19 February 2009
New UK White Paper on International Development
“The global community faces enormous challenges. The economic crisis, food Security, climate change, energy insecurity, conflict, rising population – these are the challenges of unprecedented magnitude which affects us all, and in particular the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. The nature of this interdependence means that it has never been so important to invest in our common future.”
Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development
Over the last decade, there have been massive gains in reducing global poverty yet there are some big threats as we leave a strong era of global economic growth.
The global financial crisis is bringing the most significant economic downturn for decades which could devastate the developing world as 90 million more people are forced into poverty at the end of the year. The effects of climate change are increasingly apparent and conflict as well as weak government is preventing progress for millions of people. The global economic crisis has also revealed a number of flaws in the international system.
On 2 April 2009, leaders from the world’s leading economies met in London at the G20 summit where they drew draw up plans with other countries and the World Bank to protect developing countries from falling levels of investment and aid.
Hearing your views
The Department for International Development is producing a new White Paper this summer which will outline how the government can tackle global poverty in the context of these long term challenges.
Read the ideas and suggestions put forward in our online consultation.
Please note that the consultation period has now ended on 27 May 2009. The final version of the White Paper was published on 6 July 2009.
DFID Conference 2009
Eliminating World Poverty, Securing Our Common Future
Several films were made for the DFID conference "Eliminating World Poverty: Building Our Common Future".
They highlight the severity of the economic downturn as well as the long term threats of conflict; climate change and food insecurity which present new challenges for international development for the elimination of world poverty. They also illustrate that we live in an increasingly interconnected world.