Archives for October 2008

Guest Article #7

Only a few weeks ago I was in Mexico to announce that this Latin American country will be the main host for World Environment Day 2009, less than 200 days before the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen.

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First World Summit of Regions Showcases Role of Regions in Tackling Climate Change

First climate change summit of the world's regional governments 30 October 2008: Over 600 participants representing

governments, regions and other local authorities gathered in Saint Malo,

France, from 29-30 October 2008, for the “First World Summit of Regions,

Climate Change: Regions in Action.”

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UN Secretary General Discusses Climate Change Corporate Initiatives with Indian Business Leaders

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivers the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Lecture 30 October 2008: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held a

meeting in New Delhi, India, with leading Indian business leaders and Rajendra

Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Director-

General of TERI, to discuss the corporate initiatives undertaken by the TERI

Business Council to reduce the impact of climate change.

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UNCCD Executive Secretary Highlights Nexus between Land Degradation and Climate Change

Combating desertification could help tackle other global crises – UN official

29 October 2008: Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the UN

Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) told a news conference at UN

Headquarters, NY, US, that “the nexus between land degradation and climate

change is clear,” with global warming being likely to lead to more extreme

weather events, which could lead to soil erosion and loss of land cover.

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Ramsar Convention, IUCN and Danone Group Partner Against Climate Change

Danone, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature

29 October 2008: On the sidelines of the 10th Conference of

Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, taking place in

Changwon, Republic of Korea, from 28 October-4 November 2008, the Ramsar

Secretariat, the Danone Group and IUCN have entered into a partnership

targeting climate change.

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CDM Board Releases Public Inputs on Elaboration of CDM Accreditation Requirements

Elaboration of CDM Accreditation Requirements 29 October 2008: The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

Board, at its 42nd meeting on 24-26 September 2008, in Bonn, Germany, decided

to make the draft document of “Elaboration of CDM Accreditation Requirements”

as contained annex 1 of the 26th progress report of the CDM-Accreditation

Panel, available for public comment from 29 September 2008 to 27 October 2008.

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UN Secretary-General: Financial Crisis Could “Eclipse the Global Effort to Address Climate Change”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's address at the University of Philippines

29 October 2008: In a speech delivered at the University of

Philippines, in Manila, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon indicated that his

“most immediate concern” was that the financial crisis could “eclipse the

global effort to address climate change.” He noted that, while developing

countries face the same pressures as the US and Europe, they lack the resources

to tackle the crisis.

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UNGA Second Committee Considers Human Settlements and Climate Change

UN-HABITAT Chief, in Second Committee, cites ‘Rapid and Chaotic’ Urbanization, Shortage of Affordable Housing as Causes of Global Financial Crisis 28 October 2008: The Second Committee on Economic and

Financial issues, of the 63rd UN General Assembly (UNGA), considered the report

of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of the Outcome of the UN

Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and strengthening of the UN Human

Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) (document A/63/291).

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ECLAC Highlights Climate Change’s Potential Negative Impact on Intraregional Trade

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UN Secretary-General Stresses Role of Wetlands in Tackling Climate Change

10th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties 28 October 2008: In a video message to the tenth meeting of

the Conference of the Contracting Parties of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands,

taking place in Changwon, Republic of Korea, from 28 October-4 November 2008,

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the appropriateness of the

conference’s theme, “Healthy wetlands, healthy people.”

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