for more information on the below, and for links to the final report,
see

http://www.iypf.org/IYPF-projects.htm#YMDGs

cameron

+++++++

YOUTH RESPOND TO CHALLENGE BY PROF. JEFFREY SACHS ON THE MILLENNIUM
DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Youth are Key to Development, States New Report,

Released April 19 at United Nations Headquarters

New York City, USA (19 April, 2005) - When asked how the United
Nations intended to involve young people as partners in achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Professor Jeffrey Sachs' reply
last spring was: "You tell us!"

And so an international team of youth experts responded by producing
a report that contains recommendations on how national and
international institutions can successfully engage young people in
efforts to achieve the MDGs. The report, "Youth and the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs): Challenges and Opportunities for
Implementation," will be launched on April 19 at the United Nations
Commission on Sustainable Development.

Distinctively, the report has been authored not by World Bank
economists or UN diplomats, but by a global team of young people
themselves. The report finds that, while young people often comprise
70% of the population in many developing nations, much work needs to
be done to address the needs of youth and their potential to
contribute significantly to achieving the MDGs.

During an intensive 12-month process, the Ad Hoc Working Group on
Youth collaborated in research and drafting the report, and organized
a consultation process that spanned more than 100 countries. An
interim version of the report was released in November 2004, and
circulated for feedback from young people. More than 24,000 downloads
of the Interim Report were recorded as of March.

"The Secretary General is very pleased with your assessment that the
MDGs are an opportunity to mobilize youth and your determination not
to miss this occasion," commented Mark Malloch Brown, Chef de Cabinet
to the U.N. Secretary General.

The Report's many recommendations include: encouraging the
establishment of grant programs for young 'social entrepreneurs' who
are leading development programs but lack access to mainstream
funding and loan financing; an emphasis on partnerships between youth
and their local authorities; and peer-led awareness campaigns to
rally young people in western countries in support of their peers in
developing countries.

Luis A. Davila-Ortega, a 22 year old Venezuelan with the New York-
based Global Youth Action Network, the acting secretariat for the Ad-
Hoc Working Group, said: "Young people must be recognized as key
partners in implementing the MDGs; investing in youth today will
provide the best return for tomorrow."

About the Millennium Development Goals
The MDGs are a global agreement between developed and developing
countries, to make a better world for all by 2015. The Goals
originate from the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, where
189 Heads of State and Governments came together and agreed on
specific time-bound targets the world should meet, in areas such as
poverty, education, gender equality, health, diseases, and
environmental sustainability. In 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan appointed Jeffrey Sachs, an economist and professor at the
Earth Institute at Columbia University, to lead the Millennium
Project in developing a concrete action plan to achieve the MDGs.

About the Ad Hoc Working Group on Youth
The expert taskforce is comprised of youth leaders from: Development
Partners International, Earth Charter Youth Initiative, Global Youth
Action Network, International Young Professionals Foundation,
Lutheran World Federation, NGO Committee on Youth, Mexican Youth
Alliance, Millennium Project Taskforce 10, Rescue Mission: Planet
Earth, South Asia Youth Environment Network, UN Commission on
Sustainable Development Youth Caucus, United Nations Environment
Program, United Nations Programme on Youth, UN Youth and Student
Association of the United Kingdom, World Federation of Engineering
Organisations, and Young Volunteers for Sustainable Development.

# # #

UNITED NATIONS PRESS RELEASE

Government ministers meet to decide policies needed to reach goals and
targets on water, sanitation and slums

Key issues include financing, utility management, service charges, water efficiency, tenure security and low-cost housing development.

(New York, 11 April 2005) - More than 75 Ministers with a broad range of portfolios including finance, trade, development, planning, environment, water, housing and health, will meet at the United Nations over the next two weeks to decide on policies and practical measures to accelerate progress towards achieving the internationally agreed goals and targets related to water, sanitation and human settlements.

These targets include halving by 2015 the proportion of people without
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, developing by 2005
integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans, and
significantly improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

The Commission on Sustainable Development's 13th session (CSD-13), to be held from 11 to 22 April 2005, will be its first policy-setting session since the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg in 2002.

The meeting follows the CSD's Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting (IPM) held from 28 February-4 March 2005 and the release in January of the Millennium Project Task Force reports which included recommendations to governments for action to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The CSD-13 provides the first opportunity for governments to decide what they believe are the most appropriate and effective options in the three thematic areas.

"This year's CSD aims to turn political commitments into action. The
policy options that Governments are expected to agree on at CSD-13 will underpin our common endeavours in the coming years to meet the Millennium Development Goals and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation targets and commitments on water, sanitation and human settlements," stated H.E. Dr. John W. Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda), Chairman of CSD-13.

CSD-13 will build on last year's session which reviewed progress and
identified obstacles and constraints in achieving the international
development goals and targets related to water, sanitation and human
settlements contained in Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further
Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

"These three issues encapsulate the silent humanitarian crisis in the
world today, where roughly four thousand children die each day of
diarrheal diseases caused by poor sanitation and contaminated drinking
water, and where the living conditions in crowded slums are exacerbating public health issues such as communicable diseases," stated Mr. José Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

Reports issued by the Secretary-General in advance of the meeting,
together with the Chair's text from the CSD-13 Preparatory Meeting last month (all available at www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd13/docs.htm), set out the key policy options and practical measures that will be the focus for deliberations. These include:

Extending Water and Sanitation Services to those Unserved
+ Strengthening management and financing of public water and sanitation utilities
+ Ensuring service access by the poor through targeted subsidies
+ Tariff reform to improve cost recovery for operation and maintenance
+ Increasing donors' financing for water and sanitation as part of overall increase in official development assistance (ODA) commitments towards the 0.7 per cent of GNI target
+ Enhancing hygiene education and awareness raising, combining that with gender-segregated sanitation facilities in schools
+ Enhancing the role of women in planning and managing water and
sanitation systems
+ Raising investments in waste-water treatment
+ Defining the role of the private sector, notably small-scale providers

Improving Efficiency of Water Allocation and Use
+ Developing integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans
+ Improving water efficiency in agriculture
+ Not "wasting" wastewater, but considering it as a resource
+ Technology transfer for efficient water use, recycling and re-use

Improving Housing, Services and Employment for the Urban Poor
+ Improving security of tenure in slums and informal settlements
+ Providing decent and affordable housing
+ Developing credit facilities suitable to the needs of the urban poor
+ Creating jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in urban settlements, in particular for poor women and unemployed youth
+ Realizing women's rights of full and equal access to land, housing and property.

Highlights of CSD-13 will include:

11 April Opening of the CSD-13 including an opening address by Chairman John W. Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda).

14 April Distribution of Chair's draft elements for negotiation.

18 April A panel of finance and development cooperation ministers, moderated by the Minister of Finance, South Africa and the Minister of International Development, Norway, will discuss the economic benefits of implementing sound policies on water, sanitation, and human settlements.Representatives of the World Bank and UNCTAD will lead off the discussion.

19 April 1:15pm Press conference by Chairman Ashe at the conclusion of
negotiations on draft policy decisions. (Webcast live at www.un.org/webcast)

20 April Opening of the High-level Segment (20 to 22 April) featuring several keynote addresses, including by His Royal Highness Prince Willem-Alexander, the Prince of Orange, and by Stockholm Water Prize winner Sunita Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment, India.

A discussion on the Millennium Development Goals related to water,
sanitation and human settlements led by Robert Orr, UN Assistant
Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning.

A panel on the impact of natural disasters: prevention and response will be led by Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization and Salvano Briceño, Director of the Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

Major Group Priorities

About 1000 people representing some 150 major groups' organizations have registered to attend the CSD-13. A wide array of stakeholders, called "major groups", have an opportunity to present their priorities (Document E/CN.17/2005/5). Examples of priorities expressed this year include:

* Women's groups indicated that "the liberalization of water markets is pushing large sectors of the population further into poverty, forcing the use of unsafe sources of drinking water."
* Youth organizations emphasized "basic sanitation services should be available in every school", while affirming that basic sanitation is a "precondition for education."
* Indigenous peoples stressed that "issues with regard to human
settlements, in both urban and rural areas, deserve equal attention."
* Local authorities advocated that "improving access to financing for (water-related) targeted service provision requires increased financial autonomy of sub-national and local authorities."
* Workers and trade unions called for recognizing "access to water, sanitation and habitation as fundamental human rights."
* The business and industry sector declared that "it is vital that Governments and all major groups recognize the enormous and very diverse contribution that business will make to the development of new and sustainable models for meeting the world's needs for water, sanitation and human settlement."

The focus on water at CSD-13 coincides with the launch of the
International Decade for Action "Water for Life"
(www.un.org/waterforlifedecade), which aims to promote efforts to fulfil international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015, placing special emphasis on the involvement and participation of women in these efforts.

The Commission on Sustainable Development is the United Nation's
high-level forum responsible for ensuring follow up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and monitoring progress towards achieving internationally-agreed development goals.

For more information on CSD-13, including the full press kit and schedule of the session visit: www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd13/csd13.htm

CSD-13 will be webcast live at www.un.org/webcast

Media representatives without UN credentials who wish to attend CSD
meetings should contact: Media Accreditation & Liaison Unit, UN Department of Public Information, Fax: +1-212-963 4642, Tel: +1-212-963-2318

For media queries regarding the CSD, please contact:
Renata Sivacolundhu, UN Department of Public Information
Tel: +1 212 963 2932 Fax: +1 212 963 1186

Vibewire.net e-Festival

The e-festival is a conference taken online and democratized at www.vibewire.net/efestival

We’ve taken the idea of experts presenting papers and flipped it on its head. Rather than sitting in a stuffy room, nodding off to the dull monotone of an academic reading verbatim off their research report, the e-festival is a dynamic, lively party. Everyone – experts and non-experts take part in conversations, share ideas and offer perspective and insight into a how young people can not only be interested in issues, but active around them too!

The e-Festival is made of 5 events happening throughout National Youth Week, including a special series of panels on global issues;


Global Issues – our place in the world (April 14-18)

We’re told that we live in a global village, a place where distance is irrelevant and cooperation is possible anywhere. The realities are far different, with widening absolute gaps between rich and poor, hotly contested debates about the international system and an environmental situation that some claim is irrevocable. In this series of panels we’re giving you the opportunity to challenge and quiz the activists and experts on global issues, opening the floor to debate about what we should be doing as a nation, and more specifically, what we can do as young people.


We're Rich, They're Poor, So What?
Creating long term change to world poverty

The tsunami saw us open our hearts and wallets wider than ever before. Time and again, we show ourselves as generous in the face of tragedy, yet we still have more than 40% of the world’s population living on less than $2 a day. In this panel, we ask the big questions of Why are there so many poor people on the planet? What are doing about it? But even better, we ask what young people can and should be doing to address issues of global inequality.

Guests include:
Tim Colebatch – Economics Editor, The Age
World Vision


Global Democracy vs Global Dominance
The challenges, opportunities and threats of international cooperation

Are we losing control of our own countries? Is the US creating a world in its own image? Does the global village offer us the opportunity to bring democracy and freedom to all – and is that a good thing? And, 60 years since its inception, how does the UN fit into all of this? Coalitions are in fashion – against terror, to prevent climate change, and pressure for international reform. But how can we as young people in Australia have any input into international systems that are poorly understood and largely hidden? Should we be making decisions more locally, or more globally, and what impact will this have?

Guests include:
Adam Ma’anit – New Internationalist
United Nations Youth Association


Green becomes Grey - the Environment
Addressing Global Warming as young people

Kyoto came into effect early this year, and Australia wasn’t a signatory. Yet our government claims to remain committed to the environment. Can the two co-exist? How serious is global warming, and what are we doing about it? What’s the balance between sustainable consumption and protecting the environment – especially when it comes to emissions and global warming? This panel takes the issue of global warming and gives you the opportunity to talk with the experts about what it’s going to mean for our generation and what can and should be doing to deal with it.

Guests include:
Matthew Warnken – industrial and social ecologist
WWF


See you at the panels – www.vibewire.net/efestival

From: Other News - Roberto Savio / IPS

Subject: Al Gore returns with a TV Channel
Date sent: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 15:12:13 -0700
Send reply to:

Gore Group to Start Cable Channel as Youth Forum

By JOE FLINT
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 4, 2005

A cable channel recently acquired by an investment group led by Al
Gore is to relaunch Aug. 1 under the name Current, hoping to generate
much of its content from viewers.

The former vice president and his partners, including entrepreneur
Joel Hyatt, are taking an unconventional approach to TV programming
in hopes of attracting viewers aged 18 to 34. That demographic,
heavily sought by advertisers, has become difficult for TV networks
and newspapers to reach.

Messrs. Gore and Hyatt say they hope young people will use the
channel as a forum to express their opinions on news and current
events. Viewers will be invited to submit short films, documentaries
and home videos to be aired on the channel.

Mr. Gore's group also has struck a deal with Google Inc. to use
information from Google in its programming. Now called Newsworld
International, the channel was acquired from Vivendi Universal SA
last year for about $70 million. Mr. Gore is chairman of the
investment group, while Mr. Hyatt is chief executive.

The two will unveil their plans for the channel today at a cable-
industry convention in San Francisco. In an interview Friday, Mr.
Gore said the goal of Current is to connect "the Internet generation
with television in a brand new way." Its Web site will be a key part
of its service, listing topics on which it wants material, such as
reviews of movies, CDs or videogames; items on social trends; and
advocacy journalism. Current will pay $250 for videos it airs.

A segment called "Google Current" will report on what topics are
generating the most interest on the Web, using Google as its source.
Google doesn't do its own reporting, but will rank the topics, based
on which subjects generate the most search queries. A Google
spokesman confirmed it struck an agreement with Mr. Gore's group.

Current will provide a fair amount of its own programming, at least
initially, said programming chief David Neuman, a veteran television
executive who most recently was a consultant for Time Warner Inc.'s
CNN. Mr. Neuman said the channel has hired hosts for different
segments.

While Current primarily will be a news and information channel, he
described it as closer to MTV and VH1 than Fox News and MSNBC.
Current also has hired Anne Kallin Zehren, a former publisher of Teen
People, as president of sales and marketing. She says the traditional
television model is "a bunch of executives, probably a lot older,
dictating what they think they should be watching." Current, she
says, will listen to what young adults say they want to watch.

Broadening the channel's distribution is likely to be a top priority.
Newsworld, which now carries an assortment of international
newscasts, is available on satellite TV and cable-TV services in
about 20 million homes. Mr. Gore's group hopes to boost its
distribution to 50 million homes in five years. In comparison,
channels such as CNN and MTV are available in 80 million to 90
million homes.

Mr. Hyatt said the channel has commitments from current distributors,
which include DirecTV Group Inc., Comcast Corp. and Time Warner, and
will try to negotiate carriage deals with other cable and satellite
operators. Increasingly, cable operators are using their channel
capacity for video-on-demand services.

-- Kevin Delaney contributed to this article.

Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com1



----------------------------------------------------------------------


"Other News" is a personal initiative seeking to provide information
that should be in the media but is not, because of commercial
criteria. It welcomes contributions from everybody. Work areas
include information on global issues, north-south relations,
gobernability of globalization. The "Other News" motto is a phrase
which appeared on the wall of Barcelona’s old Customs Office, at the
beginning of 2003:”What walls utter, media keeps silent”. Roberto
Savio