Good News Agency – n° 5
Weekly - Year I - Number 5 –
15 September 2000
Editor: Sergio Tripi
Rome
Law-court registration no. 265 dated 20 June 2000.
Good
News Agency carries positive and constructive news from
all over the world relating to voluntary work, the work of the United Nations,
non governmental organizations, and institutions engaged in improving the
quality of life – news that doesn’t “burn out” in the space of a day. Good News
Agency is distributed through internet to editorial offices of the daily
newspapers and periodical magazines and of the radio and television stations
with an e-mail address and is available in its web site: http://www.goodnewsagency.org
Good News Agency is a service
activity of Associazione Culturale dei
Triangoli e della Buona Volontà Mondiale, a registered non-profit
educational organization chartered in Italy in 1979. The Association operates
in support to the Lucis Trust activities, the U.N. University for Peace, Radio
For Peace International and other organizations engaged in the spreading of a
culture of peace in the ‘global village’ perspective.
Via
Antagora 10, 00124 Rome, Italy. E-mail: s.tripi@tiscalinet.it
Contents:
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International
Legislation
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Environment
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Education
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Enterprise and Globalisation
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Solidarity
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Population
Growth
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Scientific
Development
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Economy
and Development
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(TOP)
"Parliaments are the linchpins
of good governance across societies”, Administrator of the UN Development
Programme (UNDP) told more than 150 top-ranking legislators from around the
world gathered at the UN Headquarters in New York on September 1.
UNDP is working with parliaments
in 41 countries, and support for improving democratic governance accounts for
more than half of annual programme expenditures. Ninety per cent of countries
now have some form of representative legislature, over 60% are multiparty
democracies, and the proportion of countries rated as free has more than
doubled in less than a decade. Working with the IPU and other partners, UNDP's
support for parliaments includes such areas as lawmaking, oversight, and
constituency outreach, as well as increasing gender diversity and integrating
human rights and environmental concerns into parliamentary work.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/pressrelease/index.html
UN member states have
indicated their willingness to provide the resources needed to improve United
Nations peacekeeping operations worldwide, the chairman of a panel examining
this issue told reporters in New York on Wednesday, September 6.
The UN Department of
Information quoted Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria as saying that the
central message his Panel on United Nations Peace Operations had for member
states in a 58-page report released on Wednesday was: "Make sure that
before you send the UN you understand what the situation is, what the
implications are, and you go there with your eyes
open." He said the
10-member panel was stunned to learn how poorly equipped the UN Department for
Peacekeeping Operations was. Particularly shocking, he said, was that the
department had just 32 officers at headquarters to provide leadership for
28,000 soldiers around the world, while nine police officers provided
leadership for over 7,000 civilian police from 40 countries.
Council of Leather Exports will take action against
cattle cruelty.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and
37 European and North American animal protection organizations have agreed to a
60-day moratorium on any efforts to pressure overseas customers of Indian
leather from buying such goods in light of assurances by the Council for
Leather Exports that the CLE's member groups will take action against cattle
cruelty. Among other considerations, the CLE has agreed to halt all purchases
of hides originating at Deonar in Mumbai, one of India's most notorious
slaughterhouses, where video documentation of injured cattle left baking to
death in the hot sun has stirred protests worldwide. The CLE has also agreed to
add its voice to those of the Dalai Lama, Sir Paul McCartney, and others in
asking the Indian government to take action to enforce existing cattle
transport laws, and the CLE will be holding meetings with state government
officials shortly. The hope is to stop some truck companies from overloading
cows and their calves, as well as bullocks and buffalo, who now often arrive at
slaughterhouses injured or dead from suffocation and gouging.
(TOP)
IFLAC
– International Forum for
the Culture of Peace - has opened
Centers In Haifa and in Tel Aviv, as well as a Bedouin Tent
of Peace in the Druze Village Ussfeya, on Mount Carmel,
where Israelis and Palestinians create together cultural bridges of peace, understanding and respect. The Opening of the Center in Haifa is on 15th September, and the opening of the Tel Aviv Center will be on September 21. All are welcome. The next meeting in the Tent of Peace will be a Cultural Festival on October 15.
IFLAC’s objective is to help build a Middle East and a world beyond war in the 21st century by means of literature, culture and art. IFLAC is based in Haifa, Israel, and has branches in other 14 countries in the world.
http://tx.technion.ac.il/~ada/home.html
Heads of state or government
held a debate on the Dialogue
among Civilizations, in a roundtable discussion organised by UNESCO, in
co-operation with the United Nations with the support of the Islamic Republic
of Iran, at UN Headquarters in New York on September 5, marking the launch of
the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, 2001. The 1998 UN
General Assembly resolution proclaiming the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations invites
"Governments, the United Nations system, including the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to plan and implement appropriate
cultural, educational and social programmes to promote the concept of dialogue
among civilizations, including through organizing conferences and seminars and
disseminating information and scholarly material on the subject".
The celebration of the Year
provides an opportunity to emphasise that the process of globalisation
currently underway is not only economic, financial and technological, but also
constitutes a profoundly human challenge to take cognisance of the
interdependence of humankind and its diversity.
http://www.unesco.org/opi/eng/unescopress/index.htm
Rotary Launches Peace Centers at
Selected Universities Worldwide
Rotary International has established an international
studies center at the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires where scholars
can learn diplomacy and skills to resolve conflict and promote international
understanding. This center is one of the seven centers that are being
established around the world. Factors such as limited democratic
participation, resource scarcity, unsustainable economic growth and
environmental degradation often contribute to conflict. The vision of the
Rotary Centers is that scholars will be trained on how to design and implement
policies that address these issues and prevent future conflicts.
In addition to the Universidad del Salvador, the
universities selected to operate the Rotary Centers are: Duke University and
the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
(jointly-hosted center); University of California-Berkeley, California, USA;
Sciences PO, Paris, France; University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England;
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; and International Christian
University, Tokyo.
The Rotary Foundation operates the largest
privately funded scholarship program in the world. Each year, nearly 1,300
students receive scholarships to study at colleges and universities worldwide.
VII Conference on Environment Education in Europe
Organized by CEEE - Co-operation
for Environmental Education in Europe – the Conference will be held from 26 to
30 September near Udine, Italy. The Conference theme will be: Networks of networks
for the Environmental Education: the role, trends and integration of the
networks committed to environmental education and sustainability for the
development of local, national and European policies. CEEE is an
international network dealing specifically with environmental education with
the objective of bringing together the various parties committed to this sector
in all European countries.
2nd
International Memory of the World Conference
UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme promotes the preservation of and access to the world’s documentary heritage. The Second International Conference of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme will be held from 27 to 29 September in Colima, Mexico. The Conference will bring together specialists in preservation and access techniques and policies to discuss new trends in preserving and disseminating archives and library heritage materials. Librarians, archivists, sound and film archivists, historians, publishers, multimedia experts and scientists from all over the world are invited to participate.
http://webworld.unesco.org/mow/conf2000/en_contact.html
Management of Social Transformation
in Indonesia
International symposium “In Search of Models for Conflict Prevention”, 25-27
September
This symposium is being hosted
by the Centre for Social and Cultural Studies, Indonesian Institute of Sciences
(PMB-LIPI). The objectives of the symposium are: to find a more scientific
method of identifying the sources of conflicts, to contribute an alternative
concept for resolving conflicts, and to lay a foundation for creating an early
detection and early warning system to prevent and anticipate conflicts
http://www.unesco.org/most/welcome.htm
(TOP)
Nigeria: overseas-based
doctors to provide boreholes
Nigerian doctors in the
Americas will start a programme next year to drill boreholes in some local
communities and thus provide a steady supply of water to residents.
Julius Kpaduwa of the Association
of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA) said a borehole would be sunk in
any community visited by an ANPA medical mission.
Nine ANPA missions work in
various Nigerian rural communities each year. The association supports each
mission with US $10,000 and receives donations in cash and medical supplies
from individuals and pharmaceutical industries in the United States.
Chad is to get a US
$11-million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) for a food security project in Northern Guera, one of the country's most
disadvantaged regions. The deal, signed in Rome, meets part of the overall project
cost of US $17.62 million. The remainder is to come from the Belgium Survival
Fund for the Third World ($3.68 million), the World Food Programme ($650,000),
Chad's government ($1.16 million) and the beneficiaries ($780,000). In
addition, IFAD will donate $650,000 to the project, whose goal is to promote
rural grassroots organisations so that their members can improve food security,
their nutritional status and their lives, in a sustainable manner.
The Benin AIDS Foundation has
launched a campaign aimed at raising money to help people living with HIV, PANA
reported.
The money collected through
the campaign, during which people are being asked to donate coins, will go
toward paying for basic drugs to treat opportunistic diseases, promote social
and professional reintegration and assist widows, widowers and orphans.
Ghana is to receive US $560
million between August and December from international financial bodies and
other sources. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed in principle to
release US $35.1 million, while the World Bank will also disburse US $134.9
million. Another US $260 million is to be free by the first week of October
through Ghana Cocoa Board's syndication with international financial
institutions for the purchase of cocoa.
Ninety-two Cuban doctors are
to arrive in Ghana before the end of the year to help offset a shortage of
medical staff in public health institutions, Ghana's 'Daily Graphic' reported.
Health Minister Kwaku Danso-Boafo said the doctors had agreed to wages equal to
those of their Ghanaian counterparts.
(TOP)
Benchmarking
Industry-Science Relationships, Berlin, 16-17 October 2000
Bringing together some 400 representatives from government, the business
sector, public research organisations, universities, as well as technology
transfer agencies, the Conference will discuss how industry-science
relationships can be improved to the benefit of both economic and innovative
performance and the long-term research capabilities of Member countries.
Discussion will focus on: regulatory frameworks, (e.g. intellectual
property rights), mobility and entrepreneurship of researchers,
financing of research (including the role of venture capital) and the
efficiency of promotional schemes.
The Korean Government and the OECD will jointly hold a
high-level conference under the theme of "International S&T
Cooperation for Sustainable Development" on November 15-17, 2000, in
Seoul. The conference aims to identify barriers to cooperation and to
propose recommendations for international S&T cooperation so as to respond
to global environmental problems while addressing the needs of developing
countries. The conference will be chaired by Mr. Thorvald Moe,
Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, and its results will contribute to the
OECD horizontal project on sustainable development.
Los Angeles is at the centre
of small surge in solar energy use. The L.A. Convention Center, which
housed the Democratic convention earlier this month, has installed 15,000
square feet
of solar panels and has plans
for more. City Hall and the Department of Water and Power are next, and
the zoo is designing a new entrance made of solar panels. On a national
level, the U.S. Energy Department is asking architects to incorporate solar
features into their blueprints and working with developers to construct homes
that are 50 percent more energy-efficient without adding to the sale
price. The most environmentally friendly public school in Washington state
opens today. The elementary school in Kent, Wash., is partially powered
by solar and wind and warmed by geothermal heat, and it includes a stormwater
collection-and-reuse system for irrigation, as well as waterless urinals
expected to save about 144,000 gallons of water a year.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/education/html98/kent30s_20000830.html
International Society for
Justice Research
VIII
Conference, "Social Justice and Social
Exclusion", September 18-21, 2000
The
International Society for Justice Research, a non-profit organization, interdisciplinary
in nature, is headquartered in Potsdam, Germany. A network of scientists,
working on justice-related issues make up its membership.
The Society aims to promote
interdisciplinary justice research, communicate research findings, and advance
the application of justice theory and research findings in various fields of
practice.
Its Biennial Meetings provide
a forum for the scientific exchange of theoretical developments and recent
investigations.
http://www.colman.ac.il/behave/justice2000/index.html
(TOP)
An agreement between
Governments world-wide committing themselves to harmonize and improve at global
level the safety and environmental performance of automobiles and other road
vehicles has entered into force on 25 August 2000, thirty days after it was
signed by 8 countries or regional economic integration organizations.
Among the signatories of the
Agreement are the most important vehicle manufacturing countries, including the
United States of America, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Canada and
the Russian Federation, as well as the European Union. The Republic of South
Africa and Spain have also signed the Agreement although not yet ratified it,
and many other countries are undertaking the necessary legal procedures for
also acceding to the Agreement.
The global regulations will
address such vehicle components as braking, tyres, lighting and
light-signalling, safety glazing, windscreen defrosting and demisting, etc.
They will address the commonly agreed performance criteria and limits to be
complied with by these components and also harmonized test methods.
http://www.unece.org/trans/main/welcwp29.htm
The Director General of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El Baradei, visited Ukraine at the
invitation of the Ukrainian Government August 28–30, 2000. It was agreed that the issue of decommissioning the
Chernobyl plant will be considered as the first priority in the IAEA’s
technical co-operation programme for Ukraine within the scope of the 2001–2002
programme. To that end a comprehensive conceptual plan for decommissioning all
four units will be prepared by Ukraine with Agency assistance. It was also
agreed that the Agency would continue to provide technical expertise to Ukraine
throughout the process of decommissioning.
In addition to decommissioning
the IAEA will continue inter alia to assist Ukraine with strengthening the
effectiveness of its safety regulatory regime, upgrading the safety of its
operating nuclear power plants, ensuring the safe management of nuclear wastes,
enhancing the country’s nuclear safety infrastructure, and the development of a
long term energy policy.
http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Press/
"The environmental
situation in some countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly
Independent States (NIS) remains a subject of concern both for the people in
those countries and for the international community. This is why the UN/ECE is
making a special effort to help these countries to achieve a sustainable type
of development" stresses Danuta Hübner, Executive Secretary of the United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE). Consequently, the UN/ECE and
the Netherlands Management Cooperation Programme (NMCP) have concluded a
Memorandum of Understanding on developing and running special programmes for
sustainable development in Central and Eastern Europe and NIS. The programmes
include a project on rational and efficient use of water and energy resources
in Central Asia. Other projects are planned within the framework of the Stability
Pact for South East Europe, such as the comprehensive water environment
protection programme for the Adriatic-Ionian region, and a programme of
demonstration zones for environmental infrastructure projects on water and
waste for small municipalities in South East Europe.
http://www.unece.org/press/press_h.htm
Money does grow on trees
National forests are 10 times
more valuable if used for recreation and to protect wildlife and water quality than
they are if used for logging, mining, and grazing, according to a new report
commissioned by the Sierra Club. Measured by these new standards, the
forests are worth $234 billion and generate 2.9 million sustainable jobs, found
the report, which was prepared by ECONorthwest, an economic consulting
firm. In contrast, logging, mining, and grazing on national forest land
are worth just $23 billion and provide 407,000 jobs. "Leaving trees
standing in most cases can contribute far more to local, state, and national
economies than logging," said Ernie Niemi, a coauthor of the report.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2000/08/29/
state0316EDT0339.DTL
One good thing about the
melting ice and open water found at the North Pole earlier this month -- they
spurred both the New York Times and Washington Post to run editorials talking
up environmental protection. The Times reminds us that the White House
plays a "decisive" role in all matters environmental, and gives Vice
President Al Gore the nod over Texas Gov. George W. Bush on this issue in the
presidential race. The Post puts its stamp of approval on new research
that suggests that action to slow global warming should not focus solely on
reducing carbon-dioxide emissions, but also on other greenhouse gases such as
methane.
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/28mon1.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34272-2000Aug27.html
US National Conference of
Environmental Journalists
October 19-22, East Lansing, Michigan,
USA
Several topics dominate the agenda of the
10th National Conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists:
threats to the world's freshwater and its wildlife, the impact of cars on the
environment, the US presidential election, and trans-border environmental issues
affecting Canada and the United States. Other sessions will look at the
environmental impact of E-Commerce and genetically-modified foods. A
transportation technology exposition is also planned, adjacent to the SEJ
conference, featuring "green cars" from major automakers, fuel cells,
van pool suppliers, high-speed rail, alternative fuel buses, test-drive
opportunities and more.
The Society of Environmental Journalists is a non-profit educational
organization founded in 1990 in order to advance public understanding of
environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy and visibility of
environmental reporting.
http://www.sej.org.
Radio For Peace International: info@rfpi.org
(TOP)
Stonyfield Farm Inc., a New
Hampshire-based yoghurt company, is launching
a new national print ad campaign that aims to promote environmental and social causes as well as its own cultured dairy
products. Gary Hirschberg, president and chief executive of Stonyfield
Farm, calls the campaign concept "ad-tivism," a combination of
advertising and activism. The new ads feature well-known personalities
like filmmaker and historian Ken Burns and highlight causes that matter to
them, from rainforest protection to organic gardening. Stonyfield Farm
hopes the do-gooder messages will attract do-gooder customers. The
company has also tried to lure activist-minded buyers with messages on its
yoghurt lids calling for action on environmental and other issues, and by
giving 10 percent of profits to organizations like the Jane Goodall Institute,
which promotes wildlife conservation and research.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/06/business/06ADCO.html
(TOP)
Rotary Population Summit, September 22 - 24 New Delhi,
India
Further to the conference of
July 28-30 in Zurich in cooperation with UNFPA (United Nation Population Fund),
that brought together 726 participants from 50 countries, Rotary International
will hold a ‘Population Summit’ on the theme of world population growth and
sustainable development that will address the problems connected with such a
perspective and the possible actions that can be taken by Rotarians in the
world to help improve this trend and its direct consequences.
Rotary's strength lies in the
volunteer service of its 1.2 million membership representing an international
network of business and professional leaders implementing a wide range of
programs to meet human needs.
http://www.worldpopulationgrowth.org
(TOP)
VIDES International Meeting on Voluntary Service
and Debt Restitution
Rimini, Italy, October 27-29
The theme will be discussed in plenary sessions and
in round tables that will focus on how the VIDES voluntary groups in the world
restore dignity, speech, time, space
and opportunities for children, young people and women.
VIDES is an NGO that draws its inspiration from the
Salesian education project. Since 1987 it has been conducting development
projects for women, young people and children who live in distressed conditions
in Europe and in the developing countries.
www.vides.org
*******
Next issue: 29
September.