LAWMAKERS VOW TO TAKE URGENT MEASURES STRENGTHENING REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS

New York, Oct 28 2009 5:10PM
Parliamentarians from some 115 countries pledged to promote sexual and reproductive health as well as women’s rights to decide how and when they give birth, at a United Nations-backed gathering which wrapped up today.

The two-day gathering in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, saw hundreds of legislators and ministers support the principles and goals of the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994, when 179 governments explicitly recognized sexual and reproductive health as a human right.

“We are here to ensure that greater progress is made to advance human rights, including the right to sexual and reproductive health, and to hold governments accountable,” UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said yesterday at the fourth global parliamentarians’ conference on population and development.

UN estimates in 2005 showed that, every minute, a woman dies of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, adding up to more than 500,000 women dying annually, and almost all in developing countries.

“Participants unanimously adopted the Addis Ababa Statement of Commitment, in which they pledged to exercise their oversight responsibilities to break the silence around gender discrimination and to promote sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights,” UNFPA said in a news release.

The delegates said that although some progress has been made in achieving universal access to reproductive health and a sharp reduction in maternal deaths by 2015, advances have been slow in many countries.

In addition, the urgency to act has been heightened by conflicts, foreign occupation and emerging issues, including climate change, demographic challenges, environmental degradation, and the food and financial crises.

Around 400 parliamentarians attending the conference committed to supporting accessible and affordable health services that promote family planning, HIV prevention and the health and well-being of women and girls.

The participants also pledged to increase funding to at least 10 per cent of national budgets and development assistance budgets for population assistance, and to review laws and practices that still restrict access to sexual and reproductive health.

The Addis Ababa gathering followed three similar global conferences in Bangkok in 2006, Strasbourg in 2004 and Ottawa in 2002.

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BAN VOICES CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM AHEAD OF COPENHAGEN CLIMATE CONFERENCE

New York, Oct 28 2009 1:10PM
Although much work remains to be done ahead of December’s climate change conference in Copenhagen, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said he is optimistic that world leaders will reach an ambitious agreement in the Danish capital.

Provided that four key benchmarks are decided upon, the gathering will be a success, Mr. Ban <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp?nid=1333">told reporters today during his monthly press conference.

Those four criteria, he said, are: emissions reductions targets by both developed and developing nations; adaptation measures; the provision of financing and technology for poorer nations; and the creation of an equitable global governance structure.

“We are not lowering expectations” ahead of the Copenhagen meeting, the Secretary-General stressed, noting that he has been working closely with Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who is holding discussions with governments on the substance and form of an agreement that could emerge from the summit.

“There is a long way to go still,” he said, with only five weeks to go before that meeting.

Post-Copenhagen, Mr. Ban emphasized to reporters that countries must endeavour to ensure that any agreements reached during the technical negotiations in Denmark can be built upon to become legally binding.

Negotiators are set to meet next week in Barcelona, Spain, for the last round of negotiations before the two-week Copenhagen gathering kicks off on 7 December.

In an <"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/opinion/26iht-edban.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=ban%20ki-moon&st=cse">opinion article published earlier this week in the <i>New York Times</i>, Mr. Ban wrote that despite the gridlock at the last round of climate negotiations held in Bangkok, Thailand, in early October, “the elements of a deal are on the table.”

All that is needed to put them in place is political will, he said. “We need to step back from narrow national interest and engage in frank and constructive discussion in a spirit of global common cause.”

The leadership of the United States in this endeavour, the Secretary-General said, is vital, noting that he is encouraged by last week’s bipartisan initiative in the US Senate.

“We cannot afford another period where the United States stands on the sidelines,” he emphasized, adding that an “indecisive or insufficiently engaged” US will result in unnecessary and unaffordable delays in tackling global warming.

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ALL ABOARD THE UN KYOTO-COPENHAGEN EXPRESS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

New York, Oct 28 2009 1:10PM
A one-time train link between Kyoto and Copenhagen opens up next week – a United Nations-sponsored one-month, 9,000-kilometre journey symbolically joining the site of the last global warming pact with what is hoped to be the birthplace of the next major, and stricter, treaty to combat climate change.

Launched by the UN Environment Programme (<"http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=596&ArticleID=6328&l=en&t=long">UNEP), the International Union of Railways (UIC) and the global conservation organization WWF, the Train to Copenhagen – in fact a carriage – will role across the globe through the vast wilds of Russian Siberia and into Europe as part of the UN Seal the Deal! campaign to galvanize political will and public support for reaching a comprehensive global climate agreement in December.

Train operators from around the world will participate in the Train to Copenhagen, raising awareness of the impact of the transport sector, which already accounts for over one fifth of global CO2 greenhouse emissions. These emissions are projected to double within only 40 years and railways are crucial in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing sustainable transport systems.

“We are on the road to nowhere if existing policies and economic models prevail with their over-emphasis on private cars and on shifting shipments of goods to the roads,” UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said. “The Train to Copenhagen project is a showcase of sustainable transport solutions that will be part and parcel of a resource-efficient, low-carbon Green Economy of the 21st Century.

“By Sealing the Deal on an ambitious climate agreement in Copenhagen, governments will get into gear to propel the world to a low-carbon future so that societies may also finally embark on a journey to more sustainable transport.”

During the journey, environmental experts and climate change campaigners will send eye-witness accounts of global warming signs under way. Siberia is a global climate change hotspot, where thawing permafrost and melting peat bogs could slowly release billions of tons of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over coming years.

The Train will roll out of Kyoto station on 5 November – leaving behind the Japanese city where the Kyoto Protocol that sets binding greenhouse gas reduction targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European Union (EU) was adopted on 11 December 1997 – and make its way by ferry to Daejeon, Republic of Korea (ROK).

There it will board another ferry for Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East for that vast transcontinental journey to drum up support for a new compact with much stronger cuts to replace the Protocol on the expiration of the first commitment period at the end of 2012.

Rumbling across Siberia, it will be hauled along the famous Trans-Siberian Railway and go by ferry across Lake Baikal, the most voluminous freshwater lake in the world, and stop in Moscow, the Polish city of Poznan and then Berlin before arriving on 5 December in Brussels, where it will join the Climate Express, which will be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy.

This Express will take on board more than 400 climate change negotiators, campaigners and other high-profile personalities going to Copenhagen, for a 12-hour on-track conference focusing on how to solve the challenges posed by the transport sector with regard to global warming.

On arrival, the Climate Express will remain at Copenhagen Central Station throughout the two-week conference, serving as a mobile exhibition open to the public about low-carbon transport solutions.

“It is clear that business as usual is not an option if we want to reverse current trends and prevent catastrophic climate change,” UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (<"http://unfccc.int/">UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said. “If we can really integrate the costs of pollution into the price of transportation, rail will be a big winner.”

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