Good News Agency – Year III, n° 2
Weekly - Year III, number 2
– 28 January 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
distributed free of charge through Internet to the editorial offices of
more than 2,400 media in 46
countries, as well as to 1,000 NGO.
Peace
and safety Energy and safety
Economy
and development Environment
and wildlife
Solidarity Culture and education
Human rights
(top)
Sierra Leone: Helping women to cope
24 January – The ICRC has concluded its 2001 vegetable farming programme for women in
the Koinadugu, Bombali, Bo, Kenema, Pujehun and Tonkolili districts of Sierra
Leone. The project, which began as an experiment in 2000, initially focused on
associations and groups of women most severely affected by the long years of
fighting in the country.
This
second phase targeted individual households so that more women outside formal associations
could benefit from the project. Over 60,000 women received aid in the form of
imported and local vegetable seeds, a hoe, a shovel, a metal bucket, a machete
and a wheelbarrow. The programme also included a training course involving a
representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and agronomists from the ICRC and
the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society.
During
an open day held at the ICRC delegation in Freetown, the publication of the
ICRC study entitled "Women facing War" and the community-based vegetable
farming project were highlighted as examples of activities for women relevant
to the Sierra Leone context. "We focus particularly on women in
recognition of the special protection afforded them by the Geneva Conventions
and their Additional Protocols", explained the ICRC's communication
delegate on that occasion.
http://www.icrc.org/icrceng.nsf
Sudan: Government, UNICEF sign
agreement on child rights
Nairobi, 21 January - The
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday, 17 January agreed to
provide US $100 million in funding to help improve the lives of Sudanese
children over the next four years, the Sudanese Ministry of International
Cooperation and UNICEF said in a joint statement. "The 'Programme [of
Cooperation]' aims to assist the GoS [government of Sudan] in its obligation,
as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to protect and promote
the rights of children to survival, development, protection and
participation," the statement said.
(…) An additional US $32
million would be provided by the Sudanese government and other national
partners, the statement said.
The new programme of
cooperation would include six major areas of intervention: health and
nutrition; water and environmental sanitation; basic education; rights,
protection and peace building; planning, monitoring and evaluation; and
communication and advocacy.
Child rights, gender equality
and HIV/AIDS issues would cut across all interventions, UNICEF and the
government of Sudan stated on 17 January. (…)
Cote d’Ivoire: Human rights
training planned for the armed forces
18 January - Cote d'Ivoire is
to train its armed forces in human rights and democracy, as part of efforts to
rebuild public trust and promote political stability, the UN Development
Programme (UNDP) which is supporting the initiative, said on 11 January. The
training is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2002. Training
modules were prepared in December by military leaders, regional administrators,
lawyers, and university scholars. Plans are also underway for the armed forces
to support development and poverty reduction projects, the UN added.
High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Chair of Children's Rights Panel welcome entry
into force of Protocol on Sale of Children
18 January – United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and the Chairman of the
Committee on the Rights of the Child, Jacob Egbert Doek, have welcomed the
entry into force today of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
(…)
The Optional Protocol
prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and
provides a non-exhaustive list of acts and activities which shall be
criminalized by States parties in order to fight against these scourges. It
further asks for the protection of the rights of child victims and for a close
collaboration among States parties to fight against the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography.
The new legal instrument is
entering into force less than one month after the Second World Congress on
Sexual Commercial Exploitation of Children (Yokohama 17-20 December 2001),
which called, in its AGlobal Commitment", for further action to put an end
to abuse of children. Furthermore, on 5 January 2002, the 11th South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit saw the signature of a
Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for
Prostitution, a move Mrs. Robinson and Mr. Doek also welcomed.
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/NewsRoom?OpenFrameSet
UNHCR
to assist in voluntary repatriation of Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia
Monrovia, Liberia,
Jan. 18 (UNHCR) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will begin
repatriating Sierra Leonean refugees from camps in Liberia next month following
a spate of recent spontaneous returns and repeated requests from refugees that
they be helped to return home. A registration campaign that began in six
Liberian refugee camps in January has listed 2,069 repatriation candidates to
date. The numbers are expected to increase substantially as the refugee agency
begins to record large families rather than the one- or two-person families
that have been registered thus far.
UNHCR also expects
to sign a bilateral agreement with the governments of Liberia and Sierra Leone
ensuring the safe return of the refugees and their humane treatment once they
are back in their home districts. (...)
Peace and safety
(top)
Earthwalker Paul Coleman will
cross the Bosphorous Bridge from Europe into Asia
23 January - Earthwalker Paul Coleman
who left Manchester on in November 2000 on his epic 15,000-mile walk to China
is now in Istanbul. Tomorrow at 3pm he will cross the Bosphorous Bridge from
Europe into Asia after receiving permission from the cities Police Chiefs and
Government to walk across the famous and highly restricted bridge. “I am here
because I am planting trees on behalf of people who have been killed in the
last century of war, and by doing this I am drawing attention to the impacts of
war on humanity and the natural environment that we all need to exist.” He will
be accompanied by members of the media and a police escort.
Coleman will then walk through
Turkey, Syria, Jordan and into Palestine where he hopes to plant a tree with
Mr. Arafat and Sharon. He has begun a global campaign for others to plant trees
on the same day - Earth Day 2002 April 22nd. Presently trees will be planted in
the United States, Japan, Bulgaria, Britain, Poland, Germany and Australia.
"A tree means life. No
trees, no life. And war of course takes life. War is absolutely devastating to
humanity and nature,” Coleman said. He explained that by planting trees he was
urging people to stop killing each other and start helping each other to
survive.
For more information contact
the International Earth Day Network Co-ordinator boriana@earthday.net
(www.earthday.net)
or Simon Buralls, Exec Director of the One World Trust buralls@parliament.uk
(www.oneworldtrust.org)
Cambodia saves lives, limbs and land with mine destruction
21 January - Cambodia celebrated lives and limbs saved
and land reclaimed from the scourge of landmines by destroying 3,405 mines, the
last in its stockpile, at a ceremony at the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) training centre in Kampong Chhnang Province last
week. Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng presided at the event, with 3,000 people
attending, including defence, police force, and other government officials and
representatives from UNDP and other partners supporting Cambodia's de-mining
programme, including the ambassadors of Canada and Japan. (…) UNDP, a lead
partner of the Government on landmines, channels operational and technical
support to CMAC, which has cleared about 90 million square metres of land,
benefiting many rural communities. The land is safe for settlement, use of
natural resources, provision of social services and access to infrastructure
such as water resources, schools, hospitals, roads and pagodas. CMAC also
carries out mine awareness education for communities still threatened by
uncleared mines.
The country is a signatory to and a strong advocate of
the Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Convention), and has adopted national legislation for its implementation.
(…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
DRC: Swiss NGO, UN to set up
radio station
Kinshasa, 21 January - A Swiss
nongovernmental organisation, Foundation Hirondelle, in collaboration with the UN
Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo plans to start a nationwide
radio station within the next month, the mission's information officer, David
Smith, said at the weekend. "It will give priority to the needs of people
worst affected by the conflict," he said.
The station, Radio Okapi, will
also promote a peaceful resolution of the country's civil war, broadcast
entertainment and impartial news. Using frequency modulated (FM) and shortwave
frequencies, it will broadcast in at least three local languages, in addition
to French and English. It will also carry information from seven regional FM
stations, and from FM and shortwave stations in the capital, Kinshasa. Around
100 staff are being recruited, nearly all of them local. Expatriates will manage
the stations.
Currently no medium in DRC has
the capacity to broadcast nationwide, although the government has announced its
intention to do so. (…)
Sierra Leone: 3,000 weapons
burned to symbolise end of conflict
Abidjan, 18 January - A
symbolic weapons burning ceremony took place at Lungi, north of the capital
Freetown, on Friday to mark the end of a decade of civil conflict in Sierra
Leone. During the event 3,000 weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were
destroyed, Francis Kai-Kai, Executive Secretary of the National Committee for
Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, told IRIN on Friday. (…)
The burning of weapons would
continue over the weekend, Kai-Kai added, with ceremonies in Makeni, northern
Sierra Leone on Saturday, and with more weapons being burned in the southern
town of Bo, and in Kenema, in eastern Sierra Leone on Sunday.
Over 45,000 former combatants
have handed over weapons to the authorities under the government's disarmament,
demobilisation and reintegration programme since May 2001. (…)
Afghanistan: European
Commission to open Kabul office
18 January - The European Commission
(EC) announced on Wednesday it would open an office in the Afghan capital Kabul
next month to monitor reconstruction and aid programmes. "We want to be a
part of the reconstruction of Afghanistan and we hope to have our office open
sometime in February," Pedro Martinez, Deputy Head of the European
Commission in Pakistan, told IRIN on Thursday. The office would monitor the
political situation in the war-ravaged country and provide "optimal
coordination" with the European Union's (EU) special representative for
Afghanistan, Klaus-Peter Klaiber, a spokesman for External Affairs Commissioner
Chris Patten told AFP on Wednesday.
Afghanistan: Women educators
back at work
18 January - Hundreds of women
in the Afghan capital, Kabul have returned to work following the fall of the
hard-line Taliban regime. At Kabul University, some 80 female staff are back at
their desks. "I was very happy and excited to come back to my job,"
Humera, a 23-year-old administrative officer told IRIN. She started work at the
university in 1995 but was banned by the Taliban a year later. Following five
years of being housebound, she said she now felt that she had been
"released from prison". Although the university and the Afghan
interim administration are not able to pay salaries, women have been flocking
to the educational institution. "I don't mind not being paid," she
said. "I just want my freedom back and hopefully the international
community will help us with payment," Humera added.
Conference on disarmament to
open 2002 session on 21 January in Geneva
Geneva, 18 January – The
Conference on Disarmament, the world's sole multilateral forum for disarmament
negotiations, will open its 2002 session on Monday, 21 January at the Palais
des Nations. The first public plenary will take place at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 22
January.
The session will open under
the presidency of Mohamed Tawfik, Charge d'affaires of the Permanent Mission of
Egypt to the United Nations Office at Geneva. The presidency of the Conference
rotates amongst its Member States according to the English alphabetical order
for four-week periods. During 2002, the presidency of the Conference will also
be held by Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany and Hungary. The Conference's
annual session is divided in three parts. The first part of the session will
conclude on 29 March. The second part will be held from 13 May to 28 June, and
the third part from 29 July to 13 September.
In accordance with its rules
of procedure, the Conference «shall adopt its agenda for the year at the
beginning of the session. In doing so, the Conference shall take into account
the recommendations made to it by the UN General Assembly, the proposals by its
Members, and decisions of the Conference.» (…)
http://www.unog.ch/UNOG01/Files/002_media/f2_cmq.html
Economy and development
(top)
Kenya: eco-sandals from
recycled rubber tires
18 January - The name of the
Kenyan shantytown of Korogocho means "without hope" in the local dialect,
but an environmentalist entrepreneur is working to bring hope to the
locals. In 1995, Matthew Meyer cofounded the Wikyo Akala Project, which
recycles rubber tires from the town dump into "eco-sandals" and sells
them around the world. With the help of a website (Ecosandals.com)
launched in 2001, the project is providing ecologically and socially
responsible sandals to the world -- and bringing hope (in the form of money for
food, housing, education, and health care) back to Korogocho.
http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/meyer011402.asp?source=daily
Rwanda: UN reports on Country
Cooperation Framework
18 January - Two UN agencies
have released a report on a five-year blueprint that aims to promote and
consolidate good government in Rwanda as well as enhance the management
capability of its poverty eradication programme as the country moves form a
situation of emergency to one of development.
On the economic management
front, the plan is to support poverty eradication initiatives, the coordination
and management of aid, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
HIV/AIDS prevalence has risen
from relatively low levels in the early 1990s, and - influenced by rape during
the genocide and other social consequences of that national trauma - now
approaches 13.7 percent in the 15-40-year age bracket, according to the report.
Average HIV/AIDS prevalence for sub-Sahara Africa is 8.7 percent.
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=1185&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes&SelectCountry=RWANDA
Helping poor communities in Nepal benefit from tourism
17 January - Poor communities near some of Nepal's
prime tourist destinations stand to reap greater economic benefits with help
from an expanding programme. The initiative helps reorient tourism policies to
help rural communities where lower castes and ethnic minorities face poverty
and discrimination. It aims to develop local strategies to attract tourists to
villages in ways that are in harmony with local cultures and environments. The
programme seeks ways to attract tourists to the communities to experience the
local cultures, such as festivals and crafts, and works with the communities to
help develop the services and facilities needed. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Largest ever world wide project to promote biosafety launched by UNEP
A multi-million
dollar project to help developing countries assess the potential risks and
rewards from genetically engineered crops will be at the centre of an African
Regional Workshop on biosafety that opens today.
Nairobi, 16 January - The project, financed by the
Global Environment Facility (GEF), will help up to 100 countries develop the
scientific and legal skills for evaluating the health and environmental issues
surrounding imports of so called Living Modified Organisms (LMOs).
The three year, $38.4 million, scheme, is seen as a
key initiative to help developing countries prepare for the entry into force of
the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety which was adopted in January 2000. Klaus
Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
which is to carry out the project, said: "Industry is convinced that
genetically engineered crops are the key to boosting yields in a more
environmentally friendly way. But others are concerned that the new technology
may actually pose environmental as well as health risks". (…)
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=233&ArticleID=2995
IFAD to support the Agricultural
Marketing Systems Development Programme in the United Republic of Tanzania
Rome, 15 January - A USD 42.30
million project in the United Republic of Tanzania - 'The Agricultural Marketing Systems
Development Programme' will receive a USD
16.34 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD). A loan agreement was signed today at the Fund's Headquarters by Dr.
Ricky Costa Mahalu, Ambassador of Tanzania to Italy and Mr. Klemens van de
Sand, Assistant President of the Fund.
The programme will initially operate in two zones of the country: the
Northern and Southern Highlands Marketing Zones. Both of these have a
predominance of poorer rural households, with an average per capita gross
domestic product that is below the national average. Their potential for
improvement in small farmer incomes and production however, is enormous if
greater market efficiency and effectiveness is achieved. Given the
multidimensional and holistic nature of the programme with emphasis given to
rationalization of overall marketing policies and improvements of related
infrastructures, it is expected that all rural market participants will
benefit. (…)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2002/04-02.htm
IFAD to support Financial Intermediation Programme in
the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Rome, 14 January – A USD 88.7 million project in the Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia – ‘The Rural Financial Intermediation
Programme’ will receive a USD 25.7 million loan from the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD). A loan agreement was signed today at the
Fund’s Headquarters by Ms. Halima Mohammed, Ambassador of Ethiopia to Italy and
Mr. Klemens van de Sand, Assistant President of the Fund.
The majority of the programme
target group comprises rural households living far below the internationally
recognized absolute poverty threshold of USD 1 per day. These beneficiaries are
approximately 1.5 million poor rural households that will gain access to
improved and reliable financial services either as clients of microfinance
institutions (MFIs) or as members of rural savings and credit cooperative
societies (RUSACCOs). Poverty in beneficiary households is mainly due to their:
limited asset base, lack of access to reliable financial services, frequent
droughts, and political and social unrest. (…)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2002/02-02.htm
Solidarity
(top)
ICRC delivers basic drugs to health centres in Goma
Goma/Geneva – 24 January – The
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is delivering basic drugs to
five health centres on the city of Goma following last week's volcano outbreak.
Each shipment contains sufficient drugs to care for 1.000 persons over three
months. "We are out of stock of pretty much everything", says Pascal
Makasi who works in the Ndosho health centre in western Goma. "Now we can
start off again and take care of the most vulnerable patients". According
to Mr Makasi, many patients have eye problems and breathing difficulties
because of the ash and fumes emitted by the lava covering parts of Goma.
Meanwhile,
the Red Cross of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the ICRC are continuing
with efforts to reunite families separated by the disaster. The Red Cross has
been approached by more than 200 parents looking for the children. (…)
http://www.icrc.org/icrceng.nsf
Afghanistan: WFP to begin
helicopter operations
18 January - As winter
conditions worsen, the World Food Programme (WFP) will deploy helicopters in an
effort to access remote areas of Afghanistan where thousands of people are
nearing starvation. "These helicopters will significantly enhance WFP's
ability to reach areas where access due to weather or insecurity have
diminished," agency spokesman, Wagdi Othman told IRIN on Monday in the
Pakistani capital Islamabad. Two of six helicopters will be based in the
northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, while the other four will be in Chaghcharan
and Bamyan, the provincial capitals of Afghanistan's central Chowr and Bamyan
provinces. "The north and central highlands are particularly difficult to
reach and overland access to remote villages is proving difficult during the
winter," he explained.
Pakistan: UNICEF to continue
cooperation with government
18 January - The United
Nations children's organisation UNICEF would closely cooperate with the
government of Pakistan in improving the situation of women and children. The
mid-term review of the Pakistan-UNICEF country programme 1999-2003, a project
aimed at improvements in health, education and child protection, showed
promising results. UNICEF spokesman, George Somerwill, told IRIN in the
Pakistani capital Islamabad on Wednesday that the most important lesson learned
from the project was the significance of coordination among the partners.
"Sharing ideas and lessons make a major difference," he said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19208&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
Human Development Fund to help
Nigerian communities overcome poverty
16 January - UNDP Nigeria has
launched a Human Development Fund to promote poverty eradication and community
development in the country's most deprived areas.
The fund seeks to create a
coalition of development partners to support projects providing basic social
infrastructure, such as clean water supply and sanitation, as well as basic
health care, job creation opportunities for youth and people in rural
communities, functional literacy and micro credit. Resources will come from
national, state and local governments, the private sector, wealthy individuals
and the international community. The private sector and State governments have
so far pledged more than US$2 million, and UNDP Nigeria is providing $6.3
million to support the initiative. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Health
(top)
MSF expands
relief programs throughout Afghanistan
23
January – More than 80 international staff and over 400 national
staff from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontierès (MSF) are now
operating relief programs throughout Afghanistan from bases in six
cities—Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, Taloqan, Faizabad, Kabul, and Jalalabad.
The
MSF teams are addressing the health needs of a population that has endured
years of conflict, severe drought, and instability. In and around Herat, MSF
works in two of the country's largest camps for displaced people. MSF has
increased its supplementary and therapeutic feeding centers to care for
thousands of seriously malnourished children while also vaccinating children
against measles. MSF is also supporting the pediatric ward of the hospital in
Herat. (…)
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/2002/afghanistan_01b.shtml
Uganda: Government to promote
condoms in villages
18 January - The Ugandan
government is soon to start distributing free condoms in villages countrywide
as part of its struggle against the HIV/AIDS pandemic and "unwanted
pregnancies", according to a senior health official.
Dr Elizabeth Madraa, who heads
Uganda's AIDS Control Programme, said on Wednesday that the ministry was
already mobilising volunteers at the village level to help carry out the
distribution of condoms. "We already have a structure of condom
distribution in Uganda, but that is only in urban areas. If we want to promote
condom use throughout Uganda, we must make sure they are also available at the
village level," she told IRIN.
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=1188&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=UGANDA
Pilot programme offers
accelerated HIV/AIDS treatment
18 January - A new pilot
programme tasked with providing wider access to HIV/AIDS treatment and care was
launched in four African countries this week. The CARE partnership pilot
programme, run by Dutch NGO PharmAccess International (PAI) and the drug
company Roche, is being initiated in major urban treatment centres in Cote
D'Ivoire, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda.
The first step of the pilot
programme will run for two years.
According to a statement
released by the NGO, the initiative will deliver Highly Active Antiretroviral
Therapy (HAART) by focusing on training and building up local medical
infrastructures. Over the last six months, 100 healthcare professionals have
already received specialised education to support these treatment programmes.
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=1187&SelectRegion=Africa&SelectCountry=AFRICA
South Africa: Local generic
drugs available soon
18 January - South Africa's
first locally produced generic HIV/AIDS drugs could soon bring relief to
thousands of people infected with the HI virus.
Aspen Pharmacare CEO Stephen Saad, told PlusNews on Tuesday that a cheaper, generic version of AZT could be produced by his company. The daily dosage of the drug would cost US $0.87 a day while a triple therapy combination could cost $1.30 a day. The local company was last year granted voluntary licences by GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb to produce generic versions of their antiretroviral drugs in South Africa.
WHO to push for $66 billion investment in health
14
January – An
effort to more than double current investments in health in developing
countries will be a key focus of the World Health Organization (WHO) activities
in the years to come, the Organization's head said today. "As health takes
on a more central role (in development), the expectations for the developing
countries to prioritize health will be growing," Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland
said at the opening of the World health Organization's 109th Executive Board meeting,
today. "But no matter how much the least developed countries invest, there
will be a substantial gap which needs to be filled through development
assistance. By 2015, (…) US$ 66 billion will be needed, of which just over half
will have to be covered by international development assistance."
The
figures are based on estimates from the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health
which last month presented a report saying a drastic scaling up of investments
in health for the poorest countries would lead to a six-fold return in the form
of increased economic growth. (...)
http://www.who.int/inf/en/pr-2002-01.html
Energy and safety
(top)
IAEA team to visit North Korean nuclear
facilities
Vienna, 10 January - A technical team from the IAEA will visit nuclear facilities in the Nyongbyon area of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from 15-19 January. The visit will include the Isotope Production Laboratory, an installation that the DPRK has stated was involved in the early stages of development of their nuclear programme.
"This
is a small but welcome step towards a return to full-fledged inspections
required under North Korea's safeguards agreement," said Mohamed
ElBaradei, IAEA Director General. (…)
http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Press/P_release/2002/prn0201.shtml
Environment and wildlife
(top)
Private backers donate $1 million to UN ecotourism project
24 January - A United Nations
project aimed at developing sustainable tourism in fragile natural environments
has received a $1 million donation from private sector actors, the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today.
The global cosmetics company
Aveda and the UN Foundation -- set up to execute philanthropist Ted Turner's $1
billion gift in support of UN causes -- will give $500,000 each to the project.
Two United Nations agencies, UNEP and the Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), and RARE Center for Tropical Conservation are joint
managers of the venture.
Welcoming the move, UNEP said
it would help to kick-start the International Year of Ecotourism, which will be
officially launched in New York on 28 January.
The project uses tourism to
mitigate threats to biodiversity conservation at six World Heritage sites,
balancing the demands of tourists with the needs and traditions of local people
and the environment. Although there are several environmental problems
associated with tourism, such as loss of wildlife habitats and production of
waste, tourism is also a source of income for the sites. (…)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=2713&Cr=tourism&Cr1
Chemicals, strengthening UNEP
and modernising the world's environmental machinery key issues at global
environment talks - Environment Ministers meet in Colombia on the
road to the World Summit on Sustainable Development
Nairobi/Cartagena, 21 January - A pioneering new initiative to protect the world's people and its environment from hazardous chemicals will be one of the key issues facing ministers meeting in Cartagena, Colombia, this week.
In recent years, there has
been a trend towards moving chemical manufacturing from industrialised to
developing countries. Experts have told the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) of their concern that many poorer nations may not have
adequate safeguards or emergency response systems in place to deal with
chemical spills or accidents of the kind that occurred in Bopal, India, 15
years ago. (…) The new approach, suggested in the UNEP report, outlines 18 key
areas of action. These include improving the ability of developing countries to
deal with chemicals and the issues surrounding them, so called capacity
building, promoting cleaner chemicals production and a shift from "highly
toxic chemicals to those with lower toxicity or non-chemical
alternatives". (…)
China supports process of the
Kyoto Protocol
18 January - In the second
move in recent weeks suggesting a heightened commitment to the environment,
China called yesterday for early passage of the Kyoto Protocol on climate
change, saying the treaty would benefit rich and poor countries alike.
The appeal was made during a meeting of European and Asian environmental
ministers, who want to move ahead with Kyoto despite the withdrawal of the
U.S. The treaty would require industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by an average of 5 percent of 1990 levels by late 2012, while
setting no goals for developing nations. However, Xie Zhenhua, director
of the State Environmental Protection Agency, said his country would
"actively explore" deals with industrialized countries to reduce
emissions within China, which contributes about 11 percent of the world's
carbon emissions. Earlier this month, Xie announced that China would
double funding to clean up its air pollution over the next five years.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/01/17/china.reut/index.html
Natura 2000 becomes a reality
18 January - Ten years ago,
the nations of the European Union agreed to create Natura 2000, a
continent-wide network of conservation areas designed to protect 200 habitats
and 600 species. The network was supposed to be in place by 1998, but
foot-dragging and local resistance gummed up the works. Now, Natura 2000
is finally becoming a reality. Yesterday, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and
Madeira became the first nations to set aside Natura 2000 lands, which will be
subject to strict conservation rules, including restrictions on industrial
activities. The Canary Islands -- one of the most biologically diverse
areas of Europe -- will move to protect the habitat of the endangered giant
lizard of Hierro, the continent's rarest reptile.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14082/story.htm
Coral or no coral? It's my choice
UNEP launches new
communication tools to help protect coral reefs
Cancun, Mexico/Paris, 11 January - In response to the
growing threat to coral reefs, worldwide, the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) have
prepared five new "communication" tools to help the tourist industry
explain to their customers the importance of protecting coral reefs during
their holidays.
The first of these tools, a "wall calendar",
is being distributed today to the 1,500 hotels attending MarketPlace - the
largest travel and trade exhibition in the wider Caribbean region - taking
place here in Cancun, Mexico. The calendar, produced in association with the
Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST), is available in English,
French and Spanish. It provides recommendations on twelve areas of action (one
per month) that are linked to the protection of coral reefs, including waste
water treatment, solid waste management, pool management, energy use, shopping
for souvenirs, and tips for snorkeling and scuba diving. Two detachable pages
list contacts for organizations in the Caribbean region that can provide more
assistance and information to hotel managers and tourists alike. (…)
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=233&ArticleID=2993
Culture and education
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World Social Forum :
Porto Alegre, Brasil, 31 January-5 February
The World Social Forum is an
open meeting space designed for in-depth reflection, democratic debate of
ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and planning of
effective action among entities and movements of civil society that oppose
neoliberalism and a world dominated by capital and any form of imperialism and
that are engaged in building a planetary society centered on the human being.
The World Social Forum-2002 is
structured on four basic themes, the same of its first edition:
production of wealth and the
social reproduction; access to wealth and sustainability; affirmation of the civil society and of
public areas; political power and ethics in a new society.
UNEP endorses Restore the
Earth conference
18 January - The push for
greater efforts to be devoted to the restoration of degraded eco-systems has
won a major boost with the endorsement by a second major United Nations agency
– UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) – of the Restore the Earth
conference to be held in Findhorn, Scotland at Easter 2002. UNESCO has already endorsed the event. The conference will be addressed by Fritz
Schlingemann, Director of UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe and by Senior UNEP
advisor, John Manoochehri.
The conference aims to pull
together people from all over the world to celebrate the many Earth restoration
initiatives already in train and to propel the issue to the centre of global
public consciousness and political debate.
Participants will prepare a declaration to be carried to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit+10) in South
Africa in September 2002 calling on world leaders to act now to reverse the
unprecedented level of damage currently being inflicted on myriad eco-systems
worldwide (…)
Baroness Emma Nicholson new
WHO envoy on health, peace and development
18 January – Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne (UK) was today named World Health Organization (WHO) Envoy on Health, Peace and Development for WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region (which also includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, the Arabian Peninsula and northern Africa). Baroness Nicholson will promote health as a tool for peace and development. She will also advise WHO on particular health needs related to peace and development. She is expected to travel extensively in the region and will report her findings to the European Parliament as well as to WHO. (…)
http://www.who.int/inf/en/pr-2002-02.html
Basketball
star Dikembe Mutombo featured in new HIV-Aids Awareness Campaign
Vienna, 14 January (UN Information Service) – The
United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP), the joint
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the National Basketball
Association (NBA) today jointly released a new worldwide public service
announcement (PSA) featuring basketball player Dikembe Mutombo. The PSA helps
to educate young people about the links between drug abuse and HIV-AIDS.
"Using condoms and not sharing needles are
intelligent decisions that can help you live a longer, healthier life,"
said Mutombo in the PSA. "Through education we can learn more about the
prevention of HIV and AIDS and together we can help stop the spread of this
epidemic." (…)
The PSA was filmed in English and French and dubbed
into Portuguese and Swahili. It will be shown during NBA programming
internationally and through United Nations television contacts. A poster,
featuring Mutombo and the message "Sports. Not Drugs", will be
distributed to youngsters around the world through UN field offices. Mutombo is
a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo and a special emphasis on getting
his message out will take place in Africa. (…)
The PSA marks the third year of collaboration between
ODCCP and the NBA. Prior media awareness campaigns featured Vlade Divac
(Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Sacramento Kings) and Eduardo Nàjera (Mexico,
Dallas Mavericks). ODCCP and the NBA also worked together to create a camp for
children from the Balkans, Basketball without Borders, in the summer of 2001.
http://www.undcp.org/press_release_2002-01-14_1.html
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Next issue: 11 February
2002
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