NEW YORK, 26 November 2008: More than 30 social policy ministers and social authorities from 18 Latin American countries began Wednesday a two-day meeting to discuss the impact of the current global financial crisis on social policy in the region.
Convened by the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (RBLAC) and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), with the support of the Spain-UNDP Fund, the Second Forum for Social Strategic Thinking in Latin America warned that the current financial crisis, coupled with volatile food and fuel prices, threatens to undo years of hard-earned growth, stability and human development improvements enjoyed by many Latin American countries.
Latest projections by The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) indicate that 10 to 15 million more people in the region will slip below the poverty line in 2008 as a result of food price volatility.
– Next year, the social impact may be even harsher if governments and the international community do not bring forward adequate and effective responses, said Rebeca Grynspan, director of UNDP-RBLAC. – Crises may affect the most vulnerable groups disproportionately, hitting hardest at the poorest and marginalized.
Globally, 100 million people were driven into poverty this year as a result of the food and fuel crises. That number continues to grow. With 960 million malnourished people in the world, according to World Bank estimates, nearly 1 billion lives are at risk as unemployment rates sky-rocket, commodity prices remain volatile and governments face shortages in public monies and outside financial assistance.
– We are faced with the challenge of preventing this crisis from becoming a human crisis, said Ad Melkert, UN Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of UNDP. – The effectiveness of how it will be tackled depends greatly on coordinated policy responses, he added.
Countries in Latin America are responding to these new realities. Governments in the region already place a high priority on social issues and sustainable development through the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of development targets for 2015 that were agreed upon by world leaders eight years ago to improve prosperity, education, health and the environment.
Moreover, the region is witnessing a new generation of participatory social policies as civil society becomes increasingly more involved in its building process.
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