International Civic Engagement

UN-Backed Summit to Spotlight Private Sector's Role in Tackling Climate Change

[Courtesy of the UN News Service]

The United Nations will take part in a global meeting next year to assess how a new global climate change policy can also address the needs of the business community.

The World Business Summit on Climate Change, which will take place next May in Copenhagen, Denmark, seeks to ensure that the successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol will provide the right incentives to slash greenhouse gas emissions.

Along with the UN Global Compact – the world body’s voluntary corporate citizen initiative – the gathering will be convened by the Copenhagen Climate Council, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

Organizers expect hundreds of top executives, government officials, leading experts and heads of civil society to attend to assess how the private sector can play a role in addressing global warming through innovative business approaches, new joint ventures and the development of low-carbon technologies.

The World Business Summit is expected to produce recommendations to be forwarded onto world leaders negotiating a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol, expiring in 2012. Those talks are scheduled to wrap up at a key UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2009, also to take place in Copenhagen.

Africa Fastest Growing Market in Communication Technology, Says UN

[Courtesy of the UN News Service]

Africa has been the fastest growing market worldwide in communication technology over the past three years and will continue to emerge as an important market for the industry, according to the head of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Speaking at the opening of a major trade fair for the African telecommunications industry this week in Cairo, Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the ITU, said the African information and communication technologies industry “is an exciting place to be. Market liberalization continues and most countries have established regulatory bodies to ensure a fair, competitive and enabling environment.” The trade fair, called “ITU Telecom Africa,” was inaugurated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

A report released by the ITU said that growth in Africa’s mobile telephone sector had “defied all predictions.” Africa had 65 million new subscribers in 2007 alone and mobile phone penetration has risen from just one in 50 people in 2000 to one third of the population today. Mobile phone use is now more evenly distributed across the continent. At the beginning of the century South Africa accounted for over half of all Africa’s subscribers, but by last year almost 85 per cent were in other countries.

But the report also says that growth in Internet access has not kept pace. In 2007 it is estimated there were some 50 million Internet users in Africa, about one person in 20. In sub-Saharan Africa only 3 per cent of the population is online. The average monthly Internet subscription is almost $50, close to 70 per cent of average per capita income.

UN Secretary-General Convenes Inaugural Meeting of Food Crisis Task Force

[Courtesy of the UN News Service]

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday convened the inaugural meeting of a high-level task force of senior United Nations officials aimed at addressing the food crisis, noting that there was an urgent need to help the millions of people already suffering.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban said that he recognizes that skyrocketing prices of basic food commodities “is essentially linked to the global demand for food exceeding supply,” but cautioned that “the drivers of the crisis are complex and the consequences are varied.”

The task force – which brings together the heads of many of members of the UN family, as well as leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund – seeks to “promote a unified response to the global food price challenge in support of governments and affected populations.”

Yesterday’s gathering centered on creating a comprehensive plan to tackle the soaring food prices. This strategy will encompass both short and longer-term measures – including food aid and social protection – to alleviate the impact of the crisis on the hardest hit.

The elements of the task force’s plan will be presented at next month’s high-level meeting in Rome hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on global food security.

Last week, the Secretary-General appealed to world leaders to join him at that meeting. “Please come with fresh ideas. It is time for real commitment and real action,” he said.

Task force members urged countries not to take actions that would aggravate the current surge in food prices, and stressed that nations need to allow in food supplies, from such organizations as the UN World Food Programme (WFP), for humanitarian purposes without obstructions.

Over the coming weeks, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, the task force’s coordinator, and Assistant Secretary-General David Nabarro will consult with Member States as required, while the task force itself will meet as needed.

First Global Dialogue on Ethical and Effective Governance

From H-PUBADMIN:

Dear all,

We are proud to announce *Governing good and Governing Well - The First Global Dialogue on Ethical and Effective Governance*, an international conference that will take place from the 28th until the 30th of May 2009 in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The conference will be hosted by the Research Group 'Integrity of Governance' of the VU University.

Our goal is to bring together the best and most original scholars of the world on the ethics and quality of government and governance, to discuss the state-of-the-art of our knowledge, to stimulate international exchange and cooperation and to contribute to international policy making in this field. This first 'Global Dialogue' will build on previous initiatives by the EGPA Study Group on Ethics and Integrity of Governance and the ASPA Ethics Section (the 'Transatlantic Dialogue' and 'Transatlantic Workshop'). Partners and contributors include EGPA, IIAS, Ethics Section of ASPA,  BIOS, Netherlands Institute of Government (NIG), Integrity Bureau of the City of Amsterdam.

Core of the conference will be *7 workshops*, which will meet throughout the period of the conference. These will be jointly chaired by conveners from Europe, the U.S., Australia and other parts of the world, and will consist of an internationally mixed audience of participants. The conference is open to all who get their paper proposal accepted, but participants will be expected to subscribe to one workshop, act as a discussant for another contribution, and be expected to participate actively in the  discussions.

For more information about the conference, the 7 workshops and themes, and the rest of the program, please check the conference website: http://english.fsw.vu.nl/firstglobaldialogue

*Call for papers*

Submission of paper proposals is due at November 1st 2008; submission deadline for full papers is April 15th 2009. For details about abstract submission, please refer to the conference website.

More information will follow soon, please keep checking our website!

Warm greetings from the organizing committee,

Gjalt de Graaf
Hester Paanakker
Zeger van der Wal

Park University Model United Nations Team Takes Two Top Awards At National Conference

By Toni Cardarella

Park University's Model United Nations team captured two prestigious awards at the annual National Model United Nations (NMUN) conference April 17-21 in New York City.

Student representatives Simona Cibotaru and Salam Lazkani won the outstanding delegation award for their representation of Peru in the Security Council. Cibotaru and Lazkani won the same award at a Model UN conference in November 2007 in Chicago.

"The Security Council award is amazing," said Steven Youngblood, adviser for Park University's Model UN team. "This is the best Model UN conference, and schools send only their top delegates to the Security Council, so winning in Security Council at the NMUN is like winning the Super Bowl."

Cibotaru and Lazkani considered issues such as Somalia and Afghanistan. Lazkani said, "The level of preparation in the Security Council is higher (than at other conferences). The student delegates are more diversified with a really strong background on the issues."

Park delegates J.D. Rowe and Elvin Hatamzada were also honored with a best leadership award for their representation of Peru in the Pan American Health Organization committee.

"They were constantly submerged in their work on their committee," Youngblood said. "This award is really well deserved."

Lazkani said the team as a whole has made outstanding progress.

"By winning awards at two conferences in a row, it shows the team is improved," he said. "We have reached a level that we can excel at all future conferences."

Eighteen Park University Model UN student delegates participated at the NMUN conference. The Park team included 14 students from the Parkville Campus, two students from the Fort Myer campus Center in Arlington, Va., and two students from the Austin (Texas) Campus Center. Park's Model UN team in Austin is advised by Jolene Lampton, and Marijane Peplow advises the Fort Myer team. The team as a whole is sponsored by the Office of International Education and Study Abroad.

The NMUN conference hosted 2,100 students from 290 colleges and universities. At NMUN, these students represented 140 countries, and debated real issues facing the UN. For example, student delegates tackled providing education for women, nuclear proliferation, and the advisability of imposing economic sanctions.

Model United Nations is an authentic simulation of the UN General Assembly, Security Council and other UN committees, which catapults students into the world of diplomacy and negotiation.  Students step into the shoes of ambassadors of UN member states from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe to debate current issues on the organization's vast agenda. The student delegates prepare draft resolutions, plot strategy, negotiate with supporters and adversaries, resolve conflicts and navigate the UN's procedural rules. They do this in the interest of mobilizing international cooperation to resolve major problems that affect every country.

For more information about Park University's Model UN team, contact Youngblood at steven.youngblood@park.edu or (816) 584-6321.

Everyday Democracy Book Club

I received the following announcement in my e-mail inbox:

It's time to announce the spring selection for our Everyday Democracy Book Club. Join us here at Democracy Space (www.democracyspace.org) at 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, May 15, as we'll meet with Everyday Democracy senior associate Matt Leighninger to discuss his book The Next Form of Democracy: How Expert Rule Is Giving Way to Shared Governance - and Why Politics Will Never Be the Same. In the book, Matt - who also is executive director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium - tells how communities all across the nation are seeing how officials and citizens can work together to address pressing issues.

This will be a great opportunity to share stories of "shared governance" and learn from other communities (and Matt's considerable expertise). Order the book from your local bookstore or online, and be sure to mark your calendar for May 15. And if you missed our last book club with Frances Moore Lapp?, you can read the transcript here.

Campaign '08 and the Politics of Meaning

My colleague Alex Pattakos, author of the international best-selling book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts, recently guest blogged on Basil & Spice about the U.S. Presidential campaign and the politics of meaning.  He concluded by writing:

...let me propose a new “politics of meaning,” one that asks both candidates and the electorate to focus on the will to meaning rather than either the will to pleasure or the will to power. From a candidate perspective, this means that those seeking elected office should be willing and able to reveal their values and goals in ways that are authentic and transparent; they should be willing and able to articulate how their values and goals are truly “meaningful”; and they should be willing and able to demonstrate unequivocally that they are authentically committed to to these values and goals. From a voter perspective, this means that citizens must take their responsibilities seriously by being willing and able to do their due diligence on those seeking elected office, including careful and thorough examinations of personal character, and be willing and able to cast their votes accordingly. Only in this way will America be able to live up to the ideals of a democratic society. Only in this way will America be able to shift the focus of politics away from the magnetic draws of forces like pleasure and power towards an authentic commitment to meaningful values and goals. And only in this way will we be able to ensure that we are voting for the best person to be the President of the United States and not just an American Idol!

NCDD on Facebook

I recently joined the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation's (NCDD) Facebook group.  NCDD is a network for those dedicated to solving tough problems with honest talk, quality thinking and collaborative action (online at thataway.org).

UNPAN Upgrades Portal

The United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) has upgraded its portal at http://www.unpan.org.

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation

I had the privilege last Friday both to visit San Francisco and to learn about the great work of the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC), a non-profit that houses 2,500 extremely low-income people—seniors, children, people with disabilities, low-income wage earners, people with AIDS, families and immigrants—in 1,800 apartments and residential hotel rooms in 25 buildings in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood.

I also participated in a walking tour of the neighborhood, which allowed me to grasp first-hand the signficant role TNDC continues to play in serving multiple populations.  Visit the TNDC web site to take a virtual tour or to learn how to schedule a walking tour while in San Francisco.

TNDC will celebrate its 27th birthday during a May 30, 2008 dinner.