Climate Change

Europe’s approach to development could be characterized as energetically tackling the symptoms of poor economic opportunities for developing countries by providing substantial and effective aid, while doing relatively little to tackle the underlying structural causes of poverty.

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The Guardian development blog is running a series of end of year reflections on development, including one by me. Many of the articles are upbeat about progress in developing countries, but pessimistic about the short term economic prospects for the industrialised world and for global cooperation to tackle shared global problems.

The series so far includes:

  • Duncan Green from Oxfam, who contrasts progress in developing countries over the last year with the gloom of the ‘formerly rich’ countries of the G-8.
  • Calestous Juma from Harvard, who identifies regional integration and better links with the diaspora as key drivers of Africa’s growth.
  • Shanta Devarajan from the World Bank, who is cautiously optimistic, especially in the light  of increased demand by Africans for their governments to be accountable.
  • Linda Raftree from Plan, who also emphasizes progress towards more inclusive and open societies.
  • Kevin Watkins from Brookings and UNESCO, calling for “a properly financed global fund for education like those that have delivered such striking results in the health sector“.
  • Jonathan Glennie from ODI and the Guardian, who is pessimistic about the prospects for international cooperation in the face of rising protectionism and nationalism as a result of poor economic prospects in the US and Europe.
  • and my contribution, reproduced below, which gives a positive account of progress in many countries in Africa over the past year, and emphasizes the importance for developing countries of better global decision-making.

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We would get three or four times as much bang for our buck - in terms of climate change benefits - from population policies and girls' education as we would from the most cost-effective investments in forest management, and in addition we'd get the broader economic and social benefits for the people of developing countries.

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The development policy debate focuses too much on aid. Aid policies may help to improve the living conditions of people in developing countries, but it is development policies that will result in lasting transformation. If we are serious about promoting long-term change, we should talk less about aid, and more about the other rich-world policies and behaviours that affect developing countries. Continue reading
Air travel is a public good; eating meat is a public bad. The livestock industry is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions - more than all forms of travel put together. So why are we so fixated on the carbon footprint of air travel and not on reducing meat consumption? Continue reading
Our evidence to the House of Commons International Development Committee shows that donors are not on track to meet their commitments to increase aid, which they made in 2005. As a result, millions more people are living in poverty. The financial downturn is a "quadruple whammy" for developing countries. Continue reading
About Owen

Owen Barder is the Europe Director at the Center for Global Development. He writes here about development, economics, politics, computers, running, and anything else that interests him. He also hosts Development Drums.


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Recent Comments
  • It’s the politics, stupid
    • John:
      I’m surprised you didn’t also mention the Development Drums podcast you did a few years ago with Daniel...
      June 18, 2013
    • Søren:
      I like the sentiment of your post, Owen, but I’m a bit surprised of how much attention Acemoglu and Robinson...
      June 5, 2013
    • David Jacobstein:
      Owen, you note that “Either the governing elite supports change, in which case donors bring nothing...
      June 4, 2013
    • Daniel Thornton:
      Good review, important issues.  Only thing is that if you say it’s all about the politics, people get...
      June 3, 2013
  • What sort of conditions should there be on aid?
    • Leah Briones:
      Owen, thanks for this excellent piece. The issues you discuss has been my experience having once worked as a...
      June 17, 2013
  • Dogfood and disruption
    • mikel:
      good post Owen, but one correction. turns out it was possibly microsoft that first ate its own dog food as policy....
      June 16, 2013
    • Bill Savedoff:
      Great post, Owen. DFID’s advance shows just how backwards is US foreign assistance reporting practice....
      June 13, 2013
    • Loren Treisman:
      Thanks for the summary Owen.  It’s really exciting to see that Open Data is now being used to enable...
      June 13, 2013
    • Rebeca:
      Dear Owen, What a great article! Many thanks for mentioning us! We are though a joint venture with Crown Agents, and...
      June 13, 2013
  • Mobile phones in Ethiopia
    • Natnael Gashu:
      As of November 2012 (and confirmed again in February 2013) it seems Vodafone pay as you talk SIM cards DO work.
      June 9, 2013
    • Natnael Gashu:
      I have been trying to find the published rates for per-paid minutes from Ethio Telcom. Does anyone have the...
      June 9, 2013
  • Cycling in Ethiopia
    • Rick:
      Brilliant. Thanks Scotty. Will have to up my game before I take on that ride!
      May 27, 2013
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