The next few decades will include the emergence of a definable middle class the world over, with the majority of that growth in developing countries, said the president of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Rohinton Medhora.
In his keynote address, at the Global Development Symposium 2014: Critical Links between Human and Animal Health at the Ontario Veterinary College in May, Medhora pointed out that in most growth phases, inequality worsens.
With growth will come more demands on governments to manage that inequality, he added.
CIGI is a nonpartisan think tank located in Waterloo, Ontario. Its research programs focus on the global economy, global security and politics, and international law.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight targets established by the UN in 2000 to mobilize critical development issues by 2015, are “the only place where everyone comes together to talk about the world they want to live in,” said Medhora. But there is nothing in these goals about growing the pie, just about dividing it up more evenly, he added. There’s also nothing in the MDGs about security, transparency and openness, or about research and development.
On top of this no one is dealing with the Internet as a truly global resource. Increasingly, he pointed out, countries will shut themselves off from the Internet. CIGI has a project looking at different models to bring some governance back to the Internet.
Also of critical importance, the world needs to take action on climate change. Some areas of the world are making progress on important issues such as hunger and women’s representation he said, but not making progress environmentally.
Watch Rohinton Medhora’s full presentation at GDS2014 below and learn more about the Global Development 2014 here.