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Wandel (UNDP): Climate Change Will Test Our Competitiveness More Than Crisis
Sunday 07 November 2010 Zoom in | Print page
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Thursday issued its 20th report on human development. This global organisation operates in 140 countries, trying to improve people's lives. Annually, they turn over $5 billion, carrying out short-term and long-term projects. Generally, there have been dramatic progresses achieved in most developing countries in health, education and basic living standards in recent decades. Many achievements of nations can be lost, however, if they fail to adapt to the climate change, claims Jens Wandel, UNDP Deputy Regional Bureau Director for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Director of UNDP’s Bratislava Regional Centre in an interview for TASR.
-How is UNDP financed?-
UNDP is voluntarily financed. That means donors, programmes and governments pay to us on a voluntary basis, and that's because they believe in our mandate and they can see that we make a difference. This means that we are highly accountable for what we do and if our partners do not believe in what we do, they can put their money somewhere else - and they do occasionally (laughter).
-How much money is spent on the running costs and how do you spend the rest?-
We spend 14 percent on operating costs. Remember here that we're also running operations in very dangerous areas like Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, where we need to spend money on armoured cars, bullet-proof glass and the like. And we do spend this kind of money, but it means that the remaining 86 percent is spent around these areas trying to create a more sustainable world.
-How exactly do you do this?-
If you look at my daily work, it is advocating for human development and also advocating solutions. Part of our work involves concrete projects. Most recently, in Georgia, we've installed solar water panels in refugee camps so they would be able to wash their clothes and wash themselves. We also work with more long-term policy interventions. We help in elections, as we most recently did in Kirghizstan - all the way down to purchasing the computer, the ink and the fax machine that sends the results...
-Various Slovak non-governmental organisations have criticised the fact that more than half of the Slovak aid has been allocated to projects in Serbia, so the money isn’t spent on helping the poorest in the world. In addition, only one third of the Slovak aid goes on pursuing UN Millennium Development Goals. Does UNDP view this proportion as appropriate or should Slovakia change this system?-
It's natural that Slovakia looks south and east. If you look at the old donors, including Denmark, where I come from, they tend to look on Africa and some other poor nations in Asia. There are many poor people in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, however. They live in rich countries, but they are poor. In my view, they are a very overlooked group. So, from where I stand, it's important that there are countries that care about them - not only politically, but also more emotionally. They are more natural partners to solve some of the problems. When it comes to the Millennium Development Goals, I'm sure that there should be a debate in Slovakia about where aid should go and it is very important that non-profit organisations speak up, but also other organisations, political parties and industrial organisations.
-The Millennium Goals (MDGs) should be reached by 2015. Is there any chance?-
Some of them have been achieved, so the answer is yes. But let's be a little more nuanced. Key countries like India, China, Indonesia or Nigeria are moving forward. So, if you break the question down per country, there are many countries that achieved some of them, but not all of them, and there are some countries that have gone backwards. For example, the average age of people is going down a little bit in Russia and in Ukraine, while it's increasing everywhere else in the world. School enrolment rates in Moldova have gone down. That means long-term development problems in Moldova, as people simply don't have the education to live a life in the modern economy.
-How has the crisis influenced the world in terms of human development?-
The crisis has created problems, but it has also helped. Let me start with where it has helped. It is evident now that we need government regulations, we need to understand that when the financial systems get some kind of life of their own, when they become speculative bubbles, they create havoc in people's lives. I think this notion is now widely shared – and this creates scope for more thoughtful international collaboration.
And the negative side, I would say that unemployment is the biggest negative consequence of the crisis. The financial part of the crisis is partially over, but now comes the budget cuts. And that means less social help, less unemployment help and more unemployment.
-How has the crisis affected the chance to meet the goals?-
The crisis has hurt different countries in different ways. Especially the region of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union was hit the hardest by the crisis. It will also increase poverty probably back to 15-17 percent [of people living below the poverty line - ed. note]. The issue that is now going to influence the region more is the climate change, however. This message has been drowned out somewhat by the discussion about the financial crisis. So, after thinking about the financial crisis - the social impact of which is evident and needs to be fought against – focus on unemployment, and then move on. Because, in fact, what will determine our ability to develop in the next 15 to 20 years is how we respond to climate change.
-Is climate change the biggest challenge for Slovakia when it comes to the goals or are there any other goals that concern Slovakia directly?-
The country is now the number 31 on the Human Development Index, which means that it has very high human development. I think that Slovakia has done extremely well from the MDGs’ point of view. And Slovakia's concern should be how to sustain this, how to improve it and then how to make some of this international. Slovakia has been very efficient in moving itself out from a situation where its economic development was not sustainable, which was probably 20 years ago.
The Slovak economy is more energy-intensive than the EU average, however, and the price of energy is predicted to go up. This will affect Slovakia negatively. Many other countries are moving on the technology side. So when we speak about bio-gas, all kinds of insulation, electric cars, sophisticated smart grids etc... how Slovakia reacts to these challenges will determine its relative competitiveness.
-But Slovakia doesn't react very much, am I right?-
It's difficult for me to judge. The energy intensity of the economy has gone down historically. But that, in my view, is because during the Communist era people just thought that the price of energy was zero. Slovakia is going to be faced with a number of challenges when you compare it, for example, with Denmark, where 21 percent of electricity is produced by renewables. Denmark has very sophisticated legislation around insulation, plus Danes are experimenting with the first electrical cars etc. Slovakia has moved very fast over the last 15 years. You seem to be able to make some decisions and execute them. So, I must admit, I remain optimistic.
-After 20 years, it’s time for UNDP to look back, which is also proved by the topic of the report issued on Thursday. What do you view as UNDP’s biggest success during the past 20 years?-
When one reflects on the Human Development Reports (HDRs) since 1990, probably the biggest success is that we talk about human development. Remember that, historically, the first report was written in a context where development was only about money. The idea was that if we had more money, everybody will come out of poverty and everything would be fine. It is evidently not true today and this is widely recognised. We now look at what people earn, how long they live, how they are educated and how healthy they are ... That, conceptionally, is probably our biggest achievement. The other is that a number of countries use this thinking to improve their own situation. The biggest success has been seen in Brazil. Brazil is probably one of the most successfully developing countries over the last 8-9 years.
-So the key slogan of the first reports published in 1990 - ”People are the real wealth of the nations” - has been entrenched.-
I think it has been recognised. I was there, when the first report was launched. I started working for the UN in 1988. The first time we read the report - and I can tell you, all of us, who just came out from university - we were astounded. Because for the first time, somebody argued that it was all about people, not about money. And it is the shift to the outcome that has been totally accepted today.
-Which is the most significant challenge for the continuous increasing of the human development in the world today?-
We now have to find out whether these achievements can survive the climate change - and that is what we don't know. If you take countries like Saudi Arabia or Qatar, they have made a lot of progress in human development, but they do it on a basis of taking something out of the earth and selling it to somebody else. They cannot do this forever. Not only because there's not enough oil but, because of climate change, you just cannot keep burning the stuff. So, can they maintain their achievements while shifting to low-carbon economy?
Another goal is preserving biodiversity. The biodiversity threat is probably less evident, but very real. Let me give you an example. The ecosystems provide services such as clean water. You don't notice, because it was always there. But if somebody pollutes the water, then you have to pay for cleaning it ... so something that you've been used to getting for free suddenly costs you money. Thus, protection of these ecosystems is very important for the economy.
Understanding this dynamics, people should pay attention to China, as China is rapidly changing its economy to low-carbon. And they have no financial crisis. The biggest producer of solar power? The biggest producer of wind mills? - China. China will also launch a very large number of electric cars in 2011. Last year, they broke the link between GDP growth and energy consumption...
-In the past 20 years, the HDRs have been pointing to numerous progressive trends linked to human development. Which trends should become a topic for the next reports?-
I cannot predict what the next report could be about, but let me give you some ideas. I think that we have to take another look at water. We have to take another look at employment. There's a shift in poverty. Most poor people live in rich nations. It is because Pakistan, Tunisia, Nigeria - they have, in relative terms, become richer, but they have very, very large segments of poor people. If you asked us ten years ago, we would say: 'Poor people? They live in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and they live in Africa and some of them in China.' That's how the pattern was, but now it has changed. The inequality in countries is huge. So the question is how will we deal with inequality.
-In which cases was it the most difficult to promote a change or to promote a change in thinking, when you look at the past 20 years?-
In general, we were successful in the overall argument. But broken down, I think, in certain regions, some things were very difficult to argue. In the Middle East, for example, it was very difficult to persuade politicians about the importance of educating women and that women must play an active role in society. We haven’t managed to change their minds as yet. In the same discussion, we also failed in Central Asia. Politicians very often don’t like facts, preferring their own ideas.
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