Page 46 - United Nations

India needs to continue momentum at COP28, seek more commitments: UNDP

India needs to continue its momentum and advocacy efforts at the UN COP28 here towards global climate action and seek more commitments and finances from developed countries, UNDP India climate chief has said. The UN climate talks in Dubai opened with a bang with countries clinching an early deal on how to compensate developing and vulnerable countries that bear the brunt of the climate crisis despite contributing very little to it. The agreement on the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund on the first day of COP28 set the stage for more ambitious decisions over the next 12 days. In an interview with PTI, Dr Ashish Chaturvedi, Head, Action for Climate and Environment at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India, lauded India's positive intent, highlighting the nation's commitment to continue contributing to global adaptation efforts. "The Loss and Damage fund stands as a victory for India to a certain extent as well. We've played an important role in pushing f

Kamboj chairs briefing ahead of 62nd UN Commission for Social Development

The 62nd session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD62) will take place from February 5 to 14, 2024, in Conference Room 4 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York

As host of COP28, autocratic UAE now allowing critics it once kept out

As participants at the United Nations' COP28 climate talks filed in Sunday for another day of talks, they found themselves greeted by a rare sight in the United Arab Emirates a protest. From activism about the Israel-Hamas war to environmental issues, activists allowed into the UAE can demonstrate under strict guidelines in this autocratic nation. Others from organisations long banned by the country also have been let in, providing them some the opportunity for the first time in over a decade to offer criticism though many acknowledge it may see them never allowed back in the country. The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms led by Abu Dhabi's ruler, bans political parties and labour unions. All power rests in each emirate's hereditary ruler. Broad laws tightly restrict speech and nearly all major local media are either state-owned or state-affiliated outlets. Laws also criminalise the very few protests that take place by foreign labourers over working conditions and unpaid ...

India elected executive committee member of UN's food standard-setting body

India has been unanimously elected as a member representing the Asian region in the executive committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), the food safety and quality standard-setting body created by the UN, at its meeting in Rome. The executive committee is an important arm of the CAC and the member countries have a considerable interest in getting its membership. In this capacity, India would not only get an opportunity to contribute substantially in the international standard setting process for different food product categories but will also be involved in the decision-making process, the health ministry said in a statement. The executive committee supports in the management of the commission's programme of standards development by conducting a "critical review" of proposals to undertake work and monitors the progress of standards development. The committee comprises the chair, three vice chairs, six regional coordinators and seven elected representatives from various .

Himalayas melting alarmingly: UN chief insists on urgent action at COP28

Warning of a potential catastrophe in the Himalayas where the glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday said the ongoing annual climate talks here must respond to the needs of the developing nations, especially the vulnerable mountain countries that need urgent help. Almost 240 million people depend on the glaciers and 10 major rivers, such as Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra, originating in the Himalayas. Another billion people living downstream of these rivers across eight countries, including India, are also dependent on the glacier-fed rivers. Addressing a meeting with mountain countries at this year's Conference of Parties (COP28), UN Secretary-General Guterres emphasised that nearly a third of Nepal's ice had vanished in just over 30 years, and it was directly linked to greenhouse gas pollution that heats up the planet. Guterres, who visited Nepal, including the Everest region, in October last week, called for developed countries to clarify t

Developing nations press rich world to fight climate change at UN summit

Leaders of developing nations jumped into Saturday's second-day of a UN climate summit to press rich industrial countries to share their knowhow to fight global warming and ease the financial burdens they face while trumpeting their own natural resources that swallow heat-trapping carbon in the air. The 28th annual UN Conference of the Parties, or COP28, in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates featured about 150 presidents, prime ministers, royals and other leaders who are presenting their plans to cut heat-trapping emissions and mostly seek unity with other nations to avert climate catastrophe that seemed to draw closer than ever in 2023. The developing world took centre stage early Saturday. Several African leaders noted their continent's rainforests help gobble up excess carbon dioxide in the air and emphasised how their countries belch out only a tiny fraction of heat-trapping emissions compared to richer countries. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea one of ...

India not just observing future unfolding, actively shaping it: Amb Kamboj

India, home to the world's largest youth population, is actively shaping the future and its young minds are leveraging technology as a powerful tool to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, India's envoy to the UN has said. In her special address to the annual 1M1B Activate Impact Summit', India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said that India truly believes in the transformative power of youth. We recognise that the path to achieving the SDGs by 2030 is through harnessing the energy, the creativity and the innovation of our young population, she said on Thursday. India is home to the world's largest youth population, which is very unique. So we are not just observing the future unfolding, we're actually actively shaping it, she said. Kamboj said that India's young minds are leveraging technology as a powerful tool to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She said that projects by the country's .

South Korea launches military spy satellite amid threats from North Korea

It reported that the satellite was launched with the help of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base

COP28: PM Modi emplanes for his visit to UAE for UN climate talks

PM Modi will address the opening session of the World Climate Action Summit in the United Arab Emirates and participate in the three high-level side events, of which two will be co-hosted by India

Loss and damage fund approved on the first day of COP28 climate summit

The fund aims at supporting poor nations bearing the brunt of global warming through extreme weather events

COP28: India walked the talk when it comes to climate action, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for supporting developing countries with adequate climate financing and technology transfer to enable them to deal with climate change. As he heads to Dubai to attend the World Climate Action Summit, Modi said India has walked the talk when it comes to climate action while highlighting the importance India attached to the issue during its G20 presidency. "During our G20 presidency, climate was high on our priority. The New Delhi Leaders' Declaration includes numerous concrete steps on climate action and sustainable development. I look forward to the COP28 taking forward the consensus on these issues," Modi said in his departure statement. Modi will attend the World Climate Action Summit on Friday during the United Nations 'Conference of the Parties' on climate, known as COP28. Several world leaders are set to attend the climate action summit to discuss ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and effectively combat climate change. The

2023 is hottest year on record, brace for more climate extremes says UN

The U.N. weather agency said Thursday that 2023 is all but certain to be the hottest year on record, and a warning of worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, forest fires, glacier melt, and heat waves in the future. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) also warned that the average temperature for the year is up some 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial times a mere one-tenth of a degree under a target limit for the end of the century as laid out by the Paris climate accord in 2015. The WMO secretary-general said the onset earlier this year of El Nino, the weather phenomenon marked by heating in the Pacific Ocean, could tip the average temperature next year over the 1.5-degree (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) target cap set in Paris. It's practically sure that during the coming four years we will hit this 1.5, at least on temporary basis, Petteri Taalas said in an interview. And in the next decade we are more or less going to be there on a permanen

China presents UN with vague Mideast peace plan as US promotes its own role

China on Wednesday presented the United Nations Security Council with a four-point plan for Middle East peace in a demonstration of its ambitions to be a global superpower. But the plan was short on details, and the United States quickly reminded the council of its attempts to ease the Gaza war. China has had little role in negotiations over the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which have been largely monopolized by the United States for decades. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the council that the war shows the urgent need for a Palestinian state alongside Israel. We should revitalize the political prospects of the two-state solution with stronger determination, he said. The lack of a Palestinian state is the crux of the repeated turbulence in the Palestinian-Israeli situation, he said. US President Joe Biden and other US officials also have spoken in favor of working toward a two-state solution for the conflict. China made its biggest foray into Middle East politics when it ..

COP28 starts tomorrow: What to expect from UN's annual climate negotiations

Forming agreement over future of fossil fuels and who pays for climate damages on agenda

Less future warming projected, yet there's more current pain, say experts

The world is heading for considerably less warming than projected a decade ago, but that good news is overwhelmed by much more pain from current climate change than scientists anticipated, experts said. That's just one of a set of seemingly contradictory conditions facing climate negotiators who this week gather in Dubai for marathon United Nations talks that include a first-ever assessment of how well the world is doing in its battle against global warming. It's also a conference where one of the central topics will be whether fossil fuels should be phased out, but it will be run by the CEO of an oil company. Key to the session is the first global stocktake on climate, when countries look at what's happened since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, how off-track it is and probably say what's needed to get back on track. Even though emissions of heat-trapping gases are still rising every year, they're rising more slowly than projected from 2000 to 2015. Before the Paris deal, scienti

'Moment of truth': Fossil fuel lobby casts long shadow over COP28

In an interview with AFP on Saturday, Jaber had defended the large presence of heavy-emitting industries, including the oil and gas sector

Violence against women a horrific violation of human rights, says Guterres

November 25 is observed as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

UN talks weigh goal to reduce aviation emissions via less-polluting fuels

ICAO's third Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels (CAAF) runs this week ahead of the COP28 U.N. climate summit in Dubai, which starts on Nov 30

CAG Girish Chandra Murmu elected as Vice-Chair of UN Panel of Auditors

Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu has been elected as the Vice-Chair of the UN Panel of Auditors for the next year. This recognition underscores India's commitment to the highest standards of external audit and its active participation in shaping the global audit landscape, the CAG said in a statement. Murmu participated in the sixty-third session of the Panel of External Auditors, held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on November 20-21, 2023. The Panel of external auditors comprising heads of 12 Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) globally, oversees the external audit of the UN Secretariat, funds and programmes, and specialised agencies. The independent body, including representatives from Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Philippines, Russia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, conducts financial, performance and compliance audits of UN entities. CAG said the annual meeting served as a unique platform f

Disturbing health crisis among women in Afghan prisons: UN report

According to the survey, the majority of jailed women in Afghanistan express concerns about their children's future and the impact on their families