Unless world leaders make next year a year for development, the consequence would not be just poverty, but also military conflicts for decades to come from which the rich would be unable to protect themselves, Graca Machel, widow of former South African president Nelson Mandela, yesterday told British Prime Minister David Cameron in a letter.
It is Machel’s first global political act since Mandela’s death last year.
The letter to Cameron was also signed by former archbishop Desmond Tutu, Irish rock star Bono, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Muhammad Yunus, billionaire entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim and 17-year-old Pakistani activist Malala Yousufzai.
The letter urges Cameron to take the lead on an international UN framework on climate change next year and to secure an agreement on tighter UN Millennium Development Goals, an issue on which he took a personal lead last year.
The letter coincided with the anniversary of Mandela’s birthday yesterday — and also the day on which the current negotiations on replacing the Millennium Development Goals are due to close.
At present, there is little sign of progress, with signs that there will be an increase in the number to 17 and a proliferation in targets to 145. That number is widely seen as unwieldy.
“A growing insecurity caused by unequal access to increasingly scarce natural resources leads to tragic conflicts from which nobody — no elite, no matter how rich — can hide. This is an entirely plausible outcome of a complacent business-as-usual approach to 2015,” the letter says. “Which world do you want to live in by 2030? Which world it will be depends upon the decision you make in 2015, and the preparations we make for it now.”
The letter also calls for a global movement to unite development, climate and human rights campaigns around this agenda.
A campaign called Action/2015 — backed by organizations from around the world, from Amnesty International to the All Africa Conference of Churches and Save The Children to the ONE Campaign — is to be launched in January.
“The good news is a global movement is coming together for 2015 and the future, inspired by the words of Nelson Mandela: ‘Like slavery, like apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome by the actions of human beings.’ Climate change too can and must be remedied by the actions of human beings,” the letter says.
The campaigners expressed fear that the summit on climate change called by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is already at risk.
Cameron is under pressure to confirm that he will go to the summit on Sept. 23 and make a substantial pledge, but has so far made no commitment, citing the Scottish referendum on independence and the Conservative Party’s conference.
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