UNEP CHIEF: ENVIRONMENT MINISTERS FIND COLLECTIVE VOICE AGAIN

       Nusa Dua, Bali, Feb. 26, 2010 (ANTARA) - UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner is optimistic about the results of the just concluded Bali environment ministers` meeting here as the conference had enabled them to find a collective voice again after the "great frustrations" in Copenhagen.
       "Without that there would never be any progress," Steiner told the press after the closing of the three-day 11th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council and the Global Ministerial Environment Forum here on Friday.

INDIA JOINS UNEP'S GLOBAL TREE-PLANTING CAMPAIGN

      Nusa Dua, Bali, Feb. 25, 2010 (ANTARA) - India has joined UNEP`s Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign (BTC) by planting two billion trees since 2007, bringing the international campaign`s total to date to over 10 billion planted trees worldwide.
       India also launched a compensation afforestation programme under which any diversion of public forests for non-forestry purposes was compensated through afforestation in degraded or non-forested land, India`s Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests Vijay Sharma announced here on Thursday.

UNEP LAUNCHES HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES RESPONSIBILITY CAMPAIGN

      Nusa Dua, Bali, Feb. 24, 2010 (ANTARA) - The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) here Wednesday launched a `Safe Planet` or `body burdens` campaign to raise global awareness of the need for action on the threats posed by hazardous chemicals and wastes.
      "Hazardous chemicals and wastes are not only around us, but they are in our bodies," said Fatoumata Keita Ouane, senior scientific officer at UNEP`s secretariat to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

UNEP/GEF PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY CONSERVES SIBERIAN CRANE

       Nusa Dua, Bali, Feb. 24, 2010 (ANTARA) - Siberian cranes and millions of other migratory waterbirds have been saved through a conservation project supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by the International Crane Foundation through the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
        "In 2002, the birds were not seen," said Claire M Mirande of International Crane Foundation, and senior director of Conservation and Science, concurrently director of UNEP-GEF Siberian Crane Wetlands Project, here, Wednesday.

UNEP SASAKAWA PRIZE GOES TO GREEN STOVE, CLEAN LIGHTING PROJECTS

      Nusa Dua, Bali, Feb. 23, 2010 (ANTARA) - Green stove and clean lighting projects serving remote communities in Latin America, Africa and India have won the 2009-10 UNEP Sasakawa Prize.
        "Through pioneering green ovens and sustainable lighting, Nuru Design and Trees, Water and People are changing the lives of thousands of school children, housewives, and villagers across Latin America, Africa and India. This is the Green Economy of tomorrow, in action today," United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner, said here on Tuesday.

Sustainable development needs more actions, less rhetoric by Fardah

     Bangkok, Nov. 2, 2007 (ANTARA) - As a child in Katmandu, Nepal, Surendra Shrestha was always able to see a white mountain from his home and it took only 15 minutes to go anywhere in the city and just  five minutes to reach spots with views over green valleys.
     "Now, Katmandu has changed. Trips in the city take at least two hours, and if we look north, we can no longer see the Himalayan.  Their snow caps have disappeared and the rivers have become open sewerages," said Shrestha who is now  Regional Director of UNEP (United Environment Program) for Asia and the Pacific, when  he recalled his childhood recently.

Pembangunan Berkelanjutan: Waktunya Mengubah Retorika Menjadi Tindakan Nyata oleh Fardah

   Jakarta, 31/10/2007 (ANTARA) - Surendra Shrestha terkenang masa kecilnya di Katmandu, ibu kota Nepal, ketika udara masih bersih dan sejuk, pegunungan Himalaya tampak putih dan jelas, serta lingkungan sekitar rumahnya masih hijau.
    "Waktu saya masih kecil di Katmandu, kami hanya perlu 15 menit untuk pergi ke mana-mana, namun kini kami perlu dua jam untuk bepergian karena macet," kata Shrestha, Direktur Regional Program Lingkungan Hidup PBB (UNEP) untuk Wilayah Asia-Pasifik, yang berkedudukan di Bangkok, Thailand.