While the United Nations claims global efforts have successfully halved extreme poverty, new challenges are arising that threaten to stall and possibly reverse progress made in the world's poorest populations.
The Australian Council for International Development is concerned that climate change and the widening inequality gap between rich and poor are putting a strain on efforts to end poverty.
The organisation has also criticised the cut in Australia's foreign aid budget, saying the country should contribute more to the cause.
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In 2000 the United Nations, under its Millennium Development Goals plan, set out a 15 year action plan to develop the world's poorest areas.
With two years left before the plan expires in 2015, the UN's 2013 report on the plan found poverty levels have reduced significantly with almost 900 million people lifted out of poverty.
But the Australian Council for International Development's Executive Director, Marc Purcell, says not all targets will be achieved when the plan expires.
"There's still significant challenges. Many women still die at childbirth around the world. We still see many children die from easily preventable diseases. And we also see new challenges, namely climate change, which means many of the development gains that humanity has made over the past few decades due to economic growth may be reversed in coming decades if there's not strong action by states and by companies to reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere. If we see a global warming pattern continue, we'll start to see a rise in natural disasters, significant impact on resources like water and the like, which will make it very hard for humanity to survive in many parts of the world."
Professor John Thwaites is a member of the Leadership Council of the UN Sustainable Development Solution Network.
He says climate change needs to be addressed in the next stage of global development goals.
Professor Thwaites says in some countries, the effects of climate change have already caused an increase in poverty levels.
"One of the reasons that poverty has worsened in some countrie is because of drought and very severe weather events which are impacted by climate change. That's going to get even worse: as droughts get worse we'll see hundreds of millions of people at real risk of increased malnutrition as they are unable to produce food, as they are unable to live as they should be."
One of the countries where the Millennium Development Goals have produced mixed results is in India.
The Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices there leads initiatives that provide a voice for India's poorest people.
The organisation's Director of Research and Consultancies, Pradeep Narayanan says what is needed in India is a shift in focus when setting development targets.
"We no longer want food, shelter, health, education, clothing or livelihood as the goals because they have been goals for almost 70 years now since Indian independence but they have not been achieved. So asking, demanding, that the goals be changed, converting those barriers into goals to focus attention on them. And those barriers are things like corruption, equity, discrimination, gender-based traditional practices, which are still perpetuated."
Australia's new federal government has cut foreign aid by $600-million, down to $5-billion a year, but has not announced which programs will be affected.
Marc Purcell says with an annual federal budget of more than $350-billion a year, what Australia contributes in foreign aid is relatively small.
"Where those cuts are going to fall we don't know yet and of course there is great concern they may fall on particular programs which are doing good work in helping people overcome poverty. So everyone's waiting with bated breath to see the impact of those cuts announced by the new government."