The UN’s trade and development body has downgraded its global economic growth projection for 2022 to 2.6% from 3.6% due to the Ukraine war and to changes in macroeconomic policies made by countries in recent months. While Russia will experience a deep recession this year, significant slowdowns in growth are …
A POLITICAL, moral and biological debate has been raging in the US about the fate of the endangered flower-loving fly found in the dunes of Delhi sands in Colton, California. Saving the fly would effectively mean halting progress, loss of money and jobs. The fast shrinking habitat of the fly …
The latest UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report highlights the sorry plight of the world's forests. According to the State of the World's Forests 1997, an estimated 11.3 million hectares (ha) of the world's forests are lost each year. The report also estimates that the area of the world's …
A report recently released by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (fao) and the World Food Programe (wfp), has predicted that Rwanda will need substantial food assistance this year, following the influx of over one million returnees. This was stated in a un Information Centre press release around mid-January. …
The Geneva-based 61-member UN disarmament commission began its 1997 session on January 21 to establish a committee on a fissile materials cut-off treaty, a top priority on the UN's agenda since March 1995. But the developing countries' insistence on multilateral talks to eliminate all nuclear weapons within a fixed period …
"I am eager to begin,' marked Kofi Annan's first words as he took over the mantle of UN Secretary-General from Boutros Boutros Ghali. A top UN official from Ghana, Annan was a near-unanimous choice of the 15-member Security Council members except for France, which wanted a French-speaking African for the …
Officials from over 70 countries are meeting at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi to discuss the Montevideo Programme II -the second long-term UNEP plan of action concerning environmental law. The meeting from December 2- 6 will aim to further strengthen global environmental laws. The programme has …
IT WAS humanity’s tryst with the Great Hunger at the World Food Summit held in Rome from November 13-17. An impressive array of world leaders gathered there, pledging to banish hunger from the face of the earth. As per the tradition in earlier United Nations (un) gatherings, 106 nations
With the world perilously close to a global crisis in infectious diseases, the UN health body has chalked out a 20-point programme on how to prevent it. WHO has admitted that the promised slogan of "health for all by the year 2000' may not after all be met considering the …
a new United Nations ( un ) agency, set up primarily to resolve conflicts of the sea, has taken shape. Inaugurated mid-October in Hamburg by the un secretary general, Boutros Boutros Ghali, the tribunal will administer the un Convention on the Law of the Sea ( unclos ) to solve …
Ageing population will be a serious cause for concern in the coming century according to the World Health Organization (WHO). By 2020, the number of old people is set to nearly double to around one billion. WHO warned that, "If left unattended now, it may have far-reaching consequences for public …
the two-week un meeting on global forests, which ended recently at Geneva, remained inconclusive as a formal accord on how to combat the world's shrinking forests continued to be elusive. It was the third meeting of the un Inter-governmental Panel on Forests. The panel was set up after the 1992 …
The second anniversary of the International Day of Indigenous People was celebrated on August 9 this year. In his address, the UN secretary general Boutros-Boutros Ghali stressed the need for increasing support to the world's indigenous community and rightfully redress its grievances. "It is right that we recognise injustice and …
Plagued by a financial crisis and mounting criticism about waste and mismanagement from the US, UN officials have launched a counter-attack by detailing concrete results achieved by the UN secretary general Boutros Boutros Ghali. Recently, the US accused Ghali of hampering efforts to cut costs and streamline the organization's bureaucracy. …
it was Geneva's turn this time to play host to another meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc), the second Conference of Parties (cop-2), between July 8-19, 1996. The agenda of the meet, attended by 150 countries, was straightforward: to evaluate the progress made since cop-1, which was …
Water availability has emerged as the most important element for peace, Habitat II secretary-general Wally N'Dow told conference delegates. Addressing a panel on the growing water needs of cities, N'Dow said lack of water is one of the "most critical factors' that caused conflicts. Urging the Habitat players to act …
with the broad consensus over the need to address the world's burgeoning urban crisis, much was expected of Habitat ii, the second un Conference on Human Settlements held June 3-14 in Turkey's very own
After days of haggling, more than 170 countries reached a new global accord on June 15, at the end of the UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II). Participating nations adopted the Habitat Agenda, the main conference document, and a shorter summary of political intent, the Istanbul Declaration, aimed at …
'Species 2000' is the latest UN/World Bank venture to take an integrated look at the world's biodiversity. The current tally puts the total number of plants, animals, fungi and other microorganisms at about 13.5 million species; estimates had varied anywhere between seven to 20 million. The new venture proposes to …
Austerity measures to prop up the crumbling UN, hit by an acute financial crisis, has resulted in the unprecedented step of enrolling unpaid volunteers. This has become necessary, say UN officials, to continue running the organisation. The volunteers are mostly being hired to keep the UN's peacekeeping department afloat. in …
THE World Education Report, 1995, compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently been released. The third edition of a biennial series, the report aims at presenting a broad but concise analysis of major trends and policy issues in present day education systems in different …
