In progress at UNHQ

United Nations Launches Decade-Long Effort to Tackle Desertification

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The United Nations is launching the Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification (2010-2020) today, an 11-year-long effort to raise awareness and action to improve the protection and management of the world’s drylands, home to a third of the world’s population and which face serious economic and environmental threats.

Secretary-General Calls for Intensified Global Efforts ‘to Nurture the Land We Need’ to Reach Development Goals, Ensure Human Well-Being, in Message to Brazil Meeting

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Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the Second International Conference on Climate, Sustainability and Development in Semi-arid Regions on the launch of the United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification, held in Fortaleza, Brazil, 16 August:

Efforts to Promote Direct Negotiations between Israel, Palestinians Nearing ‘Turning Point’, Top United Nations Official Tells Security Council

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“We are nearing a turning point in the efforts to promote direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians,” Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco told the Security Council today, expressing the United Nations conviction that direct and meaningful talks was the only avenue to a comprehensive, sustainable solution to the decades-old conflict.

As Youth from More Than 50 Countries Debate Bridging Cultures, Second Global Model United Nations Conference Concludes in Kuala Lumpur

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Youth from all regions of the world came together on 14 to 18 August in the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to participate in the second edition of the Global Model United Nations Conference 2010 organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information on the theme “Towards an Alliance of Civilizations — Bridging Cultures to Achieve Peace and Development”.