Tuesday, February 19, 2019

yl: caribbean studies

Issues in Caribbean development – Part 1

Nicole Baker CONTRIBUTOR

Programme (UNDP) established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in January 2016, otherwise known as the Global Goals. These are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. These 17 goals build on the successes of the Millennium Development Goals while including new areas such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and jus- tice, among other priorities. The goals are interconnected. Often, the key to success in one will involve tackling issues more commonly associated with another. The SDGs work in the spirit of partnership and pragmatism to make the right choices to improve life, in a sustainable way, for future generations. They provide clear guidelines and targets for all countries to adopt, in accordance with their own priorities and the environ- mental challenges of the world at large. The SDGs are an inclusive agenda. They tackle the root causes of poverty and unite people together to make a positive change for both themselves and the planet. Below is a graphical representa- tion of all seventeen goals proposed by the UNDP to achieve sustainable development.

OBJECTIVES i. At the end of this lesson, students will be able to define development and outline the three concepts of development. H APPY BLACK History Month to all! Although many believe that we cannot relegate our history to a month, it is nevertheless a time to celebrate how our forefathers toiled with zealous care for our freedom. This week, we will be looking at development and how it has helped to shape our society in contemporary times. We live in a world of unprecedented opulence, of a kind that would have been hard to imagine even a century or two ago. Due to development, there have been remarkable changes beyond the economic sphere. The 20th century has established democratic and participatory governance as the preeminent model of political organisation and, moreover, people live much longer, on the average, than ever before. Also, the different regions of the globe are more closely linked than in previous years. Commendably, this is not only in the fields of trade, commerce and communi- cation, but also in terms of intellectual ideas and ideals (Sen 1999). A simple definition for the term ‘devel- opment’ is the way in which a country’s resources are used to meet the basic needs of its people and the quality of life they have (Ottley, Gentles & Dawson, 2013). The study of development has, over time, involved a focus on various issues, notably political, economic, social and cultural concerns. In the same breath, it should be noted that there are three major concepts of development which include sustainable development, economic development and human development. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT This type of development looks at meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future genera- tions. The United Nations Development

Munro’s Timar Lewis (right) moves away from a tackle made by STETHS’s Aldane Barrett in their ISSA/FLOW daCosta Cup Group E clash at Alpart. STETHS won the match 1-0.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Economic development first became a major concern after World War II. As the era of European colonialism ended,

many former colonies and other coun- tries with low living standards came to be termed ‘underdeveloped countries’, when contrasting their economies with those of the developed countries, which

were understood to be Canada, the United States, those of western Europe, most eastern European countries, the

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