Good News Agency – Year IV, n° 3
Weekly - Year IV, number 3 – 7
February 2003
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. Editorial research by Fabio Gatti. Good News Agency
is published in English on one Friday and in Italian the next. It 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.
It is a service of Associazione Culturale dei Triangoli e della
Buona Volontà Mondiale, NGO associated with the United Nations Department of Public
Information.
International legislation – Human rights – Economy and development – Solidarity
Peace and security – Health – Energy
and Safety – Environment and wildlife
Religion and spirituality – Culture and education
Governments reach agreement on new United Nations
Treaty on pollution information disclosure
Geneva, 31 January - Negotiations on a new
international treaty under which companies will be required to publicly
disclose information on their output of pollutants came to a successful
conclusion in Geneva yesterday evening. The ground-breaking treaty has been
developed over the past two years under the auspices of the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe, in the form of a legally binding protocol to
the Aarhus Convention, the UN’s flagship convention on environmental democracy issues.
Under the new protocol, companies will be required to
report annually on their releases (into the environment) and transfers (to
other companies) of certain pollutants. The information will then be placed on
a public register, known as a pollutant release and transfer register or PRTR.
(...)
Although regulating information on pollution, rather
than pollution directly, the protocol is expected to exert a significant
downward pressure on levels of pollution, as no company will want to be
identified as among the biggest polluters.
The Protocol will be formally adopted and signed at
the forthcoming Fifth Ministerial ‘Environment for Europe’ Conference, which will take place in Kiev, Ukraine,
21-23 May 2003. More than 30 States have taken part in the negotiations and
might be expected to sign the Protocol in Kiev.
Although the protocol has been developed under the
auspices of UNECE, it will be open to accession by any State which is a member
of the United Nations. In this way, it is expected to establish a new global
benchmark in this area.
http://www.unece.org/press/pr2003/03env_p01e.htm
Democratic
Republic of the Congo: major family reunification operation
Goma (ICRC) – On 29 and 30 January the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) carried out a major operation to reunite separated family
members.
A total of 140 children between one and 17 years of
age were flown from Goma to Kinshasa on board a Boeing 737 specially chartered
by the ICRC for the occasion. All the children were reunited with their
families, from whom they had been separated for several months - – or several years in some cases – owing to the conflict. The purpose of the operation
was to remedy one of the many tragic consequences of armed conflict: the
dispersal of members of the same family.
The ICRC is working in close cooperation with
volunteers of the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to
find the families of unaccompanied children throughout the country. The
subsequent reunification operations are carried out both in the areas
controlled by the government and in those held by the armed opposition.
Last year the ICRC reunited more than 400 children with
their parents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country devastated by
several years of war.
Egyptian coalition mobilizes against custom that harms
women and girls
27 January - The National Council for Childhood and
Motherhood (NCCM) and UNDP are spearheading a coalition of national and
international organizations in Egypt in a campaign to stop a practice that
blights the lives of millions of women. Female genital mutilation (FGM), sometimes known as female circumcision, is still
widespread in areas of Africa and the Middle East, including Egypt. Surveys
have found that 97 per cent of Egyptian women have undergone the practice. The
three-year US$2.6 million initiative seeks to end FGM in 60 villages in six
governorates in Upper Egypt. (...)
The initiative aims overcome community peer pressure
and convince families not to subject their girls to FGM. It will use various
education and training approaches to reach out to families, community leaders,
health workers and religious leaders, encouraging them to work together to
eliminate the practice. The campaign will also air broadcasts on national
television and radio.
The project will promote networking among local civil
society groups, community leaders, the NCCM and government agencies. After the
project's strategies are tested and evaluated, it will use successful
approaches to reach out to more villages. (...)
Fifth Anniversary of Global
March Against Child Labour
20
January, New Delhi - On its fifth annversary, the Global March
Against Child Labour calls for urgent action to end child labour world-wide
and the achievement of universal quality education. Since its start, the Global
March has brought together a movement of over 2000 partners in 140 country to
lead the fight against child labour. As a united voice for NGOs, trade unions,
teacher associations and individual activists, the Global March has time and
again reminded the world that all children must be protected from exploitation
and abuse. Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of the Global March, appealed to all
people to make this crisis their call to action. "Will we sit comfortably
in our homes and offices as we watch the life and spirit of countless children
disappear before our very eyes? If we fail to act now we are no less
responsible than the worst exploiter."
EI is represented on the
Steering Committee of the Global March Against Child Labour and many EI
affiliates are founding members of its national networks. To find out how to
support the Global March, visit their website: http://www.globalmarch.org/
Troubled Georgia region gets help for development and
integration
31 January - An initiative in the Samtskhe-Javakheti
region in southern Georgia seeks to spur development and overcome isolation
rooted in ethnic tensions to reduce the risk of conflict and help people build
better lives. UNDP and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are providing US$4.7 million for the five-year programme.
Bordering on Armenia and Turkey, the region is one of
the country's poorest, with an economy based mainly on subsistence farming.
Social services are limited, public infrastructure has deteriorated and
government institutions function poorly. (...) Support for integrated regional
development of Samtskhe-Javakheti is very important, said Teimuraz Mosiashvili,
the region's Governor, who called the programme "useful, broad and
ambitious." (...)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
30 January - UNCTAD, India and the United Kingdom
today announced the launch of a new project to assess the impact and
opportunities for India of trade and globalization.
The five-year project is being funded by the UK
Department for International Development (DFID), in the amount of some £ 5.4
million (Rs. 41,11,72,300).
Entitled "Strategies and preparedness for trade
and globalization in India", the project has two main objectives. First,
it will assist Indian trade negotiators, policy makers and other stakeholders
in understanding the development dimension of key trade issues, particularly as
they relate to the current WTO agenda. Secondly, it will strengthen the country´s human and institutional capacities for analysis of
globalization-related issues and facilitate a policy environment that will
support and sustain a more equitable process of globalization. In the process,
the project should help India derive the greatest possible benefits from the
multilateral trading system and influence international trade rule-making. The
project will work in partnership with the private sector and civil society. It
will focus on institutions and sectors with the greatest potential to affect
the poor in their roles as producers, workers, consumers and citizens. (...)
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/webflyer.asp?docid=3183&intItemID=1634&lang=1
Civil society gains voice on reducing poverty in
Zambia
28 January - UNDP has helped transform strained
relations between the Zambian Government and civil society into productive dialogue
on the national poverty reduction strategy and other development issues. As a
result of civil society input, the strategy calls for abolishing 75 District
Administrators offices, which have become patronage jobs, and a Presidential
discretionary fund that lacks accountability, as well as urging constitutional
reform -- all key governance issues.
On education, the strategy recommends higher pay for
teachers, incentives for rural teachers, improved teaching materials,
curriculum renewal and life skills and HIVAIDS counseling in schools. It also
calls for a focus on food security and more investment in agriculture.
Progress began when UNDP helped groups form Civil
Society for Poverty Reduction, a broad-based network to participate in poverty
reduction strategy discussions with the Government, the World Bank, UN agencies
and donor countries. (...) To smooth the way for dialogue, UNDP arranged for
training in negotiating skills and conflict resolution for the steering
committee through its Peak Performance Programme. The training was effective,
and more than 80 per cent of civil society inputs were incorporated into the
poverty reduction strategy. The Government and the network have both requested
additional conflict resolution training, which UNDP is arranging. (...)
WTO talks: FAO bolsters developing countries
negotiating skills
Rome, 27 January - A broad
programme for training and capacity building on trade-related issues in food,
agriculture, fisheries and forestry will shortly enter its second phase, the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said on Monday. It aims at
bolstering the negotiating capacity of developing countries in the new round of
trade talks.
Launched in 1999, the programme offered
participants, mainly government officials dealing with agricultural trade
matters, an introduction to the key trade and food security issues relating to
the World Trade Organization (WTO). (...)
The second phase, which will include a number
of national, regional and global workshops, will begin with a national workshop
in Sri Lanka in the third week of February. A subregional workshop for the
Organization of Eastern Caribbean Countries will also take place in February.
The technical seminars will enable
countries to analyse the potential options and implications of trade talks and
means of strengthening their negotiating position. They will also promote
dialogue between national policy makers, domestic stakeholders, academics and
civil society on issues involved in the current round of negotiations, the
"Doha Development Agenda". (...)
http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/12782-en.html
Coalition receives $114
million USAID grant to assist in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
Johannesburg, January 22 - The U.S. government has pledged to World Vision, CARE and Catholic Relief Services a $114 million emergency aid grant for a joint response to the severe food crisis in Southern Africa. The grant will provide emergency and supplementary food distributions, agricultural support and development training in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the three countries hardest hit by the current crisis.
The Consortium for Southern
Africa Food Security Emergency (C-SAFE) represents an unprecedented
collaboration among three leading humanitarian organizations. CARE, Catholic
Relief Services and World Vision have joined forces to provide a coordinated
response to the food shortage and the related complexities of the existing
HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has exacerbated the crisis. (...)
Poor rainfall, political
instability and the HIV/AIDS pandemic have combined to create the most severe
food shortage in more than a decade for Southern Africa. It is expected that
more than 15 million people in Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland,
Zambia and Zimbabwe will need food aid at least until March. The C-SAFE program
will involve a combination of free general food distributions, food-for-work
projects, and supplementary feeding. (...)
http://www.careusa.org/newsroom/pressreleases/2003/jan/01222003_johannesburg.asp
Government of Kenya and UN-HABITAT to Upgrade Slums
Nairobi,
16 January - Honourable Raila Odinga, the new Minister for Roads, Public works and
Housing of the Government of Kenya and Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive
Director of UN-HABITAT, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the
"Slum Upgrading Programme for Kenya".
The programme hopes to improve housing, infrastructure
services and the overall livelihoods of people living and working in informal
settlements. One of the major goals is to ensure that the poor are given some
form of security of tenure so that they can participate in the improvement of
the urban environment. The programme will begin by working on slum upgrading in
Nairobi and Kisumu, the lessons learned will then be replicated in other urban
areas in Kenya. (...)
http://www.unhabitat.org/gokmou.asp
South Africa donates
100,000 tons of maize to WFP’s regional emergency
operation
Johannesburg – The United Nations
World Food Programme (WFP) expressed immense gratitude in response to today’s extremely generous donation of almost US$20 million (ZAR170 million)
by the Republic of South Africa to the agency’s emergency food
operation for southern Africa.
The funds will be used
by WFP to purchase 100,000 metric tons of maize in South Africa for
distribution to millions of vulnerable people across the region. This
contribution is critical to ensure a steady flow of food aid supplies to more
than 15 million people, who are in need of assistance in the six affected
countries.
“This enormous donation comes at a crucial time for WFP’s operations in southern Africa and will undoubtedly help millions of
men, women and children cope with food shortages in the months ahead – the most acute period of hunger until the harvest arrives in April/May,” said James T. Morris, WFP Executive Director. “It is also encouraging to see South Africa taking a lead role in helping
to combat the severe food crisis that is wreaking havoc across the region.” (...)
Last year, WFP
appealed for US$507 million dollars to provide almost one million tons of food
aid to millions of vulnerable people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland,
Zambia and Zimbabwe. Following today’s South African
donation, the agency has now received confirmed contributions amounting to 85
percent of its total tonnage requirements.
U.N. spotlights child soldiers
New York, January 30 - Governments and armed groups using child soldiers are under new scrutiny by the U.N. Security Council and must take immediate action to end child recruitment, Human Rights Watch said today.
Following
a full-day debate on children and armed conflict on January 14, the Security
Council today adopted a range of measures demanding accountability from parties
to armed conflict that recruit or use children as soldiers. (...)
At the Security Council's
request, a report submitted at the end of 2002 by the Secretary General for the
first time included an explicit list of parties to armed conflict that recruit
or use children in violation of their international obligations. This list, limited
to situations on the Security Council's agenda, included parties to conflict in
Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia and
Somalia. The report also mentioned the use of child soldiers in several
countries not on the Security Council's agenda, including Burma, Colombia, Sri
Lanka and Uganda. (...)
http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/01/childsoldiers013003.htm
Women all over Europe say no to war against Iraq and
call for a halt to militarisation
Brussels, 21 January - The EWL Declaration against War
was adopted unanimously by the EWL Board at its meeting on January 18-19, 2003.
The European Women's Lobby, representing over 3000 women’s NGOs in
Europe (...) call for:
·
Governments to use their powers to press for and pursue negotiations in
favour of a peaceful resolution.
·
The rejection of unilateral support of USA policy by any country in the
European region.
·
EU Member States, countries in accession to the EU, and other European
countries to bring their influence to bear and to press Iraq to accept
political solutions and to accept fully the mandate of the UN inspectors.
For all European Union Member States, countries in
accession to the EU, and other European countries to ensure the implementation
of all commitments in UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women’s role in conflict resolution and sustainable peace.
http://www.womenlobby.org/Document.asp?DocID=527&tod=143045
President Pledges Full Support to Ensure Success
Kabul/New York, 31 January - UNICEF today announced a
week-long campaign to immunise thousands of Afghan women against tetanus as
part of a global campaign to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus by 2005.
Running from February 2-8, health workers and volunteers aim to reach some
740,000 Afghan women aged 15 to 45. (...)
A recent study by UNICEF and the US Centers for
Disease Control and Surveillance revealed that almost half of all deaths among
Afghan women aged between 15-49 are a direct result of pregnancy and
childbirth. (...)
During the week-long campaign -- the first of three to
be held in 2003 -- over 1,000 vaccination teams will fan out across the cities
of Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazar. The campaign is conducted by the
Ministry of Health and jointly supported by UNICEF and WHO, with active support
from NGO partners. The Japanese Governmen is contributing TT vaccines, AD
syringes and safety boxes for Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar. (...)
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/2003/03pr03tetanus.htm
WHO to meet beverage company representatives to
discuss health-related alcohol issues
31 January -- World Health Organization (WHO) will host a meeting
with selected alcohol beverage company representatives in Geneva on February
12, 2003 to exchange views on the impact of alcohol on global health. Between
them, the companies represent more than half of total global alcohol sales. The
meeting follows informal discussions over the past six months with a number of
alcohol companies, and reflects WHO’s determination to engage with all
interested stakeholders in formulating a policy to address the public health
consequences of alcohol use worldwide.
The impact of alcohol on global health was highlighted
by data obtained for the recently released World Health Report 2002; Reducing
Risks, Promoting Healthy Life, where alcohol consumption featured among the top
10 risks to health. (...)
The proposed objectives of next week’s Geneva meeting
are to brief participants on current WHO activities in the alcohol policy area;
to brief WHO on relevant corporate social responsibility initiatives; and to
exchange views on how to make progress in two areas: drinking and driving, and
the marketing and promotion of alcohol to young people.
“Alcohol is a serious global challenge,” says Dr Derek Yach, WHO Executive Director,
Noncommunicable DIseases and Mental Health. “We need to act now to prevent the already high levels
of alcohol-related harm in both the industrialized countries and many
developing countries. (...)
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2003/pr6/en/
Bill Gates gives US$200 million to health research
By: Katie Mantell
30 January - The
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to give US$200 million to identify the
'grand challenges' facing global health and to fund research to address these
problems.
The aim of the
initiative is to focus the attention of the scientific community on tackling
diseases that affect developing countries, such as malaria and AIDS. At
present, only 10 per cent of medical research is devoted to diseases that cause
90 per cent of ill-health worldwide.
Microsoft head
Bill Gates unveiled the plan on Sunday (26 January) at the World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland. "There is great potential for science and
technology to solve persistent global health challenges, but far greater
resources are needed," he said. "By accelerating research to overcome
scientific obstacles in AIDS, malaria and other diseases, millions of lives
could be saved."
To start, an
international panel of leading scientists — chaired by
Nobel Laureate and president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in
New York, Harold Varmus — will identify a
set of critical life-endangering problems that could be helped by research.
After these
priorities have been published later this year, the initiative will ask
scientists from around the world to apply for grants of up to US$20 million to
search for solutions to each of the challenges. The grants — which will be administered by the US Foundation for
the National Institutes of Health — will be awarded
mainly to coalitions of researchers from different institutions and
disciplines, although individual scientists are also eligible. (...)
http://www.learningchannel.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?root=1470&url=http://www.oneworld.net
(top)
Thailand draws on green power for renewable energy
30 January - Thailand is mobilizing to use wood chips,
sugarcane residue and other plant wastes, known as biomass, as a renewable
energy source that will help trim emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce use
of fossil fuels. A biomass energy project supported by UNDP aims to help
Thailand reach the goal of tripling the portion of energy it produces from
renewable sources from one per cent to three percent of its total power
production over the next five years. (...)
The Government and UNDP have taken the first step by
opening a One-Stop Clearing-House to provide technical advice for prospective
developers, help them secure financing for biomass power plants, support
policies and legislation to promote biomass development, and inform the public
about the merits of biomass for power.
The project has also set up the Energy for Environment
Foundation to support biomass power activities and is building two pilot
biomass power plants.
The seven-year project is supported by UNDP with US$6.8
million in funding from the UNDP Global Environment Facility
(GEF) unit and $1 million from the Danish Agency for Development Assistance
(DANIDA). The Government and the private sector are mobilizing $116.5 million
in parallel financing that will help implement biomass power projects. (...)
Kosovo: Clean
water for Gjilan/Gnjilane
27 January -
The ICRC last week handed over its last water-supply project in the Balkans to
the local water board. The project was to repair a 6.8-km pipeline running from the Prelepnice
reservoir to the city of Gjilan/Gnjilane. The reservoir, which can hold 1,000
cubic metres of water, was built by the ICRC in 2001. In the latest work – which brought the total cost, including the
reservoir, to 450,000 Swiss francs – air valves were replaced and purge drains installed
at key locations along the pipeline. The ICRC has thus improved both the
quality and quantity of the water supply and almost 90,000 residents now have
clean water at a reasonable pressure. (...)
Workshop on Groundwater Legalization Review and water
Tariff Analysis in Lebanon
17 January - This workshop is one of the main
components of the ESCWA-UNDP project entitled: "National Policy Framework
for Water Resources Management in Lebanon", which was implemented with the
Ministry of Energy and Water in Lebanon. The project has addressed two water priority
issues as identified by the Ministry of Energy and Water, namely: capacity
building in groundwater legislation, and water tariffs. Hence, the main
objective of this workshop was to enhance the capacity of the ministry
personnel and the personnel of national agencies involved in water issues in
some areas of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), which is in this
case, the areas of groundwater legislation and assessment of water tariff. This
was done by reviewing the existing groundwater legislation and water tariffs
situation, in view of recommending appropriate measures for their effective
implementation. (...)
A Tale Of Two
Peaks: Kenyan mountains highlight stark choices facing world's Environment
Ministers in quest for sustainable development
Nairobi, 31 January
- A global assessment of mercury pollution and the environmental
condition of conflict areas, from the Middle East to Afghanistan, will be among
the crucial issues to be discussed by a global gathering of environment
ministers. Well over 100 national delegations are poised to arrive at the
headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for next week's
crucial talks which come just five months after the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) in South Africa. (...)
A survey of the Aberdare Mountains, carried out by
UNEP and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has pin pointed a huge number of
illegal charcoal kilns which are being fed and fuelled by the highland forests
upon which local people depend for medicine and water supplies. The aerial
survey, conducted towards the end of 2002, spotted well over 14,000 illegal
kilns, some of which are the size of a small factory. They are located mainly
in the south and west of the Aberdares.
It has long been known that charcoal production is one
of the biggest threats to Kenya's forests and forests across much of Africa, if
not the developing world. But until now the sheer scale of the operations and
the precise location of kilns has remained a mystery.
The findings, made with support from Rhino Ark and the
Kenya Forests Working Group, highlight the need for improved conservation and
enforcement in the Aberdares and also the chronic dependency of Kenya on wood
as an energy source. (...)
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?ArticleID=3202&DocumentID=277
Nairobi, 29 January to 8 February 2003 - Kenya is to
be the launch pad for an international tree planting campaign that will see
more than a million seedlings planted across the country by 2008.
The launch of the campaign, "Plant for the
Planet", will be one of the highlights for delegates attending the Global
Youth Retreat, taking place in parallel to the Governing Council of the United
Nations Environment Progamme (UNEP). Over 50 young people, aged between 16 and
25 years-old and from 45 countries, will join with Kenyan school children and
an international group of environment ministers on 8 February at the Ngong
Forest Sanctuary to plant 4,000 trees.
The campaign, which is sponsored by the Japanese-based
Foundation for Global Peace and the Environment and Total, is strictly in line
with the new Kenyan government's push to restore forests and plant with native
and rare, indigenous, trees.
The plantings will involve an estimated 47 native
species including the East African Greenheart, warbugia ugandensis; the
Naivasha Thorn tree, Acacia xanthophloea; the Brown or Wild Thorn Olive, Olea
europeae africana; the Mulundu tree, Elaeodendron buchananii; the Pillar Wood,
Cassipourea malosana and the Mugumo tree, Ficus thoningii. (...)
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?ArticleID=3200&DocumentID=277
Case studies point towards solutions to Europe's waste
problems
Copenhagen,
29 January - Many of the problems linked to Europe's growing waste
volumes can be solved if countries learn from others that have pioneered
solutions, argues a new report published today by the European Environment
Agency. The report focuses on 10 case studies of some of the most significant
initiatives undertaken in Europe during the 1990s to promote and encourage
waste minimisation. (...)
The report, Case studies on waste
minimisation practices in Europe, aims to support the European Union's
policy goal of minimising waste. The studies are drawn from eight countries and
cover five themes: producer responsibility, voluntary agreements, legislative
requirements, information programmes and waste taxes.
The
report draws several general conclusions:
·
Waste quantities are continuously increasing; two-thirds of the waste is
landfilled, whereas waste recycling rates have shown a rather limited increase
over recent years;
·
Solutions encouraging separation at source, reducing landfilling,
increasing recycling and waste prevention have been developed in many EEA
countries;
·
Continuous cooperation and exchange of technological and organisational
experience is needed to achieve major progress in waste management;
·
Several cases of waste prevention have been successful but are still
only applicable at the local level;
·
Most of the case studies show promising results and may serve as
inspiration for future initiatives.
The report is available from the EEA website at http://reports.eea.eu.int/ topic_report_2002_2. Printed copies are available on request.
http://org.eea.eu.int/documents/newsreleases/waste-en
Detailed rules agreed for
Kyoto Protocol projects on limiting emissions in developing countries
Bonn, 28 January 2003 - The
Executive Board that oversees the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM) has finalized key procedures for investments in small-scale projects for
limiting greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries, thus paving the way
for an early launch of the first CDM projects.
Meeting last week in Bonn, the
Board adopted a CDM Glossary of terms used in the Project Design Document,
which helps project proponents to understand CDM terminology.
It also finalized the package
of simplified modalities for small-scale CDM projects, including a
"simplified CDM project design document" for registering such
projects, and an "indicative list of simplified baseline and monitoring
methodologies" helping project proponents to lower costs for complying
with CDM rules. (...)
The 1997
Kyoto Protocol established the CDM as a way of promoting sustainable
development while minimizing the costs of limiting greenhouse gas emissions. In
return for investing in a sustainable development project that reduces or
avoids emissions in a developing country, companies will earn "certified
emission reductions" that developed countries may use to meet their Kyoto
commitments.
http://unfccc.int/press/prel2003/pressrel280103.pdf
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board Meets in Gland,
Switzerland, February 11-12
As part of their third annual board meeting, the Board
of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) will approve the report, “Ecosystems and People: A Framework for Assessment”. This report sets the basis for the work of over 400
scientists from 66 countries that have started to assess the current and future
capacity of ecosystems to provide services to humankind, including the impacts
of ecosystem change on well-being and human response to these changes.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) examines the
condition of the world’s grasslands, forests, rivers and lakes, farmlands, oceans, and other
ecosystems. Together, ecosystems produce a range of goods and services -- such
as food, timber, clean water, and erosion control -- which support life on
earth. However, increasing demands on these ecosystems is rapidly diminishing
their ability to provide essential services to humankind. The $21 million,
four-year study will involve leading scientists from such organizations as the
IUCN-World Conservation Union and WRI.
The MA will provide decision-makers with authoritative
scientific knowledge concerning the impact of changes to the world’s ecosystems on human livelihoods and the environment.
It will provide governments, the private sector, and local organizations with
better information on how to restore the productivity of ecosystems.
The meeting is co-hosted by IUCN - The World
Conservation Union and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
The
World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org/wri/) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to create
practical ways to protect the Earth and improve people's lives.
http://newsroom.wri.org/advisory_text.cfm?MediaAdvisoryID=53
"Media and Truth: an
Interreligious Perspective on Ethical Reporting : Possibilities and
Obstacles" - International
Conference, Rome, 17-18 February
The power of media to shape
reality is great. We learn of international events through the media, and make
moral and political judgments based on the information received. Willingly or
not, media people are thus saddled with a responsibility commensurate to this
power.
International media coverage
of Muslim and Arab societies has produced Islamophobia. Correspondence from the
Middle East has enflamed the cinders of anti-Semitism worldwide.
How can media stop producing
stereotypes of nations, religions, and the parts in conflict? How can media
convey the deeper truths behind screaming headlines? How can media work for
peace?
Arab, Israeli, Palestinian,
Italian, international and multi-religious media representatives will debate
these vital contemporary issues as part of an ongoing process aimed at better
communication between the media and religious communities.
The Conference is organized by
WCRP/Europe, the European Section of the World Conference on Religion and
Peace, an NGO spread out over the 5 continents in over 100 countries including
11 European nations, and by the City of Rome, through the "Rome City of
Peace" project, and in cooperation with the Austrian Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, the Austrian Embassy to the Holy See, the Austrian Embassy in Rome,
the Foreign Press Association in Rome and the Roman Press Association, and the
Graz Peace Centre and the City of Graz (2003 Cultural Capital of Europe) which,
together with the City of Sarajevo and in concomitance with WCRP’s European
Assembly will hold a pan-European conference in Graz next July 5th
to 9th entitled "Project; Interfaith Europe". The results
of the Rome "Media and Truth" Conference will be reported there.
Conference and program
director: Lisa Palmieri-Billig, LisaBillig@libero.it
Nairobi, 31 January - UNICEF today handed over the
first consignment of school supplies to the government of Kenya - just two
weeks after it pledged the US 2.5. million dollar contribution to support the
country’s initiative to provide free primary education.
UNICEF Representative Dr. Nicholas Alipui presented
education and recreation kits to Minister of Education, Hon. George Saitoti at
a ceremony at the Kihumbuini primary school in Kangemi, a low-income district
in the capital city, Nairobi. A large crowd of children, teachers and officials
of the Education Ministry witnessed the hand-over of learning, teaching and
recreational materials which included exercise books, pens, pencils, rulers, sharpeners,
slates, chalk, chalkboards, footballs, volleyballs and skipping ropes. (...)
Today’s consignment for schools in Nairobi will be followed by the
distribution of supplies to eight other districts: Kwale, Garissa, Wajir,
Turkana, Moyale, Marsabit, Moyale and West Pokot. By March some 450,000
children in grades 1 to 3 will have benefitted.
In addition to supplies, UNICEF is supporting the
training of five thousand teachers to create child-friendly classrooms and
assisting in the repair and rehabilitation of primary school classrooms and
their water and sanitation facilities.
Meanwhile, UNICEF has launched a donor appeal to raise
another US 4.5 million dollars to increase support to the Kenyan government in
its commitment to achieve universal primary education.
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/2003/03prkenya.html
UNESCO and the government of Afghanistan launch
nationwide literacy project
Paris, 28 January – UNESCO and the Government of Afghanistan
today launched a major project to boost literacy throughout Afghanistan, which
suffers one of the world’s lowest literacy rates. UNESCO estimates that only
51.9 percent of Afghan men over the age of 15 and a mere 21.9 percent of women
in the same age group can read and write. A vast effort is underway to rebuild
the country’s education system and to get all Afghan children back
to school. However, the adult population, which is responsible for the
immediate reconstruction of Afghanistan and the revival of its economy, also
needs to upgrade skills and knowledge. (...)
The Literacy and Non-formal Education
Development in Afghanistan project (LAND AFGHAN) launched today with the
signing of an agreement between UNESCO and the Government of Afghanistan in
Kabul, aims to fill part of the education gap that resulted from the war.
The project’s main focus will be on building up a
nationwide network of literacy teachers, trained in modern non-formal education
methods. It will also train people in the development and production of
teaching materials and provide the necessary equipment for this, including
printing facilities. A wealth of existing literacy resources, developed by the
Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre (ACCU) in Japan and UNESCO’s Bangkok office, will be adapted and
translated into the dominant Pashtu and Dari languages. (...)
The project is initially financed by a
US$500,000 contribution from the Japanese Government through a funds-in-trust.
It is considered a flagship programme for the United Nations Literacy Decade
(2003-2012) which will be officially launched at UN Headquarters in New York on
February 13.
The Branch in
Turkey of IFLAC PAVE PEACE: The International Forum for the Culture and
Literature of Peace, is organizing this innovative and important conference,
together with IFLAC World Center in Haifa. IFLAC is a network of international
peace researchers, writers, poets, politicians, diplomats, educators,
journalists and media people, peace activists, women activists, and students,
working together to foster joint cooperation and understanding in the Middle
East and in our global village. The conference will bring together
participants from a broad range of fields, to discuss the impact of the
cultural, literary, and social dimensions and elements in the development of
multiculturalism with the preservation of national identity in conflicted areas,
and the ways for promoting the
aspirations of paving a world beyond war. (...)
The
themes to be examined and discussed at this conference will include: From A War
Culture To A Peace Culture; Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature;
Pluralistic Cultural Identity in an Era of Globalization; Women and Peace;
The Communications Revolution and its effects on Social Change; Democracy,
Human Rights and Peace; The New Generation and Peace; The Importance of the
Creation of a Peace Culture in the Global Media including the electronic media:
TV, Satellite, Radio and the Internet; (...)
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