New UN partnership aims to reduce emissions of ozone-damaging gas used to treat pests





Tomatoes may be treated with meythl bromide.
Photo: World Bank/Simone D. McCourtie

14 November 2012 – The United Nations today signed a new partnership with the International Plant Protection Convention (IPCC) to improve management of methyl bromide (MeBr), a gas used to prevent the spread of pests and diseases which damages the ozone layer.



In a new memorandum of understanding, the IPCC, which is based at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) headquarters in Rome, and the UN Environmental Programme’s (UNEP) Ozone Secretariat commit to work closely to promote existing recommendations on the use of MeBr, as well as support efforts to develop alternative treatments to replace it where possible, FAO stated in a news release.A colourless gas at room temperature, methyl bromide both occurs naturally and is manufactured. Marine organisms are estimated to produce 1-2 billion kilograms of it each year, while it is also released in small quantities by some terrestrial plants. For agricultural and industrial use, the gas is manufactured by reacting methanol with hydrogen bromide.For decades, MeBr offered a potent tool in combating the spread of plant pests and diseases. However, in 1991 it was added to the list of substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement set up to phase out the use of ozone-depleting technologies.The Protocol discourages the use of MeBr to combat pests and disease for non-quarantine purposes during production, but does make an exception for its utilization as a quarantine treatment, given its effectiveness in stopping pests and diseases. The Protocol also calls for alternative practices, which requires plant protection authorities to have information on and access to other treatments that are affordable and effective according to their needs, FAO said in a news release.According to FAO, the new partnership aims to facilitate this transition to alternative treatments by improving regional and international coordination regarding MeBr management, fostering information exchanges and cooperative research on alternative treatments, and promoting best fumigation practices to minimize MeBr emission, among other measures.

Defiant Egypt parliament meets amid legal crisis

 

CAIRO: Egypt’s dissolved parliament convened on Tuesday in defiance of the powerful military and the judiciary as a constitutional crisis raged over a presidential decree reinstating the Islamist-led assembly.

>>> Read More.......http://dawn.com/2012/07/10/defiant-egypt-parliament-meets-amid-legal-crisis/

Presidents' quotes about United Nations

 

Picture taken from Google images.

  

In honor of Presidents' Day, the Oklahoma City of the UNA-USA has produced a webpage featuring quotes from "12 American Presidents." Here is a sampling of what these 12 American presidents, from Truman to Obama, have had to say about the UN:

"The overwhelming majority of the American people, regardless of party, support the United Nations. They are resolved that the United States, to the full limit of its strength, shall contribute to the establishment and maintenance of a just and lasting peace among the nations of the world."
--Harry S Truman

"...Already the United Nations has become both the measure and the vehicle of man's most generous impulses. Already it has provided... a means of holding man's violence within bounds."
--John F. Kennedy

"The changes in the world since World War II have made more compelling than ever the central idea behind the United Nations: that individual nations must be ready at last to take a farsighted and a generous view."
--Richard M. Nixon

"The United Nations is dedicated to world peace, and its charter clearly prohibits the international use of force. Yet the tide of belligerence continues to rise.... We must not only condemn aggression; we must enforce the dictates of our charter and resume the struggle for peace...."
--Ronald Reagan

"The United States is committed to playing its part, helping to maintain global security, promoting democracy and prosperity. And my administration is fully committed to supporting the United Nations and to paying what we are obliged to pay by our commitment to the Charter."
--George H.W. Bush

"So at the dawn of a new century so full of promise, yet plagued by peril, we still need the United Nations. And so, for another 50 years and beyond, you can count the United States in."
--Bill Clinton

You can read the remarks of all twelve presidents at UNA Oklahoma chapter website:

www.una-okc.org/12_Presidents

Happy Presidents' Day!

UN nuclear inspectors arrive in Iran

TEHRAN: A delegation from the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in Tehran on early Monday for a two-day visit aimed at seeking a solution to a dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, the ISNA news agency said.

The visit is the second to Iran in three weeks and is seen as a key test of Iran’s willingness to hold substantive talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency about suspicious activities outlined by the agency in a November report.

The team is headed by chief UN nuclear inspector Herman Nackaerts, who before boarding the plane for Tehran in Vienna expressed hope that “concrete results” would emerge from the trip, but cautioned that progress “may take a while.”

“We hope to have a couple of good and constructive days in Tehran,” Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport.

“Importantly we hope for some concrete results from this trip. The highest priority remains of course the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program, but we want to tackle all outstanding issues,” he said.

“This is of course a very complex issue that may take a while. But we hope it can be constructive.”

Complete story at >> http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/20/un-nuclear-team-arrives-in-iran-seeks-concrete-results.html

UN asks donors for $7.7 billion.

GENEVA — The United Nations on Wednesday asked donor nations to give $7.7 billion to pay for humanitarian emergencies from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe next year, significantly less than the global body has requested for 2011.
Somalia, Sudan and Kenya — where tens of thousands of Somalis have sought shelter from war and famine — top the U.N.’s projections for the costliest emergencies.
>>Read More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/un-asks-donors-for-77-billion-to-meet-humanitarian-emergencies-in-2012/2011/12/14/gIQAT2GftO_story.html

UN warns against force in Iran nuclear standoff.



UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Thursday for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with Tehran in an apparent reaction to media speculation that Israel might attack Iran’s atomic facilities. Reuters.

>> Read More: http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/10/un-warns-against-force-in-iran-nuclear-standoff.html

New signs of Syria-Pakistan nuke tie: AP

WASHINGTON: UN investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could make nuclear arms.

The buildings in northwest Syria closely match the design of a uranium enrichment plant provided to Libya when Muammar Qadhafi was trying to build nuclear weapons under Khan’s guidance, officials told The Associated Press.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency also has obtained correspondence between Khan and a Syrian government official, Muhidin Issa, who proposed scientific cooperation and a visit to Khan’s laboratories following Pakistan’s successful nuclear test in 1998.

Read More>> http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/01/new-signs-of-syria-pakistan-nuke-tie.html

Pakistan’s nuclear-bomb maker says North Korea paid bribes for know-how.

A.Q. Khan in an undated photo.



The founder of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb program asserts that the government of North Korea bribed top military officials in Islamabad to obtain access to sensitive nuclear technology in the late 1990s.

Abdul Qadeer Khan has made available documents that he says support his claim that he personally transferred more than $3 million in payments by North Korea to senior officers in the Pakistani military, which he says subsequently approved his sharing of technical know-how and equipment with North Korean scientists.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pakistans-nuclear-bomb-maker-says-north-korea-paid-bribes-for-know-how/2010/11/12/gIQAZ1kH1H_story.html?hpid=z1

ICC orders arrest of Qaddafi, son and close aides

Judges Sanji Mmasenono Monageng (C), Sylvia Steiner (L) and Cuno Tarfusser (R) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) attend a meeting about Libya in The Hague on June 27, 2011. – Photo by AFP

THE HAGUE: International judges ordered the arrest of Moammar Qadhafi on Monday for murdering Libyan civilians who rose up against him, as Nato warplanes pounded his Tripoli compound and world leaders stepped up calls for the Libyan leader to resign.

The International Criminal Court said Qadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam Qadhafi and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi are wanted for orchestrating the killing, injuring, arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of civilians during the first 12 days of an uprising to topple Qadhafi from power, and for trying to cover up their alleged crimes.

The warrants from The Hague court turn the three men into internationally wanted suspects, potentially complicating efforts to mediate an end to more than four months of intense fighting in the North African nation. The warrants will be sent to Libya, where Qadhafi remains defiantly entrenched.

Full story can be found at:

http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/27/intl-court-orders-arrest-of-qadhafi-son-key-aide.html

Sudanese army arrests UN staff

Internally displaced people gather in Turalei, in the south's Twic county, about 130 km (80 miles) from Abyei town, May 27, 2011. REUTERS/Jeremy Clarke

The U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said six of its national staff members had been arrested by the Sudanese military at Kadugli airport on Wednesday, which it called a violation of an agreement that guarantees its staff immunity.

"The parties to the conflict must uphold their commitment to protect civilians and ensure freedom of movement for U.N. staff regardless of their religious, ethnic, or political affiliations," spokesman Kouider Zerrouk said.

Read the full story at:

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/un-says-73000-flee-sudan-border-state-fighting/