The environment in the news thursday, 20 October, 2016 unep and the Executive Director in the News
Two national presidents among this year’s winners of top UN environment award – UN News Centre
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- Chinese actress wins UN environment award - Sin Chew Jit Poh
- Maldives leader wins highest UN environment award - Press Trust of India
- OANA, UNEP Sign MoU On Media, Training Cooperation - BERNAMA
- 4th Annual B4E Summit Kicks-off – Arirang
- Global climate deal best option, but road rough: U.N. – Reuters India
- B4E Summit kicks off with S. Korean Presidents green growth highlight - Peoples Daily Online
- PUMA Aims to Be Carbon Neutral – The Korea Times
Two national presidents among this year’s winners of top UN environment award – UN News Centre22 April 2010 – The Presidents of Guyana and Maldives are among six winners from government, science, business and entertainment to be awarded this year’s United Nations Champions of the Earth prize today for their leadership in environmental conservation. The winners, announced by Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary-General and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director, include President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana, who is a passionate forestry and ecosystem infrastructure proponent, and Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, an international climate change campaigner. Afghanistan’s Director General of the National Environmental Protection Agency and sustainability advocate, Prince Mostapha Zaher, and Japanese earth scientist and pioneer of research into how the oceans cycle carbon, Taro Takahashi, are also on the winners’ list. Chinese actress Zhou Xun received the award for her reputation as a green lifestyle guru. Through her “tips for green living” initiative, Ms. Xun encourages people to reduce their carbon print through simple changes in lifestyle. United States venture capitalist and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla was recognized for his efforts as a green energy entrepreneur. In September 2009, Mr. Khosla’s venture capital firm announced it had raised $1.1 billion for a “green fund” that would be used to spur development of renewable energy and other clean technologies. The trophies were presented at a gala event in Seoul to mark International Mother Earth Day, in conjunction with the Business for the Environment Global Summit in the capital of the Republic of Korea, which is being attended by more than 1,000 representatives from business, government, and civil society. “The six winners represent some of the key pillars upon which society can build green growth and a development path to unite rather than divide six billion people,” said Mr. Steiner. The Champions of the Earth, an international environment award established in 2004, recognizes achievements in areas of entrepreneurial vision, policy and leadership, science and innovation, inspiration and action. The year’s awards had a special category for biodiversity and ecosystems management. To date, the award has recognized 34 outstanding environmental leaders. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34446&Cr=environment&Cr1= …………………………………………….. Chinese actress wins UN environment award - Sin Chew Jit Poh2010-04-22 - Zhou Xun, a popular Chinese actress, speaks during a press conference at the UNEP's 2010 Champions of the Earth Awards in Seoul on April 22, 2010. (Photo courtesy: AFP) SEOUL, April 22 (AFP) - A popular Chinese actress was named one of the United Nations' "Champions of the Earth" on Thursday for her efforts to encourage people to live a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle. Zhou Xun was one of six "champions" honoured by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at an event in Seoul marking Earth Day. "I am honoured ... I am receiving this award on behalf of all in China who care about our planet," she told journalists after the announcement of the awards. "I hope that by serving as an example, I can encourage others to follow suit and to live a lifestyle that does not take our planet for granted," she said. Zhou takes her own chopsticks, mugs and shopping bags wherever she goes, UNEP said, and encourages others to use reusable products. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said Zhou's "well publicised statements, advice and lifestyle choices are influencing millions of fans to become more environmentally-conscious citizens and consumers." UNEP names six Champions of the Earth every year to recognise leadership on environmental issues. The other winners this year included President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, who is an active campaigner on climate change, and President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana. Also among the winners were Japanese earth scientist Taro Takahashi, a pioneer of research into how the oceans cycle carbon; Prince Mostapha Zaher, who is director general of Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency, and American venture capitalist and green energy entrepreneur Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. http://www.mysinchew.com/node/38067 …………………………………………………… Maldives leader wins highest UN environment award - Press Trust of IndiaSTAFF WRITER - Seoul, Apr 22 (AP) The United Nations has honoured President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives with its highest award for environmental leadership. Nasheed was among six people to receive the 2010 Champions of the Earth award today at the Business 4 Environment conference in Seoul. He has tried to attract international attention to threat of rising sea levels to his island nation, including holding an underwater cabinet meeting. One of his boldest proposals is that his country go "carbon neutral," and he has urged others to follow suit. The 46-year-old leader says he is delighted that "a small country can make a big impact on the world stage." Past winners include former US Vice President Al Gore and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. http://www.ptinews.com/news/621821_Maldives-leader-wins-highest-UN-environment-award ………………………………………. OANA, UNEP Sign MoU On Media, Training Cooperation - BERNAMASEOUL, April 22 (Bernama) -- The Organisation of Asia- Pacific News Agencies (OANA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) signed a memorandum of understanding for comprehensive media cooperation here Wednesday in the Asia Pacific region, Indonesia's Antara news agency reported. The MoU was signed by OANA President Dr Ahmad Mukhlis Yusuf, who is also Antara News Agency Chief Executive Officer, and the UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific head Dr Park Young Woo. The MoU's signing was done on the sidelines of a three-day OANA Summit Congress held in conjunction with South Korean news agency Yonhap`s 30th anniversary. Mukhlis Yusuf, who is also Antara chief executive officer, said cooperation with the UN environmental body was a mandate given by the OANA General Assembly in Jakarta in December 2007. It had strengthened the commitment on environmental issues and ever since that the agenda had been an OANA priority. Besides emphasizing the importance of OANA`s role in disseminating environmental issues through its news mechanism, news was not only the work of reporters, Mukhlis said. More than that, news could also carry a certain agenda as news was basically not value-free. Therefore, he urged UNEP to provide an agenda linked to environmental issues in cooperation with OANA in order to make people understand the importance of avoiding global warming as a whole, not only on some segmented issues like depletion of the ozone layer. He also asked UNEP to cooperate in training programmes and workshops on environmental issues for OANA journalists. Dr Park welcomed the initiatives of OANA`s president on those issues because they were efforts to tackle environmental problems of the global community as a whole. He said that the challenge was how to change the mindset of the people and here the media could play a critical role. In this respect the UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific head appreciated the efforts by OANA saying that such efforts would greatly benefit the people environment-wise. The purpose of the MoU is to provide a framework of cooperation and understanding and to facilitate collaboration between the parties to further their shared goals and objectives in regard to conservation, protection, enhancement and support of nature and natural resources, including biological diversity worldwide. These objectives will be achieved through regular dialogue meetings between UNEP and OANA and execution of a separate legal instrument between the parties to define and implement joint activities, with areas of cooperation to include OANA promoting and disseminating environment/UNEP news to its members, OANA members undertaking to reduce their carbon emissions in their operations and join UNEP`s Climate Neutral Network as a group. OANA will also allocate funds or provide support to their media for training in environmental reporting, and its members pool funds to support training of their reporters on the environment and the participation of their reporters in key environmental events organised worldwide. Meanwhild, UNEP will regularly provide information on the environment to OANA for dissemination to its members, help facilitate media training and experts for training of OANA member reporters and provide a calendar of key environment meetings and events to OANA members. OANA was established in 1961 on the initiative of UNESCO to secure direct and free exchange of news between the news agencies of a region inhabited by more than one half of the world`s population and to facilitate the free flow of information. Asia-Pacific countries account for 56 percent of the world`s gross product, some 50 percent of its trade turnover, over 60 percent of its maritime and nearly 25 percent of air transport volume. OANA at present comprises 40 news agencies from 33 countries and the members are responsible for two-thirds of information circulated throughout the world. http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=492534 ……………………………………………. 4th Annual B4E Summit Kicks-off – ArirangVOD SERVICE The 4th annual B4E or Business for the Environment Global Summit kicked-off in Seoul on Thursday. Government and business leaders from around the world gathered to discuss environmental issues such as resource and energy efficiency and green growth strategies. In his keynote address, President Lee Myung-bak labeled the four river s restoration project a 'Green New Deal' and emphasized that the project will bring both environmental protection and economic growth. [Interview : President Lee Myung-bak ] "The four rivers project is a representative Green New Deal Project to simultaneously pursue environmental protection and economic growth." President Lee pointed to research that shows water shortages expected in 2030 can be completely resolved simply by expanding water supply and the more efficient use of water. He explained that the four rivers project will increase the nation's water supply by some 1.3 billion tons upon completion. Meanwhile, Achim Steiner who heads up the United Nation's Environment Program says Korea's transition towards a green economy has become an important part of the development directions of the Korean economy which could lead to the issue being brought up in the upcoming Group of 20 summits. [Interview : Achim Steiner, Executive Director UNEP] "The transition towards a green economy as UNEP is calling for in the context of global development discussions is one that has begun to shape Korean policy thinking. And that is something that is very encouraging and very important also, I think, for discussion in the context of the G20 summits." So how in the context of the beginning economic recovery can businesses maintain the vision that they must transform their strategies to produce more efficiently and to pollute less[Interview : Chris Deri, Executive Vice President Edelman] "Consumers are letting the brands that they trust be a source of inspiration and information about the consumers' own social activism and participation in their community." He says it's a big challenge, but it's necessary for brands to act more like advocacy organizations that influence the behavior of consumers because at the end of the day that's what will have a real multiplier effect in terms of environmental impact on the planet. http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=102378&code=Ne4&category=3 ……………………………………….. Global climate deal best option, but road rough: U.N. – Reuters IndiaThu Apr 22, 2010, By Jon Herskovitz SEOUL (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) maintained a global climate treaty was better than a range of small-scale agreements, but said it was unlikely a deal to combat global warming would be reached this year. The prospect of a global climate treaty is fading as the world's top two carbon emitters, China and the United States, avoid legally binding action. Experts say a shift to a less ambitious goal might help. "The argument or suggestion that the world would be better off if we somehow found lots of little packages and agreed to them and found out how they fit together is not to me a viable scenario," Achim Steiner, UNEP executive director, said on Thursday in an interview with Reuters. Annual U.N. climate meetings have failed to achieve any major breakthrough since signing the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The present round of that pact expires in 2012. The next annual meeting of environment ministers will be in Cancun, Mexico in November and December. "We might not be able to conclude the one big deal in the next conference but what we must produce is some concrete results that clearly take us toward a global framework for action," Steiner said on the sidelines of the Business for the Environment meeting in Seoul. Experts note a less formal deal, outside a legal framework, may now emerge, building on the actions of individual nations. More than 100 countries have backed a non-binding Copenhagen Accord to mobilize $30 billion in climate aid from 2010-2012 to help poor nations face the impacts of climate change, underscoring what could be agreed outside a legal framework. "What will be critical for Cancun is that the financial pledges that are part of the accord begin to be realized and that people see real money going to real projects," Steiner said. "Do not write Cancun off." Steiner also threw his support behind the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has been attacked by skeptics after it published a report with errors in global warming forecasts. The U.N. launched a review of the panel last month after the IPCC acknowledged in January its report had exaggerated the pace of Himalayan glacier melting and overstated how much of the Netherlands is below sea level. "The premise that the integrity of the IPCC has been compromised is something that I reject," he said. The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, and produces the main scientific document driving global efforts to agree to a more ambitious climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol. "It will remain the world's best resource on trying to appreciate the complex and continuously evolving state of our knowledge of global warming," he said. http://in.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idINTRE63L2C720100422?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true …………………………………………… B4E Summit kicks off with S. Korean President's green growth highlight - People's Daily OnlineApril 22, 2010 - South Korean President Lee Myung- bak on Thursday urged global partnership for sustainable green growth, celebrating Seoul's hosting of a global event on environmental protection. Giving a keynote speech to the Business for the Environment ( B4E) Global Summit held here which began with a screened opening address of Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of United Nations, President Lee noted climate change the greatest challenge human race has ever faced. Lee, however, said he believed that economic growth and environmental protection are compatible, which can be achieved by the new paradigm of "low-carbon green growth." "To attain the goal of sustainable green growth, we are in need of global partnership," President Lee said. "And it is also a must-do for all of us to find a solution," Lee added. He also pointed out that business sector must take part in tackling the issue, calling on business leaders to turn the crisis into a new opportunity. According to President Lee, as "green market" is no longer a niche market but has grown into a new main stream, business sector should embrace change and adaptation. Following President Lee's remarks, Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), and Georg Kell, Executive Director of UN Global Compact (UNGC), gave opening statements. The speeches are scheduled to be followed by multiple discussion panels, a video-link keynote presentation by Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, and an announcement of UNEP Champions of the Earth. The B4E Global Summit 2010, co-hosted by Seoul's environment ministry, UNEP, UNGC, and WWF, marks the fourth of a kind which bring together leaders from governments, NGOs, and businesses around the globe. As one of the leading international conferences for dialogue and business-driven action for the environment, the event will deal with multiple issues, such as biodiversity, climate change, resource and energy efficiency, renewable, and green business models, the organizers said. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/90858/90863/6959965.html …………………………………………….. General Environment News
PUMA Aims to Be Carbon Neutral – The Korea TimesPUMA Chairman Jochen Zeitz, By Kim Tae-gyu, Staff Reporter The public enemy No. 1 at PUMA, one of the world's foremost producers of athletic shoes and other sportswear, seems to be carbon footprints as inferred by the remarks of its chief executive officer. In an hour-long press meeting held on the sidelines of the Business for the Environment Summit in Seoul, Thursday, PUMA Chairman Jochen Zeitz had the importance of reducing carbon footprints on his lips many times. His solution? The German-based multinational giant will become a carbon neutral firm this year. In other words, PUMA will offset its carbon emissions through reducing that amount in other fields. ``We can reduce our carbon by 25 percent. Still, the remaining parts need to be dealt with. … We will eliminate as much carbon as we generate (via offsetting programs),'' Zeitz said. PUMA plans to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent by 2015 under its long-term sustainability scheme, which is geared toward not only carbon but other resources such as water and energy. The remaining carbon emissions, of which the proportion would decrease to 75 percent by 2015, will be compensated by the company's efforts to diminish as much of carbon footprints in Africa. The portfolio of the project is being verified by an internationally recognized auditing company. ``To be the first carbon neutral sport life-style company is the next logical step in our mission to become the most desirable and sustainable sport life-style company in the world,'' Zeitz said. ``We also took United Nations Environment Program's (UNEP) challenge to offset our football teams' international travels to South Africa very seriously. Our commitment to the environment partnered with our long-standing collaboration with African football made it a foregone conclusion to support their initiative, and we hope in doing so that we inspire other stakeholders in the World Cup 2010 to follow suit.'' The UNEP asked that all football federations participating in the forthcoming World Cup, which will be hosted by South Africa, make up for carbon footprints generated by their teams' international travels. A total of 336 players and officials will make it to South Africa under the sponsorship of PUMA, and leave carbon footprints behind. PUMA looks to offset them in the similar way to its carbon neutral company initiative. In addition, PUMA opened its new company headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany midway through last year, which is the first carbon neutrally operated company head office in the sneakers and sportswear business. PUMA also eyes to support the offsetting of its employees' carbon footprints by subsidizing the emissions generated on the way to and from work by 50 percent, a similar structure to matching funds. Meanwhile, Zietz promised that he will compensate for his personal carbon footprints, including direct and indirect emissions, from his own account without regard to whether or not they are related to his work at PUMA. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2010/04/123_64687.html Back to Menu ============================================================= Directory: cpi -> briefs briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news Download 363.46 Kb. Share with your friends:
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