The Millennium Development Goals constitute an agenda for reducing poverty and improving livelihoods that world leaders and member states of the United Nations agreed upon at the Millennium Summit in September 2000. It contains eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), ranging from:

1. Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieving universal primary education
3. Promoting gender equality and empowering women
4. Reducing child mortality
5. Improving maternal health
6. Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensuring environmental sustainability
8. Developing a global partnership for development. 

Each of these goals has target figures, most set for 2015, and indicators designed to monitor the extent to which the target has been achieved (for more information please look at: www.unhabitat.org).

So let us see which of the goals are most directly impacted by UA activities. These are:

Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Probably urban agriculture’s main contribution is its contribution to household, community and urban food security.  UA is furthermore considered here for its potential contribution to job and income-generation. 

Goal 3.  Promote gender equality; empower women

• A large percentage of the urban farmers are women, and urban agriculture may provide special opportunities for poor urban women (especially female headed households). 

Goal 6.  Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases

• Urban agriculture can play a positive role in the mitigation of the effects of the HIV/Aids epidemic, good nutrition being a prime factor in reducing the susceptibility for and progression of HIV/AIDS and enhancing the effects of treatment with ARV’s. Additionally provision of food aid is not considered  a sustainable solution on longer term. 

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

• Reference is made here to the fact that urban agriculture may recycle and use resources such as urban organic waste and wastewater, as well as may contribute to improving the cities’ micro-climate. 

Goal 8. Develop a global partnership for development

• One of the targets here aims to develop and implement, in cooperation with developing countries, strategies for decent and productive work for youth. Urban agriculture offers an opportunity for employment creation in production. For urban youth, market-oriented urban agriculture, or linked enterprises, such as waste management or processing, provides a relatively accessible entry into the urban job market.