3 March

• Transfer of two western lowland gorillas. From Zurich to Petroria
  International studbooks provide the information necessary for conservation breeding programmes to make informed decisions regarding the transfer of animals between institutions. Two western lowland gorillas were transferred from Zurich Zoo in Switzerland to the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa in Pretoria. The two males will join another two males to form a bachelor group there. The decision to transfer the two gorillas is based on advice provided by the European Endangered Species Programme. The information necessary to make such recommendations for conservation breeding is contained in international studbooks, wherein all data relevant to the captive population of a certain species are collected and continuously updated. Currently, 118 active international studbooks for 159 species and/or sub-species are kept under the auspices of WAZA.
  More information: http://www.waza.org/en/site/news-events/news/transfer-of-two-western-lowland-gorillas

• Science Policy Conference - Outcomes. International Year of Biodiversity
  The integration of biodiversity concerns into political strategies, action plans and implementation measures requires mechanisms to ensure the delivery of sound, reliable and targeted information in support to these policies. Recommendations from biodiversity science need to be developed in close consultation with other stakeholders and policy experts to ensure that the public and the decision-makers understand the range of possible options, their likely outcomes, and what specific interventions can achieve them.
  More information: http://portal.unesco.org/science/en/ev.php-URL_ID=8361&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

2 March

• Marine Biodiversity, the Unknown phenomenon
  If terrestrial species have been counted with great accuracy, Marine Biodiversity is still associated to an Unknown Earth. Less than 20% of the sea beds have been explored- although they represent around ¾ of the terrestrial surface of the Earth. According to the last control, 1,746,000 sea species have been counted while the scientific community estimates that from 10 to 100 millions of species live in the deepest sea beds. And this greater abundance of sea life, compared to the terrestrial one, finds its explanation in the fact that marine life is much older: it goes back to approximately 3.8 thousands of millions of years as opposed to what happens with terrestrial species, which are only 400 millions of years old.
  More information in French: http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/-Actualites,826-.html

• Census of Marine Life
  The Census of Marine Life is a global network of researchers in more than 80 nations engaged in a 10-year scientific initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans. The world's first comprehensive Census of Marine Life - past, present, and future - will be released in 2010. The stated purpose of the Census of Marine Life is to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life. Each plays an important role in what is known, unknown, and may never be known about what lives in the global ocean.
  More information: http://www.coml.org/

1 March

• UNESCO Director-General expresses sorrow following Chile earthquake and urges further strengthening of disaster risk reduction preparedness
  UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova expressed her distress over the death and destruction caused by the powerful earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday 27 February. UNESCO stands ready, she said, to provide its expertise and support for the recovery effort. The Director-General also stressed the need for countries in high-risk areas to further strengthen disaster risk reduction capacity.
  More information: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/unesco_director_general_expresses_sorrow_following_chile_
  earthquake_and_urges_further_strengthening/back/18256/

• World Environment Ministers Signal Resolve to Realize Sustainable Development
  Accelerating a Green Economy to Cooperative Action to Protect Human Health and Combat Climate Change Gets Support at Bali Meeting.
  11th Special Session of the UN Environment Programme's Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum
  In the first landmark Declaration issued by ministers of the environment in a decade, governments pledged to step up the global response to the major environmental and sustainability challenges of this generation. The wide-ranging Nusa Dua Declaration, agreed today in the closing session of the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, underlines the vital importance of biodiversity, the urgent need to combat climate change and work towards a good outcome in Mexico later in the year and the key opportunities from accelerating a transition to a low-carbon resource-efficient Green Economy.
  More information: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?
  DocumentID=612&ArticleID=6482&l=en

26 February

• Countering the Decline of the Iconic Siberian Crane
  Unique Migratory Bird Project Boosts Wetland Sites for Endangered Species and Water Birds Across Large Parts of Asia
  The future of the iconic Siberian Crane, Grus leucogeranus, a critically endangered species, is looking brighter thanks to an international effort by China, Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia, four countries along the bird's dramatic migratory routes. The conservation project, supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by the International Crane Foundation through the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), is the first of its kind to use a 'flyway' approach to stabilize and to sustain the remaining 3,000-3,500 Siberian Cranes and millions of other migratory waterbirds. A flyway is a flight path used in annual bird migration from breeding grounds to non-breeding areas, which often span continents and oceans.
  More information: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?
  DocumentID=612&ArticleID=6477&l=en

• Executive Director Achim Steiner's Policy Statement to the GC meeting in Bali
  It was your ambition as ministers responsible for the environment - working through your Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum - that has set the reform direction for UNEP over the past 12 months and indeed the past four years. It has been the ambition of the secretariat to translate that into developing UNEP as a key entity within the UN system better able to meet your requirements for the challenges of the 21st century. Today in this policy statement I would like to outline what the UNEP Secretariat has achieved on your behalf in terms of realizing what I have termed the UNEP+ agenda. This has involved evolving UNEP onto a higher level of performance by better utilizing and focusing the existing mandate and programme of work.
  More information: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?
  DocumentID=612&ArticleID=6474&l=en

• Rwanda Named Global Host of World Environment Day 2010
  Many Species. One Planet. One Future.
  Rwanda, the East African country that is embracing a transition to a Green Economy, will be the global host of World Environment Day 2010, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today. World Environment Day (WED), which aims to be the biggest global celebration for positive environmental action, is coordinated by UNEP every year on 5 June. This year's theme is 'Many Species. One Planet. One Future.' - a message focusing on the central importance to humanity of the globe's wealth of species and ecosystems. The WED theme also supports this year's UN International Year of Biodiversity.
  More information: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?
  DocumentID=612&ArticleID=6464&l=en

• More Ambition Needed if Greenhouse Gases are to Peak in Time, Says New UNEP Report
  Pledges Post Copenhagen Unlikely to Keep Temperatures Below 2 Degrees Celsius by Mid Century
  UNEP Year Book Also Launched Today Outlines Growing Governance Challenge from Climate to Chemicals
  Countries will have to be far more ambitious in cutting greenhouse gas emissions if the world is to effectively curb a rise in global temperature at 2 degrees C or less. This is the conclusion of a new greenhouse gas modeling study, based on the estimates of researchers at nine leading centres, compiled by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The experts (see notes to editors) suggest that annual global greenhouse gas emissions should not be larger than 40 to 48.3 Gigatonnes (Gt) of equivalent C02 in 2020 and should peak sometime between 2015 and 2021.
  More information: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?
  DocumentID=612&ArticleID=6472&l=en&t=long

• UNEP and Government of Indonesia Emphasize Role of Blue Carbon in Combating Climate Change
  Indonesia's Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner launch the concept of Blue Carbon at the 11th Special Session of UNEP Governing Council in Nusa Dua, Bali.
  In a joint statement issued today at the XIth Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council, Indonesia's Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Dr. Fadel Muhammad and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner have emphasized the important role of marine and coastal ecosystems in the fight against climate change. The concept of Blue Carbon, which emphasizes the ability of marine and coastal ecosystems to sequester carbon, was introduced by UNEP in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Education and Science Organization (UNESCO).
  More information: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?
  DocumentID=612&ArticleID=6478&l=en

• GEG Project Director Analyzes UNEP in Global Environmental Politics Journal
  Global Environmental Politics, the pioneering journal on the relationship between global political forces and environmental change, published Global Environmental Governance Project Director, Maria Ivanova, in its February 2010 issue. The article analyzes the United Nations Environment Programme’s performance and the key factors which have determined its track record. According to Dr. Ivanova, the “organization’s mixed performance over the years can be explained by the combined effects of three factors: institutional design, executive leadership and geographical location.” In order to revitalize UNEP in the coming years, any future reform must consider management, work culture, and organizational vision, concludes Dr. Ivanova.
  More information: http://environmentalgovernance.org/featured/2010/02/geg-project-director-analyzes-unep-in-global-environmental-politics-journal/

23 February

• GEG Project Director, Dr. Maria Ivanova, Discusses Global Environmental Governance with the Academic Council on the United Nations System
  In a podcast interview with the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS), a professional association that actively studies multilateral relations, global governance, and international cooperation, Global Environmental Governance Project Director, Dr. Maria Ivanova, examines the international environmental system, highlighting six necessary functions for good environmental policy making. To effectively enact environmental policy, Dr. Ivanova argues that global institutions must serve as a: (1) coherent information clearinghouse, (2) developer of policies and norms, (3) catalyst, (4) coordinator between its currently fragmented multiple entities, with (5) the capacity to attain results, and (6) the authority to enforce environmental policies to provide accountability. In her concluding remarks on the system’s past achievements and current limitations, Dr. Ivanova refers to the words of Dean Emeritus of Yale’s Environment School, Gus Speth, who noted that “we have won many battles but we are still losing the planet.”
  More information: http://environmentalgovernance.org/featured/2010/02/geg-project-director-dr-maria-ivanova-discusses-global-environmental-governance-with-the-academic-council-on-the-united-nations-system/

• GEG Project Director Discusses Global Environmental Governance with Alternatives Economiques
  The preeminent French economic journal, Alternatives Economiques, interviewed Global Environmental Governance Project Director Dr. Maria Ivanova on the present condition of the global environmental governance system. The current system, argues Dr. Ivanova, must be reformed. “The effectiveness of the governance system is reduced because numerous institutions establish their own norms and follow their own policies without cooperation or coordination.” Instead, a proactive institutional mechanism with the means to inform, set standards, mobilize different stakeholders and hold actors accountable should be established. The most important precondition for the creation of an effective, legitimate and equitable system for global environmental governance, Dr. Ivanova says, is a “rethinking of our moral and ethical values and the development of a new ethic of global citizenship.” Read the interview transcript in French and in English.
  More information: http://environmentalgovernance.org/featured/2010/02/geg-project-director-discusses-global-environmental-governance-with-alternatives-economiques/

• Dean Emeritus of the Yale Environment School, Gus Speth, Delivers Annual John H. Chafee Lecture
  At the 10th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment: The New Green Economy, Dean Emeritus of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and GEG Forum Participant, Gus Speth delivered the Senator John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture. Titled, “A New American Environmentalism and the New Economy,” Speth remarked on the parallels between the environmental crises of the 1970s and today, which now demand similar political, economic, and social intervention, “It’s time for something different – a new environmentalism. We must build a new environmentalism in America. And here is the core of the new environmentalism: it seeks a new economy. And to deliver on the promise of the new economy, we must build a new politics.” According to Speth, the unquestioning commitment to unlimited growth has undermined the planet’s ability to sustain life.
  More information: http://environmentalgovernance.org/featured/2010/02/dean-emeritus-of-the-yale-environment-school-gus-speth-delivers-annual-john-h-chafee-lecture/