Go Between 76, Aug.-Sept. 1999 UN NEWS FAO: 10 MILLION AFRICANS NEED EMERGENCY FOOD At least 10 million people in sub-Saharan Africa need emergency food assistance, according to a report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In Somalia alone, "one million people are facing serious food shortages, with over 400,000 at risk of starvation." The report, Food Supply Situation and Crop Prospects in Sub-Saharan Africa, lists 16 African countries as "facing exceptional food emergencies:" Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritania, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The causes for the food shortages are varied and include civil strife, population displacement, unfavourable weather, poor harvests and localized food deficits. The report says the food outlook in Somalia for 1999 and beyond is "extremely grim, due to the cumulative effects of adverse weather, the long running civil war and uncontrolled crop pests and diseases." The current crop has failed, making it the seventh consecutive poor harvest since 1996. In Ethiopia the 1999 "Belg" season crop failed because of inadequate rainfall, and over five million people need emergency food aid. The report says that in spite of a good harvest in Eritrea last year, the food situation is "very tight" for families displaced by the ongoing war with Ethiopia, as well as for deportees from Ethiopia. Across the border in southern Sudan, the food situation continues to be difficult due to persistent civil conflict despite favourable growing conditions. In western Uganda, the report says that "a prolonged drought has affected crop production and livestock...Large numbers of farmers, particularly cattle producers, are reported to be in need of urgent assistance. Thousands are reported to have moved to northern Tanzania in search of water and pasture." Kenya is reportedly facing difficulties with its crop and livestock production because of erratic and below-average rainfall during the current "long rains" season, while crops have failed in Tanzania, leading to a significant--and unforeseen--increase in imports. The food outlook for Angola is "very bleak," says the report, because of the escalating civil war. A large number of people have abandoned their farms to seek refuge in government-held towns and cities or in neighbouring countries. This has resulted in low yields, despite the fact that the country has had average or above-average rainfall and overall planting was normal. The report estimates that one million new internally displaced people (IDPs) are in need of emergency food aid. According to Mwita Rukandema, senior economist in FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture and the editor of the report, "If the stranglehold on cities and towns by UNITA continues, mass starvation of IDPs, particularly children, is almost inevitable." Other parts of southern Africa have also suffered from a reduced cereal crop this year. In South Africa, estimated cereal production is lower than last year's already below-average crop. As a result, the country's exportable surplus has been substantially reduced. In Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe, cereal output is lower than average for the second consecutive year. The Great Lakes region continues to face food supply problems caused by "persistent insecurity and sporadic violence." In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where there are 660,000 IDPs, the report says there are hopes for an improved food supply situation after a ceasefire agreement was signed in July. Burundi and Rwanda have suffered inadequate rainfall and an armyworm infestation that has affected this year's recently harvested secondary crops. The report also says that food production has been disrupted by insecurity in the two countries. In the Republic of Congo, the report says that renewed fighting between government forces and the opposing militia has displaced large numbers of people and disrupted economic activities, seriously affecting the food supply situation. On the positive side, the report says, crop prospects are generally favourable for most of western Africa so far, especially in the Sahel. Except for Sierra Leone, the food supply situation should be good until the next harvest. In Sierra Leone, according to the report, the recently signed peace accord should improve the situation. Contact: John Riddle, Information Officer, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 3259, fax +39-06/5705 3699, e-mail , website (www.fao.org/giews). OGATA: PEACE CAN RESOLVE AFRICAN REFUGEE CRISIS Sadako Ogata, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, has told leaders attending the 35th Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit in Algiers (Algeria) in July that peace and development were the only hope for resolving the continent's refugee crises. Ms. Ogata held discussions with the presidents of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia on regional conflicts that continue to create refugees. She urged them to renew their commitment to "Africa's neediest," its millions of refugees and displaced people. "The progress towards peace in Sierra Leone and the DRC has raised hopes for countries where civilians have suffered for years. UNHCR [the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees] is there, caring for refugees and ready to help them go home, but their return will depend on whether the peace can be sustained," the High Commissioner said. The call for political settlements echoed the message Ms. Ogata carried to Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo during an eight-day mission in June. While she promised that her office would continue to press for more solidarity with Africa, she cautioned that little support would come before successful conflict resolution. "Solutions for the millions of uprooted Africans have to be part of a new commitment to peace and reconciliation. Answers can be found in the provisions of the OAU Refugee Convention--one of the cornerstones of the organization itself--and in the will of the continent's leaders," she said. Contact: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, CP 2500, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/739 8111, fax +41-22/731 9546, website (www.unhcr.ch). WORLD BANK MAINSTREAMS AFRICAN AIDS BATTLE The World Bank has called on African leaders, civil society, and the private sector to put the HIV/AIDS crisis at the centre of their national agendas. To move this effort forward the Bank has created an AIDS Campaign Team, ACTafrica, to provide its own staff with the knowledge, tools and resources it needs to mobilize others. The team will be located in the Office of the Regional Vice Presidents, underscoring the Bank's commitment to intensifying HIV/AIDS prevention and care. "We will now place HIV/AIDS at the center of our development agenda, and mainstream it in all aspects of our work in Africa," Bank officials said in the foreword to Intensifying Action Against HIV/AIDS in Africa: Responding to a Development Crisis. The report, released in June, introduces the Bank's new strategy to combat the epidemic, in partnership with African governments and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The report makes the case for stronger intervention in Africa: two-thirds of the world's 34 million people living with HIV/AIDS are African; a third are aged between 10-24; more than 11 million Africans have died from the disease; the 21 countries with the highest prevalence are in Africa; and in most African countries, the lifetime risk of dying of the disease is greater than one in three. Unknown a generation ago, today HIV/AIDS poses the foremost threat to Africa's development. "Given the scale of the epidemic, it is no longer just a public health problem. It is a development crisis," the World Bank strategy report said. It explained how although this is the worst threat to hit people since the bubonic plague of the European Middle Ages, people have been slow to respond, in part because of lack of knowledge, but also because of "a certain fatalism." The strategic plan calls on the Bank and its partners to make a new and broad-based commitment to saving millions of lives and has several thrusts: advocacy to position HIV/AIDS as a central development issue and to intensify the response to it; increasing resources and technical support for African partners and Bank country teams to mainstream HIV/AIDS activities in all sectors; targeting prevention efforts to both general and specific audiences; and expanding the knowledge base to help countries better deal with the epidemic. The new ACTafrica team will be the regional focal point and clearinghouse and provide a number of services. Among other activities it will provide support to country teams in their efforts to mobilize government and non-government groups, help add HIV/AIDS components to development projects and develop new projects, collect and disseminate information, and strengthen partnerships with UNAIDS and other key agencies. Contact: Debrework Zewdie, Head, ACTafrica, and HIV/AIDS Coordinator, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433, United States, telephone +1-202/473 8390, fax +1-212/473 8239, e-mail website (www.worldbank.org/afr/aids/default.htm). FAO: ONE MILLION AFGHANS WILL NEED AID As the Six Plus Two group--the United States, Russia and six neighbouring countries--meets under the auspices of the United Nations to discuss the prospects for peace in Afghanistan, there are reports that more than one million Afghans will need aid over the next 18 months. This is because of a sharp fall in cereal production this year, according to a report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The report, based on a recent mission by FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) to the country, says total cereal production will fall by about 16% this year to 3.24 million tonnes. The decrease is due to poor climate, pests, and a tendency for farmers to switch from wheat to cash crops. Afghanistan will need a record 1.1 million tonnes of cereal over the next year, but commercial imports will only account for 800,000 tonnes. The shortfalls will be felt most strongly by Afghanistan's poorest. The country is already heavily dependent on food aid because of poverty and unemployment. Afghanistan has just come out of its mildest winter in 40 years. There was little snow, which provides the country's main source of irrigation as it melts in spring. Rains have been late and erratic, and unusually high incidences of yellow rust and sunnpest were reported in some regions. The security situation also contributes to food scarcity. Access to many areas is difficult due to poor infrastructure, and sending produce to markets often requires complex transport arrangements. Contact: Media Relations Branch, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 3276, fax +39-06/5705 4975, website (www.fao.org) or Press Office, WFP, Via Cesare Giulio Viola 68, I-00148 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/6513 2253, fax +39-06/6513 2840, website (www.wfp.org). ICC PREPCOM MAKES PROGRESS The Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC) has concluded its second, three-week session from 26 July-13 August during which it made considerable progress on the rules of operation of the court. PrepCom working groups addressed a number of issues including the organization and administration of the court, rules relating to investigation, prosecution, trial, appeal and review, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Also, in line with a resolution of the General Assembly, the PrepCom undertook consultations on the acceptability of the ICC to the United States. The PrepCom also decided to set up a working group to define aggression. Without a proper definition, the PrepCom said, the court's reputation could be damaged. Jurisdiction over aggression will be established once agreement is reached on a definition. The PrepCom also concluded that procedural rules are a key to credibility. "For an international criminal court to have credibility, its rules must address the actual circumstances and cases that it confront[s] on a daily basis," said Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. One of the most important lessons learned by that tribunal, she told the PrepCom, was about the role judges played in the rule-making process. The ICC, already ratified by four countries, will begin to function once its statute is ratified by 60 states. The treaty establishing the court, the Rome Statute, has been approved by 120 countries and signed by 84. The ICC will be a permanent international tribunal that will investigate and bring to justice individuals (not states) who commit the most serious crimes of concern to the international community such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. These include widespread murder of civilians, torture and mass rape. The ICC will complement national legal systems and will assume jurisdiction only after national courts have shown themselves unwilling or unable to prosecute. The NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court also participated in the PrepCom. Over 100 representatives of 60 NGOs attended. The coalition organized itself into teams focusing on specific issues: rules of procedure and evidence, elements of crime, the definition of aggression, and composition and administration of the court. The coalition also established a working group on the rights of victims and a group to monitor the efforts of the United States to revise the agreement. On the whole, both NGOs and governments felt that the PrepCom had been more productive and constructive than had been expected. The next session of the PrepCom is scheduled for 29 November to 17 December. Contact: Codification Division, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, Room 3460, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 5332, fax +1-212/963 1963, website (www.un.org/law/icc/index.htm) or NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court, c/o World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy, 777 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/687 2176, fax +1-212/599 1332, e-mail . website (www.iccnow.org). SG CALLS FOR ONGOING FIGHT AGAINST TORTURE UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on countries to renew their support for victims of torture and to fully back the international war crimes tribunals. "The world community is trying to fight back," he said, on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, observed on 26 June. "The International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, through their indictments, are sending the signal that no one, regardless of power or rank, should be able to violate human rights and get away with it." He also called on nations to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and to contribute to the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. "It is too late to prevent torture from accompanying us into the new century," he said, "but not too late to redouble our efforts to contain this menace." In a related move, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Committee Against Torture, the special rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights for torture issues and the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund have again this year issued a joint declaration asking those countries that have not done so to ratify the Convention Against Torture. They called on all states to ensure that torture is considered a crime under domestic laws and to rigorously pursue perpetrators. Torture was one of the first issues taken up by the UN and is prohibited by a number of documents including the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Convention Against Torture, which entered into force in 1987, makes torture an international crime. Since then, many countries have passed anti-torture legislation and taken other measures to prevent its use. Despite this, reports still reach the UN Commission on Human Rights about the continuing use of torture as a weapon of intimidation in war and as a means to keep human rights abusers in power. WORLD BUSINESS AND UN AGREE TO GLOBAL COMPACT The United Nations and world business leaders have agreed to a global compact to cooperate in promoting human rights, better labour conditions and protection of the environment. In a joint statement released on 5 July, the UN and the International Chamber of Commerce "reaffirmed that there is great potential for the goals of the United Nations--peace and development--and the goals of business--wealth creation and prosperity--to be mutually supportive." The statement comes in response to a call by the UN Secretary-General last January at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland for a global compact with business to uphold a set of values reflecting good human rights, labour and environmental standards. "A stronger private sector worldwide, and particularly the positive impact of foreign direct investment, are already making an effective contribution to the attainment of UN goals," the statement says. Both sides believe companies can best promote the UN's values by the way they conduct their own businesses and by the spread of good corporate practices. "By setting themselves high standards in these fields they exercise a positive influence in their immediate environment and among customers, suppliers and business associates." The statement says that by creating wealth and jobs, companies help fight poverty, but insists that "companies cannot be expected to take on responsibilities outside their own sphere of activity that are properly the preserve of governments." In addition to the Secretary-General, the UN delegation included Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organization; Rubens Ricupero, Secretary General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development; Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Klaus T”pfer, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme. The ICC delegation was headed by ICC President Adnan Kassar. The ICC has over 7,000 member companies and business associations in more than 130 countries, including such corporate giants as Alcatel, Norsk Hydro, Rio Tinto, Unilever, Royal Dutch/Shell and Siemens. BALKANS POSTWAR ENVIRONMENTAL MISSION The UN Inter-Agency Needs Assessment Mission, which visited Yugoslavia in late May, has reported that during the 78-day war over Kosovo, more than 80 civilian industrial facilities were bombed, causing the release into the environment of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects and other short- and long-term health problems. According to NGOs monitoring the situation, many of the pollutants released spilled directly into the Danube river, which flows through Yugoslavia, into Romania and down through Bulgaria into the Black Sea. In May Klaus T”pfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Acting Executive Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, UNCHS (Habitat) established a joint UNEP/UNCHS Balkans Task Force on Environment and Human Settlements (BTF). The task force visited Serbia and Montenegro from 17-22 June to examine direct environmental and human settlements impacts of the conflict in the Balkans and the wider consequences to countries of the region. "The need for a neutral, objective and scientifically credible comprehensive report on the environmental and human settlement situation in the Balkans region is of paramount importance," said Mr. T”pfer. A second mission took place on 18 July when three teams of international experts from the BTF travelled to the Balkan region to begin work on an independent and thorough assessment of the situation. The first two groups, arriving in Belgrade, conducted an environmental assessment of the worst damaged industrial sites, primarily in Serbia. Locations included the Pancevo industrial complex, Novi Sad oil refinery, Baric chemical plant and Rakovica industrial complex, as well as the Zastava car factory and oil depots in Kralijevo, Nis and Pristina, Kosovo. Mobile laboratories travelled with the teams around the country. The third group, based in Pristina, concentrated on creating mechanisms for land title registration, resolving tenancy and property disputes, and strengthening municipal (including environmental) administration and leadership. The team worked closely with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the legal advisors of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to develop an administrative capacity for better urban governance at the municipal level and to find ways of ensuring security of tenure for returning refugees. A team of experts from the BTF began work on 23 August to to assess the environmental impacts of the conflict on the Danube river. A fourth mission is planned to assess the region's biodiversity. A final report will be submitted to the Secretary-General in late September/early October. The earlier UN Inter-Agency Needs Assessment Mission to the region recommended that a detailed assessment of the environmental situation be carried out to identify specific needs for targeted assistance. This recommendation was echoed by European Union environment ministers at a recent Council meeting on the Environment in Luxembourg, and at a meeting of the European Commission in Brussels in June, which was attended by EU member states, UN agencies and NGOs like Greenpeace, WWF, and Green Cross. The Brussels meeting concluded that environmental aid should be a part of the wider humanitarian assistance effort for the Balkans, and emphasized the importance of rebuilding capacity of relevant environmental authorities, including support for NGOs to ensure long-term environmental rehabilitation of the region. Contact: BTF Chairman's Office, Geneva Executive Centre, 11 chemin des Anemones, CH-1219 Chatelaine, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 8616, fax +41-22/917 8064, e-mail , or Tore Brevik, Spokesman, UNEP, PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya, telephone +254-2/623 292, fax +254-2/623 927, e-mail , website (www.grid.unep.ch/btf). SMALL ISLAND STATES FORGE COMMON POSITION Small island states attending a workshop in the Marshall Islands discussed strategies to help lessen the threat of rising sea levels and climate change and to benefit from the UN climate treaty and the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol was agreed in 1997 and is designed to help stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It requires certain industrialized countries to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions to at least 5.2% below 1990 levels between 2008-2012. One of the proposals for doing this is through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows selected countries to count certain emission cuts achieved from the year 2000 towards their 2008-2012 commitments. Workshop participants issued the Majuro Statement on Climate Change as an expression of their common position for the upcoming special session of the General Assembly to review the implementation of the 1994 Global Conference on Small Island Developing States, scheduled for 27-28 September in New York. The statement noted the importance of domestic action in achieving the Kyoto Protocol's commitments and that the CDM could be an important tool for meeting these commitments if expanded to other countries. Further, it noted that the CDM must become a viable and credible mechanism and that the emission cuts it generates must be additional to those which would have occurred anyway. The statement made clear that small island developing states need special capacity-building initiatives because of their particular vulnerability. Participants also placed vulnerability assessment and adaptation at the top of their priority list. Participants recognized the importance of holding the workshop in a low-lying small island state. The highest point on the Marshall Islands is barely one metre above sea level and the threat of rising sea levels is constant. Sacred burial grounds are already crumbling into the ocean as sea levels rise. According to the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, two small islands have already disappeared in the Pacific nation of Kiribati. The Workshop on the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol was convened by the 42-country Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) from 14-16 July. UN Contact: Deonanan Oodit, Chief, Small Island Developing States Unit, Water Management and SIDS Branch, Division for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2 UN Plaza, Room DC2-2206, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 4671, fax +1-212/963 4260, e-mail , website (www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sids.htm). UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON OUTER SPACE The first United Nations conference on outer space since the end of the Cold War has adopted a blueprint for the peaceful use of outer space. The United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), held on 19-30 July in Vienna, also issued a declaration and a related action plan to protect the planet and prepare for the "space millennium." The conference's theme was "Space Benefits for Humanity in the 21st century," and it examined the links between outer space and human development. Earth, which UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called "a tiny sanctuary of life in the midst of the magnitude of the heavens," is threatened by rising sea levels, deforestation and desertification. Population is rising at unprecedented rates, and production and consumption patterns are unsustainable. Space technology is essential for sustainable development since it has applications in health, education and natural disaster management. The Vienna Declaration and Action Plan put forward a programme which involves environmental protection and natural resource management, using space applications for human security, development and welfare, protecting the environment in outer space, increasing the access of developing countries to space science and its benefits, raising awareness, strengthening the UN's space activities and promoting international cooperation. To achieve these goals the documents make a number of key recommendations. These include the creation of a voluntary fund to implement projects and raise awareness on the impact of space activities on development; the proclamation of 4-10 October as World Space Week; improved access by states to the International Space Station; further exploration of the legal aspects of space debris, nuclear power use in space, intellectual property rights for space related technologies, and ownership and access to resources from space; better participation mechanisms for young people, women, and developing countries; and a five-year review of the implementation of these recommendations. A number of issues highlighting divergent opinions among countries were discussed. These related to the increasing commercialization of space, the near infinite life spans of space debris and the need to protect the environment in outer space, and the use of space technology to benefit the environment on Earth. The conference was attended by over 2,500 representatives of governments, intergovernmental bodies, civil society and the private sector. Contact: Director, Office for Outer Space Affairs, United Nations Office at Vienna, PO Box 500, Vienna, Austria, telephone +43-1/26060 4950, fax +43-1/26060 5830, e-mail , website (www.un.or.at/OOSA/). CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY The World Conference on Science, an international forum held to map the course of science into the new century, has adopted a Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge that commits governments to use science for the benefit of the entire planet. Conference participants stressed the benefits of science for development. Although these are obvious, "Most of these benefits are unevenly distributed, as a result of structural asymmetries among countries, regions and social groups and between the sexes," the declaration said. By issuing the declaration, governments agreed there was a need to promote equitable access to science and to involve women more. "It is essential that the fundamental role played by women in the application of scientific development to food production and health care be fully recognized, and efforts made to strengthen their understanding of scientific advances in this area," the declaration said. At the same time, it pointed out that science could also reduce the quality of life through environmental degradation, exclusion, or the invention of sophisticated weapons of war. This is why it stressed the need for ethical principles that respect human rights and the dignity of human beings. The framework for action that underpins the declaration expects governments to commit adequate funds for education and research, which Federico Mayor, Director General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) suggests could be around 0.3%- 0.4% of a country's GDP. At present, the heaviest investors earmark between 2.5%-3%. In addition to a commitment of public funds, the action plan calls for pooling research and skills, especially on environmental issues. UNESCO used the conference venue to launch its first World Social Science Report, the latest in a series of world reports published in recent years on education, the natural sciences, communication and culture, the organization's fields of competence. The report builds on an earlier World Science Report and extends its scope from the natural to the social sciences by studying the state and evolution of societies. An international NGO consultation was organized parallel to the conference to enable fullest possible NGO participation. Some 60 mainly international NGOs attended the consultation, which focused on elaborating suggestions to improve the conference's two main documents, the draft Declaration and Framework for Action. The two co-rapporteurs of the NGO meeting took up the two seats reserved for NGOs in the conference's Drafting Group. This enabled some of their recommendations to be worked into the conference's final documents. However, the more pointed and controversial NGO recommendations (such as a commitment to the precautionary principle in applying new technologies or the development of a scientific oath) did not survive in the final versions. The meeting was still seen as positive, and NGOs praised UNESCO's efforts to involve them fully in the conference proceedings without shunning controversy or intense discussion on the vital issues at stake. The conference was held in Budapest (Hungary) from 26 June-1 July and was organized by UNESCO and the International Council for Science (ICSU). Some 2,000 participants from 150 countries attended, including representatives of educational, research establishments, scientists, industry, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs and 100 government ministers responsible for scientific affairs in these countries. Contact: Michael Millward, Chief, Section of Non-Governmental Organizations and Foundations, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 18 77, fax +33-1/47 34 20 98, e-mail , website (www.unesco.org/science/wcs). DECLARATION ON ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH Fifty European countries adopted a declaration affirming their commitment to specific measures that will reduce the harmful effects of environmental degradation on human health. The London Declaration was adopted at the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held from 16-18 June in London. Over 900 participants, including ministers of environment and health, NGO representatives, and technical experts attended the conference, which was organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the European region and hosted by the United Kingdom. Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO Director-General, told the conference that environmental action was a key to better health conditions in Europe. "Focused investments in education, healthy work conditions, environmental sanitation and a safe water supply are extremely effective in improving health and well-being, as well as in increasing productivity and economic growth," she said. "We need to take this message to decision makers and remind Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers that they are indeed Health Ministers themselves." Environmental conditions in Europe over the past few decades have improved, leading to longer and healthier lives for millions of people. But environmental hazards are still a significant cause of disease, Dr. Brundtland warned. She said outdoor air pollution accounts for 3-4% of premature mortality and disability in Eastern Europe and causes at least half a million deaths worldwide each year. Indoor air pollution is emerging as a major contributor to ill-health, primarily from respiratory diseases. Poor water, sanitation and hygiene practices add to this disease burden, causing an estimated 7-8% of all disease and injury in developing countries. In the London Declaration ministers agreed to adopt the legally binding Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. They agreed to ensure adequate sanitation and supplies of drinking water; protect water resources; safeguard human health against water-related disease from recreation, aquaculture, wastewater and sewage sludge; and implement effective systems to monitor and respond to situations likely to result in outbreaks of water-related disease. They also adopted the Charter on Transport, Environment and Health, which commits to making transport sustainable to health and the environment. The charter states that the volume of motorized transport is growing, and this has an adverse effect on both health and the environment. It recommends steps to help make transport sustainable, such as reducing the need for motorized transport by adapting land use policies, and urban and regional planning; and applying strategic health and environmental indicators and impact assessments, involving environmental and health authorities. Among other things, participants agreed to encourage multisectoral cooperation and ensure that environment and health requirements are integrated in transport-related decision-making processes, such as those on transport, water and land use planning; infrastructure investment programmes and policy decisions. The charter is not legally binding, and ministers agreed to look at the possibility of producing a new legislative instrument by 2000. The next conference will be hosted by the government of Hungary in 2004. Contact: Jon Liden, Press Officer, Public Relations, WHO, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 3982, fax +41-22/791 4858, e-mail , website (www.who.dk/London99). CODEX COMMISSION POSTPONES SETTING BST LIMITS The Codex Alimentarius Commission, the highest international body on food standards, postponed a controversial decision at its 28 June-3 July meeting to set international safety standards for the genetically engineered growth hormone BST. The decision not to adopt a standard was proposed by the United States and supported by the European Union. The US support surprised many governments, who had expected a long debate between the US and the European Union. Earlier, the US had argued strongly in favour of a Codex standard. Consumer organizations applauded the decision. Some groups, including Consumer International, say there is no proof the hormone is safe and so no standard should be set. It believes a standard would have signalled the world that using the hormone was safe. BST, or Bovine somatotropin, boosts production of cows' milk. In other decisions, the commission approved guidelines for the production, processing, labelling and marketing of organically produced foods. In response to the recent European crisis over dioxin in animal feed, it also set up a task force to speed up the adoption of a code on animal feeding. Another task force will work on standards for foods derived from biotechnology. The commission adopted 35 new food standards, four codes of good hygienic practice, and 220 maximum residue limits in food. The international food trade is valued at more than US$500 billion a year and is growing. Contact: Pierre Antonios, Media Relations Branch, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 3473 , fax +39-06/5705 3152, website (www.fao.org). FAO COMMITTEE ON WORLD FOOD SECURITY MEETS The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has reoriented its work to meet the challenges set down by the 186 governments that participated in the 1996 World Food Summit: to halve the number of hungry people in the world by 2015. At its latest meeting held in Rome in June, the committee endorsed moves to improve the way food insecurity is assessed, monitored and reported. The CFS looked at ways of improving the capacity to accurately assess the number and characteristics of the world's hungry people. It agreed to a better structure to monitor food security and made improvements in the indicators used in assessments. The CFS also endorsed a reporting format to track actions on commitments made at the food summit and agreed all future reporting on progress under the summit's Plan of Action would use this format. The committee also examined the role of civil society in the summit's follow-up and gave the floor to NGOs/CSOs when relevant agenda items came up, a new practice. FAO is now reviewing policies and strategies for cooperation with NGOs and CSOs, and the results of the review will be available soon. The CFS has a standing agenda item on nutrition and this year's session looked at the importance of food quality and food safety as integral components of food security. The meeting stressed the importance of participation by developing countries in the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which aims to improve food quality and safety worldwide. Contact: Barbara Huddleston, Secretary, Committee on World Food Security, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 3052, fax +39-06/5705 5522, e-mail , web site (www.fao.org). UNCTAD: TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT LINKS Over the next 18 months, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will be working with policy makers, NGOs and developing country research institutions to help improve understanding of the complex links between international trade and environment issues. This new project will strengthen research and policy making capacity on trade and environment issues in 10 developing countries, selected to provide a balanced mix of levels of economic development and geographic regions. The countries are Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, India, Philippines, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. The goal of the project is to deepen understanding of the issues; improve policy coordination at the national level; and improve national ability to participate effectively in multilateral deliberations on trade and environment in the World Trade Organization (WTO), UNCTAD and other forums. It also aims to bring the trade and environment communities together, link national priorities with the international trade and environment agenda, and open channels between developing countries, enabling them to identify areas of common interest. The 10 beneficiary countries each nominate two experts, one from the Ministry of Trade and one from the Ministry of Environment, to participate in two roundtables and three workshops. The workshops will also include participants from research institutions and NGOs, particularly from the host country and countries in the region. At a roundtable held in Geneva on 24-25 June to launch the project, participants defined the following priority issues: -- specific systems for traditional knowledge and access to genetic resources and mutual benefit sharing cases; -- market access and trade liberalization; -- promoting trade in environmentally preferable products, particularly organic products; -- sectoral study on textiles and garments, agriculture and fisheries products; -- technology transfer issues and the WTO; -- technology transfer issues and Agenda 21 and Multilateral Environment Agreements; and -- domestically prohibited goods. Groups of participants will work jointly on each issue, coordinated by a lead country. The resulting papers will be discussed at three regional workshops in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Papers from the project will be made available on UNCTAD's website. Funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID), the project is being implemented by UNCTAD in collaboration with the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD), a UK-based NGO. Contact: Rene Vossenaar, Chief, Trade, Environment and Development Section, UNCTAD, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/907 5679, fax +41-22/907 0044, e-mail , website (www.unctad.org). UNCTAD: TRADE RULES MUST EMPOWER WOMEN Experts at a preparatory workshop for UNCTAD X have concluded that globalization has not reduced gender inequalities. In some cases, it has even intensified them. In its final statement, the workshop pointed out that while industrialization in developing countries had been fuelled by massive employment of women, they often lost their jobs in times of economic crisis. Women have absorbed a disproportionate share of economic shocks, the meeting concluded. Women also make up most of the rural poor. "They carry most of the responsibility for food production and family food security," the workshop's statement said. "Where trade expansion has led to increased production of traditional cash crops, women's labour has been mobilized without proportionate monetary reward." At the same time though, a new form of "industrialized" export-oriented agriculture in some developing countries is drawing some rural women into wage employment. The workshop also concluded discrimination in the commercial sector against women is especially high in least developed countries (LDCs). UNCTAD, as the main UN agency in charge of trade and development, encourages governments to promote the economic advancement of women. "In the future, multilateral trade agreements should pay more attention to the empowerment of women as actors and beneficiaries of the development process," said Rubens Ricupero, UNCTAD Secretary General, at the opening of the meeting. The workshop, held on 12-13 July, is part of the preparatory process for UNCTAD X, which takes place in Bangkok (Thailand) in February 2000. It focused on gender in intergovernmental negotiations, policy making, and the work of UNCTAD in the advancement of women and the promotion of their economic role. It brought together aspects from both the public and private sectors, researchers from developed and developing countries, as well as representatives of intergovernmental organizations and NGOs from 40 countries. Contact: Gloria Koch, Departmental Focal Point on Women, UNCTAD, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/907 5690, fax +41-22/907 0122, e-mail , website (www.unctad.org). CONFERENCE LINKS ENVIRONMENT TREATIES A two-day conference in Tokyo has concluded that greater cooperation and links among environmental treaties are needed since environmental problems ignore borders and national governments. Inter-Linkages--the International Conference on Synergies and Coordination between Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) was designed to help develop a coordinated approach to environmental policy that takes into account the links among the various environmental issues. The meeting focused on five issues discussed in working groups: harmonization of information systems and exchanges, finance, issue management, scientific mechanisms, and synergies for sustainable development. A number of recommendations were made by the working groups, which were designed to enhance collaboration among MEAs. For example, the working group on information harmonization suggested a common entry point on the Web for all MEAs, harmonizing national reporting mechanisms, improving data collection and public information, and building capacity. The working group on synergies for sustainable development recommended the mainstreaming of planning for the implementation of MEAs into national development activities. Several dozen other recommendations were made. Some 300 participants attended the 14-16 July conference, which was organized by the United Nations University (UNU) in cooperation with the Global Environment Information Centre, the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies, and the United Nations Environment Programme. Contact: UNU, 53-70 Jingumae 5-chome, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150, Japan, telephone +81-3/3499 2811, fax +81-3/3499 2828, e-mail , website (www.unu.edu). TWO NEW CHEMICALS IN ROTTERDAM CONVENTION An international meeting in Rome has added two additional chemicals--binapacryl and toxaphene--to the Rotterdam Convention's prior informed consent (PIC) procedure. The PIC seeks to ensure banned or restricted chemicals and pesticides are not exported unless specifically agreed by the importing country. The meeting also set up an Interim Chemical Review Committee to make recommendations for the inclusion of other chemicals to the list. Its first task is to recommend the addition of four other harmful chemicals. These are bromacil, ethylene dichloride, ethylene oxide and maleic hydrazide. The two newest additions are considered dangerous chemicals. Binapacryl is a pesticide and can provoke aches, nausea and breathing difficulties among agricultural workers. It can also harm the environment and build up in fish and aquatic organisms. The other chemical, toxaphene, is an insecticide which does not degrade easily and spreads rapidly throughout the body when absorbed. It is highly toxic and can cause thyroid tumours and cancer. It can also harm soil and species. The Rotterdam Convention, adopted in September 1998, is designed to scale back trade in dangerous chemicals. It will enter into force when ratified by 50 countries; 60 have already signed it. The convention will help protect health and the environment, particularly in poorer countries where there may be unacceptable exposure to pesticides and industrial chemicals. It requires that hazardous chemicals and pesticides banned or restricted in at least two countries or regions are not exported unless explicitly agreed by the importing countries. The global pesticide market continues to grow and is worth more than US$33 billion in 1998. The fastest growing markets are in developing countries. The meeting was held at the headquarters of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) from 12-16 July and was organized by FAO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to address the interim period until the convention's entry into force. Delegates from 121 countries attended. Contact: John Riddle, Information Officer, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/5705 3259, fax +39-06/5705 3699, e-mail , website (www.fao.org). EXPERT GROUP AGREES ON EXPANDING POPS LIST An expert group of the International Negotiating Committee for a convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which met in Vienna from 14-18 June, has agreed on scientific criteria and procedures for adding POPs to the initial list. The recommendations will be taken up by governments at the third round of talks towards a legally binding treaty on POPs, to be held from 6-11 September in Geneva. The treaty, due to be negotiated by 2000, calls for reducing or eliminating releases and discharges of the 12 POPs in the list. "These proposals represent a major step forward in moving us to a global treaty that protects public health and the environment from POPs," said Klaus T”pfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). "Taking action against the initial list of 12 and establishing the means for combatting others will give us a strong and ready defence against known and emerging toxic threats at the end of the 20th century and beyond." This was the second meeting of the Criteria Expert Group, a subsidiary body established by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee. The criteria to identify POPs include technical factors such as toxicity and whether they can travel long distances. The procedure covers steps, such as nomination, screening and evaluation, to determine whether a chemical is a large enough risk to warrant global action. The initial list of 12 POPs comprises aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, mirex, toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenyls, hexachlorobenzene, dioxins and furans. Persistent organic pollutants pose a serious risk to public health and the environment. They persist for long periods of time, travelling long distances from the source. They accumulate in living species, becoming increasingly concentrated in fatty tissue as they move up the food chain. These toxic contaminants are passed on to the next generation through breast milk. They are also found with increasing frequency in a variety of food products, and millions of people are potentially exposed to dangerous levels of the pollutants. Mr. T”pfer reminded the world community of the health and environmental risks from dioxin and other persistent organic pollutants to less developed countries, which typically lack data on sources and levels as well as the means for dealing with them. UNEP has published a report, Dioxin and Furan Inventories--National and Regional Emissions of PCDD/PCDF, which provides details of 15 national inventories, mostly in Western Europe and North America. Contact: Jim Willis, Director, UNEP Chemicals, Geneva Executive Centre, 11-13 chemin des Anemones, CH-1219 Chatelaine (Geneva), Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 8183, fax +41-22/797 3460, e-mail , website (irptc.unep.ch) or (www.chem.unep.ch/pops). ENVIRONMENTAL GUIDELINES FOR INDUSTRY The World Bank has published guidelines designed to reduce industrial pollution. The Bank says they "constitute the most comprehensive attempt to date to provide a broad audience in developing countries and elsewhere with advice and practical guidelines on how to reduce pollution in a wide range of industrial sectors." The guidelines provide practical information on how to reduce pollution in 40 industrial sectors and describe minimum standards that can be attained with the resources and skills normally available in industry. The Pollution Prevention and Abatement Handbook was published by the Bank and the International Finance Corporation in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Contact: World Bank, PO Box 960, Herndon, VA 20172-0960, United States, telephone +1-703/661 1580, fax +1-703/661 1501, e-mail , website (www.worldbank.org). BANK APPROVES FUND FOR EMISSIONS TRADING The World Bank has approved a fund capped at US$150 million to help finance, validate and monitor projects to reduce greenhouse gases in developing countries. The Prototype Carbon Fund should help demonstrate how emissions trading projects can cut down local pollution, transfer environmentally friendly technology from North to South, and enhance the equitable sharing of benefits. The fund is not-for-profit and should be closed down once a private sector market for emissions trading develops. So far, a number of corporations and governments have agreed to invest between US$5-10 million in the fund, which will formally accept contributions from 15 November until end January 2000. Emissions trading faces criticism from those--including the European Union--who want to limit trading in order to achieve domestic emissions reduction targets. It also faces support from others such as the United States who say trading will help reduce worldwide emissions cheaply. Contact: Sarah Roberts, Prototype Carbon Fund, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433, United States, fax +1-202/522 2130, e-mail , website (www-esd.worldbank.org/cc). Meanwhile, an international group of business, government and environmental organizations has formed a partnership to develop an international protocol for measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions from business. The protocol is designed to simplify reporting and improve the credibility, comparability, and usefulness of information. According to the World Resources Institute, a member of the group, "Standardized measurement and reporting is an important first step toward reducing emissions and responding to global climate change." The group includes such diverse partners as the World Wildlife Fund, Royal Dutch Shell, the UN Environment Programme and the Tokyo Electric Power Company. Contact: World Resources Institute, 10 G Street NE, Suite 800, Washington DC 20002, United States, telephone +1-202/729 7600, fax +1-202/729 7610, website (www.wri.org). INSURANCE AND ENVIRONMENT CONFERENCE Eight major financial institutions have agreed to launch a joint US$100 million investment initiative called Sustainability Investment Partners (SIP). This was announced at an international conference on insurance and investment industries and the global environment, held in Oslo (Norway) from 10-11 June. The conference, Natural Capital at Risk, was an effort to deal with a dramatic increase in weather-related insured losses. It explored links between critical environmental issues, global economic prosperity and sustainable growth. It was attended by over 120 executives of financial services (insurers, investment companies, banks, brokers and pension funds) from Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. The conference was the annual meeting of Insurance Industry Initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which was founded in 1995. Members signal their support by signing a Statement of Environmental Commitment by the Insurance Industry whereby they agree to include environmental considerations in their internal and external business operations. The initiative includes 86 companies from 27 countries. "As a key player in the globalization of the world economy, the financial services sector, and in particular the insurance industry, can play a major role in promoting environmental protection and sustainable development," said Klaus T”pfer, UNEP's Executive Director. "It is now time for aware and active insurers and banks, acting as responsible global citizens, to move from assessing the environmental challenge to implementing solutions. I therefore challenge all insurance companies to report publicly on their environmental performance." The meeting also adopted the findings of a study launched last year on the effects of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change on insurers, which concluded that implementation of the protocol offers business opportunities for the insurance sector. "Insurers can play an important role through guiding their financial flows towards more environmentally friendly investment initiatives," said Jesper W. Simonsen, Norway's State Secretary for the Environment. "By recognizing the importance of cleaner production in their insurance coverage and investment activities, they can help by making growth more sustainable." Mr. Simonsen also announced that Norway would sign the UNEP International Declaration on Cleaner Production. Contact: Aiko Bode, Coordinator, UNEP Insurance Industry Initiative, Geneva Executive Centre, 15 chemin des Anemones, CH-1219 Chatelaine (Geneva), Switzerland, telephone +41-22/979 8197, e-mail , website (www.unep.ch). INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON EFFICIENT WATER USE One of the most critical problems facing decision makers is supplying adequate water to meet the needs of people, especially in the constantly growing cities of developing countries. To help address this problem, the International Environmental Technology Centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-IETC) organized an International Symposium on Efficient Water Use in Urban Areas--Innovative Ways of Finding Water for Cities on 8-10 June in Kobe (Japan). Among other things, participants discussed various approaches for efficient use of existing water sources, such as using rainwater, reusing water, recharging aquifers, controlling leaks and water management. Recommendations were made on awareness, education and training; planning and policy; regulatory and legal frameworks; financing; and research and development to promote approaches for efficient water use. IETC will publish a report on the proceedings and a monograph with all the case studies presented. Both the proceedings and monograph will be distributed free of charge to all developing countries. The meeting was co-sponsored by the Environmental Agency of Japan, the Global Environment Centre Foundation and the International Lake Environment Committee Foundation in Japan. It was attended by managers and decision makers in national or local governments, aid agency managers, water supply authorities, urban planning departments, international agencies and NGOs interested in urban water use. Contact: UNEP-IETC, 2-110 Ryokuchi Koen, Tsurumi-ku, Osaka 538-0036, Japan, telephone +81-6/6915 4581, fax +81-6/6915 0304, e-mail , website (www.unep.or.jp/ietc). BASEL CONVENTION PREPARATIONS BEGIN The agenda has been set for the fifth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-5) of the Basel Convention, set to take place in Basel (Switzerland) from 6-10 December 1999. The agenda and a range of other items were discussed during a meeting of the convention's Implementation Committee on 21-25 June in Geneva. The Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal was adopted in March 1989 after a series of highly-publicized "toxic cargoes" from industrialized countries caused international outrage. A key item on the agenda is the conclusion of a protocol on liability and compensation for damage resulting from transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal, which officials of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are confident will be ready for formal adoption in December. The COP will also address the 1995 Ban Amendment, which prohibits the export of hazardous wastes from developed to developing countries; the problem of illegal trade in hazardous wastes; the listing and classification of various types of wastes; technical guidelines for the sound management of plastics, tires and biomedical and health care wastes; and international cooperation and information exchange. Contact: Per Bakken, Officer-in-Charge, Secretariat of the Basel Convention, UNEP, Geneva Executive Centre, 15 chemin des Anemones, CH-1219 Geneva, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/917 8218, fax +41-22/797 3454, e-mail , website (www.unep.ch/sbc.htm). TWO CBD BODIES MEET IN MONTREAL The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has held two meetings to move its work forward: the fourth session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-4) on 21-25 June, and the first Intersessional meeting on the Operations of the Convention (ISOC) on 28-30 June. Both meetings were held in Montreal (Canada). A number of items were discussed at the SBSTTA including genetic use restriction technologies (GURTs), the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI), and the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP). GURTs are technologies that stop seeds from reproducing, popularly known as the Terminator technologies. Some of these technologies are patented. The GTI was proposed at SBSTTA-2 and is designed to promote capacity building for taxonomy in order to overcome gaps of knowledge in taxonomy and the lack of trained taxonomists, particularly in developing countries. The GISP was developed to build the knowledge base needed to address the onslaught of invasive species on natural ecosystems. Proposals were also made to improve the meetings' scientific content, such as the development of expert panels and rosters of experts. Several issues were dealt with briefly and will reappear at SBSTTA-5, such as dryland biodiversity and sustainable use. Coral bleaching was not considered at all and will be discussed at a later meeting. There were extensive discussions on the implications of GURTs for food technology and on whether to call a moratorium on their use. The meeting finally compromised with a text suggesting that the use of GURTs would not be approved until in-depth scientific studies had taken place. Other issues discussed included the impact of alien species on ecosystems, incorporation of biodiversity considerations into environmental impact assessments, secretariat staffing, and cooperation with other bodies. NGOs present at the session focused on a number of specific issues such as GURTs, eco-tourism, indigenous people and intellectual property rights. ISOC was convened to pave the way for the fifth Conference of the Parties (COP-5), which will be held in Nairobi from 15-26 May 2000. It discussed access to genetic resources and benefit sharing, the potential retroactive application of the CBD to ex situ genetic resource collections, and the relationship between the convention and intellectual property rights. Some NGOs issued a joint statement of recommendations to improve the operations of the CBD. The fifth session of the SBSTTA will take place in Montreal from 31 January to 4 February (in parallel with the fourth meeting of the International Forum on Forests) and will focus on, among other things, a work programme for drylands, the principles of sustainable use and the terms of reference for expert groups. Contact: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, World Trade Centre, 393 St Jacques Street, Office 300, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y 1N9, telephone +1-514/288 2220, fax +1-514/288 6588, e-mail , website (www.biodiv.org). For the NGO position, contact: Biodiversity Action Network (BIONET), 1630 Connecticut Avenue NW, 3rd Floor, Washington DC 20009, United States, telephone +1-202/238 0550, fax +1-202/238 0579, e-mail , website (www.unep.ch/ozone/home.htm). IPCC: AIRPLANES CONTRIBUTE TO CLIMATE CHANGE A new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says aircraft emissions alter the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, trigger the formation of condensation trails, and may increase cirrus clouds, all of which contribute to climate change. Air travel has been expanding since 1960 at about 9% a year, or 2.4 times that of the world's gross national product (GNP) and is expected to grow by about 5% a year until 2015. Fuel used for civilian and military air traffic during the same period is expected to increase by about 3% a year, but ideal air traffic management--where improved technologies will reduce total emissions--will not take place before 2050. The report, Aviation and the Global Atmosphere, provides a scientific assessment but makes no recommendations. The IPCC was created by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. Contact: World Meteorological Organization, 41 avenue Giuseppe-Motta, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/730 8111, fax +41-22/734 2326. website (www.wmo.ch). BEIJING+5 PREPARATIONS CONTINUE The UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS), Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century, is scheduled to take place from 5-9 June 2000 at UN headquarters in New York. The special session is also known as Beijing+5 because it will act as the five-year review and appraisal of the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women Platform for Action (PFA). The Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the special session has met twice, during the 42nd and 43rd sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March 1998 and 1999 respectively. At its 43rd session, the CSW acting as PrepCom adopted a resolution on preparations for the special session. The resolution invited governments that had not yet prepared national action plans to do so. As of June, 112 governments and one observer had prepared such plans and submitted them to the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (UN/DAW). By 6 August, 83 governments and two observer states had responded to a questionnaire submitted by the Secretary-General on implementation of the PFA. The resolution also encouraged all UN regional commissions and other intergovernmental organizations to carry out activities in support of the Beijing+5 preparations. Regional preparatory meetings are now planned as a key source of input to the review process: -- Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)--the High-Level Meeting to Review the Implementation of the Jakarta Declaration and Plan of Action and Regional Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action will be held from 26-29 October in Bangkok (Thailand); -- Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)--the Sixth African Regional Conference on Women to Assess Progress in the Implementation of the Beijing and African Platforms for Action will be held from 22-27 November in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); -- Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)--the second meeting of the Arab Conference on the Integrated Follow-up to Global Conferences will be held in November in Beirut (Lebanon); -- Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)--the Expert Group Meeting to review economic issues, problems and policies relating to the situation of women in ECE countries, will be held in January 2000 in Geneva (Switzerland); -- Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)--the eighth Regional Conference on Women of Latin America and the Caribbean will be held in January 2000 in Lima (Peru). UN/DAW, which has begun its analysis of information available on the implementation of the PFA, convened a series of informal consultations in New York during June. Ms. Roselyn Asumwa Odera (Kenya) was elected Chair of the Preparatory Committee. Since 1998, Ms. Odera has been the Deputy Permanent Representative and Head of Chancery at Kenya's Permanent Mission to the UN. UN/DAW will submit its analysis to the 44th regular session of the CSW, serving as the PrepCom. The session will meet from 28 February-17 March 2000, not 6-24 March as previously announced. As a result, the NGO Consultation will also be held earlier, on 27 February. In the context of its Womenwatch internet project, the UN system is collaborating with a network of NGOs to gather views for the review and appraisal of the 12 critical areas of concern comprising the PFA. The project, Beijing+5 Global Forum, will be comprised of a series of Internet working groups. For more information see website (www.un.org/womenwatch/forum/index.html). To join the working groups, send an e-mail to . NGOs are also setting an International NGO Committee to facilitate communication about the process leading up to the Special Session. Participants include representatives of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO); the three NGO Committees on the Status of Women (New York, Geneva, Vienna); regional NGOs; large NGO networks; and NGO issue-based caucuses. CONGO is also planning to hold a two-day NGO Working Session for Women 2000, scheduled for 3-4 June 2000 in New York, to prepare for the Special Session. Contact: Koh Miyaoi, United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, 2 UN Plaza, 12th Floor, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 8034, fax +1-212/963 3463, e-mail , website (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw) or Sudha Acharya, NGO Coordinating Committee for Beijing +5, CONGO, 777 UN Plaza, 12th Floor, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/692 0725, fax +1-212/692 0724, e-mail or the International Women's Tribune Centre website (www.womenaction.org/preview). WOMEN KEY TO HALTING DESERTIFICATION The theme of this year's commemoration of the World Day to Combat Desertification on 17 June was Strengthening the Role of Women. "This is an especially appropriate theme as we start preparations for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session to measure the progress accomplished since the Fourth World Conference on Women held at Beijing in 1995," said James Gustave Speth, then Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). "Desertification correlates with poverty, and the burden of poverty falls most heavily on women," he added. In many countries women are still marginalized in decision-making processes about desertification, despite the fact that women are responsible for managing the majority of farms worldwide and constitute about half of the workforce in dryland regions. In many developing countries women are the main providers of food, fuel and water for their families. They play a critical role in natural resource management at the grassroots level and have a unique understanding of their environment. Yet women receive little of the financial benefit of their efforts, and control a mere 1% of the land. An enabling environment is therefore needed to enhance the role of women in decision making about land management issues, so that all people may share responsibility for managing resources. Nearly 10 million acres of the world's arable drylands are lost to desertification every year in places as diverse as Australia, Brazil, India, Spain, the United States, and many countries in Africa. At a roundtable on Drylands, Poverty and Development convened by the World Bank from 16-17 June in Washington DC, Bank President James Wolfensohn outlined the challenge: 40% of the earth's surface, 25% of the population and more than 100 of the Bank's client countries have desertification problems. Many of these areas are under siege from environmentally inadequate farming, urban sprawl and worsening water shortages. Poverty drives people to exploit fragile natural resources for their survival and the ensuing environmental decay hurts the poor the most. An estimated 70% of the world's poor are women, many of whom must provide for their families in areas vulnerable to drought and other natural disasters. "The brunt of the consequences of environmental degradation are borne by women," said Klaus T”pfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Desertification both contributes to women's work load and reduces their ability to meet their families' needs, he added. UNDP's Office to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNSO) has worked with dozens of countries and NGOs to implement the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought (CDD), which was adopted in June 1994 and has been signed by 150 countries thus far. In collaboration with governments and private agencies, UNSO has launched a special programme to strengthen women's role in decision-making, particularly in matters that have an impact on poverty and protecting the environment. The World Day to Combat Desertification provided an opportunity for governments and NGOs to assess the progress of gender mainstreaming and the National Action Programme (NAP) process now being undertaken by 60 countries, as well as other efforts to ensure that women play an integral role in policy planning and decision-making processes. Contact: Office to Combat Desertification and Drought, Division for Sustainable Energy and Environment, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP, Room FF-0920, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/906 5755, fax +1-212/906 6550, website (www.undp.org/seed/unso). WHO WARNS AGAINST MICROBIAL THREATS The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the world has dangerously underestimated the threat of bacteria and viruses to economic growth, and may be unable to protect people from this risk if too much time passes. According to a WHO report, Removing Obstacles to Healthy Development, one in two deaths among young adults and children worldwide is caused by just six infectious diseases: AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), measles, diarrhoeal diseases, and acute respiratory infections such as pneumonia. In 1998, these six diseases accounted for nearly 90% of all deaths due to infectious diseases among under 44-year-olds. "The World Health Organization is...issuing a wake-up to the world's governments, decision makers and the private sector to take action against infectious diseases before it is too late," said Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO's Director-General. "A person can be cured or protected from each one of these diseases for less than the cost of a few bottles of aspirin. In fact, half of these killer diseases can be stopped for under 35 US cents, less than the cost of this morning's newspaper." Despite this, 11 million people died from these diseases in 1998. WHO is concerned that the world's ability to affordably stop these epidemics might soon disappear as drug resistance, the emergence of new diseases, and increased travel make control efforts more difficult. As a result of greater resistance to drugs, TB medicines are no longer effective in up to 20% of patients in some parts of the world. Two leading anti-malaria medicines have become ineffective in many Asian countries, and a third is effective in only half the patients. New diseases continue to appear at a rapid rate in all corners of the world. As international travel increases by 50% every decade, prospects for containing future outbreaks are diminishing. According to the report, malaria, TB and AIDS have claimed six times as many lives in the past 50 years as military and civilian casualties from all wars during the same period. Yet strategies to defend the world against these three diseases receive less than 2% of the funding devoted to global military expenditures. The WHO report also describes the negative consequences of infectious diseases on economic growth, and says that the control of infectious diseases can encourage economic growth. The report calls for greater political support to overcome the threat of infectious diseases, including increased financial support for control, surveillance and research activities; adoption of WHO-recommended health policies by all countries; and the involvement of government sectors other than the health sector in the prevention and control of infectious diseases. Contact: Jon Liden, Press Officer, Public Relations, WHO, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 3982, fax +41-22/791 4858, e-mail , website (www.who.int). IFAD SEMINAR ON AGRICULTURE'S MULTIPLIER EFFECT A seminar by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has taken a closer look at the multifunctional character of agriculture and land--or the idea that a single agricultural investment has a multiplier effect on other aspects of human livelihood, such as food security, employment and environmental protection. IFAD points out that agriculture has always been the main source of livelihood for most of the world's population. At the same time, developed countries have used it "as an instrument of growth and development, exploiting land for economic, biological and social benefits over and above the simple gains from increased food production." The assumption is that this multiplier effect could be applied to poorer developing countries. The seminar brought together a group of nine partner countries and eight organizations, including the Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty, to play an active role in setting the stage for an international conference on the multifunctional character of agriculture. The conference will take place in Maastricht (Netherlands) on 12-17 September and will be organized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the government of Netherlands with support from IFAD. Contact: IFAD, Via del Serafico 107, I-00142 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/54591, fax +39-06/5459 2141, e-mail , website (www.ifad.org). IFAD SAYS HELP IS NEEDED FOR ASIAN CRISIS VICTIMS The Asian financial crisis has been a catastrophe for millions of poor in Asia's developing countries, many of whom had just begun to lift themselves out of poverty, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The fund has called for urgent action to help these innocent victims of the crisis. IFAD figures show that some Asian countries had made impressive progress in overcoming poverty. For example, in Indonesia the percentage of people living below the poverty line declined from 60% in 1970 to 11% in 1996, and from 57% to 13% in Thailand. IFAD warns these achievements are threatened by the financial crisis. "So far the most publicized victims of the crisis have been the banks and finance houses, while the worst hit are the poorest households," said Takao Shibata, IFAD's Assistant President. There is now less money in government budgets for health care. Twenty per cent of schoolchildren in Indonesia have dropped out of school, and prices of basic commodities have soared since the crisis intensified. Millions of people have lost their jobs, and poverty increased significantly between 1996 and the end of 1998. In both Indonesia and Thailand, IFAD found that small-scale farmers, who do not produce all the food their families need, are among the hardest hit. Prices of seeds and basic foodstuffs have risen sharply. Small-scale artisans have also suffered because the demand for their products has declined drastically. The income of traditional weavers in Indonesia declined by as much as 76%, and many of them now prefer to work as landless labourers. Rural families who relied on remittances from relatives working in towns, which account for 10-15% of rural income in Thailand, have been badly hit. Family members who once worked in cities are now back in rural areas. With more mouths to feed, families are under additional strain, and women often bear the brunt of the crisis. "The Asian financial crisis clearly shows that solid development in the rural areas is needed to enable people to cope with crises," said Mr. Shibata, "unless you solve long-standing problems of rural poverty, you won't have stability." He said that investment in rural areas is vital to give people a more secure base for their livelihoods. Yet in the aftermath of the crisis, Asian governments lack the finance for such investments. Mr. Shibata called for more international aid to finance projects aimed at alleviating poverty and stressed that more needs to be done "to help poor farmers in the region to produce more in order to satisfy food needs and overcome poverty on a sustainable basis." This is particularly true in remote areas of Asia, especially those inhabited by indigenous peoples. Many of the farmers in these areas have suffered because of the prolonged drought caused by El Ni¤o and forest fires, as well as from the effects of the financial crisis. Among the few who have gained from the crisis are rice farmers, who produce a surplus for the market and have profited from increased prices. Contact: IFAD, Via del Serafico 107, I-00142 Rome, Italy, telephone +39-06/54591, fax +39-06/504 3463, e-mail , website (www.ifad.org). UNV PREPARATIONS FOR IYV 2001 Preparations for activities and celebrations of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV) in 2001 are already well underway. The secretariat of United Nations Volunteers (UNV), which was designated by the UN General Assembly as the focal point for IYV 2001, has already held a series of brainstorming sessions with NGOs, UN agencies, researchers and member states, to identify specific themes, activities, and campaigning platforms for IYV. It has produced an information kit and an interactive website with the aim of ensuring IYV preparations are a "bottom-up" process driven by grassroots initiatives around the world, motivated by local definitions and priorities for enhancing volunteerism. Governments and civil society organizations in many countries have already begun consultations among local voluntary organizations, ministries, relevant state bodies, schools, universities and religious organizations, with the objective of setting up national committees for the International Year of Volunteers. In 1997, some 123 governments supported General Assembly resolution 52/17, which proclaimed 2001 the international year of volunteers. The objectives of the year are: -- increased recognition--for instance, governments and local authorities could ensure that they have mechanisms for consultation with the voluntary sector, or seek to quantify the essential contributions of the voluntary sector to national welfare and development; -- increased facilitation--for example, by providing state training facilities to volunteer groups on concessional terms, providing the same legal status and social protection rights to volunteers as to other workers, or according special leave of absence for public and private sector employees to undertake voluntary service; -- networking--for example, by using television, radio and printed media to exchange and replicate "best practices" and best procedures; and -- promotion--closely linked to recognition and facilitation, promotional activities could aim at attracting more offers of voluntary service while seeking better support from official institutions and public opinion. Contact: Team IYV 2001, c/o UNV, Postfach 260111, D-53153 Bonn, Germany, telephone +49-228/8152000, fax +49-228/815 2001, e-mail , website (www.iyv2001.org). SUPPORT GROWS FOR LOCAL SELF-GOV'T CHARTER Support is mounting for a World Charter of Local Self-Government. Three regional meetings--in Latin America, the Arab States and Europe--have pledged support for the charter and called for a treaty that sets out and guarantees the autonomy of local governments. The World Charter of Local Self-Government is an initiative of the United Nations Centre on Human Settlements (Habitat) and the World Associations of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination (WACLAC). It aims to draw up an internationally agreed, adaptable framework for the practice of local democracy to contribute to the improvement of people's living conditions in all continents and regions. The first of the regional meetings, held in the Moroccan resort town of Agadir, issued a declaration pledging full support for the charter and appointed a committee to coordinate work with that of other regions. A week later, a similar endorsement came at the regional meeting in Strasbourg (France) and in July from 15 Latin America and Caribbean countries in Santiago (Chile). The goal of Habitat and WACLAC is to turn the charter into a UN Convention on local autonomy and local democracy by 2001. Contact: Sharad Shankardass, Media & Press Unit, UN Centre for Human Settlements, UNCHS (Habitat), PO Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya, telephone +254-2/623153, fax +254-2/624060, e-mail , website (www.unchs.org). UNDP CONSULTS WITH INDIGENOUS GROUPS A consultation in Geneva between the UN Development Programme and more than 20 indigenous peoples' organizations (IPOs) has ended with consensus on three main priority areas: the development of a Policy Statement and Operational Guidelines, design and financing of a programme of support for indigenous peoples, and continued direct assistance to indigenous peoples and their organizations to participate in international forums and other capacity-building initiatives. The UN agency said that the meeting's goal was to renew and deepen UNDP's partnership and engagement with indigenous peoples, their organizations and their communities. Other aims included achieving a common understanding of critical issues facing indigenous peoples, including emerging trends identifying the comparative advantage of UNDP in working with IPOs; and exploring innovative approaches, strategies and principles for UNDP's engagement with IPOs. In the past year, UNDP has reviewed its work and engagement with indigenous peoples and made strategic plans on how to move forward over the next four years. These exercises consisted of internal and external reviews of UNDP's activities involving indigenous communities and their respective organizations since the Year of Indigenous Peoples in 1993. The internal review included a study of past and current projects within UNDP's multiple programmes that either directly or indirectly involved indigenous peoples to see what worked best and how. The external review looked at existing policies or processes in intergovernmental organizations, including various UN agencies and bilateral development cooperation agencies. The purpose of the comparative study was to help UNDP in its own policy formulation process. "At stake for UNDP is the question of how best to mobilize collective energies to promote and protect indigenous peoples' development and to advocate and support a process that fosters the full respect for the dignity, rights, knowledge, traditional systems, and culture of indigenous peoples," said UNDP. In 1982, as a result of a shift in perceptions about indigenous peoples and rights, the UN created the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) to review developments on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples. The WGIP meets yearly under the auspices of the Commission on Human Rights where the current situation of indigenous peoples and the development of standards regarding the recognition of their rights are being discussed. The UNDP consultation, entitled Indigenous Peoples and UNDP: Strengthening Our Partnership, took place from 22-24 July. Contact: Geoff Prewitt, Programme Officer, CSO and Participation Programme, UNDP, 1 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/906 5884, fax +1-212/906 5313, e-mail , website (www.undp.org). SPECIAL DECOLONIZATION COMMITTEE CONCLUDES The Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples met from 21 June-30 July in a resumed session at UN headquarters in New York. The committee, chaired by Peter Donigi (Papua New Guinea), adopted one decision and nine resolutions by consensus, and one resolution by roll-call vote. The most hotly contested item was the question of East Timor. Twenty-one speakers addressed preparations for the ballot on the territory's future, which took place on 30 August, just as Go Between was going to press. The Secretary-General said that despite the relative calm in the East Timor capital of Dili, the rest of the territory was still subject to violence. Pro-integration militias believed to be acting with the acquiescence of elements of the Indonesian army were intimidating the local population, Mr. Annan said. There were also "strong indications" that local officials had used public funds to campaign against independence, contrary to the agreements signed on 5 May by the UN, Indonesia and Portugal, setting out the terms of the autonomy vote. Serious consequences of the violence include the continuing inability of tens of thousands of internally displaced people to return to their homes in safety. The UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), whose budget of just over $52.5 million was recently approved by the General Assembly Administrative and Budgetary Committee, currently estimates that there are some 50,000-60,000 internally displaced people in camps in East Timor, many of whom have not been registered to vote. A resolution (A/AC.109/1999/L.6) concerning Puerto Rico, adopted by a vote of 12 in favour, none against with five abstentions (Chile, India, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, and Venezuela), reaffirmed the hope that the US would assume its responsibility of expediting a process that allows the Puerto Rican people to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence in conformity with GA resolution 1514 (XV). It further encouraged the US to order a halt to its armed forces military drill land manoeuvres on Vieques Island, and expressed the hope that the US President would consider the release of Puerto Rican prisoners serving sentences in US prisons on cases related to the struggle for the independence of Puerto Rico. US President Clinton in fact agreed on 12 August to commute the sentences of 16 members of the Puerto Rican Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), on the condition that they renounce the use of violence. By a resolution (A/AC.109/1999/L.5) on the question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), the committee requested that the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom consolidate the current process of dialogue and cooperation through the resumption of negotiations, in order to find a peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute. It expressed regret that implementation of the GA resolutions on the issue had not yet begun, in spite of widespread international support for negotiations between the two governments, and decided to keep the issue under review. Concerned about the damaging exploitation and plunder of marine and other natural resources of the Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGTs) such as American Samoa, as a threat to the integrity and prosperity of those territories, the committee adopted a resolution (A/AC.109/1999/L.9) reaffirming the responsibility of the administering powers under the UN Charter to promote the political, economic, social and educational advancement of the NSGTs, and reaffirmed the legitimate rights of their peoples over their natural resources. The resolution further called upon the administering powers to ensure that no discriminatory working conditions prevail in the territories, and to promote in each territory a fair system of wages applicable to all inhabitants without any discrimination. The committee adopted a resolution (A/AC.109/1999/L.10) reaffirming its strong conviction that military bases and installations in the territories could constitute an obstacle to the exercise by the peoples of those territories to their right to self-determination, and could also adversely affect the economic development of the territories concerned. It called upon the administering powers concerned to terminate such activities and to eliminate such military bases in compliance with the relevant General Assembly resolutions. Contact: Decolonization Unit, Department of Political Affairs, United Nations, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 5573, fax +1-212/963 2979. UNESCO FIGHTS INTERNET PAEDOPHILIA Innocence in Danger, a new campaign against using the Internet for paedophilia and child abuse of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was launched on 15 June, in close collaboration with various law enforcement agencies, such as Interpol. The Plan of Action aims to counterbalance the rising number of paedophilia cases on the Internet, where an estimated 23,000 of the 3.8 million sites are linked to paedophilia. Unlike other "watchdog" agencies such as CyberAngels, Innocence in Danger is, at present, an education programme designed to make people aware of the problem, and the action that they can take. According to Homayra Sellier, president of Innocence in Danger, the objectives are "to inform public opinion about the need to act urgently and together and to contribute to harmonizing the legislation on child rights." The campaign follows from a Paris conference held in January, which adopted a declaration and requested UNESCO to establish an committee of experts to put an end to paedophilia on Internet. This specialized group took up various tasks, such as creating, supporting, and encouraging international hotlines to provide immediate help for children in need. Plans were also made to publicize this issue by developing Internet education, especially in developing countries. With committees established in Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, France, Italy, Panama, and Switzerland, and new committees being set up in Germany and Sweden as well as in some Asian countries, Innocence in Danger is expanding rapidly and gaining public support along the way. Its supporters hope that the campaign will be the biggest breakthrough yet in the war against paedophilia. Contact: C. Arnaldo, Chief, Free Flow of Information and Communication Research, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 42 40, fax +33-1/45 68 57 55, e-mail , website (www.unesco.org). UNESCO REAFFIRMS PEACE MANDATE The 156th Executive Board meeting of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has reaffirmed the organization's "constitutional role to construct peace in the minds of men, through education and intellectual solidarity, and to serve as an ethical forum of the international community, in a world still torn by armed conflicts and challenged by aspects of scientific and technological developments." Member states attending the meeting raised a number of issues concerning the gap between developed and developing worlds. These included the effects of globalization on poorer countries, unequal access to new information technologies for the rich and the poor, the need for ethics in making money from genetic engineering, and the sorry state of the environment and the failure of states to implement decisions made at the 1992 Earth Summit. The board focused on UNESCO's role in the 21st century and examined the organization's programme and budget for the next two years. A debate confirmed that fostering a culture of peace remained the major concern and that education was essential to building peace. The board adopted two specific decisions to help rebuild education, science, culture and communication in the Balkans and Sierra Leone, as well as help refugees. Contact: Press Service, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 17 44, fax +33-1/45 68 56 52, website (www.unesco.org). SMALL ARMS CAUSE MORE DAMAGE THAN TANKS The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs have unveiled a joint exhibit at the UN General Assembly lobby in New York as part of their campaign against the uncontrolled spread of small arms. In the past decade, small arms and light weapons have killed three million people, eight in ten of them children and women. The exhibit, Taking Aim at Small Arms: Defending Child Rights, is designed to draw attention to small arms, which are more lethal than missiles, tanks and mortars. The exhibit looks at child soldiers, the arms trade, demobilization, disarmament and post-conflict peace-building. It also highlights positive moves taken internationally to dismantle the small arms trade. According to Carol Bellamy, UNICEF's Executive Director, small and cheap armaments have made it easier to turn children into soldiers. "During the past decade, some 300,000 children participated in over 30 conflicts worldwide. Such participation would have been impossible without access to small arms, which children can easily strip and reassemble." In 1994, nearly 300 companies in over 50 countries manufactured small arms. The US and European Union account for 80% of the global arms trade, worth about US$4 billion. Contact: UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/326 7000, e-mail , website (www.unicef.org) or UN Department for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations, Room S-3151 D, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/963 8199, fax +1-212/963 1121, website (www.un.org/Depts/dda). UNICEF PLEDGES TO SCHOOL ALL KOSOVO CHILDREN The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has pledged to give every primary school age child in Kosovo the opportunity to be back in school by the start of the academic year in September, despite the destruction of the province's infrastructure. UNICEF said schools have been vandalized or destroyed and many teachers injured or killed. Landmines laid during the conflict, unexploded ordnances (UXOs) and booby-traps left by fleeing combatants have created an especially dangerous environment for children. Dozens of people have been injured or killed since refugees began returning to Kosovo, including several children. A rapid assessment by UNICEF in an area west and south of Pristina showed that out of 13 schools inspected, five were demolished and four burnt, and one was suspected of being booby-trapped. Only three were deemed safe and usable. UNICEF will work with its partner organizations to carry out temporary repairs on moderately damaged primary schools to prepare them for winter. Meanwhile the schools will be housed in tents. UNICEF will provide basic furniture, teaching equipment, learning materials, and educational kits or "school-in-a-box," which contain both classroom and student supplies. It will also mobilize teachers, including those with whom UNICEF is working in the refugees camps. UNICEF has already distributed more than 100,000 pamphlets and posters to alert people affected by the conflict to the danger of landmines and will intensify mine awareness activities in Kosovo itself. The effort will focus on providing mine and UXO awareness educational materials in local languages to primary schools and communities. The development of resources to promote human and child rights and assist local reconciliation efforts through "peace education" will also be explored. The agency expressed the hope that by restoring primary education it would help Kosovo's children to sense that normal life can and will go on. Contact: UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/326 7000, e-mail , website (www.unicef.org). UNICEF EXECUTIVE BOARD ANNUAL SESSION The Executive Board of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) met at UN headquarters in New York from 7-11 June. In her opening statement to the board, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy presented a new global agenda for children for the 21st century and outlined the initiatives and challenges that fulfilling that agenda will present. "In drawing up our recommendations for a new global agenda for children," she said, "we began with a fundamental question: What are those moments of intervention in the life of a child that can open the way to dramatic gains for human development?....First, we must ensure that infants begin life in good health--and that young children are nurtured in a caring environment that enhances the physical, emotional and intellectual capacities that they must have to learn and to grow. Second, all children must be educated--which means that they must have access to basic quality education. Third, we must ensure that adolescents have ample opportunities to develop and participate in a safe and enabling environment." Ms. Bellamy said that countries that have made the well-being of children and the advancement of women their overarching priorities are those that have already made the greatest strides in human development. "The missing ingredient," she said, "is political commitment on a global scale--and resources and actions to match." Many of the challenges that the next century will present are impervious to sector-based strategies alone, Ms. Bellamy said. UNICEF is therefore making a strong effort to forge alliances among governments, community-based organizations, people's movements and other diverse elements of civil society, and the private sector, to help define, develop and implement the global agenda for children. Ms. Bellamy went on to describe UNICEF's Leadership Initiative for Children, designed with a focus on child survival, development, participation and protection. The initiative will be linked to the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) to review the end of decade goals of the World Summit for Children, held in 1990. The meeting highlighted UNICEF's future work, and discussed priorities set in the Medium-Term Plan (MTP) for 1998-2001, based on an integrated approach to planning, budget, programmes and reporting on outcomes. The report of the Executive Director gave a detailed assessment of UNICEF's progress toward achieving the MTP priorities. UNICEF's focus on child survival--especially the 12 million children under the age of five who continue to die from preventable causes--included stepped-up support for increased immunization coverage. In partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and NGO partners like the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) and the Gates Foundation, UNICEF has begun a major new vaccination drive, starting with sub-Saharan Africa where child survival rates are declining. UNICEF is also focusing on the immense threat posed by HIV/AIDS to every aspect of child survival, and has underscored the need to mobilize young people in prevention efforts. UNICEF, in partnership with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is involved in efforts to combat mother-to-child transmission of the virus. The increasing threat to children from armed conflict and social instability was also discussed at the board meeting. UNICEF has proposed a global Peace and Security Agenda for Children, which was presented to the UN Security Council in February. Among other things, the agenda recommends actions for improving child protection standards while strengthening humanitarian assistance. Ms. Bellamy stressed the need to explicitly recognize that global poverty, which has already consigned three billion people to living on less than two US dollars a day, is not only a moral outrage but a profound political and economic threat to the whole world. She said that this was compounded by "the neglect and indifference that has condemned impoverished countries to strangulation by external debt, by the damage to social sectors in upheavals like East Asia's financial crisis," and by natural disasters. All of which, she pointed out, have unfolded in tandem with a decline in official development assistance (ODA). Ms. Bellamy reminded delegates that the main goal of the United Nations has become the conquest of poverty, and that the well-being of children is central to this question. Contact: Maie Ayoub von Kohl, Deputy Director, Division of Communication, UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/326 7225, fax +1-212/326 7518, e-mail , website (www.unicef.org). UNAIDS MOVES FEMALE CONDOM PROJECT TO PHASE II The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), in collaboration with the US-based Female Health Company, has launched the second phase of its efforts to provide female condoms to developing countries. Under the programme, UNAIDS will buy 400,000 female condoms from the Female Health Company and distribute them in 14 countries of Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that have not yet integrated the product into their national condom programmes. "We hope to jump-start female condom distribution in countries that have not yet had access to it," said Bunmi Makinwa, who is responsible for condom programmes at UNAIDS. "We are confident that once programme managers and donors have seen that the female condom is acceptable to many women and men, there will be no question about the return on investment in making the product widely available." Research has already shown the female condom can be widely accepted. In one South African study, for example, 84% of the 600 urban and rural women surveyed said they would use the condom. Testing revealed that repeated use often leads to greater acceptance, despite initial reticence. In Cambodia, where the government is promoting 100% condom use among sex workers and their clients, officials plan to use the female condom as an additional option. The first phase of the public-private partnership between UNAIDS and the Female Health Company included an agreement with the company to keep prices low for the public sector. As a result, more than six million female condoms were sold in 16 developing countries. This next phase will include a more systematic analysis of the most successful approaches to distributing the condom. Contact: Lisa Jacobs, Press Officer, Communication and Public Information, UNAIDS, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 3387, fax +41-22/791 4187, e-mail , website (www.unaids.org). UNAIDS BOARD APPROVES BUDGET AND WORKPLAN The Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), which is the organization's governing body, has approved a budget of US$ 140 million for 2000-2001 and endorsed an emergency response to the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan African, which it has declared a "development crisis." According to a new report by UNAIDS and the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, the epidemic is spreading too fast for funding to keep up. "After a quick influx of donor spending in the late 1980s, support for the international fight against AIDS began to level off in 1990, with wealthy nations allocating an average of less than 1% of their annual official development assistance budgets for AIDS programmes in developing nations," UNAIDS said. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 70% of all HIV/AIDS cases and 83% of AIDS deaths. "Africa can barely begin to meet its immediate and long-term AIDS needs," said Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS. He also called on leaders worldwide to help reduce the stigma attached to AIDS and encourage society to deal openly with the epidemic. By the end of last year, 33.4 million people were living with HIV infections or AIDS. Nearly 14 million more have died from AIDS-related causes since the start of the epidemic. Contact: Lisa Jacobs, Press Officer, Communication and Public Information, UNAIDS, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, telephone +41-22/791 3387, fax +41-22/791 4187, e-mail , website (www.unaids.org). UNDP/UNFPA EXECUTIVE BOARD ANNUAL SESSION The annual session of the UN Development Programme (UNDP)/UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Board met at UN headquarters in New York from 14-23 June. The first week was primarily devoted to UNDP matters. The board expressed its sincere appreciation to James Gustave Speth who was stepping down from his position as Administrator of UNDP. The board acknowledged Mr. Speth's "unrelenting efforts" to place UNDP at the centre of the promotion of sustainable human development and the progress made by UNDP in its work on poverty eradication while he was Administrator, a post held by Mr. Speth from 1993 to 1999. Among the decisions taken by the board concerning UNDP was a measure for financial risk management. The board decided to support the establishment of a reserve for other resource activities, and a mechanism for its funding. Regarding the formula for calculating the level of operational reserve for regular resources, the board decided to reduce the factor used to calculate the reserve's liability and structural risk component from 25% to 10%. The second week of the Executive Board meeting was devoted primarily to UNFPA matters. In her introductory statement, UNFPA Executive Director Nafis Sadik provided an overview of UNFPA's major achievements in its three core programme areas at the country and interregional levels during 1998. Referring to the quinquennial appraisal of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+5) process, she said review at the country level had shown that the country programmes provided a solid basis for implementing the ICPD Programme of Action (POA). She outlined the main challenges with regard to operationalizing a reproductive health approach, such as improving infrastructure, programme management and donor coordination. She also stressed the need for relevant and reliable population data in formulating policies and developing, monitoring and evaluating programmes. She emphasized the importance of continuing advocacy to support the principles and goals of the POA and of conducting research on links between population and development, including macro-economic and environmental issues. Board members expressed positive views about UNFPA's overall achievements in its core programme areas, and several members commented on the importance of continued investment and capacity building to address maternal mortality, adolescent reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. Many board members expressed their concern that the projected income for UNFPA's 2000-2003 work plan was considerably lower than that in previous years, and stated their doubts about the annual growth rate of 7% used to project income of future years, proposing 5% instead. They felt that the decline in programmable resources was of particular concern and that administrative costs needed to be held at a minimum. The adopted decision reflected a more realistic approach in estimates, taking into account the decline in income of the past years and the fluctuation of exchange rates. Responding to an oral report on UNFPA's information and communication strategy, the board focused on such issues as developing tools for monitoring and evaluating the impact of advocacy efforts; building national capacity, including the use of South-South mechanisms, in the area of information and communication strategies; expanding the role of the goodwill ambassadors; and enhancing collaboration with NGOs. In joint UNDP/UNFPA sessions, the board took up reports on internal audit, oversight and evaluation activities, and an Executive Board field visit to Brazil. The next session of the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board will take place from 13-17 September at UN headquarters. Contact: Alex Marshall, Chief, Media Services Branch, UNFPA, 220 East 42nd Street, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/297 5020, fax +1-212/557 6416, website (www.unfpa.org) or Djibril Diallo, Director/Division of Public Affairs, UNDP, 1 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1-212/906 5300, fax +1-212/906 5313, website (www.undp.org). NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ALMOST Y2K READY A workshop conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has concluded the world's nuclear power plants are on track to face the Y2K millennium bug at the end of the year. The meeting, with 52 participants from more than 20 countries, found that although some problems remain, "none was found which compromises safety," the IAEA said in a statement. What problems do exist concern data control and monitoring processes, the agency said. These include radiation monitoring systems, personal computers, plant entrance monitoring systems, vibration monitoring systems, spectrometry equipment, fuel inventory systems, and office software. Most countries are following guidelines set by the IAEA or by the US nuclear industry and maintain that safety is the top priority in their Y2K activities. The workshop, from 12-16 July, was the second held to assist member states in dealing with the Y2K computer bug, which may affect older computers unable to distinguish between the years 2000 and 1900. An additional workshop on contingency planning may be held in October. Contact: Division of Public Information, IAEA, PO Box 100, Wagramerstrasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria, telephone +43-1/2600 21275, fax +43-1/2600 29610, website (www.iaea.org/ns/nusafe/y2000/y2k.htm). SPORT FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE From the 5-7th of July the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chaired a meeting on sport for a culture of peace at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The main aim of the conference was to bring together various organizations, as well as world leaders, sport personalities, and teachers, to discuss their views on the role played by sport in developing a culture of peace. The President of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, opened the conference saying that sport brings people together, and helps them forget their miseries. He also stressed that sport is not only physical, but also a measure of intellectual properties, just as it was in 776 BC during the original Olympic games of Ancient Greece. "Olympism aims to contribute to building a peaceful and better world concerned with the preservation of human dignity. This is the reason for our commitment to the promotion of a culture of peace," said Mr. Samaranch. UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, praised the IOC and UNESCO for their joint initiative and expressed his support for the collaboration of the two organizations. "The Olympic ideal...has long been recognized as closely resembling the ideas enshrined in the United Nations Charter. I am glad that the IOC and the UN family are joining hands," he said. A number of seminars, lectures and debates were held during the conference, at the end of which it was unanimously agreed that sport, specifically Olympism, plays an essential role in establishing a culture of peace. Contact: Press Service, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris, France, telephone +33-1/45 68 17 44, fax +33-1/45 68 56 52, website (www.unesco.org). NGO NEWS ATTAC INTERNATIONAL MEETING From 24-26 June, over 1,200 civil society representatives from 80 countries gathered in Paris (France) to discuss various strategies to coordinate and mutually reinforce the activities of international NGO networks campaigning on different aspects of economic globalization. The meeting, called The Dictatorship of Financial Markets? Another World is Possible, was organized by the French-based Association for the Taxation of Transactions to Aid Citizens (ATTAC) and other partners, including the Coordination of Committees against MAI's Clones, the World Forum of Alternatives, and Development of Alternatives for Women in a New Era (DAWN). The discussions covered campaigning topics such as the taxation of speculative capital movements; a moratorium on a possible "millennium round" of multilateral trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO); debt cancellation; the social accountability of international financial institutions; and democratic controls on the proliferation of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). ATTAC President Bernard Cassen told the opening plenary that this gathering represents "an archipelago of struggles in every hidden recess of the world"--struggles for land rights, for access to water, health care, education, employment, trade union and democratic rights, and gender equality. "One of the primary merits of this gathering," he said, "is that of giving global visibility to fights that are dispersed and [social movements that are] unaware of one another's existence. There is also the merit of demonstrating the coherence and convergences between them." During the workshops and discussion groups held throughout the event, participants from countries as diverse as Brazil, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Benin, the Philippines and Russia, stressed that currently dominant "neoliberal" forms of economic globalization are increasingly being counteracted by another form of globalization led by civil society campaigns and movements of international solidarity: "the globalization of democracy and human rights." The meeting's objective of facilitating greater coordination and synergy between civil society movements was reflected in a final resolution adopted on June 26, after which participants joined a large public demonstration in front of the Paris stock exchange. Among others, the resolution calls for: -- a moratorium on the forthcoming "millennium round" at the WTO, which should be replaced by an "assessment round"--meaning that assessment of existing WTO agreements should be undertaken through democratic debates at the national level, in consultation with civil society organizations, including trade unions, and with small and medium-sized enterprises; -- a global petition for the taxation of speculative capital movements and against the legality of fiscal havens, to be coordinated on a regional basis; -- unconditional debt cancellation by the year 2000 (in line with the global Jubilee 2000 campaign); -- developing democratic oversight and regulatory mechanisms to ensure that research in biotechnology is placed at the service of society rather than for the "exclusive profit of multinational corporations;" -- a moratorium of GMOs with a view to reversing what participants described as the increasing subordination of farmers to the interests of large agribusiness firms, particularly in the area of genetically modified seeds; -- a halt to all intergovernmental negotiations in favour of patents on life; -- legal and civil actions, as well as campaigns for institutional reform, aimed at promoting democratic accountability of international financial institutions; and -- supporting the 2000 global women's march and all initiatives aimed at promoting gender equality. In the same spirit as the March 1999 international conference on Economic Sovereignty in a Globalizing World (see NGLS Roundup, No. 38), much of the follow-up work will be carried out on the Internet (see ATTAC website address below), and by associating with and supporting civil society networks and campaigns focused on forthcoming intergovernmental events, such as the third WTO ministerial conference to be held in Seattle (United States) on 30 November-3 December, the G-7 meeting planned in July 2000 in Okinawa (Japan), and the possible UN General Assembly meeting on Financing for Development in 2001. Contact: Secretariat International, ATTAC, 9 bis rue de Valence, F-75005 Paris, France, telephone +33-1/43 36 30 54, fax +33-1/43 36 26 26, e-mail , website (attac.org). NGOS MOBILIZE FOR EU/LAC SUMMIT Development NGOs monitoring the first-ever Latin American and Caribbean (LAC)/European Union (EU) Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) from 28-29 June, used the opportunity to evaluate the extent to which bi-regional relations have advanced and political statements of solidarity have been honoured. One the eve of the summit, a coalition of NGOs including the Liaison Committee of Development NGOs to the European Union, the Asociacion Latinoamericana de Organizaciones de Promocion (ALOP), International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), Human Rights Internet, and Plataforma Sudamericana de Derechos Humanos Democracia y Desarrollo, issued a Joint Declaration for the European Union-Latin American and the Caribbean Summit. Among other things, the declaration called upon delegates from those regions to: -- ensure that civil society organizations from the countries concerned participate in inter-regional fora and in managing cooperation programmes; -- put in place mechanisms to cancel or significantly reduce developing countries' foreign debt; -- introduce a new global financial architecture that is more just and that takes into account the vulnerability of developing countries; -- ensure that the voices of developing countries as well as the EU are heard within the international financial institutions (IFIs); -- analyze the effect of cooperation agreements on the marginalized sectors of the population such as indigenous peoples in the states Parties, and prioritize the aims of sustainable development, democracy, and human rights in these agreements; -- make human development a key element in negotiations on the future of the Lome Convention; -- improve the EU's development cooperation policy, making it an example of solidarity and genuine partnership between the two regions; and -- undertake to sign and then quickly ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and adopt the domestic legislation necessary for implementing it effectively. Though some heads of state, including Brazil's President Henrique Cardoso and Mexico's President Ernesto Zedillo, spoke of the need to transform the IFIs and the global financial architecture, discussion for the most part focused on trade barriers and protectionism, national sovereignty and drug trafficking. These are reflected in the Declaration of Rio de Janeiro and the Priorities for Action adopted by the summit. The NATO bombings of Yugoslavia from 24 March-10 June became an obstacle to the EU accepting an item in the summit declaration that said that strategic association between the regions participating in the Rio Summit should be based "on full respect of international law," which would include the principle of non-intervention in other countries' affairs. Governments did however firmly reject all unilateral measures with extra-territorial effects that contradict international law and commonly accepted standards of free trade, calling them "a serious threat to multilateralism." The case of the US Helms-Burton Act that sanctions companies that invest in Cuba, and the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet provided subjects for debate in this regard. Language in the summit declaration related to drug trafficking confirmed "the principle of common and shared responsibility." Some Latin American countries argued for greater emphasis on the role of demand, however, and urged consumer nations to take more domestic action. In discussions on the environment, Latin American and Caribbean countries expressed their concerns that environment-related issues not become an obstacle to economic growth and prolong the poverty of broad sections of LAC populations. The summit declaration says that governments will "give priority to overcoming poverty, marginalisation and social exclusion, within the framework of sustainable development promotion, as well as to modify patterns of production and consumption, to promote conservation of biological diversity and the global ecosystem, the sustainable use of natural resources and to prevent and reverse environmental degradation, especially that arising from excessive industrial concentration and inadequate patterns of consumption, the destruction of forests and erosion of the soils, as well as the depletion of the ozone layer and the increasing greenhouse effect, which threaten the world climate." With regard to trade, governments stressed their willingness "to strengthen the multilateral trade system, open regionalism, and intensify economic relations between our regions." The issue of agricultural protectionism proved controversial, however, prompting MERCOSUR (Mercado Comun del Sur) countries wielding their own trade liberalization processes as an argument, to insist that the industrialized North "reciprocate" by opening their markets to the South. Developing countries criticized in particular the subsidies that protect EU and US markets, saying that such restrictions create adverse trade conditions that depress international prices of products that are important to the South's economies and social conditions. With regard to cooperation with civil society the summit declaration underlines "the importance of the contribution of new actors, partners and resources from civil society with the objective of consolidating democracy, social and economic development and deepening respect for human rights. International co-operation involving public resources requires a dialogue in which both governments and civil society participate. Development co-operation partners will have to comply with the laws of the countries involved, as well as with transparency and accountability. We will encourage exchange and co-operation of civil society between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union." Contact: Liaison Committee of Development NGOs to the EU, 10 Square Ambiorix, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, telephone +32-2/743 8760, fax +32-2/732 1934, e-mail , website (www.oneworld.org/liaison). FOUNDATION CALLS FOR END TO TERMINATOR SEEDS The Rockefeller Foundation has called on the Monsanto Company, the largest commercial plant biotechnology firm, to drop the idea of terminator seeds. The foundation says the company should "enter into an open and honest dialogue" with the poor in developing countries over the terminator technology and other issues, and "invest more in strengthening plant science research in developing countries." At the same time, it cautions against excessive rhetoric over genetically modified (GM) plants. The foundation said such rhetoric could threaten promising advances in improving food supply to the poor. Prior to widespread European outcry, the foundation said, real gains from GM technology were near. These included insect and disease-resistant rice, as well as rice with added beta-carotene, which in humans turns into vitamin A. In developing countries 180 million children suffer from vitamin A deficiency and each year two million die from it, the foundation said. "We believe these achievements hold the real promise of considerable benefits for the people of the developing countries," said Gordon Conway, the foundation's president, in a speech to the board of directors of Monsanto. "However, the use of this research, particularly by the poor and excluded, is being threatened by the mounting controversies in Europe and to some extent in the United States. There is a real danger that the research may be set back, particularly if field trials are banned. It is, of course, only through field trials that we can truly assess both the benefits and the risks." He cautioned against excessive reactions, but also said lack of evidence was no reason to dismiss people's fears about genetically modified products. The Rockefeller Foundation has funded more than US$100 million of plant biotechnology research and trained more than 400 plant scientists from devel