25 May 2011: In a message delivered by El‑Mostafa Benlamlih, UN Resident Coordinator in Indonesia, to the 16th Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon outlined areas in which joint action by the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement "is essential," namely building a safer world, responding to climate change and fighting extreme poverty.
25 May 2011: The World Meteorological Congress reappointed Michel Jarraud for a four-year term as the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The Congress also elected David Grimes (Canada) as President, Antonio Divino Moura (Brazil) as First Vice-President, Mieczyslaw Ostojski (Poland) as Second Vice-President, and Abdalah Mokssit (Morroco) as Third Vice-President.
24 May 2011: The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the EU are supporting sustainable programmes to address water scarcity exacerbated by climate change by empowering nomadic communities in Kenya and Ethiopia to take responsibility for their access to safe water and sanitation.
20 May 2011: Partners of the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)-coordinated project “Capacity Development for Adaptation to Climate Change and GHG Mitigation in Non-Annex I Countries” (C3D+) met from 18-20 May 2011, in Geneva, Switzerland, to consider how the capacities of research and training institutions in developing countries can be strengthened to support climate change adaptation and mitigation action.
19 May 2011: The Executive Board of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has confirmed its call for UNESCO to develop a coherent Biodiversity Initiative encompassing all areas of competence and work of UNESCO – natural and social sciences, education, culture and communication. The Initiative will focus on the underlying drivers of biodiversity erosion and loss, and will encompass actions aimed at providing assistance to UNESCO member States underpinning the implementation of the UN system-wide Strategic Plan for Biodiversity.
The First Africa Drylands Week will be held back-to-back with the global observance event on 17 June to mark World Day to Combat Desertification. Over 100 scientists and representatives of government and international and civil society organizations will convene in Dakar, Senegal, from 10-17 June 2011, to develop an integrated approach to address the Region’s challenges of desertification and biodiversity loss, and the new climate change threat. This meeting, which is being co-organized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is working towards a global vision and partnership on the Sustainable Land and Climate Risk Management for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) will convene the 37th session of the FAO Conference in Rome, Italy. The meeting will consider the regional conferences of the FAO, the technical committees on Commodity Problems, Agriculture, Forestry, World Food Security and Fisheries, and governance, legal, administrative and financial matters.
The agenda for this session includes a presentation of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Draft Priorities and Implementation Strategies for 2012-2013 related to: prevention and reduction of the impacts of natural hazards; mitigation of and adaptation to climate change and variability; safeguarding the health of ocean ecosystems; World Heritage Sites; and management procedures and policies leading to the sustainability of coastal and ocean environment and resources. Participants will also discuss national programmes and priorities in Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa and Tanzania.
25 May 2011: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released a zero draft of the "Climate Change for Forest Policy Makers- An approach for integrating climate change into national forest programmes in support of sustainable forest management," and is calling for comments on the draft by 20 June 2011.
24 May 2011: The Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) has agreed on a set of 24 voluntary, science-based indicators for assessing the sustainable production and use of all forms of bioenergy. The agreement represents the first global and government-level consensus on such indicators.
| Climate Change |
| Sustainable Development (UNCSD) |
| Biodiversity |
| Small Island Developing States (SIDS) |
| African Regional Coverage (ARC) |
| Latin America & Caribbean Regional Coverage (LARC) |
| Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) |
| Your Meeting Bulletin (YMB) |
