By: Ms.

Josille Marquez
 UNITED NATIONS’S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
GOALS

 The United Nations (UN) which is considered as an international organization

tried to address the different problems in the world. Their efforts were guided by
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations
Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for
people and the planet, now and into the future.

 At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an
urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global
partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go
hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce
inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and
working to preserve our oceans and forests.
 Before the SDGs, UN had the Millennium Development Goals and tried to achieve in
2015. In terms of eradicating poverty, it becomes problematic and difficult to fully
achieve this goal since there are different standards of living around the world
depending on the economic status of each country as a member of UN.

 Years after the composition of the MDGs, UN reported that 836 million people are still
living in extreme poverty but it went down from 1.9 billion. It can be noticed that
although it does not totally eradicate poverty, there is a slight success when it comes
to the eradication of extreme poverty in the world.

 It can be seen that UN had made a difference and somehow contributed in

eradicating poverty but the greatest contributor would be the E C O N O M I C
GLOBALIZATION since world economies have become more interconnected since
the start of free trade in each country.
 It refers to the increasing interdependence of world economies as a
result of a growing scale of cross-border trade of commodities and
services, ( ex. imports and exports of products) flow of international
capital (presence of multinational corporations in other countries
around the world), and wide and rapid spread of technologies.

 There are two types of economies as associated with E C O N O M I C

GLOBALIZATION. These are PROTECTIONISM and TRADE
LIBERALIZATION.
 It means a policy of systematic government intervention in foreign trade with the
objective of encouraging domestic production. This encouragement involves
giving preferential treatment to domestic producers and discriminating against
foreign competitors.

 It actually means that the government would implement or say for example impose
tariffs or quotas to imported products in order to make sure that the domestic
product would be prioritized and patronized first by the citizen rather than
purchasing foreign products that are imported by the country. The goal of this
policy is to protect the domestic producers.

 Countries such as China, Japan and the US are examples of this economy accdg to
Ritzer.
 World War II heavily influenced the shifting of the dominant
economic policy from protectionism to trade liberalization of free
trade. Free trade agreements and technological advances in
transportation and communication means goods and services move
around the world more easily than ever.

 This economic policy focuses more on free trade being governed by

free trade agreements entered by different countries. Its focus is
more on open-market. It means that products and services are free to
enter in different country.
 Sustainable development refers to the degree to which the earth’s
resources can be used for our needs even in the future. It refers to the
development of our world today by using the earth’s resources and
the preservation of such resources for the future.

 Economic globalization resulted into lack of sustainability. Why?

Because development entails the continuous production of the
world’s natural resources resulting into disadvantage in the
environment where our resources coming from and therefore cannot
preserve or secure for the sustainability of our future.
 Development was hastened by the Industrial Revolution. Industrial
Revolution is a period wherein different industries or factories
emerged in theeconomy.

 Cycle of EFFICIENCY also was made possible under Industrial

Revolution. Efficiency refers to finding the quickest possible way of
producing large amount of particular product. Since that there was an
increased in the demand, they tend to always produce large amount
of product. This resulted to a harm in the planet such as the emission
of carbon from factories resulted into the damage of atmosphere.
 Harvey (2005) noted that neoliberals and environmentalists debate the impact
of free trade on the environment.

 Environmentalists argue that environmental issues should be given priority over

economic issues since free trade through its expansion of manufacturing is
associated with environmental damage.

 Neoliberals saw the efforts of environmentalists as serious impediment to trade.

 On the other hand, some seek to integrate environmentalists and neoliberalist

ideas. Ecological modernization theory sees globalization as a process that can
both protect and enhance the environment through inventing ways of enhancing
the environment.
 Global food security means delivering sufficient food for the entire world population.
It is the concern of all countries and it means the sustainability of society such as
population growth, climate change, water scarcity and agriculture.

 Breene (2016) cited the case of India wherein that country is accounted for 18 percent
of the economy’s output in Agriculture and 4 7 % of its workforce and considered as the
2 nd bigg est producer of vegetables in the world. Despite of those facts, still 194
millions of Indians are considered as undernourished .It means that there is a
challenge in food security because despite of the fact that a specific country is
capable of producing any crop, it doesn’t guarantee that there is a food security within
the country.

 Failure in food sue to environmental damages as a result of development of

globalization. Environment or natural resources is very important since it is the source
of our food.
 Economic and trade globalization is the result of companies trying to outmaneuver their
competitors. As a result, these companies are searching for the cheapest way to produce
a specific product in order to gain more profit. Tendency is they tend to produce
products in other country which has lower wages and weak regulation when it comes to
salary of the workers. This process creates inequality as it produces WINNERS and
LOSERS.

 Winners are those business owners who will benefit from the high profit and those
consumers who will also benefit by purchasing a product with a low price since it is
produced in a much lower capital.

 Losers are those low wage foreign workers since they are being thrown into hazardous
working conditions and being paid in a much lower salary.
 Multiplier effect means an increase in one economic activity can lead to an
increase in other economic activities. (Ex. When someone invested in a local
business, it will create more job opportunities as the business owner will have to
hire employees for the management of their business.) It simply suggests that there
is a positive impact coming from economic globalization as it produces more job
opportunities for thepeople.

 However, opponents of economic globalization think that outsourcing of jobs is a

way of exploitation and oppression, a form of economic colonialism that puts
profits before the people. As a result of low income and hazardous working
conditions of the employees, few calls for protectionist policies like imposing high
tariffs and limitations on outsourcing.
 One of the best ways to help those in extreme poverty is to enable them to
participate in the economy. A perfect example is microcredit. In 2006, a
Bangladeshi professor named Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for
giving small loans on average around $100 to low-income people in rural areas.
The borrowers used this loan to fund plans in order to increase their income by
meansof starting small businesses.

 Microcredit does not totally solve the problem of extreme poverty but supports the
idea that it enables the people to participate in the economy that can make their
lives better. According to Yunus, these poor people must innovate everyday in
order to survive. They have the innovation but they remain poor because ethey
don’t have the means to turn their creativity into sustainable income because they
don’t have the capital.
 The division of nations such as the terms “the North and the South”, “developed
and less developed”, the “core and the periphery” suggests that there are
differences between countries and it reflects INEQUALITY in the Contemporary
World.

 There are two types of Global Economic Inequality; Wealth Inequality and Income
Inequality.

 Wealth refers to the net worth of a country . It takes into account all the assets of the
nation whether is natural (Natural resources that a country has), physical
(businesses within the country) and human (workforce of a specific country.) less
the liabilities. Wealth inequality therefore speaks about the distribution of assets.
There is no monetary measures that sums up the assets.
 Income is the new earnings that are constantly being added to the pile of a
country’s wealth. Example is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Income
inequality therefore talks about the earning which are being distributed and values
about the flow of goods and services. Unlike in wealth, income has a monetary
measures.

 According to the Global Wealth report, global wealth today is estimated to be

about 3.5 trillion dollars and it is not distributed to different countries equally.
Therefore, there is inequality between different countries. Countries like US and
Japan were able to increase their wealth leaving other countries behind.
  Branko Millanovic (2011) explained global inequality by describing
an “economic big bang” wherein Industrial Revolution caused the
differences among countries. Through the explosion of industry and
modern technology, some countries become economically
developed while others are developing countries. It resulted to
economic gap between different countries maybe because some
countries cannot afford to have modern technology. (Samakatuwid, di
nila kayang makisabay sa Industrial Revolution kung kayat naiiwan
sila.)

SOURCE: "The Contemporary World" Book by Prince Kennex Reguyal Aldama

 The idea of “First, Second and Third World” refers to the hierarchy of countries
during the Cold War. During this period, Western policymakers began talking
about the world as three distinct political and economic blocs such as the 1st,2nd
and 3rd world countries.

 Western Capitalist Countries are labelled as the FIRST WORLD

 Soviet Union and its allies were termed as the S E C O N D WORLD

 Everyone else (Not included or allies of Western or Soviet Union) were grouped as
the THIRD WORLD
 However, during the end of the Cold War period, the term 2 nd World became null
and void as the Soviet Union collapsed.

 In terms of the 1st world- from being a Western Countries before, it was associated
to developed or rich or industrialized countries.

 In terms of 3 rd world- from being non-alliance countries, they started to be

associated to impoverished states or undeveloped states.

 That is the reason why these terms become outdated and inaccurate.
 A simpler classification was created due to this outdated concept of classification.

 GLOBAL NORTH- refers to the first world countries before such as US, Canada, Western
Europe, and developed parts of Asia.

 GLOBAL SOUTH- includes the Caribbean, Latin America, South America, Africa and other
parts of Asia. These countries were used to be called as Third World Countries before
during the Cold War era.

 However, this classification point largely to RACIAL INEQUALITY between the Black and
White since whites are disproportionately in the North while blacks are most primarily in the
South. Racial inequality in a way that blacks are being discriminated as someone belongs to
the undeveloped states because most of them can be found in the South.
 The rural-urban differentiation has a significant relationship to globalization. Rural
refers to the characteristics of being a countryside rather than town while urban is
the characteristic of being a town or city.

 Globalization has altered North-South relations in Agriculture. According to

McMichael, the relations of agricultural production have been replaced due to the
rise of global agribusiness and factory farms.

 In this scenario, the South produces non-traditional products to export to another

countries and becomes independent on importing industrialized food being
exported by the North. It therefore displaces local farmers . Rural economies are
exposed to mass migration.
  Sassen used this concept to describe the three urban centers of New York (US),
London, (UK) and Tokyo (Japan) as economic centers that exert control over the
world’s political economy.

 These urban cities are beneficiaries of globalization. However, Bauman claimed

that they are also the most severely affected by global problems. Therefore, they
face the peculiar or special political problems since they are the most affected in a
specific country.“Local politics has become hopelessly overloaded”.

SOURCE: "The Contemporary World" Book by Prince Kennex Reguyal Aldama