The November 2011 edition of AEFJN's Forum for Action is now online. It contains articles on the ethical responsibility of the Church on the climate issue, on the clean up of the Ogoniland oil spills, which will take decades, on the spread of Libyan arms in the Sahel, on the production of medicines in Africa and on the EU's attempt to force African countries to sign EPAs.
The national election campaign officially started the 28th October in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), exactly one month ahead of historic presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for November 28 2011. 41 humanitarian and human rights organizations, among them AEFJN, have expressed concern about the high political tension and deteriorating security situation. They have called upon all Congolese and international actors involved to take urgent measures to prevent electoral violence, better protect civilians and ensure credible, free and fair elections.Glossary
IPCC : the scientific leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.
Greenhouse gas (GHG): gas accumulated in the atmosphere thus maintaining the heat received from the sun to the earth's surface. Such gases allow sunlight to enter the atmosphere freely. They absorb part of the sun radiation, trap the heat in the atmosphere and reflect it back to the earth, so causing the warming of the planet. That's why they are called "greenhouse gases".
REDD: The “Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation” framework is a mechanism initially proposed at the 2005 meeting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal. This aims to reduce the global greenhouse gas emissions resulting from deforestation and degradation of forests, by providing economic incentives to rainforest nations to keep their tropical forests intact. This is indirectly linked to Carbon Market.
REDD+ Program: This UN program is larger than REDD by including the conservation of existing carbon stocks and enhancement of carbon stocks and by concerning the developing countries.
Carbon Market: An allowance overall level of pollution is established and allocated among firms in the form of permits (in equivalent to one metric ton of CO2 emissions). These allowances can be sold privately or in the international market at the prevailing market price. These allowances can be transferred between countries. Each international transfer is validated by the UNFCCC. (Source: Wikipedia)
UNFCCC: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The objective of this treaty is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system and the local weather and seasons. Since UNFCCC, the nations meet to decide agreements to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.