A Knowledgebase of UN and Intergovernmental
Activities Addressing Global Climate Change Policy

3 July 2008: The High-level Segment of the UN Economic

and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) Substantive Session has developed a Ministerial

Declaration entitled “Implementing the internationally agreed goals and

commitments in regard to sustainable development.” The four-day High-level

Segment (30 June-3 July) convened at UN Headquarters in New York, US, and

consisted of four elements: a high-level policy dialogue on the state of the

world economy and its implications for the achievement of the UN Development

Agenda (30 June); the first Development Cooperation Forum (30 June-1 July); the

second Annual Ministerial Review (2-3 July); and a thematic debate on

integrated approaches to rural development (3 July).

read more »

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.

read more »

13 June

2008: Four parallel meetings took place between 2-13 June 2008, in Bonn,

Germany, under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto

Protocol. The second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term

Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), which was launched in Bali,

started its substantive work in Bonn, while the resumed fifth session of the Ad

Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the

Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) began the process of listing issues for further

negotiation, particularly on the Kyoto Protocol’s market-based mechanisms and

on carbon sinks.  

read more »

13

June 2008: Speaking at the UN Association-UK in London, United Kingdom, UN

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a speech entitled “Securing the Common Good:

The United Nations and the Expanding Global Agenda.”

read more »

4 June 2008: Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann (Nicaragua) was elected on

4 June 2008 to serve as President of the 63rd Session of the UN General

Assembly (UNGA), which will begin on 16 September 2008.

read more »

June

2008: During its presidency of the European Union, France will host an

international conference on the role of forests and their products in a post-2012

climate regime.

read more »

21 May 2008: The Commission on Growth and Development has released its report entitled “The Growth Report: Strategies for Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development,” in which it analyzes, among other issues, whether deve loping countries can grow as fast as the fastest growing economies without causing global greenhouse gases to spiral out of control.

read more »

18 May 2008: The Fifth European Union (EU) / Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Summit took place in Lima, Peru, from 16-17 May 2008. The Summit developed the “Lima Declaration on Addressing our Peoples’ Priorities Together,” which addresses, among others, poverty, inequality, inclusion, climate change, environment and energy.

read more »

9 May 2008: Speaking during the UN Commission on Sustainable Development’s thematic discussion on inter-linkages and across-cutting issues, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) underlined the link between soil health and drought mitigation. The FAO representative noted that the world’s agriculture must not only guarantee food security, but also “a range of other supporting and regulating ecosystem services, in particular nutrient cycling, the hydrological regime and carbon sequestration.”

read more »

This Conference, which is supported by the International Hydrological Programme of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO-IHP), will be held in Kampala, Uganda, from 24-28 June 2008.

read more »