Boston Globe: U.N. ambassador can reset development agenda
Bjørn Lomborg, president and founder of the Copenhagen Consensus Center

“America’s new United Nations ambassador, Kelly Craft, has an opportunity to help refocus global development efforts, using U.S. clout to ensure every dollar spent does more to help people and the planet. Craft is taking her position at a pivotal time, four years after the ratification of the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs … With little more than one decade left, implementation desperately needs shaking up. … Craft should call on all nations to prioritize the most powerful targets — and the United States should lead by example. … The U.S. could help by pushing for more transparency on which targets will deliver the most benefit for every rupee, shilling, peso, or dollar spent. A starting point is the list of 19 best-buy targets identified by Nobel laureate economists for [the] Copenhagen Consensus. … The Nobel laureates found that investment in child nutrition has incredible results … Tuberculosis requires the world’s attention. … [F]ocusing on the elimination of violence against women and girls is vital for both moral and economic reasons. … Expanding contraception and family planning access is also important. … The development agenda needs an overhaul. The Nobel laureates found that money spent on the 19 most powerful targets would achieve the same as quadrupling global aid spending. That would be an incredibly powerful legacy for the new ambassador” (4/22).