The Research Need

There has been, and continues to be, a need for strategic research to underpin the contribution sustainable tourism can make to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, namely:

1.  Eradicate extreme poverty & hunger - 1.2 billion people still live on less than $1 a day.

2.  Achieve universal primary education - 113 million children do not attend school

3.  Promote gender equality and empower women -  2/3’s of the world’s illiterates & 80% of refugees are women & children

4.  Reduce child mortality - 11 million young children die each year

5.  Improve maternal health - In the developing world the risk of dying in childbirth is 1 in 48

6.  Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases - These diseases have erased a generation of development gains

7.  Ensure environmental sustainability - More than 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water & reasonable sanitation

8.  Develop a global partnership for development - With targets for aid, trade & debt relief. Too many countries spend more on debt service than on social services

"MDG Goal 3 challenges discrimination against women, and seeks to ensure that girls as well as boys have the chance to go to school. Indicators linked to this goal aim to measure progress towards ensuring that more women become literate, have more voice and representation in public policy and decision making, and have improved job prospects. But the issue of gender equality is not limited to a single goal — it applies to all of them. Without progress towards gender equality and the empowerment of women, none of the MDGs will be achieved."

Source: http://www.mdgender.net/