Jeffry Sachs

Professor Jeffrey Sachs awarded Meles Zenawi with the Yara Prize 2005 in Oslo September 3 2005

Keynote address and comment made by prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Director, United Nations Millennium Project, AT THE AWARDING OF THE FIRST YARA PRIZE FOR A GREEN REVOLUTION IN AFRICA, September 3 2005, Oslo.

Both Norman Borlaug and this remarkable partnership with Yara have a very special place in our work. My first encounter with the Green Revolution came during my youth, while backpacking in India. There were huge doubts about India in the 1970s - could it survive its spiraling population, poverty and hunger? But the work of Borlaug and others released a transformation so profound that, 25 years later, India was competing with Europe and the West for IT contracts. Its increasing food self-sufficiency led to industrial and scientific progress, reforms and an IT revolution. India now challenges the world in a positive way.

Therefore, talk of a green revolution in Africa is no dream - we have a model. It can succeed in Africa for the same reasons it succeeded in India and Asia. In fact, we can already see its contours in Africa, in the network of researchers, extension workers and projects, and in the initiatives from NGOs, the Millennium Project and partners like Yara.

Yara responded wonderfully to Kofi Annan's call for an African Green Revolution. Its initiative is an example of aspirations that are within our grasp, but not yet realized. They remain a choice; we can make them happen. The world said yes in September 2000 when 147 leaders attended the Millennium Assembly at the UN and ratified the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs have since rallied the world in a call to action and commitment - especially to reducing extreme hunger and poverty by 50% and cutting child mortality rates by two thirds.

In March 2002 at our Summit in Mexico the Monterrey Consensus was reached. The rich countries committed financially to the MDGs and established the 0.7% GNP benchmark. As development assistance to the world's poorest, this was earmarked to address disease control, and child mortality and hunger reduction.

The Millennium Project has experienced broad partnership: African governments have developed ingenious measures; NGOs have contributed initiatives like the Millennium Villages Project. We can see the results in the Bar-Sauri Millennium Village pilot, where Mrs. Omolo's insight regarding the importance of school feeding, supported by the Millennium Project and partners, has sparked vigorous community-based development. The commitment they are making is the most promising poverty-reduction program I have seen in Africa for decades.

I have visited African villages across the continent and have witnessed their acute hunger problems. And I know that we have the knowledge and resources to address their plight. We now have a new understanding that is not based on aid, but on interventions that provide development that can prevent future famine by instilling a green revolution, rather than responding to crises.

The Millennium Development Goals represent the campaign of our generation. They are achievable objectives and essential for making the world safer and more prosperous - our best opportunity to secure a safe future for our children.

It is my profound honor to award this Prize. It is an important prize from a company that is playing an historical role in helping feed the world. Yara is a pioneer of fertilizers and has a key position in modern agriculture.

I would like to pay respect to Prime Minister Zenawi and the people of Ethiopia, who have a special place in my heart. Ethiopia has given much to the world, but it is now struggling desperately. This is despite the fact that many international experts have been working for years to help local government and communities in Ethiopia lift themselves out of poverty.

This is a richly deserved honor for a country that is struggling for democracy. I pay respect to those who have fallen in that struggle. Ethiopia stands today - like many African nations - at a precarious crossroads. It is our responsibility to support Ethiopia in choosing the higher path.

Prime Minister Zenawi is one of our most brilliant world leaders. Our economic discussions have always been rich. He is committed to peace and democracy and to a green revolution. At the same time, I am also aware of the fragility of his government's recent successes. A multi-ethnic society like Ethiopia demands particular efforts to address past and current grievances, which are often compounded by extreme poverty.

If Ethiopia is to address its challenges, it will need - among other things - a major increase in development assistance. The Millennium Project suggests doubling the current level. If this is done, Ethiopia can lift itself from hunger and poverty. Prime Minister Zenawi's government has provided the grass roots structure to enable this.

Ethiopia is clearly on a path to reform and democracy, but moments of political opening are always critical junctures. As friends of Ethiopia, we need to act and support this process of democratization and development. Once again, I say this is a richly deserved honor and it gives me great pleasure to present it.