UN Staff wear blue to pay tribute to the UN Day

The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Rio de Janeiro chaired local Communications Team (Comm Team) as they organized the UN Day which was celebrated throughout the country. Two main activities were prepared for the celebration.

The first activity was to ask young Brazilians, “What are you doing to take care of the environment?”. The Comm Team partnered with TIM, Brazil’s largest mobile phone carrier and MTV in Brazil. TIM sent a text message to over nine million of their young customers asking them this question. MTV disseminated the campaign during its programmes throughout the day.

MTV and TIM will continue its campaign until the World Environment Day on 5 June 2010. The twenty best ideas and the best five short films will be announced on 5 June 2010.

The other activity was a ceremony in Brasilia’s Botanical Garden in which over 200 people attended. During the ceremony, the Secretary General’s message was read and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs donated a large sun dial with the UN logo and wooden benches to be placed in the garden. Finally, each chief of an agency in attendance planted a tree in the garden.

Mr. Victor Danilov-Danilian, Director of the Institute of Water Problems, addresses the audience

In close cooperation with the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Russia and the Moscow Office of the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Moscow organized an event to commemorate World Environment Day. The event, held on 17 June 2009, focused on the subject of climate change.

Frode Mauring, the newly appointed UN Resident Coordinator in the Russian Federation, opened the event by speaking about the situation in Russia. He stressed climate change was not only something that would happen; it was happening already. Consequences of climate change were manifested by more extremes – droughts, floods, heat waves, windstorms, and forest fires.
 
He stated Russia should be commended for meeting its commitments under the Kyoto protocol. It has made a number of important policy steps such as adoption by the Government of the Climate Doctrine earlier this year, development of the national system for the implementation of the Kyoto protocol and implementation of policy decisions and legislative work towards improved energy efficiency.
 
Following these opening remarks, Victor Danilov-Danilian, Director of the Institute of Water Problems, touched upon such issues as the concept of human-induced global warming, the case for action, the rigorous scientific logic behind the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and what he believed were the weak arguments of opponents of the IPCC's views. Speaking about the “Copenhagen-bound” talks, he said the idea of common but differentiated responsibilities could remain
part of an agreement, but states were still far from finding a middle ground.
 
After the substantive part of the event, an exhibition of works by artist Petr Bronfin was unveiled, organized by the Moscow Gallery “Vmeste” (“Together”). The painter’s ability to turn the routine of every day life into poetic images gave the topic of environment an unexpected and interesting twist.

Giancarlo Summa, Marcos Didonet e Cristina Montenegro na estréia de Home

Por ocasião do dia Mundial do Meio Ambiente, o Sistema das Nações Unidas no Brasil, em parceria com a Europa Filmes e o Centro de Cultura, Informação e Meio Ambiente (CIMA) promoveu, na última sexta-feira, dia 5 de junho, a estréia brasileira do filme “Home – Nosso Planeta, Nossa Casa”, que no mesmo dia foi lançado em dezenas de cidades ao redor do mundo.

O lançamento aconteceu no Cine Odeon, tradicional cinema do Rio de Janeiro, e foi precedido por discursos do Diretor do Centro de Informação das Nações Unidas para o Brasil (UNIC Rio), Giancarlo Summa, da Representante do Programa das Nações Unidas para o Meio Ambiente (PNUMA), Cristina Montenegro, do Diretor da CIMA, Marcos Didonet, da Diretora da Europa Filmes, Caroline Levi, e da Secretária de Articulação Institucional e Cidadania Ambiental do Ministério do Meio Ambiente, SamyraMinistro Carlos Minc. Crespo, representando o Ministro Carlos Minc.

Mais de trezentas pessoas participaram da iniciativa, entre os quais numerosos representantes de organizações ambientalistas e do corpo diplomático. Todos os espectadores receberam um “kit” do Sistema ONU no Brasil, que incluía um folheto sobre as mudanças de hábitos individuais necessárias para contribuir à preservação do equilíbrio ambiental, o discurso do Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas, Ban Ki-moon, em ocasião do Dia Mundial do Meio Ambiente, e pulseiras verdes e azuis com a escrita “Unidos para combater as mudanças climáticas”. No fim da projeção, o público aplaudiu longamente. “É um filme visualmente lindo, e com uma mensagem muito forte”, resumiu uma espectadora.

O filme foi lançado simultaneamente em 87 países com dublagens em 14 idiomas, incluindo o português. Com produção de Denis Carot e Luc Besson, “Home” traz imagens aéreas de 54 países, o Brasil entre eles, e tem duração de 90 minutos.

Dirigido pelo francês Yann Arthus-Bertrand, que ficou mundialmente conhecido pelas fotos áreas que fez de diversas partes do Planeta, mostra a atual situação da Terra: “Consumimos em excesso e estamos extinguindo os recursos da Terra. Do ar, é fácil ver estas feridas”, conta o diretor. “O que eu realmente quero é que as pessoas cujo consumo tem um impacto direto sobre a Terra, percebam a necessidade de mudar seu modo de vida depois de assistirem o filme”, afirma Bertrand.

Austrian Minister of Environment Niki Berlakovich opens the symposium

Inspired by the theme “Your planet needs you -- UNite to Combat Climate Change,” the Austrian Ministry of Environment, in co-operation with the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Vienna Office, as well as private sector partners, held a public symposium at the Vienna International Centre on the occasion of World Environment Day on 5 June 2009.

Austrian Minister for the Environment Niki Berlakovich opened the symposium. “I am pleased that we have partners from so may different sectors on board to mark World Environment Day this year. Business, environmental organizations, science and politics are all joining forces to contribute. Together, we will achieve more,” said Mr. Berlakovich.

In his video message to the symposium, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner welcomed the diverse range of partners mobilizing to hold the event: “This broad support shows how important a joint approach is, involving Member States, the United Nations family, the private sector and civil society, to move forward the fight against climate change and the idea of a green economy”.

Well-known scientists, civil society activists, business representatives, experts and journalists explored the effects of climate change on Austria.

Political scientist Professor Peter Filzmaier presented public opinion trends on environmental issues, critically questioning whether opinion polls identifying climate change as the top concern of European Union and Austrian citizens at a rate of up to 96 per cent reflected real personal commitment by individuals or merely showed a public display of consensus on an "uncontroversial" issue with few concrete consequences: “Are we in favour of protecting the environment only as long as it does not cost anything?” Professor Filzmaier asked, initiating a lively debate.

Separate workshops explored the issue of climate change in connection with social values, youth, the media, tourism and the economy, and the results of the separate debates were shared in a closing panel discussion, outlining ideas for a sustainable future.

Aside from the symposium at the United Nations headquarters in Vienna, over 50 events are being held on the occasion of World Environment Day in Austria this year, including a tree planting ceremony held by the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations (Vienna), on the occasion of Mexico hosting the international World Environment Day celebrations this year.