Ascent of Money

"History teaches everything including the future" says Larmatine.
Aristotle "If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development".

History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten.
George Santayana.

Hot Cities - Shanghai

The latest from Hot Cities - a documentary currently running on BBC.

China and India together are responsible for 30% of the carbon emission today. The carbon baton are now handed to these countries as they race for their economics supremacy, how will these new world leaders deal with this challenging and demanding climate change problem?

The UN Global Climate Change Conference is taking place in Copenhagen Denmark 9 to 18 Dec - link

Watch Naill Ferguson - The War of the World

The War of the World documentary by Naill Ferguson - follow it in You Tube.

This is and interesting new perspective of history by the Professor, it his story of The War of the World.

Watch this interesting documentary, furthermore he is a great story teller.

Enjoy

UNDP What they do - Human Development Report 2009

This Report for 2009 focuses on the issue of migration and its relation to human rights and human development.



Find out more about the UNDP - HD Reports (Videos)

UNDP - The Millennium goals

This is an excerpt from the UNDP site about the millennium development goal.

"Looking ahead to 2015 and beyond, there is no question that we can achieve the overarching goal: we can put an end to poverty. In almost all instances, experience has demonstrated the validity of earlier agreements on the way forward; in other words, we know what to do. But it requires an unswerving, collective, long-term effort." United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The MDGs represent a global partnership that has grown from the commitments and targets established at the world summits of the 1990s. Responding to the world's main development challenges and to the calls of civil society, the MDGs promote poverty reduction, education, maternal health, gender equality, and aim at combating child mortality, AIDS and other diseases.

Set for the year 2015, the MDGs are an agreed set of goals that can be achieved if all actors work together and do their part. Poor countries have pledged to govern better, and invest in their people through health care and education. Rich countries have pledged to support them, through aid, debt relief, and fairer trade.

1. Find out more about the MDG at this link http://www.undp.org/mdg/

2. Millennium development goals eradicating extreme poverty from UNDP

3. Financing these development programs: Source world bank.

Hot Cities - Havana

How to poor and the unfortunate meet to power of climate change.

GDP Per capita South America (2008)

www.snippets.com
Source: CIA Factbook

Venezuela in rank number 3 whereas Brazil 2 rank below.

GDP Per Capita for OPEC Countries (2008)

http://snippets.com
Data Source: CIA Factbook

GDP OPEC Countries - incl Indonesion and Gabon

GDP - Most Carribean and Spanish Speaking South America

GDP - Selected Countries

What and Who is UNDP?

Below is the statements from the UNDP website on who and what is UNDP.

A world of development experience

UNDP is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.

World leaders have pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the overarching goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015. UNDP's network links and coordinates global and national efforts to reach these Goals. Our focus is helping countries build and share solutions to the challenges of:

Democratic Governance
Poverty Reduction
Crisis Prevention and Recovery
Environment and Energy
HIV/AIDS

UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women.

The annual Human Development Report, commissioned by UNDP, focuses the global debate on key development issues, providing new measurement tools, innovative analysis and often controversial policy proposals. The global Report's analytical framework and inclusive approach carry over into regional, national and local Human Development Reports, also supported by UNDP.

In each country office, the UNDP Resident Representative normally also serves as the Resident Coordinator of development activities for the United Nations system as a whole. Through such coordination, UNDP seeks to ensure the most effective use of UN and international aid resources.

- www.undp.org

Hot Cities - Senegal

Watch this latest episode of Hot Cities.

Hot Cities - Peru

"Water security is going to be one of the most pressing issues as the world faces the challenge of climate change. If average global temperatures rise by only a few degrees most of the world's glaciers will all but disappear, leading to floods and severe water shortages for millions of people. “Hot Cities” goes to Lima in Peru, one of the driest cities in the world, which relies heavily on the water from three rivers fed by glacial melt." - http://www.rockhopper.tv/hotcities/meltdown.html

Hot Cities - Jakarta

What is Jakarta learning from Chicago on combating dengue? How climate change spread this disease?

Hot Cities - Bangladesh

A exteremely poverty country, 43% of population living below USD1 a day. According to world vision (www.wvasiapacific.org)flood and wind storm are the most common disaster impacting Bangladesh.

Watch another episode of Hot Cities.

Hot Cities - Nigeria

"The world’s biggest cities are already victims of climate change. There are real economic and social impacts as climate refugees swell urban populations, food and water supplies are threatened and sea levels rise. “Hot Cities” travels the world from Lagos to Los Angeles, from Shanghai to Surat, from Dhaka to Durban to see if our cites can adapt and survive."

-http://www.rockhopper.tv/hotcities/

Our first stop Lagos, a city of 15 million people.