22/05/2013
Geneva – “Change is coming,” stresses International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)*. “While it sometimes has felt like an impossible task to get rid of nuclear weapons, we’re now seeing a significant transformation of the nuclear weapons debate. This transformation is currently moving us in one direction: towards a treaty banning nuclear weapons.”
Source: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Thanks to the dedication and hard work of all our supporters and campaigners, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) played a central role in an important step forward: the recognition and understanding of the unacceptable humanitarian impact of a nuclear weapons detonation.
128 states participated in a recent conference on this topic in Oslo, Norway, and at the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty NPT Preparatory Committee, over 80 states explicitly raised concerns about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences that any use of nuclear weapons would have. read more »
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22/05/2013
Rome – Poverty and food insecurity in Egypt have risen significantly over the last three years, according to a joint report released on 21 May 2013 by the United Nations food agency and partners*.
More than 40 per cent of the average household’s expenditure in Egypt goes towards food; for the poorest families its more than half their budgets. Photo: WFP/Marco Frattini
An estimated 13.7 million Egyptians or 17 per cent of the population suffered from food insecurity in 2011, compared to 14 per cent in 2009, according to the report by UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
“This increase in food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty rates has not happened overnight, during this year or even during the past year,” said WFP Egypt Representative and Country Director GianPietro Bordignon. read more »
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17/05/2013
With dire warnings likely to match or exceed the worst fears about the effects of global warming, environment and development experts gathered on 16 May 2013 at United Nations Headquarters to debate the twin challenge of curbing climate change while sustaining economic growth*.
Sustainable water management brings economic, social and environmental benefits, say countries. Photo: UNEP
“The fundamental challenge of our time is to end extreme poverty in this generation and significantly narrow the global gap between rich and poor without ruing the environmental basis for our survival,” General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic said as he opened the Thematic Debate Sustainable Development and Climate Change: Practical Solutions in the Energy-Water Nexus.
The gathering featured UN officials, a host of environment and energy Ministers, as well as a diverse mix of experts that included Jeffrey Sachs, Director of Colombia University’s Earth Institute, and Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). read more »
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16/05/2013
Geneva- Not all stupid things are equal. Some stupid things are far more concerning than others, says the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
“There are 19,000 nuclear weapons around the world. It takes only one to cause a humanitarian catastrophe on a horrific scale, ICAN warns.
“Yet we’ve talked ourselves into having 2,000 of them on hair-trigger alert, ready to be launched within minutes.”
We are potentially only minutes away from the horror of seeing an entire city flattened in an instant, killing hundreds of thousands of people with no adequate humanitarian relief possible, ICAN stresses.
“Its effects would spread across borders and generations.”
“This is madness, not a security strategy.”
There is only one cure for this threat. We have to ban nuclear weapons.
You can read and sign the petition on the ICAN website. read more »
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16/05/2013
Rome - Globally, millions of people depend on forests for their livelihoods – directly through the consumption and sale of foods harvested in forests, and indirectly through forest-related employment and income generation, forest ecosystem services, and forest biodiversity, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 16 May 2013 said*.
Photo: UN Forum on Forests/Fendi Aspara | Source: UN
Forest foods, such as leaves, seeds, nuts, honey, fruits, mushrooms, insects and other forest animals, have been important components of rural diets for millennia. An estimated 2.6 billion people rely on fuelwood, including charcoal, for cooking their food, FAO added.
“Governments, civil society and the private sector should ensure and strengthen the contributions of forests, trees and agroforestry systems to food security and nutrition, participants in the first-ever International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition (13-15 May), organized by FAO,” said the organization.
The conference participants agreed that small-scale forest producers should be encouraged to strengthen their involvement in agroforestry, tree‐growing, small‐scale wood processing and the provision of ecosystem services. read more »
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14/05/2013
Rome, 14 May 2013 – Forests, trees on farms and agroforestry are critical in the fight against hunger and should be better integrated into food security and land use policies, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said on 13 May 2013 at the International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition in Rome (13-15 May).*
 A woman selling dried caterpillars in Kinshasha, Democratic Republic of the Congo | FAO “Forests contribute to the livelihoods of more than a billion people, including many of the world’s neediest. Forests provide food, fuel for cooking, fodder for animals and income to buy food,” Graziano da Silva said.
“Wild animals and insects are often the main protein source for people in forest areas, while leaves, seeds, mushrooms, honey and fruits provide minerals and vitamins, thus ensuring a nutritious diet,” he added. “But forests and agroforestry systems are rarely considered in food security and land use policies.”
“Often, rural people do not have secure access rights to forests and trees, putting their food security in danger. The important contributions forests can make to the food security and nutrition of rural people should be better recognized,” Graziano da Silva said. read more » |
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12/05/2013
Nairobi – Populations of elephants in Africa continue to be under severe threat as the illegal trade in ivory grows – with double the numbers of elephants killed and triple the amounts of ivory seized, over the last decade, according to the United Nations*.
African elephants | Photo credit: Ikiwaner | Wikimedia Commons.
According to a new report entitled “Elephants in the Dust – The African Elephant Crisis”, increasing poaching levels, as well as loss of habitat are threatening the survival of African elephant populations in Central Africa as well as previously secure populations in West, Southern and Eastern Africa.
The report says that systematic monitoring of large-scale seizures of ivory destined for Asia is indicative of the involvement of criminal networks, which are increasingly active and entrenched in the trafficking of ivory between Africa and Asia. read more »
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12/05/2013
By Nick Nuttal*, UNEP - In the 1950s and 1970s, the United Kingdom and Iceland were involved in the famous cod wars—a dispute over fishing rights. Today it is the tomato at the centre of attention—at least in Brazil—as prices last month soared 150 per cent in part due to food wastage of this essential and popular fruit.
Photo credit: Pluma | Wikimedia Common.
Clever cartoons and tongue-in-cheek photos on the “Tomatoes are very expensive” Facebook page cast them as a luxury, Brazil’s newest status symbol. ”Five star meal,” reads the caption above a photo of a simple everday lunch of meat, rice and salad, crowned by two skimpy tomato slices. read more »
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12/05/2013
As an estimated 50 billion birds commence their annual migrations, the critical staging areas they need to complete these journeys continue to be degraded or are disappearing completely, the United Nations today warned on this year’s World Migratory Bird Day on 11 May 2013*.
White Pelican. Photo: UNEP/AEWA/Sergey Dereliev
In his message marking the Day, celebrated each year in over 65 countries on 11 and 12 May, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underscored the need for greater international action in protecting the winged fauna and saving their natural habitats.
With the stepping stones to their migration under increased pressure, some bird species could face extinction within a decade. read more »
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11/05/2013
The theme of the 2013 World Day to Combat Desertification* is drought and water scarcity. Freshwater is valuable. Of all the water on Earth, only 2.5 per cent is freshwater. And of all this freshwater, the total usable supply for ecosystems and humans is less than 1 per cent.
UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
When demand for water exceeds available supply, it results in water scarcity. Drylands are particularly vulnerable to water scarcity. The projected intensification of freshwater scarcity will cause greater stresses in drylands. While each person needs at least 2,000 cubic meters of water for human well-being and sustainable development every year, on average, people in the drylands have access to only 1,300 cubic meters.
The goal of the 2013 World Day to Combat Desertification is to create awareness about the risks of drought and water scarcity in the drylands and beyond, calling attention to the importance of sustaining healthy soils as part of post Rio+20 agenda, as well as the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. read more »
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