U.N. targets Africa with online "bazaar" for carbon
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United Nations environment agencies have  launched a virtual marketplace to bring together buyers and  sellers of carbon offsets in rich and poor countries.
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African leaders will launch a  global fund to help people in poor countries buy mobile phones  and Internet access as a step out of poverty and into economic  growth, the president of Senegal said on Wednesday.
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It's a trend that counts Leonardo DiCaprio, London cabs and Al Gore among its followers: Making life "carbon neutral" through tree-planting and other environmentally friendly efforts to curb emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide. The theme is a hot one as scientists in Paris this week prepare to issue a major report on global warming &#151; but critics say the movement is counterproductive, even a scam.
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TRIPOLI, Libya &#151; After a weeklong trip to three African countries, the U.N. secretary-general said Sunday he was encouraged by "credible progress" toward settling one of the continent's bloodiest conflicts in Sudan's Darfur region.
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Helping Cool Earth 'keep carbon where it belongs' A new online initiative has come up with a cunningly simple plan to save the world's rainforests - offer them by the acre to concerned netizens whose "purchase" allows swathes of threatened land to be preserved for future generations.â¦
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Leaders from the energy industry call for a global carbon market to help tackle climate change.
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A scheme to help firms measure their products' total carbon emissions has been launched by the Carbon Trust.
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The United Nations says momentum is building for tougher long-term action to fight global warming beyond the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol and a climate meeting starting in Vienna on Monday will be a crucial part of the process.
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OTTAWA (CP) - Law enforcement agencies from three continents have a new website aimed at deterring and preventing online exploitation of children.
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Avant-green market traders are going beyond mere carbon offsets. They've started buying up forests and rivers that keep the planet clean and diverse, and then selling shares in the natural services provided by these resources. Will it work?
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Global demand for wood is threatening the long-term survival of Africa's forest dwelling communities.
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U.N Secretary General Kofi Annan  urged leaders of Africa's resource-rich but blood-soaked Great  Lakes region on Friday to implement a peace plan that could  herald a "new era" for millions of Africans.
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The United Nations' world food body outlined steps on Monday meant to help the world's poorest nations combat soaring food prices, including a new voucher program for farmers and a review of food-guzzling biofuels.
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A new U.N.-led alliance will work out  global scrapping guidelines to protect the environment from  mountains of electronic trash such as computers, phones and  televisions, the group said on Tuesday.
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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said  on Thursday the world is on the cusp of "the age of green  economics" and called on nations to cooperate to fight global  warming and promote the transformation.
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Africa is unfairly suffering from global warming and must be able to sell carbon credits to grow in a "green fashion," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Bill Clinton's philanthropic summit on Thursday.
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(InfoWorld) - A new framework for regulatory and policy issues recently signed by African information and communication technology (ICT) ministers should speed implementation of the continent's biggest broadband networks, they say. At a meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, two weeks ago, ICT ministers signed a protocol that hammers together guidelines for new and ongoing projects. The meeting was organized by the e-Africa Commission, part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and brought together ministers from eastern and southern Africa. Zambian Communications and Transport Permanent Secretary Peter Tembo told the IDG News Service that the aim of the new guidelines and infrastructure plans is to integrate Africa's telecommunications by connecting networks across the continent. Rwandan President Paul Kagame after the meeting said the new protocol will enable eastern and Southern African governments to work together to develop the region's telecommunications sector and to bring down the high cost of communication. The e-Africa Commission operates under the aegis of NEPAD, whose broadband infrastructure network seeks to ensure a level playing field and equal access to infrastructure. The e-Africa Commission has two major plans: to integrate existing infrastructure, and to construct new infrastructure. The protocol commits the signatories to the construction and operation of broadband infrastructure networks including the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSY) project. The other major project is Comtel, a broadband infrastructure project spearheaded by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in conjunction with NEPAD. It is to connect 21 eastern and southern African countries to Europe and Asia. The protocol also calls for African countries to harmonize their national policies and regulations to facilitate the construction and operation of the infrastructure. At the moment, eastern and southern African countries have different policies and regulatory methods and agencies. In addition, the protocol provides for the formation of a so-called special purpose vehicle (SPV), a consortium made up of regional telecommunication companies to own, manage and maintain the EASSY project and terrestrial infrastructure network. "The protocol facilitates provision of ICT broadband infrastructures to support high-speed, high-quality and reliable telecommunication in the eastern and southern African region," said Tembo. The EASSY project will be built by French telecommunication giant Alcatel SA -- soon to merge with the U.S.'s Lucent Technologies Inc. -- at the cost of US$280 million, and is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2007. The company to construct the Comtel project has not yet been named. However, the project is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2007 and will cost $30 million, according to Comesa assistant secretary general Sindiso Ngwenya. The Comtel project will be owned and operated by the national telecommunication organizations from the 21 countries.