Global Action Plan International

Ahead of the global 'half-way' conference for the UN Decade for ESD (to be held in Bonn in March), the European countries have their own summit:

UPCOMING UNECE STEERING COMMITTEE
ON EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

 The UNECE Steering Committee on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) will have its fourth meeting in Geneva on 19–20 February 2009.

An opinion poll in 11 countries has produced what organisers term a "global mandate" for action on climate change.

About half of the respondents wanted governments to play a major role in curbing emissions, but only a quarter said their leaders were doing enough, reports BBC News on 26 November – five days before this year's UN climate conference opens in the Polish city of Poznan. Nicholas Stern, who led the 2006 Stern Review into the economics of climate change, said this amounted to a global mandate for stronger action.

Read the full article here.

One hundred kilometres for around one euro - how does that sound? And pollution-free. The car driven by compressed air has been under development for a while, is now being thoroughly tested at two European airports - Charles de Gaulle in Paris, and Schiphol in the Netherlands - and is scheduled for the markets in the USA and Europe, and maybe India, in 2010.

UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development

- Moving into the Second Half of the UN Decade

The UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development – Moving into the Second Half of the UN Decade will be held in Bonn, Germany, from 31 March to 2 April 2009.

In France, glass and other waste is now collected in nearly 80 muncipalities by horse-drawn vehicles. This form of transportation is currently being evaluated by those involved, including the multinational waste disposal corporation SITA.

Brief article here.

A shopping mall at Saint-Aunès near Montpellier (France) is following in California’s footsteps and covering its car park with shady wooden roofs carrying solar cells. 5 472 panels will cover 8160 m².

Production is estimated at 1.42 GWh/year, enough to supply the domestic needs of more than 400 local families. The project will save more than 1 655 tonnes of CO2 annually – as much as produced by 550 private cars.

The UNECE Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was adopted in Vilnius in 2005. A Steering Committee was appointed, and it had its 3rd meeting in Geneva on 31 March and 1 April 2008.

Countries reported on progress during 2007. ”It is not so easy to recognize the relation between what is reported on official level and what is happening in reality,” writes ECO Forum. ”There is a serious delay in the official process in some countries (Strategy is still not approved by several governments), while good progress seems to be done in others (the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, etc.).”