The Emissions Gap Report 2012 - A UNEP Synthesis Report

Two fundamental questions in the global climate negotiations include: 1. Will the pledges made by countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions be sufficient to achieve the 2.0 degree or 1.5 degree Celsius temperature limits by year 2020 or will there be a gap between the level of ambition that is needed and what is expected as a result of the pledges? 2. If a gap exists, in what ways can it bridged? Since 2010, UNEP has been convening scientists and experts to answer these questions through the development of the annual “emissions gap” report.

Growing green: the economic benefits of climate action

In the first post-transition decade after the fall of communism, Europe and Central Asia (ECA) moved its economy from plan to market. In the second decade, the 2000s, it moved from social division to inclusion. The region has an opportunity to use the third decade, the 2010s, to move from brown to green growth making production and consumption more sustainable, increasing quality of life, and reducing impacts on the climate.

Building resilience : integrating climate and disaster risk into development

This report presents the World Bank Group's experience in climate and disaster resilient development and contends that it is essential to eliminate extreme poverty and achieve shared prosperity by 2030. The report argues for closer collaboration between the climate resilience and disaster risk management communities through the incorporation of climate and disaster resilience into broader development processes.

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Rio+20 Draft Document to focus on green sustainable development
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The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development released the zero draft document that will form the basis of negotiations for Rio+20 negotiations starting this June in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. The document serves as an initial outline for the discussions at the 20th anniversary of the first Rio Convention held in 1992. Overall, this zero draft both acknowledges a lot has happened in the last 20 years in globle and environmental development and that there's still a lot to be done. 

The document, though in it's skeletal draft form, has been met with optimism, and perhaps rightly so. The zero draft is quite comprensive in it's approach to development. A few things we noticed in the document give promise that the negotiations will be forward thinking. In particular, the zero draft acknowledges the rise of technology that will help service develivery and contribute to poverty eradication programs.

Additionally there is a lot said about "green" as the basis of "sustainable development." This is quite significant becasue it points to a shift in perspective. This year's zero draft document embraces integrated means of solving the world's poverty problem from an inclusive perspective. Of particular interest to us is the paragraph that emphasizes the fact the everyone has a role to play in sustainable development.

During our campaign run towards Durban last year, we explored the need for a change in behaviour as being critical to tackling climate change. Here, the zero draft document goes further by calling on everyone, from indigenous people to civil society organizations and local authorities "to play a meaningful role at all levels." The document states that this is made much easier due to improved access to information. By calling on improvements in the rights of people to access information, the zero draft is attempting to legimize the role of ICT in sustainable development. ICTs in this case, serving as the conduit for sustainable development communications.

From our perspective, climate change communication and participation is most certainly made easier when technology is employed. We'll certainly be using a lot more digital and social media tools to continue looking at the critical climate change components within the draft document. Rio is just around the corner and there's going to be a lot to discuss. This time, the convention isn't simply focused on climate change, rather, climate change is part of a larger push for sustainable, green, inclusive, development from a global perspective.

Action4Climate Films Featured in Poem That Brought World Leaders to Tears
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Ban Ki-moon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore kicked off the UN Climate Leaders Summit with strong calls for climate action, but it was a mother’s poem to her six-month-old daughter that triggered a standing ovation from the U

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"Dear Matefele Peinam" by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner
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<p>dear matafele peinam,<br />
you are a seven month old sunrise of gummy smiles<br />
you are bald as an egg and bald as the buddha<br />
you are thunder thighs and lightning shrieks<br />
so excited for bananas, hugs and<br />
our morning walks past the lagoon<br />
dear matafele peinam,<br />
I want to tell you about that lagoon<br />
that lucid, sleepy lagoon lounging against the sunrise<br />
some men say that one day<br />
that lagoon will devour you<br />
they say it will gnaw at the shoreline<br />
chew at the roots of your breadfruit trees<br />
gulp down rows of your seawalls<br />
and crunch your island&rsquo;s shattered bones<br />
they say you, your daughter<br />
and your granddaughter, too<br />
will wander rootless<br />
with only a passport to call home<br />
dear matafele peinam,<br />
don&rsquo;t cry<br />
mommy promises you<br />
no one<br />
will come and devour you<br />
no greedy whale of a company sharking through<br />
political seas<br />
no backwater bullying of businesses with broken morals no blindfolded<br />
bureaucracies gonna push<br />
this mother ocean over<br />
the edge<br />
no one&rsquo;s drowning, baby<br />
no one&rsquo;s moving<br />
no one&rsquo;s losing<br />
their homeland<br />
no one&rsquo;s gonna become<br />
a climate change refugee<br />
or should i say<br />
no one else<br />
to the carteret islanders of papua new guinea<br />
and to the taro islanders of Fiji<br />
I take this moment<br />
to apologize to you<br />
we are drawing the line here<br />
because baby we are going to fight<br />
your mommy daddy<br />
bubu jimma your country and president too<br />
we will all fight<br />
and even though there are those<br />
hidden behind platinum titles<br />
who like to pretend<br />
that we don&rsquo;t exist<br />
that the Marshall Islands<br />
Tuvalu<br />
Kiribati<br />
Maldives<br />
and typhoon haiyan in the Philippines<br />
and floods of Pakistan, Algeria, and Colombia<br />
and all the hurricanes, earthquakes, and tidalwaves<br />
didn&rsquo;t exist<br />
still<br />
there are those<br />
who see us<br />
hands reaching out<br />
fists raising up<br />
banners unfurling<br />
megaphones booming<br />
and we are<br />
canoes blocking coal ships<br />
we are<br />
the radiance of solar villages<br />
we are<br />
the rich clean soil of the farmer&rsquo;s past<br />
we are<br />
petitions blooming from teenage fingertips<br />
we are<br />
families biking, recycling, reusing,<br />
engineers dreaming, designing, building,<br />
artists painting, dancing, writing<br />
we are spreading the word<br />
and there are thousands out on the street<br />
marching with signs<br />
hand in hand<br />
chanting for change NOW<br />
they&rsquo;re marching for you, baby<br />
they&rsquo;re marching for us<br />
because we deserve to do more than just<br />
survive<br />
we deserve<br />
to thrive<br />
dear matafele peinam,<br />
you are eyes heavy<br />
with drowsy weight<br />
so just close those eyes, baby<br />
and sleep in peace<br />
because we won&rsquo;t let you down<br />
you&rsquo;ll see</p>

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Reactions
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Poet &amp; activist Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner moved world leaders at the <a href="https://twitter.com/UN">@UN</a&gt; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Climate2014?src=hash">#Climate2014</a&gt; summit to tears. WATCH: <a href="http://t.co/8KmlGSGx7U">http://t.co/8KmlGSGx7U</a></p&gt;
&mdash; Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) <a href="https://twitter.com/LeoDiCaprio/status/515223323194978304">September 25, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner brought down the house at the UN this week. Her message to you? <a href="http://t.co/ps5mbRjp67">http://t.co/ps5mbRjp67</a&gt; <a href="http://t.co/66hfwIKQcq">pic.twitter.com/66hfwIKQcq</a></p&gt;
&mdash; 350 dot org (@350) <a href="https://twitter.com/350/status/515293067830902784">September 26, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Poet and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/climatechange?src=hash">#climatechange</a&gt; activist Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner moves <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNGA?src=hash">#UNGA</a&gt; to tears at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Climate2014?src=hash">#Climate2014</a&gt; summit <a href="http://t.co/cJdCvoDQGx">http://t.co/cJdCvoDQGx</a></p&gt;
&mdash; UNICEF (@UNICEF) <a href="https://twitter.com/UNICEF/status/514929770896052224">September 25, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>She marched. And then she moved the world to tears. Marshallese poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner <a href="https://twitter.com/Climate2014Live">@Climate2014Live</a&gt; today: <a href="http://t.co/A2h2WPHizC">pic.twitter.com/A2h2WPHizC</a></p&gt;
&mdash; TckTckTck (@tcktcktck) <a href="https://twitter.com/tcktcktck/status/514423771705659392">September 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Marshall Islands speaker tells U.N. &#39;we are drawing the line here&#39; on climate change <a href="http://t.co/jZlJaK0K5R">http://t.co/jZlJaK0K5R</a&gt; <a href="http://t.co/xxuB7cvA0q">pic.twitter.com/xxuB7cvA0q</a></p&gt;
&mdash; Climate Progress (@climateprogress) <a href="https://twitter.com/climateprogress/status/514499333732192256">September 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Launch of the United Nations Environment Programme State of the Environment Report

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UNEP’s flagship publication, Global Environment Outlook (GEO-5) report keeps the state of the global environment under review.  The release of the GEO-5 report, the fifth in the series, is particularly timely and relevant in the lead up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 20-22, 2012 – 20 years after the 1992 Earth Summit.  

People's Climate March

[video:https://vimeo.com/106893756?byline=0]

The world's largest climate march calls for action on climate change. On September 21 about 400,000 people marched in New York and in more than 150 other countries for the global call for climate action. Rachel Kyte, Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change, World Bank Group, joined the march with the Connect4Climate team, as did a number of celebrities, and influential leaders. See more here.