UN’s “Earth Summit” setting itself up for Failure
The UN announced last month that at least 130 Heads of State, Vice Presidents, Heads of Government, and deputy Prime Ministers would be attending its upcoming conference on sustainable development, a misleading claim that no one has been able to verify, not even the UN itself. The only verifiable truth behind their claim is that [...]
UK Government Funds Forced Sterilizations in India
The British government gave $268 million to the government of India for a program that forcibly sterilizes poor women and men, according to the Guardian newspaper. This news comes as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation prepares to co-host a family planning summit with the British government in London this July. Melinda Gates recently dismissed [...]
G77 Pushes back at Rio +20: Negotiations Extended
Straight from the UN News Service last Friday, May 5th: Representatives from governments negotiating the outcome document for the United Nations Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20) today agreed to add five more days of deliberations to bridge differences that have kept them from making further progress in negotiations. The extended negotiations will begin the 29th of [...]
The Problem with Climate Scientists, Politicans and Car Salesmen…
… Is that none of them know what they are talking about most of the time, and when they do, they are usually lying. It’s a well documented fact. Politicians are among the least trusted professionals (if we can call them that) together with lobbyists and car sales people, according to the most recent Gallup [...]
UN Elites’ Secret Plans for Global Green Summit
Top UN chiefs recently met to scheme how to use an upcoming Summit on sustainable development to gain control of the global green economy, expand its reach on social policies, and build more UN institutions. But a huge stumbling block is a lack of agreement among countries on the definition of a “green economy,” the [...]
How Much “Green” Does it Take to Make the Green Economy? G77 Derailing the Green Agenda at the UN
Are you wondering how many businesses have to become “green” before the dream of the “green economy” becomes a reality? It seems like everything has to be green nowadays, whether its green jobs, green energy, or green skills. Now there is even green dry cleaning. Duh! If you feel like this is going to far, [...]
Rome Reports: Pope Benedict XVI on Man’s Relationship with the Environment
With the significant amount of attention being given to the Rio +20 process here at the UN, I think it is worth taking a bit of time to listen to the Pope’s take on man’s relationship with the environment: There exists a certain reciprocity: as we care for creation, we realize that God, through creation, [...]
Rio +20 and the illusive search for accountability in Sustainable Development
One of the biggest concerns surround the Rio+20 process is how to hold the “world” accountable to the many commitments made during past and previous negotiations. Various proposals have been floated over the years and some, like the “SDGs“, are quite controversial. Most have stirred up more confusion than concrete dialogue. Recently a new proposal [...]
Sovereignty in Action: Beating Back Beaurocratic Inertia at the UN
Sovereignty is a word that isn’t used within the UN superstructure, its bureaucracies, thousands of documents, reports and resolutions and frankly even UN member states. The UN system always tries to work towards achieving consensus, and to merely mention that each and every individual state has a the power and sovereign prerogative to undo consensus [...]
Rio +20: States cry foul over bureaucratic challenge to sovereignty
Member states are expressing concern this week that the Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is overstepping its boundaries in the Rio negotiation process by championing its own bureaucratic goals over those of member states in the Rio +20 process. Over the past three days, the UNCSD has held a series [...]
100 Days to Rio Conference on Sustainable Development
Today UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (SG) spoke at a High Level meeting in the ECOSOC Chamber of UN Headquarters, organized by the Economic and Social Council with the Breton Woods Institutions to outline strategies in financing for development. The SG used the opportunity to make his Rio + 20 pitch. “now is the moment [...]
The End of the MDGs?
This morning the Secretary General, and Rebeca Grynspan, Associate Administrator of UNDP, and Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Special Adviser on the MDGs, held a press conference to report on the progress towards achieving the MDG’s. The SG described Sachs and Grynspan as his “top development experts and senior advisers.” They cited a report issued this week [...]
Social Development UN Deliberations Plagued by Reductive Paradigms on Human Person
This morning the 50th session of the UN Commission for Social Development is beginning its work at UN headquarters. The Commission will meet over the next two weeks to discuss social development and related issues. The priority theme of the session is “poverty eradication”. The agenda of the 50th session can be found here. The [...]
“Pesky Issue of National Sovereignty” in the way of Green Climate Fund (GCF)
Larry Bell writes in Forbes about “More U.N. Insanity Paid For By U.S. Taxpayers”. He claims UN officials want to achieve “global governance” through an international tax system. An underlying position paper theme those top U.N. bosses grappled with was how to cope with the pesky issue of national sovereignty that interferes with their global [...]
Holy Father to Youth: Respect for Environment Must Recognize Inviolability of Human Beings
Yesterday Pope Benedict met with 7,000 students who were attending a conference sponsored by the Italian environmental group “Sorella natura”. The Holy Father thanked the participants for acknowledging their role as “guardians of creation” and stressed that protecting life and nature are one in the same and that creation must never be separated from God. [...]
Is Rubber Recyclable?
Climate change was a major theme present during last week’s High Level Meeting on Youth. The Secretary-General emphasized the need for youth to participate in the preparations for next year’s Rio +20 conference on sustainable development. Member states hosted a number of side events on sustainable development. And a number of non-profit organizations advocated for [...]
UN to give “Mother Earth” same rights as Human Beings?
The Canadian press is reporting that a new UN draft document is seeking to give “Mother Earth” the same rights as humans. The document is being tabled by Bolivia – which, according to the news report, just passed a new domestic law granting rights to bugs, trees and other “natural things” in the country. The [...]