5 June 2008: Addressing the
High-Level Conference on World Food Security (3-5 June 2008, Rome, Italy),
UNEP's Deputy Executive Director Angela Cropper cautioned against a
reductionist model to agricultural production that reduces farming to a simple
process of intensification and ignores the wealth of agricultural biodiversity.
5
June 2008: In a message to the High-Level Conference on World Food Security
(3-5 June 2008, Rome, Italy), Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), underlined the current loss of
agricultural and livestock biodiversity, which he said is further increased by
climate change.
June 2008: The 41st session of the
Intergovernmental Oceanic Commission (IOC) of the UN Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which will take place from 24 June-1 July
2008, in Paris, France, is scheduled to consider: the contribution of IOC
programmes to achieving the objectives of the UNFCCC; whether there is any need
to modify the present arrangements; and the IOC's intention to continue its
close cooperation with the UNFCCC Secretariat.
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: This workshop is
scheduled to take place on 1-2 July 2008 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and
will be organized under the auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Europe
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and
International Lakes (Water Convention) and the Protocol on Water and Health to
the Water Convention. The event will address, inter alia: current
knowledge about adaptation and climate change; policy, legislative, institutional
and financial frameworks; forecasting, modelling and vulnerability, including
vulnerability of water-related sectors such as energy, agriculture and tourism;
and adaptation and coping measures.
4 June 2008: The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World
Bank jointly organized a fourth regional consultation to discuss their
respective strategies on climate change. The 4 June 2008 consultation in Dakar,
Senegal, was the last in a series aimed at brainstorming and seeking ways to
strengthen collaboration with African institutions and development partners in
order to efficiently implement the strategies. Participants identified three
main challenges – energy security and access, cushioning the adverse effects of
climate change, and climate change risk management and adaptation.
3 June 2008: In his address to the High-Level Conference on
World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy, which
convened from 3-5 June 2008, in Rome, Italy, the Secretary-General of the UN
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Supachai Panitchpakdi, criticized
subsidized exports from the developed world, noting that many former net
exporters of food in Africa, Asia and Latin America are now net importers as a
result of the market distortions caused by the subsidies.
29 May 2008: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Japan announced, at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), a US$ 92.1 million programme for climate change adaptation in Africa. The UNDP/Japan adaptation programme is expected to be operational in August 2008.
5 June 2008: Deputy Executive Secretary Grégoire de Kalbermatten
addressed the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) High-Level Conference on
Food Security on 5 June 2008, and emphasized actions to enhance carbon
sequestration in soil. He suggested that the climate change negotiations should
give increased attention to land and soil, including by expanding the Clean
Development Mechanism's (CDM) coverage of agricultural land use, particularly
projects focusing on carbon sequestration in soil.
6 June 2008: The World Bank's Carbon Fund is facilitating a
US$8.37 million project in southern Nicaragua that plans to turn 600 hectares
of privately-owned former cattle ranches into new-growth teak forests. The Nicaragua Precious Woods Project began in August 2006,
and intends to absorb nearly 300,000 tons of carbon emissions by the year 2017
while conserving approximately 350 hectares of secondary forest and mature
trees.
| Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) |
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| Conference Reporting Services (CRS) |
