climate change

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres

Canada’s withdrawal from Kyoto Protocol regrettable – UN climate official

13 December 2011
Canada’s decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol is surprising and regrettable, the United Nations climate change chief Christiana Figueres said today, calling on developed countries to meet the commitments they recently made at the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Durban 2011

Secretary-General welcomes climate change deal reached at UN conference in Durban

11 December 2011
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed today the set of decisions reached by countries at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, saying they represent a significant agreement that will define how the international community will address climate change in the coming years.
Special Rapporteur on the effects of foreign debt on human rights, Cephas Lumina.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Climate funding for poor countries should not add to their debt burden – UN expert

8 December 2011
Financing received through the proposed Green Climate Fund should not exacerbate developing countries’ debt burdens, an independent United Nations human rights expert said today, calling for international banking institutions not to have too great an influence on the fund.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses high-level forum on international forest protection in Durban, South Africa

Ban presses for support for UN initiative to combat deforestation

7 December 2011
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called today for increased support from Member States for a United Nations initiative to slow, halt and reverse deforestation, and help developing countries manage their forests in a sustainable manner.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre) with Jacob Zuma (right), President of South Africa, and Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Durban, South Africa

Ban urges leaders to make real progress at UN climate change talks

6 December 2011
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged countries not to lose momentum and show determined leadership to advance negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, as States enter their first day of high-level talks.
The relationship between climate change, migration and conflict in the Sahel region remains complex.
UN Photo/John Isaac

UN study reveals impact of climate change in livelihoods in Sahel and West Africa

5 December 2011
Climate change is already having an impact in the livelihoods of millions of people in the Sahel and West Africa, according to a new United Nations study released today, which calls for governments to implement policies that will prevent competition for resources, conflict and forced migration in the region.
Playing a ball game at the IFAD booth at the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa

UN official underlines link between food security and climate change

2 December 2011
Ensuring global food security while striving to save the Planet from damage are the greatest challenges of this century, a senior United Nations official said today, stressing the need to enable smallholder farmers to become more resilient to climate change and to produce more food in ways that are environmentally sustainable.
The impact of climate change on icebergs and glaciers.
UN Photo/Mark Garten

This year will be world’s tenth warmest on record, UN report finds

29 November 2011
Temperatures this year are the tenth highest on record since 1850, and the highest ever in a year which experienced a La Niña event, a meteorological phenomenon which is supposed to have a cooling influence on Earth’s atmosphere, a United Nations agency reported today.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Durban 2011

UN climate change conference kicks off in Durban with call to action

28 November 2011
Thousands of representatives from governments, international organizations and civil society gathered today in Durban, South Africa for the start of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which seeks to advance ways to cut global carbon emissions and pollution.
Implementing cost-effective measures would help reduce black carbon, methane and ozone emissions

UN report suggests environmental measures that could save millions of lives

25 November 2011
More than two million lives can be saved each year by implementing the cost-effective measures presented in a United Nations report released today, which would help reduce black carbon, methane and ozone emissions.