United Nations Radio

The World Bank warns that without concerted effort to spur strong and inclusive growth, most countries will fall short on the Millennium Development Goals by the due date of 2015.

While the goal of decreasing extreme poverty by half is set to be reached globally, other targets such as reducing malnutrition and child and maternal mortality, and achieving primary school completion will not be achieved at the present rate of progress. The report, issued Tuesday, also stresses the link between environment and development and calls for urgent action on climate change. The report's lead author, Zia Qureshi, says extreme weather events affect the poor the most:

"In the 1990s as many as 200 million people in developing countries were affected by climate change-related disasters. The comparable figure in developed countries is just one million. So the developing countries, especially poor countries have a much higher level of vulnerability to environmental stresses and climate change."

The report's authors are optimistic that with stronger efforts by the countries themselves and their development partners, most Millennium Development Goals remain achievable for most countries.

Reporting for United Nations Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.

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