24 September 2008: The International Labor Organization
(ILO), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), International Trade Union Confederation
and the International Organization of Employers have released the first
comprehensive study on the emergence of a “green economy” and its impact on the
world of work.
23 September 2008: In his speech to the opening of the
General Debate of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon recalled that the global food, energy and financial crises, as well
as the challenge of climate change, demand global solutions.
23 September 2008: The President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Miguel D'Escoto, opened its annual High-Level debate by stating that the confluence of global interrelated crises, including climate change, high food prices, disasters and financial troubles, highlight the need to overturn the culture of selfishness and shift towards solidarity.
19 September 2008: The Danish Government's Africa Commission
held a thematic conference on employment and economic growth in the context of
climate change in Nairobi, Kenya, on 18 September. The event was the fourth in
a series of five thematic conferences, initiated by the Africa Commission,
convened between June-October 2008, in various African cities.
18 September 2008: On the eve of the opening of the 63rd
session of the UN General Assembly, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) released a briefing paper on the impact of high food prices on hunger,
which states that rising food prices pushed 75 million more people into hunger
and threatens efforts to realize the goal of halving the number of those in
hunger by 2015. The paper will inform a high-level event on the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), to be held on 25 September.
16 September 2008: Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, a former
foreign minister of Nicaragua and the new President of the UN General Assembly
(UNGA), opened its 63rd session with a call to democratize the UN in order to
deal more effectively with the world's most pressing problems, including the
impact of climate change, widespread hunger and poverty, and unequal access to
water.
15 September 2008: Leaders of the Rome-based UN agencies,
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), World Food Programme
(WFP) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), together with
the World Bank, presented a common statement to the European Parliament's
Development Committee, urging it to take the lead in providing assistance to
help farmers cope with surging food and commodity prices.
11 September 2008: The EU Parliament's Industry Committee decided to support the EU Commission's target to achieve a 10% share of biofuels used in road transport by 2020, while insisting that 40% of that renewable energy must come from alternative sources not competing with food production, such as electricity and hydrogen produced from renewable sources as well as “second generation” biofuels made from waste, lingo-cellulosic biomass or algae.
September 2008: The International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI) has released an advance copy of its report entitled ‘Global
Food Crises: Monitoring and Assessing Impact to Inform Policy Responses.'
11 September 2008: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has
released the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Report 2008, which finds that
the strong and sustained progress in reducing extreme poverty achieved by the
world is being undercut by higher prices, particularly of food and oil, and the
global economic slowdown.
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