U.N. head: climate change is the defining issue of our era

Source: United Nations

Climate change is the defining issue of our era. Natural hazards are a perennial concern. This discussion brings the two issues together, and with good reason: Better disaster risk reduction will also help us adapt to climate change.

IMF: A systemic crisis demands systemic solutions

Source: Financial Times | OpEd by Dominique Strauss-Kahn*

These are exceptional times. Exceptional for what has happened to financial markets and for what has not happened, at least not yet, to the broader economy – the onset of a severe recession. Perhaps it was the absence of the latter that lulled too many into viewing the bursting of the housing bubble merely as a correction, the defaults in US subprime mortgages just as misfortune and the failure of important financial institutions as collateral damage.

U.N. launches TXT 4 PEACE campaign to promote peace

Source: United Nations

If you could talk directly to world leaders to encourage their support for peace, what would you say? To encourage a greater awareness of the International Day of Peace, the United Nations has launched the new TXT4PEACE campaign which allows – and encourage – people around the world to send text messages for peace on or before September 21.

In the US: Text “Peace” + your message to 69866 (160 characters max)

Messages collected by the UN will be presented to world leaders gathering in New York for the 63rd General Assembly from September 23.

U.N. study finds more women in politics

Source: United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

Ahead of a highlevel meeting of world leaders on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) next week, a new report, Progress of the World’s Women 2008/2009, Who Answers to Women? Gender and Accountability, released by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), reveals that much stronger accountability mechanisms for tracking progress on gender equality are needed in order to meet national and international commitments to women’s rights.

New U.N. president chides Security Council powers

Source: The Associated Press | by John Heilprin

The new president of the U.N. General Assembly opened its 63rd annual session Tuesday by accusing some of the world body’s most powerful members of relying on warfare.

Report: European power declines at the United Nations

Source: European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)

The European Union’s leverage to promote human rights values and its vision of a rules-based world order has dramatically declined over the last decade, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) reveals in a new report, after analyzing over ten years of UN voting statistics.

U.N. chief fears world impact of U.S. financial crisis

Source: The Associated Press | by Edith Lederer and John Heilprin*

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern Tuesday that the U.S. financial crisis will have a serious global impact, especially on rich donor nations that play key roles in fighting poverty. He urged a resumption of stalled world trade talks, which the U.N. sees as crucial to opening world markets to poorer developing countries.

Climate change and the future of small islands states

By Andreas S. von Warburg

A group of small islands nations in the Pacific Rim is lobbying at the United Nations to have the General Assembly, the parliamentary body of the world organization, approve a new draft resolution entitled “Security and Climate Change” (A/62/L.50), a document that recognizes climate change as a threat to the very existence of small Pacific islands like Palau, Kiribati, and Fiji.