Reviews
Common Wealth: Economics for a crowded planet
Jeffrey Sachs
Allen Lane, 400pp
Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute,
and Professor of Sustainable Development at Colombia University, sets out in his new book four goals for the coming decades. These include sustainable systems of energy, land and resources to avert the dangers of climate change; the stabilization of the world’s population; an end to extreme poverty; and a new approach to global problem solving based on cooperation among nations and the dynamism and creativity of the non-governmental sector. Sachs sounds optimistic. He truly believes, possibly naively, that global cooperation, trust and agreements can help solve the enormous problems that the world faces today.
He criticises Bush and his administration for wasting resources in wars and avoiding multilateral cooperation. Attaining his goals for a safer and better world will only cost about 3% of GDP, he says, and this is preferable to the alternative – the poverty, the suffering, the destruction of people and planet and the dangers of uncontrolled global warming. ‘The barriers are in our limited capacity to cooperate, not in our stars’.
I wish I could have confidence in his optimistic future. We have indeed seen, in efforts like the Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt relief, the Make Poverty History movement for more aid, debt relief and trade justice, how ordinary people, inspired by hope and a sense of what they can achieve, do get politicians and world leaders to act. This is why we need a vibrant third sector. And we can do more in Europe and North America on climate change, poverty eradication and sustainable development. Sachs shows that aid works when it is focused on specific needs and used in a strategic way. He presents the UN Millennium Village Strategy to lift disadvantaged regions from extreme poverty as one model to get results.Moreover, it is good to see a well-known economist having lost faith in the markets. He genuinely believes that market forces cannot solve the problems the world faces today. He recommends that competition between nations should be replaced by cooperation.
But will this ever happen? I am afraid that power, greed, politics and vested interests at individual, corporate and national levels will take over. There are two sides to human nature. Sachs appeals to our altruistic side, our desire for the common good, which can and should work for a more just, inclusive and sustainable world community. In this I feel inspired; it is what keeps most of us in NGOs going, working to build a better world. On the other hand we also see selfish interests and political or economic power corrupt good intentions.
Sachs challenges us to overcome our cynicism and work together. I wish him and his book every success. Common Wealth is easy to read, informative, well argued and essential for all concerned with poverty eradication, social justice and the effects of climate change. The book can seem weary sometimes but is has a message, a passion and a vision.
We must work towards a global agreement on climate change and the control of carbon emissions in the post-Bali (2007) negotiations within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. We will need trust, fairness, give and take and a sense of urgency if we are to achieve results by the December 2009 Copenhagen conference - an agreement the world can accept for all nations to tackle poverty and climate change while respecting people’s right to development. This will show us whether Sachs approach can work in the real world. It did not work in trade talks and the Doha development round. It is my earnest hope that we can make it work in the UN talks on climate change. NGOs – faith groups, trade unions, professional bodies, environmental and development agencies – have enormous potential and power. ‘No part of the modern world has played as constructive a role in the challenges of poverty, disease, hunger and the environment as the NGO sector,’ says Sachs. He considers NGOs critical to achieving his goals for the world. It is for them, working with others, to take on the issues Sachs has identified as important and urgent, and then to demand that politicians, governments and international institutes honour global promises and deliver on commitments on more aid, debt relief, the end of extreme poverty and tackling climate change.
This requires a global movement for social justice, poverty eradication and sustainable development. It is about our future – the future of our planet – and we cannot afford to fail. His book offers a way out of the mess we are in – a pathway forward that we must seriously consider for our common wealth!
Daleep Mukarjee
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