22 March 2009: The 19th session of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Committee on Forestry (COFO) convened from 16-20 March 2009, at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. The meeting attracted over 550 participants from COFO member States, including heads of forestry departments, UN agencies, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. In plenary sessions held throughout the week, participants discussed: the FAO Strategy for Forests and Forestry; the Collaborative Partnership on Forests' Strategic Framework on Forests and Climate Change and related topics, including sustainable forest management (SFM) and climate change; forest genetic resources; reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation; access to financing; the impacts of recent economic turbulence on the forest sector; and preparations for the XIII World Forestry Congress.
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22 March 2009: On the occasion of World Water Day, which was observed on 22 March 2009, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) highlighted the potential benefits of investing in the world's freshwaters, including the potential benefits to the global economic recovery and to accelerating a response to climate change.
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20 March 2009: With the goal of mobilizing support for a UN agreement to address climate change, the UN will observe Earth Hour on 28 March 2009 by turning off the lights at UN facilities worldwide.
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20 March 2009: Representatives from the five parties to the 1973 Polar Bear Conservation Agreement – Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Norway, the Russian Federation and the US – met from 17-19 March 2009, in Tromsoe, Norway.
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23 March 2009: The International Policy Dialogue on “Financing the Climate Agenda: The Development Perspective” took place in Berlin, Germany, from 19-20 March 2009. The event was convened by the Development Policy Forum, InWEnt, Germany, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in cooperation with the UN Foundation and with the support of the KfW Banking Group.
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20 March 2009: The UNFCCC Secretariat has released an addendum (FCCC/KP/AWG/2009/MISC.5/Add.1) to document (FCCC/KP/AWG/2009/MISC.5), which elaborates on how to address, where applicable, the definitions, modalities, rules and guidelines for the treatment of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) under the Kyoto Protocol.
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20 March 2009: The UNFCCC Secretariat has released the scenario note (FCCC/AWGLCA/2009/2) for the upcoming fifth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), which will be held in Bonn, Germany, from 29 March-8 April 2009.
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20 March 2009: The UNFCCC Secretariat has released a compilation document containing the submissions by parties on “Ideas and proposals on the elements contained in paragraph 1 of the Bali Action Plan” (FCCC/AWGLCA/2009/MISC.1/Add.1). This document is an addendum to the 25 submissions from 22 parties contained in document FCCC/AWGLCA/2009/MISC.1, and contains three further submissions from two parties.
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19 March 2009: Speaking at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Counties' (OPEC) Fourth International Seminar on Petroleum, organized around the theme “Petroleum: Future Stability and Sustainability,” which took place on 18-19 March 2009, in Vienna, Austria, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer underscored the importance of introducing climate-friendly technologies despite the fact that oil will remain a dominant source of energy in the near future.
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17 March 2009: UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang addressed several audiences at the fifth World Water Forum, which met from 16-22 March 2009, in Istanbul, Turkey. During the opening ceremony, he suggested “four strategic actions on bridging divides for water,” including engaging with other policy communities on the nexus between water challenges and climate change, accelerating progress in climate change adaptation, and improving human and institutional capacity backed by adequate financial resources.
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