• in Botswana, average life expectancy is 41 years.
Eradication of poverty and hunger was the top Millennium Development Goal among those approved by world leaders at the Millennium Summit in 2000. Among the most immediate tasks were a plan by 2015 to reduce by half (compared with 1990), the proportion of people living in poverty, and to reduce by half the proportion of people suffering from hunger. What were the results? According to a 2013 UN report, the first task has been achieved: the proportion of people living on US$1.25 a day (the threshold of extreme poverty) fell from 47 per cent in 1990 to 22 per cent in 2010.
As we see, we are nevertheless still very far away from eradicating poverty. We are also far from eliminating hunger. Over the same period, the proportion of those suffering chronic hunger has decreased, but there is no certainty that the target will be met by 2015. There has been progress, but completely insufficient and very uneven. Against the notable progress in China, India and a number of other countries, the situation in most African countries is all the more depressing. Aid from rich to poor countries, instead of increasing, has declined.
The disquiet of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is entirely understandable as he calls for an urgent intensification of efforts to resolve the problems. But will he be heard by Western leaders? They talk of the need to ‘reformat’ the world, as recently in Davos, but we have been hearing that rhetoric for many years now and there is little to show for it.
The global gap between the extremes of wealth and poverty continues to grow. A report presented to the Economic Forum in Davos on the increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of a few tells us that almost half the world’s wealth is now concentrated in the hands of 1 per cent of the population. Their total wealth is estimated at a fantastic $110 trillion, 65 times greater than the total wealth of the poorer half of the world’s people. The wealth of the 85 richest people in the world is equal to that of the poorer half of the world’s population.
According to Forbes Magazine, during 2013 the number of billionaires on the planet rose to 1,426, a more than threefold increase over the number at the end of the twentieth century. Their total capital amounted to $5.4 trillion, an increase on the previous year of $800 billion! The wealth of the billionaires is more than three times that of the poorer half of the global population.
This unheard-of concentration of wealth in the hands of a few undermines democracy, threatens the fabric of societies, and rules out equal opportunities for all. Mass poverty, meanwhile, is a drag on economic development, leads to instability, and facilitates the spread of crime and terrorism. Allowing mass poverty to continue while this accumulation of personal wealth at the other end of the spectrum proceeds unchecked is a serious challenge to the global community, a threat to peace and the security of the world.
There is, however, another issue that cannot be ignored in any honest discussion of the state of the world. I remember a conversation I had in 1992 with former US Secretary of State George Shultz. I pointed out to him: ‘You Americans want to export your way of life to the rest of your world, but you consume 44 per cent of the world’s electricity. If other countries were to live by your standards, the planet’s resources would be totally exhausted within a few years.’ At that time, neither he nor I had any answer to that issue. I will return to it when we come to discuss the economic crisis that erupted in 2008.
Mentioning the issue, I had in mind that for the world to continue in accordance with the old model would not only result in depletion of natural resources, but would also lead to environmental catastrophe. In all the years that followed, we have been witnessing a growing rift between man and nature. Some have looked on impassively, with indifference, while others have tried to halt this dangerous process. I have sided firmly with those who are disturbed by the environmental crisis and are trying to do something about it.
Responding to the Environmental Challenge
In 1992, a Conference on Environment and Development, the first ‘Earth Summit’ of heads of state and government, was convened by the United Nations in Rio de Janeiro. In parallel, a forum was held of representatives of public organizations, cultural figures and parliamentary and religious leaders from some dozens of countries. They discussed the role that should be played by civil society in the struggle against environmental threats. The participants of this forum sent me a letter, reminding me of an initiative I had suggested in 1990 at a forum of the Foundation for the Survival and Development of Humanity: to create a global environmental organization, like the International Red Cross in the humanitarian field, that would become a centre for efforts to save the planet from environmental disaster. They asked me to head efforts to create an International Green Cross. The wording of the letter was so genuine and insistent that I could not refuse.
Since childhood I have been very close to nature. I knew from my own experience how dependent human beings are on its condition and the changes taking place in it. I remembered only too well the dust storms in my native Stavropol, but it was only in Moscow, when I had access to the documents, that I learned of the environmental impact of the hydroelectric power stations on the Volga, and the slow destruction of the Aral Sea as a result of water being taken from the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers for irrigation. When we proclaimed the policy of Glasnost, among the first to make use of the opportunity to express their opinion were citizens protesting about pollution of the air and of freshwater reservoirs, the wasteful exploitation of forests and other damage inflicted on the environment. The situation had become so serious that, at the insistence of local people, dozens of polluting industrial enterprises were shut down. People stood for days at a time in the squares, and would not leave until their grievances were given proper consideration.
Mulling over my response to the request to assume the duties of head of a global organization for the protection of nature, I was well aware that I would not get away with being a mere figurehead. This was going to be hard work. I could see that the environmental challenge might well prove the most demanding of all the tasks mankind would face in the twenty-first century. In an interview for the Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun [Morning Sun], I said the environment was now my day job.
The date Green Cross International was founded is considered to be 18 April 1993, when the organization held its first general assembly in the Japanese city of Kyoto. This event was preceded by heated discussion about what kind of organization it should be. Some argued that it should be a kind of emergency response corps, sending ‘green helmets’ into environmental disaster areas. Others suggested we should follow the model of Greenpeace, mobilizing people for ambitious protest operations. I did not feel either option was very promising and found support from people with great experience and a profound understanding of the issues. The outstanding Norwegian scientist and explorer, Thor Heyerdahl, said at the organizational meeting before the first assembly: ‘If we are going for “green helmets” I will not be in there with you. The need is for something different, an organization whose purpose is to change the way people think, to effect a transition to environmental awareness. The need is for specific projects leading to that goal.’ As the discussion proceeded, with the lively participation of representatives from the United States, Russia, Japan, the Netherlands and Switzerland (and these countries were subsequently to provide the organizational muscle of the Green Cross), our view found favour.