U.N. launches review of criticized climate panel

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that a group of national science academies would review U.N. climate science to restore trust after a 2007 global warming report was found to have errors.

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U.n. set for more discreet talks with taliban: envoys

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested in a new report on Afghanistan that the United Nations is ready to continue informal talks with the Taliban but the contact must be discreet, diplomats said.

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U.N. chief making second post-quake visit to Haiti

UNITED NATIONS a " Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is heading to Haiti on Sunday for his second visit since the devastating earthquake to prepare for the upcoming donors conference to raise money for reconstruction.Ban flew to Haiti on Jan.

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The consensus behind climate change science and the InterAcademy Council’s review of IPCC processes and procedures

United Nations, UN Foundation will join with IPCC scientist to provide commentary on the announcement of a IPCC review panel and the state of climate science overall. Telephone conference call to discuss the consensus behind climate change science and the context of the InterAcademy Council’s review of IPCC processes and procedures. Speakers Chris Field, director, Carnegie Institution Department of Global Ecology, Stanford University Janos Pasztor, director of Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team Timothy Wirth, president, United Nations Foundation US: 1-800-351-9742 Int’l: 1-334-323-7224 Code: IPCC2010

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Top Scientists Will Review UN Climate Work in Wake of Controversy

A council of the world’s top scientists will review the research and management practices of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate to Change (IPCC) to try to prevent the types of errors that have shaken public confidence in the group in recent months. UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon said the InterAcademy Council — a consortium of the world’s top scientific bodies, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences — will name scientists to take a closer look at the IPCC’s work following revelations of mistakes in its 2007 report, including an unsubstantiated claim that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035. In the furor that followed, critics have used the mistakes to discredit the entire report and climate science in general. The international group of scientists will not dissect the entire IPCC report, said Robert Dijkgraaf, the InterAcademy co-chairman and president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science. Instead, he said, it will help IPCC leaders install better quality control procedures for the future and recommend stricter citation standards before its next report, which is due in 2014. “We are ready to take on the important task of assuring nations around the world that they will receive sound climate advice,” Dijkgraaf said.

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The UN 'Protect, Respect, Remedy' Framework: Corporate Social Responsibility and the United Nations

Join us in either Hong Kong or Tokyo for an interactive workshop on business and human rights...Speakers: Christine Bader, Advisor to the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Business and Human Rights; Faris Natour, Director, Research & Innovation, BSR; Jeremy Prepscius, Managing Director, Asia, BSR

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INTERACADEMY COUNCIL ASKED TO REVIEW INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — The InterAcademy Council (IAC), a multinational organization of the world’s science academies, has been requested to conduct an independent review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) processes and procedures. The study comes at the invitation of the United Nations secretary-general and the chair of the IPCC, and will help [...]

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In Hard Economic Times, U.N. Hires More Staff

Call it the United Nations' version of spring training: the season of budgetary bracket creep has begun. By the time it’s over, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon should have easily improved on his longstanding record as the biggest-spending U.N. secretary-general in history, by a respectable margin. Nothing as obvious as that, of course, will be apparent this week, as the General Assembly considers a 19-page resolution entitled “Questions relating to the proposed program budget for the biennium 2010-2011.” The resolution, an important step in the U.N.’s budgetary approval process, is larded with complaints about the lack of clarity in the current budget...

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Lake, an adviser to Obama, picked to head UNICEF

UNITED NATIONS | U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday selected U.S. foreign policy expert Tony Lake, who was an adviser to President Obama, as his candidate to head UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency. UNICEF's board must approve the selection, and is expected to do so. Mr. Lake, 70, would replace Ann Veneman, a former U.S. secretary of agriculture who was appointed by President George W. Bush. She announced in late December that she would not seek a second five-year term as UNICEF's executive director. Her term ends April 30. The head of UNICEF has always been an American, largely because ... Email

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US avoids anti-abortion debate at UN meeting (AP)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, meets United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations headquarters on Friday, March 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) AP - A U.N. meeting to assess progress in advancing the fight for women's equality that ended ...

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