Warming trends are moving faster in the Arctic than in the mid-latitudes for a variety of reasons. The amount of heat the planet surface reflects into the atmosphere is a significant factor.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 May, 2018 | Topics:
Environment
The United States is pleased to be engaging with other Parties here at the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 17 November, 2017 | Topics:
Environment
The Minamata Convention represents a major step forward to help the United States and other countries to reduce people’s exposure to mercury, a toxic chemical with significant negative health effects including to the brain and nervous system.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 September, 2017 | Topics:
Environment
The United States supports a balanced approach to climate policy that lowers emissions while promoting economic growth and ensuring energy security.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 August, 2017 | Topics:
Environment
A/HRC/35/L.32 Explanation of Position by the United States of America Human Rights Council, 35th Session We thank the members of the core group for their continued dedication to an issue of importance to many countries. Climate change is a complex global challenge. As we said with respect to a prior Human Rights Council resolution on ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 June, 2017 | Topics:
Environment
In re-engaging the United Nations, we have not compromised our national interests, but advanced them; we have not overlooked the dysfunctions of the UN system, but sought to tackle them; and we have not muted our values, but defended them vigorously and credibly.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 January, 2017 | Topics:
Arms Control, Economic Affairs, Environment, Human Rights
At the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Kigali, Rwanda, countries adopted an amendment to phase down HFCs, committing to cut the production and consumption of HFCs by more than 80 percent over the next 30 years.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 17 October, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
Secretary Kerry: "In Kigali, Rwanda, I was proud to help represent the United States as the nearly 200 Parties to the Montreal Protocol agreed to an amendment to phase down the use and production of potent greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The Kigali Amendment we adopted could avoid up to half a degree Celsius ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 17 October, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
I also want to thank the people of every nation that has moved quickly to bring the Paris Agreement into force. I encourage folks who have not yet submitted their documentation to enter into this agreement to do so as soon as possible. And in the coming days, let’s help finish additional agreements to limit ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 6 October, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
You are cordially invited to attend a U.S. Mission sponsored seminar at the WTO headquarters in Geneva.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 16 September, 2016 | Topics:
Agriculture, Environment
"Geneva – the operational hub of multilateral diplomacy – provides the foundation for our work, which is built on the need to bridge cultures, to develop a network of both traditional and non-traditional partners, as we address the world’s most significant social, economic, and environmental challenges. And that’s what I want to talk about today ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 1 September, 2016 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
From September 1-10, the State of Hawaii will host the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) under the theme “Planet at the Crossroads.” At the Congress, the State Department will help showcase the Administration’s accomplishments on a range of international environmental issues, including climate, oceans and wildlife trafficking.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 31 August, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
Today’s expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument will permanently protect pristine coral reefs, deep sea marine habitats, and important ecological resources in the waters of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 29 August, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
"I want to emphasize how deeply the United States values and respects our friendship with Kenya. Today, our annual 2A trade exceeds 1.5 billion and U.S. investors are increasingly attracted to the possibilities here, especially in such sectors as energy, agri-business, and ICT. Our governments work together on a range of issues, including climate change, ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 23 August, 2016 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
The U.S. Department of State has partnered with the Ocean Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, and the XPRIZE Foundation to launch a public-private partnership, the “OceAn pH Research Integration and Collaboration in Africa (ApHRICA)” project, to advance ocean acidification monitoring in Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and South Africa.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 July, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto stresses the importance of the World Meteorological Organization and the many national weather and meteorological services around the world to address the impacts of our changing climate.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 June, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
John Kerry: On World Oceans Day, I challenge all who love the ocean – and all who love the planet – to join us.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 9 June, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
The United States welcomed China’s announcement that it would participate at a senior level in the 2016 Our Ocean conference, to be held in Washington, D.C. September 15-16, 2016. The first two Our Ocean conferences resulted in pledges of over $4 billion toward ocean conservation and commitments to safeguard almost six million square kilometers of ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 9 June, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
The United States and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate joint efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and promote other wildlife conservation measures in India. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Catherine Novelli and Indian Ambassador to the United States Arun K. Singh signed the MOU for their ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 6 June, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
If 2015 was a year of commitment, 2016 is the year to take action. And the IUCN World conservation Congress is an important step in that direction, offering us all a chance to define the sustainable path for moving the Paris climate agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals from targets to achievements.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 May, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
"Today we know: The new energy future, the efficiencies, the alternative resources, the clean options – none of what we have to achieve is beyond our capacity technologically. The only question is whether it is beyond our collective resolve."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 25 April, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
Maximizing the impact of addressing these environmental threats through partnership and cooperation is a guiding force in recent discussions between Secretary-General John E. Scanlon of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 April, 2016 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
The United States is including first-ever reforms of harmful fisheries subsides in its regional trade agreements, like the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 April, 2016 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
The United States and China share one of the most consequential relationships in the world. In recent months and years, our nations have worked together to bring about important progress on a range of global issues, including a landmark agreement on climate change in Paris last year, which began with President Xi and – actually, ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 February, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
The President’s Budget request for the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) directly supports the National Security Strategy by helping to build and sustain a more secure, prosperous, and democratic world.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 10 February, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
Today in Montreal, the U.S. and 22 other countries reached agreement on the first-ever global carbon standards for commercial aircraft. When fully implemented, the standards are expected to reduce carbon emissions more than 650 million tons between 2020 and 2040, equivalent to removing over 140 million cars from the road for a year.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 8 February, 2016 | Topics:
Environment
A few hours ago, we succeeded. We came together around the strong agreement the world needed. We met the moment.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 December, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
"It’s a victory for all of the planet and for future generations. We have set a course here. The world has come together around an agreement that will empower us to chart a new path for our planet – a smart and responsible path, a sustainable path. And extraordinarily, we are 196 delegations, 186 plans. ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 December, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
"Unless the global community takes bold steps now to transition away from a high-carbon economy, we are facing unthinkable harm to our habitat, our infrastructure, our food production, our water supplies, and potentially to life itself."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 10 December, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
Climate change is a global threat that requires a global solution. Yet, many of the countries that have contributed little to global emissions are impacted the most.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 9 December, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
"I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter, to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 1 December, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. – China Climate Leaders Summit fulfills a key element of the U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change by Presidents Obama and Xi last November, and helps to ensure that the ambitious actions to address climate change that both leaders committed to will be implemented at the state and local level, where they matter ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 September, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
President Obama is committed to leading the fight against climate change by curbing the carbon pollution that is driving global warming, building resilience in American communities to the climate impacts we can no longer avoid, and driving progress on the international stage.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 3 September, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
On Thursday, August 27, the President will travel to New Orleans to meet with residents who have rebuilt their lives over the past 10 years since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 August, 2015 | Topics:
Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, Press Releases
| Tags: Barack Obama
The United Nations continues to stand working with the U.S. government. We really appreciate your strong leadership and support, and strong, generous humanitarian assistance to many places of conflict.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 August, 2015 | Topics:
Arms Control, Economic Affairs, Environment
Climate change is no longer just about the future that we're predicting for our children or our grandchildren; it's about the reality that we're living with every day, right now.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 August, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
President Obama’s Clean Power Plan is the latest strong signal that the U.S. is leading the world in addressing the threat of climate change.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 August, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
The Clean Power Plan establishes the first-ever national standards to limit carbon pollution from power plants.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 August, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
Africa and its people helped to shape America and allowed it to become the great nation that it is.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 28 July, 2015 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
The President’s Climate Action Plan, when fully implemented, will cut nearly 6 billion tons of carbon pollution through 2030.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 27 July, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
This agreement is a tangible example of the strong bonds of friendship and cooperation between the United States and Ukraine. It strengthens our bilateral economic ties and facilitates the growth of civil aviation between our two countries.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 July, 2015 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment, Speeches
Climate change is a threat multiplier for instability throughout the world— and the report released this week further illustrates this.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 23 June, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
Secretary Kerry: In addition to the $34 million we and our partners are putting toward that new partnership, we also announced a series of individual steps we’re taking to make adapting to climate change easier around the globe
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 9 June, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
World Oceans Day Press Statement John Kerry Secretary of State Washington, DC June 7, 2015 World Oceans Day, June 8, reminds of us the importance of our oceans and maintaining their health. As we continue working and developing on and near the water, we cannot forget the impacts on our ocean – and we need ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 June, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
People must once again stir up political will to protect our environment.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 April, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. target will roughly double the pace of carbon pollution reduction in the United States from 1.2 percent per year on average during the 2005-2020 period to 2.3-2.8 percent per year on average between 2020 and 2025.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 1 April, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
For our part, the United States committed to cut our emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by the year 2025
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 1 April, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
We underscore the core principle of Disaster Risk Reduction, that each State has the primary responsibility for taking effective measures to reduce disaster risk, including for the protection of people on its territory, infrastructure, and other national assets.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 19 March, 2015 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
Climate change is an urgent and complex global challenge, requiring cooperation among all nations. Any effective solution to climate change depends upon all nations taking responsibility for their own actions and cooperating for the benefit of our planet.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 9 March, 2015 | Topics:
Environment, Human Rights
The election for IPCC chair will take place during the 42nd session of the IPCC from October 6-10, 2015.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 28 February, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
This National Security Strategy is a blueprint to leverage America's leadership in a more complicated world than many people would have ever imagined.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 6 February, 2015 | Topics:
Arms Control, Economic Affairs, Environment, Human Rights
As the head of the U.S. regulating body charged with protecting public health and the environment, let me say on behalf of my organization, and the American people, thank you for all that you do.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 29 January, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
The question is when and how the world will respond. Ambitious, concrete action is the only path forward that leads anywhere worth going.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 16 January, 2015 | Topics:
Environment
The United States is committed to identifying inclusive, ambitious, and flexible approaches to address climate change.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 November, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
“It is extremely likely that more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010 was caused by the anthropogenic increase in greenhouse gas concentrations."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 November, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
With this report, we have yet another round of authoritative, peer-reviewed science to prove it.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 3 November, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Simply put: the economy isn’t a reason to fear action, it’s a reason to take it.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 September, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
The launch of the Global Alliance offers the opportunity to share knowledge, make investments, and develop policies that will empower all producers to adapt to climate change and to mitigate greenhouse gases in agriculture while increasing sustainable production.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 September, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
The fact is that the connection between a healthy ocean and life itself for every single person on Earth simply cannot be overstated.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 25 September, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
No nation is immune... Worldwide, this summer was the hottest ever recorded -- with global carbon emissions still on the rise.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 24 September, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
I come away from these first couple of months with a great appreciation for the breadth of work going on around this town. As well as the quality of the work being carried out by the dedicated people in the UN and the international organizations here in Geneva.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 September, 2014 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment, Human Rights
The United States announced August 27 that it will afford Endangered Species Act protections to 20 coral species. All 20 species will be listed as “threatened,” a less dire classification than “endangered.”
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 29 August, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
The project will increase Burma’s capacity to provide stable energy to its people and attract investment that will help the country grow its economy, according to a press release from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 29 August, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
We continue to support the WHO’s efforts to address climate change, working alongside fellow U.N. organizations such as the U.N. Environment Program and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 28 August, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Secretary Kerry reminded us why we all need to care about the ocean: life itself depends on our relationship with the ocean. The ocean covers almost three quarters of the planet.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 14 August, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
The report is based on evidence that climate change already is affecting the United States with increased storm severity, harsh drought conditions and rising sea levels encroaching upon coastal areas.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 30 July, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Since the Global Platform meeting last May, the world has been struck with a number of extraordinary disasters underscoring that the unrelenting global challenges we face have never been greater to reducing disaster risks worldwide.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 14 July, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
On the occasion of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) July 9-10, 2014, the United States and China agreed to, among other things:
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 July, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
President Obama ordered an expansion of existing marine protected areas surrounding Pacific Remote Islands, and he set in motion stronger government action against illegal fishing.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 18 June, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is hosting government officials, scientists, business people and others at a two-day meeting focused on the sustainability of the global ocean.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 17 June, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
U.S. Department of State officials anticipate specific actions and results to emerge from Our Ocean 2014, a conference State is hosting in Washington June 16–17.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 16 June, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
EPA is proposing a Clean Power Plan that will cut carbon pollution from our power sector, by using cleaner energy sources, and cutting energy waste.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 3 June, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
The Obama administration is taking action to reduce the amount of carbon sent into the atmosphere by electric power production, the source of about one-third of all domestic greenhouse gases and the single largest source of carbon pollution.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 3 June, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
USAID announced its support for the Althelia Climate Fund to lend up to $133.8 million in commercial financing for forest conservation and sustainable land use.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 30 May, 2014 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
EPA announced funding for six universities to research cleaner technologies and fuels for cooking, lighting and heating homes with the goal of improving air quality and protecting the health of people across the developing world.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 30 May, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Can Agriculture Save the Planet Before It Destroys It? by Jack Bobo 19 May 2014 This blog post by Jack Bobo originally appeared on the State Department website on May 17. Bobo serves as chief of biotechnology and textile trade policy and senior adviser for biotechnology in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Economic and ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 May, 2014 | Topics:
Agriculture, Environment
As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the Energy Department announced two new energy efficiency standards for electric motors and walk-in coolers and freezers
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 14 May, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Today, delivering on a major commitment in the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Obama Administration is unveiling the third U.S. National Climate Assessment - —the most comprehensive scientific assessment ever generated of climate change and its impacts across every region of America and major sectors of the U.S. economy.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 6 May, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Scientific experts from different regions will be meeting with government officials, environmentalists and people representing ocean-dependent industries, such as fishing and tourism.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 24 April, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
As we mark this observance, let us reflect on the mission of the first Earth Day and recall our power to forge a cleaner, healthier future.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 April, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Increasing pressure on fragile land and water resources makes it more critical than ever to ensure that these resources are used effectively and sustainably to feed a swelling global population.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 24 March, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
I would like to reiterate Secretary Kerry’s continued commitment to tackling this illegal trade.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 2 March, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
U.S. experts in investigations of wildlife trafficking and enforcement of trafficking laws are about to begin duty in Bangkok and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 27 February, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Countries with unreliable supplies of water are more vulnerable to conflict, according to a new report from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 February, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Secretary Kerry plans to focus international diplomacy on the threats to the world’s oceans and the resources they provide to humankind in a June conference in Washington.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 February, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
How is the latest U.S. satellite and mobile technology helping 350 million of the world’s poorest people — including 60 million indigenous people — safeguard their homes and livelihoods?
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 25 February, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
When 97 percent of scientists agree on anything, we need to listen, and we need to respond.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 16 February, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
The United States announced a National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking. The Strategy will strengthen U.S. leadership on addressing the serious and urgent conservation and global security threat posed by illegal trade in wildlife.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 12 February, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Secretary Kerry: This appointment comes at a pivotal moment in the global effort to address climate change. Every single year of the 21st century – including 2013 – ranks among the 15 warmest years on record.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 1 February, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
From January 12 to 17, 2014 Geneva’s CICG center will be the site of a major international conference and exhibit aimed at improving access to critical information on the global environment.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 8 January, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Over the last five years, American inventors and investors have made significant progress in developing and deploying key clean energy technologies, supported by the policies of the Obama administration.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 8 January, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
The United States commends China for destroying more than five tons of ivory, in Guangdong Province.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 January, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
Environmental research and weather forecasting will advance with the February 2014 launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 2 January, 2014 | Topics:
Environment
The southernmost tip of Vietnam is just slightly above sea level, and its major industries — agriculture, aquaculture and fishing — could all be affected if sea levels increase due to glacial melt. Current scientific models show ocean waters rising 1 meter on average by the end of this century.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 17 December, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
"We are also working to stop the worst effects of climate change from happening in the first place, including by promoting clean-energy development and energy efficiency."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 16 December, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
OSCE continues to build trust and confidence among its 57 member states to advance political-military, economic and environmental security.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 27 November, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Since its establishment by the Security Council in 1991, the UNCC has administered a truly innovative claims program.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 19 November, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
U.S. officials will consider whether the current legal U.S. trade in ivory should be outlawed as a way to curtail illegal trafficking in wildlife products.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 November, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Today, in Denver, the Department of the Interior is destroying the United States' entire stock of confiscated contraband ivory -- totaling nearly six tons.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 November, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
A U.S. team goes to the 2013 round of negotiations on global climate change ready to demonstrate that the United States has taken “robust action” to reduce the nation's level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 12 November, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
A global agreement to reduce environmental pollution from the heavy metal mercury moved forward November 6 when the United States became the first nation to send ratifying documents to the United Nations.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 12 November, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. is making steady progress in reducing energy consumption, increasing efficiency and deploying alternative energy technologies.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 29 October, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
By Charlene Porter IIP Staff Writer Washington, October 22, 2013 The chief U.S. climate negotiator is proposing the main pillars of a new world agreement to control greenhouse gases (GHGs) and limit climate change, pillars which allow greater flexibility in how nations move toward creating clean-energy economies. Todd Stern, representing the U.S. State Department ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 23 October, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
By Charlene Porter IIP Staff Writer Washington, 18 October 2013 The weather that humans considered hot over the past century or so will be the kind of weather that future generations will find to be cool, according to new climate science reported in the journal Nature October 10. A research team at the University of ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 21 October, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
An EPA announcement says the proposal marks an important milestone in enactment of the Climate Action Plan unveiled by President Obama in June.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 23 September, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Nations of the world’s leading economies rank climate change along with growth, jobs, investment and trade as a key issue of the future.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 8 September, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Sweden's development agency (Sida) announced the Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 September, 2013 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
Building on a 30-year relationship, top officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) signed a long-term cooperative agreement, ensuring continued space-based weather, water and climate monitoring.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 30 August, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
U.S. innovation in energy-efficient and low-carbon technologies is moving at a steady pace, and Obama administration policies are aimed at further accelerating that speed as part of the recently announced strategy toward a low-carbon economy.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 30 August, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
International and regional cooperation on the use of water resources is essential for every human activity ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 23 August, 2013 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
The year 2012 was among the 10 warmest on record, according to the 2012 State of the Climate report, compiled by almost 400 scientists from 52 nations.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 9 August, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Environmental protection is good for the economy and creates jobs, according to decades of national experience. The United States’ new top environmental officer says those facts should end the nation’s decades-long debate on a “false choice” — the assertion that environmental protections inhibit economic growth.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 2 August, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Asian governments are showing heightened concern about addressing environmental problems and preserving existing natural resources, according to assessments presented to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 29 July, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
USTR Michael Froman says the United States has fully implemented the recommendations and rulings of the WTO in a dispute brought by Mexico on the U.S. dolphin-safe labeling program.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 16 July, 2013 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
Top environmental officials from Canada, Mexico and the United States agreed on an action plan to improve environmental standards in the transportation sector, act on climate change and improve air quality.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 July, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Pairs of U.S. and Chinese companies and institutions are joining ventures in which they seize shared problems to find solutions that prevent pollution, mitigate greenhouse gases, protect water and preserve the environment.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 12 July, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
The Obama administration recognized 11 community health leaders from around the U.S. for their work to raise awareness of climate change and the ill effects it can have on public health.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 10 July, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Washington, June 27, 2013 The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has calculated the carbon storage capacity of the United States. The data can be used in a strategy to counter climate change by storing carbon emissions in rock to prevent their release into the atmosphere. The United States has the potential to store about 3,000 metric ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 28 June, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
President Obama outlined his latest proposals to reduce U.S. carbon emissions and prepare the nation for climate change.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 June, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
New discoveries and new technologies have created significant increases in domestic energy production, allowing a decrease in reliance on oil imports.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 21 June, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
John Kerry: "Whether we’re talking about trade, or climate, or security, or sustainable food sources, there can be no doubt that the oceans deserve our focus."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 June, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
The National Ocean Policy places before us a framework that is genuinely centered in a vision of oceans “of the people, for the people, and by the people.”
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 June, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
The world’s oceans lost a champion when U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg died June 3 of viral pneumonia.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 6 June, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
President Obama is preparing for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping June 7-8 as U.S. presidential advisers lay the groundwork for future agreements to advance a shared agenda.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 6 June, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Feeding the hungry, preventing waste, saving money and cleaning the air are the multiple objectives in sight for World Environment Day 2013.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 June, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
In businesses, factories, schools and other public buildings, they are dimming the lights and insulating the pipes to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 30 May, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Ambassador King: "Dr. Janjic embodies the spirit of international scientific cooperation that is the hallmark of the work of the WMO and of the IMO Prize."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 23 May, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
The Arctic Council presides over one of the Earth’s coldest places, but the warming of the Arctic and the overall planetary trend of climate change were the dominant topics as the council met May 15 in Kiruna, Sweden.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 16 May, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
We’re focused on ensuring a secure, peaceful, and prosperous Arctic.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 May, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Secretary of State John Kerry will join counterparts from seven other nations May 15 to discuss their shared stewardship of the Arctic, its fragile environment and its unique biodiversity.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 13 May, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Washington State University will lead a new effort to develop wheat varieties that are better at tolerating the high temperatures found in most of the world’s growing regions — temperatures that are likely to increase with global warming.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 10 April, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
The melting of Greenland's glaciers in the summer of 2012 was as extensive as it has been in more than a century, and U.S. scientists now conclude that a very particular type of cloud formation made the difference.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 April, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
With recognition of the International Year of Water Cooperation, the U.S. is working on multiple fronts to help address the unmet needs of hundreds of millions of people, bringing together the skills, know-how and resources to develop water and sanitation capabilities that will protect health and support development.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 21 March, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. advocates a proposal to create a vast marine reserve in Antarctica's Ross Sea, said Secretary Kerry and he emphasized the Obama administration's renewed focus on climate change and environmental stewardship
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 March, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Ambassador Betty E. King delivered remarks at an event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The U.S. Mission sponsored an exhibit and film presentation to mark the occasion.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 February, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Landsat 8 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California February 11, beginning a mission to constantly collect data about surface conditions on Earth. The mission puts more sensitive instruments in orbit, opening the latest chapter in Earth observation.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 12 February, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
Oil and gas prospectors will be able to bid on leases March 20 to explore and develop petroleum resources in the central Gulf of Mexico as part of the Obama administration’s five-year leasing program for the region.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 February, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
With climate change and illegal fishing threatening fish stocks and ocean health around the world, countries need to work together and with industry to manage access to fish, analysts say.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 16 January, 2013 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
Busy shipping lanes off the California coast, including routes that cross three national marine sanctuaries, will be adjusted to protect endangered whales from ship strikes.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 January, 2013 | Topics:
Environment
“Energy cuts across the entirety of U.S. foreign policy. It’s a matter of national security and global stability. It’s at the heart of the global economy. It’s also an issue of democracy and human rights.” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 December, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
The world’s top decision makers on climate are meeting in Doha, Qatar, over the next two weeks for the U.N. Climate Change Conference. The 18th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework on Climate Change is expected to focus on strategies for accelerating actions to reduce greenhouse gases and to inhibit the increase of ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 28 November, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
California is holding its first carbon emissions permit auction November 14. The auction is a critical component of the state’s cap-and-trade program, a market-based initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by creating incentives for companies to limit their pollution.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 November, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Secretary Clinton: "Wildlife trafficking is a global issue involving national security, public health and economic security, and requires a concerted global response."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 9 November, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Blocking the sunlight that reaches Earth might be another means to lessen the effects of climate change, some U.S. scientists theorize.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 October, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
The United States is proud of its association with the IUCN. There are 91 IUCN members in the United States, including the Department of State and six other U.S. Government agencies and over 50 non-governmental organizations. We look forward to continuing that relationship for many years to come.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 28 September, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
There is no speech that justifies mindless violence. There are no words that excuse the killing of innocents. There's no video that justifies an attack on an embassy.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 25 September, 2012 | Topics:
Arms Control, Economic Affairs, Environment, Human Rights
First signed in 1972 and last amended in 1987, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is a model of binational cooperation to protect the world’s largest surface freshwater system and the health of the surrounding communities.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 September, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Russia and the United States plan to link national parks situated along both sides of their border on the Bering Strait to help protect environmental resources, conduct scientific research and preserve the lifestyle, cultures and languages of the region’s indigenous population.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 September, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
UN Open Day is a great way to learn about the work of the United Nations and the diplomatic Missions in Geneva. We hope to see many of you there!
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 September, 2012 | Topics:
Environment, Events
A U.S. Coast Guard ship is sailing the Arctic to conduct research on growing acidity in the northernmost ocean and its effect on the food chain.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 28 August, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
NASA and the Interior Department marked the 40th anniversary of the Landsat program with a Washington event that celebrated the contributions of the world’s longest-running Earth-observing satellite program to environmental research and global development.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 24 July, 2012 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
Nine companies hailing from India, Japan, Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States will be sharing their ideas on waste management and related issues as part of a three-day forum associated with the LAUNCH: Beyond Waste challenge. LAUNCH is a program that aims to identify and accelerate solutions to the world's most urgent sustainability ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 16 July, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. agency that studies the Earth’s environment and predicts changes has announced a major advance in its ability to predict mass coral bleaching that will determine the probability of bleaching up to four months into the future.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 July, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
The United States announced new whale conservation initiatives and led the effort to promote conservation work at the 64th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) July 2–6 in Panama.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 July, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Partially funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the MSU program has developed a new application for thermal imaging technology, using it to monitor surface temperature gradients on animals.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 July, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
“Space weather is a global challenge requiring coordinated global preparedness. We recognize space weather as a significant natural hazard risk with economic and societal impacts on key infrastructures and technologies including power grids, location and timing systems, aviation operation and security of satellites."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 3 July, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
The key to achieving sustainable economic growth while preserving environmental resources will be new ideas, pragmatism and optimism about “a more prosperous future,” said Secretary of State Clinton in a speech June 22 at the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, as it concluded in Rio de Janeiro.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 25 June, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will serve as alternate head of delegation, and Todd Stern, Special Envoy on Climate Change, will serve as chief negotiator.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 13 June, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Almost half of the U.S. Mission’s lawn has been converted to a Prairie seeded with indigenous plants. The new gardens are easier to care for, better for biodiversity, and require no water.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 May, 2012 | Topics:
Environment, Events
A U.S. intelligence report outlined the potential for water-related issues to become national security problems in various places around the world
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 May, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Populations of oceangoing mammals are rebounding in U.S. waters and beyond, thanks to a federal law enacted nearly 40 years ago.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 10 May, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Methane hydrates are ice structures with natural gas locked inside. They are found both onshore and offshore, including under the Arctic permafrost and in ocean sediments along nearly every continental shelf in the world, the Energy Department said in a press release.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 May, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Warmer temperatures causing global climate change are recorded month after month, but the greatest evidence of environmental change appears in the Arctic
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 3 May, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
New designs for more energy-efficient household appliances are among the top goals announced at a high-level governmental forum working to speed the global transition to cleaner technologies.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 27 April, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
The United States will exhibit its diverse ocean environments and coastal communities during EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea, and tell how America’s culture, history, security and economy are linked to this complex ecosystem.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 April, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
A two-month-old international plan to accelerate action against climate-damaging pollutants is gaining momentum with decisions from Stockholm April 24. The Climate and Clean Air Coalition is moving forward on “fast and federated action on short-lived climate pollutants,” according to a press release from the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP).
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 25 April, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. Mission supported an event for Earth Day at the International Environment House. Organized by the Antinea Foundation and the Geneva Environmental Network, the event aimed to build synergies among the NGOs present.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 April, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Ecosystems dependent on snow and ice may suffer the most adverse impacts from climate change, according to a body of information accumulated through the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network, a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 12 April, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, aims to satisfy the curiosity of anyone seeking a bird’s-eye view of the Earth’s transformation through decades of climate change and global warming.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 April, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife Without Borders program has entered into an agreement with Cameroon’s Garoua Wildlife College (l’Ecole de Faune de Garoua [EFG]) that will enhance wildlife conservation in Central and West Africa, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced March 15.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 March, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Rio+20 is about the future. The United States believes that Rio+20 should be a different kind of meeting, one that transforms the multilateral approach to sustainable development and incorporates its concepts across all sectors.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 16 March, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
The United States believes that Rio+20 should be a different kind of meeting, one that transforms the multilateral approach to sustainable development and incorporates its concepts across all sectors.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 14 March, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Reta Jo Lewis spoke at the opening of the Road to Rio – R20 Conference in Geneva March 7, 2012.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 March, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Major corporate players in a variety of industries, from food to retail to computers, have received awards for their leadership in reducing carbon emissions and taking action on climate change.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 March, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Partners in 60 countries in six regions will share nearly $15.5 million in wildlife conservation grants from a U.S. agency to protect endangered wildlife.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 February, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Remarks at the Climate and Clean Air Coalition To Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants Initiative Remarks Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State Benjamin Franklin Room Washington, DC February 16, 2012 SECRETARY CLINTON:Well, welcome to the State Department, to the Benjamin Franklin Room. Benjamin Franklin was not only our first diplomat, but our first great scientist. ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 17 February, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Satellite observations accumulated over a seven-year period show that the volume of Earth’s land ice mass decreased by 4.3 trillion tons (more than 4,150 cubic kilometers) and increased global sea level by 12 millimeters. That’s enough ice to cover the entire United States to a half-meter depth.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 10 February, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Career opportunities are growing in the emerging “green economy,” and women need to take notice, according to Sara Manzano-Díaz, director of the Women's Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 10 February, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
51 embassies and international institutes joined with Washington Mayor Vincent Gray and State Department Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy to pledge to make their buildings and operations more environmentally sustainable.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 8 February, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
As Rio+20, the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit, approaches in June, we have a chance to learn lessons, build partnerships and put in place innovative strategies that can reshape the economic and environmental future of our entire planet. It is the rarest of opportunities to truly change the world, and make a difference ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 8 February, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
World Wetlands Day gives us a unique opportunity to highlight and celebrate our diverse wetlands around the globe. Only recently have we begun to understand the important functions that wetlands perform – they are the world’s most productive environments, comparable to coral reefs and rain forests, and a vital link between water and land.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 2 February, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
Worried that warming temperatures and glacier melt might endanger Seattle’s water supply, city officials took bold steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 2 February, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 January, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
The United States will join other nations and the European Union to develop an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 19 January, 2012 | Topics:
Environment
On December 13th, the US Mission co-hosted, with the Republic of Poland, a reception at the UN of Geneva to commemorate the closing of 2011 as the International Year of Forests. Speaking at the ceremony, Ambassador Betty E. King noted how 2011 has “delivered compelling examples from across the globe of national and international efforts ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 December, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
By 2023, Turkey seeks to produce 30 percent of its power from renewable resources, including solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass. By increasing renewable-energy and energy-efficiency exports, U.S. firms can help Turkey meet its energy needs while supporting American jobs in the growing clean-energy sector.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 14 December, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
Data collected from U.S. and French satellites have led to confirmation of a “merging tsunami,” the monster wave that slammed the northeastern Japanese coastline last March.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 8 December, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
Excessive levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere are causing the planet to grow warmer, most researchers agree. One possible response to the problem is to prevent CO2 from entering the atmosphere by storing it somewhere else.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 2 December, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
Rio + 20 should seek to make governments around the world more transparent and accessible, to better engage citizens, and to build new networks across all sectors of our societies. We look forward to achieving these goals together.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 1 December, 2011 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
International cooperative actions to mitigate climate change will be up for discussion when a major international meeting convenes in Durban, South Africa, November 28 through December 9. The chief U.S. negotiator, Todd Stern, expects that this year’s session on the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will build on progress made in the last ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 23 November, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
“The world of energy diplomacy is one that we see as central to the mandate that we have as a foreign policy agency,” said Ambassador Carlos Pascual, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 23 November, 2011 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
More than 4,220 Peace Corps volunteers have served in the Dominican Republic since the program was established in 1962. Currently, 220 volunteers serve in the country. They work in community development, health, environment, youth development and business and are trained and work in Spanish and basic Haitian Kreyol.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 21 November, 2011 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
This week, we celebrate the remarkable everyday successes of our entrepreneurs and innovators. Together, we can unleash technologies that will shape the 21st century and create a world where men and women can take a chance on a dream – an idea that starts around a kitchen table or in a garage – and turn ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 November, 2011 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
On October 27th, the U.S. Mission’s Green team gathered for a demonstration of the Mission’s electric bicycles (or “e-bikes”). The e-bikes are available for travel by Mission employees to meetings and conferences around Geneva and are part of the Mission’s ongoing commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. The group discussed important features of the e-bikes, ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 9 November, 2011 | Topics:
Environment, Events
The United States and the Republic of Korea will work together to advance innovative breakthroughs in clean energy technology, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced October 13.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 17 October, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
Degradation of the land supporting human life and the food supply is an environmental threat that endangers the lives and livelihoods of more than 1 billion people worldwide. On September 20, world leaders met in a high-level U.N. forum for the first time to address desertification and drought.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 September, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
Washington — Seventy days remain until international leaders will gather in South Africa to discuss ways to tackle climate change. The road ahead is tough, U.S. lead climate negotiator Todd Stern told reporters September 19, “but I’m not pessimistic.”
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 September, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
“Cities are the location of a lot of emissions because they’re centers of industry and population,” Mann said. “But they’re also laboratories for solutions. They’re going to generate the ideas the federal government will come back to, at some point, out of necessity.”
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 August, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
This year a jury will choose three policies that they believe best contribute to the conservation and sustainable development of forests. Twenty policies from sixteen countries were nominated and the United States joins five other countries on the list of finalists: Bhutan, The Gambia, Nepal, Rwanda, and Switzerland.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 July, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
Research published June 20 finds a steady rise in the sea level on the U.S. Atlantic coast, a faster rise now than at any time in the last 2,000 years.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 June, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
In commemoration of World Environment Day, the U.S. Mission is sponsoring Mona Sfeir’s “Recycling Labyrinth” a work of art comprised of 8,000 plastic bottles, the number of bottles that go into landfills worldwide every second, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 6 June, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
The Obama administration has announced an intent to provide $1 billion through 2012 to help other nations adapt to climate change, an amount Stern said is only three one-hundredths of 1 percent of the annual budget
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 26 May, 2011 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
In every one of our economies, we have entrepreneurs and inventors bristling with new ideas to solve our energy challenges to put us on a path to clean growth," Locke said in remarks prepared for delivery May 18 in Big Sky, Montana. "We've got to give them the tools to succeed no matter where they ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 19 May, 2011 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
Choosing the right tree to plant depends on what sort of climate you live in. The U.S. Department of Agriculture teamed up with the Chicago Botanic Garden and Pennsylvania State University to produce an illustrated list of trees and shrubs best suited for urban environments.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 13 May, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
Scott initially intended for the lamps to be used in commercial buildings or aircraft. Then he read The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid and shifted his approach. The book by C.K. Prahalad describes the commercial opportunities offered by the 2.5 billion people in the world who live on less than $2.50 per day.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 May, 2011 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a grant to the United Nations University (UNU) to help curb rising pollution and health problems associated with discarded electronics.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 3 May, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
The United States Mission to the United Nations is very pleased to have been selected as a model of green diplomacy and environmental stewardship under a new award created by the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. Mission was chosen as the runner up in the first annual Greening Diplomacy Initiative (GDI) award, which recognizes ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 28 April, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
Ambassador King: "With the sowing of seeds of what is known as the “mélange de Geneve” – which includes 46 different species of regional and local flowers and native wild grasses – the lawn we stand on today will be transformed into a meadow full of flowering prairie grasses indigenous to the Geneva region."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 April, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
On April 20, 2011, the United States Mission to the United Nations in Geneva will celebrate its signature of Geneva’s Garden Charter (Charte des Jardins) with a seed sowing ceremony beginning the conversion of the lawns surrounding our building to meadows of flowering prairie grasses indigenous to the Geneva region. The conversion from lawn to ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 April, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
The depletion of the ozone layer over the Arctic is more severe than scientists have ever seen it, with a 40 percent loss occurring from the beginning of winter to late March.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 April, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of our diplomatic and development efforts, not least because innovation continues to drive economic growth and job creation in Seattle and across the United States. That’s why emphasize the importance internationally and multilaterally of intellectual property laws – protecting patents, copyrights, and trademarks – which ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 1 April, 2011 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment, Human Rights
Today, my Administration is releasing a Blueprint for A Secure Energy Future that outlines the comprehensive national energy policy we’ve pursued since the day I took office. And here at Georgetown, I’d like to talk in broad strokes about how we will secure that future.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 31 March, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
To commemorate World Forestry Day and the International Year of Forests, Ambassador King planted a tree on UN grounds in a symbolic step "towards furthering the ambition of increased tree coverage around the globe."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 21 March, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. Mission is proud to have participated in the unique Art of Trees exhibition at the United Nations organized by the UNECE and FAO. The exhibit combines artwork on the theme of trees - including a series of 24 posters by Montana artist Monte Dolack - and beautiful living trees. The trees will be ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 18 February, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. government is pushing for large-scale wind power development and the timing may be just right.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 18 February, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
In his January 25 State of the Union address, President Obama challenged the United States to become the first nation with 1 million electric cars. His administration since has announced several initiatives it will ask Congress to fund in the 2012 budget to help spur such rapid growth.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 February, 2011 | Topics:
Environment
Today, I am pleased to announce that we secured the Cancun Agreements, a set of balanced international decisions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which represent meaningful progress in our global response to climate change.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 14 December, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
The world may finally be on its way toward a legally binding treaty that includes all major greenhouse gas emitters and compensates nations most vulnerable to climate change.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 14 December, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
Today I am pleased to announce that we secured the Cancun Agreements, a set of balanced international decisions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) which represent meaningful progress in our global response to climate change.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 December, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
Last year in Copenhagen, President Obama joined with leaders and others representing countries from around the world to find a formula that could bridge a wide variety of interests and perspectives and forge a new path on climate change – one on which all Parties would embark together.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 10 December, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
Nearly a week into the meetings, the U.S. delegation at COP-16 maintains that the United States stands by its commitments from last year’s Copenhagen Accord and remains prepared to move forward. Most important, they say, the United States is showing in real dollars and actions that it’s taking unprecedented steps to address climate change at ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 3 December, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
We meet within an institution built from the rubble of war, designed to unite the world in pursuit of peace. And we meet within a city that for centuries has welcomed people from across the globe, demonstrating that individuals of every color, faith and station can come together to pursue opportunity, build a community, and ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 24 September, 2010 | Topics:
Arms Control, Economic Affairs, Environment, Human Rights
The Indonesian Climate Change Center, which received an initial $7 million in U.S. funding under the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, was announced in June. The investment is part of a $136 million package the United States committed to Indonesia over three years for climate change and other environmental programs.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 September, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
I think we have had a useful, pretty constructive meeting over the last day and a half to discuss financing issues which are a key part of this overall negotiation. One thing I noted when I spoke yesterday kind of up top was the three key issues that comprise the overall finance question which are ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 3 September, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
A Blog by the Nine U.S. landscape architecture students who are spending the first two weeks of August studying the grounds surrounding the U.S. Mission and drafting a design to make our gardens greener and more sustainable.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 12 August, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is a national treasure. It is the United States’ single largest conservation area, and its inclusion in the World Heritage List will make it the second largest World Heritage Site in the world. Its 139,797 square miles are home to over 7,000 marine species, a fourth of which are found only ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 2 August, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
“I am very excited about this project, which will help reinforce the Mission's reputation as the greenest US diplomatic building in Europe,” said Ambassador Betty E. King, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. “The efforts of this talented team of young landscape architects will not only help us make our environment more ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 24 July, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
Ambassador Betty E. King: ”By being a pioneer in adopting trade measures to prevent over exploitation and relying on scientific advice for the authorization of wildlife trade, CITES has put the machinery in place to contribute to the improved management of the key natural assets of our planet.”
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 2 July, 2010 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
Ambassador Betty E. King: "By being a pioneer in adopting trade measures to prevent overexploitation and relying on scientific advice for the authorization of wildlife trade, CITES has put the machinery in place to contribute to the improved management of the key natural assets of our planet."
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 30 June, 2010 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
I’ve returned from a trip to the Gulf Coast to speak with you about the battle we’re waging against an oil spill that is assaulting our shores and our citizens.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 June, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
Today, the United States is learning firsthand how fragile our ecosystems are and how quickly a treasured landscape can become endangered. As President Obama recently stated, protecting the earth’s biodiversity, be it in the Gulf of Mexico or elsewhere, is a responsibility all of us share.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 7 June, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
The theme of World Environment Day 2010 is “Many Species. One Planet. One Future.” It echoes the urgent call to conserve the diversity of life on our planet. A world without biodiversity is a very bleak prospect. Millions of people and millions of species all share the same planet, and only together can we enjoy ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 June, 2010 | Topics:
Environment, Events
The highest priorities of U.S. national security are the safety of Americans at home and abroad and achieving a peaceful, stable world through global cooperation despite a flawed international system, President Obama says.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 28 May, 2010 | Topics:
Biological Weapons, Economic Affairs, Environment
Forty years ago, Earth Day began in the United States as a “teach-in” – a day to educate people about the environmental challenges facing our planet. Today, we know more than ever about the challenges of preserving our environment – from clean water to climate change – and Earth Day has evolved into a call ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 April, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
FACT SHEET Biodiversity conservation, the practice of protecting and preserving the wealth and variety of species, habitats, ecosystems, and genetic diversity on the planet, is important for our health, wealth, food, fuel, and services we depend on. It plays an integral role in supporting many sectors of development. Food security depends upon natural resources that ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 April, 2010 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
The Department of State will commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day as well as the first anniversary of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Greening Diplomacy Initiative on April 21 (the eve of Earth Day, which is April 22) in the Dean Acheson Auditorium. At the event, the Department will formally launch the D.C. ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 20 April, 2010 | Topics:
Environment, Events
President Obama today challenged Americans to take action in their homes, communities, schools, or businesses to improve the environment in honor of the upcoming 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, 2010.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 April, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
Effective and sustainable development turns vulnerability into stability and desperation into hope. President Obama and Secretary Clinton have together committed to articulating a global development policy for our country. The Quadrennial Development and Diplomacy Review - or QDDR - is an assessment of current State and AID capabilities and will provide recommendations for improved performance.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 April, 2010 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
The International Donors’ Conference Toward a New Future for Haiti demonstrated an international commitment to Haiti’s short and long-term recovery and yielded more than $9 billion for Haiti’s reconstruction and to support essential social services, governance and broad-based sustainable development, and to defend against natural disasters. Of this amount, more than $5 billion was pledged ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 1 April, 2010 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
Haitian President René Préval provided an international donors’ conference with a $3.9 billion post-earthquake reconstruction plan to begin the initial work of rebuilding the small Caribbean nation — the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. And international donors responded with $9.9 billion in pledges, which includes more than $5.3 billion for the first two years ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 1 April, 2010 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
We are looking at ways to work with international partners to support the development and implementation of country-led water and sanitation plans. The Millennium Challenge Corporation is supporting countries that are committed to making needed reforms, improving governance, and taking on the tough development challenges that surround the issue of water. USAID is working at ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 March, 2010 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
Experts often characterize climate change in terms of a projected rise in global average temperature over the 21st century. People worldwide are feeling that heat now through their water supplies, as a warming planet begins to alter the land-sea-atmosphere cycle of water that makes life on Earth possible.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 19 March, 2010 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
While officially considered protected areas by the government, national forests in Bangladesh are commonly encroached upon by citizens of surrounding communities and are havens for illegal logging activities. These are mostly poor people who depend on removing timber to sell as fuel for wood-burning stoves or use for construction purposes.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 8 March, 2010 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
"The United States today officially announced its desire to associate with the Copenhagen Accord and submitted its emissions reduction target to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The U.S. submission reflects President Obama’s continued commitment to meeting the climate change and clean energy challenge through robust domestic and international action ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 28 January, 2010 | Topics:
Environment
Good morning. It’s an honor to for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 18 December, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
Today I’ve had some useful conversations – already met with my Chinese friend Xie Zhenhua and have been working on the negotiations that are going to be coming up this afternoon. Members of our U.S. team have been participating in the various informal consultations that have spun out of the plenary session that Connie Hedegaard, ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 15 December, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
Over the course of the week, I’ve had a number of very constructive conversations. Let me make one comment about something back at home. In I think an important development in the U.S. Senate, Senators Kerry, Graham and Lieberman announced a comprehensive framework for energy and climate legislation, and this is actually quite a significant ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 12 December, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
The bottom line is the United States is committed to getting the strongest possible agreement we can over the next two weeks. We are under no illusion that this is going to be easy. I think it is going to be challenging. But I think an agreement is there to be had if we do ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 10 December, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
Progress is being made towards a meaningful Copenhagen accord - The President believes that continued US leadership can be most productive through his participation at the end of the Copenhagen conference on Dec. 18th rather than on Dec. 9th. The United States will have representation in Copenhagen throughout the negotiating process by State Department negotiators ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 December, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
The White House announced today that President Obama will travel to Copenhagen on Dec. 9 to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference, where he is eager to work with the international community to drive progress toward a comprehensive and operational Copenhagen accord.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 25 November, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
The U.S. Mission in Geneva is the first State Department facility, abroad or at home, to receive this designation, certifying that our grounds provide the essential elements for healthy and sustainable wildlife habitats.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 19 November, 2009 | Topics:
Environment, Events
This eJournal USA offers perspectives of experts and activists in several key countries on effective policies to curb greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate global warming and adapt to irreversible changes, and features an introduction by U.S. special envoy Todd Stern.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 13 October, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
I have been in office for just nine months -- though some days it seems a lot longer. I am well aware of the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world. These expectations are not about me. Rather, they are rooted, I believe, in a discontent with a status quo that has allowed us ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 23 September, 2009 | Topics:
Arms Control, Economic Affairs, Environment, Human Rights
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much. Good morning. I want to thank the Secretary General for organizing this summit, and all the leaders who are participating. That so many of us are here today is a recognition that the threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing. Our generation's response ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 22 September, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
Improving development and delivery of climate services offers untold economic, environmental, human health, and national security benefits. For these reasons, the U.S. delegation is very pleased with the outcome of this conference, and its decision to establish a Global Framework for Climate Services.
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 September, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Head of Delegation: I’m very excited with this conference. I believe that today will be remembered as the day that climate services were officially born. Just as we depend on all sorts of weather services, soon -- if we are successful in our efforts -- we can expect a range of science-based ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 4 September, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
It is an honor for me to be here today on behalf of President Obama at the third World Climate Conference. In just over six months, President Obama has dramatically shifted US policy on climate change. He has emphasized that good government depends on good science, and that the scientific evidence of climate change is ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 3 September, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
We gather here this week because we have a shared challenge. It has taken decades of outstanding and Nobel prize-winning climate science to bring it into view. It has taken the persistence of a community of researchers all over the world some who are represented here, It has taken the shepherding by international organizations many ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 31 August, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
The climate challenge demands a genuinely global response. No one nation is responsible for it. No one nation possesses all the knowledge or know-how to confront it. Every nation is vulnerable to its impacts. The poor and developing countries are particularly vulnerable. So we must all work together to avoid the worst possible outcomes of ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 31 August, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
Two U.S. government agencies, the U.S. Department of State and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), have pledged a total of $500,000 to support the conference. The United States will be represented at the conference by a multi-agency delegation headed by Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 12 August, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
And I've come here to Ghana for a simple reason: The 21st century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Accra, as well. (Applause.) This is the simple truth of a time when the boundaries between people are overwhelmed by our connections. Your ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 11 July, 2009 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment, Human Rights
"Last year, the United Nations first proclaimed June 8 as World Oceans Day. This observance is a time to reflect on the importance of the world's oceans to our planet's health. World Oceans Day is also a timely reminder of the many pressures the oceans face. "
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 8 June, 2009 | Topics:
Economic Affairs, Environment
U.S. Mission – Media Note May 5, 2009 U.S. Announces Contribution to Support the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC3) Funding will be provided by the U.S. State Department and NOAA The United States has announced that it will make a contribution to support the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC3) which will be held in Geneva from August ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 May, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
The United States has announced that it will make a contribution to support the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC3) which will be held in Geneva from August 31 to September 4, 2009. The aim of the WCC3 is to establish an international framework to guide the development and dissemination of climate services which will link science-based ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 5 May, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
With the flip of a switch on Earth Day, April 22, 2009, the United States Mission in Geneva will take another step to consolidate its standing as the U.S. State Department’s greenest diplomatic building. On that date the U.S. Mission -- already home to a major solar electric system -- will bring on-line an innovative ...
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By U.S. Mission Geneva | 2 April, 2009 | Topics:
Environment
