CBD COP 11 Opens with Focus on Strategic Plan Implementation, Climate and Marine Issues [viewed]
8 October 2012: The 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) opened on 8 October 2012, in Hyderabad, India, directly following the sixth Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The two-week meeting will address a series of cross-cutting and ecosystem-related issues, as well as financial, administrative and implementation-related topics.
August 2012: The UN Secretary-General's report on progress made in implementation of the Habitat II conference outcomes recommends preparations towards a third UN conference on housing and sustainable urban development (Habitat III) in 2016, calling for this to be a high-level conference or world summit focusing on the theme of sustainable cities.
2 October 2012: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a publication on biodiversity loss in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), highlighting the state of biodiversity in the region particularly in the context of climate change, and presenting some outcomes of its biodiversity work funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
27 September 2012: During a meeting on the sidelines of the opening of the UN General Assembly session, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon assured leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) of improved cooperation between the UN and CARICOM regarding trade, debt, climate change and transnational organized crime, among other issues. He also pledged to continue to raise the issue of the vulnerability of Caribbean island nations to the international financial crisis with the Group of Eight (G8) and Group of 20 (G20) countries.
1 October 2012: The Global Water Forum (GWF) of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently published two discussion papers, titled “Water Supply and Sanitation in India: Meeting Targets and Beyond” and “Leveraging Carbon Financing to Enable Accountable Water Treatment Programs.”
September 2012: The UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC) published its bimonthly publications review, highlighting UN publications on water from June, July and August that address a variety of issues, including green accounting and sustainable development, water and food security, and water security.
27 September 2012: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has released a publication, titled “Powerful Synergies: Gender Equality, Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability,” which provides evidence from scholars and practitioners on how gender equality in access and control over resources ensures environmental sustainability and improves lives.
26 September 2012: During the second day of the High-level Debate of the 67th session UN General Assembly (UNGA), several speakers expressed commitments to address climate change. Others expressed concerns about the effects of climate change on vulnerable States and highlighted the potential for climate change to contribute to conflicts.
