A globalized world : the United Nations context

How does Community-Based Tourism fit with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals ?

From 6 to 8 September 2000, all member States of the United Nations gathered in New York during the Millennium Summit and adopted a global agenda to encourage equitable and sustainable development.

The outcome of this meeting was the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Millennium Declaration which stresses certain fundamental values as being essential to international relations in the twenty-first century including freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance and non violence, respect for nature and shared responsibility.

In accordance with these values, key objectives with measurable indicators were defined and called the eight Millennium Development Goals (or UN MDGs), to be achieved by 2015 : eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, build a global partnership for development.

Community-Based Tourism interrelates with these key objectives as it can reduce poverty (benefits are shared within the community), empower women (training and creation of employment), contribute to the protection of local resources and environment as well as to social and economic development.

Community Based-Tourism is therefore a very important and promising tool at local level to promote the values contained in the Millennium Declaration and to achieve sustainable development.