Post 2015: Global Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future

10.3.1 Poverty eradication as part of
inclusive and sustainable development
the mDGs were not conceived as a prescriptive
global agenda for human development, even if they
were sometimes interpreted as such (vandemoortele,
2012). nonetheless, there is a growing expectation
that a post-2015 framework will have to articulate
an ambitious and comprehensive vision for
development. In that case, a new framework will
have to reflect a purpose that goes well beyond
the mDGs, as well as adapt to a changing global
context.
this report has highlighted several potential
elements of a post-2015 development agenda. Some
issues that were neglected or underplayed in the
mDG framework include the multi-dimensional
nature of poverty, inequality, economic growth
and the production sectors, employment and
environmental sustainability, among the many
others included in the millennium Declaration
(chapter 1). In order to better reflect a vision of
inclusive and sustainable development, a post-2015
agreement should incorporate these aspects. In
particular, the need for a broader understanding of
the multiple dimensions of poverty notwithstanding,
the fact that poverty eradication should remain
central. a greater focus on inclusiveness will
be critical to tackling horizontal and vertical
inequalities, which often undermine progress and
threaten stability. Environmental sustainability
needs to be reconsidered, especially in its links to
sustained economic growth and poverty reduction.
Finally, the achievement of this vision will require
a fresh and bold transformational agenda. the
following paragraphs provide a brief rationale for
their inclusion in a post-2015 framework. It is,
however, beyond the scope of this report to propose
a list of potential development goals, targets, or
indicators.
Poverty eradication remains an imperative
for the international development community,
although the understanding of poverty needs to
be reconsidered. the $1.25 a day measurement
of extreme poverty provides a useful benchmark
for evaluating living standards since it allows
for international comparisons across countries
and over time. It also has important drawbacks.
as highlighted in chapter 5, in many parts of
the world, such a low poverty line is of limited
relevance. While there is some value in retaining
internationally comparable poverty lines, there
is also a rationale for complementing them with
national poverty lines that can better capture local
contexts.
poverty lines also tend to create artificial divides
between people with identical living standards who
are just below or above the line. this tends to mask
vulnerabilities, and can be particularly misleading
if there is a high concentration of people just
above the poverty line. poverty is also a dynamic
phenomenon, with many people moving in and
out of poverty over the course of their lives, often
frequently. It is thus important to consider multiple
and differentiated poverty lines in order to obtain
a more complete and accurate picture of the nature
of poverty.
Greater inclusiveness requires not only the
eradication of extreme poverty, but also a reduction
in relative poverty, since both are indicative of
economic and social exclusion. relative poverty
matters for social justice, as it is closely linked to
inequality, but also because it undermines people’s
ability to participate fully in society. Given recent
trends in the reduction of extreme poverty, relative
measures have become much more important in
many contexts.
non-income dimensions of poverty should also
be considered. While income is an important
means to achieve decent living standards, it is not
an end in itself. In fact, because low incomes often
do not correlate well with other dimensions of
deprivation, such as capabilities, it is important to
also consider non-income measures of poverty. a
poSt-2015: Global actIon For an IncluSIvE anD SuStaInablE FuturE
Poverty
eradication
remains an
imperative for
the international
development
community,
although the
understanding of
poverty needs to
be reconsidered.
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