| |  | |  Prospects for UN climate deal dim, yet not without hope Delegates to major UN climate talks scheduled to begin Nov. 28 in Durban, South Africa, are unlikely to reach agreement on a broad pact, but could agree to extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012, with new targets. A top South African diplomat has lambasted Canada for its opposition to a Kyoto extension, saying that "we can't afford to sign on to UN conventions and, when we don't like the toys that are inside there, start throwing out the toys that we don't like." Reuters (11/16), The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (11/15)     
|  |  | We've gotten to the point where we ask YOU here on social what you want to be talking about, what issues you care about. #socialgood" @unfoundation |
|  | "You don't hear much about the floods that devastated the Sindh province of Pakistan late this summer so I was glad to come across this video from Oxfam USA of the time lapse construction of a latrine. Check it out." UN Dispatch | |
- UN backs broadband access as a human right
The United Nations International Telecommunication Union has declared broadband access as a basic human right. UN officials see access as not only central to promote free expression, but also to development efforts in education and health care. Forbes (11/15) - U.S. should reconsider cuts to UN funding
Withdrawing funding and participation from United Nations agencies that recognize Palestine as a full member does not reflect U.S. security interest or the wishes of the American population. Some U.S. lawmakers have come to see cuts in funding to multilateral organizations as means to trim the deficit. Center for American Progress (11/15) - UNICEF expresses concern for Somali children
Drought-affected Somali children are facing additional risk from intensifying armed conflict and sexual violence, UNICEF warns. The number of children killed due to fighting doubled in October and will probably rise even further, UNICEF officials said. AlertNet (11/15) - Speculators banking on default in troubled countries
 International anti-poverty campaigners are calling upon Britain to close a legal loophole that allows financial speculators to sue in the courts of the largest of the Channel Islands, Jersey, a British Crown Dependency, in order to reap 10 or 100 times what they paid for the debt of poor countries. The Democratic Republic of Congo could stand to lose $100 million -- a sum that UNICEF says the county could use to provide clean water, and save the lives of 200,000 children -- under one such action, launched by the so-called "vulture fund" of an American speculator, Peter Grossman. The Guardian (London) (11/15), BBC (11/15) - Retracing Tu Youyou's successful search for malaria cure
Chinese pharmacologist Tu Youyou, now 80, still runs a lab in Beijing where she continues to study artemisinin, which remains the most effective treatment for malaria some 40 years after she scoured ancient Chinese medical texts as part of a secret military project to find a cure. Tu recently received the DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award -- one of the Lasker Awards, among the most respected science prizes in the world -- for her work in the 1960s and 1970s. New Scientist (11/15) - A Buddhist response to dirty cookstoves in India
 India's National Biomass Cookstoves Initiative could go a long way toward easing the pollution in Bihar, the country's poorest state, and home to the Buddhist Mahabodhi Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The state's carbon emissions rose 9.4% last year, outpacing China, in part from the smoke from biomass burned in inefficient cookstoves -- making the case for increased investment in solar power, writes John Stanley of Ecological Buddhism. The Huffington Post (11/14) - Pakistani lawmakers move on women's rights
The Pakistani parliament has passed a law aimed at strengthening the position of women is society and punishing those who infringe upon women's rights. Women will now have the right to inheritance, and anyone forcing a female to marry in order to settle a debt or marry the Koran will face stiff penalties. AlertNet (11/16) - Women in Cameroon protest rapes, assault in land dispute
Ongoing attacks by herdsmen on farmers in a dispute over grazing rights in northwest Cameroon have led to protests by thousands of women, who are refusing to return to the fields until they are protected from rapes and assaults. An 11-year-old girl talked to a reporter about narrowly escaping a sexual assault by two herdsman. BBC (11/15) - Bhutan threatened by glacier melt
Melting ice from Himalayan glaciers threaten Bhutan with what are described as "tsunamis from above." The United Nations Development Programme is working with Bhutan to take steps to ameliorate the threat of flooding from melting glaciers. Time.com (11/16) - Climate change will alter river behaviors
 Changing weather patterns will make some of the world's rivers drier then wetter than traditionally associated with seasonal variations, or vice versa, and countries should have adaptation strategies in place to meet the water-supply challenges that will ensue, according to a report. Researchers say the best defense is for countries to institute water-management programs to prevent and adapt to water-supply stress. IRINNews.org (11/14) - Arab unity on Syria could spur UN action
The suspension of Syria by the Arab League last weekend demonstrates regional support for UN sanctions against the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, a move that is likely to soften the stances of Russia and China on the Security Council. A Syrian opposition group on Tuesday called for UN peacekeepers, while Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said of Syria's eight-month crackdown on anti-government demonstrators, "Bashar Assad should see the tragic ends of the ones who declared war against their own people." The Christian Science Monitor (11/15), BBC (11/15), CNN/This Just In blog (11/15)
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