Development
International Development is a concept that has arisen from the cooperation of the international community since the end of the Second World War, notably since the establishment of the United Nations and the ratification of the Bretton Woods Agreements, effectively creating the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank in 1945.
Since then, an increasing number of agencies, development banks and organisations have been established, each providing technical and/or financial assistance in both the developed and developing world, ranging from the support of transport infrastructures in Europe, to the promotion of human rights in Africa, from education sector development in Southern America, to increasing access to health care in southern Asia. Development assistance is increasingly harmonised according to the principles established under agreements such as the Paris Declaration and Accra Agreements on Aid Coordination.
Development funding reached nearly US$450 billion in 2007 according to the OECD, representing 0.3% of GNI of DAC member states. Despite this, the World Bank estimates that approximately ¼ of those living in the developing world live below the poverty threshold, the Food and Agriculture estimates that there are currently 923 million malnourished people in the world, and recent studies have shown that 1.1 billion lack access to safe water, 2.6 lack access to proper sanitation, and 4 billion have no wastewater processing facilities.
By 2025 the 50% of the world’s population is likely to live under conditions of sever water stress.