The Secretary-General is indeed encouraged by recent political developments in Guinea, particularly the commitment expressed by the interim Head of State, General Sekouba Konaté, for a return to constitutional order. And he welcomes both the invitation extended to the opposition to put forward a consensus Prime Minister and the guarantees of security given for all Guineans, including the country's political leaders.

The earthquake in Haiti had so far resulted in 14 fatalities among United Nations personnel and 56 staff members injured, but reports that the Secretary-General’s Special Representative was among the casualties could not be confirmed, the Organization’s peacekeeping chief said at a Headquarters press conference today.

John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, told reporters that “we’re extremely concerned about the human and humanitarian impact of what has obviously been a devastating earthquake in Haiti, particularly in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas”. The earthquake was 7.0 on the Richter scale and struck at approximately 16.53 hours local time yesterday, some 17 kilometres from the capital.

Getting urgently needed search and rescue teams, medical aid and basic sustenance to areas of Haiti devastated by Tuesday’s earthquake was a huge task, but the response of the United Nations and the international community had been focused and swift, John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, said this afternoon.

The United Nations today launched its first report on the state of the world’s indigenous people, with the Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, saying it offered a “daring and bold” description of the situation of indigenous persons in health, poverty, education and human rights, and should be fed into the upcoming review of the Millennium Development Goals.

Investors were eager to invest in clean energy but needed public policies that would provide market certainty and minimize risks, participants in today’s Investor Summit on Climate Risk said at a Headquarters press conference.

Speaking by audio-video link from Haiti, Chief of Public Information David Wimhurst and Deputy Special Representative Kim Bolduc briefed reporters on humanitarian relief efforts that have been taking place, the situation of the UN Stabilization Mission, and the ongoing effort to assess damages and casualties.

John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, told reporters today: “We still don’t have any reliable figures for dead or injured, although, of course, we recognize that those numbers are likely to be extremely high. […] On the search-and-rescue side, that effort is going on with all possible speed. Some people are still being recovered alive, relatively fewer, as you would expect, but that is still happening.”

Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Susana Malcorra, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, who both travelled with the Secretary-General to Haiti Sunday, took questions on that trip and all else related to ongoing efforts to help the people of Haiti.

The only effective way to stave off the life-threatening effects of climate change was to build a true consensus in favour of structural change in global consumption patterns with the participation of all the world’s peoples, Pablo Solón-Romero, Deputy Permanent Representative of Bolivia, said at Headquarters today.