UN Millennium Development Library

This library is the output of the Millennium Development Project, an independent advisory body commissioned by the UN Secretary-General to advise the UN on strategies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the set of internationally agreed upon targets for reducing poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women by 2015.

This library runs to 1500+ pages, in 15 volumes. Probably the best summary volume to purchase is 'Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals', available from NHBS. For more information on the Millennium Development Project, see the website http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/.

The library is distinct from the 'Millennium Ecosystem Assessment project', which is also outputting a vast amount of data and analysis in 2005. For more information on the MA, search nhbs.com on 'Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.'

From the MDP website:

Headed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the UN Millennium Project is an independent advisory body and has recently presented its report, Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals, to the Secretary-General. The research of the Millennium Project is performed by more than 265 development experts through 10 Task Forces. Each Task Force comprises independent experts drawn from academia, the public and private sectors, civil society organizations, and UN agencies. A small secretariat housed at the UN Development Programme Headquarters facilitates and coordinates the work of the Task Forces.

The UN Millennium Project presented its findings to the Secretary-General on 17 January in what was the first in a series of major global initiatives on the Millennium Development Goals in 2005. These events will culminate in a high-level summit of the General Assembly on the Goals in September. 2005 represents a historic chance for making the necessary global policy breakthrough needed to help the poorest countries achieve the Goals. The UN Millennium Project's report provides a detailed blueprint for making this happen.

If the world achieves the MDGs, more than 500 million people will be lifted out of poverty. A further 250 million will no longer suffer from hunger. 30 million children and two million mothers who might reasonably have been expected to die will be saved.