Are the Millenium Development Goals achievable - Essay Example

However, as years passed, it was increasingly apparent that these goals would not be realized. Today, the declaration is already halfway through its timetable and this paper will discuss why the MDG will be a failure by the year 2015. One of the main targets of the Millennium Development Goals is the eradication of at least 50% of the world’s poverty. This has been one of the most problematic areas in realizing the objectives due to its financial implications. Adrian Bradbrook (2005), for instance, argued that in order for about 1 billion people to live beyond the $1 dollar a day benchmark, they would need to have access to modern energy services, as this is an important precondition for the eradication of poverty. (224) The magnitude of this dilemma is staggering.

Bradbrook stated that a cumulative investment of US$200 to $400 billion dollars ($40 billion per year) for people to access energy services such as electricity, liquid and gaseous fuels, electrical appliances for cooking and so on. This challenge is highlighted by the decline in finances of international agencies and the failure of respective governments to generate funds themselves in order to address basic energy needs due to fiscal difficulties. This is besides other factors that require large scale funding such as the installation of infrastructures and technologies that will spur development in poor countries.

Here, we encounter another dilemma in addressing the issue on international partnership on development. One should remember that overseas development assistance extended by developed countries are generally conditional, and in the realist view, are driven by self-interest. That is why the institutionalization of welfare principles in this front, which is central to the MDG’s success, has been nothing but rhetoric. The US leadership in the world community is also one huge determining factor in the fate of the Millennium