23 January 2009: The UN Environment Programme has reported that a new study carried out by Indian and Swedish scientists shows that two-thirds of the soot particles contributing to the “Asian Brown Cloud,” which has a large effect on South Asia’s climate, are caused by biomass combustion. The results of the study, which are presented in the latest issue of Science, suggest that the remainder of the soot comes from fossil fuel combustion.
22 January 2009: The World Bank Board of Directors has approved a US$30 million interest-free loan to strengthen the energy sector in Honduras. The project’s three components are: building the national electric power company’s (Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (ENEE)) management and commercial capacity; renewing and rehabilitating distribution equipment, including the removal of polluted transformers; and institutional strengthening and corporate governance.
January 2009: The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) will launch the World Economic and Social Survey 2009-Climate Change and Development (WESS 2009) around mid-2009, to be available to the UNFCCC process, in particular, the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.
19 January 2009: UN officials and representatives of international agencies belonging to the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, ministers and several Heads of State will convene from 26-27 January 2009, in Madrid, Spain, for a High-Level Meeting on Food Security for All. Hosted by the Spanish Government, the meeting will review progress since the “High-Level Conference on World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy,” held in June 2008, during which 181 States and the European Community pledged to alleviate the suffering caused by soaring food prices, stimulate agricultural development and food production, and address obstacles to food access.
January 2009: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has released a nine-minute video by Ibrahima Fall, a Senegalese filmmaker, which documents the work of the GEF in climate change projects in selected African countries.
15 January 2009: The UN has regionally launched its World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009 Report, a joint product of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, and the five UN regional commissions.
December 2008: The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a research center of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), published an overview of achievements, research needs and outlook for sweet sorghum as resource for pro-poor biofuel development. The article, published in ICRISAT’s newsletter on the State of the Art on Semi-arid Agriculture (SASA), describes the work of ICRISAT’s BioPower Initiative on the use of sweet sorghum for food, fodder and as feedstock for ethanol production in different countries.
15 January 2009: Three projects aimed at countering the gorilla’s slide towards extinction were spotlighted as the international Year of the Gorilla (YoG) 2009 got underway with a “Gorillas on Thin Ice” event. The projects, which were drawn up by the UN Environment Programme Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS), seek to boost the prospects for the Cross River Gorilla, which is Africa’s rarest ape.
13 January 2009: The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), a research center of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), will produce a detailed digital soil map of 42 sub-Saharan countries. The project, named the African Soil Information Service (AfSIS), will provide information necessary to overcome soil depletion and improve crop production through better soil management.
December 2008: The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has published a discussion paper entitled: “Global Carbon Markets: Are There Opportunities for Sub-Saharan Africa?” The paper investigates the constraints that prevent Sub-Saharan countries from fully participating in global carbon markets and suggests policies for better integration.
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