25 February 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has announced that it has signed a funding agreement with the Government of New Zealand for NZD4.5 million. The funding package will support programmes in Pacific Countries to improve the management of solid waste, protect biodiversity and encourage economic development through ecotourism, and assist Pacific countries in responding to climate change.
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February 2013: A new report of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO), titled "Biofuels and the Sustainability Challenge," addresses the issue of biofuel sustainability based on a global assessment of major commodities and feedstocks. The report is guided by the need to understand the economic, environmental and social sustainability dimensions of biofuels, and how these elements can be used to address the challenges of land-use change, food security and climate change.
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January 2013: The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has published three reports on climate risk management (CRM) in Kenya, Niger and Uganda, as part of the UN Development Programme's (UNDP) Climate Risk Management (CRM) Technical Assistance Support Project (TASP). The reports illustrate how different communities in high-risk countries may have to adapt to a changing climate across a range of sectors.
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21 February 2013: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released the Third African Environment Outlook (AEO-3) Summary for Policy Makers, commissioned by the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN). The report focuses on the links between environment and health, and includes subsections on: air quality; biodiversity; chemicals and waste; climate change and variability; coastal and marine resources; freshwater and sanitation; and land.
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16 February 2013: Representatives from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the International Council for Exploration of the Sea, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have presented their work to scientists, experts, educators and media at a one-day conference on “Stress, Sustainability and Development of Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) during Climate Change.”
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February 2013: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has made available the report of the workshop on capacity building for pilot countries on the implementation of synergies among the Rio Conventions.
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20 February 2013: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released a compendium of Global Environmental Goals (GEGs), aiming to inform governments and relevant stakeholders and promote cooperation in achieving their objectives in a more coherent and harmonized manner. The publication was announced in a UNEP Conference Room Paper (UNEP/GCSS.XII/CRP.2), dated 20 February 2013.
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13 February 2013: The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has inaugurated a new $25 million research complex that will help researchers speed up climate-resilient seed development for maize and wheat.
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8 February 2013: Arctic Environment Ministers met in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, from 5-6 February 2013, to address the rapid environmental changes in the Arctic. They discussed climate change and ocean acidification, contamination in the Arctic, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem based management.
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Organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with a financial contribution from the Government of Japan, this workshop is being held back-to-back with the technical workshop organized by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on ecosystem-based approaches for adaptation to climate change under the Nairobi Work Programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, held from 21-23 March 2013, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The workshop will support the update and/or implementation of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAP) and the development of national climate change adaptation plans.
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