19 June 2008: As part of its efforts to support the UN
Climate Neutral Initiative, the UN International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) has released a web-based tool that identifies the carbon dioxide
emissions from a given flight.
By UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
It is a particular pleasure to have this opportunity to share some of
my thoughts through the inaugural edition of this bulletin – which I
hope will become a vibrant medium of communication and exchange in the
period ahead – as we each do our part to keep the promise we made in
Bali and to realize success in Poznań and then Copenhagen.
By Richard Sherman and Peter Doran, IISDRS
While the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) process is the official ‘home' for climate policy
negotiations, the road to Copenhagen will increasingly witness the
acceleration of initiatives across the United Nations system and the
intergovernmental sphere. System-wide initiatives on climate change
reflect a commitment across the UN family to support the UN
Secretary-General's commitment to play a leadership role in supporting
the international community's current efforts to address climate
change, using the Bali Action Plan and Roadmap, and to ensure that all
parts of the UN contribute to a solution.
13
June 2008: Speaking at the UN Association-UK in London, United Kingdom, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a speech entitled “Securing the Common Good:
The United Nations and the Expanding Global Agenda.”
17
June 2008: In a message on the occasion of UN World Day to Combat
Desertification, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
highlighted the role of poor farmers and herders in stopping or reversing land
degradation in areas affected by desertification.
17 June 2008: The UN
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) selected “Combating land
degradation for sustainable agriculture” as the theme for 2008 World Day to
Combat Desertification and Drought, celebrated on 17 June. On the occasion,
UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja highlighted that the conversion of land
to “unsustainable uses can exacerbate the vicious circle of land degradation,
loss of biodiversity and climate change.”
29 May 2008: The UN Environment
Programme's (UNEP) Executive Director, Achim Steiner, has become the official
patron of Flocke, a polar bear cub in Germany's Nuremberg zoo. At the recent ninth Conference of Parties
to Convention on Biological Diversity, which convened in Bonn, Germany, Steiner
said, “I hope a global green economy can be implemented in [Flocke's] lifetime.
6
June 2008: During World Environment Day celebrations in Montreal, Canada, the
Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Ahmed
Djoghlaf, stressed that biodiversity is “part and parcel of any viable
long-term response to addressing the climate-change challenges facing mankind”
and that the effective and coordinated implementation of the three Rio
conventions is the new multilateral response for achieving lasting peace,
shared prosperity and sustainable future.
5 June 2008:
Speaking on the occasion of World Environment Day 2008, on 5 June 2008,
Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said that this year's slogan, “CO2: Kick the
Habit! Towards a Low
Carbon Economy,” reminds the international community of its duty to strive for
a carbon and climate-neutral society. He stressed that there is sufficient knowledge
on the nature, scope and impact of environmental degradation and climate change
to warrant urgent action.
June 2008: The Third African Ministerial Conference on Financing for Development will be held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 12-13 June 2008. Discussions will focus on the
theme “Climate Change, an additional challenge for meeting the MDGs in Africa.”
| Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) |
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| Conference Reporting Services (CRS) |
