Battle Against Global Poverty Moves to NYC’s Central Park

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

NEW YORK, Sep 26 2015 (IPS) - On Saturday, the battle to end global poverty shifted from the hallowed chambers of the United Nations to the Great Lawn in New York City’s Central Park –as thousands gathered for the annual Global Citizenship Festival.

The line-up of celebrities was awesome, including Beyonce, Pearl Jam, Ed Sheeran, Stephen Colbert, Hugh Jackman and Coldplay, while the crowd was estimated at over 60,000.

The music was mostly pop and rock. But it was all for a noble cause—to promote the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including the elimination of extreme hunger and poverty worldwide by 2030. The 17 goals, which also included gender empowerment and the protection of the global environment, were in full display on eye-catching placards on stage.

The musical performances were interwoven with speeches on some of the raging political and socio-economic issues of the day, including the plight of Syrian refugees, food as a weapon of war, world food security and urgent need to resolve the world’s water and sanitation problems.

Hollywood movie icon Leonardo Di Caprio, the UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, spoke of the threats from global warming and implicitly accused “powerful fossil fuel interests” of undermining the UN’s environmental goals.

The Global Poverty Project, promoted at the Central Park festival, is described as an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to end extreme poverty by 2030 and works in conjunction with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), world leaders, the business community  and global citizens to support policies that would significantly impact the world’s poor.

Over the last four years, global citizens have taken 2.3 million actions in the fight against extreme poverty, according to the organizers. These actions have resulted in 87 commitments and policy announcements, including cash commitments valued at US $18.3 billion.

The Global Poverty Project has offices in New York, Canada, UK and Australia.