Good News Agency – Year III, n° 11
Weekly - Year III, number 11
– 1 June 2002
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
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(top)
Afghanistan:
Successful turnout for women's election
Kandahar, 27 May - As
elections for the Loya Jirga continue across Afghanistan, a successful turnout
for the women's nominations in the southern city of Kandahar was reported on
Sunday. "We are very pleased with the turnout. As you can see, more and
more women are nominating themselves, and this is also surprising for us,"
Mohammad Umar Satai, a member of the local election commission told IRIN in
Kandahar city.
This was the first
phase of the election in which a total of 28 female candidates of a possible 60
were nominated. The second phase, in which five seats will be contested, is due
to take place on 2 June. (…)
Treaty governing
use of oceans reaching near-universal participation, UN reports
New York, May 20 -
A United Nations treaty governing use of the world's oceans has reached
near-universal participation, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a new report
released 20 years after the accord was first adopted.
In the two decades
since the Convention on the Law of the Sea was opened for signature, 137
countries and the European Community have become parties to the treaty, the
Secretary-General notes in his report. While the accomplishments over the past
20 years have been impressive, the challenges of implementing the treaty are
also formidable. (…)
First raised in
1967 as an idea to regulate the use of the seabed, the Convention was
eventually adopted in 1982 as an unprecedented attempt by the international
community to regulate all aspects of the resources of the sea and uses of the
ocean. The Convention, which enteredforce on 16 November 1994, or one year
after the 60th country's adherence to the accord, covers such issues as setting
limits to national jurisdiction over the seas, navigational rights, deep seabed
mining, and protection of the marine environment. In addition, the accord
features a binding dispute settlement mechanism known as the International
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The court which deals with the interpretation
or application of the Convention, has already heard 10 cases.
All Municipalities in Jordan
endorse the Earth Charter
On Wednesday 15 May, the heads of the
Kingdom of Jordan's 99 municipalities endorsed a declaration of support for the
Earth Charter at the Greater Amman Municipality. According to the Jordan Times
of 16 May 2002, the adoption of the Earth Charter by local municipalities is
intended to promote an integrated and strategic plan in Jordan to advance
sustainable development in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development.
The Legislative Assembly of
the Australian Capital Territory (http://www.act.gov.au/) has endorsed the
Earth Charter and calls on the ACT Government (which is drawn from the majority
party in the Assembly) to adopt the Earth Charter as a framework of principles
to help guide the work of its new Office of Sustainability. This endorsement
follows a number of multi-sector fora and public meetings held over the last
few years where support for the Earth Charter was expressed by the major
political parties, civil society representatives, and progressive business
leaders.
On 22 April, the Senate of
Puerto Rico, approved the Resolution Number 1582, endorsing the Earth Charter
and expressing the commitment of the Senate of the Free Associated State of
Puerto Rico to the principles declared in the Earth Charter. The resolution
includes a quote as follows: "The Senate of the Free Associated State of
Puerto Rico, exhorts the Government and all sectors: arts, science, religious,
educational institutions, media, business and non governmental organizations to
adopt and agree to be ruled by the principles established in the Earth Charter and
to develop and put into practice, with creativity, the vision of a sustainable
way of life at a local, national, regional and global levels."
African Ministers
adopt new OAU Drug Control Action Plan for Africa
Yamoussoukro, Ivory
Coast, 14 May - The first ever OAU
(Organization of African Unity) Ministerial Meeting on Drug Control in Africa
resulted in the adoption of a new OAU Plan of Action for Drug Control
2002-2006. The Plan contains a set of drug control action priorities and
assigns clear responsibilities for their implementation to OAU member states,
regional and international organizations, and the civil society. It also
contains a time-frame and target dates for implementation, and introduces the
concept of open and participatory monitoring and review mechanisms, so as to
enable all parties to assess progress and achievements of drug control action
in Africa. (…)
The plan contains
action commitments in 7 priority areas, ranging from measures in drug control
institution-building, policy and legal development, increased information,
research, analysis and networking on drug control problems in Africa, to
technical improvements in drug abuse prevention, rehabilitation and law
enforcement measures.
http://www.undcp.org/press_release_2002-05-14_1.html
Bolivia - Training in human rights and humanitarian principles for
national police
23
May - The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regional delegation
in Buenos Aires launched a training programme for the national police with an
introductory seminar in La Paz. The aim of the programme is to increase
knowledge of human rights norms and universal humanitarian principles so as to
ensure that they are fully respected by law enforcement personnel, especially
in the maintenance of law and order and public security. The programme covers
both the relevant domestic legislation and international treaties in force. (…)
Such programmes,
which are among the preventive activities the ICRC carries out in many
countries affected by internal violence, help to ensure that those who enforce
the law, whether they are police or security officers, fully comply with their
duty to respect the rights of the individual.
West Africa:
Regional small arms network formed
24 May - The West African
Network on Small Arms (WANSA), the region's latest initiative to curb small
arms trafficking was created on Tuesday at the end of two-day conference held
in Accra, Ghana. The conference discussed several issues such as latest trends
in arms trafficking, conflict prevention and security sector reform, Napoleon
Abdulai of the Mali-based Programme for Coordination and Assistance on Security
and Development (PCASED) told IRIN.
Delegates also
discussed how to lobby West African governments to implement the Programme of
Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and
Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, adopted at a UN conference in New York in
July 2001. According to PCASED, the region has about eight million illegal arms
in circulation.
Belgrade
clearinghouse to help curb small arms in south-east Europe
22 May - A huge
steamroller crushed a neat row of rifles, machine guns and handguns on a
Belgrade street earlier this month to dramatize the opening of the South East
Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons,
administered by UNDP.
Small arms and light
weapons kill more than half a million people around the world every year, and
millions more see their homes, livelihoods and hopes destroyed. Proliferation
and illicit trafficking of these weapons has emerged as a serious problem in
the region over the past decade, undermining the rule of law, fuelling crime
and insecurity, exacerbating conflicts, and undermining post-conflict peace
building.
The UNDP Trust Fund for Support to
Prevention and Reduction of the Proliferation of Small Arms is funding the
clearinghouse, with support from the Governments of Canada, the Netherlands,
Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. (…) The clearinghouse will support
efforts under the 1999 Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe to reduce small
arms proliferation in the region.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
UNDP launches
partnership to curb illicit small arms in Kosovo
20 May - UNDP Kosovo has launched a broad
partnership to control illicit small arms to keep development in Kosovo from
being disrupted by insecurity and violence. The premiere of a documentary made
by young people, In the Hands of the Youth, that explores the issue of
illicit guns in Kosovo, highlighted the launch in Pristina last week. (…)
The UNDP project is
an 18-month, US$2 million effort to develop a comprehensive strategy on the
issue, assist police in working closely with communities to tackle root causes
of the problem, fund weapons collection and destruction initiatives, and create
parameters for the legitimate use of small arms. The UNDP Trust Fund for Support to
Prevention and Reduction of the Proliferation of Small Arms is providing
$400,000, and UNDP is seeking additional partners to support the project, that
will work with the UN Mission in Kosovo and the NATO-led Kosovo Force, as well as the Kosovo Police
Service, government, educators, and civil society groups. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Cocoa revives local
economy on Bougainville in Papua New Guinea
28 May - Farmers
rose before dawn, lining up their trucks to get the last of eight million cocoa
seedlings distributed by a UNDP initiative earlier this month to re-establish
cocoa farming on Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea. The programme is
revitalizing the economy, an important step in cementing peace in an area torn
by conflict during the past decade. (…)
The price of cocoa
on world markets has climbed from a low of US$727 a tonne in November 2000 to
more than $1,500 a tonne this month. The programme would have been successful
without the price boost, said Mr. Korokoro, with the higher prices "its
growth has been phenomenal." (…)
Cocoa has
traditionally been the primary source of income for about 80 per cent of the
population, but many cocoa plantations were destroyed during nine years of
civil war or languished from neglect. The cocoa sector was therefore the first
priority for UNDP efforts to support recovery. The programme aims to enable
farmers to reach pre-crisis levels of production by 2005 by helping them
rehabilitate their cocoa blocks, providing seedlings and offering agricultural
advice. The UN
Office for Project Services is implementing the initiative and Australia,
the European Union and the United States are providing support.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Cameroon: Railway
gets World Bank funding
Yaounde, 24 May -
The World Bank is allocating funds totalling 15.6 billion FCFA (just over US $22
million) to Camrail, the Cameroonian railway company announced in a news
release on Wednesday. (…) To fully modernise the network, a further 62 billion
FCFA (US $82.6 million) is needed, Camrail said, adding that this would be
covered partly through its own funds and partly through loans. The European
Investment Bank has already agreed to a loan of 7.9 billion FCFA and two
Cameroonian banks have offered 2.9 billion FCFA, the utility said. (…)
Europe's
agriculture ministers meet in Cyprus
Nicosia/Rome, 24 May -
Agriculture Ministers and high-ranking officials from 43 European member
countries of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and a
representative of the European Community will meet in Nicosia, Cyprus, from 29
to 31 May 2002, to review the state of agriculture and food security in the
region.
The 23rd session of
the FAO Regional Conference for Europe will be held in Nicosia, at the
invitation of the Government of Cyprus. In addition to the state of food and
agriculture, the Regional Conference will recommend measures to be taken in
order to strengthen the fight against hunger and undernourishment in Europe.
(…)
Discussion will
focus on preparations for the World Food Summit: five years later, to be
held at FAO headquarters in Rome from 10 to 13 June 2002. Two other important
items for the European region will also be discussed: food safety and quality,
following up on the Pan-European Conference on that subject which took place in
Budapest last February, and the fight against desertification and land
degradation following discussions held last March at the 32nd session of the
European Commission on Agriculture. (…)
http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/5122-en.html
Marking Africa Day,
UN hails continent's efforts to overcome conflict, poverty
New York, May 24 -
Observing Africa Day, which marks the founding of the Organization of African
Unity (OAU), the United Nations Security Council and Secretary-General Kofi
Annan voiced their support for African leaders' efforts to tackle the
continent's problems and stressed the need for international assistance in
reaching that goal.
In a message on the
occasion of the Day, which is observed on 25 May, the Secretary-General praised
African leaders for their resolve in moving the continent steadily towards
democratic and economic empowerment, and showing courage, determination and
responsibility in lifting countries out of war and poverty. (…)
UN hails Forum’s
declaration defining basis for ecotourism development
New York, May 23 -
The United Nations environment agency has hailed the strong turnout for the
first-ever world conference on ecotourism that has just ended in Canada, saying
that it boded well for the industry's intention to develop in a way that
respected fragile ecosystems. (…)
Through several
rounds of talks, some 1,200 delegates from 133 countries discussed policy and
planning issues, regulating the industry, product development and promotion,
and monitoring the costs and benefits of ecotourism.
The dialogue
culminated in the Québec Declaration on Ecotourism, which will be presented
later this year to the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
Major follow-up
activities to the Ecotourism Summit include the International Ecotourism
Conference in October in Australia and the Bishkek Mountain Summit, the
culminating event of the 2002 International Year of the Mountains, in November
in Kyrgyzstan.
The four-day Summit
was an initiative of UNEP and the World Tourism Organization, and convened in
partnership with Tourisme Québec and the Canadian Tourism Commission.
Info Finder
- new online search tool for global link to agricultural and environmental
information
Rome, 21 May - The
Future Harvest Centres, a network of global food and environmental research
organizations, launched a new online search tool in Rome on Tuesday aimed at
revolutionizing the way external users access its wealth of specialized
agricultural and development information.
The Info Finder
will allow users to intelligently search the rich reserves of online material
produced by Future Harvest Centres around the globe and system of the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), as well as
that of the World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT) operated by the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), by linking information to a single
network. (…)
http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/5023-en.html
Programme
agreement signed for USD 29.9 million IFAD-initiated community-based
agricultural and rural development programme in Federal Republic of Nigeria
Rome, 21 May - A
Programme Agreement was signed today at the IFAD headquarters in Rome. The loan
extended by IFAD to the Federal Republic of Nigeria was for USD 29.9 million on
highly concessional terms1. The loan will
co-finance the Community-Based Agricultural and
Rural Development Programme, a USD 68.5 worth IFAD-initiated programme to
be implemented in the eight northern Nigerian states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara,
Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe, Kano and Borno.
The programme will
support the Government’s efforts to address rural poverty by identifying the
most deprived people and empowering them to effectively participate in
development activities. The overall goal is to improve the livelihoods and
living conditions of poor rural communities in the programme area, with special
emphasis on women and other vulnerable groups. (…)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2002/28-02.htm
Student Forum on
Sustainable Development: Vienna, Austria, 21-24 May 2002
Senior students
from international affairs / socio-economic / bio-technical faculties of
universities in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia attended a Forum on Sustainable Development, organised by the
United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Vienna from 21 -24 May,
2002. Cosponsored by the City of Vienna and UNIDO, it is hoped that the forum
will help draw the attention of young people to the forthcoming Johannesburg
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) (26 August - 4 September
2002) and give the participants an insight in the practical consequences of
sustainable development in the Central and Eastern European region.
http://www.unido.org/periodical.cfm?pername=UNIDOScope
Iraq earns
additional $169 million under UN 'Oil-For-Food' programme
New York, May 21 -
Baghdad has exported 6.9 million barrels of petroleum over the past week,
ending a month-long, self-imposed suspension of its crude sales, according to
the United Nations office overseeing the humanitarian oil-for-food programme
for Iraq.
Earning an average
of approximately E. 26.85 (euros) or $24.45 per barrel, the week's exports
netted an estimated E. 185 million or $169 million in revenue under the
oil-for-food scheme, which allows Baghdad to use a portion of its petroleum
profits to purchase relief aid, the Office of the Iraq Programme reported
today.
Despite the recent sales,
the programme continues to face a funding shortfall, with 763 approved
humanitarian supply contracts, worth over $1.9 billion, still awaiting funding,
the Office said.
Meanwhile the value
of contracts still pending approval - those on "hold" - now stands at
$5.2 billion. Under a recently adopted Security Council resolution extending
the oil-for-food programme, new procedures were put in place to simplify the
delivery of humanitarian aid to Iraq which should clear the holds, the Office
said. (…)
UN Asia-Pacific
Commission plans changes to focus more on poverty, globalization
New York, May 21 -
The United Nations commission for Asia and the Pacific today announced that
government officials from the region have agreed to a plan that would revamp
the agency's work by focusing it more on poverty reduction, globalization and
emerging social issues.
In announcing the
plan, the head of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(ESCAP), Kim Hak-Su, said it was time "to change the way the UN works in
Asia and the Pacific and perhaps we can be a reference to other regional
Commissions." (…) The changes were announced after a closed-door
roundtable meeting of government ministers at the 58th annual session of the
Commission being held in Bangkok. The ministers are expected to adopt a
resolution tomorrow to formally grant approval to the new scheme. (…)
Western Georgia - ICRC launches assistance programme
24 May, Tbilisi - The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) and the Georgian authorities today signed a memorandum of understanding
that formally launches a new assistance programme for 20'000 of the most
vulnerable internally displaced persons (IDPs) and local residents in Western
Georgia (Samegrelo and Imereti) . The ICRC had stopped such assistance in the
area in November 1995, but decided to resume aid after a survey in 2001 showed
that these persons were facing enormous difficulties in meeting basic needs.
Under this
memorandum of understanding, the Georgian Ministry of Health, Labour and Social
Affairs and the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation will ensure the
identification of beneficiaries and distributions through local authorities.
The ICRC will provide commodities for dry food distributions, resources for
programme management and needs based monitoring of beneficiaries identified by
the Ministries to confirm they require the assistance of the ICRC to meet basic
and emergency food needs. (…)
Burkina Faso: UN
Volunteers announce new project to assist poor youth
New York, May 24 - United
Nations Volunteers (UNV), the Bonn-based volunteer arm of the UN system, today
announced plans to support poor and marginalized young people living in cities
in Burkina Faso.
With $2.2 million from
the Government of Luxembourg and nearly $300,000 worth of in-kind support from
the Government of Burkina Faso, <"http://www.unv.org/">UNV will
undertake a five-year project to counsel an estimated 1,200 street children,
juveniles and other marginalized youth on educational and vocational options
that can improve their future prospects.
Starting in July, teams of
international and national UN Volunteers will set up counselling centres in
Bobo-Dioulasso and Houndé, the capitals of two of the poorest provinces of the
West African country. At the centres, young people will benefit from
psychosocial help, while older youth will receive job counselling. The project
also envisages an information campaign to counter the exploitation of young women
and children. (…)
Nairobi, 24 May - At the
request of the government of the Central African Republic (CAR), the United Nations
World Food Programme (WFP) has begun an emergency operation to provide food to
internally displaced people (IDPs) forced to flee armed conflict in the
northern part of the country, near the border with Chad. (…)
The project would provide 216
mt of food rations over three months to some 6,000 IDPs dislodged by armed
activities around their villages since January. An estimated 4,500 IDPs are in
the town of Kabo and 1,500 in Batagafo, approximately 400 km north of the
capital, Bangui. Food from local stocks has been sent, and distributions at the
sites will begin on Monday.
South Africa: Bono spread
message for African recovery
Johannesburg, 24 May -
South Africa's plan for African recovery, controversial US farm subsidies and
the unfairness of having to pay to use a toilet are the new refrains of rock
star and humanitarian activist Bono.
The man whose journey to
stardom began with anthemic songs about injustice in Northern Ireland is on a
four-nation fact-finding tour of Africa with US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill
the man who, as Bono puts it, controls the purse strings of one of the world's
richest countries.
Bono's mission? To create awareness
of Debt, Aid, Trade for Africa (DATA) - a non-profit organiation which aims to
raise awareness about unpayable debts, the need for foreign development
assistance, especially to fight AIDS, and trade rules which are considered
unfair and keep Africa poor and marginalised.
Addressing the media in
Pretoria, South Africa, he said: "I'm extremely fond of this continent. I
believe it is the continent of the future and I believe the 21st century is the
African century. I just don't want it to take until the end of the century to
get it right." (…)
FIFA bags top health
award. World Cup to be tobacco free
The World Health Organization’s
highest tobacco control award will be given to the Fédération Internationale de
Football Association (FIFA) in recognition of its tobacco control work,
culminating in its decision to declare the 2002 World Cup tobacco free. The
award will be given to FIFA on 28 May 2002 during the 53rd FIFA Congress in
Seoul, Republic of Korea. (…)
The Director-General's award
is given to people and organizations who have shown exceptional courage and
vision in tobacco control. Among the past recipients are the King of Thailand,
the current Foreign Minister of South Africa and the former Attorney General of
Minnesota, USA.
The games' kick-off on 31st
May happens also to be the day WHO's 191 Member States have designated to mark
World No Tobacco Day to raise national and international awareness about
tobacco control issues.
As part of a Memorandum of Cooperation
signed between WHO and FIFA, there will be no tobacco advertising or promotion
at World Cup venues and tobacco and tobacco products will not be sold at the
games in Korea and Japan. There will be no smoking in public areas. Specially
designated smoking zones will be few and clearly demarcated, situated away from
the general public, protecting them from exposure to second-hand smoke.
Frequent public announcements will inform and remind the public about the
tobacco-free policy. (…)
http://www.who.int/inf/en/pr-2002-41.html
Angola: HIV/AIDS training for
journalists
Luanda, 27 May - A network of
Angolan journalists concerned about HIV/AIDS is taking shape, following a
workshop on reporting on HIV/AIDS held in Luanda last month, the first such
training to take place in Angola.
Twenty journalists, half from
the provinces and half from the capital, attended the 15-18 May workshop
sponsored by the UN agencies UNAIDS and UNICEF under the "Telling the
Story" (TTS) project. TTS focuses especially on youth and HIV/AIDS and is
supported by grants from CNN mogul Ted Turner's United Nations Foundation,
which targets seven countries in Southern Africa, where the pandemic is most
serious. (…)
Angola: Measles campaign
launched
Johannesburg, 27 May - More
than 150,000 Angolan children are to be vaccinated against measles through an
emergency campaign in newly accessible and Quartering Family Areas (QFAs), the
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a press release. (…)
Angola's ceasefire has allowed humanitarian assistance to reach
communities previously cut off by the war. It has also led to the quartering of
former rebel UNITA troops, and separately their families. But the Angolan
government-run demobilisation operation has come under criticism over the
limited amount of relief supplies available to UNITA troops and their families.
(…)
Armenia moves forward on South
Caucasus anti-drug initiative
Friday, 24 May - As a small
country on the crossroads of trade routes linking Europe and Asia, Armenia
faces an ever-present threat of illicit drug trafficking. The Government is
joining with the European Commission and UNDP in the
second phase of a regional anti-drug programme for the South Caucasus -- which
includes activities in Azerbaijan and Georgia -- to bolster its defenses and
foster cooperation among the three countries. (…)
The programme also aims to
reinforce and harmonize legal and regulatory drug control regimes, strengthen
border interdiction defenses on both east-west and north-south routes, and
foster regional cross-border cooperation. Another objective is developing
compatible systems of drug intelligence information.
Funding for Armenia's segment
of the programme totals US$872,000. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Ethiopia: Training for
HIV/AIDS youth counsellors launched
24 May - Ethiopia's first-ever
team of youth counsellors who will help combat HIV/AIDS was launched on Friday.
The members of the 30-strong team, which specialises in voluntary counselling
and testing (VCT), will return to their local communities to teach youth
counsellors about HIV/AIDS.
The team, known as youth
master trainers, were taught in the town of Nazret - one of the main towns hit
by HIV/AIDS - where prevalence among young people is around 16 percent.
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=1309
Angola: Aid agencies move into
family quartering areas
24 May - Aid agencies in
Angola are extending relief operations into quartering camps where UNITA
soldiers' families have gathered, and areas of the country that have now become
accessible as a result of a 4 April ceasefire between government and UNITA
forces.
Relief workers who have been
operating in the quartering camps' family areas since the ceasefire, as well as
the Joint Military Commission (JMC) which is overseeing the demobilisation
process, have described the humanitarian situation there in recent weeks as
critical. Official JMC statistics show that more than 65,300 soldiers had
already registered at the 35 cantonment locations by Monday, accompanied by
almost 164,000 of their relatives who are being quartered separately.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27878
Malawi: Aid starts to flow
24 May - After several
appeals, aid is finally starting to flow into Malawi. IRIN reported on Tuesday
that the European Commission said it would supply 95,000 mt of food aid to help
the country overcome crippling food shortages. (…)
According to the agreement
with the Malawi government, 15,000 mt of maize will be distributed between
April and September among the most vulnerable. It will give 3,000 mt of Likuni
Phala (a maize and porridge mix) to 475,000 children under five and 5,000 mt of
fortified maize to 100,000 pregnant and lactating mothers. During the second
half of 2002 7,000 mt of maize will be distributed as nutritional support to
under-five children, the elderly and lactating mothers.
The EC announcement comes as
other donors have closed their purses on Malawi in the face of allegations of
bad state expenditure.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27872)
Cameroon: Private companies
and churches team up against AIDS
17 May - Twenty-one private
corporations and three religious organisations in Cameroon signed a partnership
agreement last week in the capital, Yaounde, to conduct a series of joint
activities over the next four years to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The activities, to be
conducted in collaboration with the Comite Nationale de lutte contre le sida
(CNLS), would encourage their respective members and the rest of the
Cameroonian population to adopt safer sexual practices and ultimately reduce
the rate of HIV infections. The CNLS estimates that 600 people are infected
each day in Cameroon while the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is currently around 11
percent. (…)
Their plan of action gives
priority to prevention of mother-to-child transmission, education of the youth
and adults, provision of medical assistance including treatment to those
infected with other sexually transmitted diseases. The organisations also
pledged to protect the rights of their members and encourage those already
infected to participate in education and information campaigns. A
solidarity fund would be created within each business and religious group. (…)
17 May - Four rural villages
in the Aleppo region in northern Syria not connected to the national electric
grid are generating power locally with solar panels, a model that holds promise
for other remote rural communities around the country. The Japan International Cooperation
Agency installed solar panels to supply electricity in all the villages,
including individual systems for homes in three villages -- Fedre, Katoura and
Kaliff -- and a central system in Zarzita. The agency also installed solar
power for pumping water in Kalif and Zarzita and for water desalination in
Kalif, which is in an arid area with brackish water.
A complementary UNDP initiative, carried
out by Syria's Higher Institute for Applied Science and Technology and funded
by Japan, provided training in operating and maintaining the power systems. It
also laid the ground work for wider use of solar power, as part of the national
electricity supply system, to serve remote rural communities. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
New rules on recycling old
batteries to protect health, environment
New York, May 28 - A group of
experts working for a key international treaty on hazardous wastes has
finalized a set of guidelines promoting the environmentally sound recycling of
spent lead-acid batteries -- an important step in the efforts to reduce the global
risk of lead poisoning, according to the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP). (…)
In many developing countries, retired
batteries are still broken manually using an axe. This is extremely dangerous
to the workers, UNEP said. Inhaling dust, fumes or vapours dispersed in the
workplace air can lead to acute lead poisoning. The more common problem,
however, is chronic poisoning from absorbing low amounts of lead over long
periods of time.
According to UNEP, the
guidelines will now go forward for final adoption to the sixth meeting of the
Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP 6), scheduled for 9-13
December 2002 in Geneva.
PrepCom IV for the World Summit
for Sustainable Debelopment - UNIDO SIDS Side-event
Bali,
Indonesia, 27 May - 7 June, 2002
PrepCom IV, the last of the formal Preparatory Committee
meetings for the Johannesburg World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD), is taking place
in Bali, Indonesia, 27 May - 7 June 2002. UNIDO has invited participants to
attend a "side-event" it is holding in Bali on Energy for
Sustainable Development of SIDS (Small
Island Developing States), on Thursday 30th May, from 1:15 to 3:00 pm,
in Caucus Room three.
Small Island Developing States
(SIDS) are heavily dependent on fossil (petroleum) fuels and conventional biomass. The way in which
these fuels are currently used has negative impacts on the environment and
places a heavy financial burden on SIDS. The problem is aggravated by a lack of
efficiency in the use of these energy sources. At the UNIDO side event,
Director of UNIDO's NY office and Assistant Director-General for UN Affairs,
Irene Freudenschuss-Reichl, will present a proposal to assist SIDs acquire energy
self-sufficiency and increase the use of available energy for productive
activities. Director Freudenschuss' presentation will draw on UNIDO's existing
projects in Cuba, Seychelles and Fiji.
(…)
http://www.unido.org/periodical.cfm?pername=UNIDOScope
Several US States adopt the
“smog dog”
24 May - Almost everyone's been embarrassed at one time or another by an
over-eager dog sniffing in the wrong places. Now car owners have to worry
about the "smog dog," designed to "sniff" tailpipes to
detect air pollution. Formally called the AccuScan Remote Vehicle
Emissions Testing System, the smog dog analyzes exhaust from cars as they pass
roadside monitors. A camera adjacent to the smog sensors takes pictures
of the cars' license plates, and the owners are notified of the results.
Polluters are hauled in for an official emissions inspection, while in some
states, owners of very clean cars get a letter of congratulations waiving their
next emissions appointment. Smog dogs are already in use in several Western
states and are currently being tested in Virginia, which could face sanctions
from the U.S. EPA if it can't clean up its air. Most of the pollution in
that state is from vehicles, and of that, 10 percent of the cars account for 50
percent of the pollution.
http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=141
UNIDO - MRI Forum: CDM and Kyoto Protocol, Tokyo, Japan,
June 24-25, 2002
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is the only
practical vehicle for Developing Countries’ participation in the Kyoto
Protocol; success in fighting global warming, therefore, is contingent upon
success of the CDM. As CDM is a mechanism based in private investment, it seems
necessary for its early development to bolster the awareness and interest of
industrialists and investors on its particularities, potential and
characteristics. The objective of the Forum is: to appraise Asian
industrialists about the climate change negotiations and the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) provided by the Kyoto Protocol; to discuss the opportunities
existing within the Asian industrial sector and the issues related to CDM; to
come up with concrete suggestions for developing the CDM from an Asian
industrial investors’ perspective.
More
info: Guillermo Jimenez, e-mail: gjimenez@unido.org
http://www.unido.org/periodical.cfm?pername=UNIDOScope
US college campuses become
promoters of sustainable development
21 May - College campuses,
long regarded as bastions of left-leaning life, are becoming promoters of
sustainable development. Oberlin College recently completed a comprehensive
study of how to reduce pollution from its operations, the State University of
New York at Buffalo spent $17 million to retrofit buildings with
energy-efficient technology that will save it $9 million per year in utility
bills, and Stanford University is spending $3.2 million on an entirely
off-the-grid new building. Meanwhile, 275 universities worldwide have
signed the Talloires Declaration, which commits its parties to incorporate
sustainability and environmental literacy into teaching, research, operations,
and outreach. That's good news, because in many communities, universities
are some of the biggest developers, always at work on a new dormitory, research
facility, or alumni center.
http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=123
UNESCO initiative for world
cinema
Paris, May 27 - Travel and
cinema will be showcased at the close of the 164th session of UNESCO's
Executive Board on Thursday, May 30. Six films about travel by one of France's
great cinema pioneers, Georges Méliès (1861-1938), will be screened and the
Organization will launch a new project for a List of Representative Works of
World Cinema. (…)
The event is organized
as part of the International Year for Cultural Heritage, with the support of
the Electricité de France foundation and the International Scientific Audio-visual
Conference Image and Science. The six silent films will be screened in their
original format at their original speed, accompanied on the piano by Lawrence
Lehérissey with commentary by the filmmaker's granddaughter, Madeleine
Malthête-Méliès. UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura will present her
with the UNESCO Fellini Medal for her work in reconstituting her grandfather's
cinematic work.
The occasion will also see the
launch of a joint project by UNESCO and the International Council for Cinema
and Television (ICCT) to draw up a List of Representative Works of World
Cinema, that best typify a movement in film-making, a social trend, an historic
period, a new technique, a culture, or ethical value. Such works might include,
for example, an outstanding film of the nouvelle vague, the first film using
computer-animation, or a feature about social change in Africa. (…)
27 May - One of the largest
educational training programmes ever undertaken in Afghanistan was officially
launched at a ceremony in the southern city of Kandahar on Thursday by the UK-based
NGO Islamic Relief (IR). Under the scheme, 40 schools would be rehabilitated in
the city. As part of the education programme, IR is training teachers in the
city, formally the spiritual stronghold of the brutal Taliban regime, who had
banned girls over the age of 12 from school and stopped women from working.
UN Forum on Indigenous issues
ends first session; Annan calls it 'historic' start
New York, May 24 - The United
Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today wrapped up its first-ever
session, which Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed as an "historic"
initial step towards meeting future challenges.
"With the
inauguration of this Forum, indigenous issues assume their rightful place -
higher on the international agenda than ever before," Mr. Annan told the
assembled participants, including many indigenous persons dressed in colourful
traditional attire. "We begin a new chapter in the history of indigenous
people at the United Nations."
The Secretary-General said it
was "entirely appropriate" that as victims of discrimination who were
often poor, indigenous peoples now had a platform for raising their concerns.
(…)
Representatives of 172
indigenous nations, organizations, groups and other entities from around the
world gathered for the two-week session, which also attracted governments,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academia. Established in 2000 by the
UN's Economic and Social Council, the Forum, which is composed of 16
independent experts, is mandated to discuss indigenous issues relating to
economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health
and human rights.
Pirelli
"INTERNETional" Award granted to FAO's WAICENT Portal
Rome, 17 May - The "Best
multimedia product for environmental information," one of the Pirelli
INTERNETional Award prizes for the diffusion of scientific culture, was awarded
to the WAICENT Portal of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization at a ceremony
held yesterday at Palazzo Taverna in Rome. Ms. Carleen Gardner, FAO Assistant
Director-General, General Affairs and Information Department, received the
award on behalf of the UN specialized agency. The CEO and Director-General of
Pirelli S.p.A., Mr. Carlo Buora, handed Ms Gardner a commemorative plate and a
Euro 15,000 cheque (US$13,000). The award ceremony was attended by several
Italian VIPs, high ranking FAO officials and journalists.
The Pirelli INTERNETional
Award is an international multimedia award for work entirely carried out on the
internet aimed at the diffusion of scientific and technological culture.
WAICENT is the World
Agriculture Information Centre, FAO's strategic programme for improving access
to documents, statistics, maps and multimedia resources on agriculture,
forestry and fisheries.
http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/4900-en.html
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