Increased wood mobilization from sustainable sources is possible, and necessary for a more renewable energy future?
There is significant potential to enhance the supply of wood from forests throughout Europe in a sustainable manner. Wood mobilization, for renewable energy and industrial raw materials, should be further encouraged as a contribution to a sustainable society. This was the overriding consensus of the workshop “Strategies for increased wood mobilization from sustainable sources” organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNECE/FAO) with partners and held on 16-18 June 2009 in Grenoble, France. [Monday, 29 June 2009]
Greek basketball champions call for safer roads
Greek basketball champions lent support to the road safety cause today as they called for “team work and fair play on basketball courts and on our roads”, at a United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) conference in Halkida, Greece (25-26 June 2009).[Monday, 29 June 2009]
International Conference onTechnological Readiness for Innovation-based Competitiveness, 29-30 June 2009
Can information and communication technology (ICT) and innovation support sustainable growth in a time of economic crisis? Does ICT offer new business opportunities in this turbulent environment? What are the new approaches to open innovation? How can public policy give better support to small innovative ICT-based businesses? These are some of the issues to be addressed by the International Conference on Technological Readiness for Innovation-based Competitiveness which will open at 10 a.m. on 29 June. [Friday, 26 June 2009]
Green Economy: A Transformation to Address Multiple Crises. An Interagency Statement of the United Nations System
Over the past six months, UNECE, together with a wide variety of agencies in the United Nations System including the Bretton Woods Institutions and Secretariats of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, actively took part in the design and implementation of the UN-wide Green Economy Initiative, which aims to support the world-wide transition to a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy, able to deliver multiple economic, social and environmental opportunities for the 21st century. [Thursday, 25 June 2009]
UNECE to participate in International Energy Conference, Vienna, 22-24 June
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will actively contribute to the policy discussions at the International Energy Conference 2009, which will be held on 22-24 June 2009 in Vienna. Organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in cooperation with the Austrian Development Cooperation and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, the conference will provide a platform for high-level policymakers, private sector and civil society representatives from developing and industrialized countries to discuss energy issues in the context of the current global financial and economic crisis.[Monday, 22 June 2009]
UNECE warns that South-Eastern Europe risks missing its road safety target
Despite encouraging results in reaching road traffic casualty reduction targets in some parts of Europe (e.g. France, Germany and the Netherlands), South-Eastern Europe is lagging behind. European Union countries have agreed to halve the number of fatalities between 2001 and 2010, and International Transport Forum Member States have committed to a 50% reduction by 2012 compared with 2000. But countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Turkey have seen an increase in the number of casualties between 2000 and 2008. In Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia the numbers have stayed roughly the same (source: UNECE and WHO). [Thursday, 18 June 2009]
UNECE study assesses informal urban growth in the region, which affects over 50 million people
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) today released Self-Made Cities, the first comprehensive study of the phenomenon of informal settlements in the region. Self-Made Cities estimates that more than 50 million people, in over 15 countries, live in informal settlements in the UNECE region as a whole. The phenomenon is not new; some of these settlements in Western Europe date back to the 1960s. [Thursday, 18 June 2009]