9 March 2010: In an opening speach to the ITB Travel Trade Show, which is convening in Berlin, Germany, from 10-14 March 2010, UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary-General Taleb Rifai urged the tourism sector to ensure that global policies are supportive of the sustainable growth of tourism. read more »
19 February 2010: The International Civil Aviation Authority’s (ICAO) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection’s (CAEP) met at ICAO headquarters from 1-12 February 2010, in Montreal, Canada, and announced the ICAO’s commitment to the development of a carbon dioxide standard for commercial aircraft by 2013. This effort would result in the first global fuel-efficiency standard for any industry sector.
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March 2010: The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has published its Trade and Environment Review 2009/2010, which contains some 20 essays on the topic “Promoting Poles of Clean Growth to Foster the Transition to a More Sustainable Economy.” read more »
2 March 2010: The EU has announced increased funding of up to EUR 2 billion, for the period 2011-2013, to reinforce political cooperation and promote economic integration between the EU and its neighbors. Funding will be used for, among other things, projects in the areas of climate change, transport, energy and environment.
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January 2010: The World Health Organization (WHO) published its Fact Sheet N°266 on “Climate change and health,” which includes sections on: the impact of climate change on health; extreme heat; natural disasters and variable rainfall patterns; patterns of infection; measuring health effects; sectors of the population at risk; and the WHO response.
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25 February 2010: The 72nd annual session of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Inland Transport Committee, held from 23-25 February 2010, in Geneva, Switzerland, recognized that measures including better infrastructure planning, efficient border-crossing and transit procedures, technologically progressive vehicle construction norms and a greater role for environmentally-friendly modes, such as rail and inland navigation, are necessary steps to improve current and future transportation systems, with less pollution, in the pan-European region.
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19 February 2010: The World Trade Organization (WTO) held a Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE-SS) to continue negotiations on the liberalization of environmental goods and services, and noted a renewed focus on liberalizing trade in climate-friendly products, such as solar energy-related parts and components, wind and hydro-electric energy and gas-turbines, natural gas and clean-diesel vehicles, and products used in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects.
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25 February 2010: The Heads of State and government of Latin American and Caribbean countries gathered at the Unity Summit, comprising the 21st Summit of the Rio Group and the second Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development. Leaders at the event, which took place in Riviera Maya, Mexico, on 23 February 2010, discussed, among other things, prospects for the climate change negotiations. read more »