12 December 2008: On the sidelines of the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, which took place in Poznań, Poland, the Climate Change programme of the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) launched a new project on capacity building and adaptation to climate change with seven regional centers of excellence in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the South Pacific.
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11 December 2008: The European Council met in Brussels, Belgium, from 11-12 December 2008, and reached agreement on an energy and climate change package. It is anticipated that the package will be finalized with the European Parliament by the end of 2008.
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11 December 2008: In a press conference in Poznań, Poland, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted progress achieved at the climate change talks, but stressed that much more needs to be done. He called on governments not to “backslide” on previous commitments and emphasized the need for: deep cuts in emissions to stabilize our climate; assistance for developing countries in dealing with mitigation and adaptation; a dramatic increase of financial and technological resources; and institutions that can support these efforts.
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10 December 2008: The World Bank released a new report entitled “Low Carbon, High Growth: Latin American Responses to Climate Change.” The study argues that a shift towards low carbon activities could enhance the region’s competitiveness and contribute to a faster recovery from the current economic meltdown.
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10 December 2008: The 14th Senior Officials Meeting of the Environment Management Group (EMG) convened on 10 December 2008, in Poznań, Poland. Participants discussed: implementation of the 2007 commitment by the Chief Executives Board on moving towards a climate-neutral UN, including the development of a Climate Neutral Knowledge Management website that will document individual agency’s greenhouse gas emissions and reductions; the cost implications and budgetary modalities of purchasing carbon offsets; and future EMG work, including a possible strategic process and the strategy for implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the 2010 biodiversity targets.
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10 December 2008: The High-level Regional Policy Dialogue on “The Food-Fuel Crisis and Climate Change – Reshaping the Development Agenda,” jointly organized by the Government of Indonesia and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), convened from 9-10 December 2008, in Bali, Indonesia. The meeting recommended urgent, comprehensive and coordinated action to deal with the food, energy and financial crises, and climate change in the region.
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8 December 2008: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Secretary General, Angel Gurría, participated in a high level meeting of Ministers of Finance in Poznań, Poland, on the sidelines of the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, and highlighted that the engagement of finance ministers in the fight against climate change is essential.
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5 December 2008: A meeting of the Global Forum on Flaring Reduction and Natural Gas Utilization convened from 4-5 December 2008, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Led by the World Bank, the Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership (GGFR) found evidence of a decline in global gas flaring, while calling for oil producing countries and companies to keep up the momentum and redouble efforts in gas flaring reduction to reduce greenhouse emissions.
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December 2008: The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of the 16 international research centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, has published a report entitled “The Impact of Climate Change and Adaptation on Food Production in Low-Income Countries: Evidence from the Nile Basin, Ethiopia.”
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11 December 2008: On the occasion of International Mountain Day, celebrated on 11 December, Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), delivered a message on food security in the mountains.
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