5 May 2008: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced a contribution of US$40 million for a new Climate Change Fund it is establishing to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change in the Asia-Pacific region.
7 May 2008 : In response to the current worldwide food emergency, the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Secretary-General, Michel Jarraud, has established a Task Team on Food Security.
7 May 2008 : The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will hold an expert meeting on estimating emissions and removals of greenhouse gases from land uses such as agriculture and forestry.
2 May 2008: The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) held an international expert meeting on the role of sustainable management of tropical forests in climate change adaptation and mitigation from 30 April- 2 May 2008, in Yokohama, Japan. Participants reviewed the potential of sustainable forest management to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, explored existing and possible future schemes to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) and other mitigation options in the forest sector, and made recommendations for future action.
2 May 2008: The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a statement on biofuels, in which it raises questions regarding a surge in food prices and biofuels and notes a number of important factors impacting food supplies and prices, including surging food demand, failed harvests and high energy prices.
IEA Statement
2 May 2008: Participants to the Second meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction have addressed the issue of environmental impacts of anthropogenic activities. A number of developing countries at the 28 April-2 May 2008 meeting in New York, US, organized by the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, expressed concern with ocean-based climate change mitigation activities, highlighting uncertainties regarding their impacts.
Norway, Australia, Marshall Islands and Mexico argued that these activities should be subject to the carrying out of an environmental impact assessment (EIA).
Above - L-R: Co-Chair Ambassador Robert Hill (Australia) and Co-Chair Juan Manuel Gómez-Robledo (Mexico).
2 May 2008: One day after taking office, newly appointed Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier de Schutter, called for a special session of the Human Rights Council, so that the Council can “speak with one single voice.” He called upon States to increase their support to humanitarian agencies and provide cash transfers to the neediest segments of populations in food-insecure countries. In the longer-term, he called for greater financial support for small-scale farmers, action to combat climate change, and the phasing out of “market-distorting” agricultural subsidies, noting that the current crisis is “not a natural disaster” but “a crisis which is man-made.”
2 May 2008: An estimated 2000 delegates gathered at UN headquarters in New York, US, from 21 April to 2 May, for the Seventh Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNFPII) – a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The theme for the session was “Climate change, biocultural diversity and livelihoods: the stewardship roles of indigenous peoples and new challenges.” In its deliberations, the Forum noted that indigenous traditional ways of life have been threatened by climate change, that indigenous peoples continue to be the main custodians of knowledge and biodiversity and that indigenous peoples have largely been kept out of the international dialogue on climate change.
1 May 2008: The UNFCCC Secretariat recently organized a workshop in Bonn, Germany, for parties to the Kyoto Protocol to discuss a second review of the Protocol, which will take place later this year.
