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Photo Credits (top to bottom)
-Primary education project of the Bangladesh Federation of University
women
- Graphic Artwork by Brazilian artist Octavio Roth - Article 1 of the
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights - See Thirty
Articles (© Octavio Roth - (UN/DPI Photo)
- "Displaced Persons: Mother and Child in the Dafur Region of the
Sudans" (© Eskinder Debebe - UN/DPI Photo)
- From Aftershocks:
Art and Memoirs by Young People Growing Up after War and Terror, exhibit
of the United Nations Cyberschool Bus Project, ©
painting by Una Dorbrinic
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Remedying Environmental Damage Of Military Activities (2007)
Global Warming 2007)
Protection
of Water (2004)
Sustainable
Forestry (1998)
Desertification
and Development (1998)
Health
and the Environment (1998)
Ozone
Layer(1995)
Protection
of the Environment (1995)
Development
Indicators (1992)
Equitable
Economic Policies (1992)
Marine
Environment (1992)
Endangered
Ecosystems (1992)
Hazardous
Waste (1992)
Energy
Conservation (1992)
Energy
Strategies (1991)
Shelter
(1989)
Environment
(1989)
Pollution
(1971)
Nuclear
Weapon Tests (1959)
Remedying Environmental Damage Of Military Activities
The 29th IFUW Conference resolves:
- that IFUW and NFAs advocate for the inclusion of a gender perspective in assessing aspects of environmental damage related to military activities;
- that IFUW call upon national federations and associations (NFAs) to urge their respective governments to institute policies and practices to remedy the impact of environmental damage related to military activities; and
- that such policies and practices be applied both within their own national territory and, subject to the consent of the relevant national government, in nations where they have been involved in military activity.
Plan of Action
- NFAs to recognize the impact of military activities on the environment and urge their respective governments to take action to remedy these consequences;
- NFAs to urge their governments to adopt policies and to provide the necessary resources to remedy and work to ameliorate environmental damage related to military activities;
- NFAs to make special efforts to develop awareness around the impact of military activities on the environment as it applies to their country and, in particular, how these activities impact women and children; and,
IFUW representatives to the United Nations to present this resolution at meetings with relevant U.N. commissions.
Global Warming
The 29th IFUW Conference resolves:
- to direct the IFUW Board of Officers through its representatives to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to encourage the establishment of fora in which creative artists and scientists, cognizant of the effects of global warming, co-operate to present to the general populace works of the imagination, comprehensible and persuasive of the urgency of global warming; and
- to recommend to NFAs that they support such programmes and events in their own countries.
Plan of Action
- IFUW to monitor, through its UNESCO representation, the programmes of international festivals for events which perform this function; influence organizing bodies to include such events; support and publicize relevant literature, film and painting;
- IFUW to circulate to NFAs information about these, so that NFAs can give publicity to such programs; and
IFUW to plan inclusion in future IFUW and regional conferences events of creative imagination that engage the science of global warming.
Protection
of Water
The
28th Triennial Conference resolves:
that NFAs urge their respective governments to
1. protect water resources and specifically declare that water, being
a non-renewable natural resource of paramount importance, be protected
at all levels of government and its use and price be regulated;
2. oppose all efforts to make privatization of water a condition for receiving
financial aid.
3. adopt and implement a sustainable and prudent water management policy
to respond to long-term regional needs with due regard to the ecosystem
and hydro-geological reality; and,
4. promote conservation and more efficient use of surface water and groundwater
at individual, local, national and international levels.
Plan of Action
1. NFAs should urge national delegates to the World Trade Organization
to make firm and binding the exemption of water resources in bulk form
from any consideration as a commodity.
2. NFAs should be alert to and oppose efforts by the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund to require countries to privatize their water
prior to receiving financial assistance.
3. NFAs should educate themselves on global water issues in order to approach
their governments to carry forward the resolution. UNESCO has several
resources in print.
Sustainable
Forestry
that NFAs urge their respective governments to make a commitment to the
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, Framework Convention
on Climate Change, and Statement of Forest Principles by:
- supporting programs in reforestation and rehabilitation of degraded
forest lands that are relevant, environmentally sound, and culturally
acceptable;
- requiring and enforcing the total protection of indigenous forests,
or in those countries where this is impossible, the use of appropriate,
environmentally sound, sustainable methods of harvesting wood while maintaining
the forest base;
- pursuing through the Global Forest Dialogue the successful negotiation
and implementation of the global forest convention, whose goal is the
protection and sustainable development of the world's forests. (1998
No.16)
Desertification
and Development
that NFAs urge their governments to ratify the United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought
and or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, and furthermore to:
1. ensure the full participation of local women in political, economic
and technical decision-making in areas affected by drought and desertification;
2. support research on, and the transfer of, alternative renewable energy
technologies, such as hydroelectricity, solar and wind energy, for individual
and community use; and
3. support the dissemination of culturally specific information on economically
viable, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable alternative renewable
energy technologies, and on the more efficient use of traditional methods
to communities and families. (1998 No.15)
Health
and the Environment
that NFAs urge their respective governments without delay to give priority
to the development of:
1. a campaign together with other governments to counter pollution problems;
2. specific strategies and practical ecological measures to master the
escalating pollution of metropolitan areas;
3. environmental education programmes that will create awareness among
both adults and children of the gravity of these problems so that responsibility
for environmental improvement is accepted at both personal and governmental
levels;
4. specific strategies to involve women at every stage of environmental
interaction, including international meetings. (1998
No.14)
Ozone
Layer
to encourage NFAs:
1) to take action in their respective countries, if necessary by liaising
with recognised expert environmental bodies, towards the rehabilitation
and protection of the ozone layer by urging their governments to:
a) ratify the Montreal Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Substances
that Deplete the Ozone Layer and its 1990 and 1992 amendments, if they
have not already done so;
b)support in 1995 a further amendment to the Montreal Protocol that would
achieve "a gradual reduction in the production and import of ozone depleting
substances especially methyl bromide and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)
as soon as feasible and in any case by the year 2005";
c) affirm support for the continued existence of the Multilateral Fund
of the Montreal Protocol, and, in the case of donor countries, meet their
financial commitments to the Fund on time.
d) ensure that recovery and recycling programmes for all ozone depleting
substances are in place in all their jurisdictions in their respective
countries, with trained personnel to operate them.
2) to encourage its members to become informed of their personal role
and responsibility in preventing the release of all ozone depleting substances
into the atmosphere from equipment in their use. (1995
No.17)
Protection
of the Environment
that NFAs should:
1) urge their respective legislative bodies to incorporate the protection
of the environment as an overall goal into their basic laws;
2) help raise a general awareness of the necessity of protecting the environment,
in particular by expounding the consequences of resource depletion, the
degradation of natural systems, the dangers of pollution and the destruction
of fragile ecosystems;
3) promote the education of girls and boys of all ages in science, technology
and disciplines relating to the natural environment;
4) encourage governments to promote the development of sustainable and
ecologically sound consumption and production patterns including ecologically
safe waste disposal, the re-use and recycling of resources, the reduction
of air pollutants, the careful management of energy sources and the use
of environmentally sound technologies. (1995
No.16)
Development
Indicators
to encourage NFAs to study proposed new national measurements, such as
the HDI (Human Development Index from UNDP), which assess income distribution,
human rights and eradication of poverty along with economic productivity.
By incorporating gender disparities in traditional GNP and GND these development
indicators would give a more correct measure of economic, environmental
and social change. (1992 No.11)
Equitable
Economic Policies
that IFUW, to further the Study and Action Programme, encourage NFAs to
promote programmes to inform members and their communities of the urgency
for supporting national and international action:
- to alleviate national debt;
- to promote productivity and equitable international marketing policies;
- to conserve natural resources (1992 No.10)
Marine
Environment
that NFAs work at branch levels and also urge their governments to take
the measures necessary to ensure the protection and sustainable development
of the marine environment. (1992 No.8)
Endangered
Ecosystems
to encourage NFAs to urge their respective governments to:
1) educate the public about the biological (preserving biological diversity),
ecological, educational, recreational and spiritual importance of wilderness
areas and the need to protect endangered ecosystems;
2) establish a system of parks and/or reserves of diverse and representative
wilderness areas, free from industrial and resource development, in accordance
with the recommendation of the World Commission on Environment and Development
(the Bruntland Report); and
3) set a timetable within the next ten years for the implementation of
this system before further destruction of natural habitats and the animal
life dependent on them occurs;
4) make available adequate resources to implement this system in the allotted
time. (1992 No.7)
Hazardous
Waste
to encourage NFAs to urge their respective governments to initiate and
sustain comprehensive information programmes to educate the public about:
1) the dangers of household hazardous wastes;
2) their safe disposal;
3) the diversion of products from the hazardous waste stream by re-use
whenever safely possible;
4) the use of non-hazardous and less hazardous alternative products;
to encourage NFAs to call upon their respective governments to co-operate
in providing the public with regular, accessible and safe systems for
the collection and disposal of household hazardous waste;
to urge NFAs to;
facilitate the dissemination of information on the significance and dangers
of the improper disposal of hazardous household wastes and promote, where
applicable, the use of safe alternatives, and exert consumer pressure
on industry to research, develop and market safe alternatives to hazardous
household products. (1992 No.6)
Energy
Conservation
that NFAs approach their respective governments to encourage the promotion
of energy conservation and to stimulate the development of renewable,
environmentally sound resources for energy supply. (1992
No.5)
Energy
Strategies
that NFAs be encouraged to call on their own governments to develop or
strengthen or implement national and local energy strategies in collaboration
with the women consumers, particularly;
a) policies for alternative, affordable energy sources for household use;
b) management programmes for fuel wood and other energy resources with
women as major participants; and
c) training programmes for women in modern forms of resource management.
(1991 No.1)
Shelter
to recommend to NFAs to urge their national governments to :
- adopt the UN "Global Strategy to the Year 2000" in the 43rd UNGA 1988;
-develop national shelter strategies and include women in the organisational
machinery at all stages and at all levels;
- promote the use of gender specific statistical indicators for the monitoring
of global and national shelter strategies;
- strengthen already existing partnerships with women's organisations
when promoting participation of women in Human Settlements Management.
(1989 No.8)
Environment
that NFAs be encouraged to take action in their respective countries,
and where possible, to encourage joint participation with IFUW affiliates
in neighbouring countries to prevent further deterioration of our global
environment by working to implement the recommendations of the Report
of the World Commission on Environment and Development, "Our Common Future",
(Bruntland Report) presented to the UNGA in October 1987. (1989
No.2) (See also Resolution 1992-No.8)
Pollution
that IFUW urges NFAs throughout the world to press vigorously, individually
and collectively for true intergovernmental co-operation and immediate
action to decontaminate the polluted air, soil and water, and to protect
from further pollution on a world wide basis. (1971
No.9)
Nuclear
Weapon Tests
that IFUW, realising the risks incurred by the populations of the world
by nuclear weapon tests, urges governments to use all endeavours to reach
an agreement on measures to safeguard the health of the peoples of the
world. (1959 No.29) |
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