The Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD)
In 1992 the United Nations established a high-level forum to monitor and report on the agency's sustainable development goals, known as the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). The CSD is responsible for reviewing progress in the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration as well as providing policy guidance to follow up the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.
A key function of the CSD is to promote dialogue and build partnerships for sustainable development - working with the international community, national governments, local authorities, non-governmental organisations, and key participant groups such as women, youth, indigenous peoples and the scientific community. The CSD also provides technical assistance, expert advice and capacity building to support developing and transitional economies to achieve sustainable development.
The CSD is an inter-governmental body whose 53 members are elected from UN member states and specialist agencies. The Commission meets annually in New York, and works on two-year cycles with each cycle focusing on a selected thematic cluster of issues - in 2008/9, these are: Agriculture, Rural Development, Land, Drought, Desertification and Africa.
The CSD receives administrative and technical support from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. For more information visit the department's website at www.un.org/esa/
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the voice of the environment within the United Nations system. Established in 1972, UNEP's global headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya and there are six regional offices around the world. It has eight divisions and hosts a number of convention secretariats. UNEP provides access to data and information on the environment to assist governments and the private sector. UNEP's flagship assessment report is the Global Environment Outlook. Many international environmental agreements have come through UNEP.
UNEP has six priority areas which define its focus on the environmental challenges of the 21st century. These are: climate change, disasters and conflict, ecosystem management, environmental governance, harmful substances, resource efficiency and other thematic areas.
www.unep.org
GOVERNMENTS MUST ACT SWIFTLY TO SALVAGE BIODIVERSITY UN Media Release 10 May 2010 - A new biodiversity report released today by two United Nations environmental bodies concluded that unless radical and creative action is taken quickly to conserve the variety of life on Earth, natural systems that support lives and livelihoods are at risk of collapsing.
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BAN URGES GLOBAL ALLIANCE TO SAVE BIODIVERSITY AS UN LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL YEAR UN Media Release Jan 11 2010 As the United Nations officially launched the International Year of Biodiversity today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called the failure to protect the world’s natural resources a “wake-up call” and urged each country and each person to engage in a global alliance to protect life on Earth.
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UN OPENS BIODIVERSITY YEAR WITH PLEA TO SAVE WORLD'S LIFE-SUPPORTING ECOSYSTEMS Media Release Jan 1 2010. In a bid to curb the unprecedented loss of the world's species due to human activity -- at a rate some experts put at 1,000 times the natural progression -- the United Nations is marking 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, with a slew of events highlighting the vital role the phenomenon plays in maintaining the life support system on Planet Earth.
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MEDIA RELEASE: AFRICAN ENVIRONMENT MINISTERS REACH SIGNIFICANT CLIMATE CHANGE ACCORD - UN media Release New York, May 29 2009 3:00PM The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today announced a landmark agreement reached by over 30 African ministers to mainstream climate change adaptation measures into national and regional development plans, policies and strategies.
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United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)
Is a global partnership between UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and the financial sector. Over 170 institutions - including banks, insurers and fund managers - work with UNEP to develop and promote linkages between the environment, sustainability and financial performance. The institutions are signatories to the UNEP FI Statements. Through regional activities, work and training programmes and research, UNEP FI seeks to identify, promote and realise the adoption of best environmental and sustainability practice at all levels of financial operations.
UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the COPs
The first international conferences addressing the issue of climate change were held in the mid- and late-1980s. In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, 154 nations signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This voluntary framework laid the foundation for the subsequent Kyoto Protocol - intended as a legally binding obligation for developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Most industrialized countries agreed to reduce their emissions for the period from 2008 to 2012. These countries (known as the Annexure 1 parties) have targets set on average 5% below their 1990 level of emissions.
Other countries (known as non-Annexure 1 parties) and which include significant polluters like China, India, Brazil and South Africa, have no binding commitment to cut emissions during the period 2008 to 2012. This is because they are considered not to have contributed significantly to greenhouse gas emissions in the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. While it is expected that most developing countries will increase their emissions during 2008 to 2012, they have made non-binding commitments to introduce ecologically efficient processes in any new developments. The non-Annexure parties do have to comply with the reporting and other requirements. South Africa signed the UNFCCC on 15 June 1993 and ratified it on 29 August 1997.
Countries that have ratified the UNFCCC meet annually to assess progress and set targets for decreasing emissions.. To date, the United States, the largest producer of carbon emissions in the world, has not signed the Kyoto Protocol. The countries that have ratified the UNFCCC meet in what is called the 'Conference of Parties' (COP). were held in Kenya (2006), Bali (2007) and Poland (2008).
In December 2009, a COP meeting was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. An agreement was not reached, however, an understanding of sorts came about that included both developed and developing nations. The Copenhagen Accord aims to “jump start immediate action on climate change and guide negotiations on long-term action” according to the UN. Developing nations will be given $30 billion until 2012 and then $100 billion a year until 2010.
The next COP meetings will be in Cancun, Mexico at the end of 2010, and in Durban, South Africa in 2011.
The latest on the global Climate Change talks
WORLD CANNOT AFFORD WORSENING DISASTERS, WARNS UN CLIMATE CHANGE CHIEF Media Release 2 September 2010. The world cannot afford escalating disasters of the kind recently witnessed in Pakistan and Russia, the top United Nations climate change official said today, underscoring the need for governments to take swift action to lead the world towards a low-carbon future.
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TOP UN CLIMATE CHANGE OFFICIAL CALLS FOR ENHANCED ACTION AFTER TALKS WRAP UP - Media Release 6 August 2010 While progress has been made in the latest round of international climate change negotiations, governments must now step up action on the issue if they are to reach a lasting deal later this year, a senior United Nations official said today.
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NEW UN CLIMATE CHANGE CHIEF RALLIES GOVERNMENTS TO STEP UP ACTION - Media Release 2 August 2010 With the future of humanity at stake, governments must continue building common ground to further progress on climate change, the new United Nations chief on the issue said in the latest round of international negotiations which kicked off in Bonn today.
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UN LAUNCHES GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS CALCULATOR - UN media Release 23 March 2010 The United Nations launched today the first common system of calculating the amount of greenhouse gases produced in a given city and by specific sector or time, allowing cities to compare their performances and analyse differences.
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GREATER EFFORTS NEEDED TO CURB GLOBAL WARMING TO LESS THAN 2 DEGREES CELSIUS - UN Media Release 23 Feb 2010 Nations must make more aggressive pledges to slash greenhouse gas emissions to avoid global temperatures rising by 2 degrees Celsius and prevent the worst possible effects of climate change, warned the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in a report released today.
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UN LAUNCHES PROJECT TO HELP DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CURB GREENHOUSE EMISSIONS UN Media Release 19 Feb 2010 Developing countries with energy intensive industries will benefit from a United Nations-backed project launched today to draw up a technological blueprint for capturing and storing global warming gas emissions, a crucial step in averting dangerous climate change.
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SENIOR UN CLIMATE CHANGE OFFICIAL CALLS FOR UNITED GLOBAL ACTION TO FORGE RAPID ACCORD Media Release Jan 22 2010. The failure of last month's United Nations summit in Copenhagen to agree on ambitious and immediate global action to combat climate change means that the task has become more, not less urgent, a senior UN official said in an opinion piece published today.
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For more media releases from the UN on the state of climate change talks see the home page and the list below.
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