TheGlobal Governance Initiative monitors the efforts of governments, the private sector, international organizations and civil society towards achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. These objectives relate to poverty, conflict, health, education, the environment, human rights and hunger. Last year, the initiative’s second report concluded that the world remains far off track to achieve its most important goals. This year’s report, released on the eve of the Annual Meeting, found there to have been modest progress in 2005.

ANNUAL REPORT 2006

The third Annual Report, released 17 January 2006, provides comprehensive analysis of the world's progress towards realizing the UN's Millennium Development Goals, endorsed by leaders of 189 countries in 2000. The Report's conclusions are clear. "While global efforts to reach the UN Millennium Development Goals improved on some fronts in 2005, the world is still investing less than half the effort needed. While there was progress in the areas of peace and security, poverty, hunger, health, and education, efforts in the environment and human rights slipped backwards." The report is the culmination of a year-long independent analysis by seven groups of some of the world’s leading experts in peace and security, poverty, hunger, education, health and environmental protection.

FROM ASPIRATION TO ACTION Extract from the Report's Executive Summary 2005 proved that the world can make real progress towards achieving its most fundamental goals. It got slightly better at reducing hunger and extreme poverty, improving global public health, ensuring peace and security and providing access to basic education. On such key issues as human rights and the environment, the world actually did worse than it had in previous years. That matters not only because of the inherent importance of these issues, but because progress in one area depends so heavily on progress in the others. Global public health, for example, requires access to clean water and sanitation. Climate change is already exacerbating malaria, malnutrition and diarrhea throughout the world. The world’s poorest people need sustainably managed ecosystems to preserve their livelihoods, and the scarcity of natural resources can fuel violent conflict. Yet 2005 also demonstrated how much nontraditional actors are starting to do. Civil society groups mobilized on an unprecedented scale to force governments to get more serious about their commitments to the world’s poor. Private business grappled with notions of social responsibility, and private foundations and pharmaceutical firms now account for an enormous share of the progress on global public health. Contact us To contact the Global Governance Initiative, please email globalgovernance@weforum.org