Disasters & Humanitarian Relief

OCHA-UN/ISDR: Disaster Preparedness for Effective Response – Guidance and Indicator Package for Implementing Priority Five of the Hyogo Framework

July 2008. The UN Office for the

Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has launched, in collaboration with

the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) Secretariat, a

document for the implementation of Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) Priority Five

(disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels).

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WMO International Fire Warning Workshop Convenes in Edmonton, Canada

14

July 2008: An International Workshop on Advances in Operational Weather Systems

for Fire Danger Rating, organized jointly by World Meteorological Organization

(WMO), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Panel for Global Observation

of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD), and Natural Resources Canada’s

Canadian Forest Service, in collaboration with a number of other co-sponsors, is

being held from 14-16 July 2008, in Edmonton, Canada.

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UNGA Considers Food and Energy Crises

Letter from UNGA President Srgjan Kerim/A view of the General Assembly Hall

14 July

2008: The UN General Assembly (UNGA) will consider the global food and energy

crises, with a particular eye to concern about macroeconomic and political

stability in numerous countries, in a plenary meeting on 18 July 2008.

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ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment to Open on 15 July 2008

14 July 2008: The UN Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) Humanitarian Affairs Segment

will open on 15 July 2008, and will be organized around the theme “Building

capabilities and capacities at all levels for timely humanitarian assistance,

including disaster risk reduction.”

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G8: Summit Concludes with Agreement on Climate Change

G8

8 July 2008: The Group

of Eight Industrialized Countries (G8) Hokkaido Toyako

Summit took place from 7-9 July 2008

in Japan. On 8 July, the G8 leaders agreed on a Document on Environment and

Climate Change. The leaders of the G8

agreed to share with parties to the UNFCCC the vision of a goal of achieving at

least 50% reduction of global emissions by 2050, recognizing that this global

challenge can only be met by the contributions from all major economies,

consistent with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and

respective capabilities.

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MEM: Leaders Meeting of Major Economies on Energy Security and Climate Change Develops Declaration

9 July 2008: The

Leaders Meeting of the Major Economies took place on 9 July 2008, in Hokkaido,

Japan, in conjunction with the G8 Summit. The leaders of Australia, Brazil,

Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy,

Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom,

and the United States issued a Declaration, which had been agreed during a

previous meeting held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 21-22 June 2008.

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World Food Programme (WFP) Adopts New Strategic Plan to Address Food Crisis

13

June 2008: The WFP Executive Board has adopted a new four-year strategic plan to address hunger needs arising from recent

food price increases and shortages, as well as to fight hunger more strategically.

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Calls for Human Rights Approach to World Food Crises

4 June 2008: Speaking at the FAO High-Level Conference on

World Food Security, which convened in Rome, Italy, from 3-5 June 2008, Louise

Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the food crisis is a

forceful signal “about individual human rights and the need for collective

action.” Reporting on a special session of the Human Rights Council on the food

emergency, she called for a human rights framework to analyze the causes of the

crises and “to clarify the power imbalances inside and between countries that

trigger or exacerbate the food crisis, including unfair trade practices or

skewed policies involving incentives and subsidies.”

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WHO Urges Priority Action in Hot Spots of Malnutrition

Laroche

3 June 2008: Noting that food choices and nutrition are

highly sensitive to food prices, World Health Organization (WHO)

Director-General Margaret Chan sent a message to the FAO High-Level Conference

on World Food Security, which convened in Rome, Italy from 3-5 June 2008,

highlighting that “the food crisis is a direct threat to much hard-won progress

in health development.”

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UN Secretary-General Reports Task Force Recommendations at FAO Conference

Ban_kimoon_fao

3 June 2008: UN Secretary-General Ban

Ki-moon urged “bold and urgent steps” to tackle the global food crisis in his

statement to the FAO High-Level Conference on World Food Security, which

convened in Rome, Italy, from 3-5 June 2008. Noting that food production will

have to rise by 50% by the year 2030 to meet rising demand, he said “it is

important that our longer term focus is on improving world food security - and

remains so for some years.”

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