15 October 2008: The newly released Gender in Agriculture
Sourcebook investigates the situation of women in the rural workforce and how
some of the challenges they face can be overcome. Developed in cooperation
between the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund
for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Bank, the sourcebook is
intended to be used both as a reference and as a tool book for agricultural
development. It also addresses cross-cutting issues, including gender
dimensions of climate change and bioenergy.
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October 2008: The Third Global Congress of Women in Politics
and Governance will convene in Manila, Philippines, from 19-22 October 2008,
with a focus on gender in climate change and disaster risk reduction.
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10 September 2008: Presenting his latest report to the Human
Rights Council in Geneva, Olivier De Schutter, the Special Rapporteur on the
Right to Food, said rising food prices continue to jeopardize the right to
food, stressing that “any potential solution to the problem must be viewed
through the lens of human rights.”
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27 August 2008: This toolkit is aimed at UN Country Teams
and other development agents, to provide guidance on how to engage indigenous
peoples and include their perspectives in development processes.
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25 August 2008: The World Bank launched a worldwide
documentary competition that will highlight the social aspects of climate
change as experienced and/or observed by the film-maker(s).
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8 August 2008: On the eve of the International Day for the World’s Indigenous Peoples, which is celebrated on 9 August, Regina Laub, the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) focal point for Indigenous Peoples,
noted that climate change and limited land rights increasingly threaten
indigenous peoples’ livelihoods.
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23 July
2008: Opening the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) discussion on ‘mainstreaming
a gender perspective into all UN policies and programmes, women and
development, and the advancement of women,’ Rachel Mayanja, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on
Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, noted the particular vulnerability of
women to climate change and the food crisis.
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June 2008: In an effort to
engage vulnerable groups in international debates on climate change, the UN
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Coasts and Small Islands Platform and Local
and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Programme has launched an Internet-based
discussion forum on climate change.
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June
2008: Women are both the most exposed
to the consequences of climate change, and the best placed to influence changes
in behaviour, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO). According to
UNESCO, this situation exists because women are most affected by natural
disasters while at the same time they play a key role in managing water and
fuel resources, thus wielding an essential influence for change.
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4 June 2008: Speaking at the FAO High-Level Conference on
World Food Security, which convened in Rome, Italy, from 3-5 June 2008, Louise
Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the food crisis is a
forceful signal “about individual human rights and the need for collective
action.” Reporting on a special session of the Human Rights Council on the food
emergency, she called for a human rights framework to analyze the causes of the
crises and “to clarify the power imbalances inside and between countries that
trigger or exacerbate the food crisis, including unfair trade practices or
skewed policies involving incentives and subsidies.”
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