10 July: World Customs Organization: Hazardous Waste:
A joint global customs initiative across Europe, the Asia/Pacific
region and Africa netted more than 30000 tons and 1 500 pieces of
illegal hazardous waste in 57 seizures, ranging from household waste
and scrap metal to discarded electronic goods and used vehicle parts.
Between March and May 2009, customs administrations from 64 countries
launched Operation Demeter targeting the illicit cross-border shipment
of hazardous and other waste en route from Europe to countries in the
Asia/Pacific region and Africa. [Press release]
13 July: World Bank: Developing Countries’ Remittance Flows: According
to the World Bank, remittance flows to developing countries are
expected to be US$304 billion in 2009, down from an estimated US$328
billion in 2008. The Bank released a new migration and remittances
brief to coincide with an International Diaspora and Development
Conference held from 13-14 July. The predicted decline in remittances
by -7.3% this year is far smaller than that for private flows to
developing countries.
[Press release]
13 July: AU: The
African Union Department of Political Affairs organized a retreat with
members of the Permanent Representatives Committee, in Mombasa, Kenya
from 13-15 July 2009. Participants at the retreat also included
representatives of the NEPAD, and other Departments of the African
Union Commission.
[Download press release from this page]
13 July: World Bank/Guinea-Bissau: The
World Bank’s State-and-Peace Building Fund granted Guinea-Bissau US$
1.74 million to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Finance in
critical areas of public financial management where consensus for
reform has already been built and political support is considered
strong, but where technical assistance and capacity building needs are
acute.
[Press release]
14 July: UNEP: The
heads of five international organizations have joined the international
campaign to galvanize public support for a successful outcome to
UN-sponsored climate change negotiations by signing a global petition
addressed to world leaders. WHO's Margaret Chan, WIPO's Francis Gurry,
WMO's Michel Jarraud, WTO's Pascal Lamy, IFAD's Kanayo F. Nwanze, as
well as Britain's Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual
Property, David Lammy, dipped the "People's Seal" in ink and added
their stamp to the global petition.
[Press release]
14 July: UNEP: Greening Investments: In
a new report, a powerful group of asset managers, representing around
US$2 trillion in assets are arguing that integrating
environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into
investment decisions is no longer just a luxury, but a legal
responsibility. The report states that professional investment advisors
and service providers -such as investment consultants and asset
managers -to institutional investors may have a far greater legal
obligation to incorporate ESG issues into their investment services or
face
“a very real risk that they will be sued for negligence” if they do not.
[Press release]
15 July; UN/Non-Aligned Movement (NAM): In his speech to the fifteenth NAM Summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, Ban Ki-moon said that although conditions have changed over the last 50 years, the world again faces complex crises threatening development and security. “At this critical time, we need to look to the Non-Aligned Movement's founding principles to address today's challenges.”
[Speech]
15 July: UN-HABITAT: New homes built by UN-HABITAT for teachers in the district of Lira in northern Uganda will attract female teachers in a community recovering from two decades of war and in need of strong female role models, say local school inspectors.
[Press release]
16 July: AfDB: Meeting on Finance and Education: Africa’s tertiary and scientific education capabilities have to be rebuilt, because no nation can advance without that capability, the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Donald Kaberuka, said at the opening of the African finance and education ministers’ conference in Tunis which is being held on the theme: “Sustaining the Education and Economic Momentum in Africa amidst the Current Global Financial Crisis”.
[Press release]
16 July: CBD: South-South Exchange meeting on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Forest Biodiversity: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation (GTZ), and with generous support from the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), facilitated a meeting from 8-10 July on South-South Cooperation and sustainable forest management, with a focus on forest biodiversity, between the three major regional organizations of the world’s tropical forest regions: the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Central Africa Forests Commission (COMIFAC).
[Communiqué]
16 July: IMF/Ghana: Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a three-year arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for Ghana in an amount equivalent to SDR 387.45 million (about US$602.6 million) to support the government's economic programme to tackle macroeconomic instability. The approval will enable an initial disbursement of SDR 67.65 million (about US$105.2 million) immediately.
[Press release]
