FAO: Bioenergy Can Benefit Rural Poor / La bioenergía puede beneficiar a los pobres rurales
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has released a study showing that bioenergy projects can benefit the rural poor. The study looks at 15 case studies in 12 nations in six regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America to examine the impacts that different types of local level Bioenergy initiatives can have on [...]
UN to Fund Pilot REDD Programs
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009From UN-REDD:
18 Million Dollars Approved Under UN-REDD Programme
Funds Will Back Forestry Programmes Combating Climate Change and Boosting Local Livelihoods
A United Nations programme aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from forests and boosting livelihoods in tropical nations has approved $18 million in support of five pilot countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The UN Reduced Emissions [...]
Swiss to Help Minas Prepare E-waste Diagnosis
Monday, March 9th, 2009The government of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state wants to regulate waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE, or “e-waste” or “e-scrap”), and with their new state waste policy law, they have ample authority to do so. There’s just one problem: they are not sure of the full extent and nature of the e-waste problem in [...]
Economic Growth Model is Rapidly Transforming/Degrading the Amazon
Thursday, February 19th, 2009From the UN Environment Programme (UNEP):
A Strong Impact is Made on the Amazonia by its Economic Growth Model
However, responses by the governments of Amazonian countries indicate that efforts are under way on concrete action to deal with their environmental challenges.
The population is increasing, reaching a level of 33.5 million inhabitants in 2007.
Cities grew at an [...]
The Global Spread of Cholera
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009I’ve mentioned before the quality graphics related to environmental issues offered by the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) GRID-Arendal center in Norway. Here’s another one just released by them that is more on the health side of the environment-health interface which I found quite striking. Click on the image to see a larger version.
GRID-Arendal says this [...]
Some Eye-Opening Graphics on GHG Emissions & Carbon Credits
Sunday, January 4th, 2009There’s a wonderful resource for graphics related to environmental issues run by the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) GRID-Arendal center in Norway. I started browsing it regularly for their maps, but have found their graphical depictions of tough issues to be quite useful. Recently I came across several regarding climate change that I thought I’d share [...]
A Unique GEO for MEROSUR
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008Last month a GEO for the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR or MERCOSUL) was finally unveiled with much fanfare by representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the meeting of MERCOSUR Environment Ministers.
What’s a GEO? It’s probably the best known type of comprehensive environmental diagnosis available. “GEO” was the acronym for “Global Environment [...]
UNEP/CARICOM: Drastic Climate Change Consequences for Insular Caribbean / PNUMA/CARICOM: drásticas consecuencias por cambio climático en el Caribe Insular
Saturday, December 27th, 2008Although this report (English only) was finished in October, it was formally unveiled at the global climate change talks in Poland in November, but did not get much media play because of all the other actions, initiatives, reports and declarations made in Poznan at the same time. But it deserves much more attention and hopefully [...]
Satellite Monitoring of Climate Change Impacts for 3 LAC Nations
Saturday, December 27th, 2008Mostly lost in all the media coverage of the recent climate change negotiations in Poznan, Poland was this announcement from the UN Development Programme (UNDP). I’m glad to hear that this initiative includes Colombia, Peru and Uruguay, particularly since the latter two cannot afford on their own this sort of satellite monitoring. Why, I wonder, [...]
Progress Towards the Health MDGs in LAC / Progreso hacia los ODM relacionado con la salud en ALC
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008Recently 14 United Nations (UN) agencies* released a report (English, Spanish) reviewing the status of efforts of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations toward meeting the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The report addresses the following health-specific MDGs:
reducing the under-five mortality rate by 2/3 between 1990 and 2015;
reducing the maternal mortality ratio by 3/4 between 1990 [...]





















