| European
Tropical Forest Research Network |
By Dineke Romeijn
The general United Nations Millennium Development Goals website offers news, documents and webcasts. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has published a sourcebook on its activities in over 140 countries ‘The sustainable difference: energy and environment to achieve the MDGs’, PDF, 343 pages. http://www.undp.org/energyandenvironment/sustainabledifference/PDFs/SustainableDiffIntro.pdf .
The general UNDP MDGs website is : http://www.undp.org/mdg/
The Development Co-operation Directorate (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on MDGs, with downloadable documents. http://www.oecd.org/department/0,2688, en_2649_34585_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
OECD has also published the ‘OECD Factbook 2006 - Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics’, a global overview of world economic, social and environmental trends. http://titania.sourceoecd.org/vl=3009287/cl=34/nw=1/rpsv/factbook/about.htm
Publications
The North-South Centre of Wageningen recently published the North-South Policy Brief 2005-6: ‘The Role of Forests in Poverty Alleviation: Dealing with Multiple Millennium Development Goals” , PDF, 8 pages. http://www.wi.wur.nl/uk/resources/policy+briefs
‘The Millennium Development Goals and Conservation, Managing Nature’s Wealth for Society’s Health’ was published in 2004 by the International Institute for Environment and Development, PDF, 199 pages. http://www.iied.org/Gov/mdgs/documents/9511IIED.pdf
Another IIED publication focuses on the role of local organisations: ‘How to Make Poverty History – the central role of local organizations in meeting the MDGs’, PDF, 197 pages. http://www.iied.org/Gov/mdgs/documents/mdg3/11000IIED.pdf More publications by IIED on the MDGs can be found at: http://www.iied.org/Gov/mdgs/publications.html
The Poverty Environment Partnership is an informal network of development agencies. Their website offers publications, presentations and case studies. http://www.povertyenvironment.net/pep/ See for instance: ‘Sustaining the Environment to Fight Poverty and Achieve the MDGs: the economic case and priorities for action’, PDF, 20 pages. http://www.povertyenvironment.net/pep/?q=node/196
Many relevant documents can be found at the UNDP/UNEP Poverty and Environment Initiative ( PEI ): Linking Poverty Reduction and Environmental Management to Achieve the MDGs. http://www.undp.org/pei/peppapers.html
In 2006, The European Commission has published a policy paper ‘Halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 - and beyond. Sustaining ecosystem services for human well-being’PDF, 15 pages. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/current_biodiversity_policy/biodiversity_com_2006/pdf/com_en.pdf
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is an international work program designed to meet the needs of decision makers and the public for scientific information on the consequences of ecosystem change. Note the downloadable reports and resources. http://www.maweb.org/en/index.aspx
One of the reports is ‘Ecosystems and human well-being: health synthesis,’ Report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, World Health Organization: Geneva , by Carlos Corvalan, Simon Hales and Anthony McMichael, 2005. http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Article.aspx?id=72
Forest Vocation Lands and Forest Policy: When Simpler is Better by José Rente Nascimento. An Inter-American Development Bank publication PDF, 69 p. http://www.iadb.org/sds/doc/RUR%2DForestVocationLands.pdf
News and links on MDGs
News page on the Millenium Development Goals by the Commission for Development Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kef/kef_enews/2006_01/kef_enews5.htm
ELDIS links related to MDGs and the environment: http://www.eldis.org/aid/mdgs.htm
Facts and figures
FAO Forestry facts and figures. Answers questions like: “The annual deforestation rate in the world?” “How many people are employed in the formal forestry sector worldwide?” “ The total number of mountain people worldwide?” http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/28679/en/
The Inter-American Development Bank offers an online information system called EqxIS, Equity and Social Indicators. In the website you will find disaggregated data that can be displayed by MDG, country or Sector using charts and tables of choice for at least two points in time for countries in Latin America. http://www.iadb.org/sds/xindicators/index.cfm?pagePos=
ID21 - Research Highlights on Natural Resources. One sheet research summaries with links to further information. There are more then 400 highlights in this section. http://www.id21.org/nr/index.html
SME development
Small and medium forest enterprise (SME) development for poverty reduction: Opportunities and challenges in globalizing markets This conference held at CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica , May 23-25, 2006 , brought together representatives from the private sector including forest-based communities, development and donor agencies, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and research centers to reflect on the critical issues facing forest SME development in the tropics and how to best support forest SMEs for the benefit of the rural poor. Presentations and abstracts in Spanish and English, background, organizers, programme and list of participants are all available on the conference website: http://www.catie.ac.cr/econegociosforestales/conference