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The global monitoring report 2008 comes
at an important time. This year marks the halfway point in
the effort to achieve the millennium development goals
(MDGs) by 2015. This is also an important year to work
toward a consensus on how the world is going to respond to
the challenge of climate change, building on the foundation
laid at the conference in Bali in December 2007.
Successfully meeting this challenge will be essential for
durable progress toward the MDGs and related development
outcomes. In providing an integrated assessment of the
agenda for development and environmental sustainability,
this year's report offers timely input on issues that
will be at the center of discussions at various
international forums in coming months. The report's
assessment of the MDGs at midpoint presents a mixed picture.
The first MDG calls for reducing extreme poverty and hunger
by half. Although the poverty goal is likely to be met at
the global level, thanks to a remarkable surge in global
economic growth over the past decade, there are serious
shortfalls in fighting hunger and malnutrition, the
"forgotten MDG." High food and energy prices have
brought increased attention to these issues, but more is
needed. Reducing malnutrition is the MDG with a
"multiplier" effect, because it is essential to
success on a number of other MDGs which are unlikely to be
met, including maternal health, infant mortality, and education.
