15 May 2008: This International Labor Organization (ILO) background note was drafted in preparation for the G8 Labor and Employment Ministers Conference, which took place in Niigata, Japan, from 11-13 May 2008. The note presents an overview of the implications for employment and decent work policies by shifting to more sustainable development paths, focusing in particular on climate change and ways to combine growth, the reduction of poverty and equitable development with greenhouse gas mitigation.
The note sets out the state of knowledge of the impact on employment of climate change and policy responses. It concludes by suggesting ways in which G8 leadership could reinforce the initiative of the ILO to develop and implement a global green jobs strategy [The background note].
14 May 2008: The 43rd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the 34th Board of Governors meeting of the African Development Fund (ADF) took place on 14-15 May 2008, in Maputo, Mozambique. The Annual Meetings considered the theme “Fostering Shared Growth: Urbanization, Inequality and Poverty.”
read more »
14 May 2008: The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will organize a workshop on aviation and carbon markets on 18-19 June 2008, at ICAO headquarters in Montreal, Canada. The event will address issues related to aviation emissions and carbon markets, including emissions trading and carbon offset programmes.
The workshop will include a discussion of the pros and cons of market initiatives for aviation emissions and the opportunities for a global aviation carbon market. ICAO
14 May 2008: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his capacity as depositary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, has advised parties that the adjustments made to the Montreal Protocol at the Nineteenth Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (17-21 September 2007) will enter into force, and become binding to all parties, on 14 May 2008. The changes accelerate the phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) in developed and developing countries.
The adjustments came about in reaction to recent increases in HCFC production in developing countries, which have been linked to unintended perverse incentives unintentionally created by the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism.
Ozone Secretariat website
13 May 2008: Japan will host the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting from 24-26 May 2008, in Kobe, Japan. The meeting is part of the lead-up to the Hokkaido Toyako G8 Summit in July. The meeting will focus on three main themes: climate change, biodiversity and the 3R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle). On climate change, ministers will exchange views on effective means of mitigating climate change, addressing such issues as setting fair and equitable emissions targets, the creation of a Low-Carbon Society, promotion of integrated measures to combat pollution and climate change, and mainstreaming adaptation to climate change into development policies.
Link to G8
13 May 2008: The Energy Charter, in close cooperation with the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), will organize an international conference on International Cooperation on Energy Efficiency, to take place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on 28 May 2008.
The Conference will bring together senior experts from governments and industry and officials from international bodies to discuss ways to improve energy efficiency outcomes through enhanced international cooperation. The agenda includes consideration of the post-2012 rules for investments for energy efficiency, barriers to investment, and global energy efficiency integration.
Energy Charter and IEA
13 May 2008: The Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Evaluation Office organized an international workshop on Evaluating Climate Change and Development, from 10-13 May 2008, in Alexandria, Egypt. Participants shared experiences in evaluating projects and programmes aimed at the nexus between climate change and development, paying special attention to convergence in findings throughout the GEF’s Implementation Agencies.
Photo: Bibliotheca Alexandrina, site of the 2008 International Workshop on Evaluating Cliimate Change and Development.
read more »
12 May 2008: The World Business Summit on Climate Change will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2009. The May 2009 summit, backed by the UN, will be convened by the Copenhagen Climate Council, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. It is expected to attract many senior private sector executives, government and UN officials, as well as experts and representatives of the non-governmental community.
UN News Centre report
read more »
12 May 2008: The inaugural meeting of the UN High-level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis, convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, focused on elaborating a comprehensive framework for tackling the challenges posed by the food price crisis. In his opening remarks at the 12 May 2008 meeting, Secretary-General Ban recognized that soaring food prices are “essentially linked to the global demand for food exceeding supply, the drivers of the crisis are complex and the consequences are varied. Tackling this issue will require international leadership and coordination at the highest level.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s statement | UN Press release | Task Force website
read more »
11 May 2008: Celebrated on 10-11 May 2008, World Migratory Bird Day 2008, organized under the auspices of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), sent a “clear signal to world leaders that more needs to be done to halt the loss of biodiversity and to increase national and international efforts to protect the network of sites required by migratory birds.” Although the exact reasons for the global declines are complex and vary from species to species and from flyway to flyway, the overall decline in bird numbers may be linked to the loss of habitats and biodiversity worldwide. The loss and fragmentation of essential habitats is being further compounded by the effects of climate change.
read more »
