SWITCH TO UNLEADED FUEL ‘IN SIGHT’ FOR AFRICA, ACCORDING TO NEW

UN ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME REPORT

NAIROBI, 22 January (UNEP) -- An international effort to phase out lead, the health-hazardous heavy metal, from petrol is accelerating as increasing numbers of African countries switch to unleaded fuel.

Launch of the International

Year of Freshwater 2003

FRESHWATER ISSUES AT ‘HEART OF HUMANKIND’S HOPES FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT’,

SAYS DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL AT EVENT TO LAUNCH INTERNATIONAL YEAR

12 December 2002

Leading manufacturers and Basel Convention to cooperate on environmentally

sound management of end-of-life mobile phones

(Reissued as received.)

UNITED NATIONS LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FRESHWATER

TO GALVANIZE ACTION ON CRITICAL WATER PROBLEMS

$573 MILLION IN FUNDING AGREED FOR CUTTING DEVELOPING COUNTRY CFCs BY 50 PER CENT

(Delayed for technical reasons.)

ROME, 29 November (UNEP) -- Negotiators from some 140 governments have adopted a $573 million funding package to halve the consumption and production in developing countries of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) -- the leading destroyer of the stratospheric ozone layer -- by the year 2005 (relative to a baseline of average 1995-1997 levels).

                                                                  UNEP/129

ASIAN GOVERNMENTS LAUNCH ACTION TO TACKLE ‘E-WASTES’

TIANJIN (China), 21 November (UN Information Service) -- Officials from eight Asian governments are meeting here under the auspices of the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal to seek solutions to the growing deluge of electrical and electronic wastes -- popularly known as “e-wastes”.

ADAPTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE CRITICAL FOR FOOD-INSECURE COUNTRIES

(Reissued as received.)

ENERGY SECURITY CRUCIAL FOR STABILITY OF FINANCIAL

MARKETS -- SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

OPEC, European Union, Russia, United States Review Security

Of Energy Supplies at Roundtable of UNECE Committee on Sustainable Energy

(Reissued as received.)

ENVIRONMENTAL VISIONARY, ASHOK KHOSLA, PRESENTED WITH UNITED NATIONS

ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME PRIZE AT GALA CEREMONY IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, 19 November (UNEP) -- Environmental visionary Ashok Khosla, who has created jobs for thousands of rural and urban poor in India, was presented this evening with the prestigious 2002 United Nations Environment Programme Sasakawa Environment Prize.