Ana səhifə

The environment in the news


Yüklə 310 Kb.
səhifə5/6
tarix24.06.2016
ölçüsü310 Kb.
1   2   3   4   5   6

Antara News:Indonesia wants compensation to make its forests world`s lungs

04/13/07

Jambi - If the world community wants Indonesia to conserve its forests as the world`s "lungs", it should also provide Indonesia with adequate compensation, Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said.

"There should be significant compensation if Indonesia is to produce carbon for the international community by preserving its forests," the minister said when opening a workshop on efforts to deal with forest fires and haze here Thursday.

In efforts to overcome forest damage and forest fires, Indonesia was facing many constraints, especially in the provision of operational funds and in reforestation efforts due to rampant illegal logging activity in the country, he said.

Developed countries like the United States, Britain, Germany, France and China were expected to pay attention to Indonesia`s financial problem in its efforts to conserve forests, the minister said.

He also said that forest fires which hit a number of areas in Indonesia almost every year, especially in Sumatra and Kalimantan, should serve as valuable lessons.

He also called on people especially those living near forests to serve as `spearheads` in efforts to conserve forests and not to resort to the slash-and-burn method when they open or widen plantation areas.

The workshop also featured Forestry Minister MS Kaban, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono and State Minister for the Environment Rahmat Witoelar as well as a number of high-ranking police officers as speakers. (*)

________________________________________________________________________


LE MONDE :Première détection d'eau sur une exoplanète
12.04.07
Il est des découvertes qui déroutent les scientifiques, et d'autres qui les rassurent. L'annonce par un astronome américain, mardi 10 avril, de la première détection de vapeur d'eau dans l'atmosphère d'une planète extra-solaire est de celles qui ne surprendront aucun astrophysicien. Elle les confortera, au contraire, dans l'idée que cet élément, crucial pour le développement de la vie, est abondant loin de notre système solaire.
Mais jusqu'à présent, cette conviction n'avait pu être étayée que par les modèles théoriques, pas encore par les faits. Sur les 218 exoplanètes découvertes à ce jour, au cours d'une quête qui a commencé il y a douze ans, aucune n'avait dévoilé la moindre molécule d'eau. Trois observations récentes avaient même laissé entendre que cette détection serait beaucoup plus compliquée que prévu, des nuages de poussière masquant peut-être la vapeur recherchée (Le Monde du 24 février).
Pour balayer ces doutes, Travis Barman, de l'Observatoire Lowell (Arizona), s'est tourné vers l'astre béni des chercheurs de mondes lointains. HD 209458b a permis tant d'avancées que l'équipe internationale d'Alfred Vidal-Madjar (Institut d'astrophysique de Paris-CNRS-Université Pierre et Marie Curie) proposa de récompenser ses mérites par un vrai nom, Osiris. Elle fut la première, en 1999, à être détectée par la méthode des transits, c'est-à-dire lors de son passage, tous les trois jours et demi, entre son étoile et la Terre.
DES OBSERVATIONS DE HUBBLE
Cette situation privilégiée a permis de préciser sa masse, deux tiers de celle de Jupiter, sa taille, supérieure d'un tiers à celle de notre géante gazeuse, et sa température de surface, d'environ 1 000°C. La précision de ces paramètres, qui lui donnent une densité qui lui permettrait de flotter sur l'eau, combinée avec sa proximité de son étoile, a débouché sur une série de mesures inédites. HD 209458b est la première à avoir dévoilé l'existence d'une atmosphère dans laquelle des Américains ont repéré du sodium puis l'équipe de M. Vidal-Madjar de l'hydrogène, en train de s'échapper vers le cosmos, mais aussi de l'oxygène et du carbone, en 2003 et 2004.
Pour ajouter la vapeur d'eau à cette liste, Travis Barman a choisi de se replonger dans les mesures qui avaient été prises à l'époque par Hubble. Le télescope spatial américano-européen avait alors réussi à capter les variations de la lumière émise par l'étoile lorsqu'elle traverse les couches les plus externes de l'atmosphère de sa planète toute proche. Selon la longueur d'onde analysée, l'atmosphère peut laisser passer les rayons, ou au contraire les arrêter. Chacune de ces modifications trahit la présence d'un élément chimique spécifique. Le travail de Travis Barman a donc consisté à réaliser différents modèles de composition atmosphérique afin de trouver celui qui convient aux observations de Hubble. Le meilleur suggère qu'à une longueur d'onde précise, l'absorption de la lumière de l'étoile correspond à la présence de vapeur d'eau.
Cette analyse de la lumière filtrée par l'atmosphère apparaît ainsi beaucoup plus efficace que celle qui avait été menée avec le télescope spatial de la NASA Spitzer en recueillant le rayonnement infrarouge émis directement par deux exoplanètes, dont Osiris. Ces études n'avaient pas permis de détecter la vapeur d'eau et avaient conduit à l'hypothèse des rideaux de poussière opaque. Elles sont aujourd'hui invalidées par les conclusions de M. Barman.
"C'est un solide travail théorique, commente M. Vidal-Madjar, même si les observations ont été menées par d'autres et si les hypothèses autres que la vapeur d'eau n'ont pas été complètement fouillées." De fait, l'astronome américain semble avoir pressé le pas parce qu'il se savait suivi de très près sur la piste de l'eau. C'est ce qui explique sans doute l'annonce faite, mardi, très en amont de la publication prévue dans l'Astrophysical Journal.
L'équipe de M. Vidal-Madjar est en effet sur le point de publier ses propres observations sur un autre Jupiter chaud, menées par une méthode différente. Les chercheurs tiendront alors solidement l'élément chimique qui leur a tant manqué jusque-là. Et qui peut les conduire à déceler un jour non plus les vapeurs bouillantes d'un astre surchauffé, mais une nappe liquide à la surface d'un monde à la fois lointain et proche du nôtre.

Jérôme Fenoglio


UN DAILY NEWS from the

UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE

12 April, 2007
====================================================================
TOP UN OFFICIALS STRONGLY CONDEMN DEADLY BOMBINGS IN BAGHDAD

Top United Nations officials spoke out against the deadly attacks in

Baghdad today, with Secn,jretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling on all Iraqi leaders to join forces to curb the violence and promote peace and stability.

In a statement released by his spokesman, Mr. Ban said that he deplored the attack on the Iraqi Parliament, which killed several Parliamentarians and left many more wounded, “targeted Iraq’s elected officials and attempted to undermine one of the country’s sovereign institutions.”

He urged the country’s leaders to “come together in a spirit of unity in order to stem the violence and work towards a more peaceful and stable Iraq.” Mr. Ban’s Special Representative to Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, also strongly condemned today’s attacks in Baghdad at the Iraqi Parliament as well as on the Al-Sarrafiya Bridge, calling on the country’s authorities to apprehend those behind the acts and bring them to justice.
The bombings “constituted attacks on the symbols of Iraq’s proud history and hope for its future,” he said in a statement.Calling today’s acts “criminal,” Mr. Qazi said that they “demonstrated the horrors of wanton violence and the need for enhanced dialogue and national reconciliation.”
SCHOOLS IN MIDDLE EAST MUST BE ‘ZONES OF PEACE:’ UN ENVOY ON CHILDREN IN CONFLICT
Completing a three-day fact-finding mission to Lebanon, the United Nations nvoy for children in armed conflict today called on all sides in the Middle East to respect international humanitarian law and ensure schools are “zones of peace” where children are protected.After visiting the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy said she was shocked to see the destruction caused by last year’s conflict between Hizbollah and Israel and its considerable impact on children.

“All parties should respect International Humanitarian Law with regard to the protection of children and ensure that schools are zones of peace. For the future generations, a framework for a permanent peace should

|be negotiated with Israel,” she said.

Ms. Coomaraswamy said that she felt very encouraged by the response of the ebanese authorities, civil society, non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

and the international community to the crisis with regard to children.

She also welcomed commitments made by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on behalf of Lebanon’s Government and by Parliamentary Deputy Mohamed Raad on ehalf of Hizbollah to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. Ms. Coomaraswamy stressed that children should not be used in political mobilization or armed violence.

During discussions with these officials, she also raised the issue of cluster bombs and unexploded ordinance and asked Lebanon to take a leading ole in the development of and advocacy for an International Protocol on Cluster Munitions.

After visiting the Shatilla Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, she

expressed concern over refugee children and called for better access to social services, education and employment, while also recognizing the efforts made by the Government to address the issue of living conditions |in the camp it crucial for the future of the country to encourage children to

continue to go to school especially the most vulnerable and marginalized

ones,” she declared.

SECURITY COUNCIL DEPLORES DEADLY BOMB ATTACKS IN ALGERIA

Condemning “in the strongest terms” yesterday’s deadly bombings in the Algerian capital, the Security Council today stressed the need to bring the perpetrators and sponsors to account and reiterated that acts of errorism can never be justified. National authorities said 33 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in the two suicide attacks, which took place at separate sites in|Algiers.

In a statement read out by Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry of the United Kingdom, which holds this month’s rotating presidency, Council members |deplored “these heinous acts of terrorism” and offered condolences to the victims and their families. “The Security Council underlines the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice,” the statement said, adding that all countries should cooperate with Algerian authorities as they investigate the bombings.

The 15-member body reaffirmed that terrorism of any kind “constitutes one |of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and that |any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.”

Reminding all States of their obligation under previous Council esolutions to combat terrorism, Mr. Jones Parry said that any measures taken must also comply with the UN Charter and all commitments under international law, especially those concerning human rights, humanitarian issues and refugees.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke out yesterday against the Algiers blasts, saying in a statement issued by his spokesperson that they were further evidence of the need for concerted global action to defeat terrorism
SECRETARY-GENERAL ‘PROFOUNDLY MOVED’ BY PROFESSIONALISM OF UN STAFF:
SPOKESPERSON

Marking his first three months in office, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon oday told staff at United Nations Headquarters in New York and around the orld that he has been “profoundly moved” by their professionalism and his spokesperson said.

Mr. Ban took questions from staff attending the meeting in New York and from others around the world who were participating via videoconference, and told them he is asking his senior managers to identify their priorities and goals in a measurable way, and that he is also working to strengthen the Management Performance Board
|n remarks to the press after the meeting, Mr. Ban described the discussions as very useful, rewarding and candid, as he promised to have “closer dialogue” with UN staff in the future. He also highlighted the |issue of staff mobility and how this can help ensure more professionalism in the organization.

“As far as mobility is concerned, this is a decision by the Member States |that the Member States had taken in 2002. And from May 2007 this year, this first phase of mobility should be implemented. I know that there arecertain areas of concern, but while promoting this mobility, I will try to|ensure that we need to have a strengthened career development, training, and other issues,” Mr. Ban said I think that through mobility, when in place, we can ensure more efficient, and more multitasked and versatile staff, and more |professionalism.”

AS FIGHTING IN SOMALIA INTENSIFIES, UN OFFICIAL VOICES CONCERN FOR CIVILIANS

With fighting in Somalia is at its heaviest since the outbreak of war over

a decade ago, the top United Nations humanitarian official today voiced deep concern over the dire situation in the war-torn country wherecivilians fleeing the capital, Mogadishu, have been harassed, threatened, |raped and robbed.

The fragile ceasefire between warring sides agreed to on 1 April crumbled when the fighting resumed yesterday in Mogadishu.“Although it seemed that there was some hope, it took only days for the truce to be broken and the suffering of the population to be on the rise again,” said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes.

Last month in Mogadishu, hundreds of civilians were killed and more than 1,000 wounded were registered in the city’s two main hospitals. Almost 200,000 people have fled Mogadishu because of the bloodshed since 1February.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reportedthat aid workers are being thwarted in their efforts to assist internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other vulnerable groups by the deteriorating security situation, harassment, intimidation and even detention.

Relief providers are further hampered by the difficulty in accessing aid supplies in Mogadishu because of the military’s presence and activities

“These incidents compromise the independent and impartial nature of the

humanitarian response,” said Mr. Holmes. “Indeed, they are paralyzing the response

Violence in the capital has increased since the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), backed by Ethiopian forces, dislodged the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) from Mogadishu and much of the rest of the country at

|the end of last year. Mortar rounds and other fire have since killed many |civilians in residential areas and settlements housing 250,000 internally

|displaced persons (IDPs).

Southern and central portions of the country have been hard hit by unprecedented droughts, flooding and three waves of intense fighting within the last year, further compounding the critical humanitarian

situation in the country


Due to flooding late last year, the east African country also faces an outbreak of acute water diarrhoea, which has affected 400 people so far. Meanwhile, human trafficking from northern Somalia to Yemen continued in

|March, with tragic consequences. Since the beginning of this year, at least 200 people have died – some after being thrown overboard by

|smugglers – in attempting to reach Yemen. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 5,600 people have landed on the Yemeni coast but many others remain missing.
|CROPS WORLDWIDE THREATENED BY NEW WHEAT-KILLING FUNGUS, UN AGENCY WARNS

Warning that a virulent new wheat-killing fungus called wheat stem rust could destroy harvests across the globe, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today said that it has partnered with otherorganizations to fight the spread of the dangerous strain.

Warning that a virulent new wheat-killing fungus called wheat stem rust could destroy harvests across the globe, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today said that it has partnered with otherorganizations to fight the spread of the dangerous strain.
Also known as wheat black rust, the fungus, which first emerged in Uganda in 1999, has spread from East Africa to Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula. Approximately 80 per cent of all varieties of wheat in Asia and Africa arevulnerable to this new strain which spreads rapidly and is transmitted by the wind across continents and over long distances.

|“Global wheat yields could be at risk if the stem rust spreads to major |heat producing countries,” cautioned FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said Destruction of wheat crops, causing billions dollars worth of losses, “could lead to increased wheat prices and local or regional food shortages he said

This could have dire implications for developing countries, he added, since they rely heavily on wheat and do not have access to wheat varieties|resistant to the fungus.
FAO has joined forces with the Global Rust Initiative – an international group lead by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center – which|receives most of its funding from Canada, the United States and India.
The partnership will assist efforts to develop wheat varieties resistant to the fungus, bolstering plant protection and developing contingency plans in the event of crop infection FAO urges countries already affected, particularly Yemen, as well as countries at risk to heighten their surveillance of the rust.
|The strain of fungus found in Yemen is already more virulent than the one in East Africa, the agency said, and there is a high risk that Sudan will be affected next. FAO said there is a possibility that wind currents could carry the fungus spores from Yemen north along the Red Sea to Egypt or through the Saudi Arabian peninsula to the Near East

|In the late 1980s, a similar disease appeared in East Africa, traveling to|Yemen, the Near East and Central Asia, finally reaching South Asia in four| years. This massive spread resulted in losses in crops worth over $1|billion


UN PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION VISITING BURUNDI TO FIND WAYS TO CONSOLIDATE STABILITY

An eight-member delegation from the newly established United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) – created to prevent countries emerging from civil war and other conflicts from sliding back into bloodshed – is currently visiting Burundi in a bid to help consolidate stability there.

Led by Ambassador Johan L. Løvald, Permanent Representative of Norway to the UN, the delegation will wrap up its four-day trip on 14 April to the small central African State, which has been the victim of violent coups and political instability since gaining independence in 1962.On this trip, the delegation aims to see first-hand the current situation in Burundi and assess the challenges the country faces in fortifying peace.

It will meet with various groups – including Government officials and representatives from regional organizations such as the African Union |(AU), human rights and other civil society groups, religious leaders and media – to discuss how the PBC can best support peacebuilding efforts.

|“Visits by members of the PBC to the countries under consideration are a very important element in the work” of the body, said Carolyn McAskie, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support.Last month, the PBC sent a delegation on a five-day maiden mission to Sierra Leon
Established in December 2005, the PBC focuses on reconstruction, institution-building and the promotion of sustainable development in post-conflict countries.

The body, which operates in conjunction with several of the UN’s principal organs, namely the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), also recognizes the importance of individual countries spearheading efforts to consolidate peace within their own borders.


“This visit by members of the PBC to Burundi underscores the importance of national ownership in peacebuilding,” Ms. McAskie explained. Burundi was the first country to receive financial support from thePeacebuilding Fund, established from voluntary contributions to aid countries which have recently emerged from war from slipping back into conflict

|

|INDEPENDENT RIGHTS EXPERT CALLS FOR MORE SUPPORT FOR UN TREATY ON |



|DISABILITIES

|

|Welcoming the dozens of countries which have signed the landmark new treaty protecting the rights of the world’s estimated 650 million people with disabilities, a United Nations independent expert called for more States to back the pact and foster inclusive education.


|Vernor Muñoz, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, issued a statement today describing the large number of signatures to both the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol as “a very positive sign of a change of attitudes towards persons with disabilities.” |

|Some 81 Member States and the European Community signed the new treaty on ||30 March, a record for the first day of signature of any convention, while|

|44 nations signed on to the Optional Protocol. |

| |


|The Convention needs 20 countries to ratify it to enter into force, and so| far Jamaica is the only country to have taken this step. |

| |


|Congratulating the countries that have signed, Mr. Muñoz “also would like |

|to strongly encourage States that have not yet signed to do so, hoping that in the near future all States will ratify the Convention and its Optional Protocol.” The Convention outlaws discrimination against persons with disabilities in all areas of life, including employment, education,health services, transportation and access to justice


It requires that public spaces and buildings be accessible to persons with disabilities, and calls for improvements to information and communications infrastructure.

The Optional Protocol will give individuals recourse to an expert committee on the rights of persons with disabilities when all national options have been exhausted. Mr. Muñoz said international instruments such as the Convention “constitute a fundamental mechanism for the realization of the right to education of persons with disabilities, since they crystallize the commitment of States to protect their rights, recognize the link between inclusive education and the right to education of persons with

|disabilities, and lay down the legal bases for its implementation.”
Mr. Muñoz, who serves in an independent, unpaid capacity, reports to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

UN CONTINUES AIDING TSUNAMI-HIT SOLOMON ISLANDS, BUT SOME AREAS STILL OUT

|OF REACH

Relief efforts in the Solomon Islands following last week’s deadly tsunami are being hampered by the lack of access to the more remote regions, the United Nations humanitarian arm warned today, with some areas still not yet reached by emergency teams, ten days after the disaster struck.


But the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said radio contact has been largely re-established to affected areas and the threat posed by communicable diseases has been brought under control, with| few reported cases of diarrhoea and surveillance systems in place to handle any outbreak of malaria

.

Providing shelter and helping the thousands of newly displaced persons to return to their home areas remain the biggest challenges, OCHA said in a press release issued in New York.



The Solomon Islands estimate that at least 35 people died and more than 9,000 others were affected by the tsunami, with some 1,500 people needing |urgent assistance. Many people are camping on hillsides, afraid to return to their coastal homes because of frequent tremors since the original quake
The tsunami struck the Solomon Islands – and parts of neighbouring Papua New Guinea – on 2 April after an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale which struck 345 kilometres northwest of Honiara, the capital of the South Pacific nation.

|One of the hardest-hit towns is Gizo, where tanks and water pipes need urgent repair after suffering damage. The quake and subsequent landslides have also damaged many water sources. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has sent tens of thousands of packets of oral rehydration salts, while several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are also operating in Gizo or surrounding areas.

UNICEF, the World Health Organization (a href="http://www.who.int/countries/slb/en">WHO) and the Solomon Islands’ |Ministry of Health have planned a measles vaccination campaign for Monday, and repairs are continuing at the Gizo hospital
|TRADE LIBERALIZATION MAY HARM POOREST STATES, UN AGRICULTURE REPORT WARNS

|The results of renewed negotiations aimed at liberalizing international trade might hurt rather than help the world’s poorest countries unless those nations are given the necessary leeway to protect their food security and essential development needs, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned.

|In its annual report on the state of the world’s agricultural commodity markets, released yesterday in Geneva, FAO urged government ministers participating in the revived Doha Round of trade talks to make sure any ||new rules are compatible with a global target – known as the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) – that calls for the proportion of people living in extreme poverty to be halved by 2015
|The report stated that while economically advanced countries are likely to benefit from further liberalization of the global trading system, and some developing countries are becoming much more competitive as well, others could be left behind.

“Many lower-income countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, are less well placed to gain in the short- to medium run from trade |liberalization,” it said, pointing especially to those most dependent on agricultural commodities to support their development and efforts to reduce poverty.

|Launching the report, the Chief of the FAO’s Trade Policy Service, David Hallam, said it was not surprising that the world’s poorest nations regard trade liberalization “as a threat to their domestic production and food security.”

|If tariffs are reduced, there will be increased competition from imported foods for local products, and domestic production systems may not be able to adequately respond, threatening rural incomes and employment levels Mr. Hallam said. |

|“It is clear that many countries will need to be allowed some flexibility in the implementation of new trade rules, and also to be given assistance,at least for the short term, while they adjust to the new market realities arising from trade liberalization.”

|The report called for action to be taken to ensure that the potential benefits from trade liberalization are spread as broadly and equitably as possible, suggesting developing nations be given more training and greater policy advice on how to defend their interests during trade negotiations.

The so-called Doha Round of trade talks, named after the Qatari capital where they began in 2001, stalled last year amid disputes between developed and developing countries over agricultural subsidies.

BAN KI-MOON URGES IMMEDIATE, UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF MISSING BRITISH JOURNALIST

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today called for the immediate and unconditional release of the British journalist Alan |Johnston, who was abducted in Gaza one month ago.

“His coverage of Palestinian issues has earned a great reputation worldwide. Freedom of coverage, as well as freedom of the press, should be protected as a matter of principle,” Mr. Ban said in a statement to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.

|“I sincerely hope that those who are responsible for this abduction should release him unconditionally and immediately. I will do whatever I can in my capacity as Secretary-General. My sympathy is with the family of Mr.

|Alan Johnston. I wish him well.”


The Secretary-General said he was “deeply concerned” by the abduction and his call for Mr. Johnston’s immediate release comes amid similar appeals worldwide and also after a message from the head of the UN Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) last week, the body that is mandated to protect freedom of expression.
Mr. Johnston, who has been living and working for the BBC in Gaza for several years, was abducted on 12 March near his office as he was returning from the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel.

|UN OFFICES IN NAIROBI, GENEVA SOLEMNLY MARK ANNIVERSARY OF RWANDAN |GENOCIDE

United Nations offices in Nairobi and Geneva this week held solemn ceremonies marking the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda, paying tribute to the memory of the 800,000 Tutsis and moderate |Hutus who died at the hands of Hutu militias and others in a three-month orgy of violence.

In the Kenyan capital today, the Director-General of the UN Office at Nairobi and Executive Director of UN Human Settlements Programme (|UN-HABITAT), Anna Tibaijuka, called upon the international community to |“never stop working to prevent another genocide.” |

Reading from a message delivered by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when the

Day was marked in New York on Monday, she recalled that UN peacekeepers had “saved as many lives as they could, and should be remembered for their| courage and commitment


The event, organized by the UN Information Centre in Nairobi, included representatives of the diplomatic community, religious leaders and UN staff members who all observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims.

A minute of silence was also on the programme during a solemn ceremony on Wednesday in Geneva “In remembering the horrors of the genocide in Rwanda, we honour its

|victims and we show our respect to the survivors,” Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva, told participants
|IMPROVING CONDITIONS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN LEAD UN FOOD AGENCY TO ALTER OPERATIONS
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that it will gradually switch operations in southern Sudan from emergency relief to long-term recovery after projecting that demand for its aid will fall by almost a fifth this year as the region recovers from two decades of civil war.

Better harvests and a more stable security situation across southern Sudan mean the amount of food aid will drop from 133,000 metric tons last year to an expected 108,000 metric tons this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

This means about 1.3 million southern Sudanese will depend on WFP for food aid this year, compared to 1.6 million last year. WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said the increased stability,following a comprehensive peace agreement ending the north-south war at the start of 2005, brought with it greater food security.
“As the war in the south fades into history, we want people to return to their farms and restart their normal lives,” she said. “We recognize that we cannot abruptly stop the flow of aid but we can gradually shift people back to greater food independence.”

|WFP has been operating in southern Sudan since the north-south war began in the early 1980s, often using airdrops to deliver food because of the vast region’s unreliable food network. At its peak in the late 1990s, the WFP operation was using 10 cargo planes to each make three food delivery runs per day.


But since the war ended, many of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees who have returned to their home areas are farming again, taking advantage of seeds and agricultural tools provided by UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other aid groups.

|Food production in southern Sudan is forecast to jump from 805,000 tons to|838,000 metric tons this year, said Justin Bagirishya, WFP Coordinator in Juba, the southern Sudanese capital


“But the real change is not so much about tonnage, but rather about how food is used,” noting that air drops will stop completely as many vulnerable communities are easier to reach thanks to an improving road network.No food aid will be provided for free this year, according to OCHA, except to children under five, the elderly, people affected by HIV/AIDS, returnees who have just arrived and chronically food insecure groups who are unable work.

But WFP is scaling up its school feeding programme, which not only provides nutrition to pupils but offers an incentive to go to classes in an area with some of the lowest attendance rates in the world. This year the Programme plans to give 450,000 children a hot meal at school, up from 152,000 in 2006.

More than 1 million people have returned home to southern Sudan since the war ended, and another 430,000 are expected to make the journey this year,either from neighbouring countries or other regions of Sudan
To encourage more returnees, WFP is also expanding its “food-for-work” scheme, where communities receive food in return for participating in projects such as the construction or rehabilitation of schoolrooms, health-care centres, dams, dykes and wells.

The agency is continuing its intensive relief operations to assist Sudanese in Darfur, where conflict in has caused some 200,000 deaths and |displaced approximately 2 million others, and across the border in Chad.


NEPAL: OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLISTS USE SPORT TO HELP REFUGEES IN UN-BACKED INITIATIVE
|Three members of Japan’s gold medal-winning volleyball team at the 1976 |ontreal Olympics have visited a camp in eastern Nepal to share their skills and knowledge of the game with refugees from Bhutan in an initiative backed by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

|“It is great to see how sports can bring refugee and local communities |together and also encourage girls to actively participate,” said Kaoru Nemoto, who heads the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in the nearby town of Damak.

|“It feels great to be here,” said Olympian Takako Takagi, who with her |teammates routed the Soviet Union’s squad 3-0 to capture the gold medal in Montreal. “More than technical training, we want the refugees to have fun and learn how to work as a team.”

|Ms. Takagi and her two of her former teammates, Hiromi Ikeda and Katsuko Tanaka, also donated volleyballs, special shoes and other equipment during their two-day visit to Beldangi II camp, one of seven camps hosting 106,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

Many of the children and teenagers in the camp – who had previously been |using cheap balls to play – could barely contain their excitement when presented with professional volleyballs, and scores participated in |morning training sessions with the Olympians.

“We are happy to get the opportunity to learn and play with the Olympians,” said camp resident Ram Bahadur while practicing with his friends on a grassy football field.

|The three Japanese volleyball players recently established an aid agency called Montreal Kai to promote sport among youth “These kinds of recreational activities are needed in the camps to keep the youth positively engaged,” said Binod Khatioda, who works with young people in the camp
The visit concluded with a volleyball tournament in which teams from all seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal, home to 106,000 people, competed. “It’s definitely not a one-shot deal and we will surely find an opportunity to come again,” said Ms. Takagi, a Volleyball Hall of Fameinductee and a silver medallist at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. “Ihave made the girls promise that they will practice regularly, so I can check how much they have improved by the time I return Given the success of the inter-camp tournament in which girls and handicapped children participated, plans are under way for another large competition on the occasion of World Refugee Day on 20 June|

1   2   3   4   5   6


Verilənlər bazası müəlliflik hüququ ilə müdafiə olunur ©atelim.com 2016
rəhbərliyinə müraciət