01/08/2011 - Brazil
celebrates on Tuesday (August 2) the first
anniversary of the National Policy on Solid
Waste (PNRS). The PNRS has established a
set of rules to be followed in the management
of solid waste in the country.
Reusable and recyclable
waste have great economic value, according
to a study commissioned by the Ministry
of Environment (MMA) for the Institute for
Applied Economic Research (IPEA). According
to the study, the country loses about R$
8 billion per year when it ceases to recycle
the waste that could have another purpose,
but is sent to landfills and garbage dumps.
By August 3, 2014, Brazil
will be free from open dumps, in almost
all municipalities. This is what determines
one of the articles of the PNRS, regulated
by Presidential Decree on December 23, 2010.
It also forbids, from 2014 on, to put into
landfills any waste that can be recycled
or reused.
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DESA Newsletter Reports
on 'Solo Message'
05/08/2011 - The August
issue of the newsletter of the UN Department
of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) includes
a summary of the recent High-level Dialogue
on the Institutional Framework for Sustainable
Development (IFSD).
In the section on Global
Dialogue on Development, the newsletter
notes that the High-level Dialogue, which
took place from 19-21 July 2011, in Solo,
Indonesia, concluded with the adoption of
the 'Solo Message', a contribution to the
UN Conference on Sustainable Development
(UNCSD, or Rio+20).
According to DESA News,
the 'Solo Message': focuses on two main
points, to integrate the three pillars of
sustainable development - economic, social
and environmental - and to effectively implement
political commitments for sustainable development;
calls for an organization at the international
level that enhances the integration of the
three pillars, with participants discussing
options ranging from an enhanced mandate
for ECOSOC, to establishing a sustainable
development council, to strengthening the
UN Environment Programme (UNEP); emphasizes
the need to renew political commitment and
translate it into implementation, including
by reviewing and supporting sustainable
development governance at the local, national
and regional levels, and by providing more
integrated support for national strategies,
including the UN's 'Delivering as One' initiative;
and calls for innovative and additional
financing to enable implementation of capacity
building and technology transfer.
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Ban exhorts academia
to find solutions to global hunger, poverty
and intolerance
16/08/2011 - Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon exhorted the world's academic
community to find solutions to global hunger
and malnutrition, come up with ideas to
promote sustainable and inclusive development,
and advance tolerance through mutual respect
and understanding.
The Academic Impact is a global initiative
that aligns institutions of higher education
with the UN to actively support universally
accepted principles in human rights, literacy,
sustainability and conflict resolution,
among others. It was formally launched at
UN Headquarters in November last year and
670 academic institutions in 104 countries
have since joined the initiative, including
47 from the Republic of Korea.
On tolerance and peaceful
coexistence, the Secretary-General stressed
that the academic community, with its long-standing
traditions of cultural exchange, can set
an example of mutual respect and understanding.
The Secretary-General
said the Academic Impact had spawned an
offshoot known as ASPIRE - Action by Students
to Promote Innovation and Reform through
Education - and thanked the students for
their engagement, including through raising
funds for relief work after disasters in
Haiti and Japan.
Source: United Nations at www.uncsd2012.org
