UNDP Administrator: Climate Change is Becoming “Another Threatening Source of Inequality”

26 September 2008: In his address to the thirty-second meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77, Kemal Derviş, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), outlined the development challenges and opportunities created by the current global economic environment, and the role of the UN and UNDP’s own support to programme countries.

He emphasized the importance of multilateral approaches to deal with global challenges and the role of multilateral institutions. Dervis then described the role of South-South cooperation in meeting development and economic challenges, noting that South-South financial flows provide more options to programme countries in support of their development needs and efforts, and indicating UNDP’s commitment to deliver on the promise of sharing South-South solutions.

He underlined that the current economic and financial events threaten to undo progress achieved towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and warned that climate change is becoming “another threatening source of inequality.” He stressed that efforts to tackle climate change need to be integrated into the development agenda to benefit development and the fight against poverty. [The Statement]