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Commission on Status of Women Takes on Gender and Climate Change
Climate Change and gender are often treated as distinct and separate issues by policymakers in and out of the UN system. But there is more and more evidence that the two are interrelated in profound...
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What The CSW Tells Us About Reproductive Health in the Sustainable...
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58) ended officially in the wee hours of Saturday morning when negotiators agreed to a final outcome document. Though several issues were up for debate,...
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Happy Anniversary, Arms Trade Treaty
This week marks the first anniversary of the adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Legally-binding and multilateral, the aim of the ATT is to regulate global trade in conventional weapons and curb...
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Ban Ki Moon and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio Find a Tie that Binds
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon met with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at City Hall yesterday. The two seemed at ease in each other’s company, hopefully setting the stage for the continued...
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Russia’s Eventful Security Council Presidency
This month Russia takes over the Presidency of the UN Security Council, with Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin at the helm. From a Russian perspective, the timing of their turn at the President’s seat...
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The Good and Bad News in the Fight Against Polio
There’s good and bad news in the current global fight against polio. In May, the World Health Organization issued a travel advisory for regions of “polio exporters” Syria, Pakistan, and Cameroon....
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Human Rights Council Calls for Gaza Investigation
The UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navi Pillay, declared that war crimes were being committed during this recent eruption of conflict in Gaza. She blames both sides for an utter lack of...
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UN Officials React to Today’s Gaza Tragedy
Earlier today it was reported that yet another Israeli shell hit a UN school in Gaza. The UN schools have been used as shelters by thousands of Gazans because the ‘no-go’ zone declared by the Israeli...
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Why the Bonn Climate Talks Matter
Another round of UN climate change negotiations are taking place this week in Bonn. This is the third time countries are meeting in Germany this year to create a legally enforceable mechanism they all...
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3 reasons to read the Latest Big UN Climate Report
For the past 13 months, the scientists and experts from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been pouring over the latest data that reflects the most up-to-date understanding...
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Cookstoves Future Summit, Day 1:
(Cookstoves Future Summit, New York) – Unless you are a serious camper, most of us in the developed world do not really think about cookstoves, let alone how they operate and their massive global...
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The Clean Cookstoves Movement Just Got a Huge Boost
(Cookstoves Future Summit, New York) — Despite four million annual deaths as a result of black carbon smoke inhalation and the other dangers of open fire cooking, cookstove initiatives have...
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What You Need to Know about the the Lima Climate Conference
(COP20 Lima, Peru) – This morning 190 member states came together to begin the 20th UN climate change negotiations conference, otherwise known as the Conference of Parties (COP20). Hundreds of...
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3 Big Story Lines from the Lima Climate Conference
The UN climate change negotiations are in their fourth day today in Lima, Peru. Talks are still in preliminary stages as the real text-based negotiations kick off next week with ministerial level...
View ArticleThe Acronym You Need to Know to Understand the Lima Climate Talks
(COP20 Lima, Peru) – The UN climate change conference kicked into high gear this morning as the high level ministerial portion of the negotiations began. Countries’ ministers and special envoys were in...
View ArticleThe One Big Concept Complicating the Lima Climate Talks
(Lima, Peru) – There are a lot of moving parts, diplomatic sleights of hand, and nuanced negotiations underway at COP20 in Lima. But to really understand the Lima climate change negotiations you have...
View ArticleThe Lima Climate Talks Are A Step Forward (But No Giant Leap Ahead)
The UN climate talks officially ended at 4 am on Sunday, thus concluding two weeks (plus 33 extra hours!) of intense negotiations over the fate of the planet. The result was the so-called Lima Call for...
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Meet a 2015-er: Ronny Jumeau
“If we win, then every coastal city in the world wins, every fishing village in the world wins.” — Seychelles Ambassador to the UN Ronny Jumeau 2015 is big year for the world. A final draft of the...
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Meet a 2015er: Yossef Ben-Meir
Ed note. This is the second installment of our new “Meet a 2015er” series that profiles the women and men who are helping to shape the Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change negotiations as...
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Map of the Day: Barrel Bombs in Syria
Today’s map comes from Human Rights Watch, which has released new research into the use of barrel bombs in the ongoing conflict in Syria. It may seem like a trivial point to research and argue...
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