The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Secretariat has posted the draft agenda and other details on its website for its upcoming 28th session. In letters addressed to IPCC focal points and to relevant organizations, dated 5 February 2008, IPCC Secretary Renate Christ, on behalf of IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri, provides details of the venue and focus of the session, which is scheduled for 9-10 April 2008, in Budapest, Hungary.
The Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has confirmed that the first session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention, and the fifth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG), will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 31 March-4 April 2008 (http://unfccc.int/meetings/items/2654.php
In his opening remarks to the Economic Club of Chicago dinner, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said climate change is the defining challenge of our era. 
Speaking in advance of the UN General Assembly’s thematic debate on climate change, General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim called for a “common vision, a global consensus, a global alliance for action.” 
The 16th Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from 27 January to 1 February 2008, concluded with the adoption of decision on climate change, in which ministers endorsed the outcomes of the Bali UN Climate Change Conference. 
In her address to the 2008 First Regular Session of the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board UNFPA, Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said the organization will “follow-up on the Bali Conference on Climate Change by strengthening efforts in policy guidance, emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction.” 
The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) will convene an International Expert Meeting from 30 April-2 May in Yokohama, Japan, to promote the role of tropical forests and their sustainable management in climate change mitigation and adaptation. 
In a message to the Beijing International Conference on Combating Desertification, held Beijing, China, from 22-24 January, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the “impact of desertification is intensifying due to climate change, which is reducing the availability of freshwater, fertile soil, and forest and vegetation.” 
A meeting between the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia and President of the European Council, Janez Janša, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon identified climate change as a common priority between the two Organizations. 
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