PRESS CONFERENCE ON CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR ACCIDENT

The nuclear accident at Chernobyl was a grave and continuing humanitarian tragedy, and its unpredictable future could only be tackled through the combined efforts of the entire international community, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press conference today.

The press conference was one of several events at Headquarters to mark

PRESS CONFERENCE BY COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Reviewing the first week of the current session of the Commission on Sustainable Development for correspondents this afternoon, the Commission’s Chair said one of the overarching ideas had been that sustainable energy and transportation went beyond protecting the environment and included social considerations -– such as poverty, and access to and affordability of energy resources.

NGO'S CALL FOR KYOTO PROTOCOL WITH OR WITHOUT UNITED STATES, AT PRESS CONFERENCE

There was "a clear and present danger" that the United States would seek to undermine, obstruct or eventually destroy the Kyoto Protocol process, a representative of Greenpeace International warned, at a Headquarters press conference for non-governmental organizations this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY AFRICAN MINISTERS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

PRESS CONFERENCE BY GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY

There could be no talk of poverty alleviation as long as most of the 2 billion people in the world were poor and without access to modern energy services, particularly electricity, Mohamed T. El-Ashry, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this morning.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SWEDEN'S ENVIRONMENT MINISTER ON BEHALF OF EUROPEAN UNION

Unfortunately, the approach to international environmental governance, particularly following the historic Rio Conference, had been too fragmented to address the serious environmental challenges triggered by the world’s rapidly globalizing economy, Kjell Larsson, Swedish Minister for the Environment representing the European Union, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference yesterday.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Joke Waller-Hunter, Environment Director of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this morning that with the right policies, adjusted to tackle the new generation of environmental problems, economic growth and environmental improvements could be achieved at the same time.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY FRANCE’S ENVIRONMENT MINISTER

France and other European countries had been taken aback by the changed position of the United States on the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the French Environment Minister, Dominique Voynet, told correspondents at Headquarters this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO REPORT

Almost all belligerents in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were benefiting in one way or another, with the Congolese people as the only losers, correspondents were told this morning at a Headquarters press conference.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY CHAIR OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES GROUP

ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

The new United States administration had sent “a bad and disappointing message” by exercising a unilateral approach to the multilateral process of the Kyoto Protocol on controlling the emission of greenhouse gases, the Chairman of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, Bagher Asadi of Iran, told correspondents this morning at a Headquarters press conference.