Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald - July 6, 2005
Debt cancellation
Africa has captured support and attention everywhere from massive protests near the summit site and at the Live 8 concerts urging millions of viewers -- and G-8 leaders -- to ''make poverty history.'' To his credit, Mr. Bush agreed to a plan to cancel the debt of 18 impoverished African nations and last week proposed to double the $3.2 billion in current annual U.S. aid to the continent by 2010.
Yet that's still far short of the goals that Mr. Bush, along with other nations, agreed to in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2002. Those included working toward providing 0.7 percent of gross national product in development aid to poor countries by 2015 -- a formal EU target as of last month. Mr. Blair proposes that the G-8 provide $50 billion a year of such aid to Africa by 2010; the U.S. share would be roughly what the Pentagon spends in 10 days, about $15 billion a year.
Africa has 34 of the world's poorest nations. Ravaged by HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases, average life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa has plummeted to 46 years. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, head of the U.N. Millennium Project, argues that only massive, sustained levels of aid can turn this downward spiral around.
Of course, the aid most sensibly would be targeted to countries that reformed government and to projects with measureable results in improving infrastructure, healthcare, education and agricultural productivity. The goal is to build economies that will be able to sustain themselves. That's the kind of plan that the G-8, including the United States, would do well to adopt.
Mandatory caps
President Bush also would be sensible to rethink his position on climate change. The administration is swimming against the tsunami of scientific evidence that links fossil-fuel emissions to global warming. Strong Republican opposition kept emissions limits and fuel-efficiency standards out of the energy bill now being finalized in Congress. But last month the Senate approved a resolution calling for mandatory caps on greenhouse gases.
President Bush argues that caps and other measures to lessen global warming will hurt our economy. The danger is in short-term thinking. Climate changes and rising sea levels threaten to vanish entire industries and coastlines. Joining a G-8 commitment to preventive action is more constructive than denying that there is a problem.
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