Millennium Development Goals

Agriculture must become ‘climate-smart,’ says UN agency

Land loss to speculators, industries and cities result in hunger – UN rights...

Land loss to speculators, industries and cities result in hunger – UN rights expert

An estimated 500 million small-scale farmers across the world are hungry, partly as a result of losing their farmland to industrial expansion, urbanization or environmental degradation, the United Nations independent expert on the right to food told the General Assembly today.

“As rural populations grow and competition with large industrial units increases, the plots cultivated by smallholders are shrinking year after year,” Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, said as he presented a report to the Assembly.

“Farmers are often relegated to soils that are arid, hilly or without irrigation. This poses a direct threat to the right to food of rural populations.”

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36527&Cr=hunger&Cr1

Human rights central to achieving global anti-poverty goals, says UN officia...

Human rights central to achieving global anti-poverty goals, says UN official

A top United Nations official today told world leaders gathered in New York that they are more likely to accelerate progress to achieve the set of anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) if they take a human rights approach to their commitments.

“It is the job of all of us to forge a global human rights constituency, to ensure that this moment is not lost, and that human rights and the MDGs are pursued hand-in-hand for sustained and equitable development results,” said High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36001&Cr=mdg&Cr1=

UN officials stress decent work and social protection measures to fight poverty

Two senior United Nations officials today stressed the need for the creation of decent jobs and improved social protection measures to cushion the most vulnerable people against the effects of unemployment as the world strives to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at a time of slow global economic recovery.

Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the UN International Labour Organization (ILO), said labour was not just a means of production, but a means for personal worth, social dignity and family cohesion.

“It makes sense to put jobs at the heart of microeconomic policy,” Mr. Somavia told a panel discussion on accelerating the achievement of MDGs through decent work, organized by ILO on the sidelines of the MDG summit, which got under way at UN Headquarters in New York today.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36009&Cr=mdg&Cr1=