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TED
TURNER: FOR A REAL PEOPLE LIFT - WORK BEYOND THE G-8
(MaximsNews.com,
U.N.)
UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com@
U.N./ - 12
June 2007 –
Say what you will about the annual Group of Eight summit:
talking heads, "rich countries club," ineffective.
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Now take those comments and shelve them, because the issues that
were discussed through Friday at the G-8 summit in Germany — global
poverty, climate change and economic prosperity — lie at the heart of our
planet's future, and it is time that more than just the heads of state have a
voice in these issues.
As an entrepreneur and businessman, I have come to realize the
extent to which global issues are business issues.
Energy, health and poverty
impact how businesses operate, expand, trade and engage as corporate citizens.
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Likewise, businesses can offer developing countries means to grow and develop.
This is the idea behind one of the major G-8 themes this year:
"Investments, Innovations and Sustainability."
Under this general
theme, heads of state discussed the nuts and bolts of issues that will impact
business leaders' and entrepreneurs' ability to more broadly engage in and
benefit from a global economy.
In an increasingly interdependent world, ensuring that
developing countries grow in a way that supports democratic government,
environmental stability, transparent markets, and a healthy and educated
population impacts more than just the people in those countries.
It impacts the
health and landscape of global business and innovation.
Think of it this way: Two billion people around the world live
on less than $2 a day.
This means there are 2 billion people who would utilize
products and services if the barriers to economic opportunity were removed. In
this need is great opportunity.
However, there is also great risk.
If this
poverty is ignored, the world can count on increased warfare and strife, greater
environmental destruction, broader spread of disease and widespread starvation
or malnutrition.
Luckily, there is already a roadmap in place to address these
issues: The Millennium Development Goals.
These eight time-bound goals, devised
by development experts and agreed to by all United Nations member states, have
become commonly accepted as the way to measure development progress.
The MDGs
include halving extreme poverty and hunger, achieving environmental
sustainability, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases, developing
a global partnership for good governance, development and poverty reduction and
more by 2015.
This roadmap, however, is faltering and needs stronger support,
especially from the business community.
We are now halfway to the MDGs deadline
of 2015 and are falling way short of the funding necessary to achieve the goals.
A united call to government leaders from the business community to commit more
fully to the MDGs, including helping countries invest in education, health and a
clean energy future, as well as removing barriers to trade that keep poor
countries from helping themselves, has great credibility and leverage.
Furthermore, the attainability of the MDGs requires
entrepreneurial ingenuity and a business skill-set.
It takes smart entrepreneurs
and trained managers to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, raise
people out of poverty, supply HIV/AIDs patients with treatments and more.
I
recently got into the business of selling solar power, realizing the energy
needs of the world are expanding and more people require access to low-cost,
energy-saving alternatives.
When you boil these global challenges down to their essence,
what is at stake in the long-term if we fail in this effort — our livelihood
and life's work, our global security, the welfare of our very children — is
far greater than the risk of not getting involved.
I urge you, take action now.
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Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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