Finance Ministers Build Momentum on Natural Capital Accounting [viewed]
18 April 2013: Over 35 ministers, vice-ministers and senior officials of finance, development and environment met for a High-level Ministerial Dialogue on Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) on 18 April 2013, in Washington, DC, US, on the eve of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meetings. As part of a larger group called the "first movers" of NCA, they discussed new methods for valuing nature, reaching beyond traditional gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of economic progress.
20 April 2013: The tenth session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF10), which met from 8-19 April 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey, focused on the theme "Forests and Economic Development." 
18 April 2013: Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) members participated in two informal forest dialogues with China, both of which were held in Douala, Cameroon. Since 2007-2008, CBFP members have engaged in informal dialogues with Chinese actors on sustainable forest management (SFM) and issues such as certification, timber traceability and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan of the European Union. The two recent dialogues aimed to improve forest governance, reduce poverty and more sustainably manage forest resources.
16 April 2013: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced that it has signed a bilateral agreement with the Government of the Russian Federation, covering priority environmental areas including: biodiversity conservation; the environmental aspects of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics; and environmental challenges facing the Arctic.
9 April 2013: The April issue of the World Bank Program on Forests' (PROFOR) newsletter features sections on the benefits of sustainable forest management (SFM) certification, upcoming events, new activities and stories from around PROFOR.
April 2013: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released the latest edition of its Infosylva newsletter. It features upcoming events and news items related to both FAO and forests, including a new FAO publication on guidelines for developing national forest financing strategies.
15 April 2013: The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) and Conservation International (CI) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on the sidelines of the 46th meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee to provide a framework for future cooperation.
15 April 2013: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Business Coalition (TEEB for Business) has released a report on environmental externalities of businesses, titled "Natural Capital at Risk – The Top 100 Externalities of Business.” The report concludes that the top 100 environmental externalities cost the world economy approximately US$7.3 trillion annually, around 13% of global economic output.
11 April 2013: The "High Seas, Our Future!" conference, which took place in Paris, France, concluded with the launch of the "Paris Appeal for the High Seas" stressing the importance of governance of the high seas, in the run up to negotiations on this topic in 2014.
12 April 2013: At its eighth session, the Committee on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM 8) approved two revised International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) on pest risk analysis for quarantine pests and on the regulation of wood packaging material. The Committee also considered the way forward on developing ISPMs on sea containers and on international shipments of grain. 
