G-20 LEADERS URGED TO CURB HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CRISIS

KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 (Bernama) -- The United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) has called on the G-20 leaders meeting in London Thursday to focus on and
address the human development predicaments faced by the world's poorest
countries.

It warned that the current global economic crisis, which began with the
severe strain on the financial and banking system in parts of the developed
world, risked worsening the human development crisis unless urgent and decisive
action was taken to protect the most vulnerable.

"We must be cognizant of the vulnerability of developing countries to the
negative impact of numerous interconnected crises: financial, climate change,
food and energy price volatility. Indeed, we should treat these crises as common
rather than separate challenges.

"These challenges underscore the need to ensure that addressing
vulnerability and food security remains a top policy priority in addition to the
creation of equitable and sustainable economic growth," the UNDP Resident
Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, Kamal Malhorta, said in a
statement here Thursday.

He said evidence-based policies for sustainable food production, maintenance
of food buffer stocks, and contingency plans for food security and disaster risk
reduction were also equally important.

"Existing informal and formal safety nets and social protection policies for
vulnerable groups also need to be strengthened," he added.

Analyses of past recessions revealed that poor countries suffered
substantially more than their richer counterparts, not just in terms of job and
income loss, but also in health and education indicators -- life expectancy,
school enrolment and completion rates all dropped.

In low-income countries, women, children and the poorest segments of the
society were the most susceptible to the consequence of economic collapse.

Kamal said the UNDP would also continue to monitor the impact of the global
economic crisis on Malaysia.

"The UNDP remains committed to assisting the country to address both the
short-term implications of the crises and the more structural longer-term
solutions that will be necessary if they are not to recur in the future," he
said.

He said it was also currently working with governments all over the world to
monitor the situation and help to mitigate the crisis, design social protection
measures, keep health and education services intact, generate employment
programmes and develop food security initiatives.

-- BERNAMA