UN Millennium Development Goals Summit20 September 2010
World leaders are meeting in New York to look at progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
The Goals are targets to achieve basic standards of clean water, environmental protection and literacy worldwide.
The 3 day summit will look at what action is needed to fulfil the targets by 2015.
Hand-in-hand
We're calling on Governments across the world to recognise that without tackling climate change or the loss of our precious natural environment, the world won't be able to eradicate poverty.
Protecting the environment and enabling development go hand-in-hand.
Rich countries are failing to curb their emissions, or provide adequate funding for developing countries to tackle climate change.
The impacts of climate change are already affecting millions of the world's poorest.
Continued deforestation is fuelling climate change and depriving people of the food, fuelwood and clean water forests provide.
The way forward
Left unchecked, these environmental problems will condemn hundreds of millions to a life of unrelenting poverty battling unpredictable weather, floods and droughts, the loss of their livelihoods and increasingly scarce fresh water supplies.
But rich countries can - and should - lead the way in creating a better future for everyone.
It's time for rich countries to fulfil their responsibility to lead in tackling climate change and to protect the natural environment - they must cut their emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020 without offsetting.
They must also provide sufficient public funds to enable developing countries to grow cleanly and adapt to the effects of climate change already wreaking havoc on their people.
Craig Bennett, Director of Policy and Campaigns, Friends of the Earth
Take action
Throughout 2010 we'll continue to campaign to create political pressure to bring about global action for climate justice.
Help us and take our latest Press for change
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