THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Friday, 21 November 2003
UNEP and the Executive Director in the News
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XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE - China's environmental protection
chief awarded Sasakawa prize
South China Morning Post - Globalisation's latest victim - biodiversity
Sequel LLC - Jean-Michel Cousteau, International Authors, Photographers
Launch "Water Culture"
BBC - Mediterranean dolphins' net peril
*Infored - Article in Hispanic publication on the Children's Painting competition
Radio Caracol, Colombia - Sasakawa prize winners
Other Environment-related News
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Reuters - Global Warming Gas Seen Increasing Dramatically
BBC - Scientists hail new 'map of life'
Environmental News from the UNEP Regions
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ROA
ROAP
Other UN News
 S.G.'s Spokesman Daily Press Briefing of 20 November 2003
XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Communications and Public Information, P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: (254-2) 623292/93, Fax: [254-2] 62 3927/623692, Email:cpiinfo@unep.org, http://www.unep.org
November 20, 2003, Thursday 6:48 AM Eastern Time
China's environmental protection chief awarded Sasakawa prize
BODY:
NEW YORK, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) --Xie Zhenhua, Chinese Minister of State Environmental Protection
Administration, was awarded the 2003 Sasakawa Environment Prize by United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan at a ceremony here Wednesday.
Xie was joined by Denor Giovanini of Brazil, who has worked to curb illegal trafficking in wildlife. The
prize, worth 200,000 US dollars, will be shared equally by the two winners.
In a speech at the ceremony, Annan said China is going through a period of rapid economic growth that is
transforming the lives of one quarter of the earth's population. Managed sustainably, he noted, this growth
could contribute significantly to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
But if sustainability is instead regarded as a luxury or afterthoughts, as already happens so often in the
developed world, the consequence could be dire indeed, extending well beyond China.
Annan praised Xie for his efforts during the past two decades to prevent that from happening, saying Xie
"has shown great zeal and imagination in promoting the concept of sustainable development in China."
In a statement at the ceremony, Xie said he deemed the award as recognition and affirmation by the United
Nations and the international community of China's efforts and achievements in environmental protection
and sustainable development.
The Chinese government, making environmental protection one of its basic national policies and sticking
to the strategy of sustainable development, has succeeded in curbing, by and large, the trend of environmental
deterioration and improving the quality of the environment to some extent in a number of cities and regions
while sustaining rapid economic growth, Xie said.
He noted, however, that despite remarkable progress in environmental protection and sustainable
development, China is still faced with serious problems of environmental pollution and ecological
deterioration.
Xie pledged the Chinese government's unremitting efforts to promote circular economy based on the most
efficient use of resources and environmental protection, sustainable production and consumption so as to
provide its people with clean water, fresh air, safe food and a healthy environment.
Meanwhile, Xie announced that he is ready to contribute the total sum of the prize to environmental
education in the poverty-stricken areas in western China.
The United Nations Environment Program's Sasakawa Environment Prize, sponsored by the Nippon
Foundation and founded by the late Ryoichi Sasakawa, has been awarded annually since 1984 to
individuals
who have made outstanding global contributions to the management and protection of the environment.
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South China Morning Post
November 21, 2003
Globalisation's latest victim - biodiversity
BODY:
Remote islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans conjure up images of pristine natural beauty. But a
scientific
report this week warns that even these areas are being afflicted by an incoming tide of harmful foreign
animals, plants and insects - known ominously, but aptly, as invasive alien species.
This is happening as burgeoning global transport, trade, travel and tourism make it increasingly easy for
living things previously confined to one part of the world to spread to other parts, often causing the decline
or even extinction of local populations, which are unable to compete with the newcomers.
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In its report on Tuesday, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) said that it had added more than 2,000
new entries to its annual Red List of Threatened Species. This brings the total to 12,259 species threatened
with extinction, partly as a result of introduced animals, plants or insects escaping or being released into the
wild, where they breed, flourish and compete with locals for food and living space.
Take Hawaii, for example. The islands' flora and fauna are under serious threat from invasive species.
Grazing animals, first introduced in the late 18th century, have caused massive damage. As the native plants
decline, those remaining are out-competed by introduced weeds and attacked by insects, many of them also
introduced.
Loss of pollinator species that co-evolved with particular plants means there is little or no chance for them
to reproduce. Add to this, housing development, tourism infrastructure and agriculture, and the future for
Hawaiian wildlife looks grim.
"Places such as the Galapagos, Hawaii and the Seychelles are famed for their beauty, which owes itself to
the diversity of plants, animals and ecosystems," said IUCN director-general Achim Steiner. "The Red List
tells us that human activities are leading to a swathe of extinctions that could make these islands
ecologically and aesthetically barren."
Hawaii and the other islands are microcosms of what is happening around the world, not least in Asia
where the increasing movement of goods and people within and among countries, and generally poor
quarantine measures, make it easy for species to leave or arrive. Animals, plants and even insects are
internationally traded, or they take rides on boats, marine flotsam, planes, travellers and export goods,
including timber, farm produce and nursery plants. Marine organisms frequently move from one location to
another via ships, either on their hulls or in their ballast water.
"Few people recognise how profoundly invasive alien species have reshaped the natural landscape around
them," said Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme. "As
globalisation continues to accelerate, the risks can only grow."
The IUCN believes that such species represent the greatest threat to the preservation of global biodiversity,
after habitat destruction. It puts the annual cost of this spreading scourge at around US$ 400 billion in
damage, lost farm yields and control measures, including use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, which
themselves may kill other plants and animals or harm humans.
In 2001, the IUCN published a report listing the world's worst invasive alien species. These include the
brown tree snake, Nile Perch, water hyacinth, grey squirrel, domestic cat, and the aptly named mile-a-minute
weed.
Scientists say the world needs better biosecurity, as well as improved anti -terrorism measures. They are
calling for a more effective international system to prevent bioinvasions.
Meanwhile, biological control - using animals, plants and insects, instead of chemicals, to control pests seems to offer the best long-term method of countering invasive species.
One of Australia's worst imported weeds is the bridal creeper. Ten years ago, officers from the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation started releasing three biological control
agents (a leafhopper, a rust fungus and a leaf beetle) from South Africa, the weed's native home, to attack
it. Last month, they reported that the strategy was finally slowing the creeper's advance - without causing
damage to other species.Michael Richardson, a former Asia editor of the International Herald Tribune, is a
visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. The views
expressed in this article are those of the author
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Sequel LLC
20 November 2003
Jean-Michel Cousteau, International Authors, Photographers Launch "Water Culture" to Focus on Human
Connection to Water
From Sequel LLCThursday, November 20, 2003NEW YORK, NY: Jean-Michel Cousteau and an international
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collaboration of prestigious authors and photographers have launched a major artistic book, "Water Culture,"
as part of the United Nations "2003 International Year of Freshwater."
The book, developed with SKeGroup of New York, includes powerful commentary by Cousteau, former
United States President Jimmy Carter, now Chair, The Carter Center; former Russian President Mikhail
Gorbachev, now President, Green Cross International; Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President, Waterkeeper
Alliance; Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, UNICEF; Rick Linnehan, NASA Astronaut; and Klaus Toepfer,
Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme.
"Water connects all of us worldwide in every part of our lives," said Cousteau, president of Ocean Futures
Society and the book's leading author. "Seventy percent of the planet is covered by water and all life on Earth
is tied to it. It's been said, 'Good water, good life. Poor water, poor life. No water, no life.'"
"Water Culture," which will be launched December 5th in New York, inspires respect for the world's water
through artistic photography donated by over 80 international photographers and written reflections of many of
the significant world leaders of our generation.
Themes of "Water Culture" include:
· Every 24 seconds, 100 babies are born around the world?almost 20 of them have no clean drinking water.
· About 500,000 tones of pollutants pour into lakes and rivers in the United States every day.
· There are more than 6,000 oil tankers roaming the seas each day, many of them in a dangerous state of
disrepair.
· In developing countries, water-related illnesses are the leading cause of death.
· The water table is dropping around the world. Under the north China plain, which produces 25 percent of
China'' grain, the water table drops by 1.5 meters a year.
· Of the world's 500 major rivers, more than half are seriously polluted and depleted from overuse.
"Water Culture" evokes staggering facts from the Q & A interviews of leading figures in the environment,
science and political arenas, selected by Cousteau along with Marisha Shibuya, co-editor and founder of
SKeGROUP. Photos were selected by Francesca Sorrenti, co-founder of SKeGROUP.
Images were donated by world-renowned photographers including: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, David Doubilet,
Nan Goldin, Andreas Gursky, Peter Lindbergh, Steve McCurry, Richard Misrach, Gueorgui Pinkhassov, Mario
Sorrenti, Jock Sturges, and Ilkka Uimonen. The photographic work of Ocean Futures Society team members
Tom Ordway, Dr. Richard Murphy and Nan Marr is also featured in the book.
"It is important to our planet's future survival that people around the world see and understand how
interconnected we are to our water supply," Cousteau said. "We cannot continue to use the ocean and our fresh
water as the world's garbage can."
Copies of "Water Culture" will be available at major bookstores and over the Internet at
http://www.phaidon.com/phaidon/bookstore.asp?m=bookstore. "Water Culture" is published by Trolley of
London and distributed worldwide by Phaidon Press. The book was designed by The Fold of New York.
Generous support for the research and publication of Water Culture was provided by The International
Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada.
SKeGROUP was founded by Francesca Sorrenti and Marisha Shibuya to bring awareness to environmental,
social and artistic issues. It combines creative visual arts and knowledgeable literary expression to promote
greater public interest and understanding. For more information, contact: info@skegroup.com.
Ocean Futures Society (OFS) was founded by Jean-Michel Cousteau, and is dedicated to the mission of
exploring our global ocean, inspiring and educating people to act responsibly for its protection, documenting
the critical connection between humanity and nature, and celebrating the ocean's vital importance to the
survival of life on our planet. OFS is based in Santa Barbara, CA., USA, and has offices in Washington, D.C.
and Paris. For more information about Jean-Michel Cousteau and OFS, visit our website at
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BBC
Mediterranean dolphins' net peril
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By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent
Turtles, dolphins and sharks are among the unintended victims of Mediterranean fishing fleets, the World
Wide Fund for Nature warns.
Driftnets which hang beneath the water and trap anything which happens to swim into them are to blame, it
says.
It believes that in some parts of the sea so many dolphins are killed that their survival in the region is
threatened.
The conservationists want the European Union to act to ban such fishing nets.
Accidental annual catch
The WWF has published a report, Biodiversity Impact Of The Moroccan Driftnet Fleet In The Alboran Sea.
Driftnet fishing was banned by the EU from 1 January 2002, while the UN adopted a moratorium on large
driftnets ten years earlier.
The report says the nets used in the Mediterranean are anywhere from seven kilometres (4.75 miles) long to
twice that size.
It also says the Moroccan driftnet fleet, with 177 boats, is "the most lethal for Mediterranean marine
biodiversity".
The WWF estimates the accidental annual catch of striped and short-beaked common dolphins in the Alboran
Sea, in the south-west Mediterranean, is 3-4,000.
The dolphins were included on the Red List of Threatened Species published on 18 November by IUCN-The
World Conservation Union.
The WWF says that the catch figure is more than 10% of the area's dolphin population.
Total ban requested
The WWF also thinks a further 13,000 animals are being caught every year around the Straits of Gibraltar and
in nearby areas.
It says the Moroccans are far from the only fleet to blame, with "Italian, French, Turkish and most probably
other fishing fleets using driftnets in breach of existing legislation."
Paolo Guglielmo of WWF's Mediterranean programme said: "The evidence we have gathered on the
Moroccan fleet brings us to think that illegal driftnet fishing currently happening in the whole Mediterranean
results in a massive slaughter of vulnerable species. More than 4,000 kms of illegal nets are ensnaring all that
gets in their way."
WWF believes the Moroccan fleet catches about 23,000 sharks in the Alboran Sea, and 77,500 more in
neighbouring waters.
The Moroccans go after swordfish: one estimate suggests that for every two they catch, one shark also dies.
Another key marine species caught in the driftnets is the loggerhead turtle.
Dr Simon Cripps, of WWF's endangered seas programme, said: "The only way to prevent the massacre of
marine species caused by these driftnet fleets is to make the Mediterranean a driftnet-free sea by enforcing a total
ban on all the driftnet fisheries in the region. The EU must urgently help all Mediterranean countries put in place
plans to convert their driftnet fleets."
WWF wants the EU to monitor and prosecute all member state fleets which use the nets, and wants non-EU
countries, especially those in North Africa, to ban them.
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Reuters
Global Warming Gas Seen Increasing Dramatically
HOUSTON - Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide, considered a culprit in global warming, are expected to
increase by 3.5 billion tonnes, or 50 percent, annually by the year 2020, an executive for ExxonMobil Corp said
this week.
At the same time, global demand for energy will rise by 40 percent as the world population increases and
economies grow, said Randy Broiles, global planning manager for Exxon's oil and gas production unit.
"Between now and 2020 we estimate increases of some 3.5 billion tonnes per year of additional carbon
emissions, so it's definitely increasing," Broiles said at an energy conference sponsored by accounting and
consulting firm Deloitte.
He said about 7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, go into the earth's
atmosphere each year from power plants, cars and other sources.
Experts say the United States, which has the world's largest economy and 4 percent of its population, is
responsible for about 25 percent of so-called "greenhouse" gases now produced, but Broiles said most future
growth in output will come from developing countries.
"Eighty percent of that number, 80 percent of 3.5 billion tonnes, is going to be driven by those developing
countries, those economies that are growing at the 4 to 5 percent range, so that's where it's coming from," he said.
A huge increase in the number of cars will cause part of the pollution growth.
Broiles said there are now 15 cars for every 1,000 people in the world, but ExxonMobil expects that number to
rise to 50 cars per 1,000 by 2020.
He said ExxonMobil foresees a 40 percent increase in energy demand even though humans are boosting their
energy efficiency by about 1 percent a year. Despite advances in technology most energy will still come from
fossil fuels, and in particular oil and gas, of which there remain very large reserves, he said.
"The oil resource base is huge - it's huge - and we expect it to satisfy world demand growth well beyond 2020,"
he said.
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BBC
Scientists hail new 'map of life'
By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor
Biologists have produced a detailed map of protein interactions in a complex organism - the fruit fly.
Proteins, which are made by genes, are the building blocks of tissues as well as the basis for molecular
interactions that enable an organism to live.
The protein interaction map will allow a new insight into a highly complex metabolic system, similar in many
ways to the human one.
The research is to be published in a future issue of the journal Science.
'A starting point'
Scientists, from the US biotech company CuraGen in association with several US Universities, have produced
a draft map of 20,405 interactions between 7,048 proteins in the fruit fly.
This map is a starting point for what is being called a systems biology modelling of animals including humans,
say the researchers in their report.
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For decades the fruit fly has been opening the door to a better understanding of genetics. Its small genetic
blueprint or genome, small size and short lifespan has made it an invaluable aid to study how genes work.
It also has many of its genes in common with humans and so has provided a way to study human diseases.
Now this lowly organism is showing the direction research is taking after the human genome has been
decoded.
Dance of proteins
An organism's genome is a two-dimensional and static description of a living creature. To come to life it must
be translated into action, rather like a screenplay must be turned into acting.
Genes in the nucleus of a cell act as templates to produce proteins, which move out into the cell to perform a
specific task, or to get together with other proteins to make a larger structure.
Many proteins interact with others, for example, to liberate the energy a cell requires to function.
In its complexity and simplicity, life is a dance of proteins.
There is the genome - the master genetic blueprint - that resides in the cell nucleus. It interacts with ribosomes
- which turn the DNA code into proteins.
When I look at the new map I can see how complicated it is. But as well as that there is a beauty to it.
Dr John Chant, CuraGen
The proteins then interact with a structure called the Golgi complex, which inspects, packages and labels
proteins before handing them over for distribution elsewhere in the cell.
Protein structures called centrosomes make molecular scaffolding that transport other proteins around the cell.
Some go to the cell wall and are ejected.
Knowledge of how proteins behave and interact is essential for any understanding of life itself.
So, having completed the decoding an organism's genome, scientists now want to make a protein map - its
proteome.
'A real tour de force'
The new protein interaction map means that the fruit fly's proteome is probably the best studied to date.
"The Science publication is a real tour de force in systems biology," says Richard Lifton of
CuraGen and the Yale University School of Medicine.
Dr John Chant of CuraGen told BBC News Online: "When I look at the new map I can see how
complicated it is. But as well as that there is a beauty to it. The map undoubtedly contains a
massive amount of information."
"The vast amount of important new information reported in this paper will provide researchers around the
globe with productive avenues to pursue for years to come," says Richard Lifton.
"Much of our understanding of the complex biochemical pathways that underlie human disease has been
derived from the study of the fruit fly, and having the opportunity to integrate this huge proteomic dataset with
prior knowledge of this well-studied organism will be a boon to the understanding of normal biology, as well as
human disease," he adds.
Molecular snapshot
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To make the map scientists cloned all the fruit fly's genes and developed a way to take a molecular 'snapshot'
of what was going on inside the organism. They say they have obtained data about "a significant fraction of the
organism's protein-protein interactions".
"We have had biologists, bioinformation scientists and computer scientists working together very closely over
this," Dr John Chant told BBC News Online.
They tracked more than 20,000 interactions involving approximately 7,000 genes. Mathematical modelling of
the interactions between apparently disconnected proteins revealed a hidden level of organisation between genes.
The beginnings of a new order are being glimpsed with local activity that links multiprotein complexes as well
as 'global' interconnections among and within various protein complexes.
The map will have direct relevance to humans. "Given the proven utility of Drosophila (fruit flies) as a model
system, many of the linkages uncovered in this report should be examined for their conservation in human cells,"
the researchers say.
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REGIONAL OFFICE FOR AFRICA (ROA) - NEWS UPDATE
21 November 2003
General environment news
France funds strategy on Lake Victoria
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - France has approved a 25,000- Euro grant for a partnership fund set up to
finance the preparation of a comprehensive strategy for the sustainable development of Lake Victoria. The
other members of the fund are Sweden, Norway, the East African Development Bank (EADB) and the World
Bank. A financing agreement for the Partnership Consultative Committee for the Lake Victoria Development
Programme was signed on Wednesday at the headquarters of the East African Community (EAC), the French
embassy in Dar Es Salaam said in a statement Thursday. Lake Victoria is considered the most important shared
natural resource in East Africa. With a population of about 30 million people depending on it, coordination of
the many projects to fight poverty around the lake remains a big challenge. As a part of its contribution, France
said it was also financing a project to create and develop navigation security on the lake. The project involves
studies to harmonize marine law in the three EAC countries of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, as well as the
creation of a search-and-rescue administration and the setting up navigation of aids. Tourism will also benefit
from French financial aid, with France promising to collaborate with stakeholders to promote regional tourism
products and help raise regional capacities to international standards.
http://www.panapress.com/newslat.asp?code=eng021405&dte=20/11/2003
African wildlife forum convenes in Zambia
Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - A four-day meeting of the African Wildlife Consultative Forum, which will also
serve as a prelude to the upcoming Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
conference, convened Thursday in the Zambian southern resort city of Livingstone. Zambia Wildlife Authority
(ZAWA) director-general, Hapenga Kabeta told the opening session that the African wildlife forum was
primarily a platform for Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states to consult and
share experiences on the challenges facing the region. Kabeta said because the meeting was also prelude to a
CITES meeting slated for Thailand next year, senior chief executive officers and management officials of
government wildlife agencies in the SADC region and Cameroon were participating. Zambian minister of
tourism, environment and natural resources, Patrick Kalifungwa, paid tribute to the Safari Club International
for support rendered to the trans-frontier initiative in the SADC region, known as ZIMOZA, which
encompasses three areas in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia.
http://www.panapress.com/newslat.asp?code=eng021399&dte=20/11/2003
EU Tsetse Fly Control Plan in East Africa Extended
The Nation (Nairobi): The European Union has extended the tsetse fly control programme period in East
Africa by one year. Livestock and Fisheries Development Minister Joseph Munyao said the extension would
run on surplus funds from earlier phases as lobbying for funding for the next phase continued. He said the
ministry would draft a proposal to have the menace enlisted as an epidemic and be treated just like the HIVAids scourge because of its adverse effects on the nation. The extension is a major breakthrough for Kenya,
Uganda and Tanzania, which at a joint meeting in Arusha early this month, appealed to the East Africa
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Community secretary-general Amanya Mushega to press for the extension of donor-funded projects on tsetse
fly. A joint communiqué by regional ministers in charge of livestock development also recommended
negotiation for a second phase of the Farming in Tsetse Controlled Areas (FITCA) programme, arguing that
the trypanosomiasis menace posed a serious threat to livestock.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200311200079.html
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ROAP Media Update –20 November 03
UN or UNEP in the news
India News: "Water" begins to flow at "Vatavaran - 2003"
New Delhi, Nov 19 - It is going to be a harvest for nature lovers and green activists at the second
national environmental film festival which began here
with "Water" as this year's theme.
Thirty films, short-listed under eight categories, will be screened at the three-day festival "Vatavaran
2003" organised at the India Habitat Centre by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), an independent
professional forum, with support from various quarters including the ministry of environment and
forests, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and several media and corporate houses.
http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=865
General Environment News
World's largest freshwater fish on path to extinction - Rapid blasting cause of pla beuk
reduction
Bangkok Post, November 20, 2003 (Anchalee Kongrut) - Giant catfish or pla beuk _ one of the
world's largest freshwater fish found only in the lower Mekong River basin _ is on the path to
extinction, the World Conservation Union has warned.
The creature has been moved from last year's list of endangered species to critically endangered
classification, the IUCN said during a conference in this northern province. The new classification
called for immediate action to save the species.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/20Nov2003_news16.html
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DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
AND THE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT
Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesman
for the Secretary-General and Michele Montas, Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President.
Associate Spokesman: Good afternoon.
**Guest at Noon
Catherine Bertini, the Under-Secretary-General for Administration, will be joining us today to brief on the
United Nations budget. She should be back in about 10 minutes.
**Secretary-General on Turkey Bombings
The Secretary-General told reporters this morning that, once again, we all woke up to another piece of
shocking news, with terrorist bombings taking place in Istanbul, Turkey.
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He said he condemned the latest terrorist attacks totally, and offered his condolences and sympathy to the
Governments and peoples of Turkey and the United Kingdom.
He added, “I grieve with the loved ones of those who lost friends, relatives, and also those who have been
injured.
But of course those who carried out these attacks have no respect for human life and we should condemn
utterly their actions.”
We expect an official statement to be issued on this subject in a short while, and we will announce that
when that is ready.
When he spoke to reporters this morning, at the Security Council’s stakeout microphone, the SecretaryGeneral also made some other comments to reporters.
He said that diplomats at the United Nations have shown their understanding of the dangers in today’s
environment, and are willing to address them by considering better resources to improve security.
Asked whether the terrorist threats were affecting UN plans to bring more staff to Iraq, he said that the
security situation was being monitored on a daily basis. Meanwhile, he said, the United Nations is doing as
much as it can with its staff inside Iraq, and is considering a flow of staff back and forth across the Iraqi border to
ensure that the needed work gets done.
Asked about whether a conference for Iraq’s Government, similar to the Bonn talks for Afghanistan, would
be considered, the Secretary-General said, “How we move forward is something that the Iraqis must have a big
say in.”
He noted that one idea is to have assembly hall meetings in the 18 Iraqi regions, to determine who will be
in the next Government.
We have a transcript of his comments to the press available upstairs in the Spokesman’s office.
Also on Turkey, the Security Council President this morning expressed the Security Council’s heartfelt
sympathy to the Turkish and United Kingdom Governments and peoples for the innocent lives lost in today’s
attacks, which the Council strongly condemns.
**Security Council
The Security Council is holding an open meeting on the Great Lakes region.
In his statement at the Security Council, the Secretary-General spoke of the International Conference on the
Great Lakes region as “a long-standing idea” which was long overdue. He referred to recent positive
developments in the region, such as the peace processes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi,
and there was now a “new dynamic” on which all players should capitalize so that the Conference could proceed
as planned.
The Secretary-General’s report on the Great Lakes came out as a document yesterday and we have his
remarks delivered today upstairs.
Other speakers at the Council meeting included Francisco Madeira, Minister of the Presidency for
Parliamentary and Diplomatic Issues of Mozambique, who represented the Presidency of the African Union.
A presidential statement is expected to be adopted at the end of the meeting on the Great Lakes region.
**Security Council/Oil for Food
Then this afternoon at four, the Secretary-General will address the Security Council to mark the end of the
UN’s administration of the Oil for Food programme (for Iraq).
This will be an open meeting.
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The Programme’s Executive Director, Benon Sevan, updated the members of the Security Council on the
phasing out procedures during closed consultations yesterday afternoon and spoke to you afterwards.
The programme, the largest such humanitarian undertaking ever managed by the United Nations, will no
longer be administered by the United Nations as of 12:01 Saturday morning. From 1996 to the onset of war in
March of this year, the Oil for Food programme achieved wide-ranging improvements in health, education and
public infrastructure.
Fact sheets on the programme were made available to you yesterday and are available still upstairs.
**Security Council -- Other
At 3:00 this afternoon, there will also be a Security Council troop contributors’ meeting on the UN
Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.
And for the record, the Security Council yesterday, after the noon briefing, adopted two presidential
statements.
One was on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which members condemned the continuing
exploitation of that country’s natural resources. It urged all concerned States to take the appropriate steps to end
these illegal activities.
The Security Council also adopted a presidential statementon mine action, and urged UN Member States to
support projects to clear landmines and other unexploded ordnance from countries emerging from armed conflicts
and to help rehabilitate landmine victims. The Council urged countries to provide "adequate and sustained"
financial assistance to support mine clearing.
**Iran
Turning to Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has made a good start in Iran, but it needs
to stay the course, the Agency’s Director-General, Mohamed ElBaradei, said today as he opened a meeting of its
Board of Governors.
He presented his agency’s report on Iran’s nuclear programme, and said the Agency had found that Iran for
years had tried to conceal material, facilities and activities that were required to have been declared under its
nuclear safeguards agreement. In addition, he said, until recently, the Agency’s verification process had been
“slow, frustrating and piecemeal”.
Since mid-October, however, Mr. ElBaradei said, “a new chapter of implementation of safeguards in Iran
seems to have begun, a chapter that is characterized by active co-operation and openness on the part of Iran”.
He noted Iran’s agreement to sign on to an additional protocol on nuclear inspections, and added his hope
that
Iran’s new policy of active cooperation will continue.
He also told the Board that any future settlement in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea must
include the
return of the non-proliferation regime there, and that the Agency’s Security Council mandate in Iraq still
stands.
**Afghanistan
On Afghanistan, the World Bank expressed its deep concern over recent attacks against aid workers in
Afghanistan, saying such attacks underscore the urgent need to expand the international peacekeeping
presence outside Kabul.
In a statement issued in Kabul, the World Bank says that the continuing deterioration of security could lead
to the disruption or even the stalling of reconstruction and development work in Afghanistan. Putting the
necessary security arrangements in place, it says, will enable the country to move forward with rebuilding and
development.
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The World Bank statement is included in today’s briefing notes from Kabul.
**Africa Industrialization
African industries need to improve their effectiveness and competitiveness to meet the challenge of “going
global”, the Secretary-General says in a statement to mark Africa Industrialization Day.
In his message, the Secretary-General says that African countries need to diversify from long-standing
trade patterns. But for that approach to succeed, he warns, market access is critical, and the subsidies and tariffs
that are stifling the abilities of poor countries to compete must end.
**Children
And today is the fourteenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and UNICEF
Executive Director Carol Bellamy seized the occasion to call on world leaders to put children at the heart of their
development agendas.
She said, “Although the world has made tremendous progress since 1989 to see that children’s rights are
universally accepted and realized, we are not there yet.”
We have a press release on this subject upstairs.
**Ralph Bunche
Then at 1:00 this afternoon, the Department of Public Information is sponsoring a programme to mark the
centenary of Ralph Bunche’s birth, which will explore the future of peacekeeping and mediation.
The discussion called “From Ralph Bunche to Lakhdar Brahimi”, will feature David Malone, the President
of the International Peace Academy, as keynote speaker.
He will be joined by Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani of Singapore and the former head of the UN Mission
in Angola, Dame Margaret Anstee.
You’re all invited to attend.
**Global Compact
And tomorrow morning at 9:30, major investors who represent over a trillion dollars in assets will gather
with senior Wall Street fund representatives at the United Nations to examine the risks of climate change to their
portfolios, and to determine further action.
The Secretary-General is expected to make remarks at that gathering.
Among the other speakers at the event are Phil Angelides, the Treasurer for the State of California, and
Alan Hevesi, the New York State Comptroller.
The event is to be held in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, and key participants in the event will
brief the press in Room 226 at 1 p.m.
The UN Environment Programme and Global Compact Office are supporting the meeting.
**WFP/Kenya
In less than six weeks, 1 million vulnerable Kenyan children will no longer receive free meals in school
unless donations for the World Food Programme school feeding programme are made immediately.
The WFP needs a total of $15 million to continue the programme, which involves some 4 thousand primary
schools in the poorest areas of Kenya.
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We have a press release if you want more details on that.
**World Chronicle Programme
And finally to flag you, the World Chronicle Programme number 917 with Mary Chamie, Chief of
Demographic and Social Statistics Branch, DESA, will be shown today at 4 p.m. on in-house television channel 3
or 31.
Let me just welcome Catherine Bertini. Please take a seat up here. That’s all I have for you, before we turn
to Catherine I would like to turn to Michele, do you have any questions? Mr. Abbadi?
Questions and Answers
Question: Marie, regarding the international conference on the Great Lakes region, the report of the
Secretary-General says that the United Nations/African Union would encourage the regional African
groupings to contribute to this conference and he mentions eight of them, East, West, Central, and South. But the
report does not mention the Union of Arab Mahgreb States, are there any reasons for this omission?
Associate Spokesman: I don’t know off the top of my head, but I will look into that and get back to you
right after the briefing. [The correspondent was told that the report covers the organizations that Special
Representative Ibrahim Fall has consulted with so far in the first few months of his activities in the region.]
Question: Any information when the UN will be involved in the Iraqi problem? They are going to have
some more personalities to go to Iraq to solve the problem?
Associate Spokesman: Maybe you missed the beginning of the briefing. The Secretary-General spoke at
the stakeout this morning. He was asked about the question of Iraq return. I would like, because of the shortage
of time, to refer you to the transcript that we just made available, and he answers that question in terms of the
security situation. If there are no more questions, I’m going to turn quickly to Michele before I go to Catherine.
Spokeswoman for General Assembly President
Thank you, Marie, and good afternoon.
The President of the General Assembly this morning chaired a meeting of the General Committee to hear
Ms. Louise Fréchette, Deputy Secretary-General, on United Nations staff security. On everyone’s mind today
were the attacks in Istanbul, and President Julian Hunte expressed his condolences to the Turkish and British
Governments at the meeting this morning.
Today the United Nations family observes Africa Industrialisation Day. On this occasion, President Hunte
underlined the progress made. The NEPAD programme recently established by African countries themselves, he
said, is a “clear demonstration of their commitment to alleviate poverty, combat marginalization, build global
partnerships for investment and technology promotion, diversify the export base and gain access to international
markets”.
“The strategy for industrialization and market access is critical”, he said, “considering that that Least
Developed Countries have neither surplus capacity of exportable products nor production capacity to take
immediate advantage of new trade opportunities.” UNIDO, he said, is to be commended for its continued
commitment to address
these issues and to promote Africa’s integration into the global economy.
The General Assembly is now holding a closed meeting to pursue the open-ended informal consultations of
the plenary on revitalization of the work of the General Assembly. It is chaired, of course, by the President of the
General Assembly. The second informal note, and elements for consideration for working texts on revitalization
of the General Assembly, is now available, as I said yesterday, on the Web. I will try to brief you tomorrow on
the discussions that are going on right now.
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It is unlikely that the Third Committee will finish its work as scheduled for tomorrow, Friday. Twenty-four
draft resolutions on the table, at this point, have to be voted on. Among those drafts on human rights questions,
including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental
freedom, is an Israeli text on children; some amendments have been introduced to that text by nine Member
States. Both texts are available.
President Hunte is to meet this afternoon with Ambassador Martin Belinga-Eboutou, Chairman of the Third
Committee, on the work of that committee.
This is all I have for you, thank you.
Associate Spokesman: Any questions for Michele, if not let me turn to Catherine Bertini, thank you for
your time.
* *** *
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