MEDIA REPORTS
INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
This page was updated
on: 01/13/10
2002
Intergovernmental Organization Media Reports Archives:
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2003
DECEMBER 2002
BRITISH JOURNALIST AWARDED GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM PRIZE
British journalist James Meek, writing for the Guardian newspaper,
received the 2002 Reuters-IUCN Global Media Award for his article
"Worlds Apart - a journey from A to Z of inequality - from Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia to Zug, Switzerland."
Queen Noor of Jordan presented Meeks with the award at a ceremony in
Washington, DC. "Well-informed reports increase our understanding of the
services provided by ecosystems, deepening our appreciation of how
fundamental they are to our security in food, water, clean air, and
health," she said about the journalism competition. This year's Awards
had a special theme: "The Best Summit Story," which put the spotlight on
the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
Links
to further information
IUCN Press release, 6 December 2002
UNEP CHIEF CONDEMNS KENYA TERRORIST
ATTACK
UNEP Executive Director Klaus Töpfer
condemned the terrorist attack at the Paradise Hotel in the Kenyan
coastal town of Mombasa, killing ten Kenyans and three Israelis. "In the
name of all UN Agencies and staff headquartered in Nairobi and in Kenya,
I would like to express shock and indignation at these acts of
terrorism," Töpfer said. Although Mombasa is 485
kilometers away from Nairobi,
Töpfer said that the United Nations would work closely with the Kenya
authorities to ensure security for all, including UN staff. Also
reacting to the attack, UN-Habitat Executive Director
Anna Tibaijuka added that "the mandate of the
United Nations is to work towards a more peaceful world, and governments
and individuals alike have a responsibility to fight against hate and
violence."
Links to further information
UNEP Press release, 29 November 2002
UNEP RECEIVES BIG BOOST IN FUNDING
FROM THE DUTCH
The Netherlands has announced an increase
in funding for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The new
Dutch funds, growing from 2.4 million euros to 6.5 million euros within
three years, are earmarked for environmental law, environmental
assessment, urbanization, energy and water projects. "The five areas
identified are priority areas for us, especially water," said Tanya Van
Gool, the new Dutch Ambassador to Kenya and Permanent Representative to
UNEP, at a signing ceremony at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. This
increase in funding explicitly recognizes UNEP's role in reducing
poverty and delivering sustainable development, in addition to its
current role in conserving and protecting the environment. UNEP's
Executive Director, Klaus Töpfer said he hoped that other key donors
would also recognize the vital development role of the organization in
considerations of their future funding strategies.
Links to further information
UNEP press release, 26 November 2002
WORLD BANK LAUNCHES KIDS DEVNEWS
In an effort to educate young
people about the latest issues on development, the World Bank has
launched Kids DevNews, a monthly online publication geared toward 10-15
year olds. Each issue will revolve around a different development topic
that affects young people around the world, including such topics as
natural resources, food and agriculture, climate change and sustainable
development. "As a global development institution, the Bank is in a
good position to inform young people about pressing development issues,"
say the site's creators Nina Vucenik and Melissa Knutson of the Bank's External Affairs Department.
In addition to news and features, the site includes such learning
components as a glossary of terms and links to other relevant sites.
Links to further information
Kid DevNews Homepage
NOVEMBER 2002
GEF SEEKS
LEADERSHIP AWARD NOMINATIONS
The Global
Environment Facility (GEF) is seeking nominations for the 2003 Global
Environment Leadership Award, which recognizes individuals who have
demonstrated strong leadership actions aimed at protecting the
environment. "The award was created to recognize and encourage this
caliber of leadership, which is necessary to ensure a healthy
environment for current and future generations," GEF Chief Executive
Office and Chairman Mohamed El-Ashry said in a statement. Nominations
must be received by 28 February 2003. The winner will be announced on
Earth Day, 22 April 2003. Previous winners include Xie Zhenhua, Minister
of China's State Environmental Protection Administration and Maurice
Strong, Senior Adviser to the UN's Secretary-General.
Links to
further information
GEF press
release, 20 November 2002
ASHOK KHOSLA WINS UNEP AWARD
Indian
Environmentalist Dr. Ashok Khosla, has been awarded this year's UNEP
Sasakawa Environment Prize for his work in fostering
environment-friendly and commercially-viable technologies, ranging from
village power plants that use agricultural wastes as fuel to
mini-factories that recycle paper. Much of his recent work has been
achieved through Development Alternatives, a group of organizations
headquartered in New Delhi, which he founded in 1983 to help bring
people and nature directly into the design and implementation of his
nation's development strategies. Speaking at the award ceremony at the
American Folk Art Museum in New York, Khosla said that sustainable
development cannot be achieved by "economic policies that only nurture
big, centralized, transportation-intensive, energy guzzling, resource
wasting production systems, it also needs local-level innovation."
Khosla is the founding director of the Government of India's Office of
Environmental Planning and Coordination, the first developing country
national environmental agency, set up in 1972. "His generosity, as well
as the ingenuity of his vision has made Dr. Khosla a worthy addition to
the distinguished list of UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize laureates,"
sad UNEP Executive Director Klaus Töpfer.
Links to further
information
UNEP press
release, 19 November 2002
OCTOBER 2002
UNEP CHIEF WINS TOP
EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE
The Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, Europe's largest environmental
foundation, has honored UNEP Executive Director Klaus Töpfer, the
highest-ranking German in the United Nations system, for his outstanding
achievement in international environmental protection. The award was
presented by German Federal President Johannes Rau. German Federal
Environment Minister, Jürgen Trittin, complimented his predecessor,
saying that Töpfer had become a "synonym" for the protection of the
global environment and enjoyed confidence all over the world among
environmentalists.
Links to further
information
Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt press release, 27 October 2002
http://www.dbu.de/press/artikel.php?id=492
UNICEF KICKS OFF
HALLOWEEN CAMPAIGN IN THE US
Halloween night (31 October) in the United States marks
the 52nd annual 'Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF' campaign. The funds raised
will be donated this year to the global effort to eradicate polio. For
the second consecutive year, the United Nations Foundation is supporting
the cause by contributing one dollar for every four dollars raised.
Since its inception in 1950 in the United States when Philadelphia
school children first went door-to-door on Halloween collecting money in
decorated milk cartons to help the world's children, the UNICEF campaign
has raised over US$188 million to provide medicine, better nutrition,
clean water, education, emergency relief and other support to children
in more than 160 countries. Canada, Ireland and Mexico will also be
running similar campaigns this year.
Links to further
information
USA Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF
http://www.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/index.html
UNICEF Global Polio
Eradication Initiative
http://www.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/polio.html
12TH ANNUAL
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S PAINTING CONTEST
The 12th International Painting Contest, organized by
UNEP and the Foundation for Global Peace and the Environment, is calling
on children artists from around the world to paint their vision of a
cleaner, healthier, fairer and more environmentally-friendly world.
"Preserve the Beautiful
Oceans, Skies and Forests for the Future" is this year's theme. "Through the
International Painting Contest for Children, we are eager to see the
visions, aspirations and creativity of children," said UNEP Executive
Director Klaus Töpfer in a press statement. "Many parents tell me that
it is through the actions of children, often through community, school
projects and competitions like the painting contest, that they have come
to understand environmental issues more deeply." Entries are being
accepted until
31 January 2003. Prizes will be awarded for the best 500
entries, which will be used in the production of postcards, a calendar,
posters, publications and exhibitions world-wide.
Links to further
information
UNEP Children's Painting Competition
WORLD FOOD DAY 2002
World Food Day is celebrated every year on 16 October to
commemorate the founding of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) in 1945. World Food Day, celebrated in over 150
countries, aims to heighten public awareness of the plight of the
world's hungry and malnourished and to encourage people worldwide to
take action against hunger. This year's theme – "Water: Source of Food
Security" – will focus on the essential role water plays in ensuring
sustainable food resources for a growing world population. FAO's
Telefood campaign and celebrities in the FAO Ambassadors Programme,
including Italian Tenor Luciano Pavarotti and Senegalese singer Youssou
N'dour, will spread the World Food Day 2002 message around the world:
"The world can find enough water to produce the food needed for future
generations, if we manage water wisely, now!"
Links to further information
FAO World Food Day website
http://www.fao.org/wfd/index_en.asp
FAO TeleFood website
http://www.fao.org/food/default-e.htm
JULY 2002
OUT WITH THE OAU, IN WITH THE AU
The African Union (AU) was officially
launched on Tuesday 9 July at its inaugural Assembly in Durban,
South Africa, replacing the
39-year-old Organization of African Unity (OAU). Loosely modeled after
the European Union, the AU aims to advance the work of African leaders
in reducing poverty and promoting good governance. The AU will have a
parliament, a peace and security council, and a standby peacekeeping
force, and will be closely linked with the New Partnership for
Africa's Development. A central bank, an economic court of justice, and
an African Economic Community with a unified currency are also planned.
Serving as the AU's first Chair, South African President Thabo Mbeki
said, "We have to overcome the debilitating
effect of inertia, which makes
us ... act in the old ways to which we are accustomed," further adding
that Africans have high expectations and that "the situation demands
that we make a new beginning. ... We have to aim for measurable advances
and not be satisfied merely to report that we met and adopted good
resolutions."
Links to further information
African Union website
http://www.africa-union.org/en/home.asp
The Miami Herald, 10 July 2002
http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/news/world/3634306.htm
The Namibian, 10 July 2002
http://www.namibian.com.na/2002/july/africa/02705A883F.html
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