UN official: Climate change, poverty equal threats to poor

from Pine Bluff Commercial

By JON GAMBRELL

LITTLE ROCK - A high-ranking official at the United Nations said Tuesday that climate change and poverty are equally threatening to third-world countries.

Kemal Dervis, who heads the U.N. Development Program, was in Little Rock for a lecture at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.

In an interview before his speech, the U.N.'s third-ranking official said climate change will lead to arid deserts in already impoverished African nations and to floods in developing coastal countries.

"Countries that are affected the most also happen to be the poorest in the world," Dervis told The Associated Press. "That, therefore, is a new dimension of the development challenge which perhaps wasn't appreciated sufficiently in the past.

Dervis talked about the U.N.'s forthcoming report on climate change, set to be released in November during an event in Brazil. While declining to discuss the specifics, he said he hoped the report would add to the debate and mobilize action to address climate change.

"When we talk about climate change, we must realize we are talking about a development issue," Dervis said. "Much of the work we do in fighting poverty could be reversed, especially if we don't take steps at the same time to manage climate change."

Dervis served in the Turkish parliament, and worked at the World Bank for more than 20 years. He was among a list of diplomats named as possible successors to former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006.

When he became head of the development program, he became the first person from a country that receives development aid to hold the top position. Dervis downplayed that accomplishment, saying the U.N. made his U.S. and British predecessors "international citizens" like himself. But he acknowledged having intimate knowledge about "being in the same boat" as the countries the program aids.

Development can help nations, Dervis said, pointing to the rapid economic expansion of South Korea in the last 50 years.

"All of this was achieved, really, when you think about it, within a lifetime," Dervis said.

But development remains tied to having both business investment and a government willing to be transparent and ready for change.

"We really have not seen places where the government alone can do it," he said. "On the other hand, it is also true the markets can't do it either, they need good governance, they need a framework, they need regulation."

In his speech at the school, Dervis offered graphs and charts on the world's economic history. People as a whole remained poor century after century until the start of the 19th century, he said. The growth caused a larger divergence between what those in wealthy countries earn and those earn in the third-world.

Dervis said globalization has helped close the gap but also has left "people feeling less safe."

"When you look at the challenges of the world, it is really here: How can you change the world economy, how can you create a process so that big divergence tearing the world apart can be overcome?" Dervis said.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)