"Pertinente sin lugar a dudas, si observamos el desequilibrio en materia de desarrollo que existe actualmente. Importante seguir profundizando y divulgando los análisis que sobre el tema del DH se produzcan."

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"Looking forward to the paper."

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"Pido disculpas anticipadas y agradezco siempre la llegada de estas informaciones. Y pido disculpas porque sigo creyendo que esto es como diálogo de alcohólicos o farmacodependientes, donde se dicen unos a los otros que la droga no es mala, me explico. Entre ustedes y yo, y nosotros, diría yo, los buenos de la película, nos escribimos, leemos, analizamos y creemos en estos informes. Actuamos en consecuencia y vivimos conforme a lo que creemos que debe ser justo para con los contemporáneos tanto como para los que nos heredarán el planeta: casualmente, nuestros hijos. Supongo que hemos descubierto el problema escondido en la caja negra. Problema que compromete el futuro de la raza humana en el planeta. Pero, perdónenme mi preocupación. Para finalizar; el problema no es que nos demos cuenta del problema, el problema es que quienes originan el problema no tienen oídos o están embriagados con el neoliberalismo. Y quien no tiene oídos abiertos ni entendimiento listo, no entenderá jamás el origen del problema. Y digo jamás, porque se morirán antes de ver morir asfixiados o desihadratados a sus hijos. Y lo más triste es que nuestros hijos, hijos de justos, también morirán así..."

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"I believe the phenomenon of Globalization is over-rated. Barring a few countries, I think many of the countries trade within their regional trading blocs. Also I do not see Globalization as a remedy for all ills. It is only desirable for those countries which have disproportionate power in world trade, not so much for countries which have a weak voice in the WTO. Similarly I believe the beneficial effects of Globalization might accrue to the rich or middle class (somewhat) making them richer. But by and large the poor, it seems have gotten poorer, not having the productive means to exploit this phenomenon. Globalization may well be a great Anti-leveller that only obeys one law - the Power Law."

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"Lutter pour le developement c'est tres important les populations sont analphabete malade la question la plus importante c'est de trouve un remede rapide qui doit repondre a l'objectif la lutte contre l'analphabetisme lutter contre ce phenommene c'est lutter contre la pauvrete urgent 2010 ET BIENTOT A CA FIN."

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"El artìculo muestra la contradicciòn que se puede presentar al responder la pregunta con la cual inicia.Hay descubrimientos cièntificos y sociales que han repercutido favorablemente en la convivencia y el desarrollo humano, pero, hay millones de seres humanos murièndose de hambre y nada se ha hecho por cambiar esta situaciòn.Las devastadoras guerras "televisadas" hacen uso de tecnologìa de punta, la cual es utilizada tambièn en procesos de intervenciòn mèdica y en la producciòn de bienes que favorecen a las personas . Me identifico con el artìculo porque muestra la realidad."

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"Are we staying in a better world where only we observe billionaires in the increasing numbers that create huge gaps/barriers between us human ? How about the hidden increasing in numbers, too, of the poor(poverti-aires)? How accurate is the index that measured? Doubtful and very skeptics. Looking around we are not living any better, are we? The pains and sufferings of the impact on wars, national borders, income barriers, health problems, poor/bad communications, climatic change, undemocratic and others are the modern Great walls. We feel slightly better when the Berlin wall was removed and the great wall of China just an heritage but how about the wall currently created by Jewish settlement which is alarming. Other issues like illegal mass border crossing to struggle for freedom and to live in a better environment within a strict and sometime cruel borders (worst than the physical/military walls legacy of the past/present) ? How about current unfinished wars and increasing number of future/expected wars threatening and alarming due to the low human development but with good index? Our research on human development must be thorough and accurate on the Human Development Index or else the result will be forever untrue. We are not much better but worst.Our target to be better must be resolved immediately/promptly without further delays!"

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"Muy importante el análisis y mucho más importante que sea compartido con las organziaciones de la sociedad civil en los países. Gracias por el aporte a nuestro Desarrollo Humano y a nuestros Derechos Humanos. Supremamente valioso su trabajo. Atentamente, Alba Lucía Castañeda Vélez."

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"Rodríguez's comment on HD is apt and provocative. World might have become a better place to live for a substantial number on this planet but any conscientious observer would perceive the ever increasing widening in the quality of life people lead in developed and developing world. An average African, Asian or a Latin American has not been able to access the resources of the nature as much as anyone in the northern hemisphere! We are at a juncture where interventions in health and education sector needs to be reviewed critically. While the attack on determinants of the disease is not as sharp as the efforts to improve the medical care services everywhere; strategies in education are withdrawing people from the talent they possess and moulds them to a mentality which demands more of white collar work. I think the upcoming HD Report from UNDP should critically examine the situation in this context and counsel the governments of the member states to rectify their development programmes accordingly."

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"Una de las cosas que frena el desarrollo humano es el incremento espantoso en corrupción y el irrespeto a la vida, a través de la violación de los derechos humanos, donde nuestros gobernantes pretenden que a nivel interno de la población, se pasen por alto todas sus atrocidades cometidas a nombre de la "democracia" y contra el "terrorismo", aunque esto sirva para justificar terrorismo de estado, por ello las cifras que muestran a nivel internacional en materia de salud, ampliación de cobertura educativa, etc., son la cara hipócrita de la fragilidad en el avance de Desarrollo Humano, lo cual de parte de los gobiernos, solo se queda en las macrocifras de índices y tasas estadísticas que son la cortina de humo que eclipsa los niveles de insatisfación de las grandes masas de población, pero dejan muy contentos a los gobernantes, las élites y los conglomerados de corrupción de los grandes contratistas de la educación y la salud; corrupción que nace en los sectores privados y contaminan a los sectores públicos, porque aquellos se convierten en financiadores de las camapañas políticas con los dineros obtenidos de los "favores" recibidos. La discusión suscitada en relación con el Desarrollo Humano y la economía de mercado, no puede conducir a error a los analistas, porque en nuestro país, Colombia, está haciendo historia recientemente una arrogante clase dirigente de derecha, que solo cree en las armas y poco en el desarrollo social y económico de un país, a no ser por la vía del asistencialismo y la politiquería. Si nos atenemos a las cifras, Colombia en el puesto 75, puede esgrimir un avance que no posee porque se basan en el viejo mito de que las cifras hablan por sí solas; cuando en las cilencias sociales y educativas las cifras no han aprendido a hablar."

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"Want to know more Clear vision for the human resource development all over the world."

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"The observation that 'growth is a necessary condition for increasing human development is simply not true' is being contradicted in the last para; 'A person born in Afghanistan, for example, can expect to live only 44 years in 2007, 39 years less than someone born in Japan'."

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"GRACIA POR EL CONTENIDO DE STE MENSAJE GRACIAS PUES DE MUCHO INTERES E IMPORTANCIA DE ESTE TIPO DE TEMATICA PHD. ANGEL AVILA CATEDRATICO UNIVERSITARIO"

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"En principio, muy de acuerdo con el analissi profundo del DR. Rodriguez, Director de investigaciones de HDI, mientras creo que el hedonismo como tendencia global, viene marcando una logica apariencia para reconocer ese falso crecimiento ecónomico, por otras falsas economias como las redes de narcoterrorismo,con todo su magnanime impacto social ecónomico que origina en el mundo. Muchas gracias."

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"Interesting, but not enough information to comment on. Fixing the facts and statistics is only first steps. However these facts are quite important. But planning of the capacities' of the Earth to provide minimal conditions for human being to exist is another side of the coin. If we consume more and use more and live longer using everything in huge amounts we will find ourselves more in debt in future, and one day all other plans of human beings as well ecosystem will be in a danger which may become not regulated by human being. My first suggestion: think of how to stop consumption in general. This article seems to suggest opposite."

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"I would like to have a report that will be released in April 2010. I just recently attended a seminar where Dr Orkin in South Africa presented other measures not just HDI. It seems we need to move away from one notion of HDI in measuring development. There are many obstacles to development that could mean a lot before we move away from the current status of development."

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"Effectivement les disparités sont énormes. Les structures sanitaires et éducatives de base telles que les dispensaires, les maternités et les établissements scolaires devraient etre à la portée de la population tant au niveau de la proximité que de la participation financière et non etre optionnelles. Pour dire que l'aggrégat IDH est indice essentiel à la croissance économique."

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"Globalization in some countries have achieved a significant development through global economic growth. But some others are, thus, leaving more vulnerable in poverty, hardships & inequality (3/4 of world population). The challenging is to take into account the positive impact of global changes without disturbance to domestic policy since the National and Local policies play a critical role in enabling better sustainability and stability. To support the situations, suitable programs can be implemented based on their needs and priori ties. The most important things in the future to be paid attention for at developing countries, that is human resources development programs, how to reinventing human development become a well being human. However, globalization, economic growth and human development index has a tight correlations to each other."

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"Francisco gracias por su excelente artículo. Recuerdo con aprecio nuestro encuentro en Río de Janeiro en la elaboración del Plan de Desarrollo Humano. Aqui en España y Europa la situacion está más complicada para los extranjeros y yo sigo con mi de deber de denunciar la situación. Espero seguir en contacto con ud. y los demás participantes. saludos Edwin Perez Uberhuaga edwinperezuber@yahoo.es 00 34 693767275 www.revistamigrante.blogspot.com"

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"Muy interesantes las primeras conclusiones. Habría que conocer de donde sale la financiación para estas mejoras en educación y sanidad, ¿del presupuesto nacional, que partidas y en este caso ¿a qué se dedicaba antes el dinero? ¿de financiación externa, y en esta caso: AOD o préstamos? Podríamos saber la posibilidad de continuar con las reformas,etc. Espero el informe con mucha expectación. Muy agradecida Teresa"

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"La mondialisation n'a servi que les grands de ce monde,pays et personnes ; par consequent, esperer que l'humanisation mondiale qui pourrait servir les pauvres de ce monde et contredirait par la-meme la volonte de domination des grands pour les plus demunis, resterait une magnifique utopie."

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"En principio, muy de acuerdo con el analissi profundo del DR. Rodriguez,Director de investigaciones de HDI,mientras creo que el hedonismo como tendencia global, viene marcando una logica apariencia para reconocer ese falso crecimiento ecónomico, por otras falsas economias como las redes de narcoterrorismo,con todo su magnanime impacto social ecónomico que origina en el mundo. Muchas gracias."

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"The Center for Systemic Peace has been measuring and monitoring trends in global system performance for the past fifteen years. We report our latest assessments in "Global Report 2009: Conflict, Governance, and State Fragility" available on our Web site (www.systemicpeace.org). We find a 60% decrease in the societal effects of armed conflicts, a 50% increase in the number of democratic regimes, and a 20% reduction in state fragility, measured at the global level. The improvements in state capacity/resilience are found in seven of eight categories, with only economic legitimacy showing no improvement (that is, the world remains divided between advanced industrial economies and primary commodity producers). Improvements are found in all global regions; however, the regional "gap" in development remains and may even be increasing in relative terms."

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"En lo general la situación de extrema pobreza es cada año se esta aumentando la diferencia esta que para grupos de poderes se han aprovechado de las requezas y se han mejoarado con la explotacion de mineros, se han aprevechado de los recursos naturales grupos que coordinan con las transnacionales para los pobres no nada ni bel gobierno responda las necesidades del pueblo pobres."

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"Realmente me parece impactante que la investigación arroge que el crecimiento económico no es el medio para llegar al desarrollo. Habrá que ver la investigación para entonces saber cual es el dato que se convierte en el medio idóneo para el desarrollo humano. Espero pronto el resultado de su investigación y la interpretación a la misma. Saludos!"

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"La tendencia del ser humano es y será siempre buscar el desarrollo, la globalización como tal es parte del desarrollo ya que obliga a los competidores a mejorar sus procesos productivos para competir en igualdad de condiciones; Estos cambios obligados hacen que las empresas se tecnifiquen o se fusionen para alcanzar el logro productivo que a la vez conlleva al desarrollo humano"

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"He investigado y puesto en marcha algunas estrategias sobre desarrollo humano en la zona rural valiendome de la escuela rural. Los resultados fueron buenos. A veces no solo es suficiente investigar lo más dificil es crear las propuestas de intervención que mejoren los resultados de dicha investigación. Me gustaría leer el texto completo. Les agradecería si me lo envian."

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"La falsedad de las afirmaciones identificadas por los señores Gray y Purser en su investigación tienen razones bien fundadas para seguir considerandolas apocrifas, tomando el ejemplo de colombia para responder a la pregunta se ahora vivimos mejor que hace cuarenta años, diría hace cuarenta años era un privilegio de pocos ir a la Universidad, hoy el acceso a la educación superior se ¿democratizo? Sí hay demaciadas Universidades de garage autorizadas por el gobierno como un negocio privado de sus amigos con el resultado desastrozo que la franja de desempleo se concentra entre los jovenes universitarios de diploma y sin experiencia. El colombiano medio tiene un promedio de vida de 77 años mientras que las comunidades indigenas solo es 37 años cuarenta menos de los demás colombianos. y Colombia ha crecido en indicadores de desarrollo economico, pero no han crecido en la misma proporción los estanderes de desarrollo humano."

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"I think that the HDI would need continued scientific and practical efforts in order to be more eligible and real representative as the whole world humans Have not witnessed a real human development achievements either in the developed or in the developing countries. The continued Human suffering is the controlling phenomena which has been resulting from the suel of the mercantilistic theory motivations and applications by the imperialistic capitalistic powers .Consequently I am calling for more realistic HDI through a deep involvement of Ethics which can bring real human security to humankind."

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"Debemos aplicarnos mas para que el desarrollo sea horizontal y no se focalice en pocos, debemos hacer mas por los que nada tienen tutelando programas participativos para que estos accedan a los servicios que les proporcionen salud, bienestar empleo digno educacion y un habitat armonico."

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"Last few decades have seen a fundamental change globalization became far easier than anytime before; communications and entertainments too. But it was a strongly money guided world, making technologies behind this secondary events. With it former leading nations, old industrialized countries came under pressure and newly ones got more power. Fully automated business can move from one place to another. Hectic grows more than anything else. Nobody stopped globalizations. Pure and low educated people lost. Skilled persons where pushed into a struggle. And nearly only the rich ones won. All others is less important."

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"En relación de desarrollo humano creo que no se ha alcanzado el nivel de desarrollo humano por falta de un equilibrio de igualdad, la repartición de los recursos, la exclusion, no hay una política de mejorar las condiciones de vida por falta de empleos, extrema pobreza, no se logra por los problemas estructurales que se van en favor en mejoras de vivir a los neoliberal, aún la mayoría luchan para tener el pan de cada día el problema de la seguridad alimentaria,etc."

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"How do we move beyond the current and many forms of capitalisms is the issue here. We do need to consider this issue further and debate upon what are some of the new forms of development and human development that we should be thinking about. Our past experience shows only what not to do. They do provide some good practices here and there, but that seems to be all. We need therefore to develop courageous set of principles and social and economic development policies to be followed by all countries, developed and the developing ones, with the common objective only for human well-being, pursued at all costs. Unless politics at global and national levels change in this direction, things are not going to get any better. Improvements in education and literacy have not translated into better living standards and sustainable livelihoods for many, particularly in the developing countries."

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"Agradezco al dr. Rodriguez, por la informacion,y lo felicito por la objetividad del mismo. en nuestros paises centroamericanos,de verdad, ha prevalecido mas que la preocupacion por superar el indice de desarrollo humano, una lucha encarnizada por el poder politico, durante hace mas de cuarenta años, la cual historicamente se vuelve una cuestion recurrente; orientado por las atrocidades cometidas en ese afan; pero si reflexionamos sobre el indice de desarrollo humano haciendo el analisis sobre desarrollo economico versus desarrollo humano, el resultado lo predomina siempre la lucha por el poder politico, frena ambos; entones se dispara lo social hacia los otros frenos como son la violencia social y la lucha de los corruptos favorecidos por la lucha politica.agradeceria me enviara el informe completo, para continuar mi tesis que se relaciona con el tema. Muchas gracias."

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"I have not seen George Grays’ work so far but I basically agree. There are HD improvements, driven by health and education indicators, which can take place in times of low or no economic growth. But growth (not necessarily driven by globalization) is still important. Maybe we should stop to consider growth as a driver or necessary condition of HD and rather think about growth as a strength which sustains HD. This can clearly be seen in Eastern European countries after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, where HDI indexes declined in some cases by a triple decrease, in per capita GDP, in live expectancy (due to increased suicide) and enrollment (school drop-outs due to GDP decrease). And only a later GDP increase helped them to recover. What conceptually is hidden here is that the "absence of crisis" sustains HD improvements and this might be possible even in times of low growth or even a negative GDP trend which at the end might not have aspects of a crisis."

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"Thank you for an interesting and provocative post, I am looking forward to the full paper by Gray and Purser. However, I think that the finding that improvements in the HDI come from improvements in education and health, while extremely important, is hardly striking. Not only are adult literacy and life expectancy stock variables, and thus less susceptible to change on the short run than income, a flow variable, but both show a pattern of steady improvement over time. Income, on the other hand, is the more volatile component, subject to fluctuations due to economic crises, poor macroeconomic management, and so on. Additionally, the logarithmic transformation used on the income index assures that income increases, especially at higher levels of income, have a smaller effect on the HDI than increases in health and education, since income has decreasing returns to scale while education and health have constant returns to scale. The importance of education and health is corroborated by our study of the evolution of the HDI between 1991 and 2000 in 5,507 Brazilian municipalities. In 80% of the municipalities, education was the component responsible for the largest share in overall HDI growth, followed by health (13% of the municipalities), and income (only 7% of the municipalities). Education alone was responsible for more that 50% of the HDI growth in 2,704 municipalities, almost 50% of the entire universe. The finding that there is no correlation between economic growth and the non income components of the HDI is very interesting, and somewhat related to the fact that there are several examples of countries with similar income levels but very different health and education levels. Some countries are better at transforming income into better health and education for their citizens, and this is precisely what makes the HDI a better measure of progress than purely income based measures. A closer look at what these countries are doing differently from the others should prove to be a valuable insight into how to achieve sustainable progress throughout the entire world."

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"The improvement of Education and health sector improves the Human development I wonder what happens with Zambia?"

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"Debemos hacernos responsables de lo que esta pasando, no podemos seguir discutiendo siempre lo mismo,hoy descubrimos la informacion que nos faltaba para levantarnos y cambiar este mundo. ¿Que vamos a hacer?... Tenemos una verdad que mo podemos callar, ya que vivimos en una mentira que controla el mundo entera, si el sistema no ha aportado nada, entonces solo ha llenado el bolsillo de unos pocos por mucho tiempo basandose en el desarrollo humano... ¿Y tu que vas a hacer?"

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"En la generalidad rural de Guatemala, tener mayores ingresos económicos (por remesas familiares o cultivos de exportación) no evidencian cambios en el desarrollo humano: la educación no es una prioridad y no hay inversión familiar en salud. Los recursos se usan en compra de tierras, pickup y consumo de alcohol, salvo honrosas excepciones."

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"The world has not improved in the last 40 years. On the contrary, it has turned worse. We simply fix up the date for halving the poverty to 2015. Whether we are definitely adhering to the principles adopted in the Millennium Development Goals. The answer is that we are not. Both rich and developing, poor countries are not serious about reaching the targeted goals. With the recession still yet to reach its pinnacle, it is feared that more and more common people would be dragged into the quagmire of abject poverty, not knowing when they will be saved from that bottomless pit and hoping that only death would be their saviour. This has to change. I think, not one but quite a few Gandhis, Martin Luther Juniors should come to stay to alleviate the poverty. But, UNDP work is laudable. But, the key is not the reports but the actions. I hope better sense would prevail on everybody about this important problem, which could be solved if all heads are put together."

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"Dear Francisco, Best wishes to the HDR team from Russia! Working with you and your colleagues for the HDR2009 was an excellent experience and a good feeling of involvement in the forefront of HD conceptualizing. Now, the theme of HDR2010 invites to rethink HD criteria and measurement. As I see from summaries of the events timed to the HDR2010 serious brainstorms took place. In fact, it is an attempt to wider the range of factors that are essential for HD and formalize them in order to insert in the HDI calculations. Well, the UNDP has grounds to be proud of elaborating HDI as an integrated index that includes many qualitative variables to measure human development and to monitor development policies. The main purpose of HDI is to make macro-level international comparisons. And it works! Countries that are highly ranked feel proud of their achievements; countries that are ranked low are stimulated to get higher. However, the UNDP has also grounds when initiating rethinking of the HD concept. HDI is based on incomes, health and education – very important issues from the perspective of human opportunities. Now, it tries to take into account environment, sustainability and gender equality that are no less important. However, all these factors are again attached to employment, living standards and other ‘material’ indicators of HD. Maybe now it’s time to take into account ‘non-material’ values – goodness, tolerance, decency, inward peace of humans – that seem to be half-forgotten in an overall rash for wealth and success at any cost. In the pragmatic West, they are likely to be forgotten for good; however, in the more spiritual East moral values are still appreciated. Russia is an ‘East-and-West’ country by its geography and identity. Spiritual values (that may seem patriarchal) were always important for ordinary people, even during the godless and dramatic Soviet period. Since early1990s Russia has become closer to the world community and joined globalization processes, however, its HDI dropped from 0.821 in 1990 and 0.777 in 1995. Even in 2007 (0.817) it did not recover up to pre-crisis level. (So, Zambia mentioned in your message is not the only one country that saw a decline in its HDI since 1970) Of course, deep socio-economic crisis rooted in demolition of the old economic system and thorny path to market economy was the main reason for narrowed opportunities for HD in Russia. The crisis affected educational system, health care system, employment opportunities and provoked growth of poverty. But another reason is dealing with destruction of former moral values and unavailability of the Russian society to ‘new’ standards of lifestyle and behavior. In Russian language there is a term dukhovnost’ that is usually translated as ‘spirituality’ but seems to be wider. It means the prevalence of inward, moral values (virtues) in a person, in contrast to outward, material ones. The radical shift towards income-driven society and growing inequality has ruined dukhovnost’ of the Russian society that has been a value by itself. In contemporary Russia, people are valued only by their material wellbeing, and it is a striking contrast to the situation that was only a couple of decades ago when intellectual, moral qualities (even not supported by material success!) were decisive. The Russian intelligentsia has always been the moral benchmark for the rest of population. Presently, its standards of HD are devalued, and the society seems disoriented. That is the reason of marginalization of a substantial part of the Russian nation: they are marginalized not because they are not successful in their lives but because they do not know what the success is. In other words, they are not concerned with their human development because they do not know what HD is now. The result of that are indifference to life, self-destruction, alcoholism, narcomania, aggressiveness, spiritual impoverishment... This is especially true for Russian men: mortality among mid-aged males is dramatically high and life expectancy of Russian males dropped from 64 years in 1989 to 58 in 2000. I realize that Russia is a specific case. But I am sure you will find a lot of examples from other countries where materially-valued HD standards contradict to traditional ethics that put inward values higher than material success and correspondingly, underrate the contemporary opportunities for people, even in terms of education. I realize that it is not an easy task to incorporate moral values and the degree of their realization in the HDI. But inviting psychologists, sociologists, and priests of different religions to the discussion on human development could extend its frames beyond material criteria and put it in a wider context of human values. Regards, Irina Ivakhnyuk Senior Researcher / Deputy Director of the Department of Population Faculty of Economics Lomonosov Moscow State University RUSSIA"

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"La notion de développement humain durable est aujourd'hui d'actualité. Mais à cette notion, est donnée une seul sigificaion; celle des nations unies. Or chaque peuple à sa réalité. en même temps qu'on parle de développement durable, les pays en voies de développement ne sont pas autonomes et ne décident pas d'eux-même de ce qu'il veulent. comment pouront-nous alors parler de développement humain durable?"

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"Dear Francisco, Thank you for sharing this interesting teaser. I certainly agree with Gray and Purser on the significance of state intervention in human development which supports the argument for a strong government (which, by the way, is not the same as a big government). However, I am not so sure about growth not being a necessary condition for increasing human development. If there is no growth, will there be the needed complementary public investments in Education and Health? How about the dictum growth is a necessary but not sufficient condition for human development? It would be interesting to read the background paper. On the evolution of the HDI, what about looking at public investments in infrastructure (transport, energy and housing) as percentage of GDP/ revenue/ total budget as an additional index? We are now seeing a number of countries increasing these investments (such as in Ethiopia) and expectations are that these will improve human development in the long run. Although it could be argued that per capita GDP index of the HDI could account for these investments, maybe unbundling this index could throw some light on the relative significance of the elements of human development. Some analytical investigations are needed here of course. One again, nice teasing, Francisco."

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"Evidentemente existe un mejoramiento del Desarrollo Humano, que responde a contextos económicos, sociales, culturales e historicos, particulares, lo importante es que este deasrrolo humano se de en condiciones de libertad, igualdad y fraternidad, dentro de un Estado de derecho, un Estado democrático y un Estado social. Por lo que el Estado no puede abdicar a su función de regular y reducir las brechas existentes, las inequidades existentes, desarrollando políticas basadas en una buena redistribución de la riqueza."

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"Dear Irina, tks for your interesting comment. I have been doing some work in Moldova and other parts of the CIS region where similar stories, compared to Russia, have been going on. I agree that there might be a change of values behind some drivers of HDI changes in your region and they are worthwhile to be analyzed. Nevertheless we will have a problem with measurement. From a conceptual standpoint of view we would not be able to fix a set of values, because of the freedom concept in HD and the idea that "people live the lives they have reason to value", whatever this might be. So rather thinking about what would be the values that sustain a certain HD level we should try to think in a measurement which quantifies the degree of change of whatever value set that might have a correlation to or might be driven by external circumstances which took place after 1990 in your region. Might be interesting to discuss this, or in this forum or exchanging emails directly. All the best Thomas Otter."

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"Me encanta que se estudien estos temas que son tan relevantes y que son en definitiva problemas de todos, responsabilidad de todos. Y algún día contaré con las herramienta para ser una ayudante más.. de todas formas creo que si todos pusiéramos un poco de voluntad al cambio, un poco de amor, no digo en grandes cambios, pero en las cosas más simples y prácticas, en las cosas cotidianas del día a día algo pudiérase mejorar. Sin embargo siento que no alcanza. Siento que todos tienen la respuesta pero hipócritamente nos la reservamos, nos desganamos ante ella diciendo que es utópica.. y que imposible se hace alcanzar un sueño, cuando antes de emprender el viaje se sienta uno a descanzar.. porque después de todo todos sabemos que no existiría la pobreza si no existiera la riqueza"

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"Le débat sur le développement humain qui est d'actualité necessite une analyse globale de la situation des pays sous développés dans leur contexte d'extreme pauvreté. Tous les pays n'étant aps sur le meme pieds d'égalité en ce qui concerne notamment la prise en compte des besoins fondamentaux de leurs populations.L'indice du développement humain des Pays Pauvres Tres Endetté (PPTE) est trop faible, voir insignifiant par rapport aux pays en voie de développement. la mauvaise gouvernance et la corruption qui gangrènent les PPTE n'est pas de nature à favoriser le développement humain durable. ces pays les plsu corrompus sont pourrtant détenteurs de nombreuses richesses naturelles qui ne prtofitent pas à leurs citoyens et la repartition des revenus entre citoyens n'est pas équitable. Avec ce constat, on est encore loin de l'atteinete des objesctifs."

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"In 20 years of HD we've come a long way. Framing the 'development' question has become much easier, in part because some of the answer is quantifiable thanks to UNDP's HDR methodology. Driven by the comments of Dr Francisco R Rodríguez, I would expect that from 2010 the HDR methodology begins to embark on a course very different from that it has in general followed since 1990. Guiding that course will be two core recognitions: one, that economic 'growth' is no longer a community 'good' (in fact, often the opposite), and two, that human development is inseparable from community and habitat stewardship. "Has the world become a better place to live in during the past few decades?" It's a tough one to answer. Yes it has, to the limited extent that we know more about the world we share, thanks to evolutionary efforts like the HDR. No it hasn't because, to employ one important yardstick, the MDGs are still so far behind their schedules. Why are they still so far off if there has been 'growth' in the last 40 years? "George Gray and Mark Purser show some striking stylized facts based on studying global trends in HD since 1970." No doubt the data will be most interesting to all of us. Yes in the sub-regional dimension we can see change for the better where education and health are concerned. Millions have indeed been lifted out of crushing poverty and many millions more have gained an awareness of rights and responsibilities, awareness that is proving to be the driver of fundamental change in their societies. Do we thank the market - or the free market - for this welcome change? Again there is no binary answer. It is a borrowing of some market methodologies that have led to the tide of social entrepreneurship we see sweeping across the South. It is a community powered adoption of technology that has led to ICT becoming a catalyst for knowledge diffucion and sharing. But it is also the tight interlinkage of capital, throwaway labour and DIY-manufacturing that has pushed many new millions to the brink of poverty, as the International Labour Organisation, for one, has pointed out. "The evidence shows that the massive increases in education and health achieved over the past 40 years had little if anything to do with globalization." Dr Rodriguez is spot on there. In many countries, these advances have been pushed for on the backs of crusaders at all levels of society, and have often happened despite government and not because of it. That is why I disagree however with Dr Rodriguez's following statement: "The increase in human development is actually an example of how state intervention works." No sir, it is rather an example of communities seizing the day. The 2010 iteration of the HDI will turn an important conceptual corner by beginning to assess human development in the context of community strength, the health of agro-ecological systems, the capacity of households to cope with crises not of their making. An early - very welcome - indicator that the familiar HDI must transform itself comes from: "Another striking finding by Gray and Purser is that the correlation between economic growth and changes in the non-income components of human development over their period of study is nearly zero." Well-being and social equity - so well defined by the HDI for 20 years - will more than ever rest upon the ability of a myriad cultures to preserve elements of their past and draw on them to safeguard their futures."

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"A NEW DASHBOARD FOR A NEW COURSE The revision of the Human Development concept comes at a very particular historic moment. Whereas it is essential to analyze carefully what made it possible for most countries to steadily progress on the human development scale during the last 40 years, it is even more critical to understand how to steer humankind’s boat in the troubled waters that lie ahead of us all. During those four decades of progress on average, deep transformations have taken place which in turn will translate during the 21st Century into some of the most sweeping changes ever experienced in history. We now live in a world of 6.7 billion people soon to be 8 billion, and by 2050 around 9 or 10 billion. Whether we like it or not, that fact alone makes us all interdependent. Because we share the same finite resources, such numbers make that for the first time ever, we are all in the same boat even though some travel first class, others second or third class and some down in the hold. During the last 40 years while productivity skyrocketed - and with it an unprecedented consumption of mineral, animal and vegetal supplies -, the human population doubled. Further, all aspire to enjoying the living standards of the upper quintile. Humanity enters for the first time the impossible equation. Our generation cannot continue overexploiting natural resources and depleting our planet of the very elements that sustain life and enable people to live comfortable or decent lives - thus affecting the possibilities of future generations. Yet, we have un-noticeably already begun a process of ecological collapse as we are using up a number of natural resources way above their regeneration capacity, thus plundering the living basis of our grand children and of the generations who will follow. One of the key challenges of our time is to move from a fragmented world of multiple inequalities and unwarranted ecological path to a more homogeneous world in which equity prevails, everyone enjoys the fundamental human rights bestowed upon every human being by virtue of birth, and all cater to the needs of our descendents. All this means that we have to rebuild the way in which we relate to each other within nations and between nations alike. And it means that we have to rethink our relationship with the eco-system. As a matter of fact, there will soon be no escape to rethinking the social pact, the economic pact and the environmental pact which unite people not just nationally but globally. Indeed, quite a few of the major challenges of our time cannot be solved with mere local measures but require the cooperation of all on a global scale. This in turn points to the urgent need to close paralyzing social gaps and to launch a debate on the very values which underpin these pacts, short of which weaknesses and top-down conflicting measures will rock the boat and may well wreck it. What is it that really matters to us? If we look at how things are structured today, boundless economic freedom and the right to accumulate and speculate are more protected than the very lives of our fellow human beings. Greed and possession desire end up prevailing where if instead of “every currency unit produced counts” we established that “every human being counts” we may see equity and solidarity including intergenerational solidarity prevail. The very notion of human development has at its core that “every human being counts”. This is not a fact: it is a choice. A choice that UNDP has heralded for two decades, and that is being updated and re-proposed at this juncture in history. However much objective analysis the 2010 HDR may contain, it will and must be a “proposal” based on a vision. Hence the importance of the revised human development index (HDI) and other indicators it will put forward as they will constitute UNDP’s authoritative input into a process that will lead to forging the new dashboard meant to help us reach safer shores than those we are currently heading for. As the HDR team elaborates its proposals, it faces yet another daunting challenge. Indeed, it is now time to move from a reflection offered by “experts” to a debate that invests our societies – where everyone is an expert on an equal footing. It is a huge challenge in a crowded and fragmented world. Nonetheless, it cannot be avoided. Climate de-regulation cannot be addressed short of everyone’s involvement. The same applies to the ecology, natural resources, the economy, health, social cohesion as well as to security. We therefore need to now trigger a global debate at all levels of societies on the founding values of the 21st Century. This HDR should be a launching pad for an unprecedented democratic process, more than a provisional assessment of the virtues and shortcomings of the concept of human development. Difficult as it may be to ensure a discussion on that scale, if it should have any bearing it is essential to inform people, make proposals, but also to hear what people have to say, and to foster a maturation process without which there will be no grass-roots ownership. The so-called financial crisis we just experienced is here to witness how far the world and its supposedly most advanced societies were from having adopted human development as a reference. We have to find creative ways of triggering and nurturing reflections in extremely varied cultural and social contexts. The UN global network should be activated to that end as never before. Internet may also be one of the tools put to fruition if we are able to overcome language barriers and do not assume that everything can be done in English – a huge mistake. In this context, the signals the HDR will feed into the debate by revamping its indicators are of utmost importance. If we need to set on a new course, we need beacons which show where we want to head, and benchmarks that enable us to see along the way whether we are on the right track. Many questions have been raised over the years regarding the indicators proposed by UNDP. It is important to review them thoroughly. But somehow, because of the immediate success of the HDI largely due to the global ranking it boasts, the HDR has failed to convey the need for citizens and decision-makers to look at the full dashboard of indicators proposed rather than focus on one of the measuring devices. Composite indexes have their value, but we must strike a balance between gauging how a community is faring altogether and truly understanding the complexity of a situation if we want to steer it in any kind of way. Although the HDI has become a shining star, it is but one of several meters. Over the years, the HDR has enriched the analysis by proposing new indexes, including the GEM, the HPI, etc. However, public attention has remained focused on the HDI ranking even though this is but an average of progress on a time scale, which does not even provide a hint of disparities – hiding even the fact that some of them just grew to unbearable levels. As we revise the concept of HD, it may be wise to insist on the fact that it is measured not just through the HDI but through a whole range of indicators. Should not UNDP run the risk of suggesting what key elements could be retained to make a meaningful dashboard? Then, in order to clearly set a new vision, it could dare proposing a weighing system which would allow ranking countries no longer on the basis of the (revised) HDI alone, but based on the right blending of the various indicators retained. This would send a strong signal. Let us not forget that the ranking has played a major role in ensuring the success of the HDI/HDR. One of the main shortcomings already admitted in the very first HDR was that neither GDP nor the HDI reflected the ecological dimension. The climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity and the depletion of many important natural resources indicate that short of paying sufficient attention to those dimensions, we are reducing the choices human beings can and will be able to make, hence shrinking human development. The HDI does not alert us to the current and coming depletion processes. We therefore need a “greening” of the HDI. It is a complex issue but it must be addressed. Fierce debates in “green circles” on what the ecological footprint and other environmental indexes actually measure give a hint of how technically difficult things can be. But even if one cannot agree on universally acceptable criteria which would reflect in a balanced and sufficiently comprehensive way the various elements which must be taken into account, it should at least be possible to identify a floor of criteria and open a discussion on what else to include and with what weight. Just as was the case for the unsophisticated HDI proposed in 1990, what matters most is the signal sent. Nowadays, short of including that dimension, the HDI is somewhat misleading, and even more so when one considers that the income per capita measured through GDP is already misleading: it computes in the same way life enhancing expenses and spending on repair of social and ecological damages. Anyhow, neglecting to take into account ecological damages and the depreciation of natural resources as if they were not going to incur major costs and a variety of shifts is hugely misleading. Another recurrent question over the years has been the computation of the education component of the HDI. There is no fair way of proceeding. But there may be a better balanced one. It seems that countries that put emphasis on vocation training versus those which value tertiary academic education are somewhat at a disadvantage. There may not be any perfect solution, but something has to be done. Revisiting HD also gives the opportunity to tackle in a satisfactory manner the issue of the relationship between HD and freedoms as well as human rights. In its infant years, the HDR ventured into exploring the relationship between HD and freedoms. As Mahbub Ul Haq used to say, freedoms have something to do with development in that they are one of the ends our societies should pursue, and simultaneously it is useful to know whether freedoms in turn boost other aspects of human development or not. The HDR was not able to merge freedoms into the HDI, but it proposed a human freedom index which raised strong reactions both for technical and political reasons. While a new start can be made by taking a pondered look at those difficulties, it is important to draw lessons from the HDR 2000 that was dedicated to HD and human rights. It was rather well received. However, a carefully reading reveals between the lines a bias in that despite the proclamation that rights are one and indivisible, de facto the Report repeatedly equates human rights with freedoms thus falling back into the old divide of the concepts which prevailed in the West during the cold war. As we revisit HD, it is important to set the record straight and lift ambiguities. Human rights cannot be absent from the dashboard and ignored in the ranking. Yet, there may not be anything harder to include if nothing else because of the lack of consensus there is in the world. In so doing, the guiding principle should therefore be to stick to the principles agreed upon in UN bodies during the recent period, so as to make headway. Easier to handle are the disparities of all kinds (in income, life expectancy, access to education, access to water, etc…). The HDR has circumvented the problem by creating alongside the HDI specific indicators such as the HPI 1 and 2 and the GEM, as well as by offering gender sensitive measures of indexes such as the HDI. More reflection is needed on this. Disparities should jump at our eyes when looking at a HD dashboard, all the more so that they are exacerbated in our present world to the point of obscenity. A handful of riches in an ocean of poor people can drive the HDI value of a community upward if disparities are inflating. This should not be. Some kind of fair mechanism must be built into the actual HDI, not just into the dashboard, in order to reflect excessive disparities. It makes no sense to say that two people earn half a million dollars a year on average if one has one thousand and the other 999,000.-- given that the first one cannot live a decent life and the other will over-consume natural resources if nothing else. The difficulties linked to that are well illustrated by the separate creation of the HPI - and even of two different HPIs. By using different criteria in high level HD countries and low HD ones, the HDR did something which may be academically correct, but which is politically questionable because it blinds us from seeing the global indictment that a one-size-fits-all global index would provide. Much as it is a technical nightmare, it is important to address the issue properly in an ever more globalized world. This leads to another important issue. A sound translation of HD into indicators should not leave us unable to detect upcoming crisis. Social, environmental and economic crisis should all be predictable when looking at the control elements on the dashboard. If the consumption rate of natural resources is superior to their renewal capacity, then the HDI and some other indicators must go down. We have to find ways of not being fooled by the very indicators we use which seem to be good while in fact they may hide a looming crisis. Excessive discrepancies and distortions should be somehow reflected. By the same token, precariousness or the risk of falling into poverty by lack of safety nets should also be made visible. It is not the same to be on one’s own when one is rich than when one is middle-class or poor. This in turn raises questions about the very use of the GDP as one of the components of the HDI. Interesting as it is to measure certain economic flows, it remains one of the most misleading measures ever invented. It does not distinguish between destructive and constructive activities since seen from that angle they both generate added value. It feeds the illusion – to which even the HDR has been prey despite the immense wisdom of those who conceptualized it – that growth is essential whereas the problem must be stated in totally different terms, and much attention is to be paid to the quality of growth. Because GDP presents things in the wrong way, political leaders keep making wrong choices. This was less damaging in a not so interdependent and not so populated world. The new course reached in the 20th Century has made us tilt for ever into a different world in which we can no longer afford being biased by inadequate indicators. How can we equate the income of a farmer or a medical doctor with that of a blood diamonds or drug dealer? In Switzerland the population rejected a referendum which called for a ban on arms trade and in France the government cannot curb the sales of cigarettes because the logic of employment and profits prevails over common good as well as individual and collective health. If our indicators do not reveal what’s wrong in our choices, we’ll just be reinforced into doing what is wrong without ever realizing that there is another way of being together. Today, some of the top political leaders fall prey to the illusion that they have to revive “growth” to solve some of the burning social (and economic) issues. Whereas keeping our eyes on GDP may indeed lead us towards greener pastures, it may also slam our heads on the wall. While GDP can make sense for highly sophisticated statisticians, it is a public hazard when used by political leaders and in public debates. We need another measure of income if we are to contemplate a society which strives to make progresses in terms of HD. There is surely no bigger challenge than drawing attention away from the GDP, but that is exactly what the HDR through the HDI and other innovations started doing. Now is the time to find ways of completing this demining operation. Talking of income, the HDI wisely introduced a cap. Beyond a certain level, income does not contribute to HD even though it may individually increase someone’s comfort. It can even be worse. Excessive income disparity is always the expression of unequal exchange. Further it can only lead to some human beings damaging natural resources way beyond what any human being should be allowed to do in a world which has reached a demographic turning point during the course of the 20th Century. It is therefore not just something that does not increase HD: it can even be something that reverses HD depending on the use made of this monopolization of resources. So, the question becomes: should there even be a penalty in the value of the HDI when the income is above another cap, concentrated into too few hands? Development, just as growth, is an ambiguous word. For some it has to do with wealth, for others with technical progress. For my mother that word used to bring to mind the healthy growth of her children. Human development has been defined by UNDP as the process of enlargement of choices people can make in life. But untamed, this very enlargement can translate into unwise immoderate destruction of our ecosystem and plundering of the assets of our dependants. Sustainable development is generally understood as an evolution path which respects nature. But one of the least respected species is human beings who can be exploited, even traded, abandoned to misery, and the object of fierce financial speculation which is but a form of utter despise. This is why revisiting the HD concept twenty years after the first HDR should integrate all the themes touched upon year after year in the 20 HDR produced. Just as human rights can be declined in various components but are nevertheless one and indivisible, HD has multiple facets all of which must be considered as one and indivisible. HD can no longer be defined simply as a process that enlarges options people have. A society is not on an HD path if it generates huge inequalities, if it discriminates between men and women, if it does not uphold fundamental freedoms, if it damages the environment, if it depletes natural resources, if it does not enhance cultural diversity, if it does not foster multiple identities, if it generates tensions, if it lets speculation mechanisms drive the economy and prevaricate social condition, and if it fuels insecurity. New HD indexes must not just give an indication of average progress of societies, but express the level of cohesion there is in each society and the vulnerability of the assets on which such progress stands. Jean Fabre"

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"Es, sin dudas un reto para la humanidad y sus gobernantes encontrar alternativas factibles a la salida, definitiva del subdesarrollo. El desarrollo, tendrá que concebirse no como un privilegio de países minoritarios sino como un derecho humano más, al menos, sus aristas humanas, sostenibles y sustentables. La responsabilidad de los gobiernos ante sus gobernados será, en última instancia determinante para alcanzar opciones humanístas."

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"MULTILATERALISM IN THE 21st CENTURY The difference between the tens of thousands of years humankind has lived and the period we enter is that by the sheer magic of the demographic numbers we have now reached in a world of finite resources, failure to pioneer global governance measures that enable us to steer our societies in a safe and sustainable direction will lead to crises of unprecedented magnitude and chaos. Much as our societies have made significant strides in human development (HD) during the last 40 years, they also generated large inequalities, set in place uncanny economic and financial instruments and made inconsiderate use of the very natural resources which sustain human life and ensure its comfort. Behind the positive human development statistics hide current suffering and looming crises of unprecedented magnitude. We still behave as if competition within and between nations was appropriate and healthy. But the time has long come to migrate to a new set of principles where global public goods are catered for by all, and solidarity prevails over any other principle. In order to understand what may work, it is important to understand what failed. Some of the very engines of growth and progress of the 19th and 20th centuries are at the roots of what may be remembered as the disasters of the 21st century if no radical changes set us on a new course. The discovery of oil 150 years ago transformed our societies as never before. But it also created the illusion that energy reserves were endless and made our societies heavily dependent on a commodity that will be exhausted by the turn of the century. Productivity gains enabled ever larger numbers of people to enjoy greater comfort and consumer goods. But they drove exploitation of natural resources and particularly non-renewable ones beyond wisdom. Banking fueled investments which ensured economic growth but also fed speculation driving us into absurd virtual finance and perfectly avoidable economic and social shocks which have literally destroyed millions of lives and still put us at considerable risk. Globalization, deregulation, privatization unleashed a number of forces but the negative ones now outweigh the initial benefits populations could draw as a whole. Inequalities are huge, and in an increasingly open world, painful adjustment processes will have to take place on a global scale. The computer revolution and the new information and communication technologies generated possibilities one could not even dream of 50 years ago. But technological gaps also broadened social, economic and knowledge gaps with social groups moving at very different speeds, while instant communication makes that all claim access to the best living standards in a world whose population doubled during the HD growth of the last four decades and is bound to reach 8 billion by 2030. We are in the most fragmented world ever, we have begun a process of depletion of natural resources, and new conflicts have emerged. A number of targets set in the Millennium Development Goals will be missed in part because most rich countries decided not to reach the aid targets which could have created a better and safer world. One fifth of humanity has never been so well off, another fifth is poor while half the population finds it hard to make a living, hunger still affects over 800 million of our fellow citizens, and man-induced climate upheavals threaten some of our best advances. We need to change course, hence adopt indicators that lead us on an equitable and sustainable path, and to steer it all, we need brand new governance. Independent local and national measures, cooperation between sovereign states, trade, competition, conflicts and wars have regulated a world of less than 2 billion people until the creation of the League of Nations which preceded the UN. Global principles, treaties, covenants and international institutions of all kinds flourished during the 20th century, gradually setting in place the instruments of a new governance and rooting the principle of multilateralism. But the new challenges ahead of us call for a brand new generation of principles and institutions. In order to build a sound governance for the 21st century we must acknowledge a number of facts. First of all, since we passed the figure of 6 billion human inhabitants we have now become forever interdependent on planet Earth. Ignoring the fate of people because they live far away or belong to a different community is therefore unrealistic and counter-productive. Second, some of the most pressing problems that confront the entire humankind cannot be solved through measures taken by a limited number of human beings. This is particularly obvious when it comes to natural resources or climate deregulation, but it also applies to some aspects of the economy, health issues, social cohesion, and to security. Either all take part in the solution, or we shall fail. One of the corollaries is that in the 21st century we can no longer afford letting communities in a state in which they cannot make their part of the efforts required to keep up our global commons. Poverty is a luxury of the last century which we cannot afford perpetuating during the current one. Technologies confiscation is holding back progress. Cooperation for equity and creating a level playing field is essential. This requires strengthening UN development institutions without which some countries may never get the assistance they need. It also requires much higher investments in international cooperation which should not be seen as optional aid but as covering the cost of fixing problems which affect us all. Another corollary is the need for a radical change in our governing habits. Most top-down measures will have to be made history. We shall have to adopt slower paths of participatory democracy and co-creation of solutions by all concerned – even, and may be above all, in the face of emergencies. Pretending to impose solutions is an unworkable illusion in a world in which by 2050 some 9 billion people will have to abide by common principles if they are to keep their chin above waters. Information will be key. So will instruction levels. But one of the most difficult governance instruments to set in place will be to organize the global dialogue which must take place for agreeing on the values on which to build the new social, environmental and economic pacts which are to constitute the plinth of the new measures and institutions for the entire humankind in the 21st century. These values cannot emerge from a mere intergovernmental debate. Adding inputs from the organized civil society won’t suffice. Hard as it may be to organize, the debates to come must engage first and foremost rank-and-file citizens – locally, nationally, regionally and globally. All this in a deeply fragmented world in which it is already hard to find a common ground for reforming the UN with a view to enhancing its effectiveness and enlarging its decision-making basis! Devising a global consensus-building mechanism involving all concerned is in fact the toughest – and most exciting – governance challenge we are confronted with. The democracy of the 21st century is to be invented. Third, we all need access to the same resources: land, water, clean air, but also some which are not to be found everywhere: energy sources, minerals, metals, timber, etc. Many are already overdrawn and as we progress into the century with additional population growth and a higher proportion of people who acquire consumer status, these will become even rarer and rarer. Competing for these resources when we are so many is the worst form of approach we can take. It can only bring tensions, let alone conflicts. Catering for everyone’s needs in a true spirit of equity, including through joint innovation ventures, is a far better way. We are currently very far from it! Competition, if not distrust, prevails despite good instances of excellent cooperation around specific issues. Some vital commodities are managed through markets in a logic of profit and speculation where they should be handled through equitable intergovernmental global mechanisms as global public goods. Subtracting a number of commodities from the markets would entail setting in place mechanisms which are not based on “national interests” but on the recognition of everyone’s needs – with subsequent catering mechanisms. If not, what will dominate the period to come will be an exacerbation of competition and possibly a return to the worst practices of war and annexations which characterized the world since horses and sailing ships allowed to explore continents and to be lured by one’s neighbor’s possessions. Dominant trade rules and WTO do not constitute a viable framework for ensuring equitable access to dwindling vital resources. Created in the wake of the Washington consensus, they are more likely to heighten tensions than solve problems. As we devise a new multilateralism for addressing the challenges of the 21st century, we must be careful not to cast in stone economic theories. Blind faith in markets as a global regulator has proven as disastrous as creed in state-based economy. When global institutions impose wrong models, they do more harm than good. Some of the IMF beliefs have played a negative role in the 20th century and worsened if not triggered some of the financial and social crises experienced in developing countries. What matters is to jointly acknowledge global issues, and to define pragmatic principles for managing them in a way that does not place anyone above others. We need mechanisms which protect natural resources in a better way than current ones. Blatant failures at CITES over issues such as red tuna are an illustration of the weaknesses of the present system that still allows knowingly following destructive paths. On the positive side, it is however an illustration of the capacity of states to compromise even at the cost of accepting obvious disasters in order to avoid conflict - but as some resources become scarce, tensions will undoubtedly mount. We need a security council on energy, water, greenhouse gases emissions, food, and natural resources (anticipating the depletion of some ores by the turn of the Century). We need more prevention mechanisms. The propensity to wait for taking the right decisions until damages are excessive is one of the most astonishing factors in modern history. It will not fly a lot longer as the magnitude and intensity of problems mount. Shifts in priorities will become imperative. A lot more resources will have to be mobilized to implement orphaned albeit much needed programs such as the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, but that will require realizing that dry-lands are an asset, not a liability and can offer solutions to a range of problems from food security to energy and climate change. Population numbers, disparities and modern technologies combined will make human security and the fight against criminality issues to be given high priority in the coming decades. These can only be addressed properly in a multilateral framework. New approaches will be required which should include financial criminality and new mechanisms to extend the powers of the International Criminal Court as well. Although this is an area which will meet with fierce resistance by a number of governments for obvious reasons, it is time to open the debate. There cannot be any trust in new multilateral mechanisms when there is no multilateral police and justice system, and when a powerful government can get away with declaring that it will withdraw from a trade institution if it is condemned more than three times by its arbitration court. A modern multilateralism can only emerge to the extent that people understand that it is in the common interest – and that it is in one’s own interest to attend to the needs of others. Human security must therefore be taken into account in all its dimensions. The HDR 2010 should draw from the series of reports published during the 20 years which elapsed since 1990 and integrate the various themes it touched for defining a modern multilateralism. People can rally the HD vision if they see in it a coherent system which makes sense. Hence the need to build the new governance on the reaffirmation of the universal dimension of human rights, the true indivisibility of rights which do not just equate with freedom understood as “laisser-faire”, and to include protection mechanisms which function across borders. A new multilateralism must also enhance cultural diversity and identities. History teaches us that preservation of one’s identity is one of the most powerful drivers. There is a perception that globalization threatens diversity. Multilingualism must be fostered – which does not mean adding English to one’s language. Architectural diversity should be encouraged. Further, the new multilateral system should make sure that matters are handled according to the principle of subsidiarity. This means that decisions should be taken at the nearest and least centralized possible level which ensures that all possible stakeholders’ interests are taken into account. Cooperation and sharing will be more widely adhered to if the kind of multilateralism we propose fosters grass-roots democracy and diversity instead of aligning all on some sort of unwarranted universal standards. One of the biggest challenges for building a new multilateralism is to rethink economic and financial governance. The lessons from the huge human impact of the explosion of financial bubbles during the last decades have not been drawn. Virtual economy has even been vigorously re-launched after the subprime crisis in the USA drew hundreds of millions of people across the globe into a tough recession. Speculation mechanisms in all fields remain untouched as if they did not destroy millions of lives. Currencies, i.e. the respective values of people’s time and work in distinct communities, are still regulated by a handful of gamblers on speculative markets. No analysis is made of the destructive role of pension funds both in social and economic terms. Tax heavens are thriving as before, untouched by grand statements and political gesticulation. No significant overhaul of the IMF and the World Bank is envisaged although their governance is outdated and unfair. Building an authentic and relevant economic and financial governance for the 21st century is not just a matter of institutions and power sharing within them. It starts with questioning the very theories which underpin their policies. And it also calls for bringing trade institutions in the picture. The positions in the world are so far apart that it could very well be that only the destructive might of shocks to come may stand a chance of triggering the rethinking and reforms which are in fact urgently needed now. But we cannot submit to defeatism. All these things have to be analyzed from a HD viewpoint. Bold proposals must be put forward. We are not at a time in history when adjustments to existing mechanisms will suffice. Whether governments, economic forces and people are able to contemplate now the depth of the transformations that are required to build healthy societies is another issue. If we really believe that “every human being counts”, if we put any faith in article one of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which proclaims that all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights, then we must state the true terms of the equation we are all called to resolve together. It is time to do so, even if we do not yet have all answers. The path to follow is not an easy one. Transition measures must therefore be devised. The new multilateralism that stems from the revised notion of human development will also emerge in part from the practice of multiple co-operations around specific issues (water, agriculture, energy, etc.). We need some sort of learning process that will help us graduate into the kind of understanding of why things have gone off hand, why it is not worse than one could expect, and what may at last set things on a new course. It is time to revisit the notion of global public goods and analyze how they relate to human development. Realizing that we are now truly sailing on the same ship may help us open our minds to the fact that in a crew everyone should not just keep fit but make sure that other team members are at their best. Jean Fabre"

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"Es de gran importancia el informe de IDH, como vision global de planeacion sim embargo hay un camino muy largo por recorrer pues los avances en las metas no son clarosn en su seguimiento en los entes territoriales y en los planes de desarrollo, ademas se estan desconociendo los planes integrales de vida de las comunidades de los pueblos indigenas."

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"Human development should also be analysed under the outlines of culture as caste, religion, etc when studies are conducted in India because India is a culture specific country and nothing is possible here without considering these points. These factors are making an important pace as barriers in the access of education in Tribal India are lowered."

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"En analysant cette phrase lue dans votre rapport:"Une autre découverte frappante de la part de Gray et Purser, c’est que le lien entre la croissance économique et les changements en ce qui concerne les éléments du développement humain indépendants des revenus pendant la période de leur étude est pratiquement nul. Ces résultats suggèrent que le principe souvent répété selon lequel la croissance est une condition nécessaire à l’augmentation du développement humain est tout simplement fausse.", je crois tout simplement qu'il faut revoir la manière de calculer l'IDH. D'autres facteurs doivent être pris en compte."

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"The problem is that human beings don’t understand the reality yet. Mahatma Gandhi said “God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the west… keeping the world in chains. If our nation took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts”. Would you imagine if we add China or, better, all of us to the fairground?"

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"Poco puedo agregar, desde una mirada global del problema de DH. despues de lo dicho por varios y especialmente por Jean Fabre. Sin perjuicio de lo cual deseo hacer algún comentario referido a la Argentina, un país que pudo ser, y que aún puede. Habemos muchos con memoria de lo que en materia educativa, fue. Digo puede ser por que no podemos desconocer que en base a intereses, espúrios, me remito solo a los nacionales, el país desde hace várias décadas ha entrado en un proceso de involución educativai increible ello no solo viene atentando contra las posibildades de desarrollo del país, sino del DH en nuestro país.Sin educacion y sin cultura no hay Desarrllo Humano Posible. Lo penoso es que estamos frente a un país que goza de todo tipo de recursos naturales, incluso de aquellos que ya falan en otros. No es verdad, de acuerdo a las estadísticas globales, que en mi país disminuyera el nivel de analfabetismo, esta apreciación es relativa, por que cuando la gente no ha aprendido a razonar, a imaginar, es un analfabeto en todo sentido hasta emocionl. Aunque hubiera aprendido básicamente a leer y escribir. Cuando la educación es deficiente, de acuerdo a la complejidad de las circunstancias por las que globalmente atraviesa el mundo, y aún la gente que se supone más capacitada vive inmersa en la inconciencia de las necesidades de la mayoría sin descartar el desconocimiento de la sabiduría, y las necesidades por las que atraviesan las culturas originales, no podemos afirmar que estamos mejor que hace 40 años atrás. En mi país se han perdido los valores para eso debemos EDUCAR, pero nadie escucha esta necesidad, las autoridades solo piensan en como aumentar horas de clase, sin atender a las verdaderas inquietudes, de los jóvenes y de la sociedad. Hace años se presentó ante PNUD un trabajo de capacitación a docentes, en el que solapadamente, se preveían modificaciones en materia educativa, se proponía la capacitación a docentes en prevención de violencia. Ese programa fue elaborado desde una mirada prospectva por quien suscribe, es de carácter transformativo, interdisciplinario, y trasdisciplinario. Esa propuesta que data realmente del año 1998 era y sigue siendo ampliada y mejorada ya preveía el estímulo de la imaginación, la participaci´n, la investigación , el trabajo en equipo,el seguimiento de los maestros profesores a cargo de la intercomunicación entre los alumnos, estimulando la solidaridad, la empatía. El programa prevee una capacitación a todos los agentes educativos, sin dejar de lado a las familias. En virtud de la fuerte cabida que se le está dando internacionalmente a las ONG y Fundaciones es que he determinado constituirme en fundación, pero aún así aunque cuento con un equipo con toda la solvencia profesional, en la medida que no logre sponsors, que me permitan dictar estas capacitaciones gratuitamente como lo vengo haciendo en el norte del país,aquí en Bs. As., ya la camada de maestros responde la la misma brutalidad en la que fueron inmersos, y por tanto todo esfuerzo,intelectual, que no le reporte puntos para mejorar su escalafón, no le interesa,de manera que me veo amañatada desde hace años, por que esos puntos no son reconocidos, por el Ministerio de Educación. Ahora estamos intentando entrar por otra via cual es la de Acción Social, dado que elecciones mediantes, para la evitar la violencia de todo tipo, es factible que estos programas sean aceptados. ¿ Que es lo que quiero comunicar con todo esto ?. Simplemente....que sin ser unicasalista, sin estimar que el Programa de Sembrando Paz, sea la solución de todo cuanto acontece, estimando solo que es un importante recurso para el avance de un DH integral y sostenible, sustenado en valores y a tono con los tiempos de información globalizada, mientras no exista voluntad política para lograrlo, estaremos atados de pies y manos. Actualmente gracias a la importancia que se le está dando desde organismos internacionales como todos los ligados en el área de ONU al trabajo de las instituciones, es que también Sembrando en procura de auspicios económicos muy magros, muy magros para lo qe significaría su tarea....intentará lanzar, propuestas de charlas abiertas a la comunidad seminarios y cursos, para todos aquellos que ávidos de Paz, entiendan de que se trata, comprendan que la paz se aprende y ver si por lo menos zonalmente,regionalmente si no encontrams obstáculos de ninguna indole, podemos Junto con la Fundación Ecos de la Patria Grande, comenzar a trabajar para Sembrar Paz. Contando ahora con un aval cual es el de la Universidad de Salta, para poder entregar certificados amén de la responsabilidad de ambas fundaciones. Que venimos desde hace años trabajando practicamente ad-honoren aunque quienes lean estas líneas no lo puedan creer y a fuerza de fe y capacitación e intercambio, con universidades de otros países de conocimientos. Sin dinero es muy complicado llevar adelante propuestas que solo se han estudiado y se siguen estudiando, pensando tan solo en el bien común. El talento que hay en la Argentina se ventea, o se pierde la linea ética, o es muy complicado sobrevivir en términos económicos, ocupandonos con pasión de lo que creemos es además nuestro deber que tiene un sentido de misión. Es fundamental que los Seres Humanos comprendan la realidad en la que seencuentran inmersos, globalmente."

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"Las estadísticas se pueden leer de muchas maneras y por lo tanto son relativas. Pero ¿podemos decir que hemos avanzado cuando muchas personas no tienen qué comer y un entrenador de futbol tiene un sueldo mensual de 700.000.000 de pesos chilenos?"

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