Climate change
represents a difficult challenge for policy makers because the
intersectoral connections are complex, it involves serious equity
and moral issues, and it involves difficult issues of sequencing and
competitiveness. This message, presented by Graeme Wheeler, Managing
Director, Operations, The World Bank Group, during the Washington
International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC
2008), is evident in the stories Linkages Update presents this
week.
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Lynn Wagner, Ph.D.
Editor, Linkages Update and
MEA Bulletin |
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BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL WORKING GROUP ON LIABILITY AND
REDRESS AGREES TO CONVENE FRIENDS OF THE CHAIR GROUP
BEFORE COP/MOP 4 |
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 Cartagena
de Indias,
20 March—The
fifth meeting of the Open-ended Ad Hoc
Working Group of Legal and Technical Experts
on Liability and Redress in the context of
the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety convened
from 12-19 March 2008, in Cartagena de
Indias, Colombia. The Working Group agreed
on certain core elements, reduced the number
of options for operational text and
categorized the remaining options in a way
that reflects the main choices for
elaborating international rules and
procedures on liability and redress. The
Working Group also agreed to convene an
intersessional Friends of the Chair group to
further negotiate the core elements, to be
held prior to the fourth meeting of the
Parties to the Convention on Biological
Diversity serving as meeting of the parties
to the Protocol, which will convene in Bonn,
Germany, from 12-16 May 2008.
More. |
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Photo: Dais during the
opening of the meeting. L-R: Juan
Lozano, Minister of Housing, Environment and
Territory Development (Colombia); Charles
Gbedemah (CBD Secretariat); WG Co-Chair
Jimena Nieto (Colombia); WG Co-Chair René
Lefeber (the Netherlands); Dominique Kayser
(CBD Secretariat); and Worku Damena Yifru
(CBD Secretariat). |
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UNFCCC HOLDS EVENTS ON NAIROBI WORK PROGRAMME |
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 Mexico
City & Port of Spain,
13 March—Expert
group meetings under the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have
convened to discuss issues related to the
Nairobi Work Programme on Impacts,
Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate
Change (NWP). The first meeting gathered
experts from 4-7 March 2008, in Mexico City,
Mexico, to discuss methods and tools, and
data and observations. The second meeting
convened in Port of Spain, Trinidad and
Tobago, from 10-12 March 2008, to focus on
the socioeconomic aspects of the NWP.
Reports from the workshops will be forwarded
to the twenty-eighth session of the
Subsidiary Body for Scientific and
Technological Advice (SBSTA 28), scheduled
to convene in June 2008 in Bonn, Germany.
IISD RS reports of the
Mexico City &
Port of Spain
events.
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Photo: Dais during
the Mexico City workshop. L-R: Amir
Delju, World Meteorological Organization;
Workshop Chair Helen Plume, SBSTA Chair; and
Guillermo Hernández Salmerón, Ministry of
Foreign Relations, Mexico. |
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UN FISH STOCKS AGREEMENT MEETING AGREES TO RESUME REVEW
CONFERENCE IN 2010 |
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 New
York, 13 March—The
seventh round of Informal Consultations of
States Parties to the Agreement for the
Implementation of the Provisions of the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea relating to the Conservation and
Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and
Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (UNFSA) met
from 11-12 March 2008, at UN headquarters in
New York. The two key achievements of the
consultations were the in-depth engagement
in discussing the obstacles to wider
participation in the UNFSA by non-parties
and developing countries, and agreeing on
resuming the Review Conference in 2010 and
the modalities for its preparatory process.
More. |
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US PRESIDENT ADDRESSES INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY
CONFERENCE |
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 Washington,
DC,
7 March—US
President George W. Bush addressed the
Washington International Renewable Energy
Conference (WIREC 2008), highlighting
security, economic and environmental reasons
to reduce fossil fuel dependency, and that
there should be an effective,
results-oriented international agreement
that includes commitments by every major
economy. Participants at the 4-6 March 2008
ministerial meeting in Washington, DC, US,
discussed market adoption and finance;
agriculture, forestry and rural development;
and research
and development. At the close of WIREC 2008,
over 100 pledges had been submitted for the
Washington International Action Program, a
compilation of pledges to accelerate the
uptake of renewable energy, and India
offered to host the next International
Renewable Energy Conference in early 2010.
More.
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Photo: US President
George W. Bush addressed delegates. |
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Third Meeting of the Ad Hoc Joint Working Group on
Enhanced Cooperation and Coordination between the Basel,
Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions:
25-28 March 2008, Rome, Italy |
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First African Water Week (AWW-1):
26-28 March 2008, Tunis, Tunisia |
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First Session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on
Long-Term Cooperative Action under the UNFCCC and Fifth
Session of the AWG under the Kyoto Protocol:
31 March-4 April 2008, Bangkok, Thailand |
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General Assembly Thematic Debate on the Millennium
Development Goals:
1-2 April 2008, New York, US |
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UNEP Global Mercury Partnership Meeting:
1-3 April 2008, Geneva, Switzerland |
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Fourth Global Conference on Oceans:
7-11 April 2008, Hanoi, Vietnam |
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UN Commission on Population and Development:
7-11 April 2008, New York, US |
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International Assessment of Agricultural Science and
Technology for Development (IAASTD) Intergovernmental
Plenary:
7-12 April 2008, Johannesburg, South Africa |
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28th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change:
9-10 April 2008, Budapest, Hungary |
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