"The impact of spiralling pollution on the planet poses a threat to civilisation just as catastrophic as much-vaunted weapons of mass destruction, Britain's top scientist warned today.
Lord Robert May, president of the country's leading scientific body, the Royal Society, issued the warning as a 12-day conference was set to get underway today in Montreal to decide the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations' troubled treaty for curbing greenhouse gases.
"The impacts of global warming are many and serious: sea-level rise ... changes in availability of fresh water ... and the increasing incidence of extreme events -- floods, droughts, and hurricanes - the serious consequences of which are rising to levels which invite comparison with weapons of mass destruction," Lord May said in an advance copy of a speech released today to coincide with the start of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change on the same day.
The Montreal meeting is the first by the convention since the UN's pollution-cutting Kyoto Protocol, signed by 156 countries, took effect on January 16.
But a notable non-signatory of the pact committing industrialised nations to reducing or offsetting emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases is the planet's heaviest polluter: the US." [Read more]
"Detlev Mehlis, who heads the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, has reached an agreement with the Syrian authorities on the United Nations office in Vienna as a venue for the questioning of five Syrian officials in the case, a UN spokesperson confirmed..." [More]
A thoughtful post from Carol Gee at South by Southwest:
"How does it feel to be hungry, really hungry? It is not the kind of hunger that comes with having missed a meal. It is also not the kind of hunger one feels when doing a very purposeful "cleansing fast," or fasting on Fridays, in the old days of an observed liturgical holy week.
This hunger is that which comes from not getting anything to eat, or very little to eat, on a regular basis for days, weeks, months or years at a time.... There are entire nations starving or desperately endangered today; right now. And there far too many people in these United States that are also hungry. This week, this coming Thanksgiving Day, the weekend following, millions are hungry. For many of the rest of us, we will be trying to figure out what to do with all our leftovers. A recent Reuters story focused on the just published United Nations report on hunger in the world which states that 6 million children a year die from hunger related causes."
Read the rest, it's a great post. We'll see you on Monday...
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Crooks and Liars: "Britain has angered John Bolton, America's combative ambassador to the United Nations, by breaking ranks with him over the need for reform. Britain has rebuffed a Bolton move to join him in refusing to pass the organisation's 2006 budget until member states approve wide-ranging management reforms: "Privately, British diplomats express surprise that he has not made greater efforts to cultivate them or build alliances. "You're either with him or against him," said one." That's the Bolton we all knew and the one Bush had to force on the UN. He doesn't have the necessary skills to bring reform to the table, but rather a heavy fist that divides and separates. Not a good tool as you can see."
Tapped (Ezra Klein): "Gareth Evans, former prime minister of Australia and current head of the highly regarded International Crisis Group, has a welcome op-ed in this morning's Los Angeles Times about civil conflicts and atrocities. The reason for the drawdown in hostilities, Evans argues, is international peacekeeping, which has become vastly more widespread and efficient than ever before. Its reputation, however, has not improved commensurately with its record, largely because its successes have averted the sort of high stakes negotiation dramas that attract television cameras."
Tiger Hawk: "President Bush believed that it was important for the United States to invade Iraq and replace its regime. There were a great many arguments in favor of this policy, most of which were made by the Administration in one form or another before the war. One of the arguments was a legalistic one -- that Saddam's government was, by virtue of its alleged present development and possession of WMD, in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. It was important to some people, including some Democrats and Tony Blair, that the UNSC endorse the war, or that it be unreasonably vetoed. Colin Powell went to the United Nations to make a legal case for a UNSC stamp of approval, not to make the best geopolitical case for the removal of Saddam Hussein. The geopolitical case did not depend on existing WMD, and still doesn't. But the intelligence that appeared to show Saddam's WMD programs were central to the administration's advocacy in front of the United Nations, so it is neither surprising nor shameful that it omitted all the various footnotes and hedges that have surfaced in the last thirty months or so. Do you want our President to share all our doubts and qualifications with the world? I certainly don't."
Booman Tribune: "John Goetz has been working on the Curveball story for a long time now. It is published today in the Los Angeles Times. I am proud to say that I did what I could to help him and his partner Bob Drogin with this. This story is a massive piece of the jigsaw puzzle that only now is beginning to be solved for the benefit of the understanding of the American people as to why they are now at war in Iraq. Some samples from the article: "...On Feb. 8, three days after Powell's speech, the U.N.'s Team Bravo conducted the first search of Curveball's former work site. The raid by the American-led biological weapons experts lasted 3 1/2 hours. It was long enough to prove Curveball had lied. U.N. teams also raided the other sites Curveball had named. They interrogated managers, seized documents and used ground-penetrating radar, according to U.N. reports. The U.N. inspectors "could find nothing to corroborate Curveball's reporting," the CIA's Iraq Survey Group reported last year."
Daniel Drezner: "The Financial Times reports that the United States has made a new concession over Iran's ambiguous nuclear program: "In a major concession towards Iran's nuclear programme, the US on Friday gave its public backing to a proposal by Russia and the European Union that would allow the Islamic republic to develop part of the nuclear fuel cycle on its own territory. The shift in US policy "revealed after talks between President George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader" came despite a report from the UN nuclear watchdog that lent credence to US and European claims that Iran is trying, or once had ambitions, to develop nuclear weapons."
Dogooder: All Africa: "In a major volte face, President Robert Mugabe's government has accepted United Nations (UN) assistance for the provision of shelter to thousands of victims of its controversial Operation Murambatsvina scattered in and around the country. The government's change of heart, coming a month before the arrival of another special UN envoy to assess the humanitarian crisis triggered by the widely condemned clean-up exercise, follows this week's forcible removal of hundreds of people that had been sleeping in the open in Mbare after the demolition of slums six months ago."
Uncooperative Blogger: "Iran Has Plans To Build a Nuclear Bomb - From an article in the News Telegraph: "Iran has admitted obtaining designs that could help it make a nuclear bomb, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said yesterday in a confidential report. The IAEA report said documents bought by Iran on the black market included designs "on the casting and machining of enriched, natural and depleted uranium into hemispherical forms." Experts said the casts are used in atomic weapons." What have I been saying folks? Iran plans on building the Islamic Bomb. This is not even open to debate any longer, they are enriching Uranium and they have purchased plans to build a bomb. Do we have to wait until they actually use it to do something about it??? That is the last straw. Bush has to act, and act soon. No more talking, or EU discussion the time to act is here!"
"Almost 5 million people were infected by HIV globally in 2005, the highest jump since the first reported case in 1981 and taking the number living with the virus to a record 40.3 million, the United Nations said on Monday.
The 4.9 million new infections were fueled by the epidemic's continuing rampage in sub-Saharan Africa and a spike in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the UNAIDS body said in its annual report.
"Despite progress made in a small but growing number of countries, the AIDS epidemic continues to outstrip global efforts to contain it," the report said." [Full article]
Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
UN Official Wants Probe of Iraq Jails
Annan Asks Greater Support for Pakistan Quake Relief
UN to Set up Bird Flu Warning System
UN Council Works to Avert Eritrea-Ethiopia War
UN Slams North Korean Rights Abuses
"A prototype of a cheap and robust laptop for pupils has been welcomed as an "expression of global solidarity" by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The green machine was showcased for the first time by MIT's Nicholas Negroponte at the UN net summit in Tunis.
He plans to have millions of machines in production within a year. The laptops are powered with a wind-up crank, have very low power consumption and will let children interact with each other while learning." [Read article]
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Urban Eco: "It's a shame that it takes a major disaster to make us look at our environmental practices. The recent earthquake in Pakistan and India caused more devastation in areas that had been deforested, and the problem could only get worse as people forage remaining trees for shelter and fuel. It's heartening to see that the U.N. Environmental Programme is already stepping in to help clean up and recycle waste created by the earthquake, as well as encourage planting of new trees to help in the future: "[BBC NEWS] UN warns of quake 'toxic wast' - Debris could pollute the water sources, the UN says. The UN has warned that waste and debris left in the wake of the 8 October quake could become toxic and seriously endanger the health of survivors..."
Colcam: "Green Machine At The United Nations. The prototype of the $100 wind-up laptop for kids in developing countries has made its debut at the United Nations. Millions of the lime green machines should be in production within a year. The laptop will run on open source software."
Think Progress: "Last night, Bill O'Reilly referred to his comments approving of a terrorist attack on San Francisco as a "satirical riff." We're not sure President Bush would agree. Recall the recently adopted UN Security Council Resolution 1624 - passed unanimously on Sept 14, 2005, with President Bush actually personally casting the vote for the United States. In his speech to fellow heads of state, Bush singled it out and said the United States "strongly supports the implementation of this resolution." ... It sounds like O'Reilly has run afoul of at least the spirit of the UNSC resolution - and the wishes of his president."
Alas, a Blog!: "Over at The Inkwell, the IWF's blog, one of the Charlottes explains why feminists oppose Ellen Sauerbrey, Bush's nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration at the United Nations: "[She] supports the Bush administration's withholding $34 million from the U.N. Population Fund because the agency has made financial contributions to China's policy of forced-abortions to limit family size."
Adoption Guide: "Statistics On Orphans - GENEVA (VOA) -- The United Nations says the situation of children in Sierra Leone is dire, with a huge problem of children being trafficked abroad. UNICEF is urging that adoptions be stopped until protective measures are put in place in the West African country."
War and Piece: "Go read Laura Secor's interview in the New Yorker about the limitations and achievements of Iran's internal reform movement: "What do the dissidents want? To overthrow the government? Or are there specific, more modest reforms that they seek? [Secor] Iran had a revolution pretty recently, followed by the traumas of war and dictatorship. As badly as many people want change, very few are inclined to put their lives and their country's fundamental stability on the line for it. That said, there are dissidents who flatly say that the system has to go, and that it should be replaced by a constitution based not on Islamic law but on the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights."