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IoT AI ブロックチェーンの３つを
変革的テクノロジーと呼ぶ人たちがいて
その変革的テクノロジーが
生活のあらゆる側面を変えようとしているという
変革的テクノロジーを導入すれば
無駄のないビジネスプロセスが構築でき
革新的な製品を開発することができ
業務を自動化することができ
コストを最小限に抑えることができる
なるほど

IoTは
データを収集し共有するデバイスが
ネットワークに接続されることで
いろいろな状況を検知できるようにする
AIは
アルゴリズムとデータさえ用意すれば
認識・推論・創造といったことを
人間にはできない速さと正確さでする
ブロックチェーンは
時間や場所の情報を含むデータデータの集合体で
データの改変がすべて記録されているため
データの改ざんができない
なるほど なるほど

変革的テクノロジーは
政策決定 予算管理 文書管理 会議の運営 統計データの管理などの
官僚制に基づく組織的活動に使われ
開発途上地域の持続可能な開発のための
財政的・人的な開発協力活動に使われ
災害や紛争などによる緊急時の迅速な対応を含む
人道援助を中心とした人道的活動に使われ
難民、移民、種族的・宗教的少数者、戦争や暴力の被害者など
弱い立場に置かれた人々に寄りそった支援活動に使われる
なるほど なるほど なるほど

でも そんなことは
どうでもいい
君が元気で調子よくすごしている
それだけでいい

そう
変革的テクノロジーなんて知りたくもない

ナウルという楽園の静かな沈黙は
永遠に続くように思われていたのだけれど
武器と宗教と贅沢と欲望とがやって来て
幸せな時間を奪ってしまったように見えた

リン鉱石という自然の恵みのおかげで
島の人々は物質的な豊かさを知り
カネの意味すら知らないままに
文明の恩恵を享受するようになった

まもなく島にはカネが流れ込み
食ベて寝てがあたりまえの楽園の
夢のような暮らしが始まったかのように見えた

気がつけば島からは静けさが消え
働かない人のこころは病んで
顔からは笑いが消えていったと言われた

そう遠くない将来にリン鉱石がなくなってしまう
鉱石を採りに来ていた外国人が心配そうに言った
なくなったら昔に戻ればいいと言ったら
なにをのんきなことをと笑われた

蝕まれた人たちは働かないなどと言われ
静かな楽園はもう戻らないとも言われ
なにも言わないでいたら笑われて
なるようにしかならないと小さな声でつぶやく

欲に目がくらんだ外国人たちが集まって
マネーロンダリングに手を染めて
汚れたカネを集めてみたりと
島は騒がしくなるばかり

困った人がいたら助けなくてはと
誰にでもパスポートを発行することにしたら
集まってきたのは犯罪者ばかり
裏金に身代金に灰色のカネに黒いカネ

資金援助という手があるんだと
国際機関の人たちがやってきて
持続的開発で豊かになると言われて
島の人々は戸惑ってしまった

働くことを忘れた哀れな人々と言われ
肥満は健康の敵だと決めつけられて
リン鉱石はあと10年で枯渇するから
このままでは滅びてしまうと諭される

ではなにをどうしたらいいのかと聞けば
働きなさい働きなさいと繰り返す
私たちは豊かだから必要ないと言えば
明日のことを考えなくちゃと叱られる

魚を獲ったり果実を割ったり
神に祈ったり歌を歌ったり
波の音を聞きながら授かり授け
風に吹かれながら食事をする

生まれてきてから死ぬまでの時を
肥満と言われた人々が昔ながらにすごす
そして働きなさいと言われたときに
大事なことに気がついた

なにも失っていなかったのだ
この島に来た外国人が騒がしかっただけで
その人たちが失っただけで
私たちはなにも失っていないのだ
私たちは昔から働いたことなどなかったのだ
なにも変わってはいないのだ

国連が Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) を掲げ「1990年を基準年、2015年を達成期限」としていろいろな人たちが頑張った。あまり知られてはいないが、MDGs は驚くほどうまくいった。1990年に開発途上国の半数に近い人口が一日1.25ドル以下で生活していたのが、2015年にはその割合が14%まで減少した。10億人以上の人々が極度の貧困から脱却したのだ。

栄養不良の人々の割合は激減。小学校の就学率は上昇し、教育における男女格差はなくなる方向に向かい、幼児死亡率は半分以下に減少した。出産は医療従事者の立会いの下に行われるようになり、妊産婦の死亡率は半減した。HIVへの新たな感染者は大きく減少し、620万人以上の人々がマラリアによる死を免れ、3,700万人もの人々が結核による死を免れた。26億人もの人たちが飲料水へのアクセスを得た。携帯電話の契約数は7億3,800万から70億とほぼ10倍まで増加し、インターネットの普及率は43%にまで増加し、32億人がグローバル・ネットワークとつながった。こういった変化を長々と書き連ねるのはやめておくが、開発途上国の人々の生活は大きく向上した。

Lester C. Thurow という経済学者が書いた『The Zero-Sum Society』という本がある。Thurow はかつて日本経済新聞のインタビューで「日本政府がすべきことはお札を刷り続けること」と言った人で毀誉褒貶は激しいが、『The Zero-Sum Society』には多少の真実が隠されている。

Zero-Sum という考えでは、トータルがゼロ、つまり誰かがプラスになれば誰かがマイナスになる。社会の誰にもいいということはなく、誰かを良くすれば、誰かに悪い。資源が限られているから、環境、食糧、エネルギーなど、経済・社会の問題はすべて Zero-Sum と考えられる。

1990年から2015年のあいだに10億人以上の人々が極度の貧困から脱却したということは、Zero-Sum で考えれば、どこかの生活が悪くなったということになる。それはバブルがはじけたあとの日本であり、共産体制が崩壊した旧ソ連の国々であり、ひとつにまとまりダイナミズムが失われたヨーロッパではなかったのか。

実際、国連の MDGs のおかげもあって、開発途上国の人々の生活が格段に良くなり、先進国の人々の生活が少し悪くなった。 MDGs は Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) に引き継がれ、開発途上国は少しずつ良くなり、先進国は少しずつ悪くなっている。

開発途上国の人々の生活が相対的に良くなり、日本人の生活が相対的に悪くなる。そのことを良いとか悪いとか言えるだろうか。開発途上国の人たちも日本人も、より良い生活をしたいという基本は同じではないだろうか。

Zero-Sum ではない。Win-Win なのだ。開発途上国の人々の生活が良くなり、日本人の生活も良くなる。そういうことを言う人もいるだろう。でも、あの国が良くなり、この国が悪くなるというのが、現実ではないか。

良くなったあとには悪くなる。悪くなった後には良くなる。でも人は、良くなりたい。誰も悪くなりたくない。良い状態にある人はもっと良くなりたいと思い、悪い状態にある人はもうこれ以上悪くなりたくないと思う。みんなが良くなればいいのだけれど、みんなが他人より良くなるなんていうことはありえない。

World Social Report 2020: Inequality in a Rapidly Changing World
The Report examines the impact of four such megatrends on inequality: technological innovation, climate change, urbanization and international migration. Technological change can be an engine of economic growth, offering new possibilities in health care, education, communication and productivity. But it can also exacerbate wage inequality and displace workers. The accelerating impacts of climate change are being felt around the world, but the poorest countries and groups are suffering most, especially those trying to eke out a living in rural areas. Urbanization offers unmatched opportunities, yet cities find poverty and wealth in close proximity, making high and growing levels of inequality all the more glaring. International migration allows millions of people to seek new opportunities and can help reduce global disparities, but only if it occurs under orderly and safe conditions. While these megatrends and the policies aimed at managing them interact with each other in multiple ways, the focus of this report is exclusively on the direct effect of each megatrend on inequality.

UNICEF will now be able to receive, hold and disburse donations of cryptocurrencies ether and bitcoin, through its newly-established UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund. In a first for United Nations organizations, UNICEF will use cryptocurrencies to fund open source technology benefiting children and young people around the world.

最近私が衷心喜びに堪えないのは、国際連盟がその事業として、経済方面から世界の協調を図ろうとしておることであります。・・・
およそ国家が真正の隆治を希望するには、ぜひともその政治経済を道徳と一致せしめねばならぬものである。而して、国際間の経済の協調が、連盟の精神を以て行わるるならば、決して一国の利益のみを主張することはできない。他国の利益を顧みないと云うことは、正しい道徳ではない。所謂共存共栄でなくては、国際的に国を為して行くことは出来ないのであります。
経済の平和が行われて初めて各国民がその生に安んじることができる。而して、この経済の平和は、民心の平和に基を置かねばならぬことは、申すまでもありません。他に対する思いやりがあって、すなわち、自己に忠恕の心が充実して、初めてよく経済協調を遂げ得るのであります。

… reconciliation processes are particularly necessary and urgent in countries and regions of the world which have suffered or are suffering situations of conflict that have affected and divided societies in their various internal, national and international facets, …
… dialogue among opponents from positions of respect and tolerance is an essential element of peace and reconciliation, …
… truth and justice are indispensable elements for the attainment of reconciliation and lasting peace, …

A/RES/61/17 International Year of Reconciliation, 2009 (PDF file)

Survivors were given soap but no water, condoms but not food. Families forced to bathe babies in sewer-contaminated water were sent risible hygiene text messages telling them to wash their hands before eating. On top of this, cholera was imported — almost certainly by United Nations troops — to a country that had, until then, been clean of the disease. Another 8,300 people were killed, and more than half-a-million contracted the disease, which has since spread to neighbouring countries.
The respected medical magazine The Lancet accused charities of competing for publicity, while I saw how their staff rented unnecessarily expensive flats, drove around in fleets of costly new vehicles and ate in fine restaurants.
The final insult? After creating endless chaos and confusion, the unaccountable aid caravan simply moves on to the next high-profile disaster.

They say the maturity of a society can be measured by the way that society takes care of its most vulnerable, i.e. children and the elderly. The respect that we pay to those we have an advantage over is an indicator of high moral values, and a golden rule of all civilized societies.

The United Nations experience in Bosnia was one of the most difficult and painful in our history. It is with the It is with the deepest regret and remorse that we have reviewed our own actions and decisions in the face of the assault on Srebrenica. Through error, misjudgement and an inability to recognize the scope of evil confronting us, we failed to do our part to save the people of Srebrenica from the Serb campaign of mass murder. No one regrets, more than we the opportunities for achieving peace and justice that were missed. No one laments more than we the failure of the international community to take decisive action to halt the suffering and end a war that had produced so many victims. Srebrenica crystallized a truth understood only too late by the United Nations and the world at large: that Bosnia was as much a moral cause as a military conflict. The tragedy of Srebrenica will haunt our history forever.

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Yet across a range of areas, I learned of deep and genuine concern that trends are moving sharply and alarmingly in the wrong direction. This is especially acute in the context of media independence. Japan has well-earned pride in a Constitution that expressly protects the freedom of the press. Yet the independence of the press is facing serious threats: a weak system of legal protection, persistent Government exploitation of a media lacking in professional solidarity, and the recent adoption of the Specially Designated Secrets Act are all combining to impose what I perceive to be significant challenges especially to the mainstream media, where the vast majority of Japanese citizens get their news. Numerous journalists, many agreeing to meet with me only on condition of anonymity to protect their livelihoods, highlighted the pressure to avoid sensitive areas of public interest. Many claimed to have been sidelined or silenced following indirect pressure from leading politicians.

By many accounts, the UN has fallen off the map.
Many factors are responsible for this situation. Inside the organization, competent staff members are silenced by an atmosphere that has made speaking out too big a risk to careers, even within the Secretariat or in high-profile missions around the world. Opaque, overburdened and ineffective UN information systems are largely not up to contemporary competition. Major international media have cut back coverage of the UN. Reporters who remain, denied access to officials and critical internal reports, are thrust into an adversarial role. Outside the UN, teaching and research about the organization have atrophied or have all but disappeared from most universities. Social media moves quickly into the vacuum, often with harmful disinformation.

OCHAは、緊急時対応とその備えを強化するための国際協力を、このパートナーシップを通じて推進してゆくつもりです。あの3月11日、いざというときのための備えが、いかに人命救助や被災者支援を左右するのかを目のあたりにしました。緊急災害時における関係機関との連携及び調整、正確な情報収集と分析・発信、そして迅速かつ的確な意思決定 ― それがまさにOCHAの目指すところです。

Candidates for the position of the next United Nations Secretary-General

Dr. Srgjan Kerim Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	Prof. Dr. sc. Vesna Pusić Republic of Croatia	Dr. Igor Lukšić Montenegro
Dr. Danilo Türk Slovenia	Ms. Irina Bokova Bulgaria	Ms. Natalia Gherman Republic of Moldova
Mr. António Guterres Portugal	Ms. Helen Clark New Zealand	Mr. Vuk Jeremić Republic of Serbia
Ms. Susana Malcorra Argentina	Mr. Miroslav Lajčák Slovak Republic	Ms. Christiana Figueres Costa Rica

Should you make your boss notice the mistake in the list of your department’s results? Should you speak on the phone with an external counterpart about claims of corruption within the organisation? Should you show up at the farewell party of someone your bosses dislike?
Because you know that if you do, they will know; the people up there, the all-powerful, enshrined in their aura of success and might, those who hold your future in their hands. They can disapprove of you, they can start rumours about you, they can sideline you. Eventually, they can send you back where you came from – a fate you suddenly cannot face, whether it is a field mission or the real world, where there are few jobs, ones for which you are clearly not qualified any longer.

We would urge all of those who are making it more complicated to make it less complicated.

Indian Council of South America was disappointed that the United States did not accept the recommendation to address the cases of Alaska, Hawaii and Dakota, and to address those through the United Nations decolonization process. The many human rights violations in Alaska, and the abuses to lands, resources and culture would continue to escalate as long as the United States was not held accountable.
International Human Rights Association of American Minorities said that the United States had yet again dodged the issue of the decolonization process for Alaska, Hawaii and Dakota. It would continue to do so with impunity as long as the Human Rights Council allowed it to sidestep the issue.

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015 (PDF file)

Two dots (..) indicate that the item is not applicable.
Three dots (…) indicate that data are not available or are not separately reported.
An em dash (—) indicates that the value is zero (magnitude zero).
0 or 0.0 indicates that the magnitude is not zero, but less than half of the unit employed.

“As Conflicts Multiply, Peacekeeping Confronts an Identity Crisis” rightly points out that peacekeeping has grown remarkably since the founding of the United Nations 70 years ago.
The challenges we face — in South Sudan, in the Central African Republic, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to name a few — are indeed immense, but this is not due to an “identity crisis.” We peacekeepers know exactly who we are: We are the blue helmets and blue berets from all over the world who go to forgotten conflicts to do what others can’t or won’t do and create a window for a sustainable peace to take hold.
We are undeniably imperfect, and we remain determined both to evolve and to address our challenges head on. But as we approach the International Day of Peace on Sept. 21, we are also deeply proud of our more than 125,000 military, police and civilian staff that serve the United Nations in 16 peacekeeping operations worldwide in some of the world’s most dangerous places.

Seventy years after the founding of the United Nations, peacekeeping is bigger and costlier than ever — and confronting an identity crisis.
Not since the soul-searching that followed Rwanda and Srebrenica 20 years ago, when the United Nations was unable to prevent two successive genocides, has peacekeeping come under such scrutiny. The organization’s top leaders and donors are asking: What is peacekeeping accomplishing today, and how can it be made to work in some of the world’s worst war zones, where there is often no peace to keep?

New threats from “stateless” terrorism dominate world order and global politics.
No one wants to talk about peacekeeping in far away lands
when politicians talk of war at home.

２０１６〜１８年の国連の通常予算で、日本の分担率が２桁を切って９．６８％となる見通しであることが、国連総会の分担金委員会の試算で分かった。３年ごとに見直される分担率は、各国の「支払い能力」を反映しており、日本はかつて２０％を突破していたが、相対的な経済力と共に低下。２桁を切れば１９８２年以来となる。
分担率は、国民総所得（ＧＮＩ）の世界合計に対する各国の比率を基準に、１人当たりＧＮＩが低い国の負担を減らす「低所得割引調整」などを踏まえて算定される。
日本の分担率は国連加盟（５６年）後、経済成長に伴って増加。８０〜８２年に９．５８％となり、８３年以降は２桁を保ってきた。００年の２０．５７％がピークで、現在は１０．８３％。来年からは１．１５ポイント減少することになり、下げ幅は加盟国中で最大となる。
対照的なのが中国だ。来年からの分担率は７．９２％で、現在の５．１５％から２．７７ポイント上昇し、加盟国中で最大の上げ幅となる。
かつては日本の分担率だけで、米国を除く安全保障理事会常任理事国４カ国（英仏中露）の合計を上回っていたが、時代の流れを感じさせる結果となった。

There’s some misperception that UN Secretary-General or United Nations organization is a neutral body. It can not be a neutral body in a sense, it is an impartial body.

How do they even come up with these numbers? That was the question that I wanted to answer. It was 2007 and I went to Zambia to do the fieldwork for my doctoral thesis in economic history. I wanted to examine how national income estimates were made in African countries. I was struck by the derelict state of the Central Statistical Office in Lusaka. The planned agricultural crop survey was being delayed by the need for car repairs, most of the offices were dark, and the computers were either missing or very old. The national accounts division had three employees, of whom only one was regularly in the office while I was visiting. No one at the office could account for how the income estimates had been made more than a decade ago. In the library there was a dearth of publications and no record of any activity that may or may not have taken place in the late 1970s, the 1980s, and the early 1990s.
The data and methods used to estimate Zambian national income had last been revised in 1994. A short report on methodology had been pre- pared, but it was unpublished and was circulated internally as a manual for the national accountants. It revealed the real state of affairs of national income statistics in Zambia. I was surprised by the lack of basic data and the rudimentary methods in use. Regular and reliable data were available only on government finances and the copper sector. The entire agricultural sector was accounted for by observing trends in crop forecasts for eight agricultural commodities. For the rest of the economy there really was no usable data. The construction sector was assumed to grow at the same rate as cement production and imports. Retail, wholesale, and transport sec- tors were all assumed to grow at the same rate as agricultural and copper production, while business services were assumed to grow at the same rate as trade and transport.

Several MDG targets have been met

• The world has reduced extreme poverty by half
• Efforts in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis have shown results
• Access to an improved drinking water source became a reality for 2.3 billion people
• Disparities in primary school enrolment between boys and girls are being eliminated in all developing regions
• The political participation of women has continued to increase
• Development assistance rebounded, the trading system stayed favourable for developing countries and their debt burden remained low

Sudden onset disasters (SOD) occur with little or no warning and often cause excessive injuries far surpassing the national response capacities. These challenges can arise in both developing and developed countries. The demand for rapid trauma care is particularly critical in the aftermath of earthquakes.
Following SODs a large number of Foreign Medical Teams (FMTs) often arrive in-country to provide emergency care to patients with traumatic injuries and other life-threatening conditions. Experience has shown that in many cases the deployment of FMTs is not based on assessed needs and that there is wide variation in their capacities, competencies and adherence to professional ethics. Such teams are often unfamiliar with the international emergency response systems and standards, and may not integrate smoothly into the usual coordination mechanisms. These problems were especially evident following the Haiti earthquake and Pakistan floods of 2010.

Since the birth of the United Nations in 1945, eight men, from Norway, Sweden, Burma (or Myanmar), Austria, Peru, Egypt, Ghana and South Korea have held this important post. The next secretary-general should be a woman.

The United Nations Organisation as we know it today is the result of a series of compromises which were negotiated primarily amongst the great powers during the second world war and its immediate aftermath. The UN is the result of a catastrophic conflict and is meant primarily to avoid that a catastrophic conflict happens again. In the minds of its founders, it should overcome the weaknesses and the failures of the Society of Nations to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.
The UN is also the result of a number of reforms which have changed its structure and working methods over 64 years of existence. Reform is a continuous process which cannot be dissociated from the organisation itself: reform initiatives of the United Nations have been proposed since its very foundation.

A visitor enjoys photos during the exhibition on Maritime Silk Road at the UN headquarters.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations has to confront the most difficult and complex problems we face. He or she has the power to prevent wars through mediation, speak truth to power and push governments to take action on issues like climate change and human rights.
Seven billion people across the world are affected by his or her decisions. Yet the Secretary-General is chosen in secret, by just five countries, in an opaque and outdated process.

• There is no job description
• There is no public scrutiny of candidates
• The Security Council’s “shortlist” contains just one name
• Backroom deals can get you elected
• No woman has ever held the post

The UN has had excellent leaders but this has been despite, not because of, the process. Geared towards the least-objectionable, lowest common denominator candidate, the process falls far short of the UN’s own principles, current practice at other international organisations and basic recruitment standards.
In 2016 a new Secretary-General will be appointed. We have a unique opportunity to call for change. Most countries agree that the current process is unsuitable. The UN itself has overhauled other recruitment practices. We have reached a tipping point when change is both achievable and essential – for the UN’s credibility and ability to tackle the challenges we face.

The United Nations is needed more than ever at this time of multiple crises. Poverty, disease, terrorism, discrimination and climate change are exacting a heavy toll. Millions of people continue to suffer deplorable exploitation through bonded labour, human trafficking, sexual slavery or unsafe conditions in factories, fields and mines. The global economy remains an uneven playing field.
At this critical moment, let us reaffirm our commitment to empowering the marginalized and vulnerable. On United Nations Day, I call on Governments and individuals to work in common cause for the common good.

伊勢桃代は、真に国際的な視野を持った知識人である。彼女はまさしく本物。哲学、国際政治などまさにリベラルアーツの宝庫だ。

The IASC Transformative Agenda is a series of concrete actions that will visibly transform the way in which the international humanitarian system responds to a crisis. It focuses on improving the timeliness and effectiveness of our collective response through:
   (i) better leadership,
  (ii) improved coordination structures, and
 (iii) greater accountability to people we seek to serve.

While Israeli officials have never admitted intentionally targeting the United Nations, many Israelis contest the notion that the United Nations is a benign and impartial actor in Gaza, devoted only to ensuring the well-being of refugees in the territory. The Israeli government and the U.N. refugee organization for Palestinians — the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — regularly trade accusations: U.N. officials have criticized Israel’s economic blockade of the territory, while Israeli officials have routinely accused UNRWA of parroting Hamas’s arguments and even being complicit in some of its activities.
The United Nations’ struggles in Gaza are an extreme version of a dilemma the global body faces in hot spots around the world: how to preserve its prized neutrality as it becomes involved in bitter conflicts with very little middle ground?

Moving Towards a Climate Neutral UN: The UN System’s Footprint and Efforts to Reduce It

There is an urgent need to improve the UN’s on-the-ground performance in resource efficiency, energy consumption and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, both in headquarters and in country offices. This will be achieved by sharing knowledge and scaling up existing solutions.

Statistics are not usually effective at depicting tragedy, which is why United Nations reports rarely generate passion. But the figures released this past week by the United Nations refugee agency offer perhaps the starkest reflection of the strife raking vast stretches of the globe.
The number of people around the world forced by conflict to flee their homes, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported, has soared past 51 million, the highest number since World War II.
Half the refugees are children; a growing number of these are on their own, according to the report. More than half of the 6.3 million refugees under the refugee agency’s care have been in exile for five years or more, testifying to conflicts that rage on and on. Most are what the United Nations refers to as “internally displaced” — people who have fled their homes but not their countries.

Ban Ki-moon (centre right) and Deborah Seward (centre left) meet with participants of the DPI annual programme for Palestinian journalists.

One of the key architects of a UN initiative to end world poverty has accused the Abbott government of shirking its responsibilities by slashing aid spending.
Jeffrey Sachs is the UN’s special adviser on the millennium development goals (MDGs), which comprise eight targets that aim to significantly improve living standards for the world’s poorest people by 2015.
One of the commitments rich nations made as part of the MDGs was to lift aid spending to a percentage of gross national income – a pledge postponed by Labor and abandoned altogether by the Coalition.
The government also confirmed $7.6bn worth of cuts to the aid program over five years, which is the biggest savings measure announced in the budget.

Foreign minister Julie Bishop says many nations won’t reach their MDGs by 2015, including in Papua New Guinea, where none will be achieved despite massive aid assistance from Australia.
She has argued that since the MDGs were forged in 2000, the focus has shifted to economic development, which has helped lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.
The government will soon unveil a new strategy for the aid program, focusing on economic transformation and performance benchmarks to ensure goals are met and value for money is achieved.

In the history of Earth, the law of nature has led animals, plants and other forms of life to evolve into diversified species adapting themselves to unique environments and to become its integral part to form the ecosystems. Biological diversity represents this dynamic process spanning hundreds of millions of years, and has been the key to survival, sustainability and prosperity of those species and the ecosystems in which they flourish.
Human society has evolved in a process of adapting itself to such a diversified natural environment. Nature and natural resources have been the foundation of defining peoples’ life, their society and civilizations. Various forms of cultures and institutions in human society – political, religious, social or economic – have been built upon services provided by a unique natural environment and natural resources arising from biological diversity.
Cultural diversity mirrors biological diversity. It is the concern of many people that biodiversity must be appreciated in terms of human diversity, since different cultures and people from different walks of life perceive and apprehend biodiversity in different ways due to their distinct heritage and experiences.
Diversity in humanity and diversity in nature are inseparable. They are assets of peoples and our planet for prosperity for present and future generations. These are essential for achieving sustainable development. However, they are now in imminent danger owing to present-day human activities.

At the dawn of this new millennium, humankind has a historic opportunity, not to say responsibility, to make a case that is stronger than ever for a “culture of sustainability”, because cultural diversity and biodiversity are both values of and for the very long term. By focusing on “sustainable diversity”, we assume that human beings belong to the biological universe while, at the same time, they are the only species on earth that has the privilege of creating diverse forms of culture in time and space. Accordingly, they determine the earth’s whole future. This places a special obligation on them to ensure a proper balance between environmental health (especially biodiversity) and equitable development. Thus, cultural diversity should be regarded as a powerful guarantee of biodiversity.
The perceived separation between biological diversity and cultural diversity obscures the reality that both diversities are mutually reinforcing and mutually dependent. We cannot understand and conserve the natural environment unless we understand the human cultures that shape it. Each culture possesses its own sets of representations, knowledge and practices. Human action with respect to the environment, including management itself, is a social act and an expression of culture.

It held its first session in 1995 with the request by the General Assembly that it should complete the adoption of the declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples before the end on the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People in December 2004. Ten years on and with only two of the 45 articles and 19 preambular paragraphs adopted at first reading, members of the Commission might consider this, even by UN standards, slow-going. Someone with an eye for figures will calculate that at the current rate of adoption a further 310 years will be necessary – a time-frame beyond the imagination of even the most stonewalling States.
So why is the adoption so slow? Are the principles just too controversial and complex? Are the protagonists – indigenous peoples on the one hand and States on the other – irreconcilable? Has the process been at fault or can we expect a sudden breakthrough so that all the frustration – and there has been plenty of that – will seem little more than the inevitable setbacks on the way to reaching consensus?

The International Court of Justice in The Hague rightly ordered Japan to stop its current whaling program in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary around Antarctica, a large reserve established by the International Whaling Commission. The United Nations’ highest court came down clearly on the side of conservation and international opinion.
The court ruled that Japan’s whaling is not scientific research and does not justify the number of whales killed. The suit, brought by Australia, showed that since 2005 there were only two peer-reviewed papers based on research of just nine killed whales. Meanwhile, some 3,600 minke whales have been killed since 2005. The court suggested that Japan’s whaling is commercial, and ordered it to revoke all scientific whaling permits.
The fight to protect the whales is not over because the ruling covers only the Southern Hemisphere. Japan continues to issue scientific permits for up to 200 minke whales, 100 sei whales, 50 Bryde’s whales and 10 sperm whales in the northern Pacific Ocean. Japan should cease whaling everywhere instead of waiting for the next international reprimand that is sure to come.

Divorces and crude divorce rates by urban/rural residence

For some, the global water crisis is about absolute shortages of physical supply. The Report rejects this view. It argues that the roots of the crisis in water can be traced to poverty, inequality and unequal power relationships, as well as flawed water management policies that exacerbate scarcity…. Faced with the threat of climate change and mounting pressure on the world’s freshwater resources, the 21st century water governance challenge may prove to be among the most daunting faced in human history.

A growing number of general partners (GPs) and their limited partner investors (LPs) are adopting a more structured approach to managing environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) risks and opportunities. One reason for this is a conviction that companies that address ESG issues can achieve better growth, cost savings, and profitability, while strengthening stakeholder relations and improving their brand and reputation. GPs, LPs, associations, and the private equity industry at large have an aligned interest in communicating how the management of ESG factors contributes positively to risk-adjusted returns.

We welcome the major first step toward streamlining the organization represented by the 2% reduction in the staffing table, for the first time in many years. As we have said many times, staffing costs represent the primary driver of the vast expansion in the UN regular budget in previous biennia and this agreement is a recognition that the first step in addressing spiraling costs is to eliminate unnecessary, duplicative or outdated posts. Likewise, we applaud the action taken today to freeze UN pay for one year and UN allowances for two. At a time when the budgets and crucial services of many common system organizations have been squeezed, these measures will hold compensation costs in place until we can act in the next session on the recommendations to bend the 5-year pay curve down to an appropriate level, and make the total compensation package more sustainable the session thereafter.

The international organisation is above all a tool of national government, an instrument for the pursuit of national interest by other means. This elementary perception of old-fashioned realists is obscured – probably unconsciously – by most of the rather extensive literature on international regimes. Too often, a regime is represented as merely the consequence of a harmonising process, through which governments have coordinated their common interests. The power element is underplayed. Yet in reality, many international regimes have not so much been the result of a coming-together of equals, but the end-result of a strategy developed by a dominant state, or sometimes by a small group of dominant states.

Le congrès danse beaucoup, mais il ne marche pas.

C’est une chose étrange qu’on voit ici, pour la première fois, le plaisir conquiert la paix.

J’aime les gens distraits ; c’est une marque qu’ils ont des idées et qu’ils sont bons : car les méchants et les sots ont toujours de la présence d’esprit.

Il y a deux espèces de sots : ceux qui ne doutent de rien et ceux qui doutent de tout.

Under the Protocol, countries must meet their targets primarily through national measures. However, the Protocol also offers them an additional means to meet their targets by way of three market-based mechanisms.
The Kyoto mechanisms are:

• International Emissions Trading
• Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
• Joint implementation (JI)

The original X.500 plan is unlikely ever to come to fruition. Collections of directory entries (such as employee lists, customer lists, contact lists, etc.) are considered valuable or even confidential by those owning the lists and are not likely to be released to the world in the form of an X.500 directory sub-tree. For an extreme example, imagine the CIA adding its directory of agents to a world-wide X.500 pool.
The X.500 idea of a distinguished name (a single, globally unique name that everyone could use when referring to an entity) is also not likely to occur. That idea requires a single, global naming discipline and there are too many entities already in the business of defining names not under a single discipline. Legacy therefore militates against such an idea.

X.400 is a suite of ITU-T Recommendations that define standards for Data Communication Networks for Message Handling Systems (MHS) — more commonly known as “email”.
At one time X.400 was expected to be the predominant form of email, but this role has been taken by the SMTP-based Internet e-mail.

Almost the only party at the UN without an effective intelligence service is the UN Secretary General himself – remember that traditionally the head of the UN Security Service has, more often than not, often comes from the NY Police Department. It was never explained how, for example, Paul Volcker’s Oil For Food inquiry acquired details of personal phone calls fromUN staff and outsiders alike, and certainly one of their American team members regularly leaked documents from the investigation to hostile legislators in Washington.
Of course, whoever does it, all this spying, is illegal and unethical. But it will continue as long as the UN has any relevance, and indeed since security services spy almost instinctively, even afterwards! The Secretariat’s best defence is to be as transparent as possible so that all member states, including the well-meaning innocent ones who do not run surveillance operations have equal access to information. But any high ranking official, like the rest of us in these days of pervasive and intrusive governments, just has to assume that everything we say and do electronically is being monitored. If nothing else, it should bring back the importance of traditional diplomacy since face to face communication has, at least, less chance of being overheard.

1. (U) Summary.  The selection of the thirty-one members of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) Organizational Committee remains stalled over the regional breakdown of the ECOSOC seats (reftel).  USUN, however, has managed to facilitate a rotational agreement among the top ten financial contributors regarding their representation on the PBC over the first two-terms, which allows for participation by each of the top contributors.  The agreement will allow the financial contributors to name their representatives as soon as ECOSOC acts, in accordance with the process spelled out in the resolutions.
2. (C) The donors’ discussions were not without controversy as Germany, in particular, demanded a longer-term rotational scheme to ensure that Japan would not become a de facto permanent member of the PBC (a proposal the Japanese termed “insulting”).  In the end, the leading contributors were able to agree on a rotation for the first four years while agreeing that the German proposal would serve as “an indicative template” beyond that.  As is common in New York, the agreed language masks an underlying unresolved difference of opinion.  End Summary.

Dimitra is a participatory information and communication project which contributes to improving the visibility of rural populations, women in particular.
The goal of Dimitra is to highlight the role of women and men as producers, so that their respective interests are better taken into consideration and they can fully participate in the rural development of their communities and countries. The project builds the capacities of rural populations, women in particular, through the dissemination of information and the exchange of experiences.
Dimitra is part of the FAO-Belgium Knowledge Management and Gender Partnership Programme.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.
In emergencies, we get food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. After the cause of an emergency has passed, we use food to help communities rebuild their shattered lives.
WFP is part of the United Nations system and is voluntarily funded.

Born in 1961, WFP pursues a vision of the world in which every man, woman and child has access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life. We work towards that vision with our sister UN agencies in Rome — the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) — as well as other government, UN and NGO partners.
On average, WFP reaches more than 90 million people with food assistance in 80 countries each year. About 12,000 people work for the organization, most of them in remote areas, directly serving the hungry poor.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations, was established as an international financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. The conference was organized in response to the food crises of the early 1970s that primarily affected the Sahelian countries of Africa. It resolved that “an International Fund for Agricultural Development should be established immediately to finance agricultural development projects primarily for food production in the developing countries.” One of the most important insights emerging from the conference was that the causes of food insecurity and famine were not so much failures in food production but structural problems relating to poverty, and to the fact that the majority of the developing world’s poor populations were concentrated in rural areas.
IFAD is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. Seventy-five per cent of the world’s poorest people – 1.4 billion women, children and men – live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods.
Working with poor rural people, governments, donors, non-governmental organizations and many other partners, IFAD focuses on country-specific solutions, which can involve increasing poor rural people’s access to financial services, markets, technology, land and other natural resources.

Juliette is a Canadian magazine editor who arrives in Cairo for a vacation with her long-time husband, a UN official working in Gaza. Delayed, her husband asks his friend—a handsome Egyptian named Tareq—to watch over Juliette. Juliette finds herself falling in love not only with the city but with Tareq. From the surprise of men-only cafes, to the aroma of a hookah pipe, to the expanse of the Nile, the film captures the seductive charm of Cairo.

Эксперты ООН подтверждают применение в Сирии зарина. По итогам анализа химических данных окружающей среды и медицинского осмотра пострадавших сделан вывод, что газ доставлялся “в достаточно большом объеме” ракетами класса земля-земля.
Химическая атака произошла 21 августа в пригороде Дамаска Гута. Пока не последовало заявлений о принадлежности ракет тем или иным военным формированиям. Доклад расследования передан генсеку ООН Пан Ги Муну.
В связи с нарушением Женевской Конвенции США планируют нанести военный удар по Сирии и лишить правительство полномочий, но сейчас дата операции отложена на неопределенный срок.
Президент РФ Владимир Путин предлагает не спешить с силовыми мерами и взять запасы сирийского химического оружия под международный контроль. Глава Сирии Башар Асад поддерживает эту идею.

The General Assembly,
…
Reaffirming the Charter of the United Nations, including the principles and purposes contained therein, and recognizing that human rights, the rule of law and democracy are interlinked and mutually reinforcing and that they belong to the universal and indivisible core values and principles of the United Nations,
Stressing that democracy, development and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing,
Reaffirming that democracy is a universal value based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems and their full participation in all aspects of their lives,
Reaffirming also that, while democracies share common features, there is no single model of democracy and that democracy does not belong to any country or region, and reaffirming further the necessity of due respect for sovereignty, the right to self-determination and territorial integrity,
…

過去の歴史を繙けば国際聯盟のようなものを案出したことは少くなかったのである。各国間の戦争を防止せんとする計画は百年前に学者がこれを説いたことあり、また前記ウィリアム・ペンの案の如きもその一である。しかし戦争防止を実行せんとした最も有名なものは前世紀の初頭に於ける神聖同盟である。各国の国王や総理大臣が出席して、列国の君主は互に同胞のように交り、永く相親睦して争わぬことを誓った。しかもその誓約は日本でいえば弓矢八幡、八百万の神々というが如く天に在します神の御名に於て厳格に約束したのである。然るに会議して帰国すれば直ちに軍備を修めて戦争の用意をしていた。従来列国の間に戦争を防止し平和を保つために相集まって議論を交え約束に調印しても、散会すれば忘れてしまう、記憶していても、進んで約束を履行しようとしない。列国会議の成功しなかったのはただ決議または約束するだけで、これを督促し実行せんとするものがなかったからである。再度集まることは面倒であるから、結局決議のしばなしということになった。故に国際聯盟が出来た時も、世人の多数は従来と同じく失敗するものと信じていたのであるが、しかし聯盟には事務局というものがある。総会でも理事会でも一定の時に開会するだけであるが、事務局は常置の局で、ある決議を総会が行ったとすれば、局からその実行を督促する。あの決議は何時から実行するか、あの仕事の成績はどうであったかと、局は常に各加盟国の政府に督促している。例えば国際司法裁判所を構成する時の如き批准の催促状を各国政府に出すことが局の重要な仕事であったことがある。局が催促するから加盟国政府も実行せざるを得なくなる。要するに事務局は国際聯盟を成立せしめ、その効果を発揮せしむる重要機関の一である。昔の国際会議はこれを欠いた故に失敗し、今の国際聯盟はこれを有するために成績を挙げている。事務局を常設したことは国際問題を解決する上に最も大なる発明の一である。

I solemnly declare and promise to exercise in all loyalty, discretion and conscience the functions entrusted to me as an international civil servant of the United Nations, to discharge these functions and regulate my conduct with the interests of the United Nations only in view, and not to seek or accept instructions in regard to the performance of my duties from any Government or other source external to the Organization.
I also solemnly declare and promise to respect the obligations incumbent upon me as set out in the Staff Regulations and Rules.

Thousands of Syrians fleeing the conflict in their homeland have streamed into northern Iraq in a sudden movement across a recently constructed bridge.

We, the participants to the IMO Regional Conference on the Development of a Global Strategy for Women Seafarers, 2013, having deliberated on the contribution of women seafarers to the maritime industry and the attendant challenges which confront them;

Declare that we commit and agree to:

• Work towards enhancing greater awareness of the role of women as a valuable resource to the maritime industry and to the promotion of safe, secure and efficient shipping and the protection of the environment;
• Advocate, in our respective countries the promotion for the adoption of policies and regulations which support access for women to maritime education and the merchant marine professions;
• Participate in the development of a Global Strategy for Women Seafarers through sharing of information, experience and best practices, and contributing to relevant associations and networks;
• Encourage our respective governments to work with the International Maritime Organization, through the Technical Cooperation Committee, to endorse the objectives of the Global Strategy for Women Seafarers;
• Forge partnerships and solicit support of governments and non-governmental organizations including national and regional Women in Maritime Associations (WIMAs) as well as international and regional bodies, to facilitate the implementation of a Global Strategy for Women Seafarers; and
• Work with national and local organizations to raise awareness and facilitate the implementation of the Global Strategy for Women Seafarers.

国際聯盟事務局には一人の事務総長がいる。ジェームス・イーリック・ドラモンド卿がその人である。総長の下に三人の次長がある。仏、伊、日の三国から出ている。これらの人々はその本国を代表するものでなく、一種の国際人であって、本国の利害を離れて国際事務を処理している。従てまた本国より俸給その他の手当も受けないのである。各国人にしてジュネーブに来り、聯盟を研究する者さえこの点を諒解するに苦み、やはり事務局員を各国の代表者と思っている。
事務総長及び次長の下に十人の部長がある。経済財務、軍備縮少、社会問題、保健、交通、情報会計等の各部に部長があり、英、仏、伊、日、蘭、ポーランド、オランダ、カナダ、ノルーウェー、等の国人より成り、毎週一回二時間位の部長会議を開き、各種の問題を打合せまたは討議する。用語は総会と同じく英仏語であるが、いずれも英仏語に熟達しているので、前の人が英語で話せば、次の人もそれに釣られて英語で話すが、ちょっとつかえると自分の仏語に戻り、次の人もそれにつれて仏語で話し、つかえるとまた英語に戻るというような風である。
部長の下に事務官、書記があって、それぞれの事務を執っている。事務局の局員総数は四十ヶ国、四百七十人より成っている。従来国際会議の事務所というものが設けられてあるが、その事務員は少きは二、三人、多くも五十人に上らぬ少数で事務を処理しているが、国際聯盟の事務局はこれに比すれば堂々としたものである。この内英国人は六、七十人、仏人は五、六十人、瑞西人は本国であるだけに四、五十人もいる。日本人は我輩の外に三人あるのみである。

Arabian Oryx Sanctuary (Oman)
– delisted

Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany)
– delisted

Others – listed

The Rockefeller Foundation today awarded a grant to the United Nations Climate Change secretariat to launch Momentum for Change: Women for Results, an initiative to showcase the active role that women play in addressing climate change. The three-year grant will support activities to inform governments, media and the public at large about the role of women in solving climate change.