Forget ‘developing’

poor countries,
it's time to de-develop’
rich countries.
B Y : J A S O N H I C K E L
UN’s new sustainable development
(2015)
Main Objective: eradicate poverty by
2030
We think SDG offers new fresh plan
on how to save the world, but
beneath all the hype, it’s business as
usual
Main strategy for eradicating poverty
is still growth
Growth has been the
main object of
development for the
past 70 years

Since 1980, the

economy has growth
by 380%

But the number of

people living in
poverty on less than
$5 (3.20 euro) has
increased by more
than 1.1 billion
Orthodox economics insist that all we need
is more growth
More progressive types tell us we need to
shift some of the yields of growth from the
richer segments of the population to the
poorer ones
Neither approach is adequate because of
the current levels of average global
consumption
Overshooting our planet’s bio-capacity by
more than 50% each years
Economist Peter Edward
He argues that instead of pushing
poorer countries to “catch up”
with rich ones, we should be
thinking of ways to get rich
countries to “catch down”

People who lived a long and

happy life at relatively low levels
of income and consumption
“Exemplar of Efficient Living”
 Some of the excess income and consumption we
see in the rich world yields improvements in
quality of life that are not captured by life
expectancy, or even literacy rates.

Ex. Costa Rica

#One of the highest happiness indicators and life
expectancies in the world
#Per capita income one-fourth that of the US
Q&A Portion
Question # 1

The number of people living in

poverty on less than $5 (3.20 euro)
has increased by more than 1.1
billion. That’s _______ the
population of Britain.
Question # 2

Global crisis is due almost

entirely to ________ in
rich countries.
Question # 3
Who said that instead of pushing
poorer countries to “catch up” with
rich ones, we should be thinking of
ways to get rich countries to
“catch down” to more appropriate
levels of development?
Question # 4

We are overshooting our

planet’s bio-capacity by
more than ______.
Question # 5
We should look at societies where
people live long and happy lives at
relatively low levels of income and
consumption not as basket cases
that need to be developed towards
western models, but as exemplars
of?