Good News Agency – Year XII, n° 192
Weekly – Year XII, number 192
– 30th September 2011
Managing Editor: Sergio Tripi, Ph. D.
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. It is
distributed free of charge through Internet to 10,000
media and editorial journalists in 54 countries and to 3,000 NGOs and 1,600
high schools, colleges and universities. It is an all-volunteer
service of Associazione Culturale
dei Triangoli e della Buona Volontà
Mondiale, an educational charity associated with the United Nations Department of Public
Information. In the final report of the Decade for
a Culture of Peace project presented to the UN General Assembly (http://decade-culture-of-peace.org/2010_civil_society_report.pdf),
Good News Agency is included among the three NGOs that have been playing a
major role in the field of Information*.
International
legislation – Human rights – Economy
and development
– Solidarity
Peace and
security – Health – Energy and Safety – Environment and
wildlife
Religion and spirituality – Culture and education
21 September – Maldives today
became the latest country to agree to be bound by the International Criminal
Court (ICC), the independent, permanent tribunal set up to prosecute individuals
accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Indian Ocean archipelago
acceded to the 1998 Rome Statute, the legal document establishing the basis for
the ICC, in
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39669&Cr=international+criminal&Cr1=
Global
Conference on cluster bomb ban ends with even more states pledging to join the
Treaty
Beirut, 16 September - The
Second Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions ended
in Beirut today with a strong international declaration to rid the world of
cluster munitions. The conference in
23 September - The Czech
Republic has become the 66th State Party to the Convention on Cluster
Munitions. The NATO and EU member state deposited its instrument of
ratification at a UN treaty event in
23 September -
23 September -
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/news/
Former
Yugoslav army chief convicted by UN tribunal for war crimes
6 September – The United
Nations tribunal set up to prosecute the most serious offences committed during
the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s today convicted Momčilo
Perišić for crimes against humanity and war
crimes and sentenced the former chief of staff of the Yugoslav Army to 27 years
in prison. Mr. Perišić was found guilty by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of aiding and
abetting murders, inhumane acts, persecutions on political, racial or religious
grounds, and attacks on civilians in
In the judgment – the first
handed down by the tribunal in a case against an official of the
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39457&Cr=Criminal&Cr1=Tribunal
Role of
23 September – With its
ability to foster cross-cultural understanding among peoples and societies, the
Alliance of Civilizations initiative is crucial in the struggle to combat
intolerance, extremism and bigotry worldwide, United Nations officials stressed
today. The work of the
The
The
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39725&Cr=tolerance&Cr1=
UNICEF welcomes
agreement against child trafficking in two African countries
22 September – The United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has welcomed a new agreement between the
Republic of the
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39687&Cr=child+trafficking&Cr1=
A
Rights-based approach on volunteering
September 8 -
"Volunteering is a right, not a privilege. A rights-based approach towards
volunteering must be put in place in order to ensure quality, recognition,
protection and equal access for everyone, without any kind of
discrimination"
This is one of the key
concepts of the "Declaration on the Need of a rights-based approach
towards Volunteering", approved as a final conclusion of the Stakeholder
Conference "The Rights of the Volunteer". The conference was
organised by the European Youth Forum - YFJ on 7th and 8th of September in the
frame of the II Youth Convention on Volunteering. This was the first step
towards the ""Charter on the Rights and Responsibilities of the
Volunteers"" that will be presented for approval at the next Council
of Members of the European Youth Forum in November."
More than 70 Stakeholders
contributed to this Stakeholder Conference to bring up the topic of
Volunteering, in the frame of the European Year of Volunteering promoted by the
European Commission in 2011, AEGEE - the European Students' Forum, representing
young volunteers from different countries working together on cross-borders
activities to promote co-operation and integration in Europe, fully supports
the Declaration as a valid tool to promote a rights-based approach on
Volunteering.
http://www.aegee.org/Spotlight/a-rights-based-approach-on-volunteering.html
IFAD
signs new US$15 million loan agreement for poverty reduction program in
The new program will be
implemented by the Rural Development Institute and the regional and territorial
governments of the RAAN and RAAS autonomous regions.
With climate-change and
sustainable natural resource management becoming a national priority, the
project will also support new approaches for environmental protection in the
region and will strengthen local institutions and empower local governments
with a territorial economic development fund.
New
project won:
September
22 – ACDI/VOCA
has won a $1.2 million grant for the Liberia Forestry Support Program (LFSP)
program. In an ACDI/VOCA first, the project is funded by the United States
Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program’s
goal is to advance the policy and practice of community-based forest management
in
ACDI/VOCA will do this through
adaptive management, learning-based approaches and the development of
alternative-livelihood food security and cash income sources.
LFSP will build on and
continue the successful activities conducted under the Land Rights and
Community Forestry Program (LRCFP), a three-year subcontract funded by USAID to
build sustainable income-generation opportunities at the community level around
community forestry programs in Nimba and Sinoe counties. Through LRCFP, ACDI/VOCA worked with small,
product-focused groups to increase access to markets and initiate economic
activities and opportunities.
http://www.acdivoca.org/site/ID/news-Liberia-Forestry-Support-Program-LFSP-new-project
USA -
High volunteerism can mean lower unemployment rates, study says
By Peter Bolton
September 21 – States in which
a big share of people volunteer, vote, and participate in other civic events
tended to suffer the least-drastic increases in joblessness during the
downturn, according to a new report.
The study, by the National
Conference on Citizenship and others, mined federal labor
statistics and Census data from about 50,000 American households. It found that
states that did well based on five measures—helping neighbors,
volunteering, registering to vote, voting, and attending meetings—in 2006 did
not face big rises in unemployment from 2006 to 2010.
States in which a high
proportion of people helped their neighbors did best,
followed by those with strong volunteering rates.
http://philanthropy.com/article/High-Volunteerism-Can-Mean/129109/
Historic
global church investors meeting
Participants
agree to collaborate on corporate responsibility issues
Church investors have often
collaborated across international borders, most recently in response to crises
at News Corp and BP. As investment portfolios become more global, the need for
trusted partners in other regions has become more important. Local engagement
expertise can be combined with aggregated global church shareholdings to create
a powerful lever for improving corporate performance on environmental, social
and governance issues.
One example of future work
relates to next year’s London Olympics. US investors are working through the
Through the lens of faith,
ICCR builds a more just and sustainable world by integrating social values into
investor actions.
http://www.iccr.org/news/press_releases/2011/pr_CIG092011.php
USAID
awards $50 million food security contract in
Value
chain approach to boost agricultural growth, incomes for Ethiopian farmers
September 19 – The U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID) recently awarded the ACDI/VOCA Support
for Food Security Activities (SFSA) team its second major contract: a
five-year, nearly $50 million food security program in
The Agricultural Growth
Program-Value Chain Expansion (AGP-VCE) initiative in
Targeted value chains include:
coffee, honey, maize, sesame and wheat.
The new value chain program is
part of USAID’s Feed the Future initiative, which
harmonizes regional hunger- and poverty-fighting efforts in countries with
chronic food insecurity and insufficient production of staple crops.
http://www.acdivoca.org/site/ID/news-Ethiopia-Food-Security-Value-Chain-Agriculture-Growth-AGP-VCE
In
by
September 15 –
A new program is working to
close the gap, in
he program, called Double Up
Food Bucks (DUFB), is a project of the nonprofit Fair
Food Network. It’s a simple idea: SNAP shoppers use their benefits at a
participating farmers’ market and receive tokens for an equal amount to
purchase any Michigan-grown fruit or vegetable at the market. In effect, food
dollars spent at farmers’ markets are doubled, up to $20 per market day. By
spending $20 of SNAP benefits at the farmers’ market, the shopper comes home
with $40 worth of healthy, fresh, regionally grown produce.
The program started as a pilot
project in
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/a-double-win-for-fresh-food
September 23 –
The Agency's intervention
focuses in the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene through the distribution
of water purification tablets, jerry cans, and buckets. These items provide
flood-affected victims with safe water for drinking, cooking, and washing. The
Agency's response is continuing while the floodwaters recede.
http://www.adra.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=11505&news_iv_ctrl=1141
Linkin Park
visits children six months after
After the disaster,
Six months after the
earthquake, although children’s immediate needs have been met, the longer-term
recovery is a process that will take years, says Save the Children.
"Linkin
Park’s visit has been so important to us in highlighting the longer-term needs
of children in recovering from this disaster," said Save the Children
Japan CEO Hironobu Shibuya. "The visit also helps our donors see the impact
our response to date."
Music for Relief was created
by
Rotary - A look at the Future Vision pilot’s first
year
By Dan Nixon
Rotary International News, 22
September - One hundred Rotary districts and their member clubs set a brisk
pace in the first year of the Future Vision pilot, recording many milestones
along the way. The Rotary Foundation
awarded 208 global grants, totaling almost US$12 million, in 2010-11. These
grants supported large-scale, sustainable activities aligned with Rotary’s
areas of focus in 46 countries.
The first global grant
project, completed in July, proved highly effective in preventing the spread of
dengue fever in a community in Surakarta, Central
Java, Indonesia. Other global grant efforts helped provide thousands of people
in Sierra Leone with access to clean water, boosted malaria prevention and
treatment in Mali, improved sanitation in India, and expanded literacy in
Kenya, to name a few. The grants also funded vocational training teams and
equipped scholars to work in sustainable development, health care, peace and
conflict resolution, and other fields related to the areas of focus.
More than $6 million in Rotary
Foundation District Grants supported local and international service projects.
District 2650 (Japan) distributed funds from a $271,000 grant to 42 club
projects, which included providing computers, sewing machines, and other vocational
training equipment to a village in the Philippines, and restoring an elementary
school in China’s Shaanxi Province.
The Foundation also formed
strategic partnerships with
Pilot clubs and districts are
helping to verify what works in the Foundation’s new grant model under the
Future Vision Plan. Based on feedback from Rotarians, the Foundation is also
making operational improvements during the pilot. (...)
Himalayan
earthquake prompts three nation Red Cross response
By Patrick Fuller
Published: 21 September - Red
Cross National Societies from three countries have joined emergency relief
efforts to bring aid and medical care to the survivors of the deadly earthquake
that struck the Himalayan region bordering north
John Roche, head of the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
In
A national disaster water and
sanitation response team is also en route to the area and planning is underway
to airlift relief supplies in the coming days. (…)
The mobile-phone service was
launched on 18 August and is jointly run with the Kenya Red Cross Society. Any
refugee who has arrived in recent weeks is given the opportunity to make a
phone call to an immediate family member or other close relative anywhere in
the world. The calls last for two minutes and are limited to family and
personal news only. So far 7,200 people, including almost 800 minors, have
taken advantage of the service.
A team of ICRC staff and Kenya
Red Cross volunteers is present in the Dadaab
registration area, where the newly arrived refugees can easily approach them.
Two other teams move around Dadaab every day,
offering the phone service in different locations.
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2011/kenya-news-2011-09-20.htm
CARE
joins the Million Moms Challenge with ABC News and the UN Foundation
First-of-its-kind
campaign to connect millions of Americans with millions of moms in developing
countries across the globe
19 September -
Today, CARE joins ABC News and the United Nations Foundation in the
recently-launched Million Moms Challenge. This first-of-its kind initiative
will connect millions of Americans with millions of moms in developing
countries around the world to engage on the critical issues of pregnancy,
childbirth and children's health – moms here helping moms worldwide.
Stories based on compelling
characters and innovative solutions will be featured on ABC News' broadcasts
including "Good Morning America," "World News with Diane
Sawyer," "Nightline," and "20/20," as well as other
ABC News platforms including ABCNews.com and ABC News Radio. The initiative
will lead up to a one-hour prime time special on maternal health anchored by
Diane Sawyer on Dec. 16, 2011. The
Million Moms Challenge is a joint effort of ABC News and the UN Foundation, in
conjunction with corporate partners Johnson & Johnson and BabyCenter. It is part of an ABC News year-long global
health series "Be the Change: Save a Life," which is sponsored in
part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
http://www.care.org/newsroom/articles/2011/09/CARE-Million-Moms-Challenge-ABC-UN-20110919.asp
African
23 September – The leaders of
the United Nations and the African Union today agreed to step up the joint
peace efforts of the two organizations on some of the major conflicts and
security issues across the continent.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping, in a
meeting on the margins of the current 66th session of the General Assembly, focused
their discussions on existing UN-AU cooperation and on recent developments in
Africa, especially in
Since 2008 the two organizations
have operated a joint peacekeeping force in the western Sudanese region of Darfur (UNAMID), while in
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39750&&Cr=african+union&&Cr1=
Largely
peaceful elections in
23 September - Only two
incidents of violence, triggered by the late start of voting and the suspicion
of electoral fraud, were reported as Zambians went to the polls to elect a new
president and government on Tuesday. The nationwide violence expected and
feared by many did not occur as citizens spent Monday stocking up on basic commodities.The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has
dismissed reports of electoral fraud and extended voting hours at all polling
stations affected by the late commencement.
http://www.africagoodnews.com/governance/democracy/2739-largely-peaceful-elections-in-zambia.html
Nuclear
safety action plan endorsed at UN conference in
22 September 2011 – The
general conference of the United Nations atomic energy agency today unanimously
endorsed an action plan on nuclear safety that is intended to enhance
transparency in the ongoing global effort to set effective safety standards.
“The IAEA’s [International Atomic Energy Agency] 151
Member States have today endorsed the agency’s Action Plan on Nuclear Safety,”
said Yukiya Amano, the agency’s Director General, at
the IAEA’s General Conference in
The action plan had been
requested by governments at the IAEA’s ministerial
conference on Nuclear Safety in June. Mr. Amano said the plan was a product of
intensive consultations with Member States and was both a “rallying point and a
blueprint for strengthening nuclear safety worldwide”. He said it contained
concrete and achievable actions to make nuclear safety more robust and
effective than before, following the nuclear disaster at the
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39711&Cr=nuclear&Cr1=
Ban
lauds courage and conviction of former UN chief Hammarskjöld
22 September –
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today paid tribute to Dag Hammarskjöld, the former United Nations chief whose
life and work continue to serve as an inspiration 50 years after his tragic
death while en route to negotiate peace in what is now the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (DRC).
Mr. Ban said he was encouraged
by the theme of today’s event, which focuses on the late Secretary-General’s
legacy for UN preventive diplomacy in the 21st century.
“Hammarskjöld articulated the
very concept of preventive diplomacy,” said Mr. Ban, who dedicated his new
report, “Preventive Diplomacy: Delivering Results,” to his predecessor. The
report was discussed at a Security Council meeting held today on the same
topic.
The discussion, moderated by
former Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guéhenno,
also featured remarks by former UN special envoy Lakhdar
Brahimi and former Deputy High Commissioner for Human
Rights Bertrand Ramcharan.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39697&&Cr=preventive+diplomacy&&Cr1=
International
Day of Peace, 21 September
Spotlighting some of MAG’s work around the world on Peace Day, teams have been
helping safeguard communities in
21 September - Rebuilding
communities in
Delivering life-saving
education to children in South Sudan - In the new
independent
Protecting peace and safety in
Through its crucial education
programmes, MAG is striving to protect the peace and safety of people who live,
work and travel through these contaminated areas. Vadar
Mustafa,MAG's Community Liaison Coordinator in Dohuk, said: "Peace
Day is really important because it makes people aware of the suffering
conflict causes, and that we have to work together for peace."
MAG – Mines Advisory Group –
is a neutral and impartial humanitarian organisation that clears the remnants
of conflict for the benefit of communities worldwide.
http://www.maginternational.org/news/international-day-of-peace-21-september-/
UN
marks International Day of Peace with call to ‘make your voice heard’
15 September – The United
Nations today marked the annual International Day of Peace with tributes to
those working to build a better future as well as a call to people everywhere to
make their voices heard to strengthen peace and democracy.
This year marks the 30th
anniversary of the International Day, which falls on 21 September. The theme
for this year is “Peace and Democracy: Make your voice heard!” and today’s
observance coincides with the observance of the International Day of Democracy.
(…)
The International Day of Peace
was first established by the General Assembly in 1981 as an opportunity for
people around the world to promote the resolution of conflict and to observe a
cessation of hostilities.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39556&Cr=peace&Cr1=
Ban
welcomes agreement between
10 September –
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed an
agreement between
Abyei is located within
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39501&Cr=Abyei&Cr1=
23 Septermber
- The Honorable Shri Ghulam
Nabi Azad,
One of only four countries
where transmission of the wild poliovirus has never been stopped,
Children
and adults all vaccinated
September 22 – Chinese authorities continue to respond
aggressively to a polio outbreak in the western part of the country, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Following the initial
immunization campaign held on 8-12 September and targeting 3.8 million
children, vaccination was expanded to persons aged between 15 and 39 years
after the identification of polio cases in adults. To date 10 polio cases have
been reported;
http://www.polioeradication.org/tabid/408/iid/158/Default.aspx
21 September – Monsoon rains
and floods continue to ravage southern
In the camps for displaced
people, there is a need for medical care. Acute watery diarrhoea, suspected
malaria, skin infections and respiratory tract infections are all common, while
some children are suffering from suspected malnutrition.
The team will continue to
identify the unmet needs in Tando Bago,
Shahid Fazul Rahu and other sub-districts in the coming days. MSF’s team in Sindh province
currently has four international staff and nine Pakistani staff, but they will
be reinforced in coming days by additional staff.
Beyond Sindh
province, existing MSF teams are working throughout the country, preparing to
respond to the humanitarian needs caused by the flooding.
http://www.msf.org/msf/articles/2011/09/pakistan-msf-response-to-floods-victims-in-sindh.cfm
Both
potato-soy mix, corn-soy blend can meet food aid needs, study says
By Jennifer O’Riordan
21 September -
Providing malnourished children with a potato-soy mix ration rather than the traditional
corn-soy blend achieved similar health results, according to a study published
in the African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. While
the potato mix as a ration had the same impact on growth as the standard corn
mix, it required less fuel to prepare and takes less time to cook. The
potato-based blend was also found to be more easily digested since it has less fiber than corn, thus leading to less discomfort for the
children. (...)
Undernutrition plays a huge part
in the death of many young Senegalese children – contributing to 31 percent of
deaths in those aged five and younger. The results of the study showed that
targeted food supplement programs are an important component in improving the
nutritional status of a region, especially when combined with better primary
care, sanitation, a better water supply and economic reforms that focus on
poverty reduction. (…)
http://www.counterpart.org/blog/study-potato-soy-mix-corn-soy-blend
Sanofi
Pasteur donates vaccine strain used for polio eradication to WHO
20 September – Sanofi Pasteur has donated to the World Health Organization
(WHO) a vaccine seed-strain used for the production of oral polio vaccine
(OPV). The type 3 polio seed-strain is the original viral seed used to produce
large quantities of OPV against type 3 poliovirus.
Since 1988, the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative (GPEI) - spearheaded by WHO, Rotary International, the
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
and UNICEF - has achieved a 99% reduction in the number of polio cases
worldwide. This reduction has been achieved as a result of the large-scale
administration of OPV. The generous donation by Sanofi
Pasteur to WHO has significant implications, both for the global effort to
eradicate polio, and also for the post-eradication era.
With this donation, WHO now
'owns' all three seed-strain viruses (type 1, 2 and 3) needed for the
production of polio vaccines. While Sanofi Pasteur
had in the past made available its type 3 seed-strain, in collaboration with
WHO, to other manufacturers to help secure a global supply of polio vaccines,
the generous donation at this time will further simplify this process, and is
in fact a tribute to Albert Sabin's - the developer
of OPV - spirit to assure fair distribution of vaccines. http://www.polioeradication.org/tabid/408/iid/156/Default.aspx
Save
the Children announces helping Babies Breathe partnership
"Birth asphyxia accounts
for more than 26 percent of all newborn deaths in developing countries,"
said Carolyn Miles, President & CEO of Save the Children. "This is a
preventable tragedy. Newborn resuscitation is a cost-effective, proven solution
that can save thousands of lives. With this support from Johnson & Johnson,
we will be able to train health workers in some of the poorest, most remote
communities in
Birth asphyxia, the inability
of a baby to breathe in the moments following a live birth, is a leading cause
of infant mortality. Those who survive are at higher risk of developmental
challenges. This five-year partnership, which also leverages support from
USAID, will allow HBB to expand into
The announcement of the
Helping Babies Breathe partnership was made today at a panel hosted by Women,
Inspiration and
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=8rKLIXMGIpI4E&b=6478615&ct=11224085
(top)
Ecuadorian-UN
accord that puts ecology over oil drilling hailed as model for world
New York, September 23 - An Ecuadorian accord
to leave vast oil reserves, conservatively valued at $7.2 billion, untapped to protect
biodiversity in a national park in return for half that amount from the
international community was heralded at the United Nations today as a model in
the fight to save the planet.
“It is not often that a government chooses
sustainable development over easy money,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a high-level meeting on the Yasuní-ITT Initiative, under which the UN Development
Programme (UNDP) and Ecuador agreed last year to set up a trust fund to protect
the Yasuní National Park, a World Biosphere Reserve
in the country’s Amazon region, with an estimated 846 million barrels of crude
oil lying under it.
UNDP estimates the accord will prevent the
discharge into the atmosphere of more than 400 million tons of carbon that
would have resulted from the burning of fossil fuels if the oil had been
extracted at the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT)
fields.
By Tor 'Solar Fred' Valenza
19 September – Breaking news: Over the weekend, sources from The Solar
Foundation gave me some early numbers from the 2011 National Solar Jobs Census.
There will be more data released at Solar Power International
* As of August 2011, there are
100,237 solar workers in the
* Across the solar supply
chain, from installers to balance of system (BOS) manufacturers, to yes, even
solar PV manufacturers, that’s a 6.8% growth rate since August 2010.
* In terms of exact numbers,
there were net 6,735 new solar jobs created since August 2010.
* When I say, “net,” my
sources tell me that these numbers also accurately include the recent job
losses from Solyndra and Evergreen.
Now, 6.8% job growth would be great for any industry in any year, but
let’s put that in perspective of the overall economy: According to Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc’s EMSI
Complete Employment, 2011.3 report, during the same period, from August 2010 to
August 2011, the overall economy grew by 0.7%, giving a net increase of
1,219,347 new jobs economy wide, including the solar sector, of course. (…)
By Steve Leone, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com
While the rest of the country’s transportation system relies almost
solely on oil,
Those rates — 34.58 cents per kilowatt-hour for residents — are part of
the reason behind the state’s aggressive push to get to 70 percent renewable
energy by 2030 including transportation and 40 percent for renewable
electricity generation. (The security dangers of being so heavily reliant on
one source certainly factors into the RPS.) While wind and solar have increased
their contributions to the energy mix in recent years, the state’s largest
utility is now looking to biofuel as a way to achieve
the state mandates without building new power facilities.
In the latest in a string of announcements, Hawaiian Electric Company
and Hawaii BioEnergy have struck a 20-year deal to
blend 10 million gallons per year of biofuel grown
and processed on the
Opening
the door to carbon crediting for restoring degraded grasslands
FAO
helps herders earn money for the carbon they sequester when rehabilitating
damaged ecosystems
27 September, Rome - The vast
potential of grasslands to support sustainable livelihoods while trapping
atmospheric carbon and helping slow down global warming is one step closer to
being realized thanks to a new methodology developed by FAO in collaboration
with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, the Chinese Academy of
Sciences and the World Agroforestry Centre.
Large swathes of the world's
grasslands are moderately to severely degraded — restoring them to a healthy
state could remove gigatonnes of carbon from the
atmosphere and improve resilience to climate change. So far, however, carbon
crediting schemes that pay projects for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
and sequestering carbon have largely ignored agriculture, including
grazing-based livlihood systems.
The breakthrough of FAO's new methodology is that it provides an affordable way
to reliably estimate the amount of GHG emissions removed from the atmosphere
through improved management of grasslands. The methodology is being applied to
a pilot project in
Nature
and religion come together in Nepal
13 September –
Organized by WWF-Nepal and
partner organization Lumbini Development Trust, the
event brought together over 300 people from different sectors of society.
Covering 14 protected areas in
http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?201645/Nature-and-religion-come-together-in-Nepal
Vegetarian
Week - 1-7 October
A
sustainable future depends on our food choices
By Prof Richard H. Schwartz
(...)
Much
of global warming discussions by governments, environmental groups and
individuals over the past 20 years has focused on implementing changes in
energy use and given little attention to the impact of our diets. This trend
changed somewhat upon publication of a landmark 2006 report by the United
Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), estimating that livestock
production globally is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs, in CO2 equivalents) than the emissions from all of
the world's cars, planes, ships, and all other means of transportation
combined.
The FAO report, Livestock’s
Long Shadow, also projected that the world's current annual consumption of
almost 60 billion land-based animals will double by mid-century if current
human population growth and dietary trends continue. (...) Leading climate
specialists have focused increasingly on the role of food in global warming,
pointing out that there is no more powerful environmental action that any
individual can take than adopting a plant-based diet. (...)
When we consider all of these
negative environmental and climate-change effects, and then add the harmful
effects of animal-based diets on human health, it is clear that animal-centered diets and the livestock agriculture needed to
sustain them pose tremendous threats to global survival. A major societal shift
toward veganism is imperative to move our precious
but imperilled planet toward a sustainable path.
WCC
general secretary speaks at
22 September - The 200th
anniversary of the
Tveit called for
Christians and other people of faith to honour past
victims of religious violence “by a deeper self-critical reflection on the
ambiguity of religious expressions and traditions”. While the teachings of
world religions have reflected wisdom and love, he continued, they also
“sometimes support, or function as, systems of oppression and exclusion”.
The WCC general secretary described
contemporary churches’ attempts to seek justice and peace as a reaction to the
historical “Just War” theories by which theologians have attempted to
rationalize warfare. He encouraged a quest for a “critical, creative, Christian
theology” that recognizes human rights and the capacity to answer human need as
basic to our contemporary understanding of the gifts and calling of God.
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/wcc-general-secretary-spe-3.html
By Dennis Sadowski
– Catholic News Service
September 21, Washington (CNS)
-- A delegation of Christian and Muslim leaders returned to the
"The primary purpose (of
the trip) was to try and deepen the relationship between the two countries by
direct human contact on the basis of religious leadership," William G.
Miller, senior adviser to the organization who worked in the U.S. embassy in
Iran in the early 1960s, told Catholic News Service. Cardinal McCarrick said he believed the discussions among Iranian
and American religious leaders would deepen trust where diplomacy has failed.
He said the idea of establishing a bilateral commission of religious and
academic leaders from both countries was offered during the one-hour meeting
Sept. 17 with Ahmadinejad. "The political
channel doesn't do too well right now. There should be another channel. The
other channel is the religious channel," the cardinal said. Bishop Chane said he welcomed the idea for the commission "to
begin to deal with issues that our politicians and folks in the State
Department and their (
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1103724.htm
Millions of
children to benefit from UN partnership to train school principals
22 September – The United
Nations educational agency has embarked on a new partnership to train thousands
of school principals, beginning in
“This partnership is an
excellent example of the new platforms for cooperation the world needs today to
achieve education for all,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina
Bokova, adding that tackling complex, global
challenges requires innovative and far-reaching partnerships between the public
and private spheres.
According to UNESCO, school
principals in many developing countries receive little, if any, leadership and
development training. The new initiative foresees the training of 10,000
principals in the three countries targeted over four years. The agency added
that the multiplier effect of the programme has the potential to benefit thousands
of teachers and up to 10 million children. Under the initiative, the
Foundation, in cooperation with UNESCO, will provide leadership and
professional development courses to improve the skills and knowledge of the
school principals.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39690&Cr=education&Cr1=
Security
in cyberspace: targeting nations,
infrastructures, individuals
Andalo (Trento),
English will be the working
language of the School. There will be approximately 80 participants. They are
expected to attend all lectures and seminars and to stay throughout the
week-long course. Applications should arrive not later than November 14th,
2011. Applications may be submitted also on-line at www.isodarco.it
* * * * * * *
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