The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), within the framework of its cooperation with the Central American Commission on Environment and Development (CCAD), will be in a position to support three Central American countries to prepare a National Profile, organize a National Priority Setting Workshop and priorities and to develop a draft National Action Plan to strengthen capacities for democratic environmental governance. The projects are meant to make a contribution to the implementation of Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration, and the deadline for submitting applications is 30 November 2006.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan emphasized that the true test of countries' commitment to addressing ecological issues remains in implementation and enforcement, especially with regard to greenhouse gases, in his message to the 4^th IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium. The Colloquium convened from 16-20 October 2006 at Pace Law School in White Plains, NY, US, under the theme "Implementing Environmental Legislation: the Critical Role of Enforcement and Compliance." Annan's 16 October message noted the urgency of action on climate change, "given its profound implications for virtually every aspect of human well-being, from jobs and health to growth and security."

Over 200 pledges of funding worth a reported $7.3 billion were made during the second meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, held from 20-22 September 2006 in New York, US. The Initiative addresses four issues: climate change, poverty, health care and religious and ethnic conflict. After numerous plenary and working sessions on these issues during the three-day meeting, each participant at the meeting was expected to make an original, specific and measurable commitment. Attendees who do not make or keep their commitment will not be invited to attend future meetings. The 2006 pledges included Richard Branson's pledge to invest the next 10 years' profits from his Virgin Group's airline and train businesses in renewable energy initiatives, an estimated commitment of US$3 billion.

Clinton Global Initiative website

The Secretariat for the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP), which was launched by the G8 at the 14th Session of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development in May 2006 in New York to promote the use of bioenergy, has opened for business. The Secretariat is located at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) headquarters and is supported by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea. It is charged with facilitating a global political forum to promote bioenergy and to encourage the production, marketing and use of "green" fuels, with a particular focus on developing countries. Current partners of the GBEP are: all G8 Countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom, US), China, Mexico, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the UN Foundation, the European Biomass Industry Association (EUBIA) and FAO.

FAO news release (25 September 2006)

World Cup football stars Ronaldo Luiz Nazariode Lima and Zinédine Zidane, both UN Goodwill Ambassadors, have endorsed plans to build an energy-efficient public transport system in South Africa in time for the 2010 World Cup. Their 29 August 2006 statement, which was issued along with the UN Development Programme at the opening of the Global Environement Facility Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa, emphasized that the project provides an "opportunity to showcase the talents of engineers, designers, architects and city planners and their solutions for a cleaner, fairer, and ultimately more just planet." The project will investigate clean energy alternatives to fossil fuel-driven transport, make public transport a viable alternative to private cars for match spectators, and create better, sustainable transport planning around the country.

UN News Release (29 August 2006)

Coca-Cola Enterprises has released its first company-wide Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Review. The report is based on the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for the Global Reporting Initiative and highlights: the establishment in 2005 of a Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Advisory Council; voluntary changes to nutritional labeling as a result of consumer research and stakeholder engagement; a 20% reduction in packaging use since 2001; an estimated 1.53 billion liters of water savings since 2004 through conservation measures; and adoption of ISO 14001 environmental management standards in many facilities. The report comes at a time when the company is facing protests in India, where activists say its products contain high levels of pesticides and its operations are depleting water supplies.

GLOBE-Net news release (via WBCSD) (24 August 2006)

Coca-Cola Enterprises Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Review 2005

Global Reporting Initiative

A scheme to support and showcase innovation for sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region has been established. The Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) has launched a new "Innovative Showcase for Sustainable Development" programme, and is offering grants of up to US$30,000 to support proposals for "smooth implementation of innovative ideas, project design improvement, and disseminating of the lessons learned." The deadline for proposals is 30 September 2006.

More information (August 2006)

China has announced plans to spend US$175 billion over the next five years on environmental protection, according to media reports. The efforts would focus on water quality and air and land pollution. Meanwhile, the challenges faced by China in meeting growing electricity demand in a sustainable way was the topic of a recent short article and an earlier roundtable involving the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and China Business Council for Sustainable Development. In mid-July 2006, WBCSD published a short think-piece on its website, following on from a recent longer publication, Pathways to 2050, and a roundtable held earlier in 2006.

BBC news article, 18 July 2006

WBCSD article, 18 July 2006

EurActiv.com news release, 20 June 2006

EBRD Press Release, 19 May 2006

Address to EBRD annual meeting by Hilary Benn, UK Secretary of State for International Development, 22 May 2006

Agence France-Presse report, 22 May 2006

The GGFR partnership facilitates and supports national efforts to use the associated gas and thus reduce flaring, by tackling the lack of effective regulatory frameworks and the constraints on gas utilization, such as insufficient infrastructure and poor access to local and international energy markets, particularly in developing countries.

China is struggling to meet its environmental goals due to economic growth, according to one of its leading politicians. It is also looking at issuing regular "report cards" to monitor its progress pollution emissions and energy use.  

Bloomberg news report, 19 April 2006

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has formed an alliance of global companies to promote the construction of energy self-sufficient buildings. Participants will seek to determine how buildings can be designed and constructed so that they use no energy from external power grids, are carbon neutral, and can be built and operated at fair market values.  

WBCSD News Releases, 30 March 2006

The European Commission has launched a business-led alliance for corporate social responsibility (CSR). The new alliance, which was announced on 22 March 2006, will promote actions including awareness raising campaigns and best practice exchange, education and the integration of CSR into EU policies. Environmentalists criticized the initiative, however, on the grounds that it excludes non-business stakeholders.   

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has prepared a revised Energy Operations Policy. The draft Energy Operations Policy document sets out the general, specific and operational role of the Bank in the energy sector and establishes the overall framework for the Bank's activities over the strategy period 2006-2010. It will succeed the Energy Operations Policy approved by the Board on 21 March 2001, as well as the Natural Resources Policy approved on 23 March 1999. Comments are invited until 19 April 2006.   

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Preventing and mitigating natural disasters was the theme for World Meteorological Day 2006. The event is marked on 23 March each year.   

UNEP has highlighted the extensive environmental programme that organizers of the recent Torino Olympics undertook to make the event "environmentally friendly and sustainable in ways that will benefit the entire region for years to come." These efforts included selecting suppliers based on the ecological quality of their products, promoting alternative point of sale refrigeration technology in the food and beverage industry, and the development of eco-friendly buildings.

UNEP press release, 8 February 2006

The international Tour Operators Initiative network has moved its secretariat from Paris to Madrid, where it will be co-located with the headquarters of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The Tour Operators Initiative was founded in 1999 with the backing of UNWTO, UNEP and UNESCO. The voluntary, non-profit organization carries out work in five areas, including research on environmental, socio-economic and cultural topics, capacity building and technical support. It now boasts 20 companies from 11 countries and a support base including Conservation International and WWF.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has announced the formation of a high-level panel to explore how the United Nations system could work more coherently and effectively in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment. The announcement, which was made on 16 February 2006, follows the call in the Outcome Document adopted at the 2005 World Summit for the Secretary-General to commission work on how to improve United Nations system-wide coherence across the various development and humanitarian-related agencies. The study is intended to lay the groundwork for a restructuring of United Nations operational work, complementing other major reform initiatives currently under way at the United Nations. The 15 member panel will be co-chaired by Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Luísa Dias Diogo, Prime Minister of Mozambique, and Norway's Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg. The panel is expected to complete its work by mid-2006, to allow for formal presentation of its recommendations to the UN General Assembly in September 2006.

The Heads of States and governments of six African countries have adopted a January 2006 Declaration on the implementation in Africa of the Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity Building in the field of the environment. The Presidents of Burkina Faso, Kenya and The Gambia, together with Prime Ministers from Lesotho, Rwanda and Tunisia, consulted in the margins of the Sixth Assembly of the African Union, which met in Sudan at the end of January 2006, to assess the Bali Strategic Plan. The Bali Strategic Plan was initially adopted by the 23rd Session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum of UNEP in February 2005 as an inter-governmentally agreed framework for strengthening the capacity of governments in developing countries and countries with economies in transition to address their needs, priorities and obligations in the field of the environment. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has initiated pilot projects to implement the Bali Process in these six African countries.

The European Commission's "Annual Progress Report on the Lisbon Strategy" for growth and jobs has highlighted sustainable energy as a priority area.

A new international environment prize – the Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) Awards for Good Practices – has been launched. The first prizes will be presented in mid-2006, while the deadline for applications/nominations is 31 March 2006.

Hungary has ratified the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians, providing the critical fourth ratification to bring the treaty into force. The Slovak Republic, Ukraine and the Czech Republic had previously ratified the convention, for which negotiations began in 2002 during the United Nations International Year of the Mountains. It was adopted and signed in May 2003 at the fifth Environment for Europe Conference. Poland, Romania and Serbia and Montenegro have not yet ratified the pact, which addresses issues ranging from conserving biological and landscape diversity to promoting sustainable agriculture and forestry and developing appropriate transportation and infrastructure.

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