1 August 2012: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) welcomed Naoko Ishii as its new CEO and Chairperson, announcing that she had taken office on 1 August 2012. The GEF Council unanimously selected Ishii to succeed Monique Barbut, who completed her second term as CEO in July 2012.
26 July 2012: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (APRC) has released a report highlighting the importance of indigenous peoples' voice and participation in the governance of sustainable development.
July 2012: The Natural Resources Forum (NRF), a quarterly journal issued by the UN Division for Sustainable Development (DSD), has called for papers for a special issue on forests, to be published in 2013. NRF notes that articles submitted should address forests from a sustainable development perspective, and be relevant to policymaking.
13 July 2012: The 11th Meeting of the Conference of Contracting Parties (COP 11) to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) was held from 6-13 July 2012, in Bucharest, Romania, under the theme “Wetlands: Home and Destination.” The main debate during COP 11 was over the institutional hosting of the Secretariat, and after intense negotiations the COP decided to renew confidence in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as host.
13 July 2012: Participants at the 30th session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI 30) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), which took place one month after the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), noted that Rio+20's momentum could be used to address pressing concerns, such as illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, the management of shark fisheries and shark by-catch, the impacts of proliferating ecolabels, and the sustainability of small-scale fisheries.
June 2012: Following the establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), participants agreed to an intersessional process to support both preparation for the first plenary meeting of the Platform, planned for early 2013, and development of the first IPBES work programme. The agreement came after the second session of the plenary meeting on an IPBES, held in Panama City, Panama, in April 2012.
9 July 2012: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released the 2012 edition of its flagship publication, "The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture." The report underscores fisheries' and aquaculture's contribution to global food security and economic growth, but warns that they are threatened by poor governance, weak fisheries management regimes, conflicts over the use of natural resources, and the persistent use of poor fishery and aquaculture practices.
6 July 2012: The second meeting of the Open-ended Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Committee for the Nagoya Protocol (ICNP) on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted eight recommendations setting the groundwork for the Protocol's implementation and entry into force.
After years of international negotiations, the world has just seen the establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), a top global platform that is to regularly assess the state of biodiversity, our fragile ecosystems and the essential services they provide to all of us.
29 June 2012: The First International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO)-Forestry Research Network of SubSaharan Africa (FORNESSA) Regional Congress took place on the theme, “Forests and Trees: Serving the People of Africa and the World.” The draft Nairobi Resolution, containing key needs for enhancing goods and services from forests and trees in African landscapes, was presented to participants at the end of the Congress.
| Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) |
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| Conference Reporting Services (CRS) |
