Category Archives: Organizations

UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre

Posted on by

From C&RL (College & Research Libraries) News, April, 2019, p. 243:

This organization is a partnership between the UN Environmental Programme and the British non-profit, World Conservation Monitoring Centre. https://www.unep-wcmc.org

The purpose of the UNEP-WCMC is to preserve biodiversity, improving its management while trying to minimize the environmental impacts of humans.  The organization collects data and creates tools for its visualization and analysis.  There are 28 projects currently described.  The “Resources & Data” tab leads to publications and data visualizations.  In addition there is a link to the Biodiversity Heritage Library for older resources.

 

 

UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)

Posted on by

UNESCO: Rio+20

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/rioplus20/

“The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) will be held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 and the hope is that this gathering will refocus on the original goals of the first Rio convention held in 1992. UNESCO hopes that Rio+20 will “underpin a broader, longer-term process of redressing imbalances, a rethinking of priorities, and the necessary institutional reforms to bring about coherence in economic, environmental and social policies, which benefits all members of society.” On this site, visitors can learn about UNESCO’s “messages” for those participating in Rio+20, which cover “Education for a Sustainable Future” and “Building Awareness for Green Policies”. Moving along, the “Resources” area contains timely research documents like “From Green Economics to Green Societies” and “Blueprint for Ocean and Coastal Sustainability”. Also, visitors shouldn’t miss the “Video” area, which includes information about UNESCO’s outreach efforts in addressing the digital divide and incorporating media partners into educating the public about sustainable development.”

Source: Scout Report, Univ. of Wisconsin, Jan. 20.

EPA to incorporate sustainability guidelines in decision-making

Posted on by

“Report Offers Framework To Guide EPA On Incorporating Sustainability In Its Decision Making

WASHINGTON – A new report from the National Research Council presents a framework for incorporating sustainability into the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s principles and decision making. The framework, which was requested by EPA, is intended to help the agency better assess the social, environmental, and economic impacts of various options as it makes decisions.

The committee that developed the framework used the definition of sustainability based on a declaration of federal policy in the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act and included in a 2009 Executive Order: “to create and maintain conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations.”

Source: What’s New @ the National Academies, Aug. 8, 2011

Climate-L.org becomes Climate Change Policy & Practice

Posted on by

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is pleased to announce the renaming of Climate-L.org as Climate Change Policy & Practice.

Climate Change Policy & Practice is a knowledge management project carried out by the International Institute for Sustainable Development Reporting Services (IISD RS) in collaboration with the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination. The features of our website remain unchanged and include:

  • news on UN and intergovernmental activities addressing the climate change challenge;
  • an iCal of upcoming climate change events;
  • guest articles by key figures of the climate community and UN leaders; and
  • policy updates

We are also continuing to produce the Climate Change Daily Feed, which delivers to our readers’ email boxes the latest news on climate change meetings, projects, publications and statements.

Our previous URL https://lists.iisd.ca/t/1066123/161501/1015/0/ will automatically re-direct you to the new URL for Climate Change Policy & Practice https://lists.iisd.ca/t/1066123/161501/2755/0/

To sign up to receive the Climate Change Daily Feed and to subscribe to the CLIMATE-L community listserve, please click here > https://lists.iisd.ca/t/1066123/161501/2756/0/

To subscribe to our free iCal of climate change events, please click here > https://lists.iisd.ca/t/1066123/161501/2757/0/

Please also visit the sister sites of Climate Change Policy & Practice:

SIDS Policy & Practice (https://lists.iisd.ca/t/1066123/161501/2758/0/

Biodiversity Policy & Practice (https://lists.iisd.ca/t/1066123/161501/2759/0/

Verbatim from Fred Stoss for CHMINF-L . Change was announced December 6th.

What Would You Sacrifice for a Secure Future? Worldwatch Inst.

Posted on by

A new book, (Firestone GE170 .E5774 2010) The Environmental Politics of Sacrifice, challenges the widely held assumption that people will not sacrifice for environmental goals. In his own take on the topic, Worldwatch senior researcher Erick Assadourian observes that even the word “sacrifice” has become taboo – associated more with violent rituals (think Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) than with its root meaning, “to make “sacred.”

Read: What Would You Sacrifice for a Secure Future? by Erik Assadourian

Source: Worldwatch Institute mailer, Oct. 7, 2010

Worldwatch Institute – 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036 USA

– has a newsfeed, a Facebook page and a Twitter account, and is a very enlightening resource.

Global Institute of Sustainability @ Arizona State University

Posted on by

I just read about the Global Institute of Sustainability in the table of contents alert of BioScience Vol. 60, Issue 7, Jul 2010. Michael M. Crow, the President of Arizona State University wrote this opinion piece
Organizing Teaching and Research to Address the Grand Challenges of Sustainable Development

Its Vision: "The Global Institute of Sustainability is the hub of ASU’s sustainability initiatives. The Institute advances research, education, and business practices for an urbanizing world."

Dr. Crow writes: "With the establishment of the Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS) in 2004 and the first-of-its-kind School of Sustainability three years later, ASU has positioned itself in the vanguard of interdisciplinary research on environmental, economic, and social sustainability."

New Toxicology Tutorial Available from NLM (National Library of Medicine)

Posted on by

New Toxicology Tutorial Available

Source: Special Libraries Association, ERMD Newsletter, Winter 2010.

“ToxLearn, a new NLM resource, is now available. http://toxlearn.nlm.nih.gov

ToxLearn is a multi-module online learning tool that provides an introduction to toxicology. It can be used as an ancillary curriculum to a first-level undergraduate toxicology course, and can provide users of NLM’s toxicology databases with a working knowledge of basic toxicology principles. ToxLearn modules will be made available as they are completed. Module 1 covers “Toxicology and Dose Response.”

Climate Change website from the European Union

Posted on by

Don’t overlook the European Union network of websites — a portal — as a resource for information on the environment. Here is the homepage for Climate Change. Documents can be found on International Climate Negotiations, EU Domestic Actions, and Studies, and links and archives are accessible.

Also note the EU Environment homepage and the Site Map.

The Institute of Physics on the science behind climate change

Posted on by

UK Institute of Physics publishes briefing note on climate change – 08 Dec 2009

“The Institute of Physics (IOP) has published a physics briefing note to help understand the science behind climate change as several world leaders have gathered in Copenhagen to discuss environmental issues.

Prof. Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, President of the IOP, has expressed hope that world leaders will appreciate the major contribution science can make to our understanding of all aspects of global change, including climate change. Science can improve our predictions of what might happen; physics can provide critical, objective analysis of new schemes. Physics along with technology can develop new and more efficient energy sources, and find ways of minimising waste (of all kinds).

Prof. Burnell further states that climate models are the best tools available for understanding changes in climate, and from these models it seems we are entering an unprecedentedly difficult period for the human race. Science can diagnose the problem and it can work to remedy it, but it can do neither without support from world leaders.

These comments accompany the publication of a briefing note from IOP which summarises advances in human understanding of the climate and the work being done to create a low-carbon energy infrastructure. It includes comment from some of the UK’s leading climate experts.

Search for more such environment related initiatives in K-Store

Discuss this NEWS

Click here to read the original press release »”

Source: Knowledgespeak Newsletter.