NDRD

Gulf Cooperation Council
Network for Drylands Research & Development

شبكة دول
مجلس التعاون الخليجي لدراسات

الأراضي القاحلة و التطوير

Human Security

Environmental Change & Human Health

Environmental hazards to human health include climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity, changes in hydrological systems and the supplies of freshwater, desertification as well as other forms of land degradation and stresses on food systems. Appreciation of this scale and type of influence on human health requires a new perspective which focuses on ecosystems and on the recognition that the foundations of long-term good health in populations rely in great part on the continued stability and functioning of the biosphere's life-supporting systems. It also brings an appreciation of the complexity of the systems upon which we depend.

Read more on the correlation between Environmental Change & Human Health on the WHO website

Climate Change:
Implications for Agriculture in the Near East

A report released in 2008 at the FAO Regional Conference for the Near East in Cairo, finds that agriculture in the Near East is likely to suffer losses because of high temperature, droughts, floods and soil degradation threatening the food security of many countries. Read more

Millennium Development Goals

At the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000, world leaders agreed on a set of goals to guide and coordinate international development efforts. The Millennium Development Goals are to:

• eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• achieve universal primary education
• promote gender equality and empower women
• reduce child mortality
• improve maternal health
• combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
• ensure environmental sustainability
• develop a global partnership for development

These goals are linked to measurable targets, such as cutting in half the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day, halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, and reducing by two thirds the mortality rate of children under five—all by 2015.

See the official UN MDG Website for further information:
and the
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2005