GGCA Gender and Climate Change Training Manual - Women's ...

importance of the agricultural sector, particularly in developing countries, and
the importance of greater security of land tenure and property ownership for
resource mobilization and environmental management.
2.4.4 Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals
54
At the 8 th plenary session of the UN General Assembly in September
2000, countries adopted the Millennium Declaration, committing themselves to
respecting the equal rights of all without distinction as to race, sex, language or
religion. 33 The UN also adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which
are referred to as a blueprint for the realization of the Millennium Declaration.
The MDGs promote poverty reduction, education, maternal health, gender
equality, and aim to combat child mortality, AIDS and other diseases. The MDGs,
with a target year of 2015, are an agreed set of goals that can only be achieved
with the full commitment and collaboration of all actors. 34 Poor countries have
pledged to govern better and invest in their people through health care and
education. Rich countries have pledged to support them, through aid, debt
relief and fairer trade. 35
The Declaration identifies certain fundamental values as being
essential to international relations in the twenty-first century. Among other things,
Signatories commit to: assuring equal rights and opportunities for women and
men; 36 promoting the empowerment of women as an effective way of combating
poverty, hunger and disease, and achieving truly sustainable development;
and ensuring that the benefits of new technologies, particularly information and
communication technologies, are available to all.
The Declaration is of particular interest due to its linkage of human
rights, the rights of women, and the rights that stem from the UNFCCC. Taken
together, these establish a platform of fundamental interrelated values on
gender, environment and human rights.
According to the 2005 United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) Human Development Report, gender continues to be “one of the world’s
strongest markers for disadvantage.” Reducing inequality would, therefore, be
instrumental in making progress towards achieving the MDGs.
33
Article 4.
34
For a review of progress on the MDGs see www.paris21.org/betterworld.
35
Retrieved on July 21, 2006, from: http://www.undp.org/mdg/.
36
Article 6.