Note to Correspondents

‘ONE PLANET, ONE CHANCE’ EXHIBIT OPENS AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS

With Governments preparing to gather at the sixty-third United Nations General Assembly to discuss once again the future of the Kyoto Protocol, the exhibit “One Planet, One Chance”, based on the Human Development Report 2007/2008, continues to warn that the world should focus on the development impact of climate change that could bring unprecedented reversals in poverty reduction, nutrition, health and education.

The exhibit will be formally launched in an opening ceremony on Tuesday, 9 September, at 6 p.m. in the North-East Gallery of the Visitor’s Lobby.  Father Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, President-elect of the sixty-third session of the General Assembly, and Kemal Dervis, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, will be speaking at the event.

“One Planet, One Chance”, on display during the month of September, reaches out to the Heads of State gathering in New York for the General Assembly.  This exhibition provides a visual display of the shared but differentiated responsibility for the current levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.  This point is creatively demonstrated by a series of beanbags which represent the various carbon dioxide emissions per capita of a range of countries.

It argues that all nations and all people share the same atmosphere, and, like the 2007/2008 Report, it demonstrates that the world is drifting towards a “tipping point” that could lock the world’s poorest countries and their poorest citizens in a downward spiral, leaving hundreds of millions facing malnutrition, water scarcity, ecological threats and a loss of livelihoods.

“Ultimately, climate change is a threat to humanity as a whole.  But, it is the poor, a constituency with no responsibility for the ecological debt we are running up, who face the immediate and most severe human costs,” commented Mr. Dervis.

The Human Development Report continues to frame debates on some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity.  It is an independent report commissioned by UNDP.  For more information on the Human Development Report, contact Marisol Sanjines at tel.:  212 906 6763, or e-mail:  marisol.sanjines@undp.org.

This exhibition was made possible with the support of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), Duggal Visual Solutions, Hewlett-Packard, Magnum Photos and Zago.  Concept and design by Zago with the Human Development Report team.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen at tel.:  212 963 8531, or Liza Wichmann at tel.:  212 963 0089.

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For information media • not an official record