UNITED NATIONS: The price tag for a bold global new anti-poverty agenda comes to between $3.5 and $5 trillion annually over the next 15 years, part of a United Nations’ “to-do list” for the world.

The UN’s 193 member states agreed on a draft plan for the sustainable development goals at the weekend and world leaders are set to endorse them at a summit in New York from September 25 to 27.

The 17 goals and 169 targets to end poverty, ensure healthy lives, promote education and combat climate change are even more sweeping than the UN’s Millennium Development Goals that expire at the end of this year.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the new agenda as “a to-do list for people and the planet”, but warned that implementing it would be a challenge.

“We are resolved to free the human race within this generation from the tyranny of poverty,” Ban said in a statement.

Kenyan Ambassador Macharia Kamau, who shepherded negotiations along with Irish Ambassador David Donoghue, acknowledged that the funding required to achieve the goals was “astronomical”.

Trillions of dollars would need to be spent by member states and international organisations for each country reach its goals.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2015

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