Climate deal: too big of a task for our leaders?

A very interesting article from the New York Times:

For 17 years, officials from nearly 200 countries have gathered under the auspices of the United Nations to try to deal with one of the most vexing questions of our era — how to slow the heating of the planet.

Every year they leave a trail of disillusion and discontent, particularly among the poorest nations and those most vulnerable to rising seas and spreading deserts. Every year they fail to significantly advance their own stated goal of keeping the average global temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, or about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial levels.

UN head to reshuffle his cabinet and inner circle?

According to an article published by Foreign Policy, UN Secretary-General is about to “clearing house.” Ban — the article reads — put his top advisers on notice that most of those who have served in his inner circle for the more than three and a half years of his run as the U.N.’s chief will have to step down in the coming months, providing him with an opportunity to start his second term with a new stable of younger, reinvigorated leaders, several officials told Turtle Bay.

Americans still believe in the UN

Source: UN Foundation

New bipartisan public opinion research released today by the United Nations Foundation and its sister organization, the Better World Campaign, shows that there is strong support for the United Nations. The majority of Americans said they oppose the proposed legislation in Congress that would cut United States’ funding to the United Nations by 50%, and end funding to UN agencies that respond and take action after a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis, such as UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

UN wants bigger role for Angelina Jolie

Source: Associated Press

Angelina Jolie is in talks to take on a new and expanded role with the U.N. refugee agency for which she already serves as goodwill ambassador, she told reporters Tuesday.

US about to cut UN funding and foreign aid?

Source: The New York Times | by Steven Lee Myers

America’s budget crisis at home is forcing the first significant cuts in overseas aid in nearly two decades, a retrenchment that officials and advocates say reflects the country’s diminishing ability to influence the world.

Is Justin Timberlake the new Al Gore?

Source: Washington Post | By Associated Press

Justin Timberlake has been lauded for his work in music, TV and film. Now he’s about to get an accolade for trying to better the environment. The Environmental Media Association says Timberlake will receive its Futures Award, which represents future environmental leaders in entertainment.

Read the article in its entirety by clicking here.

To know more about the Gstaad Project, click here. Our new book “Heroes of the United Nations: men and women who made the world a better place” is now available online at Create Space, Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles.

Heroes of the United Nations is now on Storify

After the documentary film “Why is Kofi Annan not a woman? – Gender equality at the United Nations, ” author Andreas S. von Warburg brings us “Heroes of the United Nations,” a book about people helping people… The book explores a side of the UN most people ignore. It tells the stories of eight great heroes of the UN, including Dag Hammarskjöld, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Sergio Vieira de Mello.

The UN and social media? The start of a new multilateral diplomacy…

Here is a great article/interview by Eliza Villarino (DevEx):

Ban Ki-moon donned his usual smile as he sat across ABC News’s Juju Chang in a studio at United Nations headquarters in New York. Yet this was no usual TV interview. It was a first for the secretary-general: a global conversation on pressing U.N. issues via social media.

The Sept. 13 event was streamed live on Facebook, Livestream, Tumblr and the U.N. Webcast. Questions, which numbered more than 5,500, were submitted via Twitter and Weibo. They were sent in U.N. official languages – Arabic, Chinese English, French, Russian and Spanish – as well as in Portuguese and Swahili.