In 2007, we celebrate the greatest multilateral nonmilitary campaign ever and
the most-ambitious concerted effort in history to address world poverty and
underdevelopment. This year, Millennium Campaign and development project,
taking inspiration from the UN’s Millennium Declaration, reach their midpoint
in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set for 2015.
The eight MDGs are derived from the Millennium Declaration (2000), and all
are interdependent. Nonetheless, achieving each Goal calls for specialization
and the marshalling of lessons from “communities of practice” to find the ways
and means to eradicate poverty and manage other global threats on our
planet. Members of Habitat International Coalition (HIC) and its Housing and
Land Rights Network (HLRN) naturally have trained their efforts on monitoring
and promoting MDG 7: “ensuring environmental stability.” This pamphlet
provides a HIC perspective of the issues involved and values at stake in
pursuing MDG 7 thus far, while sharing lessons and guidance gathered during
the campaign. It concludes with a set of indicators that seeks to reconcile the
pursuit of the MDGs with prior, binding and enduring treaty obligations of
States.