World Bank President Proposes “New Deal for a Global Food Policy” [viewed]
Robert B. Zoellick, World Bank President, called, on 2 April 2008, for a “New Deal for a Global Food Policy” to combat world hunger and malnutrition, in the face of skyrocketing food and oil prices, through a combination of emergency aid and long-term efforts to boost agricultural productivity in developing countries. Zoellick said the new deal is needed to combat the “forgotten” Millennium Development Goal of overcoming malnutrition, a problem that causes 3.5 million deaths a year in children under 5 and has long-lasting impacts on health and achievement. According to Zoellick, this new deal “should focus not only on hunger and nutrition, access to food and its supply, but also the interconnections with energy, yields, climate change, investment, the marginalization of women and others, and economic resiliency and growth.”
The UN Development Programme’s Adaptation Team has launched “Country Adaptation Profiles,” which are available for over 140 countries and provide two key services: linking climate change risks to national development priorities; and sharing up-to-date information on climate change adaptation, including ongoing efforts, science and assessments. 
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) held its annual meeting from 4-8 April 2008, in Miami, US. 
The second issue of Vai Pasifika, the quarterly newsletter of the Pacific Islands Observing Systems that aims to encourage a unified approach to observing the Pacific climate ecosystem, was issued last month. 
The World Health Organization (WHO) celebrated World Health Day on 7 April 2008 under the theme “Protecting health from climate change.” WHO selected this theme in recognition of the diverse threats to global public health security that climate warming poses, including the changing dynamics of infectious diseases outbreaks; the recurrence of natural disasters; and intensification of deforestation, floods and desertification. 
The plenary sessions of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Board will convene from 7-9 and 16-17 April 2008. 
The newest edition of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) flagship publication, the UNESCO Courier, focuses on climate change. 
2008: In accordance with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Strategic Priority on Adaptation, which aims to build up the resilience of small communities vis-à-vis climate change impacts, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has begun implementing the GEF-funded Community-Based Adaptation Project. 
