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when the world bank said that this was our target that we're going to work toward, it happens to also be the target in sustained development. so it's not just ours. right now, because of the secretary general, because it's a matter of trying to figure

out the best way that we can play our role. but we also want to be the leaders in terms of knowledge about what it has taken in other countries to lower the levels of extreme poverty, and to boost the prosperity of the. >> you're not an economist. and you're a physician, an ngo leader, and it was anticipated that you would take the bank in a different direction. now that you have a couple of years of your job under your belt, what's different. >> i am the first president of the world bank who is actually a development person. i've been working in development for most of my adult life. and interestingly, none of the previous world bank presidents had worked in the area of development. so we changed a lot of things at the world bank. first, we have a target now,

and it's very clear, end extreme poverty by 2030, and for the first time, we're tackling inequality. our focus is on ensuring that the bottom 40% in every developing country has their income grow faster than the overall economy. these two things are different. but the other things that we're doing, it's different when your leader has actually been in the field before. it's different when your leader has actually run real programs. so there are a lot of things that i needed to learn. because it's such a huge job. but i didn't need to learn about the difficulty of getting things done in developing countries. and things are changed. but we're focusing on very specific outcomes. ending poverty is just one of them. and went everyone to have access to financial services by 2020. and thinking about targets on water, and childhood stunting. we really believe that with the new sustainable development

goals, we have to be tougher on ourselves so we actually achieve outcomes, instead of just declaring our commitment and getting loans out the doors. we have to reach outcomes, and that's something that i have with 20 years of experience in the need. >> when we continue our talk with kim on the world bank, we'll talk about young children and the role that the bank can play on helping it rise. he may be a powerful banker but he still thinks and talks like a doctor. >> we now know without the right nutrition, but without the right stimulation, children literally develop fewer neuroconnections than those who do. every time a baby basketballs, they're actually expecting a response from somebody, and when they don't get it, their stress level and their stress hormones go up, and these

stress hormones shape the structure of the human brain.

>> you're watching "inside story," i'm ray suarez. the world bank, and this time on the show, dr. jong kim, and we dug into a subject of great concern to kim, deprivation as a child, stunting. i'm with dr. kim, the president of the world bank on "inside story." and you mentioned stunting, and it's an interesting kind of problem. children who become

developmentally disabled in one way or another because of extreme poverty during their formative years. but that requires a world where we take the long view, and we think it's important to support three-year-olds, because they become 25-year-old. >> it's a tremendous issue. and i think that the interest has been driven by research. and we know so much more about stunting than we did before. and it's chilling. we now know that without the right nutrition, and also without the right stimulation, children literally develop fewer neuronal connections. every time a baby babbles,

they're expecting a response, and their stress hormones go up, and these stress hormones shape the structure of the human brain. we know this is very serious, but we have great evidence that you can make a difference. there's literally -- there are very few studies, but one great one from jami jamie jamaica, tht published, there was a group of stunted children, and the only intervention that made a difference to their income 22 years later, was young people, usually high school graduates, going to the homes of stunted children once a week for two years, and simply encouraging the mothers to interact with the children. those children had income levels that were equivalent of the general population, the non-stunted population. every other group had outcomes that were much worse than that. so we actually know how to do it. in our work in haiti and lima

and other places, working with community health workers, there were wonderful ways of not only improving the nutrition, but helping parents and caregivers, and even community health workers provide the stimulation that children need so we could end stunting. this is the fundamental issue of equality opportunity. we have learned over the past decades that it hasn't worked very well. that every single person has to be committed to the quality opportunity. that starts with a pregnant woman living in a poor country. we have to start with the pregnant woman and committing ourselves to ensuring that no child will be --. >> if you and i got on a plane and went to the capital cities of some of the poorest countries on the planet.

mozambik, the ministers say, i need everything, and i only have this much in the way of resources. my people don't have electricity. they don't have clean water. k-12 education seems like an impossible dream. we don't have highways, and functioning railroads. and you're asking me to make sure that three-year-olds are stimulated and fed, where that's what we always expect families to do. do you have allies in these governments that when you land, do you say stunting is a long tell problem, and i can wait on the highway, and i'll take universal micronutrients for my two-year-olds? >> well, you know, ray, this is one of the other changes for the world bank. because i've been working in

development for most of my life, what's missing is science and delivery, not science of what needs to be done, but the science of

to have what we need with the finance ministers. >> can you do it without them strung out on deck, which has been a historic problem since these various world organizations were created? >> ultimately, ray, the way to pay for these programs is going to be for each of the countries to improve their tax collection. so what we see in developing country after developing country, collections in the form of taxes, and in case

after case, the only people that actually pay their taxes are the people too week, the poor, essentially, to fighting taxes. we have regressive tax systems everywhere in the world. so along with the international monetary fund, we're committed to helping every country improving it's tax collection. there could be an increase. if there were just a 2%, that's more than three times all official developmental assistance, all of the foreign aid today. so come in with low interest loans to start with, and work with the countries. but one of the things you can do is make the case that you just made. these are critical issues for not only long-term economic growth, but median term economicking it growth. you can't talk about long-term

opportunity if children are stunted. and it's something that we have to approach, in my view, almost like a medical emergency. and the good news, we think that the funding mechanism and the program specifics are already out there, they have been proven in places like rwanda and haiti and other places that i've witnessed directly. >> we'll continue our conversation with the president of the world bank. he has gone from anti-world bank activist to leading the 188-nation organization. he sees the bank as an important force in helping the people of the poorest countries and the rest of the world respond to the threat of climate change. >> there's 98% agreement among climate scientists on the effect of humans on climate change. and i'm a medical doctor, and i can't recall anything in medicine that we have 98% agreement on. so it's important for us to wake up to the science, and it's also important for us to

wake up to the moral responsibility we have not to our grandchildren, but to our children.

>> welcome back to "inside story," i'm ray suarez. my guest on the show, dr. kim, president of the world bank. it's intention to spur economic growth for the world's poorest people. and their increasing vul benerability as kim sees it to climate change. i'm joined by dr. jim kim, the president of the would have wor. the world bank has just come out with shock waves about the way that climate change could change the future economic development of the poorest

people in the world. and the bottom line, i guess from the study, unless we do something like this, it's kind of game over for hundreds of millions of people. >> absolutely, if we don't reach our targets, we're talking about an additional 100 million people who will be plunged into poverty, so it literally is game over for us. and we have been very focused on climate change. everything that we might be able to do. we have a 5-point plan. there are some no brainers. climate-smart agriculture, growing crops that are more hardy. thinking about agriculture as a way to help poor countries adapt to climate change. it's a no-brainer. building smaller and more liveable cities. this is a no-brainer, increasing financing for sustainable energy, solar, wind, hydroelectric power, and improving efficiency, another no-brainer, and there are other tough ones that are going to have the biggest impact of all.

we need to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies. three are over $1 trillion a year in costs, and these are fundamental aggressive. they benefit -- we did a study along with others, the top 20% of income earners in developing countries benefit six times more from fuel subsidies than the poor. >> they're the people with clout, with money, who talk to office holders, elected and appointed around the world. and aren't they a roadblock? >> it's interesting that you mention roadblocks. that's what happens when you remove fuel subsidies. the truck drivers and the taxi drivers literally block the road. the fuel prices are so low right now that many countries are taking steps to remove subsidies, and the question is what will happen when the fuel prices go back up? iran is going to come back on

with their oil production, and the prices will stay low for a while. but this is a political thing that if we did it, it would help us tremendously with climate change. and the final one and the most difficult is the price on carbon. there's a cost of putting carbon in the air, with the increasing severity of events, and we need to reflect that. i'm extremely encouraged by china. president chi when he came to the united states, and we know that when president chi says something, it's going to happen. every country that wants to do business with china is going to have to think about low carbon solutions. i'm very worried about this, ray, that we're not going to see into the future enough or think enough about the world that our children will live in. but we have opportunities, and no brainers and difficult

tasks, and if we get out of them and come out of the meeting with paris that is going to happen in a few weeks, on climate change. and if we come out of there with he momentum and commitment, we have a chance, and it's going to be difficult. >> the number two in the world, the united states, really onboard. people have a sense that maybe we should be doing something. but one of our two governing parties is saying, absolutely not. >> it's really important to pay attention to the signs here, ray. there's 98% agreement among climate scientists, about the affect to humans on climate change. i'm a medical doctor, and i can't recall anything in medicine that we have 98% agreement on. and so it's important for us to wake up to the science. and it's also important for us to wake up to the moral responsibility that we have not to our grandchildren, but to our children. i have a six-year-oldux ray,

and we have a history of longevity in our family. and he could be around. and his world in his 90s is going to look nothing like the world looks today. we have to wake up. we have to take action, and i would like anyone who doubts the science to really think about what they're saying. it's not doubting the science, 98% of scientists, not doubting it on climate change, but doubting science as a whole. and if we can't agree on something which 98% of the experts agree, we have a problem. >> dr. jim kim, president of the world bank, is with me on "inside story", and thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> i spoke to dr. kim in new york, and i'll be back with a final thought on how

harnessing capitalism could look. send us your thoughts on twitter. or follow me and get in touch at ray suarez news. or visit our facebook page and tell us what you think about the west bank's goal to end global poverty, address child stunting and attack global warming. we would love to hear it.

>> now, normally banks don't have much to do with the poorest people on the planet. 700 million people live on less than $2 a day, they own little or no it assets. and most don't have bank accounts, and millions don't have title to the land that they live on. they will live their lives and die. so what does capitalism say to people stuck in that situation? well, plenty if you think about capital in a different way. if you spend money keeping a child from being stunted from a weak body and a weak mind, we think of that as aid rather than investment. but 20 years later, when the child is an adult, whose best

efforts on the farm energetic the factory, are needed for the country, that person can't help you as much. and their human capital is degraded through no fault of their own. instead of being an asset in a country that needs hard work, that person, possessed of all of the dignity and humanity can't help you that much. a 30-year-old who should be at the height of their ability can't work because of the chronic affects of malaria or tuberculosis. getting the affects of the disease, aid, hand out or investment. dr. kim succeeds that hundreds of millions have been lifted out of extreme poverty in the last 20 years, but suggest that the job is far from done. hundreds of millions more are left behind. i'm ray suarez. and that's the "inside story." the news continue right now.

>> this is aljazeera america. live from new york city, i'm tony harris. beirut blasts,s toes killed and hundreds injured. who is claiming responsibility? fight for controlling, helping to take a strategic iraqi town from isil. good fella, not guilty. an alleged mobster is cleared of a multimillion-dollar heist and crop share. why farmers around the world are buying up acres of land he