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topic, as well as links to current efforts to revitalize and document endangered languages. the American National Science Foundation also has an informative description of language endangerment. in addition, there are a number of small nonprofit organizations that are dedicated to the preservation of endangered languages, and a quick study of their websites should give you more information on the problem, as well as new and creative solutions to revitalize or document languages. Most of the information on endangered is fairly decentralized, so I hope that you will take the time to search around the internet for as many different perspectives as possible. Secondly, the best way to gain a sense of the severity of the problem and to better understand the issues involved is to research a number of different endangered languages. There are a number of digital archives that have information on the wide variety of the three thousand or so endangered languages across the world. the entire Ethnologue is available online at www.ethnologue.com, and it contains facts about most of the world’s languages, in addition to statistics about geographical distribution and number of speakers. Google’s Endangered Languages Project can be found at www.endangeredlanguages.com and has information and samples from many endangered languages. From these databases and from the case studies in any book on the topic, you will learn about the diverse situations that endangered languages face and learn how to craft solutions to benefit as many of them as possible. Additionally, if you are a speaker of an endangered language, I encourage you to submit a sample to the Endangered Languages Project! Topic Area B Statement of the Problem The world has seen an unprecedented level of economic growth in modern times that has led to significant increases in the standard of living of much of the global population. Incomes in much of the developed world, for example, have increased by a factor of twelve in the past 150 years. In developing nations, improvements in human development indices, including life expectancy and infant and maternal mortality, have occurred even faster than they did during the European Industrial Revolution, which is commonly regarded as the historic standard for rapid economic growth. 108 That being said, this unprecedented growth has not affected the world’s population evenly. While most of the developed world and the elites in third world countries have seen their standards of living rise consistently, this growth has been much less drastic for many marginalized populations. Perhaps the most marginalized of the world’s minorities are indigenous peoples, and they constitute a huge portion of the world’s poor; a new World Bank study states that although indigenous peoples make up only five percent of the global population, they are fifteen percent of all those living in poverty. 109 Many indigenous economic activities are threatened in the modern, globalized economy, which leaves impoverished and helpless indigenous populations. Beyond the simple need to improve the lot of the world’s peoples, there are a number of reasons why the international community should look to aid the 30 Melbourne Host Directorate PTY LTD | Office of Media and Design
economic development of indigenous peoples. The existence of poor communities, especially those that are marginalized, is correlated with a general weak rule of law and distrust in government institutions, which is manifested through increased crime rates and non-utilization of government services. High levels of indigenous poverty also lead to larger slum populations. Additionally, as would be expected, significant populations of impoverished indigenous peoples can stagnate the overall economic growth of a nation. When indigenous peoples are not connected to the majority economy, unemployment rates are higher, and there is less overall market trade. Poverty is also associated with worse indicators in other areas of development, including life expectancy, child and maternal mortality, and education attainment. 110 While it is well-known that increases in these other areas of development can lead to a reduction in poverty levels, increasing economic development can contribute to improvements in these aspects of overall development as well. 111 Tackling the problem of indigenous poverty is therefore vital for all of the developmental goals of the international community. the international community has already recognized the importance of economic development for the entire global population. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the document that began the modern human rights movement, protects the right to economic development in Article 25 (1), which reads as follows: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” 112 The right to development is without a doubt one of the most pressing and urgent rights listed in the Universal Declaration, as many of the other goals, including universal access to education and participation in government, are unachievable if a certain basic standard of living is not reached. As stated above, the international community has come far in the way of improving economic conditions for much of the global population. Because much of the population that remains in poverty today is indigenous, however, the challenges impeding further economic development and the solutions to those challenges are different than those previously encountered. Between 6 and 8 September 2000, leaders from almost every nation of the world convened in New York at the Millennium Summit to discuss the role of the united Nations in the 21st century. the most well-known, if not most important, outcome of the Millennium Summit was the drafting of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight development targets for improving the lives of peoples across the world. The MDGs are specific targets that range from combatting HIV/AIDS and other diseases to achieving universal primary education. Here we will be focusing on the first MDG, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. The specific targets for the first MDG are as follows: halving the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day; achieving decent employment for women, men, and young people; and halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. 113 One of the difficulties in assessing the progress of economic development among indigenous peoples is the lack of standard definitions for “indigenous peoples” and “poverty.” The United Nations has refrained in recent years from defining what makes a group of people “indigenous,” even in the Declaration 31 Melbourne Host Directorate PTY LTD | Office of Media and Design
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