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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
24 September, 2007 =========================================================================
GLOBAL LEADERS SHOW WILL FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ‘BREAKTHROUGH’ – SECRETARY-GENERAL
World leaders have demonstrated the political will necessary to make a breakthrough on climate change, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today as he wrapped up the largest-ever meeting of heads of State or government on the issue.
“This has been a groundbreaking, historical event,” he told reporters following the conclusion of the gathering at United Nations Headquarters in New York, which he also characterized as a “sea-change in the response to climate change.”
Mr. Ban convened the event in an effort to forge a coalition to accelerate a global response to climate change and build international momentum for the major summit to be held in Bali, Indonesia, in December.
That meeting seeks to determine future action on mitigation, adaptation, the global carbon market and financing responses to climate change for the period after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol – the current global framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – in 2012.
“Today I heard a clear call from world leaders for a breakthrough on climate change in Bali,” Mr. Ban said in his closing remarks at the day-long event, which drew top officials from over 150 nations, including 80 heads of State or government. “And I now believe we have a major political commitment to achieving that.”
Stressing that a post-Kyoto agreement must be in force by the end of 2012, he called for “comprehensive and inclusive” negotiations to take place in Bali.
“We have come a long way in building understanding and a new consensus this year. More remains to be done, but this event has sent a powerful political signal to the world, and to the Bali conference, that there is the will, and the determination, at the highest level, to break with the past and act decisively.”
Four plenary sessions on the themes of adaptation, mitigation, technology and financing were held simultaneously at the event, entitled “The Future in our Hands: Addressing the Leadership Challenge of Climate Change.”
In summarizing the adaptation session, Mr. Ban said that participants voiced solidarity with the most vulnerable nations – in particular, the so-called small island developing states and least developed countries – to the consequences of climate change. Such nations have contributed least to the state of the p***t, and yet are most impacted by it.
Those who attended this session also agreed on the need to reduce disaster risk and bolster community resilience to extreme weather events through planning and capacity-building, he said.
Speakers at the mitigation plenary noted the need for long-term plans of action, with many participants calling for legally binding emission targets.
“There is a broad recognition of the need to tackle the root causes of the problem and reverse its effects through decisive action,” the Secretary-General noted. “The current level of effort will not suffice.”
On technology, Mr. Ban said that many participants pointed out that technological solutions for pushing forward the goals of adaptation and mitigation already exist. “Effective policy frameworks and cooperation mechanisms can greatly accelerate the deployment of these solutions between and within the North and the South,” he said.
Global collaboration must be urgently increased to help developing countries to move towards low carbon and renewable energy, which can in turn spur economic growth, he noted.
Additionally, since fossil fuels will be ongoing sources of energy for the foreseeable future, energy efficiency must be improved and new technologies – such as carbon capture and storage – must be sought out.
Finally, regarding financing, many participants suggested that tackling climate change need not curtail economic development, the Secretary-General said. Developing countries should be provided with resources for investment and for cultivating their ability to identify and implement the necessary policies to promote sustainable growth.
Several speakers called for an enhanced carbon market in developed nations that offers flexibility, allows for a cost-effective transition to low-emissions economies and ultimately provides incentives to developing countries.
Mr. Ban also said that the attendees noted that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the only forum to devise solutions to the challenges posed by climate change. “All other processes or initiatives should be compatible with the UNFCCC process and should feed into it, facilitating its successful conclusion.”
Also speaking at the event’s closing, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, which is hosting the upcoming summit, noted that the plenary sessions were “marked by a strong sense of commitment and urgency.”
Regarding the upcoming Bali meeting, Mr. Yudhoyono said “there is a public demand for concrete and bold action. Thus, we are looking forward to their principal outcome: a bold global decisions addressing climate change without significantly jeopardizing development efforts.”
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MYANMAR’S AUTHORITIES SHOULD RESPOND TO PROTESTS WITH RESTRAINT – BAN KI-MOON
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the authorities in Myanmar to exercise restraint in dealing with the recent wave of peaceful protests, saying he hopes they will spur dialogue between the Government and other groups on promoting national reconciliation, the restoration of democracy and full respect for human rights.
“The Secretary-General hopes that the Government will seize this opportunity to engage without delay in dialogue with all the relevant parties to the national reconciliation process on the issues of concern to the people of Myanmar,” his spokesperson said in a statement.
Mr. Ban is closely following events in the Asian country, where demonstrations began last month in protest at a surge in fuel prices and the protesters have more recently included many of the country’s monks.
“He commends the peaceful approach the demonstrators are using to press their interests, and he calls upon the Myanmar authorities to continue to exercise restraint,” the statement added.
The Secretary-General also expressed his commitment to continue to use his good offices mandate to help in the process of national reconciliation process with a view to also promoting “the restoration of democracy and full respect for human rights in Myanmar.”
Last week, Mr. Ban’s Special Envoy for Myanmar emphasized that the latest events are a clear setback for the country.
Briefing the Security Council, Ibrahim Gambari said “we have no choice but to persevere” through the Secretary-General’s good offices and work with all relevant parties to try to “move events in the right direction.”
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TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE A MORAL OBLIGATION, GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SAYS
In addition to the incontrovertible scientific data, there is an ethical dimension to combating climate change, General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim said today in an address at the historic meeting on the issue at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
“The science is clear; it is unequivocal,” said Mr. Kerim, who has chosen “Responding to Climate Change” as the theme for this year’s general debate which kicks off tomorrow.
“Beyond the impact on ecosystems, economics and communities everywhere, we have a moral obligation to our fellow human beings,” he added.
Along with last month’s General Assembly thematic debate on climate change and the general debate, today’s landmark event – marking the largest-ever gathering of world leaders on the issue – will serve as a guide for the upcoming negotiations scheduled to take place in Bali, Indonesia, in December, Mr. Kerim noted.
That meeting seeks to determine future action on mitigation, adaptation, the global carbon market and financing responses to climate change for the period after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol – the current global framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – in 2012.
Solutions to the problem must be global in scope, with all countries, cities, towns and communities having a stake, the President said.
“What we need now is a stocktake, a clear vision of the way forward and a strategy to get us there together,” he said, proposing the creation of a comprehensive road map to lead the way forward for both the UN and its Member States in addressing climate change.
Beyond Bali, Mr. Kerim stated his intention to convene a General Assembly thematic debate early next year to reach a global consensus – bringing together the expertise of the UN, civil society, the private sector and academics – on how to stem climate change.
“We all agree that climate change is unquestionably the biggest challenge facing humanity in the 21st century,” he said. “There is no more time to waste. The momentum we have now must not be lost.”
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TALKS BETWEEN BAN KI-MOON AND IRANIAN LEADER FOCUS ON NUCLEAR, AFGHAN ISSUES
Iran’s nuclear programme, the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan and reform of the United Nations system were the focus of talks today between Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at UN Headquarters in New York.
Mr. Ban “acknowledged Iran’s engagement in favour of peace and security in Afghanistan,” according to a readout of this afternoon’s meeting between the two leaders provided by the Secretary-General’s spokesperson.
While he underlined Iran’s interest in regional peace and security, the Secretary-General urged the country to comply fully with the work plan it recently reached with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and to contribute towards the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions regarding its nuclear activities.
The readout stated that Mr. Ahmadinejad also raised the issue of UN reform, including its decision-making processes, as well as the work of UN agencies.
The Iranian President invited Mr. Ban to visit Tehran, and the Secretary-General said he would do so at the earliest opportune moment.
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JOINT ATTACK ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND POVERTY NEEDED, AL GORE TELLS AUDIENCE AT UN
A new Marshall Plan is needed to simultaneously tackle global warming and poverty, the environmental activist and former United States Vice-President Al Gore told an audience at United Nations Headquarters in New York today.
“We now face a global crisis that makes it abundantly clear that increased carbon dioxide emissions anywhere are a threat to the integrity of this p***t’s climate everywhere,” Mr. Gore told a luncheon event called “Global Voices on Climate Change.”
The event, hosted by Denmark, Indonesia, Kenya and Poland, was held on the sidelines of the largest-ever gathering of world leaders on climate change.
Increased emissions are responsible for rising temperatures and rising sea levels, which combine to elevate both food and water insecurity worldwide, Mr. Gore said.
“The old divide between North and South, between developed and developing, is now obsolete,” he told the event’s participants, who included 40 heads of State or government, nine deputy prime ministers and vice presidents and 70 cabinet ministers from all over the world.
“We must link poverty reduction with the sharp reduction of carbon dioxide emissions,” he noted, calling for a plan of attack like that of the Marshall Plan, the post-World War II European reconstruction initiative of the US – to tie the struggles against climate change and poverty.
Mr. Gore also urged the completion of the negotiations for creating the successor to the Kyoto Protocol – the current global framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions which will expire in 2012 – by 2009.
“We simply cannot wait longer,” he said, calling on heads of state to convene meetings every three months until a post-Kyoto treaty is agreed upon.
“We cannot continue business as usual,” he added. “We cannot continue at a slow pace.”
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PALESTINIAN INSTITUTIONS NEED URGENT REBUILDING, SAYS BAN KI-MOON
Palestinian institutions have been so weakened by the crises, fiscal uncertainty and political divisions of recent years that they will have to be rebuilt and reformed if they are to lay the foundations of a credible future state, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a meeting today of key donors to the Palestinian people.
Mr. Ban told the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, which met at United Nations Headquarters in New York, that the efforts of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to draw up a comprehensive reform and development plan for the territory were a positive first step.
“The consolidation of security, justice and the rule of law are of immediate priority in this respect, and vital to build confidence among Palestinians and Israelis alike,” he said to the Committee, which serves as the main coordination mechanism for development assistance to the Palestinian people.
Today’s meeting, which was attended by Dr. Fayyad and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni among others, was held in part to help prepare for an international pledging conference slated to take place in December. Dr. Fayyad’s development plan will serve as the basis for discussions at the conference.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who chaired the meeting, said the Committee reaffirmed its view that economic progress in the occupied Palestinian territory is an essential component to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Improved living conditions for the Palestinian people will facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian State,” he said in a summary of the meeting. “Hence, the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the donors all have to take stronger action to ensure the economic revival necessary to improve the daily lives of the Palestinian population.”
Mr. Støre added that development assistance is not enough to create a sustainable economy or to deliver tangible results on the ground.
“Easing restrictions on movement and access is vital for the revival of the Palestinian economy. Israeli security concerns should be taken into account,” he said.
Committee members also stressed that the Palestinian Authority should implement policies with a view to enhancing governance, strengthening institutions and improving the security environment.
In his address Mr. Ban noted that the recently appointed Representative of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet, Tony Blair, has already started working with the parties to determine how best to strengthen the Palestinian economy and the institutions of Palestinian statehood.
“Only if the peace process rests on solid institutional and economic foundations does it have a chance of succeeding,” he said.
The Secretary-General also voiced concern that the living conditions of a growing number of Palestinians are deteriorating.
“I am particularly concerned for the welfare for the ordinary people of Gaza, who find themselves and their goods increasingly cut off from the outside world,” he said, stressing that the world has a shared responsibility to help the population.
Mr. Ban said he was deeply concerned about “the de facto separation of the two parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, the efforts of Hamas to set up a competing government and the continuing violence and in and emanating from Gaza.”
Israel should take its own steps as well, he said, to encourage economic renewal. Access and movement for Palestinian workers and business operators and for commercial goods “will need to be eased as a matter of priority.”
Although Israel faced “continuing security threats which cannot be ignored,” Mr. Ban said a political solution was essential to providing the country with long-term security. “There are risks in taking action, but the risks of inaction at this time are far greater.”
Mr. Blair, who briefed the Quartet – which comprises the UN, the European Union, Russia and the United States – yesterday on the latest developments in the region, also addressed the Committee meeting today.
The Quartet issued a statement after yesterday’s meeting welcoming the international peace conference on the Middle East scheduled for Washington and calling for the talks there to be “substantive and serious.”
Mr. Ban described yesterday’s meeting as extremely productive and said the recently renewed dialogue between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has already yielded positive results.
He cited the resumption of tax and customs revenue transfers to the Palestinian Authority and the resulting payment of full salaries to Palestinian public sector workers.
“We have a new opportunity to build a cycle of mutual confidence, one in which calm, moderation and growing trust have a chance to prevail,” Mr. Ban said.
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SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES YOUNG PEOPLE TO HARNESS ICT TO BUILD BETTER WORLD
Stressing the growing role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the quest for development, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on youth attending a United Nations-backed summit to harness the power of the digital revolution to tackle global challenges.
“The digital revolution has increased young people’s capacity to bring about positive social change,” Mr. Ban said in a message to the Global Forum on Youth and ICT for Development, which began in Geneva today.
The three-day gathering, co-hosted by the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) and the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU), brings together what Mr. Ban called “two of the most powerful agents of change in our world today” – youth and ICT.
He noted that “as information flows seamlessly around the p***t, young people can more effectively act as catalysts for change – locally and globally.”
Youth can come up with innovative ideas to help confront today’s global challenges, he stated, particularly as the world presses ahead to achieve the set of anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. “Young people’s energy and idealism can help make up for lost ground, and achieve our development goals in full and on time.”
Emphasizing that young men and women everywhere are valuable and committed partners in the global efforts to achieve the MDGs, Mr. Ban encouraged those gathered to use the Forum not only to exchange views and experiences, but to help create “a new dynamic for development.”
“Together, let us harness the power of information and communications technology to advance our shared objective of building a better world for all.”
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SECRETARY-GENERAL LAUDS PUSH TO HASTEN PHASE-OUT OF OZONE-DEPLETING COMPOUNDS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed this weekend’s agreement by the signatories to the Montreal Protocol – the United Nations-backed treaty to curb the release of harmful substances into the atmosphere – to accelerate the freeze and phase-out of a chemical compound which accelerates both ozone layer damage and climate change.
Participating countries, meeting to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Protocol, signed up to halt the production of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) in 2013 and push forward their elimination by ten years.
The acceleration may also assist in restoring the health of the ozone layer – the high flying gas that filters out damaging levels of ultra-violet light – by several years.
The compound emerged as replacement chemicals in the 1990s for air conditioning, some forms of refrigeration equipment and foams, following an earlier decision to eliminate older and more ozone-damaging chemicals known as CFCs or chlorofluorocarbons.
“The Secretary-General is pleased that this historic agreement was reached on the eve of the High-Level Event on Climate Change convened by him on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly,” his spokesperson said in a statement, referring to today’s largest-ever gathering of world leaders on the issue.
Mr. Ban stressed that global efforts to protect the ozone layer and to address climate change are mutually supportive.
He also pointed out that this weekend’s agreement includes a commitment to sufficient fund the strategy of phasing out HCFCs, and voiced hope that Member States will tackle the issue of greenhouse gas emissions with the “same urgency and boldness.”
In a related development, the Secretary-General said today that time is running out in halting climate change, which he has identified as one of his top priorities.
Global warming’s “impact, if unchecked, could be devastating if not catastrophic over the coming decades,” he wrote in an op-ed published in the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore and elsewhere. “We know what we have to do. We have affordable measures and technologies to do it. We must begin to attack the problem right now.”
The high-level dialogue on climate change he convened today is “a political call to action, a time for all countries, big and small, to grasp the moral imperative of tackling climate change with a new urgency, and to begin to understand our mutual self-interest in doing so.”
While industrialized countries – responsible for creating a bulk of the problem – have the greatest responsibility to reduce emissions, developing countries must be encouraged to join the effort while simultaneously stimulating economic activity and wiping out poverty, he said.
That is why decisive action is crucial, he noted. “Business as usual will not do,” he stated.
At the upcoming major summit in Bali, Indonesia, in December, “governments must work with urgency and creativity to put a negotiating framework in place,” he said. “We need a new and comprehensive multilateral accord on climate change that all nations can embrace.”
The Bali meeting seeks to determine future action on mitigation, adaptation, the global carbon market and financing responses to climate change for the period after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol – the current global framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – in 2012.
Mr. Ban has emphasized in the past that a successor pact must be ready for ratification three years before that date to allow countries to make it law in time.
“For all of us, this is a defining moment,” he said in today’s op-ed. “We all have a historical responsibility to future generations. Our grandchildren will be our judges.”
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HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS CONTINUE TO BE REPORTED IN DARFUR, SAY UN EXPERTS
Serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by all sides in the Darfur conflict continue to be reported, a group of seven independent United Nations rights experts said today in an interim report on the situation in the war-wracked Sudanese region.
The report of the Group of Experts on Darfur, presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, said they had received “excellent cooperation” from the Sudanese Government in their consultations and meetings since they issued their last report and recommendations in June.
But the ultimate measure of the Government’s implementation of those recommendations would be a concrete improvement in the human rights situation in Darfur, they said. While they noted that Khartoum had partially implemented some recommendations, there was no indication so far “that a clear impact on the ground has been identified.”
More than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2.2 million others have been displaced from their homes since rebels began fighting Government forces and allied Janjaweed militia groups in 2003.
In March this year, the Human Rights Council set up the Group of Experts to monitor the situation on the ground amid mounting international concern at armed attacks against civilians and humanitarian workers, the widespread destruction of villages and the lack of accountability for the perpetrators of gender-based violence against women and girls.
The Group of Experts said it was not able yet to deliver a detailed assessment, which would have to wait until a complete report can be delivered to the Council in December.
The experts called on the Government to continue its efforts to implement the recommendations, such as by tackling impunity and by ensuring that all allegations of human rights violations are duly investigated and any perpetrators brought to justice.
They also urged all parties to the Darfur conflict to end violence against civilians, particularly women, children, internally displaced persons (IDPs), people with disabilities and humanitarian workers.
The Group is chaired by Sima Samar, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan, and its Rapporteur is Walter Kälin, the Secretary-General’s Representative on human rights of IDPs. Mr. Kälin presented today’s interim report to the Council.
The other members of the Group are: the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for children and armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston; the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on the situation of human rights defenders, Hina Jilani; the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, Manfred Nowak; and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Yakin Ertürk.
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CLIMATE CHANGE NOT JUST CONCERN OF SCIENTISTS, BUT OF ALL – UN ENVIRONMENT CHIEF
Today’s high-level gathering in New York builds on an “unprecedented momentum” of public and political attention that is now being given to climate change, which is no longer just the preoccupation of scientists or negotiators but has become a “people’s issue,” according to the top United Nations environmental official.
Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said that in looking at the range of international environmental issues, “climate change is clearly the preoccupation of the world today.”
Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters, where Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has convened a summit of world leaders to discuss the phenomenon, Mr. Steiner noted that climate change has also “graduated from being an issue that is the responsibility of the North alone or a preoccupation of the industrialized world to being increasingly perceived as a direct and immediate and very costly threat to developing nations.”
He pointed out that today’s meeting follows on the heels of a major agreement reached over the weekend by the 191 signatories of the Montreal Protocol to sign up to an accelerated freeze and phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) – the chemical compound which damages the ozone layer and also contributes to climate change.
That outcome, said Mr. Steiner, showed that nations “convinced by the signs” and “in agreement on how to move forward” can deliver concrete targets and timelines for acting together.
Today’s gathering also comes in the run-up to a meeting to be held in December in Bali, Indonesia, where countries will negotiate a global greenhouse gas emissions reductions agreement to kick in after 2012, when the current legally binding Kyoto Protocol is set to expire.
He referred to the Kyoto Protocol as the “first stage” in developing a whole framework for international collaboration on climate change, adding that it is very likely that the post-2012 agreement will contain more issues, broader mechanisms and more opportunities for collaboration.
He said the “crucial litmus test” for the post-Kyoto agreement will be whether it begins to address the reduction of emissions as outlined by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which affirmed earlier this year that global warming is directly linked to human activity.
He called the IPCC the “incontrovertible reference point that nations are now using to define both their assessment of the nature of global warming, its potential impacts and the directions in which we need to move.”
The Executive Director also highlighted the economic dimension of climate change which has taken “centre stage” in discussions, particularly in relation to what sort of investment decisions are needed today to ensure a low-carbon economy tomorrow.
He cited the need for a better understanding of the “cost of consumption,” as well as the need to “act more intelligently” by investing in innovative and energy-efficient technology. Also important in that regard is how the industrialized world helps growing economies in the developing world make that technology transition much faster.
“That is also what’s at the heart of the negotiations in Bali at the end of this year.”
Climate change is not about whether to turn the lights off or keep them on, he stressed. “It’s about how we run our economy and how we reflect the costs our economic activity imposes on the p***t.”
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UN CLIMATE CHANGE EXPERT STRESSES DANGERS OF INACTION
A top United Nations climate change expert today underscored the dangers of inaction by global leaders in reversing global warming at a gathering of heads of state and government and other top officials at the world body’s headquarters in New York.
Rajendra K. Pachauri, the Chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warned in an address at the opening of the high-level meeting that some one billion people could be impacted by global warming, which will threaten the water supply of people in South Asia, China and Africa.
In the 20th century, the increase in average temperature was 0.74 degrees Centigrade, but the IPCC projects that in this century, the temperature will surge by between 1.8-4 degrees Centigrade.
The resulting melting of glaciers threatens the supply of water, which could impact some 500 million people in South Asia, 250 million people in China and between 75-250 million affected in Africa, Mr. Pachauri noted.
“Some regions are more vulnerable than others,” he said.
Small island nations will become even impacted by sea level rise, storm surges, cyclones and ultimately submergence, while Asian cities situated in mega-deltas, many of which are densely populated, are also increasingly prone to damage.
Climate change could also have dire consequences for plant and animal species, 20 to 30 per cent of which are in danger of extinction if increases in global average temperature exceed 1.5-2.5 degrees centigrade.
While adaptation is inevitable, it alone is not sufficient to stem climate change, Mr. Pachauri said. “We need to bring about mitigation actions to start in the short term even when benefits may arise only in a few decades.”
The costs of mitigation are significantly lower than earlier anticipated, he said. If the concentration of gases could be stabilized at 45-490 parts per million of carbon dioxide equivalent and thus limit the equilibrium to 2-2.4 degrees centigrade, then mitigation would only cost the world less than three per cent of the gross domestic product in 2030.
The time is up for inaction, the IPCC Chair said, calling for new policies to be adopted including technology development, a carbon pricing framework and investment in energy infrastructure.
The fourth instalment of the IPCC working group reports is due to be released in November, Mr. Pachauri told the meeting’s participants. This publication is expected to be a synthesis report and the most “policy-relevant” in the series.
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UN TO OFFSET CARBON EMISSIONS FROM LANDMARK HIGH-LEVEL CLIMATE CHANGE MEETING
The United Nations will substantially offset the carbon emissions – estimated at approximately 5,000 tons of carbon dioxide – resulting from today’s high-level climate change meeting, which has brought together heads of State and government as well as other senior officials from over 150 nations.
The emissions primarily stem from the use of energy for the meeting, as well as the travel of UN staff and participants, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.
A small-scale hydroelectric project in Intibuca, Honduras, near the city of La Esperanza, will offset carbon emissions from today’s meeting. Since 2005, the site has been registered as a clean development mechanism (CDM), a system which allows projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries to earn certified emission reduction credits, engage the business world and create low-cost opportunities to cut back emissions.
The Honduras project, which is at the site of an abandoned hydropower plant, offers power stability to the electric grid in the surrounding area, and also provides significant local social and environmental benefits, such as supplying electricity to rural areas, reducing dependency on firewood, increasing local employment and bolstering reforestation.
It also provides such benefits as roads maintenance and repairs as the project obtains economical stability; provision of water for a few households in the immediate vicinity of the project; first aid training; greater engagement of women in work life and community issues and efforts to engage the communities; and the municipality authorities to better manage the environment and the area as a whole, including waste management.
Offsetting carbon emissions from today’s gathering of leaders has a price tag of $15,800 being supported by the UN Foundation, which was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities.
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YOUTH COALITION CHALLENGES UN MEETING TO TAKE STAND ON CLIMATE CHANGE
A representative of environmental youth groups today challenged global leaders gathered at the United Nations to take decisive action to curb the threat posed by climate change.
“I have nothing but my future ahead of me and you have nothing but my future to protect,” Catherine Gauthier, 18, told heads of State or government or other top officials from over 150 nations, the largest-ever gathering of its kind on climate change.
“I challenge you to show true leadership,” she said.
A timetable of targets is indispensable in combating climate change, Ms. Gauthier noted.
“A short-term target without a long-term goal is short-sighted,” she explained. “A long-term target without a short-term goal is prone to procrastination and political manoeuvring – I should know, I only do my homework the night before it’s due.”
Speaking on behalf of Greenpeace Solar Generation, the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, Environnement Jeunesse, SustainUS and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Ms. Gauthier said that many will hold their elected leaders accountable for missteps taken in addressing climate change.
“I turned 18 this year and am now among the many that will vote for the climate.”
She also stated her high expectations for the major upcoming summit in Bali, Indonesia, in December, which seeks to determine future action on mitigation, adaptation, the global carbon market and financing responses to climate change for the period after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol – the current global framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – in 2012.
“It can be no small step, next step, inch forward,” she said. “Bali must mark the watershed of a new phase in the Kyoto Framework.”
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LOCAL FOOD PURCHASE BY UN AGENCY PROVIDES BOOST TO LESOTHO’S FARMERS
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reported today that its purchase of maize directly from small farmers in Lesotho, who used conservation to produce a surplus amid the country’s worst drought in 30 years, is having a beneficial effect on local communities.
By buying the maize directly from a group of small-scale local farmers rather than in neighbouring South Africa, WFP saves $45 per ton and helps stimulate the local agricultural economy.
“This is a win-win situation,” WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said. “It helps provide income for small-scale farmers while saving money for WFP.”
In the first ever direct purchase in Lesotho, WFP paid 20 farmers from the isolated and impoverished district of Qacha’s Nek around $2,800 for eight metric tons of their maize – a considerable sum in a country where more than a third of the population lives on less than $1 a day.
“WFP is committed to buying locally whenever possible because – as this historic deal proves – even a small purchase can have a huge impact on the lives of small-scale farmers,” Ms. Sheeran said.
The maize will help feed thousands of children attending primary school in Qacha’s Nek.
On 9 July, Lesotho’s Government declared a state of emergency following an unprecedented period of hot, dry weather between January and March, which devastated the maize crop across the country.
Despite the drought, the 20 farmers in Qacha’s Nek were able to produce a surplus of maize by following conservation farming methods picked up through a WFP-assisted food-for-training programme.
Some 400,000 people in Lesotho need immediate humanitarian aid – a figure that could rise to 550,000 during the first three months of 2008.
WFP plans to distribute food to about 260,000 people in Lesotho from now until the next maize harvest next April. The Government and other humanitarian organizations are aiming to reach the others in need.
So far this year, WFP has bought 7,000 tons of food in Lesotho at a cost of $2.3 million.
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AT UN, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR AND DELHI MAYOR SPOTLIGHT LOCAL CLIMATE CHANGE MEASURES
Addressing today’s landmark United Nations meeting on climate change, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra today said governments can learn from the prominent role that local efforts play in addressing the problem.
California – which alone is the world’s seventh largest economy – is blazing the trail in combating climate change in the United States with its groundbreaking emission standards and in the world with the first-ever low carbon fuel standard, Governor Schwarzenegger said in his address to the largest-ever gathering of world leaders ever convened to address the issue.
At the same time, he cautioned that the efforts of his state alone cannot reverse global warming. “What we’re doing is changing the dynamic, preparing the way and encouraging the future,” he said.
“The time has come to stop looking back at the Kyoto Protocol,” he said, referring to the the 1997 binding pact which sets targets for greenhouse gas emissions which expires in 2012.
“What matters is who is answerable for the future,” he added. “And that means all of us.”
Ms. Mehra stressed that nations have much to learn from local initiatives and experiences in tackling climate change.
“Local authorities are an important beacon of hope to the global community that action can be positive and empowering,” she noted.
Delhi has taken steps towards promoting energy efficiency, sustainable transport and renewable energy, she said, adding that these measures also help to reduce air pollution, decrease electricity demand, alleviate the pressure on water supplies and boost employment.
As part of its efforts to reduce emissions, Delhi has the world’s largest bus fleet running on clean fuel, the Mayor added.
“Please do not just applaud the story that local authorities have to offer on the global stage,” she said. “Listen to how we have gone about this and benefit from this experience.”
She also urged the nearly 160 heads of State or government or other top officials from more than 150 countries present to bolster their investment in local initiatives for reduced emissions and improved local management of the environment.
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FILM STAR RUPERT EVERETT VISITS RUSSIA AS UN ENVOY ON HIV/AIDS
Rupert Everett, the actor who is a Special Representative of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), is on a four-day visit to Russia to learn what is being done to reverse the spread of the epidemic in a country where the number of those living with HIV is officially put at 386,000, but is widely believed to be up to 1.1 million.
“This trip is special to me – I want to help UNAIDS raise awareness about how HIV affects the most vulnerable groups in our society,” said Mr. Everett, known for several acclaimed films including “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and “Another Country.” “Often HIV is linked with other diseases such as TB and those affected are often discriminated against.”
Mr. Everett, who will visit specific AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) projects in St. Petersburg and Moscow, has for many years been active in AIDS response, but this is his first official trip with UNAIDS since being appointed a Special Representative on World AIDS Day last December. He will be accompanied by UNAIDS Regional Director Bertil Lindblad and Programme Coordinator Lisa Carty.
Mr. Lindblad underlined the importance of celebrity support in the AIDS response and in particular how Mr. Everett’s visit to Russia will help draw attention to the problems in the region. “People in the public eye like Rupert Everett can inspire and motivate others to unite against AIDS,” he said.
Worldwide more than 39.5 million people are estimated to be living with HIV. In 2006, 2.9 million people died of AIDS.
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UN-FUNDED INITIATIVE SEEKS TO INCREASE MARKET ACCESS FOR UGANDAN FARMERS
Farmers in Uganda will soon have better access to local markets where they can sell their goods, thereby helping to increase incomes, enhance economic growth and reduce poverty, thanks to a new programme backed by the United Nations fund tasked with boosting agricultural development.
Lack of access to roads and the small number of processing facilities has made it difficult for farmers in rural Uganda to sell their products.
A new programme funded partially by a $15 million loan from the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will help redress that situation for some 8.8 million people – some 35 per cent of Ugandans.
“This programme will improve roads so that transit time and unpredictability is reduced,” said Marian Bradley, IFAD’s country programme manager for Uganda.
“With better roads and markets, transaction costs will be lower and productivity and competitiveness will increase. Prices for farm produce will also rise, and that will mean higher household incomes and improved standards of living,” she added.
The programme will ensure that small farmers and their communities participate in selecting infrastructure projects and in rehabilitation and construction work, in an effort to promote local ownership of the initiative.
In line with the Government’s Plan for Modernization of Agriculture, IFAD has recently revised its strategy in Uganda. “Our approach now includes promoting strong civil society organizations and community-based development, and improving the capacity of households and communities to increase their integration into markets,” Ms. Bradley stated.
More than 2.2 million people have benefited from IFAD’s 22-year partnership with Uganda. The Fund has helped finance 11 projects, including five ongoing ones, with some $178 million in loans.
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FLOOD VICTIMS IN SUDAN MOUNT BY 100,000 TO WELL OVER HALF MILLION, UN REPORTS
With the number of flood victims in Sudan rising by at least another 100,000 to well over half a million, United Nations agencies and their partners are putting contingency measures into effect to respond to the emergency despite a $19 million funding shortfall.
“We have worked closely with all partners, including Government and non-governmental organizations to ensure that contingency plans were in place,” UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Ameerah Haq said. “We were therefore in a position to respond to this new wave effectively.”
Most of the new damage is located in the state of Southern Kordofan, located in Central Sudan, east of South Darfur. At least 15,000 homes there were destroyed or damaged, affecting at least 75,000 people, of whom some 30,000 are now estimated to be homeless. Over 20 people were killed and some 65 injured. The damage to local livelihoods and the economy is also huge, with over 13,000 livestock lost.
“We had based our response planning on an assumption that, in addition to 410,000 people already affected by the end of August, up to an additional 215,000 people could be affected by new flooding after then, potentially totalling up to 625,000 for the emergency,” said John Clarke, a UN official at the forefront of the response.
Across all of northern Sudan, the UN is now providing clean water, mainly through chlorination, to 2.2 million people, to prevent deadly waterborne epidemics, and this is believed to be a factor in the lower number of cases of acute water diarrhoea than in previous years, despite the fact that this year’s flooding, according to numerous sources, has been the worst in living memory.
Since mid-April, 1,323 suspected cases of acute water diarrhoea were reported in the state of Gedaref, leading to 68 known deaths; while the 2006 outbreak, lasting from April to November, led to more than 9,000 cases throughout northern Sudan.
The UN launched a Flash Appeal last month for $20.2 million to fund the ongoing response, but only $1 million has so far been received.
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BAN KI-MOON CONVENES LARGEST-EVER MEETING OF GLOBAL LEADERS ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today opened the largest-ever gathering of world leaders on climate change with a call to forge a coalition to accelerate a global response to an issue which he has identified as one of his top priorities.
“I am convinced that climate change, and what we do about it, will define us, our era, and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations,” Mr. Ban told the participants – top officials from over 150 nations, including 80 heads of State or Government – at UN Headquarters in New York.
“We hold the future in our hands,” he said. “Together, we must ensure that our grandchildren will not have to ask why we failed to do the right thing, and let them suffer the consequences.”
He cited the findings of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that global warming is directly linked to human activity, calling on the attendees to take “unprecedented action” to meet this challenge.
“We must be guided by the reality that inaction now will prove the costliest action of all in the long term,” he said.
Development is seriously impeded by climate change, which threatens to reverse the gains made towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight targets to slash a host of ills including poverty by 2015, the Secretary-General noted.
“But it is not a zero-sum game,” he said.
Economic growth and emissions reductions can take place in parallel, he added, and combating climate change opens the door to opportunities for promoting sustainable development; creations of cleaner technologies, industries and jobs; and the integration of risks brought about by climate change into national policies and practices.
Mr. Ban called on industrialized nations to take the lead in halting climate change. Not only do their emissions continue to rise, but their “support for adaptation by poor countries has fallen well short of what is required.”
He has also invited Delhi’s Mayor Arti Mehra and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to brief the landmark meeting’s participants on state and local government initiatives to halt global warming.
“All sectors will need to be engaged if global emissions are to peak in the next 10 to 15 years, and be significantly reduced in the years thereafter, as indicated by the IPCC,” he said.
Despite the importance of national action, climate change must be confronted within a global framework, “one that guarantees the highest level of international cooperation,” the Secretary-General said.
This framework must include bolstered leadership by industrialized countries on emissions reductions; the provision of incentives for action by developing countries without sacrificing their economic growth or poverty reduction efforts; and increasing support for adaptation in developing countries, especially developed and small island developing States.
He voiced hope that today’s event – entitled “The Future in our Hands: Addressing the Leadership Challenge of Climate Change” – will create global momentum for the major summit in Bali, Indonesia, this December.
That meeting seeks to determine future action on mitigation, adaptation, the global carbon market and financing responses to climate change for the period after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol – the current global framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – in 2012.
“Our immediate challenge is to transform our common concern into a new consensus on the way forward,” he said. “This journey begins in Bali this December. It will succeed or fail based on the strength of the leadership and commitment displayed by the people in this hall.”
Following opening remarks by Mr. Ban and other officials, four simultaneous plenary sessions on addressing the challenges of climate change on all fronts will be held on four themes: adaptation, mitigation, technology and financing.
Each session will be chaired by two heads of State, and speakers include world leaders and other delegation heads, as well as representatives of civil society and the private sector.
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UN AGENCY CALLS FOR INTENSIVE RESEARCH TO CURB HEALTH CARE-RELATED DEATHS
At a time when tens of millions of patients worldwide endure disabling injuries or die each year from unsafe medical practices, the United Nations health agency and its partners today called for increased research into patient safety, including the risks posed by care- and surgery-related infections, adverse drug effects and unsafe injections.
In Europe alone, an average of 1 in every 10 patients admitted to hospital suffers some form of preventable harm, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said in a news release at the opening of an international conference in Porto, Portugal on patient safety.
“Research in patient safety offers all WHO Member States a major innovative resource to assist their hospitals in avoiding harm from medical care and ensure that health care reduces patient suffering and does not contribute to it,” said Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer for England, who chairs the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety.
“European countries now have the opportunity to translate research findings into tangible actions that can actually save lives,” he told the conference, which is supported by the European Commission and seeks to promote dialogue between researchers, policy-makers and other constituencies in health care in Europe, and to build international collaborative research networks.
The conference will build on the work of the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety and the contribution of the participating scientists and government officials. It is jointly organized by the Faculty of Public Health, United Kingdom, University College London and the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety.
The conference has highlighted six major areas where further research is needed:
Health care-associated infection, estimated to affect 1.4 million people at any given time; in developed countries the toll is 5 to 10 per cent of patients and in some developing countries, as many as a quarter may be affected.
Adverse drug effects, estimated to affect 7 to 10 per cent of patients in acute care; 28 to 56 per cent of such cases are seen as preventable and hospital admissions due to adverse drug reactions may be more than 10 per cent of the total in some countries.
Adverse operating room effects in surgery and anaesthesia, estimated in developed countries to account for at least 50 per cent of all adverse events.
Unsafe injection practices, estimated to cause 1.3 million deaths each year worldwide and an annual burden of $535 million in direct medical costs, with data showing that up to 40 per cent of injections worldwide are given with syringes and needles reused without sterilization; in some countries the proportion is as high as 70 per cent.
Unsafe blood products, estimated to cause 5 to 15 per cent of HIV infections in developing countries; a WHO study showed that about 60 countries were not able to screen all donated blood for one or more infections including HIV.
Adverse medical device events, with more than 1 million occurring annually in the United States alone; in some developing countries as much as half of medical equipment is unusable or only partly usable.
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