05/09/2011 - Members
of the Technology Executive Committee created
under the United Nations Climate Change
Convention to facilitate
the use of technology to support mitigation
and adaptation to climate change concluded
their first meeting on Saturday (September
3), saying they had made important progress
on issues discussed.
Meeting in Bonn, members
of the Technology Executive Committee (TEC),
the policy arm of the Convention's Technology
Mechanism, deliberated on how the TEC will
provide technology needs, assess policy
and technical issues related to technology
development and transfer.
The three-day meeting
also discussed sharing information on new
and innovative technologies, facilitating
action on technology and ways to engage
stakeholders to build the momentum on the
Technology Mechanism.
"This is very good
progress", said Christiana Figueres,
the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). "The
goal of the Technology Mechanism can only
be achieved through a wider and deeper collaboration
among all countries with the active engagement
of relevant stakeholders, including the
research community, academia and, importantly,
the private sector", she said.
The TEC also discussed
ways of engaging a wide range of stakeholders
at international, regional and national
level, including public institutions, the
business community, academia and NGOs in
conducting its work.
The Committee identified
options for the engagement of stakeholders,
including through participation in the TEC
meetings as observers or expert advisers,
where applicable.
"This means that
there are opportunities for stakeholder
engagement in the work of the Committee
and stakeholders will be informed [on] how
to engage in time for the next steps on
the road to a functional Technology Mechanism
in 2012", said Ms. Figueres.
The TEC members unanimously
elected Gabriel Blanco of Argentina as chair
and Antonio Pflueger of Germany as his deputy
and gave them the mandate to collaborate
closely in chairing the meetings and carrying
out the committee's work to ensure coherence
between the meetings.
The meeting also set
up its housekeeping system, which details
the procedures the TEC will adhere to in
its work.
As the policy arm of
the Technology Mechanism, the TEC has the
key responsibility of laying the groundwork
for making the mechanism fully operational.
The Technology Mechanism
was established at the UN Climate Change
Conference in Cancun in December last year
as part of a set of institutions created
to protect vulnerable societies from climate
change and to use funds and technology to
help developing countries plan and build
their own sustainable futures.
Source: UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
+ More
UN-NGO Forum urges linking
sustainable development with public engagement
06/09/2011 - The annual
joint conference of the United Nations and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concluded
yesterday (September 5) in Bonn, Germany,
with calls for civil society to encourage
people to realize that their local concerns
were connected to the larger global issues.
Delegates to the three-day
64th annual conference of the UN and NGOs,
organized by the Department of Public Information
(DPI), in partnership with the DPI/NGO Executive
Committee, Germany and the UN Volunteers
(UNV) programme, stressed the need to "connect
the dots" between civil society groups
dealing with various issues for greater
impact on global problems.
The theme of this year's
conference was "Sustainable Societies
Responsive Citizens" and was an opportunity
for NGOs and civil society to interact as
they prepare for next year's UN Conference
on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil.
Kiyo Akasaka, the UN
Under-Secretary for Communications and Public
Information, told the conference's final
news conference that the gathering was an
important step in dialogue and cooperation
between the UN and non-governmental organizations.
The final declaration would be sent to organizers
of the Rio+20 meeting, he said.
Flavia Pansieri, the
Executive Coordinator of the UN Volunteers
Program, said that the goal of "connecting
the dots" between sustainable communities
and public engagement had been realized.
Ms. Pansieri expressed her appreciation
for the constant and strong support of the
partners with whom they had worked to organize
the conference.
According to Felix Dodds,
the Chair of the 64th DPI/NGO Conference,
Germany was playing a major leadership role
in the global discussions on environmental
matters, noting that the conference was
the first of three major environmental meetings
the country would host in the coming months.
Mr. Dodds said the final
declaration was rich in knowledge, information
and ideas and encouraged organizations to
use the document to trigger debate.
Source UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
