Maritime countries agree first ever shipping emissions regulation

The Guardian, July 18, 2011


Countries have taken a first step towards reducing climate emissions from shipping with a global agreement to reduce energy use in new vessels from 2013 onwards. The belated action on Friday by 55 of the world's biggest sea-faring nations meeting at UN's international maritime organisation in London will force all ships over 400 tonnes built after 2013 to improve their efficiency by 10%, rising to 20% between 2020 and 2024 and 30% for ships delivered after 2024. The first ever regulation of emissions in shipping is expected to lead to greenhouse gas emission reductions of 45-50m tonnes a year by 2020. Read more...

Eco-farming can double food output by poor: U.N.

Reuters, March 8, 2011

Many farmers in developing nations can double food production within a decade by shifting to ecological agriculture from use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, a U.N. report says.
Insect-trapping plants in Kenya and Bangladesh's use of ducks to eat weeds in rice paddies are among examples of steps taken to increase food for a world population that the United Nations says will be 7 billion this year and 9 billion by 2050. "Agriculture is at a crossroads," according to the study by Olivier de Schutter, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, in a drive to depress record food prices and avoid the costly oil-dependent model of industrial farming. Read more...

Are accountants the last hope for the world's ecosystems?

The Guardian, October 28, 2010

So it has come to this. The global biodiversity crisis is so severe that brilliant scientists, political leaders, eco-warriors, and religious gurus can no longer save us from ourselves. The military are powerless. But there may be one last hope for life on earth: accountants. Ecological bean counting may not seem to hold much power in slowing the massive loss of the world's species, but it appears to be moving up the agenda of the UN biodiversity conference in Nagoya as the economic implications of losing ecosystems becomes more apparent. Read more...

The Right to Water

E-Environment Magazine, August 17, 2010

On Wednesday, August 11, the United Nations General Assembly declared water and clean sanitation a basic human right. Some 122 countries supported the resolution, while the U.S. and Canada, along with 40 other countries, chose to abstain from the vote.

Introduced by Bolivia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Pablo Solon, the resolution is the first step in solving a growing epidemic. Solon says: “At the global level, approximately one out of every eight people do not have drinking water," reports the World Health Organization and of UNICEF in a 2009 document titled "Diarrhea: Why Children Are (Still) Dying and What We Can Do." It continues: "every day 24,000 children die in developing countries due to causes that can be prevented, such as diarrhea, which is caused by contaminated water. This means that a child dies every three-and-a-half seconds.". Read more...

UN welcomes climate summit deal

BBC News, December 19, 2009

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed a US-backed climate deal in Copenhagen as an "essential beginning". He was speaking after delegates passed a motion recognising the agreement, which the US reached with key nations including China.
But Mr Ban said the agreement must be made legally binding next year. Earlier, the meeting failed to secure unanimous support, amid opposition from some developing nations. Read more...

U.N. Reports on Developing Nations’ Energy Needs

The New York Times, September 1, 2009

It will cost between $500 billion and $600 billion every year for the next 10 years to allow developing nations to grow using renewable energy resources, instead of relying on dirty fuels that worsen global warming, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday.
That astronomical estimate, far higher than any previously suggested by the United Nations, comes at a time when developed and developing nations are still deeply divided over who bears the responsibility for shouldering the expense of deploying cleaner energy resources, much less what the actual amount might be. Read more...

ΟΗΕ: Στα 300 δισ. δολάρια το κόστος της κλιματικής αλλαγής

Ελευθεροτυπία, 12 Ιουλίου 2009

Η μείωση των εκπομπών αερίων του θερμοκηπίου με στόχο την επιβράδυνση της υπερθέρμανσης του πλανήτη και η προσαρμογή στις επιπτώσεις, όπως ξηρασίες και άνοδος της στάθμης της θάλασσας, θα κοστίσουν πιθανά περί τα 300 δισ. δολάρια ετησίως, εκτιμά ο επικεφαλής της Γραμματείας του ΟΗΕ για την Κλιματική Αλλαγή, Ίβο ντε Μπερ. Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

UN's State Of The World's Forests Reveals Deforestation Is Speeding Up

ENN, April 07, 2009

Despite the alarming conclusions of the UN's latest State of the World's Forests, the mainstream media has devoted surprisingly little attention to the report. Snowed under by other news developments as it may have been, global deforestation is by no means insignificant. It's taking place at shocking rates, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'s bi-annual report reveals. Read more...

Natural disasters contribute to rise in population displacement

ENN, June 23, 2008

There are now more than 11 million refugees worldwide, the United Nations refugee agency has warned as the world celebrates World Refugee Day.
A new report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says conflicts, climate change and rising food prices are some of the factors leading to the rise in global displacement to 11.4 million refugees worldwide-up from 9.9 million last year. Read more...

UN gives Monaco prince, New Zealand PM green award

ENN, Arpil 22, 2008

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Prince Albert II and New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark on Tuesday for driving policies to tackle climate change were among the seven winners in the annual U.N. Champions of the Earth awards.

Prince Albert won the award for Europe for setting up an environmental foundation. Clark won for her goal to make New Zealand use 90 percent renewable energy by 2025. Read more...

Μπαλί: Η 13η σύνοδος του ΟΗΕ για τις κλιματικές αλλαγές

Η Καθημερινή, 3 Δεκεμβρίου 2007

Στον τροπικό «παράδεισο» του Μπαλί, στην Ινδονησία, φιλοξενείται φέτος η 13η σύνοδος των Ηνωμένων Εθνών για τις κλιματικές αλλαγές. «Το νησί των θεών», όπως συχνά αποκαλείται, υποδέχεται την προσέλευση αξιωματούχων και υπουργών περιβάλλοντος από περίπου 200 κυβερνήσεις του κόσμου. Πρωτεύων στόχος της διάσκεψης, η επίτευξη διεθνούς συναίνεσης για συλλογική δράση απέναντι στις κλιματικές αλλαγές. Ωστόσο, οι αναλύσεις, οι έρευνες και τα επιστημονικά τεκμήρια νομιμοποιούν τον χαρακτηρισμό που προσδίδει στη διάσκεψη ο διεθνής Τύπος: «τελευταία ευκαιρία». Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

Paying Farmers to Protect the Planet is Future: U.N.

ENN, November 15, 2007

Paying farmers to protect the environment -- rather than just for their produce -- will be an important way to ensure a rapidly increasing demand for food does not destroy the planet, a U.N. agency said on Thursday.
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said paying for "environmental services" is set to be an important way to link two of humanity's greatest challenges: beating poverty and safeguarding the environment.
"(Farming) has the potential to degrade the Earth's land, water, atmosphere and biological resources -- or to enhance them -- depending on the decisions made by the more than 2 billion people whose livelihoods depend directly on crops, livestock, fisheries or forests," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf. "Ensuring appropriate incentives for these people is essential," he said in his foreword to the agency's annual report "The State of Food and Agriculture" which focused on environmental payments. Read more...

The Global Environmental Outlook 4 is now available

BBC News, October 25, 2007

• There is "visible and unequivocal" evidence of the impacts of climate change
• Many farming systems have reached their limits of production
• Warmer temperatures and ocean acidification threaten food supplies
  1.8 billion people face water shortages by 2025
• Three-quarters of marine fisheries exploited to or beyond their limits
• Exposure to pollutants causes 20% of disease in developing nations
• Pollution being "exported" to developing world
• About 60% of "ecosystem services" are degraded

Read the report...