The latest round of United Nations climate change negotiations takes place in Accra, Ghana, between 21-27 August. This meeting is as part of a negotiating process that will be concluded in Copenhagen at the end of 2009 to take forward work on a strengthened and effective international climate change deal under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as work on emission reduction rules and tools under the Kyoto Protocol.
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For DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era), a highly-placed gender entity in the United Nations whose principal function will be limited to acting as a watchdog for gender mainstreaming and which will have very limited capacity to undertake projects on its own will not close the existing gap between official rhetoric and action on gender equality and women’s empowerment. In the ongoing discussions, the location-position of women’s empowerment and gender equality is unclear, particularly because it is often couched in mainstreaming or cross-cutting language.
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In September 2008, in Accra, the commitments made in 2005 in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness will be examined. This agreement between governments and international cooperation agencies was aimed at harmonising and improving development aid administration. One of the crucial tasks that organisations and movements fighting for women’s rights have set themselves is for international treaties and commitments to include specific financial policies to bridge the gender gap.
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Disability experts from around the world with backgrounds in government, international organizations, and civil society stressed the need to mainstream disability in all development activities in order to achieve equality for persons with disabilities.
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While there has been some progress on the recognition and implementation of the right to water, the same is not true of sanitation services. The current International Year of Sanitation presents an opportunity to address the lack of attention paid to sanitation and hygiene in human rights terms.
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"The history of development success shows that the crucible of change is primarily national and local, but rich countries, societies, and corporations carry a huge respon sibility. The deeply inequitable forms of global governance must be overhauled so that global phenomena such as climate change, capital flows, migration, conflict, or trade and investment are managed in ways that reduce poverty, inequality, and suffering".
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Call to action for housing and land rights day 2008!
Iran: Stop the execution of teacher unionist Farzad Kamangar
ICC Universal Ratification Campaign: El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua
Selected news
Economy and Financial Affairs
- Wed Aug 27 2008
Ending aid dependence: a new book
The South Centre, an intergovernmental think-tank of the developing countries, will be launching a new book at the CSOs parallel Forum in Accra that cautions developing countries against endorsing the agenda proposed at this meeting.
Source:
South Centre
Sustainable Development
- Tue Aug 26 2008
Forests are more than carbon say NGOs in Accra
"Any agreement must be designed to stop deforestation and degradation, not simply reduce or defer emissions" said Friends of the Earth International at the UN climate change conference being held in Accra, Ghana 21-27 August 2008.
Source:
Friends of the Earth International
Information and Communication Technologies
- Wed Aug 27 2008
Communication experts endorse alternative media
About 120 communication experts, meeting in Accra, have endorsed a blend of modern information and communication technologies with traditional and other alternative media forms to disseminate information for development in the globalised world.
Source:
Haayo-MediaTic
This site presents a compilation of examples of how communities in different parts of the world are moving from failed privatised water management to successful publicly managed water and wastewater services.
