Iran's parliament takes steps to counter US pressures

Iranian Majlis (parliament) on Sunday overwhelmingly approved the generalities of a motion to counter US pressures and its "terrorist and adventurous" acts in the region.

US helps African country's fight against wildlife trafficking

The United States on Friday committed 600 million rand (about $54 million) to the fight against wildlife trafficking in Africa.

Of the funding, over 30 million rand (about $2.7 million) will be dedicated to helping wildlife organisations in South Africa, US Under-Secretary Catherine Novelli said in Pretoria.
In addition to the funding, US will also donate to South African park rangers 750,000 dollars worth of survival, surveillance and investigative equipment to support their efforts to combat poaching and illegal wildlife, said Novelli who was on a visit to South Africa.

These trailers will carry preventive equipment to crime scene, ensuring that rangers and environmental management inspectors have the tools they need to properly collect evidence, according to Novelli.

Novelli handed over two surveillance and investigative crime scene equipment carrying trailers to rangers in KwaZulu-Natal and Free State provinces.

The donation came as wildlife trafficking, particularly rhino poaching, was on the rise in Africa.

South Africa, home to more than 80 percent of the world's rhino population, bears the brunt of rhino poaching.

Since the start of the poaching in 2008, South Africa has lost over 2,600 rhinos -- a figure that, despite so much effort, increases daily, according to the Stop Rhino Poaching organization.
 Sources: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
16/11/14
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Related:

• Interpol announces special team to combat illegal ivory trafficking

• UN chief 'adopts' lion cub to support efforts against wildlife trafficking

• Environment: Experts meet to discuss how to better fight wildlife trafficking in the EU and globally

• More than 40 countries sign declaration on fighting with illegal trade in wildlife

Financial sector to help mobilize $200 billion to fight climate change in developing countries

UN,  23 September 2014 – Governments, investors and financial institutions today pledged to mobilize $200 billion by the end of next year for low-carbon programmes in developing countries, giving a significant boost to the United Nations goal of reaching $100 billion annually by 2020.

“This will serve as a catalyst in finalizing a universal and meaningful agreement at Paris on climate change in 2015,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as he hosted the largest ever summit of world leaders on climate change at UN Headquarters in New York to prepare the ground for a global accord at a summit in the French capital in December next year.

Today’s agreement combines public and private financing, including pledges by donor and developing countries to capitalize the Green Climate Fund aimed at helping developing countries shoulder the burden of slashing emissions.

“The Summit has created a platform for new coalitions and has brought leaders from both public and private sectors across the globe to not only recognize climate risks, but to agree to work together,” Mr. Ban said of today’s gathering.

• The private sector announcements were made by an unprecedented coalition of financial institutions, pension funds, insurance companies, development banks and commercial banks which had never previously acted together on climate change at such a large scale.

The Summit also marked a major advance in efforts by Governments and businesses to set a price on greenhouse gas emissions, a step that offers investors and consumers an accurate reflection of the true cost of goods and services. More than 50 countries and 500 companies endorsed the need for developing mechanisms that would adequately reflect the true costs relating to pollution and emissions.

In a major departure from the climate negotiations and previous climate summits, the business community and civil society are playing a major role. There were 181 representatives from the business and investment community, including 90 chief executive officers. There were 52 business and investors from developing countries. In addition, there were dozens of civil society representatives. 
[un.org]
23/9/14
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• UN summit test for new climate fund. (Donors yet to stump up to pay for assistance to developing countries)

• Some 22 million displaced by natural disasters in 2013, UN-backed report reveals 

• According to the report, both wealthy and poorer countries are affected, although developing countries bear the brunt, accounting for more than 85 per cent of displacement....

• From Paris to New York, people rally against climate change

• WHO Warns of Climate Change Dangers, Calls for Stronger Actions

• Climate Change: The World, ‘It Turned Out Right’

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  • Δυσαρέσκεια Μπαν Κι Μουν για την Απουσία της Μέρκελ Από τη Σύνοδο Κορυφής για το Κλίμα

  • Klimaschutz.....Kanzlerin Merkel schwänzt den Gipfel....

UN summit test for new climate fund. (Donors yet to stump up to pay for assistance to developing countries)

A global fund created to spearhead climate change financing faces a key test at a UN summit this week when it looks to the leaders of the industrialized world to stump up billions of dollars to fill its underflowing coffers.

For the South Korea-based Green Climate Fund, the climate summit in New York on Tuesday is an opportunity for the developed world to demonstrate its financial commitment to securing a new, legally binding global climate deal with poorer countries in 2015.

The fund was born out of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009, when developed countries made a political commitment to mobilize $100 billion annually for developing countries by 2020.

So far only Germany has come up with a substantial commitment to the GCF, pledging around $1 billion in July.

"We expect at the summit other countries to come forward and show they are leading the way in contributing to the fund," said GCF executive director Hela Cheikhrouhou.

"Early pledges, like Germany or those who pledge in New York, are incredibly important for trust-building," Cheikhrouhou told AFP in an interview in Incheon.

The GCF, which was formally established in 2010, has had a slow gestation period, and it took 3-1/2 years to reach a working consensus on what it should do and how it should go about it.

"That's where people got impatient," Cheikhrouhou acknowledged.

"It took a long time to agree on the foundational policies and operational guidelines."

The fund's board is composed of 24 members, with equal representation from developing and developed countries.

Cheikhrouhou said debate had been "stormy" at times, but argued this was inevitable with an institution being built from scratch and entrusted with such a pivotal role.

The GCF was set up to channel funding from wealthy to poorer nations, helping them to shift their development pathways towards a greener track and shore up defenses against climate peril.

"We have to start this paradigm shift now," Cheikhrouhou said. "The more we delay action, the harder and more expensive it will be in the future."

The fund currently has around $55 million in its coffers, while Christiana Figueres, the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has called for an initial capitalization of $10 billion by the end of the year.

Confidence in the GCF is seen as critical for the UNFCCC's conference in Lima, Peru in December, which aims at clearing the way to a global pact on climate change a year later in Paris.

"Essentially, the fund should be proof that help will be on the way if you agree to an agreement," Cheikhrouhou said.
Sources: AFP - globaltimes.cn
21/9/14
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Related:

• Some 22 million displaced by natural disasters in 2013, UN-backed report reveals 

• According to the report, both wealthy and poorer countries are affected, although developing countries bear the brunt, accounting for more than 85 per cent of displacement....

• From Paris to New York, people rally against climate change

• WHO Warns of Climate Change Dangers, Calls for Stronger Actions

• Climate Change: The World, ‘It Turned Out Right’

Clock is ticking for Romania suspended funds | EurActiv

Romania has two months to react to a warning from the European Commission, which has identified serious problems in the country's anti-corruption procedures in the implementation of programmes in the field of transport, regional development and competitiveness, a spokesperson said today (26 October).

The Commission has sent yesterday (25 October) a letter to the Romanian authorities, pre-suspending the funding in the field of transport, regional development and competitiveness.
The EU executive also proposed “financial corrections” in those three areas and environment, Shirin Wheeler, spokesperson of Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn said.........
Clock is ticking for Romania suspended funds | EurActiv