2008: In accordance with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Strategic Priority on Adaptation, which aims to build up the resilience of small communities vis-à-vis climate change impacts, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has begun implementing the GEF-funded Community-Based Adaptation Project.
In his 1 April 2008 address to the UN General Assembly’s thematic debate on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that “development progress is gravely threatened by the effects of climate change and other major environmental challenges.” He highlighted that changes in our natural environment “can have adverse impacts on economic and social development,” and emphasized developing countries’ need for “additional assistance and resources to support their adaptation efforts,” given their limited technological and financial resources. 
The Board of the Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund met for the first time from 26-28 March 2008, in Bonn, Germany. The Fund, which was set up under the Kyoto Protocol and approved at the Bali Climate Change Conference in December 2007, will finance adaptation projects that assist developing countries to deal with the impact of climate change. 
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has launched a project to develop an international standard for energy management, following the successful examples of the ISO 9000 series on quality management and the ISO 14000 series on environmental management. 
The World Bank has released a concept and issues paper that develops a draft for a comprehensive Strategic Framework on Climate Change and Development (SFCCD) for the World Bank Group (WBG). The draft will be subject to public consultations and proposed for endorsement by the Board in September 2008. 
Calling for a new business approach to African agriculture, the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s (UNECA) Director of Food Security and Sustainable Development, Josue Dione, said in Addis Ababa that climate change would aggravate the continent’s food insecurity and poverty. In a paper presented at the international conference on “Science with Africa,” Dione said Africa would experience a 10 percent decrease in rainfall in Southern Africa and the Horn of Africa by 2050. 
The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) announced that World Tourism Day 2008 will focus on Tourism’s response to the challenges of climate change. It will be a yearlong campaign that will focus on increasing awareness of the Davos Declaration Process and encouraging its implementation by all stakeholders at a global level. 
Emissions trading in the US was the focus of the Carbon Forum America conference and trade show that convened in San Francisco from 26-27 February 2008. The event, which drew 1400 participants and 80 exhibitors, involved conference sessions and side events on such issues as innovation in a global market, renewable energy, low carbon generation technology, carbon capture and sequestration, the agriculture and forestry sectors, legal and accounting issues, and voluntary carbon markets. 
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