The Foreign Service Journal, February 2012

12 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 2 accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad to understand the concerns. Now, Tiefer emphasizes, “State will have its own private army of security contractors, and they haven’t dealt with things on this scale.” State Department officials acknow- ledge they have never done anything quite like the Iraq transition, but they are determined to succeed. “Make no mistake, this is hard,” Deputy Secre- tary of State for Management and Re- sources Thomas Nides told the Wash- ington Post in October. But, he added, “We’ve spent too much money and lost too many kids’ lives not to do this thing right.” — Susan Brady Maitra, Senior Editor Environmental Trends Point the Wrong Way Development progress in the world’s poorest countries could be halted or even reversed by mid-cen- tury unless bold steps are taken now to slow climate change, prevent further environmental damage, and reduce deep inequalities within and among nations. That is according to projec- tions in the 2011 Human Develop- ment Report, which the United Nations Development Program ( www. undp.org ) issued on Nov. 2, 2011. Titled “Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All,” the 2011 re- port argues that environmental sus- tainability can be most fairly and effectively achieved by addressing health, education, income and gender disparities, and by taking action glob- ally on energy production and ecosys- tem protection. The report was released in Copen- hagen by UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, whose new government has pledged to reduce Denmark’s carbon dioxide emissions by a dramatic 40 percent over the next 10 years. Here are some key findings and regional highlights from the study: • Norway, Australia and the Neth- erlands lead the world in the 2011 Human Development Index, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger and Burundi are at the bottom of the annual rankings of national achievement in health, education and income. • The United States, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Ger- many and Sweden round out the top 10 countries in the 2011 HDI. But when the index is adjusted to take into account internal inequalities in health, education and income, some of the wealthiest nations drop out of the HDI’s top 20. For instance, the U.S. falls from number four to 23, the Re- public of Korea from 15 to 32, and Is- rael from 17 to 25. • By 2050, projecting recent posi- tive regional human development trends forward, sub-Saharan Africa’s average Human Development Index rating could rise by an estimated 44 percent. Conversely, failure to reduce environmental risks and income in- equalities could stall or even reverse economic progress. • Arab countries have made steady progress over the past 40 years in in- come, education and health care. However, Human Development Index rankings for the 19 states surveyed show extremely divergent patterns. The United Arab Emirates (30), Qatar (37) and Bahrain (42) all rank in the top quarter of nations, while Sudan (169), Djibouti (165) and Yemen (154) are in the lowest grouping. • Pollution, deforestation and rising sea levels threaten development in the island nations of Asia and the Pacific, while South Asia must overcome acute poverty and internal inequalities to maintain current rates of progress. • Throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia, human development lev- els continue to rise, with greater equal- ity than other areas of the developing world. However, internal income gaps are widening in many countries, and environmental deterioration could po- tentially further undermine hard-won progress in the region. • Latin American and Caribbean nations are reducing wide income in- equalities, even as many of them take steps to address deforestation and other environmental threats. Still, the report urges even bolder action, both by individual nations and across the hemisphere, to address rising sea lev- els and other climate change chal- lenges. — Steven Alan Honley, Editor State Celebrates Diplomacy In November the Department of State launched a new Web site, Dis- cover Diplomacy ( http://diplomacy. state.gov/discoverdiplomacy/ ), t o highlight the myriad ways in which “diplomacy and international issues af- fect individual citizens, as well as gov- ernments and businesses worldwide.” Aimed at the general public, the site invites visitors to “discover the people who conduct diplomacy, the places where the Department of State en- gages in diplomacy, and the issues diplomacy helps resolve.” Through a Diplomacy 101 portal, visitors can click on an interactive map to learn what issues selected posts are working on, consult a diplomatic dic- tionary that defines common (and not so common) terms, and much more. — Steven Alan Honley, Editor C Y B E R N O T E S