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At G-8 Summit, Secretary-General Ban urges action on three key global challenges

He urged G-8 leaders that "every dollar, euro, or yen invested today, as well as every ounce of effort, is worth ten tomorrow, and a hundred the day after."

"Never in recent memory has the global economy been under such stress," Mr. Ban wrote in a Washington Post Op-Ed. "More than ever, this is the moment to prove that we can cooperate globally to deliver results: in meeting the needs of the hungry and the poor, in promoting sustainable energy technologies for all, in saving the world from climate change, and in keeping the global economy growing."

MDGs

Secretary-General Ban cautioned that progress towards achieving the MDGs, especially in Africa, is off course.

To help Africa, he said that donor nations must boost their contributions to reach the $62 billion per year by 2010 target agreed upon at the G-8 meeting in Gleneagles in 2005.

Some $10 billion is needed to boost basic services to improve maternal, newborn and children's health, while funding 120 million insecticide-treated bed nets for Africa would show the world's commitment towards stamping out malaria deaths by 2010, he said.

Food Crisis

But "addressing the MDGs is not enough," Mr. Ban said. "We must recognize the interconnectedness of extreme weather patterns, empty grain and rice storage houses, and poverty."

He stressed that soaring food prices are threatening to roll back gains made in development and called on world leaders to provide what is immediately needed, such as food and inputs including fertilizer for this year's crop.

G-8 Summit

Secretary-General Ban warned that unless decisive action is taken on the food crisis, an additional 100 million people around the world could fall below the poverty line. He recommended that the proportion of Official Development Assistance earmarked for agricultural production and rural development be increased from the present level of 3 percent to a new level of 10 percent, without diverting funds from current education or health budgets.

He said the G-8 Summit provides an "unprecedented" opportunity for global leadership to tackle the global food crisis that is plunging millions around the world into hunger.

"We need the G-8 leaders' commitment and political will. We need them to join a Partnership for Food, and take the political, financial, and economic steps needed to stop the global food crisis from deepening," Mr. Ban told students and faculty during a visit at Hokkaido University.

Climate Change

Undercutting progress on achieving the MDGs and improving food security, Mr. Ban warned, is global warming. "We tend to think of climate change as something in the future," he said. "It is not."

Its effects are visible now, mostly in Africa where worsening drought and changing weather patterns are impeding steps taken towards reaching the MDGs.

Secretary-General Ban emphasized that cooperative enterprise can play in important part in tackling global warming.

"Every coordinated effort, no matter how small, can contribute to and form a larger, more powerful response," Mr. Ban said.

Additionally, a new, comprehensive climate change agreement is expected to be negotiated in Copenhagen next year, following last year's landmark Bali Climate Change Conference.

"We need to set a long-term goal of at least cutting by half emissions by 2050," Mr. Ban said, adding that short- and medium-term targets that promote technological and market change are also crucial.