United Nations Radio

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for effective, efficient, enduring solutions for a more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous future.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

In an address to the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad, the Secretary-General said the recent G-20 summit in London took a major step toward a Green New Deal and vowed to reach agreement at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in December.

Suriname tells a Forum on Forests of its efforts to preserve its pristine forests;

The United Nations Forum on Forests opened its two-week session this week to focus on two concerns: the financing of sustainable forest management; and the inter-relation between forests and such major environmental issues as climate change, desertification and biodiversity loss. In a statement to the Forum, Suriname's Minister of Land and Forest Management Michael Jong Tjien Fa expressed appreciation to all those who have recognized the Government of Suriname as a partner in the strife for sustainable forest management.

Jamaica is benefiting from plant technologies with the help of the International Atomic Energy Agency;

The Jamaica Government plans to spend just over $21 million this year on plant technologies, under a project in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce. The Plant Breeding and Diagnostics Technologies project, which is being financed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), aims at using radiation to induce mutation and develop plants with desirable characteristics, such as resistance to diseases and improved yields. The IAEA provides grant assistance to countries that are able to undertake certain research using radiation, with mutual benefits. The main objectives are to establish plant diagnostics and breeding facilities in Jamaica, and to formulate protocols for induced mutations and selection of advancing mutant lines/clones with farmer specific traits. Dr. Yvonne Lokko is a Plant Breeder/Geneticist at the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture.

Haiti tells the Durban Review Conference that racism and discrimination are far from reduced;

In Geneva, the Durban Review Conference ended Friday with UN High commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, telling the closing session that the conference was a success, despite the very difficult negotiation process and a culture of misinformation that preceded it. She said the conference outcome document deplores anti Semitism and Islamaphobia and their related intolerances, adding that although the conference outcome does not offer immediate relief to victims of racism, discrimination xenophobia and related intolerances, it does address the issues that put them in their circumstances and how states should address them.
During this week's high-level segment, Haiti's Vice-Foreign Minister Jacques Nixon Myrthil said racism and discrimination are far from being reduced.

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