ENV/DEV/603

URGENT ACTION TO PROTECT MARINE ENVIRONMENT TO BE REVIEWED

NEXT YEAR AT HIGH-LEVEL MEETING INITIATED BY UNEP

NEW YORK, 19 November (UNEP) -- The negative effects of land-based activities on seas and coasts are growing both in scale and type, and are increasingly damaging the environment, scientists are warning.

REGIONAL PREPARATORY MEETING FOR 2002 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT

TO BE HELD IN RIO DE JANEIRO 18-24 OCTOBER

(Reissued as received.)

RIO DE JANEIRO, 16 October (UNEP) -- From 18 to 24 October 2001, a series of meetings will take place in Rio de Janeiro in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development scheduled to be held in Johannesburg in September 2002.

UNITED NATIONS ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH ANIMAL PLANET

TO PROMOTE CONSERVATION AND BIODIVERSITY

UNECE ENVIRONMENT MINISTERS TO REVITILIZE RIO SPIRIT

(Reissued as received; delayed in transmission.)

UN ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME RELEASES REPORT ON DEMISE OF MESOPOTAMIAN MARSHLANDS

(Reissued as received.)

NEW INSIGHT INTO AFRICA'S THREATENED SEA TURTLES

(Reissued as received.)

NAIROBI/BONN, 7 August 2001 (UNEP) -- Urgent international efforts are needed to conserve West Africa's sea turtles, with studies showing that the region holds some of the world's most important feeding and nesting sites, many of them under threat.

BONN DECISIONS PROMISE TO SPEED ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

(Reissued as received.)

BONN, 27 July (UNFCCC) -- Climate change negotiators are departing Bonn today after concluding work on an array of detailed decisions, some completed, others well advanced.  These decisions are based on last Monday’s historic political agreement and will help guide the international response to climate change for many years to come.

TIGHTER CONTROLS SOUGHT FOR NEW OZONE-DESTROYING CHEMICALS

(Reissued as received.)

MONTREAL/NAIROBI, 24 July (UNEP) -- Experts and diplomats from the

178 countries that are Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer are meeting in Montreal from 24 to 26 July to review options for further tightening the international regime for protecting the stratospheric ozone layer.

GOVERNMENTS ADOPT BONN AGREEMENT ON KYOTO PROTOCOL RULES

(Reissued as received.)

BONN, 23 July (UNFCCC) -- The 180 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, now meeting in Bonn, have reached a broad political agreement on the operational rulebook for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.  The meeting will now continue through Friday, 27 July, and start the process of translating this agreement into more detailed legal decisions.