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WHAT'S NEW IN INES? |
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No.43/2001 |
Dateline: November 3, 2001 |
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This is the weekly electronic information service of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility
Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail:
WNII is archived at: http://inesglobal.org/archive.htm
INES homepages: http://inesglobal.org http://www.inesglobal.com/
INES International Office
INES Chair: Prof. Armin Tenner [Please note that the first "1" in q18 is the number one, while the last "l" is an "L"]
CONTENTS of WNII No. 43/2001
MEMBERSHIP AND PROJECTS' NEWS
David Krieger: Stop the Bombing and Bring In the UN
The US military action in Afghanistan is failing. Many innocent Afghans are being killed, and the US is no closer to finding or defeating the terrorists responsible for perpetrating the September 11th crimes against humanity. The United Nations and other relief organizations are warning that millions of Afghans could die of starvation this winter unless the bombing is halted soon. In other words, the bombing of Afghanistan is leading to a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions. We, therefore, call on the US and British forces to halt the bombing to allow relief organizations to do their job of getting food to the Afghan people.
Terrorism is a global problem that can only be solved globally. Every country on Earth, every person on the planet, has a stake in ending the threat of terrorism. This matter must go back to the United Nations Security Council and must be handled by the United Nations as a matter of priority. If the US and UK continue their bombing, killing more innocent people, they will simply be adding fuel to the fire of terrorism. Some have suggested that they are providing the spark to ignite a global conflagration.
On the other hand, if the international community joins together in a serious effort to combat terrorism, it could lead to unprecedented cooperation between national police and intelligence services. Such efforts could leave terrorists with no place to hide, and are essential to preventing terrorism.
A global action through the United Nations will also demonstrate that this is not simply retaliation or vengeance on the part of the United States. To make a United Nations effort effective will require leadership and support by the United States, but it must be an effort that is truly directed by the Security Council of the United Nations.
The United Nations should also set up a special International Tribunal for terrorists until the International Criminal Court is established, which will probably be next year. A trial before an impartial International Tribunal will help educate the world on the need to put an end to all terrorism. Such a trial will also be acceptable to virtually all countries throughout the world, whereas a trial of terrorists in the US would be viewed as biased in many countries.
In sum, step one on the path to ending terrorism is to stop the bombing of Afghanistan now; step two is to turn over to the United Nations Security Council the job of preventing terrorism and bringing terrorists to justice.
Military force is deepening the crisis without producing significant results. The vulnerability of civilization to determined and suicidal terrorists makes prevention the key to victory. Our future security, and that of the rest of the world, will be dependent on multilateral and cooperative efforts under an internationally accepted legal framework.
"Peace is the only battle worth waging." --- Albert Camus
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) seeking nominations (Information provided by Neville Ash < >)
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is seeking nominations of social and natural scientists to participate as experts or reviewers in the MA process.
The MA is a pathbreaking international assessment that will meet decision-makers' needs for scientific information on the consequences of ecosystem change for human wellbeing and on the response options available to address undesired changes. As a 'multi-scale' assessment, the MA will seek to inform the global findings with information and perspectives from the local, national and regional scale, and inform local findings with a global context. The MA is designed to meet a portion of the assessment needs of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention to Combat Desertification, Wetlands Convention and other users including the private sector, civil society, and indigenous peoples.
The deadline for receipt of author nominations is December 15, 2001. Nominations for reviewers will be accepted through August 1, 2002. Author nominations will be reviewed by the MA Board and Assessment Panel. Coordinating Lead Authors will be notified between February and March 2002 and Lead Authors by July 2002. This call for nominations is being sent to the government focal points of the above conventions and to networks of academic, private sector and non-governmental experts around the world.
We hope that you will distribute this call for nominations to colleagues who may know of qualified and interested individuals and to any distribution lists or Internet listservers that could reach qualified experts.
As with other international assessments, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Ozone Assessment, the salary of experts involved in the MA generally must be covered by their home institutions and governments. The technical work of the Assessment will be conducted in English and all nominated experts must be fluent in spoken and written English.
For information on the nomination requirements and on the roles of the experts and reviewers in the MA process, please see the detailed documentation available at:
http://www.millenniumassessment.org
UNFCCC COP-7
The acronym stands for the Seventh Conference of the Parties (COP-7) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which is being held in Marrakesh, Morocco, 29 October to 9 November. Delegates will focus on finalizing an agreement on the operational details for commitments on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. In seeking such an agreement, they will continue negotiations held over the past three years, and will base their discussions on political principles - the Bonn Agreements - approved by ministers and other senior government officials at COP-6 Part II in July in Bonn, Germany.
You can find an online coverage of the conference at: http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/climate/cop7/
NOTE that I am collecting the daily conference reports published by the "Earth Negotiations Bulletin" (ENB). You can get this reports from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment.
Also note that the first ENB report (Vol. 12 No. 178, 29 October 2001) includes a very useful brief history of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): Third Assessment Report
The IPCC's Third Assessment Report presents the current state of our knowledge about climate change, in four volumes: The Scientific Basis; Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability; Mitigation; and a Synthesis Report that addresses a broad range of key policy-relevant questions.
The complete text of all four reports, along with all figures and data tables, is available online beginning just now at: http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/
Greenhouse Gas Emission Graphics
The latest reports on the greenhouse gas emissions show that there has been a small reduction in the emissions from the Annex I countries since 1990. Unfortunately most of this reduction is due to economic collapse in some of these countries, not effective environmental policies. Emissions have already begun to increase again in the last few years, and they are projected to continue increasing for the foreseeable future, placing us well above the Kyoto targets by 2010. This series of graphs shows the greenhouse gas emissions reported by the parties to the Convention on Climate Change, including each country's actual emissions, its projected emissions to 2010, and its commitment under the Kyoto Protocol. http://www.grida.no/db/maps/collection/climate6/index.htm
(Source: James Sniffen < >, 29 Oct 01]
"Trust & Verify" No. 99/September-October 2001
The latest issue of "Trust & Verify", published by the London-based "Verification Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC)", carries the following:
"Trust & Verify" can be ordered from: < >
CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, SEMINARS
Wilton Park Conference "Verification and Non-Cooperation"
How can arms agreements be verified if states will not co-operate? Do new technologies offer new opportunities? What are the effects of the information and communications revolutions, more open sources and NGO activity? What lessons can be learned from verification experiences in states such as China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Russia, the United States? What should be the future priorities?
Preview Programme:
For enquiries about participation etc. contact Mrs. Heather Ingrey: mailto:
E-mail address Dr M. Kalinowski
Regarding the email address of INESAP member Dr Martin Kalinowski, please NOTE that you should use only the following:
< >
All INES e-mail addresses and homepages are available upon request from:
< < < < < end of No. 43/2001 what's new in ines < < < < <