29 September 2011: The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) has released a report titled "Predicting the Impact of Climate Change on the Cocoa-Growing Regions in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire," which predicts that a temperature rise of over 2ºC by 2050 would dramatically impact West Africa's cocoa-producing areas.
This symposium is co-organized by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) and its MedWet Initiative, as well as the High Commissariat for Water, Forests and Desertification Control of Morocco and other partners. The event is organized 20 years after the first pan-Mediterranean conference on wetlands, which was held in 1991 in the town of Grado, Italy, and which adopted the goal to "stop and reverse the loss and degradation of Mediterranean wetlands." This new International Symposium aims to review the current situation of water and wetlands in the Mediterranean, assess the new challenges and plan for the next 20 years. Important objectives are to assess the changes occurring in the Mediterranean and their potential impact on wetlands, to identify ways in which wetland resources can be used sustainably with a strong emphasis on water resources and to provide ways for closer cooperation between experts and actors in the Mediterranean involved in the water area, wetlands and other related sectors.
September 2011: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP)/GRID-Arendal Marine Programme has released the September 2011 edition of its newsletter (Marine Newsletter #21), including an update on a publication on the blue economy. The blue economy publication is being produced as a supplement to UNEP's Green Economy Report, and also will make the economic case for greening economic activities.
29 September 2011: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Government of South Africa, through its Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further promote South-South and triangular cooperation on biodiversity for development.
This workshop is organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the City of Montpellier and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability. It is part of a series of regional and sub-regional capacity-building workshops aiming to: strengthen national capacities for the development, implementation, review, updating and communication of national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs); help facilitate national implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020; and generate national targets and commitments. In addition, it aims to strengthen local and sub-national governance of biodiversity in the Mediterranean; establish links between local policies and national biodiversity strategies; and establish a Mediterranean network of cities engaged in biodiversity, which would support national-level implementation of the CBD.
28 September 2011: The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has announced that it will list 91 species of hardwood from Madagascar and Panama on its Appendix III, effective 22 December 2011. Appendix III lists those species identified by a CITES Party as being subject to regulation within its jurisdiction for the purpose of preventing or restricting exploitation, and as needing the co-operation of other Parties in the control of trade.
This preparatory negotiation workshop to the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) is being organized by the CMS Secretariat and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Division of Environmental Law and Conventions (DELC), with support from Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Birdlife International. The workshop will address the need to enhance the capacity of CMS negotiators from African countries and prepare participants to negotiate effectively at CMS COP 10.
26 September 2011: The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has released its September 2011 newsletter, noting the opening of registration for Forest Day at the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UNFCCC in Durban, South Africa, on 4 December 2011. The newsletter also features articles on REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stock), forest governance and climate change.
26 September 2011: Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, passed away on 25 September 2011. Maathai was awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in environmental sustainability and empowerment of women, the first time a Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to an environmentalist.
The European Space Agency's “GlobWetland-II” project is developing remote sensing products and in-country capacity building for handling Earth observation data for a number of Mediterranean States that are parties to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention), focusing on North Africa and the Middle East. The overarching objective of the GlobWetland II project is to contribute to the set up of a Global Wetlands Observing System (G-WOS) as per the strategy 1.2 of the Ramsar Strategic Plan 2009-2015, Resolution X.1, adopted at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) of the Ramsar Convention, in Changwon, South Korea. This progress meeting is hosted by the Ramsar Secretariat.
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