In a co-authored op-ed for the New York Times, Bono and Mark Zuckerberg laid out a plan for how to provide Internet access to the entire world within the next five years. There are about three billion Internet users across the globe at the moment, but how do the two of them plan to more than double that number before 2020? Well, according to the op-ed, national governments and the United Nations need to start looking at Internet access as an essential part of development, with Zuckerberg pointing to farmers in Africa as an example of how access to the Internet can makes things better for everyone, regardless of who they are or what they do.
Seventy years ago, the United Nations was formed as the expression of a simple choice: cooperation instead of war. Humanity would stand as one against conflict, poverty and disease. All the world’s voices would be heard. At least, that was the plan. We’ve come a long way. We’ve halted and reversed the spread of killer diseases, extended life expectancy and raised incomes. We’ve even walked ourselves back from the edge of some global conflicts and catastrophes. But progress has not been evenly distributed. Too many people have been left outside of a mostly urban, mostly Northern success story. Seeing that, world leaders put forth a new set of global goals in New York last week. If we want to build a world where not just some but all get to live in security and prosperity, there’s a lot still to do, as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development signed off on by United Nations member states shows. It lists 17 goals and 169 targets, and one of these, 9(c), is a target that we believe is crucial to accelerate realization of all the others: a commitment to provide Internet connectivity for all by 2020. Today over half the people on this planet don’t have access. That is not good for anyone — not for the disempowered and disconnected, and not for the other half, whose commerce and security depend on having stable societies.
