UNICs promote UN Issues

UNIC/Warsaw supports and joins nationwide initiatives to improve life of the people in need in developing countries. We gave an hounarable patronage over a “Resources for Water” program initiated by the Ecologic Foundation “Arka” in cooperation with the Polish Humanitarian Action. The aim of the programme is to raise awareness of school pupils and teachers on such issues as poverty and lack of water that lead to death - the problems that children and youth of the students' age deal with every day in Africa. The programme mobilizes school students to collect used material and waste, and sell it at recycling centres. The funds are donated to the Polish Humanitarian Action, a non-government organization that will use them to build wells in Sudan.

“Resources for Water” program will be launched on World Water Day (22 March) and last till December. It is an activity organized to observe the International Year of Sanitation.

UNIC Prague interviewed the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment of the Czech Republic, Martin Bursik, in its first issue of the quarterly newsletter for 2008, "UNbulletin." The newsletter’s focus was the Climate Change Conference in Bali and the interview was an insight into the Bali negotiations as well as to the issue of climate change from the perspective of the host country.

Mr. Bursik said that the Bali conference was a break through towards a consensus between developed and developing countries on how to work together on reducing carbon emissions. He highlighted the "Road Map" of Bali as a concrete course towards a global consensus on fighting climate change. He agreed that the UN was the only platform to reach a viable global agreement. Speaking about the Czech Government’s priorities, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the entire government should work together on adaptation and mitigation measures and creating conditions for introducing cleaner technologies. He highlighted that the government agreed with the policy of the EU to cut carbon emissions by 20% by 2020 and 50% by 2050 respectively. Mr. Bursik said he believed that the alternative approaches to transport and energy should become mainstream in order to preserve the climate.

To provide an update on critical climate change issues and the ongoing post-Bali negotiations, UNIC New Delhi organized a press conference with Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on 6 February 2008.

On Friday 14 December 2007, UNIC Yaounde organised a media event termed "Advocacy for Reporting on Environment" to share the information on the UN Conference on Climate Change held in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007. UNIC’s National Information Officer, Anne Nsang, made an introductory remark. UNDP Assistant Resident Representative and Focal Point on Environment, Mr. Martin Zeh-Nlo explained the key questions on environment raised during the Bali Conference, as well as in the GEO-4 Report and the relevance of the environmental issues in the local context. Mr. Alain Roger Taakam, editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper "Mutations," shared his experience as a reporter on environmental issues.

The President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam joined in as World Environment Day 2007 was celebrated across the country, highlighting the theme "Melting Ice:  A Hot Topic!"

UNIC New Delhi Director Shalini Dewan accompanied a group of students to Rashtrapati Bhavan and delivered the Environment Day message of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to President Kalam while the students presented him with a charter of environmental demands.

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On the occasion of the International Year of Deserts and Desertification 2006, UNIS Vienna was part of the opening ceremony of the Garden of Five Continents, outside Vienna, Austria, on 5 July 2006. The City of Vienna's Flower-Gardens Hirschstetten has designed a special desert section in their new Garden of Five Continents, to raise awareness of the global problem of desertification which affects one-fifth of the world's population in more than 100 countries.

In his opening statement, politician Norbert Scheed, District Chairperson of Vienna-Donaustadt expressed the hope that the Garden of Five Continents would help raise awareness of the necessity of nature and environment protection, especially with regard to the sensitive ecosystems of deserts. The Director of UNIS Vienna also spoke at the event.

• Food insecurity due to the long dry seasons
• Combat the degradation of the soil
• Stress the need to use renewable energy sources other than wood
• Decrease the pressure on the land and develop activities other than agriculture

UNIC Dar Es Salaam, in collaboration with Youth of United Nations Association of Tanzania (YUNA), have organized a celebration of the World Environment Day at Mbagala Secondary School on June 6 2005.
The UNIC Information Officer and the YUNA member planted a tree in the Mbagala School garden. There was also a debate to commemorate the Environment Day at the School.

In observance of World Environment Day 2005 and on behalf of the UN System in Bangladesh, UNIC Dhaka organized a display stall at the three-day long National Environment Day Exhibition at the China-Bangladesh Conference Centre in Dhaka between 5 and 7 June 2005. The Honorable Prime Minister of the Government of Bangladesh inaugurated the exhibition on 5 June. A number of
government and non-government organizations also took part in the exhibition.