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NATURAL RESOURCES
Agenda 21, Chapter 11.1: On forests
More effective measures and approaches are often required at the national level to improve and harmonize policy formulation, planning and programming; legislative measures and instruments; development patterns; participation of the general public, especially women and indigenous people; involvement of youth; roles of the private sector, local organizations, non-governmental organizations and cooperatives; development of technical and multi-disciplinary skills and quality of human resources; forestry extension and public education; research capability and support; administrative structures and mechanisms, including intersectoral coordination, decentralization and responsibility and incentive systems; and dissemination of information and public relations. This is especially important to ensure a rational and holistic approach to the sustainable and environmentally sound development of forests.
... Chapter 11.1 Agenda 21
Governments at the appropriate level, with the support of the relevant international and regional organizations working on the issue of desertification should promote the involvement of the local population, particularly women and youth, in the collection and utilization of environmental information through education and awareness- building.
"Why this conspiracy of silence? Why is it that the military degradation of the environment cannot be given equal place with the civilian impact on the environment?.... It is up to the environmental movement to articulate the damage the military inflicts on a fragile ecosystem."
Rosalie Bertell, President, International Institute of Concern for Public Health
"In 1988, of Africa's total of 573 million inhabitants, 100 million lacked food security and still do. Thirty million face direct starvation. Desertification increases at an average rate of 70 km per annum. Exploitation of timber and livestock products for export has been causing extensive deforestation and the depletion of wildlife. Ethiopia, which 50 years ago was over 60% forested, is less than 3% presently. This could indicate a correlation with the fact that Ethiopia is a perpetual land of hunger.
The voice of women is often ignored in national policies for land use and development. African women are responsible for 50% of the planting in the entire agricultural sector and 905 of food production, not to mention their responsibility for child care, animal care, water and firewood supply. Although African women represent a valuable resource of knowledge and experience, they are often totally ignored by those who design and implement good and environment policies."
Ruth Engo-Tjega, Cameroon Secretariat for UN Program of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development; Founding Member, Advocates for African Food Security
"Male leaders so far have been sowing massive death and disaster instead of developing technologies to serve life. In Third World countries, the industrialization process has led to the ruthless exploitation of natural resources, has contributed to ecological damage and ethnocide and has marginalized the poor from social progress."
Magda Renner, Brazil Executive President, Acao Democratica Feminina Gaughca - Amigos da Terra
Statistics Illustrating Some of the Global Health Consequences of a Deteriorating Environment
Contaminated water results in:
Contaminated foods results in:
Rising levels of air pollution results in:
Ozone Depletion is increasing the global incidence of skin cancer and cataracts.
"The maintenance and improvement of health should be at the centre of concern about the environment and development. Yet they rarely receive high priority in environmental policies and development plans. They rarely figure as important items in environmental or development programs despite the fact that the quality of the environment and the nature of development are major determinants of health."
Source: World Health Organization Health Commission on Health and Environment.
Cite as: Youth Sourcebook on Sustainable Development. Winnipeg: IISD, 1995. Online. Internet. http://iisd.ca/youth/ysbk039.htm.