The world’s most critical environmental and social problems will only be solved by “a new vision of development”, declared Catholic agency Progressio’s Head of Advocacy Joanne Green at a summit meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York on Wednesday.
The summit brought together heads of government and NGO representatives from around the world, as well as the UK’s Director of Policy and Research in the Department for International Development, Andrew Steer.
Green said that the current world food crisis and spiralling environmental degradation are symptoms of deeper problems and should prompt the world to look at “the fundamental flaws in the northern economic development model”.
She criticised the current model of development as one which pushes intensive, export-led agriculture on developing countries in order to satisfy northern demands.
Instead, she said governments, institutions and their rules must change if the world is serious about tackling poverty and climate change.
Progressio, a Catholic advocacy and development charity, was one of just two British NGOs invited to speak as part of the UK delegation to ECOSOC’s High-level Segment to assess progress towards the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.
The agency outlined as part of its “new vision for development” the need for a more people-centred food system that promotes the needs of poor producers and consumers in the developing world.
