Good News Agency – Year II, n° 15
Weekly - Year II, number 15
– 28 September 2001
Managing Editor: Sergio Tripi,
Ph. D.
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 over 2,500 editorial offices of the daily newspapers and periodical magazines and of the radio and television stations with an e-mail address in 46 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Finland, Holland, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, USA, and it is also available in its web site: http://www.goodnewsagency.org
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dei Triangoli e della Buona Volontà Mondiale, a registered non-profit
educational organization chartered in Italy in 1979. The Association operates
for the development of consciousness and supports the activities of the Lucis
Trust, the Club of Budapest, the Earth Charter, Radio For Peace International
and other organizations promoting a culture of peace in the ‘global village’
perspective based on unity within diversity and on sharing. Via Antagora 10, 00124 Rome, Italy. E-mail: s.tripi@tiscalinet.it
Contents:
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International legislation
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Energy
and safety
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Human rights
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Science
and technology
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Economy
and development
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Environment and wildlife
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Solidarity
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Culture
and education
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Health
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(TOP)
East
Asian Ministers Issue Historic Declaration On Forest Law Enforcement And
Governance
Bali,
Indonesia, September 13 - Ministers
from East Asian Nations and other regions at the East Asia Ministerial
Conference on Forest Law Enforcement and Governance accepted by acclamation an
unprecedented and historic declaration committing their countries to combat
illegal logging, associated illegal trade, and other forest crimes. The
declaration represents the first ever international commitment by governments
to combat corruption in the forestry sector. (…)
Approximately
150 participants –including representatives of NGOs, the private sector, and
government institutions– contributed to the three day conference, exploring the
best current thinking on forest law enforcement. Representatives of a number of
African and Latin American countries as well as G-8 and European Union member
countries also attended as observers and resource persons. The meeting was
co-hosted by the World Bank and the Government of Indonesia. The United States
and the United Kingdom provided financial support and substantive contributions.
The three-day meeting consisted of two days of technical discussions and a
ministerial segment on the last day. (…)
For
more information about the conference, please visit: www.worldbank.or.id
http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/news/pressrelease.nsf/
UN: Climate change conference
to be held in Africa for the first time
10 September - The Secretariat
of the Framework Convention on Climate Change announced today that the next
round of high-level talks on global warming will take place in Marrakech from
29 October to 9 November. Such decisions will enable ratification of the
Convention's Kyoto Protocol by Governments whose adhesion is necessary to bring
it into force, also guiding future action under the Convention itself. “By
hosting this conference, Morocco would like to demonstrate to the international
community the political commitment that Africa as a whole has to this common
objective,” said Mohamed Elyazghi, Morocco's Minister of Spatial Planning,
Urban Managing, Housing and Environment.
http://www.un.org/News/dh/latest/page2.html#40
Philippine approves prison
term for GMO labeling violators
Manila, Philippines, August -
People selling a product that contains GMO (genetically modified organisms) in
the Phillippines may soon have to label it “genetically engineered” or go to
prison for not less than six years but not more than
12 years. If the offender is an alien, he or
she can be immediately deported without need of any further proceedings. Up to 12 years in jail plus a $2,000
fine is the penalty for failing to label that was passed by the Philippine
Congress. “Consumers have the right to know the
contents of the food items they buy and then decide for themselves whether to
buy or not”, said Congressman Del de Guzman of the city of Marikina.
Many countries
like Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Russia, 15
countries of the European Union, Mexico, Israel, Taiwan, the Czech Republic and
Norway have mandatory laws which call for labeling of GMO products.
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-15-02.html
(TOP)
Tens of thousands of displaced
return to North Moluccas
21 September – Some 42,608
displaced people have returned to the North Moluccas (Indonesia), after being
forced to flee two years earlier by inter-religious clashes. The news was
referred to the local press by Sukemi Sahab, head of a task force of the local
administration in charge of handling the crisis in the North Moluccas. The
announcement was made in occasion of a ceremony for the return from the
northern Sulawesi province of 443 Christian people originally from Bitung.
Sahab also declared that the displaced that have returned to their land, both
Christians and Muslims have decided to “end hostilities, admitting that the
conflicts had only produced orphans and widows”. Since January 1999 the
Moluccas is theatre to clashes between Muslims and Christians, which first
broke out in Ambon and then extended to the rest of the archipelago, so far
claiming over 1,800 lives. (BO)
Registrar’s
Initiative on Racism, Racial Discrimination and Intolerance
The
Registrar of the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda), Mr. Adama
Dieng (Senegal) has unveiled a series of initiatives to promote tolerance in
the workplace of the Tribunal and address alleged or potential issues of
racism, racial discrimination and intolerance. These measures will be
undertaken in the spirit and context of the efforts of the United Nations to
eliminate racism and related vices.
As
you know, the Tribunal issued a statement on Friday 7 September 2001, on the
occasion of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held by the United Nations in Durban, South
Africa. In that statement, the ICTR noted that its mandate was to
dispense justice for mass crimes including genocide and crimes against humanity
that occurred in Rwanda in 1994. These crimes were motivated by racist
ideologies, ethnic discrimination and intolerance. By bringing the
accused perpetrators of these crimes to justice, the ICTR is contributing to
the global struggle against racism and its sinister mutations and promoting a
culture of individual accountability for crimes of hate, the statement said.
The
statement also recognized the Tribunal’s responsibility to promote tolerance
within its workplace, which is multiracial and multicultural. (…)
(TOP)
Power lights up lives of poor
in rural Nepal
19 September - Not long
ago, people in Taman, a remote village in Nepal’s Baglung district had no
electricity and no radios or televisions. Using computers and accessing the
Internet was only a dream. Now that all households have electricity and street
lights illuminate the village, the dream is no longer far-fetched.
The Rural Energy Development
Programme, an initiative by the Government of Nepal and UNDP, worked with the
village development committee to bring micro-hydro power to nearly 200
households. Committee members villagers contribute time and labour to excavate
the site. The plant on the river now generates 20 kilowatts of electricity. (…)
After working in their fields
during the day, many villagers, including women, now engage in small business
activities in the evenings, generating additional income. Children no longer
have to study by lamp light. The project shows how social mobilization through
community organizations can bring significant gains. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
FAO announces theme for World
Food Day: "Fight hunger to reduce poverty"
Rome, 14 September --
"Fight hunger to reduce poverty" will be the theme of this year's
World Food Day, 16 October, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
announced today.
World Food Day 2001 will focus
attention on the world's 800 million people condemned to go hungry each day.
Hunger leads to illness and early death, robbing people of their potential to
work. It cripples children's learning capacity, undermines the peace and
prosperity of nations and traps citizens in a vicious cycle of poor nutrition
and ill health.
Hunger is a serious constraint
to development. It is the first and most visible sign of poverty and any
serious effort to alleviate poverty must fight hunger, which is a fundamental
violation of the human right to food. (…)
More than 150 countries will
host awareness-raising events on World Food Day, including art exhibits,
concerts, teleconferences, essay and poster competitions at schools,
tree-plantings, and award ceremonies to honour excellence in the fields of
agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
World Food Day commemorates
the founding of FAO on 16 October 1945 in Quebec City, Canada.
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/OIS/PRESS_NE/PRESSENG/2001/pren0152.htm
Zambia: IRIN Focus on HIPC benefits
15 September - The alienation of Zambia's rural
producers may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to an ambitious, donor-backed
programme to link up the rural areas to the crop marketing system. The Ministry
of Finance announced on Tuesday that it had released 27 billion kwacha (about
US $7.5 million) for the rehabilitation of rural feeder roads ahead of the
planting season in October.
The national feeder roads rehabilitation programme is
funded wholly by savings made under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
initiative, a World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) -led programme
under which western creditors grant eligible developing countries significant
debt write-offs. Savings made under the HIPC programme are expected to be
channelled into social service delivery and poverty alleviation programmes.
According to IMF and Zambian government statistics,
the country's annual debt service payments this year will more than halve to US
$158 million from US $436 million as a result of HIPC concessions. Both the
Zambian government and western donors are confident that, if properly used, the
savings under HIPC will go a long away to alleviating poverty. However,
Zambia's civil society organisations - while applauding western creditors for
writing off part of the country's borrowings - are convinced that the
international community could do more to lift the country out of its debt trap
and onto the road to economic recovery. Many are campaigning for a total
write-off of the country's US $6.5 billion debt.
For more details:http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/zambia/20010914.phtml
Lesotho
and South Africa: World Bank Approves GEF Grant For Biodiversity and
Sustainable Development Project
Washington,
September 13 - The World Bank today approved grant funding worth $ 15.24
million to the governments of South Africa and Lesotho for the five-year
Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Project.
The
project will focus its activities in an area of approximately 13 000km2 along
the eastern boundary of the Kingdom of Lesotho with South Africa. The area
contains exceptional biodiversity and rock art straddling the borders of the
two countries, and also holds exciting opportunities for economic development
based on natural and cultural resources. On the South African side, a
substantial part of the project area has been listed as a World Heritage site,
and there is the potential for collaborative work to secure similar areas
within Lesotho. (…)
The
project will be funded by the Global Environment Facility, which supports
organizations to conserve globally significant biodiversity. Whilst the key
objective is conservation of the area's unique biodiversity, the program will
support the development of small business involved in eco-tourism and job
creation flowing from conservation.
This
grant is the single largest approved by the Global Environment Facility and the
World Bank in the sub-region. It therefore represents a milestone in
collaboration on environment issues between the Kingdom of Lesotho, the South
African Government, KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, provincial conservation agencies in
the Free State and Eastern Cape, the Global Environment Facility and the World
Bank.
http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/news/pressrelease.nsf/
Rome, 12 September –The 73rd Executive Board of the
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) that ended its meeting
held at the Headquarters in Rome, approved loans for 7 development projects for
a total worth of USD 122.5 million. The projects approved are for Bangladesh, India, Lebanon, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique and Nigeria. The Executive
Board also approved five Technical Assistance Grants worth USD 5.0 million. (…)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2001/01-24.htm
UNIFEM commissions production
unit in northern Ghana
6 September - The first shea
butter production unit has been installed in the village of Gbimsi, Ghana, a
community whose social and economic indicators are amongst the lowest in the
country. Commissioned by UNIFEM, the installation was designed to increase
women’s output and efficiency in production. The unit has freed the women
from the drudgery of collecting large quantities of fuelwood and water, both
essential in traditional methods of shea butter extraction. The project
builds on lessons learned from UNIFEM’s support to women shea butter producers
in Burkina Faso.
The production unit consists
of locally fabricated equipment for shea butter extraction, such as a kernel
crusher, grinding mill, and several bridge presses. The unit has not only
increased the group’s production capacity, but has resulted in increased incomes
for the women producers. UNIFEM is currently assisting the women to negotiate
with a Ghana-based cosmetics company that is interested in purchasing the
group’s shea butter.
For more information, please
contact Funmi Balogun, Programme Analyst for Anglophone West Africa, at funmi.balogun@undp.org
(TOP)
From Chicago to New York,
volunteers and police officers walk to raise funds for children
Evanston, Illinois, USA, 24
September - As America reels from the
September 11 tragedy, life goes on. Undeterred, business volunteer members of Rotary
International are walking from Chicago to New York to raise money for the
Gift of Life, a program to help children with congenital heart problems
worldwide. The walk is possible through the efforts of Rotary clubs, hospitals
and police departments across the country. (…) The walkers, led by TV and film
star Chad Everett, are expected to arrive on Long Island on September 30, 2001.
Twelve-year-old Zhenzhen Yao from Shangdong province in China, who was brought to the US for life-saving heart surgery through the Gift of Life program, joined the group to start off the walk. She is recovering from a successful surgery performed in New Jersey on August 17.
The Gift of Life brings children with life-threatening cardiac disease to the United States for heart surgery. Were they to remain in their home countries, which are not equipped to perform the procedure, many of these children would die. Teams of pediatric cardiologists evaluate each child's condition and local Rotary clubs coordinate a trip to a participating hospital for the surgery. (…) Forty-eight hospitals worldwide perform pediatric cardiovascular open-heart surgery for the program.
The Gift of Life was created
in 1975 by a group of Rotarians in Manhasset, Long Island, New York. Since then
more than 2,000 children have traveled to the US for surgery from dozens of
countries around the world. (…)
Rotary is an organization of
business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian
service and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. There are
approximately 1.2 million Rotarians who are members of more than 30,000 Rotary
clubs in 163 countries.
UK and FAO
start multi-million-dollar livestock initiative in support of the poor
London/Rome, 24
September - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United
Kingdom have agreed on a major livestock initiative for the poor in developing
countries, FAO said in a statement issued today. The goal of the initiative is
to contribute to poverty reduction through equitable, safe and clean livestock
farming.
The UK
Department for International Development (DFID) will grant 9 million
sterling (US$13 million) to support the 'Pro-Poor Livestock Policy
Facility' within FAO's Animal Production and Health Division and regional
initiatives over a period of six years. The project memorandum will be signed
tomorrow (25 September) in London.
Livestock ownership
currently supports and sustains the livelihoods of an estimated 675 million
rural poor, FAO said. An estimated 70 percent of the poor are women for whom
animal production is one of the most important assets and sources of income. In
addition, livestock production is important to create job opportunities. (…)
Côte d'Ivoire: Assistance for
1,400 displaced people
20 September – The ICRC has provided emergency
assistance consisting of cleaning materials, soap and blankets to 1,400
displaced people of Malian origin who fled the area around Lake Kossou, in the
centre of Côte d'Ivoire, as a result of ethnic violence. The displaced people
are now in five camps in the city of Bouaké. The distribution of relief
supplies followed an evaluation of their needs carried out from 12 to 15
September by the ICRC in cooperation with the Red Cross Society of Côte
d'Ivoire. (…)
Most
of the displaced could be accommodated by relatives or friends, but those
living in the camps in Bouaké "are particularly vulnerable and they are
living in very bad sanitary conditions", according to ICRC delegate Claude
Champagne. A certain number of displaced people have chosen to return to Mali,
while others are still hoping to be able to resume their activities in Côte
d'Ivoire.
http://www.icrc.org/icrceng.nsf/
New projects aid poor rural
communities in Burundi
18 September - UNDP and
several partners are allocating US$1.7 million to help impoverished rural
communities in three provinces in Burundi, emerging from a decade of conflict
and one of the poorest countries in the world.
The projects will improve
living conditions for 36,000 people in Muramvya in central Burundi, Karusi in
the east, and Ngozi in the north. The initiative will also renovate 10 schools,
enhancing conditions for 5,000 students, provide housing for 775 families, and
build a market to promote economic development. (…)
Partners in the undertaking
include the Centre for the Study, Training and Management on Water and the
Environment, which will be working in Muramyya; Italian Volunteers for
Countries in Emergency, operating in Kauzi; and Care International, helping
communities in Ngozi.
UNDP is providing two-thirds
of the funding, and the three partner organizations and the Canadian
International Development Agency are supplying the balance. The projects are
part of the UNDP programme of support for Burundian communities, which is
allocating $6.6 million for 14 other projects in seven provinces. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
UNHCR resettles refugees in DRC
15 September - More than 3,000 Angolan refugees who
fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) south-western border town of
Kidompolo had by Friday been moved to more secure areas inland, UNHCR spokesman
Kris Janowski told a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. "In the transfer
operation, which ended on Friday, the refugees were taken to Congolese villages
south of the capital, Kinshasa. The refugees are part of a group of nearly
10,000 Angolan refugees who had fled to the DRC in early August in the wake of
a UNITA offensive on the northern Angolan town of Beu. The last group of
refugees left Kidompolo on Friday morning on foot, at the start of a two-day
journey to the settlement villages of Zomfi, Zulu and Sadi, some 50 km from the
DRC/Angola frontier," Janowski said.
Janowski said an estimated 4,000 Angolan refugees who
arrived in the DRC during August still remained in other border areas - 2,000
in the town of Kimvula and a similar number scattered across several other
villages. More than 2,000 others had returned on their own to their homes in
areas around the town of Maquela do Zombo, in northern Angola. Before the
recent influx, the DRC was hosting over 180,000 Angolan refugees. UNHCR is
assisting over 70,000 of them in the Bas-Congo and Katanga provinces.
WFP
sending food to 40,000 victims of floods in Cambodia
Phnom Penh, 7 September - With
a new flood season threatening Cambodia, the United Nations World Food
Programme is sending emergency food supplies to some 40,000 people whose homes
and food stocks have been washed away.
In
an initial rapid response to the crisis, WFP is sending a total of 500 metric
tons of rice – enough to feed each recipient for a month – to Cambodians
identified by government disaster management officials as the most severely
affected flood victims. At the same time, the agency is undertaking missions to
assess food needs in the flooded areas so that a bigger operation can be
launched if necessary. (…)
More
than 300,000 people in eastern and southern Cambodia have been evacuated from
their homes and are suffering from food shortages. Government disaster
management officials estimate that 1.2 million people have been affected in
some way by the flooding. (…)
UNIFEM Trust Fund gives over
$1 million to end violence against women
6 September - UNIFEM gave over
$1 million in grants for programmes to end violence against women in the most
recent round of grants awarded through its Trust Fund in Support of Actions to
Eliminate Violence Against Women. Programmes in twenty-one countries were
selected to receive funding during the sixth inter-agency meeting to determine
grant awards. UNIFEM received nearly 325 proposals this year with funding
requests of $17 million. Grants ranging from $25,000 to $120,000 will be used
to support diverse programmes (…)
For more information, contact
Zazie Schafer, Trust Fund Manager, at zazie.scafer@undp.org
CARE
Brings Clean Drinking Water to Orissa
Water treatment plant installed by CARE helps
cuts down the threat of disease
Bhubaneshwar, India, September 4 - CARE staff in
the southern Indian state of Orissa have installed a water treatment plant in
Puri district, one of the worst affected by recent floods. The treatment plant,
provided by the US Office of Disaster Assistance, is helping to cut down the
threat of waterborne disease by providing clean drinking water to approximately
600 people in three villages. "Each person is receiving six gallons (25
litres) of potable water per day," says Basant Mohanty, CARE Orissa state
director. (…)
CARE is distributing emergency supplies such as
ready-to-eat food, packets of drinking water and oral rehydration salts,
halogen tablets and shelter materials, including polyethylene sheets with rope,
floor mats, and candles. Utilizing resources and staff already in place for
CARE's ongoing development activities, CARE has provided emergency assistance
to approximately 127,000 people in the state.
http://www.care.org/info_center/newsroom/2001/cleanwater090401.cfm
(TOP)
Cote d'Ivoire: Mass vaccination campaign planned
15 September - A mass campaign to vaccinate Abidjan
residents against yellow fever is to begin on 17 September, the World Health
Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday. WHO recently launched an appeal for
US $2.9 million to cover the cost of the campaign after the Ivorian authorities
appealed for help against an outbreak of yellow fever. Thus far France, the
European Commission, WHO and UNICEF have pledged US $600,000 to cover the
operational costs of the campaign and vector control activities, WHO said.
Oil companies help curb
HIV/AIDS in the Republic of the Congo
10 September - Two US oil
companies are helping teachers and students in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo learn about the risks of HIV/AIDS and how to avoid the deadly virus.
Chevron and Nomeco are supporting
a project that UNDP and UNICEF are carrying out in cooperation with the
National Programme Against AIDS and the Ministry of Education. The oil
companies are contributing more than $50,000 and dozens of used computers and
printers to the effort. (…)The initiative aims not only to provide teachers and
students with life-saving information about HIV/AIDS, but to also to help them
though a process of changing risky behaviours. Through workshops,
peer-education, theatre groups, HIV/AIDS clubs, participatory research, and
service-learning activities, the project has helped increase self-confidence
and decision-making skills among students, thus reducing their vulnerability to
HIV. Other benefits include a decline in infections with other
sexually-transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and drug and alcohol use.
(…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Mekong countries launch
project against HIV/AIDS
7 September - Five countries
in the Mekong basin—Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam—launched a
project this week aimed at reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS among people who
travel within and between countries.
The two-year initiative comes
amid increasing awareness of the link between mobile population groups and
transmission of the deadly disease. Lorry drivers and others in the transport
sector, sex workers, fishermen, migrant factory workers, construction labourers
and workers in the entertainment trade are among groups at risk. (…)
The project aims to strengthen
the Greater Mekong Sub-Region Joint Action Programme on HIV/AIDS, which
promotes an innovative response to reduce HIV vulnerability through early
warnings designed to reinforce community activity against the disease. The goal
is to reduce the threat of HIV in support of human development efforts in South
East Asia. The project also helps fulfil a 1999 recommendation by the ASEAN
Task Force on AIDS that HIV/AIDS policies and programmes should include mobile
workers. It may be extended to cover wider initiatives for mobile populations
in South East Asia.
The UNDP South-East Asia, HIV
and Development Project supported the project launch, in cooperation with the
Cambodia’s National AIDS Authority and Ministry of Health.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
(TOP)
Responding
to Challenges of Global Nuclear Cooperation
Statement
of Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to the IAEA General Conference
Vienna,
17 September -- The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, today called for stronger cooperation to meet
new sets of challenges in fields of nuclear technology, safety, and
verification. Dr. ElBaradei reviewed nuclear developments from the IAEA’s
vantage point in a statement to the Agency’s annual General Conference, which
during its opening session officially reappointed him to a second four-year
term of office. Ministers and senior governmental officials from the IAEA’s 132
Member States are attending the week-long meeting at the Austria Center in
Vienna.
Dr.
ElBaradei cited important achievements in recent years that have strengthened
the safe and peaceful use of nuclear technologies. At the same time, he
emphasized interrelated challenges that, he said, "illustrate how much
remains to be done."
His
statement focused on the IAEA’s three main functions in the international arena
— as a catalyst for progress in peaceful applications of nuclear technology; as
an objective authority on nuclear safety; and as the inspectorate for verifying
that safeguarded nuclear materials and activities are not used for military
aims. (…)
http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Press/P_release/2001/prn0117.shtml
(TOP)
Brazil: New Strategies to Overcome
Foreign Dependence
Rio de Janeiro,
Sep 21 - Most of the patents registered in Brazil belong to foreign companies,
a clear indication of the country's level of technological dependence, which a
conference this week made efforts to overcome .
Just
three percent of the more than 4,000 applications for biotechnology patents
received by the National Institute of Industrial Property from 1995 to 2000
were filed by Brazilians, although most of the research was based on the
country's rich biodiversity.
To
change that situation, the government organised a National Conference on
Science, Technology and Innovation, which drew officials, researchers and
business representatives to Brasilia Tuesday through Friday, where they charted
the course to be taken over the coming decade.
The
conference launched a debate on a new law that would grant incentives for
innovative research. It also approved new financing, which will expand the
resources available for technological research and development (R&D) in
agribusiness, aeronautics, biotechnology and health. Brazil will thus have 14 funds next year for financing R&D -
a mechanism that already led last year to a twofold rise in Brazilian
investment in R&D in technology with respect to 1999, underlined President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso. (…)
By Mario Osava
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=4467
BEF launches Web based CO2
Calculator
Portland, US, September 10 -
Individuals and small businesses can determine the amount of carbon dioxide
(CO2) associated with their energy and travel use on a new web site sponsored
by the BEF (Bonneville Environmental Foundation), a non-profit organization,
founded in 1998 to fund new renewable energy resources. By entering data in the
CO2 calculator at www.greentagsusa.org/greentags/calculator_intro.cfm, visitors to the BEF web site learn how much
their specific actions create an environmental impact. “Carbon dioxide and
other pollutants are produced by simple, everyday activities like driving a car
and opening a refrigerator” said Angus Duncan, BEF president “ BEF Green Tags
allow us to contribute to more wind and solar power - and less fossil fuel
burning”.
http://www.b-e-f.org/news/releases/091001.shtm
(TOP)
WWF welcomes Latin
America's largest freshwater protected area
Gland, Switzerland 18 September – WWF today welcomed both the largest freshwater
protected area and the first freshwater Gift to the Earth in Latin America,
with the designation by the Bolivian government of three wetlands totalling
46,000 square kilometres - an area larger than Switzerland - as sites of the
RAMSAR Convention.
Located in the Department of Santa Cruz, in the
lowlands of Bolivia, the wetlands of Bañados del Izogog-Rio Parapeti, El Palmar
de las Islas-Salinas de San José, and Bolivian Pantanal are home to healthy
populations of hundreds of species of flora and fauna, which are threatened in
other parts of the country and in the rest of the world. These include, among
others, the jaguar, the tapir, the giant river otter and the hyacinth macaw.
The newly protected sites are also very
important freshwater reserves for the surrounding human populations. (…)
Swiss to Ban Fertilizing with
Sludge
Bern, Switzerland, September
17 - Switzerland is to end the disposal of sewage sludge through agricultural
spreading by 2005. The move will make it the first and only country in Europe
to stop recycling sludge onto farms, with the presence of residues, including
recent detection of pharmaceutical compounds and synthetic hormones, with
pressure still on across the EU for greater land spreading. Though
Switzerland's environment, agricultural, public health and veterinary
authorities have approved the decision, Switzerland spreads 40 percent of its
sludge - 80,000 tonnes annually - onto farmland. Switerland's move presents a
policy challenge to the EU, whose 1991 urban wastewater treatment directive is
increasing volumes of sewage sludge and where increased recycling onto farmland
is encouraged to combat nutrient loss.
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-17-04.html
Partnership launched to restore Black Sea ecosystems
6 September - UNDP, the World Bank, the UN Environment
Programme and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) have announced the approval of a $100 million fund
for a strategic partnership to reduce pollution of the Black Sea and Danube
River basin over the next six years.
At stake is a vast, unique web of ecosystems that
millions of people depend on for their livelihoods, including fishing,
recreation and tourism industries, and that is home to many species of plants,
wildlife and marine life.
The initiative aims to reduce flows of nitrogen,
phosphorus and other substances from sources such as farm fertilizer and manure
runoff, sewage and industrial discharges that are causing serious pollution
problems. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
The Environment Through The
Eyes Of Children
Nairobi,
4 September - The eleventh international painting contest running from 1
November until 11 January 2002, is being jointly organized by the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Foundation for Global Peace and
the Environment, Japan. Children from all regions of the world (between the
ages of 6 and 15 years) are invited to participate. Preserve the Oceans, Skies
and Forests for Future Preserve the Oceans, Skies and Forests for Future.
"Preserve the Beautiful
Oceans, Skies and Forests for the Future", is this year's theme. The
sponsors of the contest hope to interest and motivate children to paint, their
vision for the future of the environment. (…)
Prizes will be awarded for the
best 300 entries, which will be used for the compilation of a calendar, posters,
publications and exhibitions worldwide. All entries will be stored by the
National Museums of Ethnology, Japan.
Last year there were more than
12,500 entries from 56 countries. From the winning entries selected, several
will be used in the preparation of a Calendar for Children for the Year 2001.
The Foundation for Global
Peace and the Environment of Japan was founded in 1993 to work on wide-ranging
global issues related to the environment, peace and sport. Since its inception,
the Foundation has been a key partner of UNEP's Children, Youth/ Sport and
Environment Unit and has worked with UNEP to organize global environmental
events and activities. (…)
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=214&ArticleID=2926
Landmark deal will protect
rainforests in Belize
Washington, USA, August - The U.S. government, with The Nature
Conservancy, has signed a landmark debt about $5.5
million authorized under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA), for forest conservation, to reduce by about one-half
the debt which Belize -lying south of Mexico's
Yucatan Peninsula and east of Guatemala- owes to the United States. In
exchange, the government of Belize has agreed to protect 23,000 acres of
vulnerable forest land in Maya Mountain Marine Corridor, an area that includes
16 miles of pristine Caribbean coastline. Steve
McCormick, president of The Nature Conservancy, noted that nutrients from the
region's intact rainforests and grasslands flow down the rivers to the coast
where they drive primary productivity through extensive mangrove forests and
seagrass beds. These, in turn, support fisheries by providing both organic
matter and habitat. Additional funding was raised from supporters of the
Conservancy's innovative Adopt-An-Acre program, which enables interested
individuals to directly support tropical forest conservation projects.
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-03-06.html
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WWF UK: Integrating
Sustainable Development into Professional Practice
21 September - A new training
package has been developed for professional institutions to use with their members. The package consists of a training manual
and a CD-ROM. These provide the
structure, materials and overhead slides for a one day foundation course on
sustainable development. The package is
the key output from the first phase of Professional Practice for Sustainable
Development - a two year collaboration between five environmental or
sustainability organisations and 14 professional institutions. (…)
According to Alasdair Stark, Business & Industry Training Manager of WWF-UK, "Professional institutions play a vital role in shaping industries. They contribute to the design of qualifications and codes of practice, the ongoing education of their members and, in many ways, set the agenda for daily professional practice. If professional institutions take up the challenge of sustainable development, their members will follow." (…)
For further information,
please contact::
Sophie Hooper, on behalf of
WWF-UK, sophie@onetel.net.uk
Alasdair Stark, Business
Education Unit, WWF-UK, astark@wwf.org.uk
WWF is progressively working
with business audiences to find creative and practical solutions to help them
transform their organisations to become ethically, socially and environmentally
responsible. Web site: www.wwf-uk.org.
Cisco Systems to set up 11
networking academies in Jamaica
17 September - Cisco Systems,
a global leader in computer networking for the Internet, is partnering with the
Government of Jamaica and UNDP to establish 11 networking academies in Jamaica.
The US$1.4 million initiative
supports the government's objective of generating employment and reducing
poverty by equipping Jamaicans with skills needed to take advantage of opportunities
in the information technology (IT) sector, both locally and globally.
The project is the first of
its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean and will be extended to include
other students from the region. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Niger: IPEC takes children off farms and into schools
15 September - The International Programme for the
Eradication of Child Labour (IPEC) has launched a project aimed at getting 500
child labourers into schools and technical training centres in five villages in
Tillaberi, southwesternNiger, IPEC National Administrator Ibrahim Souley Balla
told IRIN on Thursday. The children, some as young as six years old, work
mainly on grain farms. IPEC is donating a cereal mill to the area, thus
reducing the need for the type of manual labour done by the some 1,400 underage
workers registered there.
US $28,000 has been allocated for the one-year
project, Balla said. He added that IPEC and its partners were prioritising
education as a way to reduce child labour in Niger, where only 35 percent of
children of school age actually go to school.
Education Ministers call for
reforms to boost quality education
Geneva, September 8 - 80
education ministers and some 600 delegates from 127 nations today called for
education reform, notably a better policy dialogue with civil society, a
greater involvement of teachers in education policy-making, and a bolder set of
actions to close the gap between quantitative advances in school enrollment and
qualitative improvements in teaching.
The 46th International
Conference on Education (ICE) -- the first to be convened in five years --
closed today with the adoption of a four-page document that illustrates the
need to boost the quality of teaching in the face of scientific and
technological advances, multiculturalism and globalization.
The ICE “conclusions and
proposals for action” notably calls for the training of education decision-makers
to discuss and harmonize policy formulation with other actors -- notably civil
society organizations (CSOs) - in order to best identify common goals, to
broaden consensus and to mobilize productive partnerships. (…)
http://www.unesco.org/opi/eng/unescopress/2001/01-96e.shtml
Women’s contributions to
peace-building gain greater recognition
6 September - Women and groups
recognized by the Millennium Peace Prize for Women, launched by UNIFEM and
International Alert on March 8 this year, are continuing to receive recognition
for their courageous efforts.
One of the award winners,
Women in Black, a worldwide network of women against war, has been
nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. So far only 10 of more than 100
Nobel Peace Prize recipients have been women. The Leitana Nehan Women’s
Development Agency, a Papua New Guinea group working to rebuild trust between
fractured communities has been nominated to represent women’s interests in
peace negotiations with the Papua New Guinea national government. The
recognition also enabled them to participate in the July 2001 United Nations
Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons, as an NGO delegate to the Pacific
Islands Forum in New York.
For more information, contact
Sumie Nakaya, Consultant on Peace-Building, at:
South Africa: journalists vow
to combat corruption
5 September - In an attempt to
strengthen the war waged against corruption in the Southern African region,
media practitioners resolved to establish a media network that would facilitate
mutual cooperation in journalistic investigation of corruption and other
criminal activities. http://allafrica.com/stories/200108220409.html
Ghana: children speak out
5 September -
When a Children’s Parliament debated on the current situation of children in
Ghana in April, the President responded to their concerns by promising a
commitment to education reforms with the implementation of a national policy
for free, compulsory basic education and an expanded teacher training programme,
as well as to urgent actions to halt child labour and fight child abuse. US$20,000
was raised at the launch event for a Children’s Fund in Ghana.
For more information contact:
Madelon Cabooter at UNICEF: mcabooter@unicef.org
Horn of Africa Regional
Conference on Women and ICT
5 September - Conference
Announcement And Call For Papers: the African Centre for Women, Information and
Communications Technology (ACWICT) is pleased to announce the Horn of Africa
Regional Conference on Women
& ICT to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, at the United Nations Offices, Gigiri,
from 11th - 15th February 2002. The aim of the conference
is to raise awareness on ICTs amongst women in the Horn of Africa region and to
explore opportunities for harnessing the technology to work as a tool for their
development.
Further details: http://www.kabissa.org/kfn/newsletter.php?id=2544
Contact: conference@acwict.or.ke
Kubatana: NGO Network Alliance
Project
5 September - As traditional
media becomes increasingly repressive in Zimbabwe, the launch of a local web
site, www.kubatana.net is a breath of
fresh air. The NGO Network Alliance Project, the energy behind the development
of kubatana, has brought Zimbabwean ngos, csos and development organisations
together under one online umbrella. Kubatana is a Shona word which means
“working together” - an apt name when a strengthened civic response to the
current social and political unrest in Zimbabwe needs to be encouraged.
Benchmarking
Tool Identifies £400m Potential Environmental Cost Savings for Hotels
A new Internet based
environmental benchmarking tool www.benchmarkhotel.com
was launched in London on 12th September to help hotels around the world make substantial cost savings,
while improving environmental performance. (…)
The model was
developed by the International Hotels Environment Initiative and WWF-UK with
funding from Biffaward, a multi-million pound environment fund which utilises
landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services. IHEI member hotel groups -
including Six Continents Hotels, Hilton International, Scandic Hotels AB brand
and Marriott International - were involved in developing the tool by testing and
data provision to ensure that it is useful for small, medium and large
independent hotels as well as major brands. (…)
IHEI is a global environmental
programme, set up in 1992 by international hotel industry leaders, promoting
environmental progress in small, medium and large hotels world-wide. (…)
WWF is progressively working
with business audiences to find creative and practical solutions to help them
transform their organisations to become ethically, socially and environmentally
responsible. Web site: www.wwf-uk.org
For further information: Sophie Hooper, on
behalf of WWF-UK : sophie@onetel.net.uk
Editor’s note
The terrorist attack against the USA,
both for its ferocity and its diabolic purpose, is an act of war against all
humanity and necessitates a twofold counterthrust for the defense of our
civilization.
As
a short and medium term measure, whilst carefully avoiding the involvement of
innocent peoples, it is surely necessary to isolate and to neutralize the
framework of these terrorists, as well as their command centers, their training
areas, their financial sources and their underground alliances.
At the same time, the conflict
between Israelis and Palestinians must be brought to an end once and for all.
But it is just as necessary,
from the broader view, to eliminate the causes of that serious and unethical
imbalance between rich and poor countries which might make the latter not
indifferent to the goals of international terrorism when it raises the false
flag of battle in the name of greater social justice.
(Good News Agency, S.T.)
A Declaration of The Club of
Budapest
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The 11th of September kamikazi
attack on New York’s World Trade Center and Washington’s Pentagon was an
offense against all of human life and every civilization. We condemn this act of terrorism and call to
ethical and peace-loving people the world over to join together to put an end
to terrorism and violence in all its forms.
There is no solution to the world’s problems by killing innocent people
and destroying their workplaces and habitations.
If we are to succeed in
eradicating violence and terrorism from the world, we must act wisely. Violence and terrorism will not be
vanquished by retaliation on the principle of eye for an eye and tooth for a
tooth. The ultimate roots of violence lie deeper than the fanatic commitment of
terrorists and the religious claims of fundamentalists. Killing one group of terrorists will not
solve the problem: as long as the roots are there, others will grow in their
place.
The terror that surfaces in
today’s world is a symptom of longstanding and deep-seated frustrations,
resentment, and perceived injustice. We
of the Club of Budapest are committed to search for the causes of these hate-
and violence provoking factors and to suggest peaceful and effective ways they
can be overcome. Until and unless the
root causes are eliminated there will not be peace in the world, only an
uncertain interlude between acts of terrorism and larger-scale hostilities.
When people are frustrated, harbor hate and the desire for revenge, they cannot
relate to each other in a spirit of peace and cooperation. Whether the cause is the wounded ego of a
person or the wounded self-respect of a people, and whether it is the wish for
personal revenge or a holy war for the defense of a faith, the result is
violence, death, and catastrophe.
Attaining peace in people’s heart is a precondition of attaining peace
in the world.
The Club of Budapest maintains
that the wise response to violence and terrorism is to help people to be at
peace with themselves and their fellow humans near and far. Promoting solidarity and cooperation in the
shared cause of fairness and justice is the only feasible path to lasting peace
on Earth.
15 September 2001
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