A sort of global brain trust established by Kofi Annan to tell the world how to meet the Millennium Development Goals, the Millennium Project proposes major investments in infrastructure and social programmes in poor countries, funded largely by rich-country aid, and reforms to the international trade system. But it also calls for co-operation between rich and poor countries in another area - “global and regional public goods.”

What on earth does this mean? Well, “public goods” are goods which can’t be limited to one person. Clean air is a public good, as are roads. Because they can’t be controlled in that way, they can’t be sold for profit, which is why they tend to be looked after by governments out of tax money. But what about public goods that cross country boundaries? The UNMP argues we need to look again at our strategies for investing in and protecting those. (p47-8)

Regional public goods

Take for example regional infrastructure. For many land-locked African countries, the only access for goods to ports for export comes through other countries. If a country invests in improving its roads, but the countries lying between them and the port don’t make matching investments, little is gained. For maximum effectiveness, transport projects need to be co-ordinated between countries.

Perhaps most seriously, environmental issues tend to ignore country boundaries. (This is especially true in Africa, where country boundaries stem from age-old colonial decisions and bear little resemblance to natural barriers such as rivers and the edges of forests or deserts.) One country’s over-farming could lead to “desertification” of land, for example, which could easily spread to neighbouring countries. Also, conflicts in one country can easily spread to surrounding countries, or destabilise them through massive refugee flows. (The Second Congo War, which cost around 4 million lives in the late 1990s, was started largely by disruption from the Rwandan genocide of 1994.)

To better tackle all these issues at a regional level, the report calls for regional co-ordination to be built into country strategies to achieve the MDGs. Poverty reduction plans should include plans for regional co-operation in four areas: transport, water and energy infrastructure; environment; economic policy harmonisation; and political dialogue and transparency along the model of the African Peer Review Mechanism, where African countries share submit their governance for review by neighbours.

In addition, the report calls for increased funding by rich countries for regional organisations. Africa has a range of these, including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

But what about global public goods? The report focuses on two: global scientific knowledge, and the environment.

Global science

Scientific advancements in fighting disease, generating energy, agriculture and so on benefit all of humanity and can massively help the development of poor countries. (For example, scientific research into improvements in agricultural production - creating hybrid, sturdier breeds of rice - brought about the “Green Revolution” that has saved millions from starvation in Asia and kickstarted the region’s economic growth.) But such advancements require vast expenditure on research, usually funded by governments (although the Green Revolution research was in fact mostly funded by nonprofits, the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations). In practice, this means the vast majority of basic scientific research is funded by rich country governments, and naturally largely focuses on rich-country problems. For example, the WHO believes $4 billion a year is needed to combat malaria; the current funding is around $300 million. (full report, p229)

Now, the report argues, a two-pronged approach must remedy this. First, rich countries should devote more attention to poor-country problems, like sexual and maternal health, when funding scientific research. $7 billion of extra funding each year should be put forward by rich countries to research agriculture, energy, and climate change. At the same time, rich countries should support scientific research in poor countries by increasing funding for universities. (overview report, p49)

The global environment

While issues like desertification are regional, climate change is global. It stands to worsen the situation of poor countries through increasing droughts, floods, and tropical diseases. And yet, the primary responsibility for solving it must lie with the rich and middle-income countries that have largely created it. The report calls for rich countries to take immediate steps to stabilise and reduce carbon emmissions, and develop carbon “sinks” such as increased forest space to help stabilise the level of carbon in the atmosphere (although the report stops short of detailed proposals, which would probably fill at least another 400-page report).

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The report’s proposals in this section are fairly uncontroversial, but nevertheless significant. I’d like to have seen more robust proposals for regional cooperation, as African governments in particular are notoriously bad at it. While increased funding for regional organisations can work when the will is there, too often it’s lacking, leaving some countries punished for others’ short-sightedness.

We’ve now looked over most of the UNMP’s shopping-list of investments and changes needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. But this is a whopping ten-year plan. How to get started? Next time we’ll look quickly at the report’s scheme to put the world on the right path.

Unless otherwise indicated, page numbers come from the Overview Report. You can also see the full 300+ page version, ten key recommendations, or the reports of the individual task forces.