Events, reports and announcements

2011, International Year of Forests

The United Nations General Assembly designated 2011 the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

“Forests for People” is the main theme of the Year, highlighting the dynamic relationship between forests and the people who depend on them. The UN Forum on Forests Secretariat (UNFF) is serving as the focal point for Forests 2011, with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization, in collaboration with Governments, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and other relevant organizations.

Forests are important to nearly all kinds of human activity: providing shelter to people and habitat to biodiversity; as a source of food, medicine and clean water; and play a vital role in maintaining a stable global climate and environment. Forests 2011 provides the opportunity to bring attention to the inter connectivity between people and forests. National, regional and local organizations around the world are encouraged to plan Forests 2011 events in line with their own interests and, in particular, to reach out to those in fields not traditionally considered directly related to forests.

For more information visit:

http://www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011

Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (CRZ) 

 6th Jaunuary, 2011

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has issued the CRZ Notification, 2011 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. In addition, MoEF has also issues the Island Protection Zone (IPZ) Notification, 2011 covering Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. Both these new Notifications reconcile three objectives:

• protection of livelihoods of traditional fisherfolk communities

• preservation of coastal ecology

• promotion of economic activity that have necessarily to be located in coastal regions.

For detailed reports on the consultation and queries on the CRZ visit:

http://tinyurl.com/CRZ-Notification and

http://tinyurl.com/FAQs-on-the-CRZ

Brochure on critically endangered species in India released

India has staggering variety of flora and fauna, including some of the rarest species in existence on the planet. There is so far a paucity of information for the general public on the status, biology, and major threats to the endangered species of our country. As per the latest (2011) quantitative evaluation done by the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) there are 57 critically endangered species of animals in India.

In an joint effort, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Zoological Survey of India has catalogued and share information on these species, which is aimed at raising awareness among people from all walks of life and strengthen efforts at conservation.

The brochure was released on 9th March 2011.

To download the brochure visit:

http://tinyurl.com/critically-endangered-booklet

4th Annual Urban Mobility Conference cum Exhibition-2011 and Sixth Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport Sixth Regional (EST) Forum in Asia: 3-6 December 2011

Theme: 'Sustainable Mobility'.

An Annual Conference-cum-exhibition on 'Urban Mobility' is held in Delhi every year (UMI). The event is being organized by the Institute of Urban Transport, India New Delhi in association with Mirabilis advisory an Economic development consultancy. The conference focuses on

•       Dissemination of information and to facilitate exchange of ideas, and

•       it recognizes good urban transport initiatives by giving awards to selected good practice projects.

The conference would also be co-hosting the Sixth Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum in Asia under the aegis of the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) with participation from 23 Asian countries.

The Conference cum Exhibition aims to bring together technology and service providers in urban transport from India and abroad in various modes; Pedestrians, non motorized transport, Bus operations, BRT, LRT, metro rail, Environment and traffic management, congestion management, Ropeways, Parking and ITS etc. as well as the policy makers, practitioners and officials under one roof.

For more information visit:

http://iutindia.org/urban2011/index.php/conference/programme

Reports and announcements

Ethical Framework for a Sustainable World 1-3
November 2010, Ahmedabad, India

The conference “Ethical Framework for A Sustainable World” commemorated the 10th year of the Earth Charter initiative. The conference brought together 600 participants from all over the world that included a variety of stakeholder groups including government officials and representatives of UN agencies. The Earth Charter (EC) is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society. The Conference was specifically held with a view to:

• Strengthen efforts at making ESD central to education practice and training

• Clarify the role the EC can play in education

• Share experiences on the use of EC in education

• Strengthen partnerships with the EC

• Capture the spirit of the events related to EC + 10 and to use the ideas to discuss and launch the vision for the EC for the next decade (2011-2020)

The conference looked at the effective translation of the Earth Charter from principles to practice. Seven plenary Sessions set the tone and pace for more focused discussions and interactions. The workshop themes included:

1. School Education and Teacher Training

2. Higher Education: Towards a Responsible Future

3. Non Formal Education

4. Reviewing, Rethinking, and Reorienting ICTs for ESD

5. Business & CSR in a Green Economy

6. The Earth Charter and Religion, Spirituality & Ethics

7. Cities, Communities and Urbanisation

8. Ethical Development Practices for Sustainable Livelihoods - Issues and Concerns

9. Global Challenges and Global Governance

10. Bio-diversity & Ethics

For more information visit: www.earthcharterplus10.org

United Nations Climate Change Conference
29 November - 10 December 2010, Cancun, Mexico

The UN Climate Change Conference in Cancún, Mexico, ended on 11 December 2010 with the adoption of a balanced package of decisions that set all governments more firmly on the path towards a low-emissions future and support enhanced action on climate change in the developing world. The “Cancún Agreements” include:

- Industrialised country targets are officially recognized under the multilateral process and these countries are to develop low-carbon development plans and strategies and assess how best to meet them, including through market mechanisms, and to report their inventories annually.

- Developing country actions to reduce emissions are officially recognized. A registry is to be set up to record and match developing country mitigation actions to finance and technology support from by industrialized countries. Developing countries are to publish progress reports every two years.

- Parties meeting under the Kyoto Protocol agree to continue negotiations with the aim of completing work and ensuring there is no gap between the first and second commitment periods of the treaty.

- The Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanisms has been strengthened to drive more major investments and technology into environmentally sound and sustainable emission reduction projects in the developing world.

- A set of initiatives and institutions launched to protect the vulnerable from climate change and to deploy the money and technology that developing countries need to plan and build their own sustainable futures.

- A total of $30 billion in fast start finance from industrialised countries to support climate action in the developing world up to 2012 and the intention to raise $100 billion in long-term funds by 2020 is included in the decisions.

- In the field of climate finance, a process to design a Green Climate Fund under the Conference of the Parties, with a board with equal representation from developed and developing countries, is established.

- Governments agree to boost action to curb emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries with technological and financial support.

- Parties established a technology mechanism with a Technology Executive Committee and Climate Technology Centre and Network to increase technology cooperation to support action on adaptation and mitigation.

The next Conference of the Parties is scheduled to take place in South Africa, from 28 Nov to 9 Dec 2011.

For more information visit: http://unfccc.int/2860.php

Launch of the International Conference to celebrate the 10 years of the Earth Charter and to chart its vision for the next decade.

Reports and Announcements

National Mission for a Green India

Public consultations

The National Mission for a Green India, as one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), recognizes that climate change phenomena will seriously affect and alter the distribution, type and quality of natural resources of the country and the associated livelihoods of the people. The Mission acknowledges the influences that the forestry sector has on environmental amelioration though climate mitigation, food security, water security, biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest dependant communities.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests invited CEE to organize a series of Consultations at seven locations across India to help finalize the Draft Mission Document for the Green India Mission.

During these consultations, several hundred representatives from NGOs, research and expert institutions, Joint Forest Management Committees, media, Government Departments, environmental consultants and business groups, citizen forums and citizens offered their inputs on the Draft Mission Document.'

The first consultation in Guwahati focused on North-East relevant issues like wetlands, grasslands, community forests (Sacred Forests) and corridor conservation. The role of community participation and involvement of other line departments as stakeholders in the project has been highlighted in the consultation.

At Jaipur, local issues like need for a focus on all ruminants instead of only cattle species; grasslands, and impacts of the Indira Gandhi Canal on the land use pattern etc. were brought up. Many expressed the need for a better definition of the role of communities and Gram Sabha in the document, stating that communities and community organizations must be seen as partners in development. Suggestions to strengthen Performance Review Institutes and enhance role of women during implementation of the Mission were key concerns among others.

The Consultation at Pune brought out a different set of issues like role of education and awareness to enhance understanding of the ecosystem restoration, need of quantified targets for the institutions gaining support fromthe Government under the Mission, synchronizing management efforts of natural resources like soil and water which are crucial for greenery, degradation of ecosystems in urban areas, and integration of the Mission into core activities like Town Planning and Fiscal Budgeting of Municipal Corporations.

The consultation at Dehradun saw discussions on issues related to management of Himalayan fragile ecosystem. Need for maintaining the balance between environment and development, maintaining the quality of forests were other key concerns expressed.

In Bhopal environmental situations ranging from de-greening - mining in forest areas, ravine spread and desertification, and threatened forest-based livelihoods were discussed. Community-related issues such as community empowerment, the need for stronger implementation of provisions like the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA), and need to tackle village level divisive politics that harm conservation and development were highlighted. Participants also presented success stories related to Joint Forest Management, People's Biodiversity Register and the importance of role of youth, and involvement of school children. Need for policy changes to provide an enabling environment for plantations and agro-forestry by farmers, help in certification and benefit sharing at the community level.

At Visakhapatnam, local issues of concern such as the destruction of sanctuaries and forest habitats particularly the Kambalakonda wildlife sanctuary, threat to bauxite mining near Visakhapatnam and the existing wetlands at Sompeta and Bheemunipatnam, monoculture practices, improper solid waste disposal techniques, Podu cultivation practices and rise in the number of industries in the region were highlighted.

For detailed report visit:

http://tinyurl.com/Report-GIM

The Green India Mission public consultation being presided by Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests (IC). Total seven consultations were facilitated across India.

National Noise Monitoring Network setup, Amendment to ‘Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000’ Notified

The Ministry of Environment & Forests has amended the ‘Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000’ to make them more stringent. This includes the setting up of a ‘National Noise
Monitoring Network’ across various cities. The following issues have been addressed through the amendments to Noise Rules, dated 11.01.2010:

1. Stress has been laid on making the night peaceful. The ‘night time’ has been defined (10.00 pm to 6.00 am) and restrictions have been imposed on the use of horns, sound emitting construction equipments and bursting of fire crackers during night time.
2. ‘Public place’ has been defined and the occupant of a public place has to restrict the volume of public address system, etc so that the noise emitting from its activity would not exceed the noise limit more than 10 dB (A).
3. Similarly, the occupant of a private place has to restrict the volume of music system, etc so that the noise emitting from its activity would not exceed the noise limit by more than 5 dB (A).
4. A duty has been cast upon the concerned State Governments to specify in advance, the number and particulars of days, not exceeding fifteen in a year, on which 2 hours exemption (10.00 pm to 12.00 midnight) would be operative. State would be the unit for such an exemption.
5. These amendments are in line with the Supreme Court orders from time to time.

For more information visit:

http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Noise%20 Pollution_press%20note.pdf

Bt Brinjal Public Consultations
13th January - 6th February 2010

Bt Brinjal, a transgenic brinjal created out of inserting a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus huringiensis, has generated much debate in India. The commercial introduction of Bt Brinjal
would represent the first GM food crop in the country. While Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has approved the commercialisation, there is a wide spectrum of opinions
both for and against the introduction of the crop from different stakeholders.

In this context, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India asked CEE to undertake 7 public consultations across the country to gather views from scientists, agriculture experts, farmer organizations, consumer groups, NGOs, Government officials, media and concerned citizens. Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests chaired the consultation meetings.

The first public consultation on the proposal to introduce commercialisation of Bt Brinjal was held in Kolkata on 13 January. CEE facilitated six more consultations on Bt Brinjal at different
locations in the country at Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Bangalore between January and February 2010.

The consultations were held to elicit views of different stakeholder groups regarding the commercial introduction of Bt Brinjal (transgenic brinjal by inserting cry1Ac gene from Bacillus
thuringiensis).

The Minister, chaired all the consultations and listened to opinions and concerns of various stakeholders. More than 8000 people participated in the consultations from across different states.
Over 9000 written submissions were received from different consultations and through mails and letters at CEE Bt Brinjal Secretariat.

On 9th February, 2010 Mr Jairam Ramesh declared “It is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary principle-based approach and impose a moratorium on the release of Bt Brinjal, till such time independent scientific studies establish, to the satisfaction of both the public and the professionals, the safety of the product from the point of view of its long-term impact on human health and environment, including the rich genetic wealth existing in brinjal in our country”.

The full text of the Minister’s statement is available at
http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/minister_REPORT.pdf and

the report of the consultations is available at www.ceeindia.org


CEE Central Photobank








A participant making her point on introducing BT Brinjal in market at consultation process in Nagpur. 7 cities were selected by the MoEF for holding the consultation in order to get a sample of the perspectives of different stakeholders.

Reports and Announcements

World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development
31 March - 2 April 2009, Bonn, Germany

Five years into the Decade, the conference at Germany followed four objectives:

1. To highlight the essential contribution of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to all of education and to achieving quality education
2. To promote international exchange on ESD
3. To carry out a stock-taking of DESD implementation
4. To develop strategies for the way ahead

The conference, attended by participants from 150 countries exchanged best practices on Education for Sustainable Development from all world regions. The participants developed mechanisms for enhanced cooperation in the implementation of the UN Decade, especially focusing on the exchange between developing countries, those in transition and industrialized countries.

At the end of the conference, a declaration reflecting the debates and proposing guidelines for the implementation of the UN Decade was adopted. The conference was organised by UNESCO and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, in cooperation with the German Commission for UNESCO.

For more information visit:
http://www.esd-world-conference-2009.org/


2010 International Year of Biodiversity
Highlights from the statement of Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, at the occasion of the DPI Briefi ng for the community of NGOs on Biodiversity - The Basis for Human Well-Being: Celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010

Call for Assistance in Enhancing Public Awareness We need your assistance with increasing public awareness of the importance of biodiversity. We need your assistance to ensure that environmental issues become a core component of decision making across a variety of sectors.
We also need you to help us to integrate out work across a variety of issue areas.


Biodiversity loss is not a stand alone problem and cannot be tackled through separate initiatives that merely target species lost as an issue separate from poverty, climate change, water scarcity, growth in demand, development, confl ict, and the many other challenges that face our world. Civil society can act to support these efforts – to provide support, advice and vigilance such that they continue. There is increasing recognition that the true value of biodiversity and the services provided by ecosystems must be refl ected in our economies.


It is hoped that the study on the ‘The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB), led by Mr Pavan Sukhdev, will provide the rationale for the gradual internalization of the costs of biodiversity loss and other environmental degradation into our accounts.

Civil society organizations can support this, provide research, and examples of “green success stories” for 2010, which can demonstrate the validity of these approaches. In this climate of economic crisis, we all need to identify opportunities for major shifts towards a green economy
as UNEP is proposing. The International Year offers you an opportunity to highlight the relationship between biodiversity and a number of other issues and influence the international agenda in 2010 and beyond.

For more information visit:
http://www.cbd.int/doc/speech/2009/sp-2009-04-30-dpi-en.pdf

How BD contributes and extent of degradation
By the year 2000, only about 73% of the original global natural biodiversity was left. The strongest declines have occurred in the temperate and tropical grasslands and forests, where human civilizations fi rst developed. In the last 300 years, the global forest area has shrunk by approximately 40 per cent. Forests have completely disappeared in 25 countries, and another 29 countries have lost more than 90 per cent of their forest cover. Since 1900, the world has lost about 50% of its wetlands. Half of wild marine fi sheries are fully exploited, with a further quarter already overexploited. A striking aspect of the consequences of biodiversity loss is their disproportionate but unrecognized impact on the poor. For instance, if climate change resulted in a drought that halved the income of the poorest of the 28 million Ethiopians, this would barely register on the global balance sheet – world GDP would fall by less than 0.003%.

Reports and Announcements

International Conference of the Social Ecological Research Programme
Berlin, 22 - 23 February 2008

The conference addressed ‘Long-Term Policies: Governing Social-Ecological Change’ and provided opportunities to bring social-ecological research into international debates and the future perspectives of this fi eld. This conference was the eighth event in the series of annual European Conferences on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, which began in Berlin in 2001.

The conference was organised by Oldenburg Centre for Sustainability Economics and Management, CENTOS, Oldenburg University and the Environmental Policy Research Centre, Freie University, Berlin.

The Berlin conference brought together recent research and conceptual developments from scientific approaches and discussed the current challenges, research tasks, practical solutions and possible strategies for long-term policies. A mutual exchange between the different actor
groups was facilitated and the practicability of problem solving trans disciplinary work was discussed.

Representatives from particular actor groups such as businesses, civil society and NGOs, politics and the natural and social sciences took active part to integrate their particular expertise.

For more information visit:
www.fu-berlin.de/ffu/akumwelt/bc2008

EE in Teacher Education
Resource book Dissemination Workshops

National Council for Teacher Education and Centre for Environment Education have worked together over the last 2 years towards strengthening environmental education in teacher education in the country.

A set of 3 Resource Books on Environmental Education (EE) has been developed and published in English and Hindi. Experts in teacher education and environmental education guided the development of these Resource Books. They are based on the NCTE-developed curriculum of EE in teacher education and are suitable for use by teacher educators at D.Ed, B.Ed and M.Ed levels.

The books are being disseminated to teacher education institutions by NCTE and through a series of six workshops being conducted by NCTE and CEE. The first workshop was organized in Lucknow in November 2008 for faculty from teacher education institutions in some northern Indian states. Prof. M.A. Siddiqui, Chairperson, NCTE, New Delhi inaugurated the workshop. Participants discussed the opportunities and challenges of infusion of environmental education into teacher education, as well as special projects and courses taken up by them. Sessions
on the use of action projects, ICT, resource materials etc were useful opportunities for sharing of experiences.

Over the coming months and in the next academic year, the institutions participating in the workshops would be developing methods to strengthen EE in their courses. They would also provide their insights into the use of the Resource Books to NCTE and CEE. The next 5 workshops will be held over Dec 08 to Feb 09.

For more information contact:

Shivani Jain, Centre for Environment Education
Nehru Foundation for Development, Thaltej Tekra,
Ahmedabad 380054; Ph: 079 26858002;
Email: shivani.jain@ceeindia.org

COP 10 Wetland Conventtion

The 158 contracting parties to the Convention on Wetlands met in Changwon, the Republic of Korea for COP 10 between 28 Oct – 4 Nov 2008.

The Changwon Declaration presented at the conclusion of the conference gave an overview of priority action steps that together show “how to” deliver some of the world’s most critical environmental sustainability goals.

The Declaration, emphasizes the signifi cance of wetland governance; actions people may take to ensure the effectiveness of wetlands in the fi ght against Climate change; the interconnection between people’s livelihoods and health on wetlands; the effects of land use change
and Biodiversity loss; planning and Sustainable financing; as well as sharing knowledge and experience in wetland Conservation management.

The 10 Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity actively participated in the COP 10 as wetland management plays a crucial issue in biodiversity conservation in Southeast Asia.

The Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award in the category of Education was awarded to Dr. Sansanee Choowaew of Mahidol University, Thailand.

For more information visit: www.ramsar.org

Coastal Management Notification - Public Consultations

The Central Government has proposed a new framework to be brought out into force “for managing and regulating activity in the coastal and marine area for conserving and protecting the coastal area for considering and protecting the coastal resources and coastal environment, and for
ensuring protection of coastal population and structure from risk of inundation, due to natural hazards, and for ensuring the livelihoods of coastal population or strengthen by superceding the said coastal regulation zone, notifi cation, 1991.”

In this regards, the government has issued a draft notification, “to be known as coastal management zone (CMZ) notifi cation 2008 for the information of public” in May 2008, in the gazette of India. This was republished in 21st July 2008. In order to get view points on the
CMZ notifi cation 2008 from various stakeholder groups particularly from local communities and NGOs working in the coastal stretches, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, commissioned CEE to facilitate public consultation in the coastal states.

CEE brought out salient features of CMZ notifi cation 2008 in various state languages, widely publicized the consultation workshops, organized these consultations in partnerships
with local NGO’s and CBOs.

Thirty five public consultations were organized in the nine states between 26th July and 13th September 2008. Over 3500 individuals belonging to various stakeholder groups participated. These included representatives of

• local community (individuals from coastal communities, panchayat members and fi sher - farmers association)
• NGOs and trade (working in coastal stretches)
• public authorities (municipal corporation, block, district and state offi cials and political leaders)
• other’s (academic and research organization, legal experts and media)
• corporate bodies (tourism and allied industries participated in this consultation processes and contributed to the discussion.

About 73 percent of the participant represented the local fisher communities. A summary and detailed report of this consultation has been compiled and submitted to the Ministry of Environment
and Forests. Written responses, petitions, documents received during the consultation workshops and audiovideo recordings of the workshop proceedings have also been submitted.

For more information on consultation responses visit:
http://www.ceeindia.org/cee/campaigns/cmz_2008.html

Reports and Announcements

COP 9 - Convention on Biological Diversity
Bonn, Germany, 19 - 30 May 2008

The ninth meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was the last meeting of the Parties before 2010 – the decisive date by which heads of state and government want to significantly reduce the loss of biological diversity. The “Bonn Agenda for global biological diversity” adopted during the ministerial meeting identifies areas where progress is particularly important:

• adoption of an internationally binding agreement on the fair sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of biological diversity,
• continuation of the Life Web Initiative for a voluntary global network of protected areas on land and at sea,
• mobilisation of financial resources, detailed assessment of the 2010 target and conclusion of a study showing the economic costs caused by destruction of nature.

Bonn also saw important decisions taken in other areas:

• Illegal logging: Calls for further national and international measures against illegal logging and trade in illegal timber are far more explicit than before.
• Marine protected areas: Delegates committed to establishing a global network of marine protected areas by 2012.
• Biofuels: The Delegates agreed on sustainable production and use of biofuels, with a view to biodiversity conservation.
• Genetically modified trees: It was agreed that without a risk analysis, Parties have the right to forego the use of genetically modified trees.
• Climate protection and biodiversity: The cooperation between the CBD and the Framework Convention on Climate Change is to be improved.
• Fertilisation of marine areas: COP 9 took a clear stance against activities for the artificial fertilisation of marine areas with the goal of carbon capture.

The German delegation also presented two new initiatives: the LifeWeb Initiative and the Business and Biodiversity Initiative. The LifeWeb Initiative facilitates the financing of new or existing protected areas in a swift and unbureaucratic way. With LifeWeb, Germany and other countries will provide additional funding, including for the financing of existing or new forest protected areas. In the framework of the Business and Biodiversity Initiative, 34 internationally active companies presented their voluntary commitment to make biodiversity conservation an important component of their future corporate and management policies.

In addition, the fourth meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety took place from 12 to 16 May 2008.

For more information visit: http://www.cbd.int/

Urban Biodiversity and the Role of Cities

“We can’t afford to shut nature out of the cities. It’s not just a quality of life issue for city dwellers—it’s about protecting life itself.”Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological DiversityBonn, May 2008“

With more than half of the world’s people now living in cities, 191countries for the first time, discussed ways to promote biodiversity in an urban setting at the Biodiversity Conference that took place in Bonn, Germany in May 2008. Cities have long been viewed as major contributors to the pollution, consumption, waste and habitat loss that have contributed to the accelerating loss of biodiversity around the world. But in recent years, many cities have been at the forefront of efforts to conserve biodiversity resources within the urban setting. The Conference of Parties adopted, for the first time, a decision on cities and biodiversity—decision IX/28. This decision encourages the 191 Parties to the Convention to recognize the role of cities in national strategies and plans, and invites Parties to support and assist cities in implementing the Convention at local level.

Indeed, one of the greatest achievements of the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties is
the recognition that the implementation of the three objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity requires the full engagement of cities and local authorities.

A plan of action on cities and biodiversity will be submitted to the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, to be held in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, in October 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity. A Nagoya Summit on Cities and Biodiversity will be convened during the meeting.

Fifty mayors, from 30 countries, representing over 100 million urban dwellers met in Bonn on 26-27 May 2008 the under the theme “Local Action for Biodiversity” to underline the importance of urban biodiversity. The Mayors at the conference and urban experts discussed ways to incorporate biodiversity into the urban context through projects to protect water supplies, treat sewage, manage garbage, provide recreational facilities, and conserve biodiversity-rich areas adjacent to cities.

The full text of the decision on Cities and Biodiversity is available at http://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-09/cop-09-dec-28-en.pdf

Reports and Announcements

Fourth GUNI International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education, Barceona,

March-April 2008
The Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), hosted the fourth Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI) Conference in Barcelona from 31st March to 2nd April 2008. The conference
focused on the contributions of higher education to human and social development in the context of globalization.

The conference was an international forum for debate on the challenges facing higher education in the 21st century. GUNI launched in the first international conference in 2004 to provide a global forum for a debate on key issues in higher education. The first conference explored the social commitments of universities and launched a series of GUNI reports titled Higher Education in the World and subsequent annual conferences. Topics discussed
during the 4th GUNI conference:
• The role of the university in the era of globalization
• The present and future political, economic and social trends of globalization and their challenges for higher education
• The educative purpose of higher education for human and social development
• Higher education for curriculum development
• The role of research in higher education and its implications for society
• Civil engagement in higher education
• Institutional challenges and implications for higher education institutions

For more information visit:
http://www.guni-rmies.net/k2008/

International Conference of the Social-Ecological Research Programme,

Berlin, 22 - 23 February 2008
The conference addressed ‘Long-Term Policies: Governing Social-Ecological Change’ and provided opportunities to bring socialecological research into international debates and the future perspectives of this field. This conference was the eighth event in the series of annual European Conferences on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, which began in Berlin in 2001.

The conference was organised by Oldenburg Centre for Sustainability Economics and Management, CENTOS, Oldenburg University and the Environmental Policy Research Centre, Freie University, Berlin.

The Berlin conference brought together recent research and conceptual developments from scientific approaches and discussed the current challenges, research tasks, practical solutions and possible strategies for long-term policies. A mutual exchange between the different actor groups was facilitated and the practicability of problem-solving trans disciplinary work was discussed.

Representatives from particular actor groups such as businesses, civil society and NGOs, politics and the natural and social sciences took active part to integrate their particular expertise.

For more information visit:
www.fu-berlin.de/ffu/akumwelt/bc2008

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in
Poznan, 1-12 December 2008

The Climate Change conference in Poznan was an important halfway mark in the two-year negotiating process to reach a post-2012 climate change deal in Copenhagen in 2009. At Poznan, Parties to the UNFCCC took stock of progress made in 2008 and mapped out in detail what needs to happen in 2009 at Copenhagen.

2009 is a crucial year in the international effort to address climate change, culminating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 7-18 December. In 2007, Parties
had agreed to shape an ambitious and effective international response to climate change, to be agreed at Copenhagen.

At Poznan, the delegates discussed the vision for long term cooperative action on climate change, including a long-term emission reduction goal. The Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund was discussed in detail, with Parties agreeing that the Adaptation Fund Board should have legal capacity to grant direct access to developing countries. The Adaptation Fund was established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing country Parties to the Kyoto Protocol that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Progress was also made on a number of important ongoing issues that are particularly important for developing countries, including: adaptation; finance; technology; reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD); and disaster management.

A key event at the Conference was a ministerial round table on a shared vision on long-term cooperative action on climate change. The round table provided the opportunity to lay the foundations for further work on the components of an agreed outcome at COP 15 in Copenhagen. Further, it sent a clear message regarding the need to continue to build momentum on the many points of convergence among all nations. The next major UNFCCC gathering will take place from 29 March to 8 April 2009 in Bonn, Germany.

For more information visit:
http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_14/items/4481.php