DECEMBER 2009 volume II, #2

NEWSLETTER

F RIENDS OF THE UN

GA 64 “Now Is
Our Time”

The 64th Session of the
General Assembly may yet come to be known as the
“Global Climate Session”. This was clearly in evidence In his message to 64th General Assembly the Secretary
when at the outset of the Session the Secretary General General struck a note of both urgency and hope when he
convened a meeting of 100 heads of States and told world leaders that “Now is our time.  A time to put the
governments to set the stage for the Copenhagen “united” back into the United Nations.   United in purpose.
summit, scheduled to be held toward the end of the United in action.
Session.
To this end he laid out three challenges:
The Secretary General Explained that this was the
recognition of the need for an agreement, which all First ‑‑to make this a year that we the united nations,
nations could embrace in line with their capabilities - - rise to the greatest challenge we face as a human family:  the
consistent with what science required - - grounded in threat of catastrophic climate change. Our road to
“green jobs and green growth” the life line of the 21st Copenhagen requires us to bridge our differences.   I firmly
century. believe we can.

Although the SG had hoped that the road to Second ‑‑ to make this the year that nations united
Copenhagen would help us bridge differences, difference to free our world of nuclear weapons. This coming May, at the
indeed did remain and the “accord” reached at the United Nations Review Conference on the Nuclear Non-
Copenhagen at COP15 is somewhat less than was Proliferation Treaty, we have an opportunity to push for real
expected. progress.

Never the less the Session did served to catalyze Third ‑‑ to make this the year that we focus on our
some fresh thinking on binding agreements and raise the fight against world poverty and on those left behind. Recent
hopes of people everywhere, that governments were reports such as “Voices of the Vulnerable”, highlights a new
indeed ready to take the steps necessary to stabilize the crisis.   The near-poor are becoming the new poor. An
world’s climate system. estimated 100  million people could fall below the poverty
line this year.   Markets may be bouncing back, but incomes
Whatever its shortcoming Copenhagen did signal and jobs are not.
that Climate Change is rapidly becoming a Global
Movement and that people are becoming more conscious Because we are the United Nations.  We are the
best hope for humankind.  And now is our time.”
of the need to take greater personal responsibility for the
stabilization of the world’s climate system.

866 UN Plaza • room #544 • New York, NY 10017 • t: 212 355 4195 www.fotun.org
DECEMBER 2009
UN DAY CE L E B R ATION
Mr. LeRoy
Head of the Peacekeeping Department
On 22 October 2009 in support of the
Canada: to the memory of the
Honorable Lester B. Pearson for
introducing the concept of
Dr. Noel Brown
peacekeeping as a way of addressing
MC for the evening
critical conflict situations.
Mr. Terry George
Award winning Director/Producer
This event is expected to set the
Mr. Allan Buchman
President “Cultural Project”
866 UN Plaza • room #544 • New York, NY 10017 • t: 212 355 4195
A Tribute to the UN
Peacekeepers
UN Day the Friends of the United Nations
hosted a special ceremony to recognize and
honor the role of peacekeeping throughout
the world.
Special Tributes were Payed to:
1.
2. UN Peacekeepers: for distinguished
service in the cause of peace and the
promotion of human security.
3. 17th Police Precinct of NYC: for
more than 6 decades of quiet but
dedicated service to the diplomatic
community and the UN Secretariat.
Distinguished Speakers:
Mr. LeRoy, Head of the Peacekeeping
Department.
Mr. Terry George, Award winning
Director/Producer (Hotel Rwanda)
Mr. Allan Buchman, President “Cultural
Project”
stage for a dialogue between artists and
peacekeepers as collaborator in finding ways
in which the arts can more fully serve the
cause of peace.
www.fotun.org
DECEMBER 2009

UN DAY CE L E B R ATION

Concert Dedicated to
the UN Peacekeepers

October 23. 2009 concert at the

UN General Assembly Hall under a
theme:  “A Tribute to Peacekeeping”, was
organized by the Department of Public
Information and the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations, in partnership
with the Culture Project, a New York based
non-profit organization dedicated to artistic
work focusing on social justice and civic
engagement.

As indicated by the theme, “A

Tribute to Peacekeeping”, the concert
celebrated United Nations Day 2009 by
using different art forms to focus on the
achievements and importance of United
Nations peacekeeping.

Musical performances by artists

from a broad array of countries, oral
presentations by public figures, and
documentary film clips highlighted the faces
and stories of the people in the field, and
was used to pay homage to the Blue
Helmets on the sixty-fourth anniversary of
the establishment of the United Nations.

The event was intended to create
greater public awareness of the important
mission performed by peacekeeping
The concert is available on the United Nations
operations around the globe. webcast archive for the date of 23 October.
at http://www.un.org/webcast.

866 UN Plaza • room #544 • New York, NY 10017 • t: 212 355 4195 www.fotun.org
december 2009
NEWSLETTER
S M A RT C I T I E S IN ITIATIVE
Friends of the UN plans to convene and facilitate
an eminent person’s roundtable of mayors, municipal leaders,
distinguished experts and policy makers to further develop the
concept of the Smart City and to lay the foundation for a
larger Smart Cities Summit.

During the preparatory phase Friends of the UN will

collaborate with experts in the Smart City consulting field,
representatives of media, planners, builders, real estate
developers, and government leaders thereby assuring a
diversity of expertise and experience in order to enrich the
proceedings.

Proposed Program Outline:

1. Smart People
2. Smart Living
3. Smart Economy
4. Smart Environment
5. Smart Design
6. Smart Mobility
7. Smart Governance

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december 2009

WATE R : UR G EN T URBAN CHALLENGE

Friends of the United Nations Supports

WUXI Forum on Impending Water Crisis Water Crisis:

Every day, thousands of people die from lack of

In collaboration with Global Human Settlements Forum
(China) FOUN is exploring ways to promote the sustainable
use and management of the planet’s increasingly stressed water
resource systems. In its new initiative on global water security
strategies for sustainable solutions, FOUN is in consultation
with a number of groups whose innovative and state of the art
technology shows great promise.
access to clean water. The safe water issue is
intimately linked to hygiene education and proper
sanitation, which is why we take an integrated
approach to bringing safe water to the world’s
poor. The facts: 3.575 million people die each year
from water-related disease, 43% of water-related
deaths are due to diarrhea, 84% of water-related
deaths are in children ages 0 - 14. 98% of water-
related deaths occur in the developing world. 884
million people, lack access to safe water supplies,
approximately one in eight people. The water and
sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease
than any war claims through guns. http://
water.org/learn-about-the-water-crisis/facts/

The 2009 Global Forum on Human Settlements was held in Wuxi on

November 8. Li Jinhua, Vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference, Gu Xiulian, Vice-chairman of the
Standing Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress, Yang Weize, a
member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and
Secretary of the CPC Wuxi Municipal Committee, Xu Ming, Vice-governor of
Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, Dr. Noel Brown, Chairman of the Friends
of the United Nations and Vice-chairman of the Global Forum on Human
Settlements, and other prestigious delegates were present at the forum.

The forum has a theme of “Water and Human Settlements in the 21st Century”. A thematic conference was held on the same
morning the forum opened, and issued the Wuxi Declaration on Water and Human Settlements in the 21st Century after
discussion. In the afternoon, exchanges were carried out around such topics as “construction of civilized cities, control of
lakes, and construction of habitats”. http://www.jiangsu.gov.cn/JSGOVEN08/windowsofjiangsu

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december 2009

TO WA R D A S U S TA INABLE IRAQ
FOUN Supports the Global Initiative
Toward a Sustainable Iraq (GITSI)

FOUN is pleased to announce that it is partnering with GITSI in

promoting the mobilization of Iraq’s Civil Society in the rebuilding of
Iraq. At a high level Seminar on Sustainable Development (SD):
Challenges and Prospects in Iraq, held in last November 2009 and
sponsored by UNDP Iraq and the Environment Agency of Abu
Dhabi (EAD), United Arab Emirates, officials and professionals from
Iraq and around the world, including UNDP Iraq and Harvard
University, gathered in Amman, Jordan to exchange ideas and
expertise in this respect. (from left to right) Iraqi Embassy Official, H.E. Saad Al
Hayani, Iraqi Ambassador to Jordan, Prof. Noel
Brown, FOUN President, Dr. Ayad Altaai, GITSI
http://gitsi.org General Coordinator

During 2010 and

2011, a series of
similar activities are
planned to address
such issues as
National SD Strategy,
Sustainable Education
Agriculture, Water,
Women and Youth in
Bagdad Iraq.

Power of Film in Building Culture of Peace

FOUN continues to partner with Global Peace Film Festival which strives to use this
media in support of the United Nations Decade for the Culture of Peace. Based on
this experience FOUN plans to encourage young Iraqi film makers to share their
vision of a post war Iraq on the ways in which this historic culture might come to be
better appreciated by audiences around the world.

To this end an Iraqi “Culture of Peace” Film Festival is actively under consideration.

866 UN Plaza • room #544 • New York, NY 10017 • t: 212 355 4192 www.fotun.org
december 2009

TO UR I S M : S U S TA INABILITY ALLY

Dr. Noel Brown urges climate literacy at CMEx

St. Lucia Conference.

Addressing the 18th Caribbean Media Exchange Conference on Climate Change in St. Lucia last
month Dr. Noel Brown observed that the Caribbean was one of the most climate friendly region in the
world. With a kind of sustained climate balance and relatively free from extremes and little by way of
severe weather.

Climate was thus one of the region’s principal natural assets and one that makes it a premier
world destination. But this could change if scientific projections are correct. The region could face
more frequent and more intense storms, see level rise, vegetation and water vapor migration and the
still yet to be fully determined the hazards of ocean acidification. That is why like every other region the
Caribbean must take Climate Change seriously and even more personally.

To this end Dr. Brown advocated a vigorous climate education program, which could lead to a
new kind of climate literacy for the people of the region. He then challenged the CMEX to exercise
greater leadership in this area.

Editor: - Rusudan Grigolia

866 UN Plaza • room #544 • New York, NY 10017 • t: 212 355 4192 www.fotun.org