World Population Day on July 11 Acknowledges Our Most Serious Problem

World Population Day on July 11 Acknowledges Our Most Serious Problem

PR Newswire

Californians for Population Stabilization notes threat of population growth to environment
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- World Population Day is an annual event, observed on July 11, to raise awareness of the problems of overpopulation and continuing population growth. It grew out of the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, the approximate date on which the global population reached five billion people. Less than a quarter century later, world population will reach 7 billion on October 31 this year, according to United Nations population projections.

"Expanding access to affordable, clean energy is critical for realizing the MDGs and enabling sustainable development." -Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations

International Year of Sustainable Energy for All

"Expanding access to affordable, clean energy is critical for realizing
the MDGs and enabling sustainable development."
-Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations

The Challenge and the Goal

Access to clean and affordable modern energy is critical to fostering lasting social and economic development and to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Worldwide, some 2.7 billion people rely on traditional biomass for cooking and heating, and 1.4 billion have no access to electricity, with one billion more having access only to unreliable electricity networks.
The lack of modern energy services stifles income-generating activities and hampers the provision of basic services such as health care and education. In addition, smoke from polluting and inefficient cooking, lighting, and heating devices kills nearly two million women and young children prematurely every year and causes a range of chronic illnesses and other health impacts. Black carbon emissions from these devices worsen global climate change, and foraging for fuel contributes to deforestation.
In response, the Secretary-General’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change – composed of global business leaders and heads of UN agencies – has called on the United Nations and its member countries to commit themselves to ensuring universal access to modern energy services by 2030. UN-Energy a collaboration of 20 UN agencies will lead the effort.

Why Energy Matters Energy Lifts People From Poverty: Energy is essential to economic development and to meeting the Millennium Development Goals, yet 1.4 billion people have no access to electricity and 2.7 billion people lack clean cooking fuels and stoves. Clean Energy Saves Lives: Nearly two million women and children, die prematurely every year (that's four every minute) due to illnesses caused by indoor air pollution. Energy is the single biggest contributor to climate change: Energy accounts for 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Further Information

•  Website

•  Sustainable Energy For All    

•  General Assembly Resolution    

For the Millennium Development Goals ENERGY is ESSENTIAL

UN Foundation posters - For the Millennium Development Goals ENERGY is ESSENTIAL - Presentation Transcript

ENERGY Increasing farmers’ productivity
Photo Credit: Solar Electric Light Company (TBC)
ENERGY Lighting up learning
Photo Credit: Stephen McGee
ENERGY Lifting the burdens of women and girls
Photo Credit: Michael Benanav
ENERGY Saving children’s lives
Photo Credit: National Geographic/Alison Wright
ENERGY Powering modern healthcare
Photo Credit: Eskinder Debebe
ENERGY Giving doctors the power to heal
Photo Credit: National Geographic/Michael Coyne
ENERGY Empowering communities
Photo Credit: blueEnergy
ENERGY Building bridges to the future
Photo Credit: Stiftung Solarenergie - Solar Energy Foundation

UN Foundation posters - For the Millennium Development Goals ENERGY is ESSENTIAL

View more presentations from Daniel Laender

For the Millennium Development Goals ENERGY is ESSENTIAL www.unfoundation.org

UN Chief launches 2011 MDGs Report in Geneva

UN Chief launches 2011 MDGs Report in Geneva

Palais des Nations, Geneva, 7 July 2011 - On his first visit to Geneva after being re-elected, UN Secretary-General of the United Nations for a second consecutive term, Ban Ki-moon, visited Geneva's UN office to launch the 2011 Millennium Development Goals Report which he said, paints a mixed picture. On the hand he explained, the MDGs have made a tremendous difference from raising awareness to lifting hundreds of millions of the world's poorest from poverty, given more access to education, better health care and improved access to clean drinking water.

2011 ECOSOC High-Level segment website: http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/julyhls/index11.shtml

Major progress towards Millennium Development Goals, but the most vulnerable are left behind, UN report says

Significant strides have been made towards the Millennium Development Goals, yet reaching all the goals by the 2015 deadline remains challenging, as the world's poorest are being left behind, according to the MDG Report 2011, the UN's annual progress report.  


"The MDGs have helped lift millions of people out of poverty, save countless children's lives and ensure that they attend school," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. "At the same time, we still have a long way to go in empowering women and girls, promoting sustainable development, and protecting the most vulnerable."


Read the press materials here.

Watch or read the statement of the Secretary-General for the launch of the UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2011 in Geneva on 7 July 2011.

 

Sub-Saharan Africa - The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, launched today by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Geneva, finds that sub-Saharan Africa improved the fastest among all developing regions in many areas, especially those related to health.

Sub-Saharan Africa - The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011

www.un.org

Sub-Saharan Africa advances on many Millennium Development Goals, but still faces tough challenges Gains in health and education, but urgent progress needed on child and maternal deaths, nutrition and gender equality, UN report says

North Africa - The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011

Northern Africa leads in tackling child health and other Millennium Development Goals But little progress is noted on gender equality - UN

North Africa - The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011

www.un.org

Cairo, 7 July 2011 — Northern Africa continues to lead the world in terms of progress on many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to the Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, a UN report issued today. Northern Africa is the region that recorded the greatest success in reduci...