainable development process in Bhutan has a more meaningful purpose than
economic growth alone. The nation's holistic goal is the pursuit of Gross National Happiness
(GNH),[136] a term coined in 1972 by the Fourth King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck,
which has the principal guiding philosophy for the long term journey as a nation. Therefore, the
SDGs find a natural and spontaneous place within the framework of GNH sharing a common
vision of prosperity, peace, and harmony where no one is left behind. Just as GNH is both an
ideal to be pursued and a practical tool so too the SDGs inspire and guide sustainable action.
Guided by the development paradigm of GNH, Bhutan is committed to achieving the goals of
SDGs by 2030 since its implementation in September 2015. In line with Bhutan's commitment to
the implementation of the SDGs and sustainable development, Bhutan has participated in the
Voluntary National Review in the 2018 High-Level Political Forum.[137] As the country has
progressed in its 12th Five year plan (2019-2023), the national goals have been aligned with the
SDGs and every agency plays a vital role in its own ways to collectively achieving the
committed goals of SDGs.

Public engagement

UN agencies which are part of the United Nations Development Group decided to support
an independent campaign to communicate the new SDGs to a wider audience. This campaign,
"Project Everyone," had the support of corporate institutions and other international
organizations.

Using the text drafted by diplomats at the UN level, a team of communication specialists
developed icons for every goal.[138] They also shortened the title "The 17 Sustainable
Development Goals" to "Global Goals/17#Global Goals," then ran workshops and conferences to
communicate the Global Goals to a global audience.

An early concern was that 17 goals would be too much for people to grasp and that
therefore the SDGs would fail to get a wider recognition.[when?] That without wider recognition
the necessary momentum to achieve them by 2030 would not be archived. Concerned with this,
British film-maker Richard Curtis started the organization in 2015 called Project Everyone with
the aim to bring the goals to everyone on the planet. Curtis approached Swedish designer Jakob
Trollbäck who rebranded them as The Global Goals and created the 17 iconic visuals with clear
short names as well as a logotype for the whole initiative. The communication system is
available for free. In 2018 Jakob Trollbäck and his company The New Division went on to
extend the communication system to also include the 169 targets that describe how the goals can
be achieved.

Film festivals

Le Temps Presse festival

The annual "Le Temps Presse" festival in Paris utilizes cinema to sensitize the public,
especially young people, to the Sustainable Development Goals. The origin of the festival was in
2010 when eight directors produced a film titled "8," which included eight short films, each
featuring one of the Millennium Development Goals. After 2.5 million viewers saw "8" on
YouTube, the festival was created. It now showcases young directors whose work promotes
social, environmental and human commitment. The festival now focuses on the Sustainable
Development Goals.

Arctic Film Festival

The Arctic Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by HF Productions and
supported by the SDGs' Partnership Platform. Held for the first time in 2019, the festival is
expected to take place every year in September in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway.

Costs and sources of finance

Cost comparison for UN Goals

The Rockefeller Foundation asserts that "The key to financing and achieving the SDGs lies
in mobilizing a greater share of the $200+ trillion in annual private capital investment flows
toward development efforts, and philanthropy has a critical role to play in catalyzing this
shift."[150] Large-scale funders participating in a Rockefeller Foundation-hosted design thinking
workshop (June 2017: Scaling Solutions) were realistic. They concluded that "while there is a
moral imperative to achieve the SDGs, failure is inevitable if there aren't drastic changes to how
we go about financing large scale change".

The Economist estimated that alleviating poverty and achieving the other sustainable
development goals will require about US$2–3 trillion per year for the next 15 years which they
called "pure fantasy". Estimates for providing clean water and sanitation for the whole
population of all continents have been as high as US$200 billion.[153] The World Bank says that
estimates need to be made country by country, and reevaluated frequently over time.

In 2014, UNCTAD estimated the annual costs to achieving the UN Goals at $2.5 trillion per
year.

In 2017 the UN launched the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development (UN
IATF on FfD) that invited to a public dialogue. In a policy paper, delivered by the Basel Institute
of Commons and Economics, that conducts the World Social Capital Monitor, a UN SDG
Partnership Initiative, the following figures on both the costs and the major sources to finance the
SDGs have been published by the UN IATF on FfD.

Criticisms

The SDGs have been criticized for setting contradictory goals and for trying to do
everything first, instead of focusing on the most urgent or fundamental priorities. The SDGs
were an outcome from a UN conference that was not criticized by any major non-governmental
organization (NGO). Instead, the SDGs received broad support from many NGOs.

Competing goals

Some of the goals compete with each other. For example, seeking high levels of quantitative
GDP growth can make it difficult to attain ecological, inequality reduction, and sustainability
objectives. Similarly, increasing employment and wages can work against reducing the cost of
living.

Continued global economic growth of 3 percent (Goal 8) may not be reconcilable with
ecological sustainability goals, because the required rate of absolute global eco-economic
decoupling is far higher than any country has achieved in the past.[158] Anthropologists have
suggested that, instead of targeting aggregate GDP growth, the goals could target resource use
per capita, with "substantial reductions in high‐income nations."

Too many goals

A commentary in The Economist in 2015 argued that 169 targets for the SDGs is too many,
describing them as "sprawling, misconceived" and "a mess".[152] The goals are said to ignore
local context. All other 16 goals might be contingent on achieving SDG 1, ending poverty, which
should have been at the top of a very short list of goals. In addition, Bhargava (2019) has
emphasized the inter-dependence between the numerous sub-goals and the role played by
population growth in developing countries in hampering their operationalization.

On the other hand, nearly all stakeholders engaged in negotiations to develop the SDGs
agreed that the high number of 17 goals was justified because the agenda they address is all-
encompassing.

Weak on environmental sustainability

Environmental constraints and planetary boundaries are underrepresented within the SDGs.
For instance, the paper "Making the Sustainable Development Goals Consistent with
Sustainability" points out that the way the current SDGs are structured leads to a negative
correlation between environmental sustainability and SDGs. This means, as the environmental
sustainability side of the SDGs is underrepresented, the resource security for all, particularly for
lower-income populations, is put at risk. This is not a criticism of the SDGs per se, but a
recognition that their environmental conditions are still weak.

Comparison with Millennium Development Goals

A commentary in The Economist in 2015 said that the SDGs are "a mess" compared to the
eight MDGs used previously.[152] The MDGs were about development while the SDGs are
about sustainable development.[clarification needed] Finally, the MDGs used a sole approach to
problems, while the SDGs take into account the inter-connectedness of all the problems.

Whilst the MDGs were strongly criticized by many NGOs as only dealing with the
problems, the SDGs deal with the causes of the problems.[citation needed] Another core feature
of the SDGs is their focus on means of implementation, or the mobilization of financial
resources, along with capacity building and technology.

Global Population

In the past 50 years, the world accelerated its transition out of long-term demographic
stability. As infant and child mortality rates fell, populations began to soar. In most countries,
this growth led to falling fertility rates. Although fertility has fallen, the population continues to
increase because of population momentum; it will eventually level off. In the meantime,
demographic change has created a ‘bulge’ generation, which today appears in many countries as
a large working-age population. This cohort will eventually become a large elderly population, in
both developed and developing countries. Population growth has been the subject of great debate
among economists and demographers. Until recently, most have agreed on a middle ground, in
which population growth per se has no effect on economic growth. New evidence suggests that
changes in the age structure of populations – in particular, a rising ratio of working-age to non-
working-age individuals – leads to the possibility of more rapid economic growth, via both
accounting and behavioural effects. The experiences of east Asia, Ireland and sub-Saharan Africa
all serve as evidence of the effect of demographic change on economic growth (or lack thereof).
Both internal migration (from rural to urban areas) and international migration complicate this
picture. The overall implications of population growth for policy lie in the imperative for
investments in health and education, and for sound policies related to labour, trade and
retirement. Understanding future trends is essential for the development of good policy.
Demographic projections can be quite reliable, but huge uncertainties – in the realms of health,
changes in human life span, scientific advances, migration, global warming and wars – make
overall predictions extremely uncertain.

For much of human history, demographic patterns were reasonably stable; human
populations grew slowly, and the age structures, birth rates, and death rates of populations
changed only gradually. Epidemics and pandemics had huge effects on populations, but these
effects were short-lived and had little bearing on longterm trends.

In the past 50 years, however, this trend of long-term stability has given way to the biggest
demographic upheaval in history, an upheaval that is still running its course. In the developed
world, a sharp post-war rise in fertility was followed by an equally sharp fall. These changes in
fertility transformed age structures through the creation of a ‘baby boom’ generation. The ageing
of this generation and continued declines in fertility and old-age mortality are shifting the
population balance in developed countries from young to old. In the meantime, the developing
world has experienced a population explosion, the result of improved nutrition, public health
infrastructure and medical care. Even if high fertility – the main underlying cause of rapid
population growth – were to suddenly adjust to the long-run replacement level of 2.1 children per
woman, humanity would continue to experience demographic change for some time. The rapid
increase in the global population over the past few decades has resulted in large numbers of
people of childbearing age.

This creates ‘population momentum’, in which the populations of most countries, even
those with falling birth rates, will grow for many years to come. This is particularly true of
developing countries. Population changes have potentially huge implications for the pace and
progress of economic development. For example, an increasing proportion of elderly may act as
a drag on economic growth where smaller working populations must provide for a larger number
of non-working dependents. Rising life expectancy can also bolster an economy by creating a
greater incentive to save and to invest in education, thereby boosting the financial capital on
which investors draw and the human capital that strengthens economies. Where a country has
experienced a baby boom followed by a decline in fertility, the relative size of the workforce is
increased. Countries that are able to absorb the baby boom generation into productive
employment can experience a rapid increase in economic growth. Countries unable to take
advantage of this opportunity run the risk of creating large, chronically underemployed and
increasingly restive working-age populations.

The global population, which stood at just over 2 billion in 1950, is 6.5 billion today. The
world is currently gaining new inhabitants at a rate of 76 million people a year (representing the
difference, in 2005, between 134 million births and 58 million deaths). Although this growth is
slowing, middle-ground projections suggest the world will have 9.1 billion inhabitants by 2050,
when growth will be approximately 34 million a year.

These past and projected additions to world population have been, and will increasingly be,
distributed unevenly across the world. Today, 95 per cent of population growth occurs in
developing countries. The population of the world’s 50 least-developed countries is expected to
more than double by the middle of this century, with several poor countries tripling their
population over the period. By contrast, the population of the developed world is expected to
remain steady at around 1.2 billion, with population es in some wealthy countries.

The disparity in population growth between developed and developing countries reflects the
existence of considerable heterogeneity in birth, death and migration processes, both over time
and across national populations, races and ethnic groups.

The disparity has coincided with changes in the age-group composition of populations.

An overview of these factors illuminates the mechanisms of global population

growth and change. 49

Crude birth and death rates

 One of the simplest ways to consider population growth is through crude birth and death
rates. These are the number of births and deaths per 1 000 people. On a worldwide basis, the
difference between these rates is the rate of population growth. Within regions or countries,
population growth is also affected by emigration and immigration. It shows that in both
developed and developing regions the crude birth rate has decreased by about half over the past
50 years. This implies a much greater absolute reduction in developing regions. The net result of
these reductions is a current crude birth rate in developing regions that is similar to that of the
developed regions 50 years ago.50

Total fertility rate

The total fertility rate, that is the number of children born per woman, fell from about 5 in
1950 to a little over 2.5 in 2005 (see Figure 5). This number is projected to fall to about 2 by
2050. This decrease is attributable largely to changes in fertility in the developing world. In
1950, the total fertility rate among developed countries was already below 3 children per woman;
the rate among developing countries was over 6. Fertility in the latter is now below 3 children
per woman. The fertility decline in low-income countries can be ascribed to a number of factors,
including declines in infant mortality rates, greater levels of education and increased labour
market opportunities among women, and the provision of family planning services.50

Infant and child mortality decline

The developing world has seen significant reductions in infant and child mortality over the
past 50 years. Infant mortality (death prior to age 1) in developing countries has dropped from
180 to about 57 deaths per 1 000 live births.

It is projected to decline further to fewer than 30 deaths per 1 000 live births by 2050.

The past half-century’s gains resulted primarily from improved nutrition, public health
interventions related to water and sanitation, and medical advances such as the use of vaccines
and antibiotics. Infant mortality rates in the developed world have been, and will continue to be,
significantly lower those than in the developing world. Developed countries have seen infant
mortality decline from 59 to 7 deaths per 1 000 live births since 1950, and this is projected to
decline further still, to 4 by 2050. Child mortality (death prior to age 5) has also fallen, in both
developed and developing countries.

Addresses a widely discussed issue relevant to infant and child mortality: ‘missing women’.
Perhaps because of the selective abortion of female foetuses or because of female infanticide,
there is a severe exaggeration in a few countries of the usual pattern of boys aged 0–4
outnumbering young girls of the same ages.50
Life expectancy and longevity

For the world as a whole, life expectancy increased from 47 years in 1950–1955 to 65 years
in 2000–2005. It is projected to rise to 75 years by the middle of this century, with considerable
disparities between the wealthy developed countries, at 82 years, and the less-developed
countries, at 74 years (see Figure 8). As a result of the global decline in fertility, and because
people are living longer, median age is rising. The proportion of the elderly in the total
population is rising sharply. The number of people over the age of 60, currently around half the
number of those aged 15–24, is expected to reach 1 billion (overtaking the 15–24 age group) by
2020. It is projected to reach almost 2 billion by 2050. The proportion of individuals aged 80 or
over is projected to rise from 1 per cent to 4 per cent of the global population by 2050.

Population ageing is occurring in both developed and developing countries, although more
rapidly in the former. In the developed world, the proportion of people aged 60 or over will
increase from 20 to 32 percent by 2050. In the developing world, it will rise from 8 to 20 percent.

There are gender differences in life expectancy. It shows that life expectancy for women
tends to be around 4 to 6 years longer than for men, although there is considerable variation
across countries.51

The positive correlation between life expectancy and income, which was first discussed in
detail by Preston (1975), is one of the most central relationships in the fields of international
health and development. Preston observed the strong, positive relationship between national
income levels and life expectancy in poorer countries, though the relationship is nonlinear as life
expectancy levels in richer countries are less sensitive to variations in average income. Preston
also noted that life expectancy is increasing over time at all income levels. Although the basic
facts set out by Preston are generally accepted, the mechanisms that lie behind the relationships
and the policy implications we can draw from them are still disputed.

Age distribution: working-age population

Baby booms have altered the demographic landscape in many countries. As the experiences
of several regions during the past century show, an initial fall in mortality rates creates a boom
generation because high survival rates lead to more people at young ages than in earlier
generations. Fertility rates fall subsequently, as parents realise they do not need to produce as
many children to reach their desired family size, or as desired family size diminishes for other
reasons. When fertility falls and the baby boom stops, the age structure of the population then
shows a ‘bulge’ – the baby-boom-age cohort – created by the nonsynchronous falls in mortality
and fertility. As this cohort works its way through the age structure of the population, it
represents a share of the population larger than the share represented by the cohorts that precede
or follow it.

The baby boom creates particular challenges and opportunities for countries. In its youth, it
is a large cohort to be educated. Jimenez and Murthi (2006), in addressing the challenges of a
large youth cohort (ages 12–24), stress the importance for long-term economic growth of
investing in education and health of the young and the need to ease entry into the labour market
for this group. Once of age to enter the labour force, the baby boom generation represents an
unusually large working-age (approximately ages 15–64) population, which offers the prospect
of a ‘demographic dividend’. Lee and Mason (2006) describe two aspects of the demographic
dividend: falling fertility, leading to more workers per capita and therefore potentially more
resources to devote to development and to family welfare, and extra savings generated when
people expect a longer retirement period.52

Migration

Migration also alters population patterns. Globally, 191 million people live in countries
other than the one in which they were born. On average, during the next 45 years, the United
Nations estimates that over 2.2 million individuals will migrate annually from developing to
developed countries. (The UN estimates regarding future migration are not very informative, a
reflection of the inherent difficulty of constructing accurate projections of migration flows.)
According to the UN Population Division, the United States will receive by far the highest
number of immigrants (1.1 million a year), and China, Mexico, India, the Philippines and
Indonesia will be the main sources of emigrants.

Several factors affect migration from developing to developed countries. A significant

number of working-age people in developing countries are underemployed relative to the
opportunities they perceive in developed countries. At the same time, developed countries face a
declining share of working-age people and a growing number of elderly who need care, creating
more opportunities for immigrants. Because migrants are disproportionately of working age,
migration can affect the age distribution in both sending and receiving countries. The ratio of
workers to dependents will tend to rise more slowly in sending countries and decline more
slowly in receiving countries than it otherwise would. Williamson (2006) provides an economic
explanation of the emigration life cycle. First, people are too poor to emigrate; this is the
‘migration poverty trap’. As wealth increases and demographic booms begin, more people are
able to emigrate and more are driven to emigrate. 53

Emigration later subsides in response to remittances, industrialisation, conditions improving

at home, and there being relatively fewer workers. In the case of Europe, as transport and
industrialisation spread within the continent, the poorer countries joined the richer ones in
sending migrants to the Americas.

Urbanisation

In both developed and developing countries, there has been a huge movement from rural to
urban areas since 1950. Less-developed regions, in aggregate, have seen their population shift
from 18 per cent urban in 1950 to 44 percent in 2006, while the corresponding figures for
developed countries are 52 percent to 75 per cent. This move toward urban areas – and the
concomitant urbanisation of areas that were formerly peri-urban or rural – is consistent with the
shift that nearly all countries have experienced in moving from agricultural economies to
industrial and service-based economies.

The existence and growth of megacities (that is, those with 10 million or more residents) is
a late-20th century phenomenon that has created new problems. There were 20 such cities in
2003, 15 in developing countries. Tokyo is by far the largest, with 35 million people, followed
by (in descending order) Mexico City, New York, São Paulo and Mumbai (all with 17 to 19
million residents). All cities allow for economies of scale and provide a broad mix of people and
activities, making them centres of economic growth and activity. These characteristics account,
in some measure, for their attractiveness. However, as continued movement to urban areas leads
to megacities, these factors seem to be countered in part by problems that arise in the areas of
transportation, housing, air pollution and waste management. The conditions in megacities may
also exacerbate socioeconomic disparities.

The Effect on Economies – Historical Background

Demographic change is consequential with respect to economic and social development.

The economic consequences of population growth, in particular, have long been the subject of
debate.
 It was first believed that population growth would lead to the exhaustion of resources. In
1798, Thomas Malthus, perhaps the first of the ‘population pessimists’, argued that the world’s
resources would be unable to keep pace with population growth.

Food production would expand more slowly than population, and many would lose out in
the competition for food. Such thinking held sway well into the 20th century.

In 1968, Paul Ehrlich predicted: ‘The battle … is over. In the 1970s ... hundreds of millions
of people are going to starve to death’ (Ehrlich 1968, p xi). In the early 1970s, studies by the US
National Academy of Sciences and the United Nations also predicted negative effects of
population growth.

Not until the late 20th century did other arguments become popular. In the last 30 years of
the 20th century, per capita incomes rose by two-thirds as global 54population doubled. This
prompted some to ask whether, far from being a hindrance to growth, population expansion
might in fact assist it. In the 1960s, it was proposed that population growth aided economic
development by spurring technological and institutional innovation and increasing the supply of
human ingenuity. Simon Kuznets (1967), Julian Simon (1981) and Ester Boserup (1981) were
the leaders among the ‘population optimists’. Kuznets argued that larger societies can take
advantage of economies of scale and are better-equipped for trade. Simon showed that the prices
of natural resources decline as growing populations, complete with a greater stock of human
ingenuity, make the technological improvements necessary to respond to increasing demand.
Boserup presented compelling historical evidence of the pressure that population growth puts on
societies to create new solutions in the face of resource constraints. The Green Revolution, for
example, where new, high-yield crops dramatically increased food production in much of the
developing world, occurred in part as a response to population growth. Although the optimists
did not believe population growth would automatically lead to economic advances, they saw that
favourable policies could help translate increases in population into greater wealth.

Population neutralism became the predominant school of thought in the 1980s and 1990s.
Advocates of this position (Bloom and Freeman 1986; Kelley 1988) took the optimists’
observation that the consequences of population growth depended largely on the policy
environment a step further. Population neutralism was based on empirical research showing little
correlation between the growth rate of income per capita and the rate of population growth. In
other words, population growth by itself has no effect on economic performance. Other factors
such as openness to trade, educational attainment and the quality of institutions determine
whether economic progress can keep pace with population expansion. Although fast-growing
populations tend to experience slower economic growth, when these other factors are taken into
account, the negative impact of population expansion disappears.Recently, population neutralism
is giving way to a more fine-grained view of the effects of population dynamics in which
demographic change does affect economic development. Economists and demographers now
point to both the accounting effects and the behavioural effects of changes in population size and
structure.

The Effect on Economies

Accounting effects

Some of the effects of population change on economic growth result from ‘accounting’
effects. Accounting effects assume constant behaviour – in marriage, labour participation or
other decisions – within age and other demographic groups, but allow for changes in the relative
size of those groups to influence overall outcomes.

For example, holding age- and sex-specific labour force participation rates constant, we can
see how a change in the age structure affects total labour supply.

As a country’s baby boom generation ages, for a time it constitutes a large cohort of
working-age individuals and, later, a large cohort of elderly people. The span of years
represented by the boom generation (which determines how quickly this cohort moves through
the age structure) and the size of the population bulge vary greatly from one country to another.
But in all circumstances, there are reasons to think that a very unstable age structure has
economic consequences. A historically high proportion of working-age individuals in a
population means that, potentially, production can increase relative to consumption, and with
more workers per capita, GDP per capita can receive a boost.

Life-cycle patterns in savings also come into play as a population’s age structure changes.
People save more during their working-age years. If the working-age cohort is especially large
compared to other age groups, savings per capita will increase.

Behavioural effects
 Declining rates of adult mortality and the movement of large cohorts through the global
population pyramid will lead to a massive expansion in the proportion of elderly in the world
population. Some simple economic projections show catastrophic effects of this ageing. These
projections tend to be based on an ‘accounting’ approach, which assumes that age-specific
behaviour remains unchanged and ignores the potentially significant effects of behavioural
change.

The ageing of the baby boom generation potentially promotes labour shortages, creating
upward pressure on wages and downward pressure on the real incomes of retirees. It is likely that
workers will adjust their behaviour in response to these pressures, resulting in increased labour
force participation, longer working lives and possibly the immigration of workers from
developing countries. In addition, Bloom, Canning and Moore (2004) find that health and
longevity improvements tend, in theory, to increase individuals’ desired age of retirement. In
practice, however, mandatory retirement and other disincentives to work at older ages lead
people to anticipate longer periods of retirement rather than longer working lives (Bloom,
Canning, Moore and Song 2006; Bloom et al, forthcoming). In response, national saving rates
tend to rise (Bloom, Canning and Graham 2003).

Child mortality declines can also have behavioural effects, particularly for women, who are
likely to be the primary caregivers for children. When fertility has fallen in response to a
decrease in child mortality, more women are able to participate in the workforce, further
boosting the labour supply.

Empirical Evidence

Demographic change is absent from many macroeconomic analyses that aim to explain
cross-country differences in economic growth and poverty reduction. Yet several empirical
studies show the importance of demographics in understanding economic development.56

East Asia’s baby boom

East Asia’s remarkable economic growth in the past half-century coincided closely with
demographic change in the region. As infant mortality fell from 181 to 34 per 1 000 births
between 1950 and 2000, fertility fell from around 6 to 2 children per woman. The lag between
falls in mortality and fertility created a baby boom generation. Between 1965 and 1990, the
region’s working-age population grew nearly four times faster than the dependent population.
Several studies have estimated that this demographic shift was responsible for one-third of east
Asia’s economic growth during the period (that is, the ‘demographic dividend’). (See Bloom and
Williamson 1998; Bloom, Canning and Malaney 2000.)

Labour supply and the Celtic tiger

From 1960 to 1990, the growth rate of income per capita in Ireland was approximately 3.5
per cent per annum. In the 1990s, it jumped to 5.8 per cent, well in excess of any other European
economy. Demographic change contributed to the country’s economic surge. In the decade
following the legalisation of contraceptives in 1979, Ireland saw a sharp fall in the crude birth
rate. This led to decreasing youth dependency and a rise in the working-age share of the total
population. By the mid 1990s, the dependency burden in Ireland had dropped to a level below
that in the United Kingdom.

Two additional demography-based factors in Ireland helped fuel economic growth by

increasing labour supply per capita. First, although male labour force participation rates
remained fairly static, the period from 1980 to 2000 saw a substantial increase in female labour
force participation rates, particularly in the 25–40 year-old age group. Although one would
expect rapid economic growth to encourage female labour participation, it seems likely that some
of the increase can be attributed to the availability of contraception and women’s increased
freedom to choose between working and rearing children. Second, Ireland historically had high
levels of outward migration of young adults (around 1 per cent of the population per year),
because its economy was unable to absorb the large inflows of young workers created by its high
fertility rate. The loss of these young workers exacerbated the problem of a high youth-
dependency rate. The decline in youth-cohort sizes and rapid economic growth of the 1990s led
to a reversal of this flow, resulting in net in-migration of workers, made up partly of return
migrants and also, for the first time, substantial numbers of foreign immigrants (see Bloom and
Canning 2003).

Continued high fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa

Demographic change of a very different type can account for slow economic development.
Much of sub-Saharan Africa remains stalled at the first stage of a demographic transition.
Fertility rates actually increased a bit during the 1950s and through the 1970s and only recently
have begun a slow fall. As swollen youth cohorts have entered the labour force, an inadequate
economic policy environment in most countries has prevented many young people from
engaging in productive employment. Large dependent populations (in this case, of children) have
kept the proportion of working-age people in the total population low, making it more difficult
for these economies to rise out of poverty (see Bloom and Sachs 1998).

Policy Implications

Rapid and significant demographic change places new demands on national and
international policy-making. Transitions from high mortality and fertility to low mortality and
fertility can be beneficial to economies as large baby-boom cohorts enter the workforce and save
for retirement. Rising longevity also affects the incentives to save for old age, which can affect
investment, international capital flows and interest rates.

The ability of countries to realise the potential benefits of the demographic transition and to
mitigate the negative effects of ageing depends crucially on the policy and institutional
environment. Attention to the following areas is likely to be key in developing effective policy to
deal with the effects of demographic change.

Health

Recent evidence indicates that good health may be an important factor in economic
development (see Bloom, Canning and Sevilla 2004). Health improvements – especially among
infants and children – often lead to declines in fertility. Focusing on the diseases of childhood
can therefore increase the likelihood of creating a boom generation and the positive economic
effects a boom can generate (see Bloom, Canning and Weston 2005). Countries wishing to
accelerate fertility declines may benefit from improving access to family planning services and
education about fertility decisions.

Education

Workers are better able to contribute to economic growth if they have received an effective
education. East Asia capitalized on its baby boom generation by providing high-quality
education, including both general schooling and technical skills, which equipped them as
workers to meet the demands of an ever-changing labour market. Ireland also gained from its
baby boom by introducing free secondary schooling and expanding tertiary education.

Labour market institutions

 Restrictive labour laws can limit a country’s ability to benefit from demographic change,
particularly where these laws make it difficult to hire and fire workers or 59to work part-time.
Restrictions on immigration are also of concern, as they hold down the labour supply.
Immigration is a political hot potato in many countries, but economic incentives to lower barriers
to immigration are likely to grow stronger as populations in developed countries age.
International outsourcing, another controversial subject, may also be an increasingly important
means of meeting the demand for labour.

Trade

One means by which east-Asian countries provided productive opportunities to their baby
boom cohorts was by carefully opening up to international trade. The opportunity to export
provides an outlet for the product of a large cohort. Bloom and Canning (2004) found that open
economies benefit much more from demographic change than the average, and that closed
economies do not derive any statistically significant benefit from changes in the age structure.

Retirement

Population ageing requires increased savings to finance longer retirements (especially if

governments maintain current policies that discourage the conversion of greater longevity into
longer working lives). This will affect financial markets, rates of return and investment. As more
people move into old age, health care costs are likely to spiral upward, with the expansion of
health care systems and growth in long-term care for the elderly. (However, Bryant and Sonerson
(2006) caution that an ageing population is not the main driver of rising expenditures on health,
showing that non-demographic factors are more substantial drivers of rising health expenditures
than demographic ones.) As non-tradable, labour-intensive sectors with a low rate of technical
progress, health care and elder care may affect the structure of the economy and potentially slow
measured growth. Existing social security systems may hamper the ability of individuals to
contribute to the financing of their retirement, as many of these systems penalise individuals who
work beyond a fixed retirement age. As Turner (2006) explains, demographic factors play a
central role in determining the potential viability of all pension systems, both fully funded and
pay-as-you-go plans. Recent work in Australia by Kulish, Smith and Kent (2006) suggests that
changes in fertility and longevity, functioning jointly, tend to increase the ratio of capital to
labour inputs, and that, on average, people would still choose to spend a similar portion of their
lives in retirement as before these changes.
 A discussion that pertains centrally to increases in life expectancy and that touches on
retirement naturally leads to the question of the human life span. How long are people likely to
live in the coming decades, and are the anticipated changes likely to bring new issues to the fore?

In most of the world, life expectancy has risen sharply during the past two centuries.
Children born today can expect to live for many decades longer than their ancestors born in the
19th or early 20th centuries. In Japan, life expectancy at birth is now 82 years, and other regions
have also made great progress as medical and public health advances, improved nutrition and
behavioural changes encouraged by improved education have combined to reduce the risk of
death at all ages.

Fries (1983) suggests that the human life span is more or less fixed at a certain age and
unlikely to change over time. According to this view, an accumulation of inherited diseases
express themselves in the post-reproductive years, during which individuals’ survival confers no
evolutionary benefit on their descendants, effectively maintaining a ceiling on life expectancy.
Ronald Lee (2003), however, proposes an evolutionary mechanism through which the human life
span may increase. He argues, essentially, that the children of individuals who are genetically
disposed to long life benefit from their parents’ and grandparents’ longevity, mainly through
intergenerational transfers (for example, time spent nurturing children). This mechanism has
acted against the accumulation of inherited diseases at the older ages and has tended to shape the
human genome in a manner that is likely to be more responsive to the life-prolonging efforts of
modern science.

Whether or not the human life span changes over time may have important implications for
societies and economies. If it remains steady at around 85 years, the fraction of people living
beyond that age is unlikely to grow significantly or rapidly.

If it increases, on the other hand, societies may face a number of new challenges. In one
plausible scenario, health care costs will rise with increasing numbers of very old individuals;
pension and social security payments will come under increasing pressure; the dependency ratio
will shift, leaving relatively smaller working-age populations with an increased number of
elderly dependents to support; and societies will have to adapt to the social and cultural impacts
of the new demographic realities. But even if life spans increase significantly, it is possible that
most of these predictions will not come to pass. Fries discusses a phenomenon known as ‘the
compression of morbidity’ – meaning that the illnesses associated with old age may come to
arise sufficiently later in life so that, even with increased life spans, the elderly may have fewer
years during which they are dependent on working-age people. If this is correct, the predictions
above will be incorrect, particularly if people choose to retire later or save more early in life.

Continuing increases in life expectancy in low-mortality populations have led some

demographers to forecast further gains. They believe that scientific advances will continue to
combine with behavioural changes to yield further life expectancy gains in the future. Manton,
Stallard and Tolley (1991), for example, estimate that populations with extremely healthy
lifestyles – that is, with an absence or near-61absence of risk factors such as smoking, alcohol
and obesity, and the presence of health-promoting behaviours such as a healthy diet and exercise
– could achieve a life expectancy of between 95 and 100 years. Oeppen and Vaupel (2002) found
that death rates among the very old in Sweden and throughout the industrial world fell
substantially in the last century, and at an accelerating pace, reflecting bona fide life-span
improvements. They forecast that life expectancy at birth in low-mortality countries will rise to
100 years by 2060. Along the same lines, Preston (1996) observes that 60 per cent of the life
expectancy increase in the United States since 1950 was due to mortality declines in people over
the age of 50. Li and Lee (2005) estimate that life expectancy in the United States will rise from
a 1996 figure of 76.3 to 84.9 by 2050, with that in Japan rising from 80.5 to 88.1.

Others have reached different conclusions. Olshansky and Carnes (1994) question the
models used by demographers which underpin predictions that life expectancy will increase
dramatically; Olshansky, Carnes and Dé sesquelles (2001) predict that life expectancy at birth
will not surpass 85 years. Death rates, they argue, would not fall sufficiently for life expectancy
to rise rapidly, and earlier increases were driven largely by dramatic reductions in infant and
child mortality, which could not recur.

Perhaps more importantly, they see no reason why the future should necessarily mirror the
past – new threats to health such as influenza pandemics, antibiotic resistance and obesity
(discussed subsequently in Preston 2005) could reverse gains made in recent decades;
technological improvements could stall and the drugs needed to counter the diseases of ageing
might not be found; and environmental disasters, economic collapse or war could derail health
systems at the same time as weakening individuals’ ability to protect their own health.

The debate continues, and many questions remain unanswered. What will be the effect on
the human life span of advances in genetics? Will anti-ageing technologies emerge to make the
human body more robust for longer? Will wealthy societies succumb to damaging obesity
epidemics or to new infectious diseases such as avian flu? Will economic meltdown take away
the wealth that has contributed so much to improvements in health? Or will wars result in
massive premature mortality, and thereby render the average life span a far less compelling
issue?.

Looking to the Future

What can we expect in the next half-century? Based on the indicators that are available, we
can make a few points.

• All signs suggest that there will be continued but slowing population growth. This
continued growth will result in the addition of roughly 3 billion people to the world population,
before it stabilizes around 2050 at about 9 billion. Managing this increase will be an enormous
challenge, and the economic consequences of failing to do so could be severe.

• The world’s population is ageing, and the growth in the sheer number of elderly people
will be huge. The United Nations predicts that 31 per cent of China’s population in 2050 – 432
million people – will be aged 60 or over. The 62corresponding figures for India are 21 per cent
and 330 million.

No longer can ageing be thought of as a developed-world phenomenon. (Further

comparison of China and India’s demographic development as it has affected their ecohnomic
development can be found in Bloom, Canning, Hu et al (2006).)

• International migration will continue, but the extent is unclear. The pressures that
encourage people to migrate – above all the lure of greater economic wellbeing in the developed
countries – will undoubtedly persist, but the strength of countervailing policy restrictions that
could substantially staunch the flow of migrants is impossible to predict.

• Urbanisation will continue, but here, too, the pace is impossible to predict. Greater
economic opportunities in the cities will surely continue to attract migrants from rural areas, but
environmental and social problems may stymie growth.

Although demographic changes are, for the most part, easier to predict than economic
changes, the big-picture outlook is nonetheless unclear. The uncertainties are similar to those we
cited regarding possible changes in the human life span.
 Will an outbreak of avian flu or another disease become pandemic, killing many millions
and decimating economies? What happens if these diseases are, or become, resistant to existing
drugs? Conversely, scientific advances in areas such as genomics, contraceptive methods, or
vaccines for diseases such as AIDS or malaria could save and improve millions of lives. Global
warming and other environmental changes, or large-scale war, could completely alter the context
of demographic and economic 63predictions. Millions of refugees, from any cause, could lead
demographic predictions to be far off the mark, and could, of course, lead to upheavals that
would dwarf the importance of the analysis offered here.

The United Nations and the Future of Global Governance

The sixty-seventh UN General Assembly, now under way, is expected to address issues like
the rule of law at the national and international level, and the Palestinian Authority’s bid for non-
member state recognition. Four experts recently contributed their thoughts about the role of the
United Nations and the future of global governance to this expert roundup.

Philippe Moreau Defarges from the Paris-based Institut Français des Relations
Internationals (IFRI) writes that three preconditions must be met for successful global
governance: balancing world powers, garnering regional support, and fostering an environment
of trust. For Fen Osler Hampson, Paul Heinbecker, and Gordon S. Smith of the Ontario-based
Centre for International Governance Innovation, minilateral groups like the G20 can help the UN
move forward.

Michael Fullilove, of Sydney’s Lowy Institute for International Policy, says the UN must
work toward being more representative of all its member states, and contends that Australia
obtaining a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council would further this important goal.
Similarly, Xue Lei of Shanghai’s Center for Maritime and Polar Studies is critical of the current
structure of the UN Security Council, and argues that the UN body must adapt to reflect the
geopolitical shift in power from West to East.

Global contemporary issues

In their book Global Issues, Hite and Seitz emphasize that global issues are qualitatively
different from international affairs and that the former arise from growing international
interdependencies which makes the issues themselves interdependent. It is speculated that our
global interconnectedness, instead of (only) making us more resilient, makes us more vulnerable
to global catastrophe.

Overconsumption

Overconsumption is a situation where resource use has outpaced the sustainable capacity of
the ecosystem. A prolonged pattern of overconsumption leads to environmental degradation and
the eventual loss of resource bases. Generally, the discussion of overconsumption parallels that
of world overpopulation;[5] that is the more people, the more consumption of raw materials
takes place to sustain their lives. But, humanity's overall impact on the planet is affected by many
factors besides the raw number of people. Their lifestyle (including overall affluence and
resource utilization) and the pollution they generate (including carbon footprint) are equally
important. Currently, the inhabitants of the developed nations of the world consume resources at
a rate almost 32 times greater than those of the developing world, who make up the majority of
the human population (7.4 billion people).

However, the developing world is a growing market of consumption. These nations are
quickly gaining more purchasing power and it is expected that the Global South, which includes
cities in Asia, Latin America and Africa, will account for 56% of consumption growth by 2030.
[7] This means that consumption rates will plateau for the developed nations and shift more into
these developing countries.

Global warming

Global warming is a long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system,
an aspect of climate change shown by temperature measurements and by multiple effects of the
warming.[8][9] The term commonly refers to the mainly human-caused observed warming since
pre-industrial times and its projected continuation,[10] though there were also much earlier
periods of global warming.[11] In the modern context the terms global warming and climate
change are commonly used interchangeably,[12] but climate change includes both global
warming and its effects, such as changes to precipitation and impacts that differ by region.[13]
[14] Many of the observed warming changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the
instrumental temperature record, and in historical and paleoclimate proxy records of climate
change over thousands to millions of years.
 Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region.[15][16]
Ongoing and anticipated effects include rising sea levels, changing precipitation, and expansion
of deserts in the subtropics.[17] Future warming is expected to be greater over land than over the
oceans and greatest in the Arctic, with the continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost, and sea ice.
Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves,
droughts, wildfires, heavy rainfall with floods, and heavy snowfall;[18] ocean acidification; and
massive extinctions of species due to shifting temperature regimes. Effects significant to humans
include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated
areas due to rising sea levels.[19] Migration of animals has been a serious situation, the effects
from Global Warming are messing with animals, their habitats, and when animals migrate.
Studies show that in the future, changes will happen to how animals forage in the micro and
macro habitat. A selection of these animals could become climate change sensitive species, for
example high-alpine birds.Because the climate system has a large "inertia" and greenhouse gases
will remain in the atmosphere for a long time, many of these effects will persist for not only
decades or centuries, but tens of thousands of years.[20]

Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction,

adaptation to its effects, building systems resilient to its effects, and possible future climate
engineering. Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC),[21] whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate
change.[22] Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required[23] and
that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 °C (3.6 °F) compared to pre-industrial
levels,[a] with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F).[25] Some scientists call into
question climate adaptation feasibility, with higher emissions scenarios,[26] or the two degree
temperature target.[27]

Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing. A
global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed that a median of 54% of all respondents asked
consider it "a very serious problem." Significant regional differences exist, with Americans and
Chinese (whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions) among the
least concerned.[28]

Most of the habitat selection that was studied was affected by grassland cover. An issue at
the footnote of global warming is ocean acidification, it is an issue today regarding the rising
amounts of acidity in both surface and deeper waters that threaten biological and biochemical
processes. The role of the ocean is a major role in climate regulation, yet ocean acidification is
not looked at as a big deal when it comes to global warming. It alters marine ecosystems which
include destroying a wide array of marine ecosystem services. There is no policy, international or
nationally, to help with ocean acidification. Although, it is a global issue, ocean acidification will
have great effects along coastlines and in coral reefs. Some people think that ocean acidification
can be dealt with through UNFCCC, this is thought because climate changes is causing ocean
acidification because of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, but some do not agree. There are
multiple reasons why nothing has been done on a larger scale regarding ocean acidification, such
as the fact that it is not well understood scientifically. Also, the impacts may be felt locally but
the problem is a global issue and cannot be dealt with easily. More people need to realize the
problems of ocean acidification; coral reefs are becoming bleached and more animals are
becoming extinct because it is not a livable habit for aquatic animals.[

Human impact on the environment

Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic impact on the environment) includes
changes to biophysical environments[30] and ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources[31]
[32] caused directly or indirectly by humans, including global warming,[30][33] environmental
degradation[30] (such as ocean acidification[30][34]), mass extinction and biodiversity loss,[35]
[36][37][38] ecological crisis, and ecological collapse. Modifying the environment to fit the
needs of society is causing severe effects, which become worse as the problem of human
overpopulation continues.[39] Some human activities that cause damage (either directly or
indirectly) to the environment on a global scale include human reproduction,[40]
overconsumption, overexploitation, pollution, and deforestation, to name but a few. Some of the
problems, including global warming and biodiversity loss pose an existential risk to the human
race,[41][42] and overpopulation causes those problems.[43] People are mostly malnourished in
countries where the population is growing very rapidly, like third world countries that do not
have access to birth controls or family planning. Overpopulation is a growing issue among many
people, at a growing rate of 1.2%, the population is projected to double to 14 billion people in 60
years. It is believed that the earths carrying capacity is going to be around 14 billion people
because of the food shortages most of the world's population is already experiencing. More than
66% of the world's population is malnourished or starving according to the World Health
Organization. In 1950 only 20% of the world's population was recorded as malnourished or
starving, the percentage has more than tripled, which is alarming. Natural resources that are
becoming critically low due to over harvesting are; oil, natural gas, and coal, once these
resources run out the earth's population could drop from 14 billion to 2 billion. It is important
that humans start recycling and reducing the amount of natural resources, in doing this we can
hopefully prolong the quality and sustainability of life on earth. .[44]

Water scarcity
 Water scarcity is the lack of fresh water resources to meet water demand. It affects every
continent and was listed in 2019 by the World Economic Forum as one of the largest global risks
in terms of potential impact over the next decade.[45] It is manifested by partial or no
satisfaction of expressed demand, economic competition for water quantity or quality, disputes
between users, irreversible depletion of groundwater, and negative impacts on the environment.
[46] One-third of the global population (2 billion people) live under conditions of severe water
scarcity at least 1 month of the year.[47][48][49][50] Half a billion people in the world face
severe water scarcity all year round.[47] Half of the world's largest cities experience water
scarcity.

Mass surveillance

Mass surveillance is considered as a global issue. Mass surveillance has often been cited as
necessary to fight terrorism, prevent crime and social unrest, protect national security, and
control the population. Conversely, mass surveillance has equally often been criticized for
violating privacy rights, limiting civil and political rights and freedoms, and being illegal under
some legal or constitutional systems. Another criticism is that increasing mass surveillance could
lead to the development of a surveillance state or an electronic police state where civil liberties
are infringed or political dissent is undermined by COINTELPRO-like programs. Such a state
could be referred to as a totalitarian state.

Artificial intelligence arms race

An artificial intelligence arms race is a competition between two or more states to have its
military forces equipped with the best "artificial intelligence" (AI). Since the mid-2010s, many
analysts have argued that such a global arms race for better artificial intelligence has already
begun.

China became a top player in artificial intelligence research in the 2010s. According to the
Financial Times, in 2016, for the first time, China published more AI papers than the entire
European Union. When restricted to number of AI papers in the top 5% of cited papers, China
overtook the United States in 2016 but lagged behind the European Union.[53] 23% of the
researchers presenting at the 2017 American Association for the Advancement of Artificial
Intelligence (AAAI) conference were Chinese.[54] Eric Schmidt, the former chairman of
Alphabet, has predicted China will be the leading country in AI by 2025.

Nuclear proliferation
 Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-
applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon
States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), commonly known as
the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT. Proliferation has been opposed by many nations with and
without nuclear weapons, as governments fear that more countries with nuclear weapons will
increase the possibility of nuclear warfare (up to and including the so-called "counter value"
targeting of civilians with nuclear weapons), de-stabilize international or regional relations, or
infringe upon the national sovereignty of states.

Four countries besides the five recognized Nuclear Weapons States have acquired, or are
presumed to have acquired, nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel. None of
these four is a party to the NPT, although North Korea acceded to the NPT in 1985, then
withdrew in 2003 and conducted announced nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016, and 2017.
[56] One critique of the NPT is that the treaty is discriminatory in the sense that only those
countries that tested nuclear weapons before 1968 are recognized as nuclear weapon states while
all other states are treated as non-nuclear-weapon states who can only join the treaty if they
forswear nuclear weapons.

Weapon of mass destruction

A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological, or

any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans or cause
great damage to human-made structures (e.g., buildings), natural structures (e.g., mountains), or
the biosphere. The scope and usage of the term has evolved and been disputed, often signifying
more politically than technically. Originally coined in reference to aerial bombing with chemical
explosives during World War II, it has later come to refer to large-scale weaponry of other
technologies, such as chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear.

Nuclear holocaust

A nuclear holocaust, nuclear apocalypse, or atomic holocaust is a theoretical scenario

involving widespread destruction and radioactive fallout causing the collapse of civilization,
through the use of nuclear weapons. Under such a scenario, some or all of the Earth is made
uninhabitable by nuclear warfare in future world wars.
 Besides the immediate destruction of cities by nuclear blasts, the potential aftermath of a
nuclear war could involve firestorms, a nuclear winter, widespread radiation sickness from
fallout, and/or the temporary loss of much modern technology due to electromagnetic pulses.
Some scientists, such as Alan Robock, have speculated that a thermonuclear war could result in
the end of modern civilization on Earth, in part due to a long-lasting nuclear winter. In one
model, the average temperature of Earth following a full thermonuclear war falls for several
years by 7 to 8 degrees Celsius on average.[58]

World War III and Second Cold War

Large nuclear weapons stockpile with global range (dark blue), smaller stockpile with
global range (medium blue)

World War III (WWIII or WW3) and the Third World War are names given to a
hypothetical third worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World
War II. The term has been in use since at least as early as 1941. Some have applied it loosely to
refer to limited or smaller conflicts such as the Cold War or the War on Terror, while others have
operated under the assumption that such a conflict would surpass both prior world wars in both
the level of its widespread scope and of its overall destructive impact.

Because of the development and use of nuclear weapons near the end of World War II and
their subsequent acquisition and deployment by many countries, the potential risk of a nuclear
devastation of Earth's civilization and life is a common theme in speculations of a Third World
War. Another major concern is that biological warfare could cause a very large number of
casualties, either intentionally or inadvertently by an accidental release of a biological agent, the
unexpected mutation of an agent, or its adaptation to other species after use. High-scale
apocalyptic events like these, caused by advanced technology used for destruction, could
potentially make Earth's surface uninhabitable.

Prior to the beginning of the Second World War, the First World War (1914–1918) was
believed to have been "the war to end all wars," as it was popularly believed that never again
could there possibly be a global conflict of such magnitude. During the inter-war period between
the two world wars, WWI was typically referred to simply as "The Great War." The outbreak of
World War II in 1939 disproved the hope that mankind might have already "outgrown" the need
for such widespread global wars.
 With the advent of the Cold War in 1945 and with the spread of nuclear weapons
technology to the Soviet Union, the possibility of a third global conflict became more plausible.
During the Cold War years, the possibility of a Third World War was anticipated and planned for
by military and civil authorities in many countries. Scenarios ranged from conventional warfare
to limited or total nuclear warfare. At the height of the Cold War, a scenario referred to as
Mutually Assured Destruction ("MAD") had been calculated which determined that an all-out
nuclear confrontation would most certainly destroy all or nearly all human life on the planet.

"Global state", "United States of Earth", "World empire", and "World state" redirect here.
For the computing concept, see Global variable. For the government in the television show
Futurama, see Politics in Futurama. For the video game, see World Empire. For the world state
in Brave New World, see The World State. For conspiracy theories about world government, see
New World Order (conspiracy theory). For other uses, see World government (disambiguation).

World government, global government or cosmocracy is the concept of a common political

authority for all of humanity, giving way to a global government and a single state or polity with
jurisdiction over the entire world. Such a government could come into existence either through
violent and compulsory world domination or through peaceful and voluntary supranational
union.

There has never been an executive, legislature, judiciary, military, or constitution with
global jurisdiction. The United Nations, beyond the United Nations Security Council (which has
the ability to issue mandatory resolutions), is limited to a mostly advisory role, and its stated
purpose is to foster cooperation between existing national governments rather than exert
authority over them.

Numerous fictional depictions exist however, such as the World State mentioned above and
the "Dictatorship of the Air" in H.G. Wells The Shape of Things to Come.
History

The idea and aspiration of world government has been known since the dawn of history.
Bronze Age Egyptian Kings aimed to rule "All That the Sun Encircles", Mesopotamian Kings
"All from the Sunrise to the Sunset", and ancient Chinese and Japanese Emperors "All under
Heaven". These four civilizations developed impressive cultures of Great Unity, or Da Yitong as
the Chinese put it. In 113 BC, the Han dynasty in China erected an Altar of the Great Unity.

Polybius said that the Roman achievement of imposing one government over the
Mediterranean world was a "marvelous" achievement, and that the main task of future historians
will be to explain how this was done.

Dante

The idea of world government outlived the fall of the Pax Romana for a millennium. Dante
in the fourteenth century despairingly appealed to the human race: "But what has been the
condition of the world since that day the seamless robe [of Pax Romana] first suffered mutilation
by the claws of avarice, we can read—would that we could not also see! O human race! what
tempests must need toss thee, what treasure be thrown into the sea, what shipwrecks must be
endured, so long as thou, like a beast of many heads, strivest after diverse ends! Thou art sick in
either intellect, and sick likewise in thy affection. Thou healest not thy high understanding by
argument irrefutable, nor thy lower by the countenance of experience. Nor dost thou heal thy
affection by the sweetness of divine persuasion, when the voice of the Holy Spirit breathes upon
thee, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"" (De
Monarchia, 16:1)

Francisco de Vitoria

Early father of international law, Spanish philosopher Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546)
is considered the "founder of global political philosophy". De Vitoria conceived of the res
publica totius orbis, or the "republic of the whole world". This came at a time when the
University of Salamanca was engaged in unprecedented thought concerning human rights,
international law, and early economics based on the experiences of the Spanish Empire.

Hugo Grotius
 De jure belli ac pacis (On the Law of War and Peace) is a 1625 book in Latin, written by
Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) and published in Paris, on the legal status of war. It is now regarded
as a foundational work in international law.[3] Grotius was a philosopher, theologian,
playwright, and poet. He is known for coming up with the idea of having an international law,
and is still acknowledged today by the American Society of International Law.

Immanuel Kant

Writing in 1795, Immanuel Kant considered World Citizenship to be a necessary step in

establishing world peace

Immanuel Kant wrote the essay "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch" (1795). In his
essay, Kant describes three basic requirements for organizing human affairs to permanently
abolish the threat of present and future war, and, thereby, help establish a new era of lasting
peace throughout the world. Specifically, Kant described his proposed peace program as
containing two steps.

The "Preliminary Articles" described the steps that should be taken immediately, or with all
deliberate speed:

"No Secret Treaty of Peace Shall Be Held Valid in Which There Is Tacitly Reserved Matter
for a Future War"

"No Independent States, Large or Small, Shall Come under the Dominion of Another State
by Inheritance, Exchange, Purchase, or Donation"

"Standing Armies Shall in Time Be Totally Abolished"

"National Debts Shall Not Be Contracted with a View to the External Friction of States"

"No State Shall by Force Interfere with the Constitution or Government of Another State,

"No State Shall, during War, Permit Such Acts of Hostility Which Would Make Mutual
Confidence in the Subsequent Peace Impossible: Such Are the Employment of Assassins
(percussores), Poisoners (venefici), Breach of Capitulation, and Incitement to Treason
(perduellio) in the Opposing State"

Three Definitive Articles would provide not merely a cessation of hostilities, but a
foundation on which to build a peace.

"The Civil Constitution of Every State Should Be Republican"

 "The Law of Nations Shall be Founded on a Federation of Free States"

"The Law of World Citizenship Shall Be Limited to Conditions of Universal Hospitality"

Johann Gottlieb Fichte

The year of the battle at Jena (1806), when Napoleon overwhelmed Prussia, Fichte in
Characteristics of the Present Age described what he perceived to be a very deep and dominant
historical trend:

There is necessary tendency in every cultivated State to extend itself generally... Such is the
case in Ancient History ... As the States become stronger in themselves and cast off that [Papal]
foreign power, the tendency towards a Universal Monarchy over the whole Christian World
necessarily comes to light... This tendency ... has shown itself successively in several States
which could make pretensions to such a dominion, and since the fall of the Papacy, it has
become the sole animating principle of our History... Whether clearly or not—it may be
obscurely—yet has this tendency lain at the root of the undertakings of many States in Modern
Times... Although no individual Epoch may have contemplated this purpose, yet is this the spirit
which runs through all these individual Epochs, and invisibly urges them onward.[4]

World Government (Mormonism)

In early-19th-century Mormon theology, Joseph Smith taught that a theodemocracy would

guide and direct the Kingdom of God (Zion) on the earth during the end times. On March 11,
1844, Smith organized a Council of Fifty, who were to work under the direction of the
Priesthood authorities of his church, along with a Council of Friends. This group of three
organizations was expected to rule as a world government just prior to the Millennium.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

In 1842, the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, published the oft-quoted lines "Locksley
Hall": For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see / Saw a Vision of the world, and all
the wonder that would be /... / Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer / and the battle-flags were
furled / In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. / There the common sense of most
shall hold / a fretful realm in awe / And the kindly earth shall slumber / lapt in universal law.
Ulysses S. Grant

US president Ulysses S. Grant was convinced in 1873: "Transport, education and rapid
development of both spiritual and material relationships by means of steam power and the
telegraph, all this will make great changes. I am convinced that the Great Framer of the World
will so develop it that it becomes one nation, so that armies and navies are no longer necessary."

He also commented, "I believe at some future day, the nations of the earth will agree on
some sort of congress which will take cognizance of international questions of difficulty and
whose decisions will be as binding as the decisions of the Supreme Court are upon us".

William Gladstone

The first thinker to anticipate a kind of world unity ("great household of the world") under
the American primacy seems to be British politician William Gladstone. In 1878, he wrote:

While we have been advancing with portentous rapidity, America is passing us by as if a

canter. There can hardly be a doubt, as between America and England, of the belief that the
daughter at no very distant time will ... be unquestionably yet stronger than the mother ... She
[America] will probably become what we are now—head servant in the great household of the
world.

Kang Youwei

In 1885, Kang Youwei published his One World Philosophy, where he based his vision on
the evidence of political expansion which began in the immemorial past and went in his days on.

He concludes:

Finally, the present Powers of the world were formed. This process [of coalescing and
forming fewer, larger units] has all taken place among the 10,000 countries over several
thousand years. The progression from dispersion to union among men, and the principle
[whereby] the world is [gradually] proceeding from being partitioned off to being opened up, is a
spontaneous [working] of the Way of Heaven (or Nature) and human affairs.

No factor, he believed, in the long run could resist the "laws of empires".[13] Kang Youwei
projects the culmination of the ongoing world unification with the final confrontation between
the United States and Germany: "Some day America will take in [all the states of] the American
continent and Germany will take in all the [states of] Europe. This will hasten the world along
the road to One World."[11]

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche in his Beyond Good and Evil (1886) envisaged:

I should rather prefer such an increase in the threatening attitude of Russia, that Europe
would have to make up its mind to become equally threatening—namely to acquire one will, by
means of a new caste to rule over the Continent, a persistent, dreadful will of its own, that can set
its aims thousands of years ahead. The time for petty politics is past; the next century will bring
the struggle for the domination of the world.

Vacher de Lapouge

The French demographer, George Vacher de Lapouge, followed K'ang Yu-wei in 1899 with
his L'Aryen: Son Role Social. Similarly, he outlined the logistic growth of empires from the
Bronze Age till his days, when "six states govern... three quarters of the globe", and concluded:
"The moment is close when the struggle for the domination of the world is going to take
place."[15]

Vacher de Lapouge did not bet on Washington and Berlin in the final contest for world
domination contrary to K'ang Yu-wei. Like his earlier compatriot, Alexis de Tocqueville, he
guessed the Cold War contenders correctly but he went one step further. He estimated the
chances of the United States as favorite in the final confrontation:

The reign of Europe is over, well over... The future of France seems less certain but it is
unnecessary to become illusioned... I do not believe by the way that Germany might count for a
much longer future... We could... envisage... the possibility that England and her immense
Empire comes to surrender to the United States. The latter... is the true adversary of Russia in the
great struggle to come... I also believe that the United States is appealed to triumph. Otherwise,
the universe would be Russian.

Bahá'í Faith and the unity of humanity

In the second half of the 19th century, Bahá'u'lláh founded the Bahá'í Faith, a religion which
identified the establishment of world unity and a global federation of nations as a key principle.
[17] He envisioned a set of new social structures based on participation and consultation among
the world's peoples, including a world legislature, an international court, and an international
executive empowered to carry out the decisions of these legislative and judicial bodies.
Connected principles of the Bahá'í religion include universal systems of weights and measures,
currency unification, and the adoption of a global auxiliary language.

In World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, first published in 1938, Shoghi Effendi, great-grandson of

Bahá'u'lláh and the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957, described the
anticipated world government of that religion as the "world's future super-state" with the Bahá'í
Faith as the "State Religion of an independent and Sovereign Power".

According to Shoghi Effendi, "The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá'u'lláh,
implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and
classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and
the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and
completely safeguarded. This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a
world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind, ultimately
control the entire resources of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall be
required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and
peoples. A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions arrived
at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of
the whole commonwealth. A world tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final
verdict in all and any disputes that may arise between the various elements constituting this
universal system."

In his many scriptures and messages addressed to the most prominent state leaders of his
time, Bahá'u'lláh called for world reconciliation, reunification, collective security and the
peaceful settlement of disputes. Many of the most fundamental Bahá'í writings address the
central issue of world unity, such as the following: "The earth is but one country and mankind its
citizens".[21] The World Christian Encyclopedia estimated 7.1 million Bahá'ís in the world in
2000, representing 218 countries.

International Peace Congress

Starting in 1843, International Peace Congresses were held in Europe every two years, but
lost their momentum after 1853 due to the renewed outbreak of wars in Europe (Crimea) and
North America (American Civil War).

International organizations

International organizations started forming in the late 19th century – the International
Committee of the Red Cross in 1863, the Telegraphic Union in 1865 and the Universal Postal
Union in 1874. The increase in international trade at the turn of the 20th century accelerated the
formation of international organizations, and, by the start of World War I in 1914, there were
approximately 450 of them. Support for the idea of establishing international law grew during
that period as well. The Institute of International Law was formed in 1873 by the Belgian Jurist
Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, leading to the creation of concrete legal drafts, for example by the
Swiss Johaan Bluntschli in 1866.[citation needed] In 1883, James Lorimer published "The
Institutes of the Law of Nations" in which he explored the idea of a world government
establishing the global rule of law. The first embryonic world parliament, called the Inter-
Parliamentary Union, was organized in 1886 by Cremer and Passy, composed of legislators from
many countries. In 1904 the Union formally proposed "an international congress which should
meet periodically to discuss international questions".

Wells

H. G. Wells was a strong proponent of the creation of a world state, arguing that such a state
would ensure world peace and justice.[23] In Anticipations (1900), H. G. Wells envisaged that
"the great urban region between Chicago and the Atlantic" will unify the English-speaking states,
and this larger English-speaking unit, "a New Republic dominating the world", will by the year
2000 become the means "by which the final peace of the world may be assured forever". It will
be "a new social Hercules that will strangle the serpents of war and national animosity in his
cradle". Such a synthesis "of the peoples now using the English tongue, I regard not only as
possible, but as a probable, thing".[24] The New Republic "will already be consciously and
pretty freely controlling the general affairs of humanity before this century closes..." Its
principles and opinions "must necessarily shape and determine that still ampler future of which
the coming hundred years is but the opening phase". The New Republic must ultimately become
a "World-State".

League of Nations

The League of Nations (LoN) was an inter-governmental organization founded as a result of

the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920. At its largest size from 28 September 1934 to 23 February
1935, it had 58 members. The League's goals included upholding the Rights of Man, such as the
rights of non-whites, women, and soldiers; disarmament, preventing war through collective
security, settling disputes between countries through negotiation, diplomacy, and improving
global quality of life. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental
shift in thought from the preceding hundred years. The League lacked its own armed force and
so depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions and economic sanctions and provide
an army, when needed. However, these powers proved reluctant to do so. Lacking many of the
key elements necessary to maintain world peace, the League failed to prevent World War II.
Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of Nations once he planned to take over Europe. The
rest of the Axis powers soon followed him. Having failed its primary goal, the League of Nations
fell apart. The League of Nations consisted of the Assembly, the Council, and the Permanent
Secretariat. Below these were many agencies. The Assembly was where delegates from all
member states conferred. Each country was allowed three representatives and one vote.

World Communism

According to Karl Marx's theory of historical materialism, the capitalist epoch depends on
the expansion of competing geopolitical markets across the planet, atomizing the global
proletariat and thus sustaining economic disparity and rivalry between markets. Eventually, this
will be succeeded by a Socialist epoch in which the working class throughout the world will
unite to render national distinctiveness meaningless.

Although world Communism's long-term goal is a worldwide Communist society that is

stateless, which would entail an absence of any government, many anti-Communists (especially
during the Cold War) have considered it naive to think that the world revolution advocated by
international Communists would lead to world domination by a single government or an alliance
of several, yielding a de facto world government of a totalitarian nature.
 The heyday of international Communism was the period from the end of World War I (the
revolutions of 1917–23) through the 1950s, before the Sino-Soviet split.

Halford Mackinder

Anticipating environmental movements for world unity, like Global Scenario Group, and
such concepts as the Planetary phase of civilization and Spaceship Earth, British Geographer Sir
Halford Mackinder wrote in 1931:

Gradually as the arts of life improved, the forests were cleared and the marshes were
drained, and the lesser natural regions were fused into greater. It may perhaps be thought that
with the continuance of this process all mankind will be in the end unified … Unless I mistake, it
is the message of geography that international cooperation in any future that we need consider
must be based on the federal idea. If our civilization is not to go down in blind internecine
conflict, there must be a development of world planning out of regional planning, just as regional
planning has come from town planning.[26]

Lionel George Curtis

Lionel George Curtis was a British official and author. He originally advocated British
Empire Federalism[27] and, later in life, a world state. He fought in the Second Boer War with
the City Imperial Volunteers and served as secretary to Lord Milner (a position that had also
been held by adventure-novelist John Buchan), during which time he dedicated himself to
working for a united self-governing South Africa. His experience of the World War One and the
rise of Hitler led him to conceptualize his version of a Federal World Government, which
became his life work.

World War II

Further information: New Order (Nazism), Lebensraum, and Atlantic Charter

The Nazi Party of Germany envisaged the establishment of a world government under the
complete hegemony of the Third Reich.[28] In its move to overthrow the post-World War I
Treaty of Versailles, Germany had already withdrawn itself from the League of Nations, and it
did not intend to join a similar internationalist organization ever again.[29] In his stated political
aim of expanding the living space (Lebensraum) of the German people by destroying or driving
out "lesser-deserving races" in and from other territories, dictator Adolf Hitler devised an
ideological system of self-perpetuating expansionism, in which the growth of a state's population
would require the conquest of more territory which would, in turn, lead to a further growth in
population which would then require even more conquests.[28] In 1927, Rudolf Hess relayed to
Walter Hewel Hitler's belief that world peace could only be acquired "when one power, the
racially best one, has attained uncontested supremacy". When this control would be achieved,
this power could then set up for itself a world police and assure itself "the necessary living
space.The lower races will have to restrict themselves accordingly".

During its imperial period (1868–1947), the Japanese elaborated a worldview, "Hakkō
ichiu", translated as "eight corners of the world under one roof". This was the idea behind the
attempt to establish a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and behind the struggle for world
domination.

Winston Churchill's edited copy of the final draft of the Atlantic Charter

The Atlantic Charter was a published statement agreed between the United Kingdom and
the United States. It was intended as the blueprint for the postwar world after World War II, and
turned out to be the foundation for many of the international agreements that currently shape the
world. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the post-war independence of
British and French possessions, and much more are derived from the Atlantic Charter. The
Atlantic charter was made to show the goals of the allied powers during World War II. It first
started with the United States and Great Britain, and later all the allies would follow the charter.
Some goals include access to raw materials, reduction of trade restrictions, and freedom from
fear and wants. The name, The Atlantic Charter, came from a newspaper that coined the title.
However, Winston Churchill would use it, and from then on the Atlantic Charter was the official
name. In retaliation, the Axis powers would raise their morale and try to work their way into
Great Britain. The Atlantic Charter was a stepping stone into the creation of the United Nations.

U.S. President Harry S. Truman commented: "We must make the United Nations continue
to work, and to be a going concern, to see that difficulties between nations may be settled just as
we settle difficulties between States here in the United States. When Kansas and Colorado fall
out over the waters in the Arkansas River, they don't go to war over it; they go to the Supreme
Court of the United States, and the matter is settled in a just and honorable way. There is not a
difficulty in the whole world that cannot be settled in exactly the same way in a world court". --
President Truman's remarks in Omaha, Nebraska on June 5, 1948, at the dedication of the War
Memorial.[30] The cultural moment of the late 1940s was the peak of World Federalism among
Americans.
World Federalist Movement

The years between the conclusion of World War II and 1950, when the Korean War started
and the Cold War mindset became dominant in international politics, were the "golden age" of
the world federalist movement. Wendell Willkie's book One World, first published in 1943, sold
over 2 million copies. In another, Emery Reves' book The Anatomy of Peace (1945) laid out the
arguments for replacing the UN with a federal world government and quickly became the "bible"
of world federalists. The grassroots world federalist movement in the US, led by people such as
Grenville Clark, Norman Cousins, Alan Cranston and Robert Hutchins, organized itself into
increasingly larger structures, finally forming, in 1947, the United World Federalists (later
renamed to World Federalist Association, then Citizens for Global Solutions), claiming
membership of 47,000 in 1949.

Similar movements concurrently formed in many other countries, leading to the formation,
at a 1947 meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, of a global coalition, now called World Federalist
Movement. By 1950, the movement claimed 56 member groups in 22 countries, with some
156,000 members.

United Nations

Further information: United Nations, United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, and Garry
Davis

Emblem of the United Nations

World War II (1939–1945) resulted in an unprecedented scale of destruction of lives (over

60 million dead, most of them civilians), and the use of weapons of mass destruction. Some of
the acts committed against civilians during the war were on such a massive scale of savagery,
they came to be widely considered as crimes against humanity itself. As the war's conclusion
drew near, many shocked voices called for the establishment of institutions able to permanently
prevent deadly international conflicts. This led to the founding of the United Nations in 1945,
which adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Many, however, felt that the
UN, essentially a forum for discussion and coordination between sovereign governments, was
insufficiently empowered for the task. A number of prominent persons, such as Albert Einstein,
Winston Churchill, Bertrand Russell and Mohandas K. Gandhi, called on governments to
proceed further by taking gradual steps towards forming an effectual federal world government.
The United Nations main goal is to work on international law, international security, economic
development, human rights, social progress, and eventually world peace. The United Nations
replaced the League of Nations in 1945, after World War II. Almost every internationally
recognized country is in the U.N.; as it contains 193 member states out of the 196 total nations of
the world. The United Nations gather regularly in order to solve big problems throughout the
world. There are six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
The United Nations is also financed by some of the wealthiest nations. The flag shows the Earth
from a map that shows all of the populated continents.

Emblem of the United Nations Parliamentary Assembly

A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) is a proposed addition to the United

Nations System that would allow for participation of member nations' legislators and, eventually,
direct election of United Nations (UN) parliament members by citizens worldwide. The idea of a
world parliament was raised at the founding of the League of Nations in the 1920s and again
following the end of World War II in 1945, but remained dormant throughout the Cold War.[31]
In the 1990s and 2000s, the rise of global trade and the power of world organizations that govern
it led to calls for a parliamentary assembly to scrutinize their activity. The Campaign for a
United Nations Parliamentary Assembly was formed in 2007 by Democracy Without Borders to
coordinate pro-UNPA efforts, which as of January 2019 has received the support of over 1,500
Members of Parliament from over 100 countries worldwide, in addition to numerous non-
governmental organizations, Nobel and Right Livelihood laureates and heads or former heads of
state or government and foreign ministers.[32]

In France, 1948, Garry Davis began an unauthorized speech calling for a world government
from the balcony of the UN General Assembly, until he was dragged away by the guards. Davis
renounced his American citizenship and started a Registry of World Citizens. On September 4,
1953, Davis announced from the city hall of Ellsworth, Maine the formation of the "World
Government of World Citizens" based on 3 "World Laws"—One God (or Absolute Value), One
World, and One Humanity.[33] Following this declaration, mandated, he claimed, by Article
twenty one, Section three of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he formed the United
World Service Authority in New York City as the administrative agency of the new government.
Its first task was to design and begin selling "World Passports", which the organization argues is
legitimatized by on Article 13, Section 2 of the UDHR.
World Passport

The World Passport is a 45-page document sold by the World Service Authority, a non-
profit organization,[34] citing Article 13, Section 2, of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. World Passports have allegedly been accepted sporadically by some 174 countries, but
no immigration authority has a de facto or de jure policy of acceptance with regards to the
document. The latest edition of the World Passport, which has been on sale since January 2007,
is an MRD (machine readable document) with an alphanumeric code bar enabling computer
input plus an embedded "ghost" photo for security, printing over covered with a plastic film. The
document is in 7 languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Simplified Chinese and
Esperanto. Two covers are available: "World Passport", and "World Government Passport" (for
registered World Citizens), ("passport" is in 7 languages on both covers). Other documents sold
by the WSA include a World Birth Certificate, a World Political Asylum Card, a World
Marriage Certificate, and a World Identity Card. Each page within the document is numbered
and each page has the World Citizen logo in the background. There are two pages for affiliation
with companies, organizations, and firms. There are nineteen visa pages in the document. On the
back cover there are spaces for personal information such as a person's home address.

Legal Realism (1954)

Legal anthropologist E. Adamson Hoebel concluded his treatise on broadening the legal
realist tradition to include non-Western nations:[35] "Whatever the idealist may desire, force and
the threat of force are the ultimate power in the determination of international behavior, as in the
law within the nation or tribe. But until force and the threat of force in international relations are
brought under social control by the world community, by and for the world society, they remain
the instruments of social anarchy and not the sanctions of world law. The creation in clear-cut
terms of the corpus of world law cries for the doing. If world law, however, is to be realized at
all, there will have to be minimum of general agreement as to the nature of the physical and
ideational world and the relation of men in society to it. An important and valuable next step will
be found in deep-cutting analysis of the major law systems of the contemporary world in order to
lay bare their basic postulates – postulates that are too generally hidden; postulates felt, perhaps,
by those who live by them, but so much taken for granted that they are rarely expressed or
exposed for examination. When this is done – and it will take the efforts of many keen intellects
steeped in the law of at least a dozen lands and also aware of the social nexus of the law – then
mankind will be able to see clearly for the first time and clearly where the common consensus of
the great living social and law systems lies. Here will be found the common postulates and
values upon which the world community can build. At the same time the truly basic points of
conflict that will have to be worked upon for resolution will be revealed. Law is inherently
purposive".
End of the Cold War (1992)

While enthusiasm for multinational federalism in Europe incrementally led, over the
following decades, to the formation of the European Union, the onset of the Cold War (1945–
1992) eliminated the prospects of any progress towards federation with a more global scope. The
movement quickly shrank in size to a much smaller core of activists, and the world government
idea all but disappeared from wide public discourse.

Following the end of the Cold War in 1992, interest in a federal world government and,
more generally, in the global protection of human rights, was renewed. The most visible
achievement of the world federalism movement during the 1990s is the Rome Statute of 1998,
which led to the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002. In Europe, progress
towards forming a federal union of European states gained much momentum, starting in 1952 as
a trade deal between the German and French people led, in 1992, to the Maastricht Treaty that
established the name and enlarged the agreement that the European Union (EU) is based upon.
The EU expanded (1995, 2004, 2007, 2013) to encompass, in 2013, over half a billion people in
28 member states. Following the EU's example, the African Union was founded in 2002 and the
Union of South American Nations in 2008.

Alexander Wendt

Wendt defines a world state as an “organization possessing a monopoly on the legitimate

use of organized violence within a society."[36] According to Wendt, a world state would need
to fulfill the following requirements:

Monopoly on organized violence

It is the states that have exclusive use of legitimate force within their territory.

Legitimacy

It perceived as right by their populations, and possibly the global community.

Sovereign
 It possessing common power and legitimacy.

Corporate action

It is a collection of individuals who act together in a systematic way.[36]

A world government would not require a centrally controlled army or a central decision-
making body, as long as the four conditions are fulfilled.[36] In order to develop a world state,
three changes must occur in the world system:

Universal security community

It is a peaceful system of binding dispute resolution without threat of interstate violence.

Universal collective security

It is unified response to crimes and threats.

Supranational authority

It binding decisions are made that apply to each and every state.

The development of a world state is conceptualized as a process through 5 stages:

1. System of states;
2. Society of states;
3. World society;
4. Collective security;
5. World state.

Wendt argues that a struggle among sovereign individuals results in the formation of a
collective identity and eventually a state. The same forces are present within the international
system and could possibly, and potentially inevitably lead to the development of a world state
through this 5 stage process. When the world state would emerge, the traditional expression of
states would become localized expressions of the world state. This process occurs within the
default state of anarchy present in the world system.
 Kant conceptualized the state as sovereign individuals formed out of conflict.[36] Part of
the traditional philosophical objections to a world state (Kant, Hegel)[36] are overcome by
modern technological innovations. Wendt argues that new methods of communication and
coordination can overcome these challenges.

The world is divided geographically and demographically into mutually exclusive territories
and political structures called states which are independent and sovereign in most cases. There
are numerous bodies, institutions, unions, coalitions, agreements and contracts between these
units of authority, but, except in cases where a nation is under military occupation by another, all
such arrangements depend on the continued consent of the participant nations.[citation needed]
Countries that violate or do not enforce international laws may be subject to penalty or coercion
often in the form of economic limitations such as embargo by cooperating countries, even if the
violating country is not part of the United Nations. In this way a country's cooperation in
international affairs is voluntary, but non-cooperation still has diplomatic consequences.

Among the voluntary organizations and international arrangements are:

International law: Encompassing international treaties, customs and globally accepted legal
principles. With the exceptions of cases brought before the ICC and ICJ (see below), the laws are
interpreted by national courts. Many violations of treaty or customary law obligations are
overlooked.

United Nations (UN): The primary formal organization coordinating activities between
states on a global scale and the only inter-governmental organization with a truly universal
membership (193 governments). In addition to the main organs and various humanitarian
programs and commissions of the UN itself, there are about 20 functional organizations affiliated
with the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), such as the World Health Organization,
the International Labour Organization, and International Telecommunications Union.[37] Of
particular interest politically are the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World
Trade Organization.

Militarily, the UN deploys peacekeeping forces, usually to build and maintain post-conflict
peace and stability. When a more aggressive international military action is undertaken, either ad
hoc coalitions (for example, the multinational force in Iraq) or regional military alliances (for
example, NATO) are used.
 International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol): The international body for
coordination and collaboration between national police agencies. Also operates the global
Interpol notice system which includes the Interpol Red Notice, the "closest instrument to an
international arrest warrant in use today".[38]

International Criminal Court (ICC): A relatively recent development in international law,

the ICC (or ICCt) is the first permanent international criminal court established to ensure that the
gravest international crimes (war crimes, genocide, other crimes against humanity, etc.) do not
go unpunished. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court establishing the ICC and
its jurisdiction was signed by 139 national governments, of which 100 ratified it by October
2005.

World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF): Formed together in July 1944 at the
Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States to foster global
monetary cooperation and to fight poverty by financially assisting states in need. These
institutions have been criticized as simply oligarchic hegemonies of the Great Powers, most
notably the United States, which maintains the only veto, for instance, in the International
Monetary Fund.

World Trade Organization (WTO): Sets the rules of international trade. It has a semi-
legislative body (the General Council, reaching decisions by consensus) and a judicial body (the
Dispute Settlement Body). Another influential economical international organization is the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with membership of 30
democratic members.

A group consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the
United States. The leaders of the G7 countries meet annually in person to coordinate their
policies in confronting global issues, such as poverty, terrorism, infectious diseases, and climate
change.

An association of twenty developing and established nations and entities, including the
European Union.
 In addition to the formal, or semi-formal, international organizations and laws mentioned
above, many other mechanisms act to regulate human activities across national borders. In
particular, international trade in goods, services and currencies (the "global market") has a
tremendous impact on the lives of people in almost all parts of the world, creating deep
interdependency amongst nations (see globalization). Trans-national (or multi-national)
corporations, some with resources exceeding those available to most governments, govern
activities of people on a global scale. The rapid increase in the volume of trans-border digital
communications and mass-media distribution (e.g., Internet, satellite television) has allowed
information, ideas, and opinions to rapidly spread across the world, creating a complex web of
international coordination and influence, mostly outside the control of any formal organizations
or laws.

Global Government

A world government is a hypothetical entity consisting of a single or series of levels of

government with authority encompassing the entire planet. No such world government has ever
existed, although large empires and superpowers have attained something of that level of power;
historical examples have generally been hindered by the fact that insufficient communications
and travel made a world organization of any sort, much less an entire government, unfeasible.
This article will examine what proposals have been made for a world government, and which
movements have advocated such a state.

Some internationalists seek the establishment of a world government as a way of

establishing freedom and a benign rule of law over the world. Some (including internationalists)
have concerns that a world government would need to respect the diversity of the nations or
peoples it includes. Others regard a global government as a nightmarish possibility, with a
malevolent world government creating an endless totalitarian state without the prospect of escape
or revolution. The alternative term global political monoculture emphasizes the latter fears
perceived by some to be developing via either the transnational corporations or international
financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund the World Trade Organization and
World Bank. Similarly, the term global cosmopolitan democracy describes a world government
based on respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Many modern internationalists say that current shortcomings in the international order may
be redressed not by merely opposing globalization, which they see as an inevitable and even
welcome process, but by counterbalancing the ills brought by over-centralization or purely
economic interests (such as violation of human rights - including labor rights - and sociocultural
and environmental integrity) with similarly global representative democratic institutions having
supranational authority.

The idea of world government is often explored in science fiction, either as a central theme
or as plot backdrop.

On the need of a democratic global government

Human civilization may not be able to survive if we do not create a global government. This
proposition may seem out of place at a time of rising international tensions, nuclear instability,
and nationalist populism. But whether they like it or not, all people are now linked together in a
shared civilization which reaches around the entire earth. The dangers posed by nuclear war,
global pandemics, environmental devastation, biodiversity loss or climate change affect
everybody.

Transcending the Nation-State

There is no body that represents the interest of the world community at large. Even if a
treaty is concluded and ratified, a state can withdraw again. The international order recognizes no
higher authority for decision or enforcement. The international order lacks many of the hallmarks
that characterize a functioning legal system, which we take for granted domestically.

Cash Flows Have No Loyalty to Nation-States

We are witnessing the emergence of global social strata that are giving rise to vertical social
tensions. The dividing line will no longer be between rich and poor countries, but between the
super-rich and the rest everywhere. The transnational elite exercises a powerful influence and
can play national governments against each other, if need be. National governments face serious
limitations to resist the race to the bottom. In former times the creation of powerful nation-states
was often driven top-down by the elites. Today, the elite uses the inter-state system to their
benefit and actually resists the emergence of a global government that could constrain them.

Current Challenges and Pitfalls of the System

Citizenship is connected to individual states, and thus citizen rights are exclusive. The
promise of the “global village” is only valid for the rich. The carbon footprint of those well off is
disproportionally higher than that of the poor. At the same time, the planet has never before seen
more border fences and walls separating states. In fact, the system of nation-states helps contain
populations within state borders, allows playing out workers against each other, and the
exploitation of undocumented immigrants.

Democratic Institutions of the Nation-State are Hollowed Out

Just as fossil fuel industries and their owners resist decarbonization of the economy, the
military-industrial complex resists global pacification. It does not necessarily need war, but
merely the possibility of war and a permanent feeling of insecurity. The opportunity costs are
massive.

Moving towards Political Equality

The fundamental values that underpin the arguments for a global government remain as
valid as ever. It is the realization of the equal value of every human being and that all humans
need to respect and treat each other accordingly, which is at the core of cosmopolitanism and
global citizenship. Morality that is exclusionary because it is only accepted as valid for a certain
group is no morality at all.

A World Parliament Needs to Stand at the Centre of the World Republic

Setting up a world republic with a global government does not mean that separate units
would disappear. On the contrary, it would be a federal system of multilevel government. States
represent an indispensable level of government and decision-making. Following the principle of
subsidiarity, functions and powers would be dispersed vertically between the different levels of
government from the local to the global and always at the lowest level possible.

Converting Ideas into Action

The creation of a world republic means a transition from today’s system of international law
to world law. The global government envisaged here may be the result of a consolidation of
today’s system of global governance into a coherent framework based on a world constitution as
proposed in this paper. The legislative branch could be composed of a World Parliamentary
Assembly elected by the world’s citizens (similar to a House of Representatives) and a General
Assembly as representation of member states (similar to a Senate). On matters of global concern
and based on the principle of subsidiarity, this world legislature would be empowered to adopt
framework legislation that needs to be transposed into national law and global regulations with
direct and immediate applicability.

We Must Be Ready When a Window of Opportunity Opens

We do not know when the right moment will come. However, there have been many
surprises in history that even the best experts did not foresee. That’s why we need to rally behind
a bold vision for our common future on this planet and must be ready when a window of
opportunity opens.

Jo Leinen is a Member of the European Parliament. Andreas Bummel is founder and

Executive Director of Democracy Without Borders. This article is based on their book A World
Parliament: Government and Democracy in the 21st Century.

‘World government’ refers to the idea of all humankind united under one common political
authority. Arguably, it has not existed so far in human history, yet proposals for a unified global
political authority have existed since ancient times—in the ambition of kings, popes and
emperors, and the dreams of poets and philosophers.

Proponents of world government offer distinct reasons for why it is an ideal of political
organization. Some are motivated negatively and see world government as the definitive solution
to old and new human problems such as war and the development of weapons of mass
destruction, global poverty and inequality, and environmental degradation. More positively,
some have advocated world government as a proper reflection of the unity of the cosmos, under
reason or God. Proponents have also differed historically in their views of the form that a world
government should take. While medieval thinkers advocated world government under a single
monarch or emperor who would possess supreme authority over all other lesser rulers, modern
proponents generally do not advocate a wholesale dismantling of the sovereign states system but
incremental innovations in global institutional design to move humanity toward world federalism
or cosmopolitan democracy.

Critics of world government have offered three main kinds of objections—to do with the
feasibility, desirability and necessity of establishing a common global political authority.
 First, a realist argument, advanced by contemporary international ‘realist’ theorists, holds
that world government is infeasible; ideas of world government constitute exercises in utopian
thinking, and are utterly impractical as a goal for human political organization. Assuming that
world government would lead to desirable outcomes such as perpetual peace, realists are
skeptical that world government will ever materialize as an institutional reality, given the
problems of egoistic or corrupted human nature, or the logic of international anarchy that
characterizes a world of states, all jealously guarding their own sovereignty or claims to supreme
authority. World government is thus infeasible as a solution to global problems because of the
unsurpassable difficulties of establishing “authoritative hierarchies” at the global or international
level (Krasner 1999, 42). A related consequentialist argument speculates that even if world
government were desirable, the process of creating a world government may produce more harm
than good; the necessary evils committed on the road to establishing a world government would
outweigh whatever benefits might result from its achievement (Rousseau 1756/1917).

Second, even if world government were shown to be a feasible political project, it may be
an undesirable one. One set of reasons for its undesirability emphasizes the potential power and
oppressiveness of a global political authority. In one version of this objection—the tyranny
argument—world government would descend into a global tyranny, hindering rather than
enhancing the ideal of human autonomy (Kant 1991). Instead of delivering impartial global
justice and peace, a world government may form an inescapable tyranny that would have the
power to make humanity serve its own interests, and opposition against which might engender
incessant and intractable civil wars (Waltz 1979). In another version of this objection—the
homogeneity argument—world government may be so strong and pervasive as to create a
homogenizing effect, obliterating distinct cultures and communities that are intrinsically
valuable. The institution of a world government would thus destroy the rich social pluralism that
animates human life (Walzer 2004). While the preceding two arguments stem from fear of the
potential power of a world government, another set of concerns that make world government
undesirable focuses on its potential weakness as a form of political organization. The objections
on this account are that the inevitable remoteness of a global political authority would dilute the
laws, making them ineffectual and meaningless. The posited weakness of world government thus
leads to objections based on its potential inefficiency and soullessness (Kant 1991).

Third, contemporary liberal theorists argue mainly that world government, in the form of a
global leviathan with supreme legislative, executive, adjudicative and enforcement powers, is
largely unnecessary to solve problems such as war, global poverty, and environmental
catastrophe. World government so conceived is neither necessary nor sufficient to achieve the
aims of a liberal agenda. Even cosmopolitan liberals do not argue that moral cosmopolitanism
necessarily entails political cosmopolitanism in the form of a world government. The liberal
rejection of world government, however, does not amount to an endorsement of the conventional
system of sovereign states or the contemporary international order, “with its extreme injustices,
crippling poverty, and inequalities” (Rawls 1999, 117). Instead, most liberal theorists envision
the need for authoritative international and global institutions that modify significantly the
powers and prerogatives traditionally attributed to the sovereign state.

This entry will, first, discuss the positive and negative motivations underlying proposals for
world government. In a selective discussion of the idea's history, the entry will focus on Dante's
medieval treatise on the necessity of a world monarch or emperor, and then consider mainly
arguments by Hobbes, Rousseau and Kant that reveal more skepticism about world government
as a solution to the problem of war and peace among sovereign states. Most of the objections
against the idea of world government outlined above are articulated in their writings. The
historical background section will continue with the revival of ideas of world government in the
twentieth century, prompted by technological progress, economic globalization, and the
experience of two devastating world wars. Debates about world government during the Cold
War, however, were pervaded by the ideological division of the world, and the section concludes
with an exploration of socialist views on world government.

Second, the entry will explore debates in contemporary theory. One set of debates is located
within international relations theory, between realist and neorealist, ‘international society’,
liberal internationalist, republican, and constructivist schools. A second set of discussions about
world government is located within contemporary liberal theory, involving the foremost liberal
political philosopher of the twentieth century, John Rawls, and his cosmopolitan liberal critics. A
third set of debates has emerged among contemporary republican, democratic and critical
theorists. There is lively debate within and between these sets of discussions about the feasibility,
desirability and necessity of the political project of establishing a world sovereign state with
some measure of coercive, centralized global authority. While the idea of world government has
experienced an intellectual resurgence in the past five years, it coexists with the concept of
“global governance,” which highlights the increasing agency of global civil society and non-state
actors, and deliberately eschews the coercive and centralized components of domestic models of
government for looser, decentralized modes of achieving similar functions of government. The
conclusion to the entry questions whether global governance without world government in
contemporary world conditions can really deliver the goods of global security, universal human
rights, social justice, and environmental protection that have made the ideal of world government
a persistent if elusive human aspiration.
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