Prague to host the United Nations’ European Habitat Conference #habitat3

Prague

Climate Change Centre Reading, is honored to participate at the UN regional meeting European Habitat Conference as a climate advocate for natural weather shelter / protection of #urbanthinkers. The conference will take place in the Prague Congress Centre, Prague, Czech Republic between March 16 to 18, 2016

Habitat III Europe Regional Meeting “European Habitat” will involve a wide range of participants, that will debate regional priorities for the New Urban Agenda, and policy recommendations in the form of a final regional participants’ declaration. The “European Habitat”, is an international regional conference organised within the framework of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). It is one of five regional commissions of the United Nations, bringing together 56 member countries from Europe, the Balkans, North America and a part of Asia. The event is an official part of preparations for the third global UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development “Habitat III”. Based on a decision of the UN General Assembly adopted in December 2014, this conference should be held in Ecuador in October 2016. The event is being prepared by the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). UNO regional conferences are organised by individual regional economic commissions – and it is UNECE that covers the 56 above mentioned member countries (UNECE Member States).

In this regard, “European Habitat” will gather recommendations reflecting the consensus reached at the regional level on sustainable housing and other topics from the spectrum of a proposed New #UrbanAgenda.

Join us at this exciting opportunity to discuss the challenges of Sustainable “Housing in Liveable Cities”.

In the process towards a New Urban Agenda, Habitat III Europe Regional Meeting “European Habitat” will discuss how to ensure access to decent, adequate, affordable and healthy housing for all, with due attention to reducing the impact of the housing sector on the environment. Final declaration from “European Habitat” will be considered official inputs to the Habitat III process. Join us at this exciting opportunity to discuss the challenges of Sustainable Housing in Liveable Cities.

The official outcome of the European Habitat conference will be the Prague Declaration whose draft was discussed in December 2015 at the plenary session of the UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management, the UNECE executive body for housing and urban development. In October 2014, the Committee discussed and adopted the Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing, which was then approved by UNECE’s Plenary in April 2015 as the official contribution of the relevant region to the Habitat III conference. The Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing is an essential strategic document which the Prague Declaration develops further. The European Habitat is one of the first UN implementing conferences reflecting the goals of UN post-2015 Development Agenda.

Final “Prague Declaration” from “European Habitat” will be considered official inputs to the Habitat III process.

The #UN European Habitat Conference, is part of the roadmap to #Habitat3 in QUITO – OCTOBER 2016.

#TheWorldWeWant #TheCityWeNeed #Futureofplaces #Placemaking #SDG13 #SDGs #FutureofPlaces #COP21 #COP22 #Habitat3 #NewUrbanAgenda #PublicSpace #WUC #TheFutureWeWant #TheCityWeNeed #UrbanSDG #UrbanAction #UrbanThinkers #Youngplacemakers #ClimateAction #OpenSpace

Background

Based on a decision of the UN General Assembly, the city of Quito, Ecuador, will host the third global UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (the “Habitat III conference”) from 17 to 20 October, 2016. These summits take place every twenty years; the first one was organised in June 1976 in Vancouver, Canada, the second summit “Habitat II” took place in June 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The official outcome of the Habitat III summit will be the adoption of the discussed document (New Urban Agenda), responding to development in urban areas, with respect to the ever increasing share of the world’s population living in towns and cities (by 2050 the share will be 70%).

Preparations for the Habitat III summit are carried out according to the procedure approved by UN General Assembly; the process is managed by the Steering Committee of Habitat III.

(UN–Habitat) is the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development. It was established in 1978 as an outcome of the First UN Conference on Human Settlements and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat I) held in Vancouver, Canada in 1976. UN-Habitat maintains its headquarters at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya. It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group. The mandate of UN-Habitat derives from the Habitat Agenda, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1996. The twin goals of the Habitat Agenda are adequate shelter for all and the development of sustainable human settlements in an urbanizing world.

Invitation Boroughs of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire

Nordic_declarationInvitation to BOBShire’s Capitals‘ Declaration on #ClimateChange 2017

Venue and programme for the workshop need to be set,
Pre-register interest here, BOBShire @ CCCRdg .org .uk

Join the wave of change. Sign the Appel de Paris here, http://www.parispledgeforaction.org/read

Project ideas emerged from breakout groups for each of the following #RE100 challenges:

KIC

  • How to include quality of life (the social dimension) in climate-oriented city solutions
  • How to create incentives for people to choose to be ”climate smart” in their everyday choices
  • How to create city climate targets, measure progress and engage more actors
  • How to remove barriers that enable cities to implement more (and better) testbeds

Check back for more information

/Climate Change Centre Reading

 

Source: reykjavik.is

For immediate Release GaiaDoc.org

For immediate Release

GaiaDoc.org has launched a fit for purpose replacement text for #COP21 #Paris2015 Urgent International Draft

EMERGENCY CLIMATE CHANGE PREVENTION CHARTER (CCPC) .pdf

For-immediate-Release-GaiaDoc

Source: GaiaDoc.org

 

 

7 MARCH – Join the Car-Free Work-Day Bloc @ Time To Act National Climate March!

In our efforts to motivate as many people as possible to leave the car for a day and join in our Car-Free Days, Climate Change Centre Reading (CCCRdg) has taken a huge lap forward by campaigning for Car-Free Days until the end of the year.

Yes, we are proud of announcing CCCRdg supporting the Join the Car-Free Work-Day Bloc @ Time To Act National Climate March!

BREAKING: Please see our press release below, we hope you will find the piece interesting,

Climate Change – It’ s time for decisions now! not waste billions on campaigning.

The Future of Places

Join us at the Car-Free Work-Day Bloc on the Time to Act Climate demonstration on 7th March!

Details

12.30pm, Saturday 7th March

Lincoln’s Inn Fields [map]

Nearest tube: Holborn

Join the facebook group here

Let´s work together to help achieve this, it will be an important step in solving and laying a just and fair developing pathway, switching to zero carbon fuels.

Learn about the fossil fuels problems, that causing climate change in our local community and further afield, and what we in the local community are doing, and can do to help tackle such matters.

2015 CHANGE will honour the 2-degree Celsius limit as a limit to safeguard the world environment in Togethernessship 😉

BREAKING: CCCRdg has launched a campaign for a national “Monthly Car-Free Work-Day in the UK”  

A regular car-free work-day in Reading and UK could fuel an International monthly Car-Free Work-Day which could be an astonishing example of traffic development and public realm. Reading has great potential to embrace the sustainable pathway and become a British role-model in climate change (the air is our all urban common) to honour a successful climate change agreement taking place in Paris December 2015.

CLIMATE CHANGE IT´S #TIMETOACT2015 – MARCH 7TH – SAVE THE DATE

#TIMETOACT2015

Every day more and more people are waking up to climate change. What scientists predicted decades ago is happening right now. And we have little time left to advert catastrophe. But those in power have not yet woken up, or are unwilling to act.

On March 7th, two months before the election, we will take to the streets of London in a creative mass action. We will set out clearly what must happen now to cut emissions and build a better future. No more half-hearted promises: it´s Time to Act on Climate change.

Join the Car-Free Work-Day Bloc @ Time To Act  National Climate March!
Event – https://www.facebook.com/events/632679746859395/

2015 is a crucial year for the climate. in the UK, we must tell politicians seeking election that there is no mandate for climate-wrecking business as usual. Then at UN talks in Paris in December, governments will come together to strike a deal for the climate.

Our future is at stake.

Find out how you can help:
www.campaigncc.org

Welcome to Join our local facebook group “Climate Change Reading”https://www.facebook.com/groups/CCCRdg.community/

Will Reading be the European Green Capital 2017?

Rdg CAN!

– Have a well-established record of achieving high environmental objectives.

– Commit to ambitious goals for future environmental improvement and sustainable development.

– Inspire other cities through new ideas, best practices and experiences.

LOGO CE_Vertical_EN_quadri

Will your city be the European Green Capital 2017? The Commission has launched its search for the 2017 European Green Capital. The European Green Capital Award recognises cities that are at the forefront of environmentally-friendly urban living. The..

Read more here: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/europeangreencapital/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Will-your-city-2017_Web-Copy-F01.pdf

Water pollution from fracking confirmed in multiple states

Water pollution from fracking confirmed in multiple states

Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Texas have received hundreds of complaints, an AP investigation revealed

LINDSAY ABRAMS

fracking-water-recycling.jpeg3-620x412

A jar holding waste water from hydraulic fracturing is held up to the light at a recycling site in Midland, Texas, Sept. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

For a process that’s driving America’s energy boom, the things we don’t know about fracking for oil and natural gas often seem to surpass that which we do. One thing we do know: It involves pushing gallons of chemical-laden water into the ground, which has the potential to seep into nearby sources of drinking water. Leaving aside the fact that gas and oil companies aren’t required to disclose exactly which chemicals they’re using, actual information about water contamination’s scope and severity, along with other details crucial to public knowledge and health, is hard to come by.

In states at the forefront of the past decade’s boom in drilling for gas and oil, the Associated Press found hundreds of complaints about well-water pollution, a number of which were confirmed by officials:

— Pennsylvania has confirmed at least 106 water-well contamination cases since 2005, out of more than 5,000 new wells. There were five confirmed cases of water-well contamination in the first nine months of 2012, 18 in all of 2011 and 29 in 2010. The Environmental Department said more complete data may be available in several months.

— Ohio had 37 complaints in 2010 and no confirmed contamination of water supplies; 54 complaints in 2011 and two confirmed cases of contamination; 59 complaints in 2012 and two confirmed contaminations; and 40 complaints for the first 11 months of 2013, with two confirmed contaminations and 14 still under investigation, Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mark Bruce said in an email. None of the six confirmed cases of contamination was related to fracking, Bruce said.

— West Virginia has had about 122 complaints that drilling contaminated water wells over the past four years, and in four cases the evidence was strong enough that the driller agreed to take corrective action, officials said.

— A Texas spreadsheet contains more than 2,000 complaints, and 62 of those allege possible well-water contamination from oil and gas activity, said Ramona Nye, a spokeswoman for the Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees drilling. Texas regulators haven’t confirmed a single case of drilling-related water-well contamination in the past 10 years, she said.

via Water pollution from fracking confirmed in multiple states – Salon.com.

BBC comments – Cameron urges fracking opponents to ‘get on board’

13 January 2014
BBC comments  –  Cameron urges fracking opponents to ‘get on board’

Councils that back fracking will get to keep more money in tax revenue, David Cameron has said as he urged opponents to “get on board”.

Comments

  •  Mrs Vee
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:35

    If fracking was the right thing to do Cameron wouldn’t need to offer tax bribes, would he?

  •  Remus
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:32

    Bedrock that has taken millions of years to form – destroyed in moments for a quick profit. And the irony is that some fracking will be done by companies from countries where the practice is banned. We need more research before taking this irreversible step.

  •   AMc
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 12:17

    What concerns me is the blatent ignorance around this whole subject. Just look at all the comments on this posting. I’m neither for nor against as no one has actually properly explained the pros & cons. But we can’t all keep saying to No Nuclear, No Windfarms, No burning of coal, No Solar Farms, No fracking, we need proper debate and leadership based on facts not emotion.

  •  reenie
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:30

    Total is investing in u.k. franking because France has rejected it outright. What does that tell you !!

  •  Megan
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:27

    This is a flagrant abuse of the taxation system. A council’s obligations & duty of care to those living in its area won’t change, so altering its funding on such a flimsy pretext is outrageous – whatever you think about fracking!

  •  Lai
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:31

    David Cameron is a threat to the British public.

  •  Simon Johnson
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 11:22

    It seems clear that we do not know what irreversible damage fracking might cause. If multinational corporations, and a Conservative government, were not promoting it, we might be able to believe what the scientists say. As it is, we can’t. This is short-term profit and long-term risk. If it were about fuel security, we would be exploiting sustainable resources. Shale gas is not sustainable.

  •  stokiemart
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:37

    In addition to the obvious conflict of interests this corrupt government is engendering one notes that Total cannot destroy the French environment as fracking in illegal there. But hey, come over to the UK, the Tories will sell anything they can get away with and will help you profit at the expense of the British people and environment. You live in a corporatocracy dressed as a liberal democracy.

  •  Spycatcher
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:28

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules.

  •  BDS Now
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 11:48

    Lets all club together to get a licenses to frack in Chipping Norton, near Chequers, Windsor and Sandringham. If they are rejected … then we know for sure / conclusively that there is something wrong with fracking.

  •  Mark
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:46

    Fracking in the USA has resulted in gagging orders.
    This in itself is an infringement on freedom of speach.
    If fracking companies had nothing to hide, then why the gagging orders?

    The French have banned fracking.

    Pumping carsagenic chemicals into the ground will seep into the water table.

    Councils of the UK. Beware the poisoned apple you being offered.

  •  Mark
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:30

    Is this just not bribery?

    Council funds cut by reduced parking charges and austerity measures will need to fill the gap.
    tempting them with revenue from fracking is perverse to say the least.

  •  flipmode
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:28

    Let’s hope the local council leaders take the correct advise from specialists rather than seeing ‘££££’ signs appearing infront of their eyes.

    As most councils are short of money this could be an easy way out without looking into all apsects of fracking

  •  Sixp
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:46

    62. RonnieP

    The sooner the left wing open toed sandal brigade understand this, the better.

    ==
    Just grow up.

    There’s a pile of evidence to illustrate environmental concerns over fracking and a proper debate is needed.

    You may not care a less about the environment, others do.

  • Davertheraver 

    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:38

    All our energy needs could met and then some, by investing in insulation, solar panels on virtually every roof, more off shore wind, tidal power, combined heat and power… the solutions are all there. But the ruling class wouldn’t tolerate the people being dependent from the state-corporate alliance for energy, it’s far more profitable to give the Earth an enema and continue ‘business as usual’

  •  Nemesis
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:50

    Blackmail & corruption is truly wonderful isn’t it?

  •  They would turn in their graves
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:42

    Once they’ve dug these fracking wells, they turn their drills horizontally and can drill for 2-3 miles in every direction, blasting rock with high pressure mains water(expect water prices to increase and become scarce). They could be drilling right under your house and you don’t even know it! Or under an entire town!
    Water gets everywhere, just ask a plumber, and this is HIGHLY TOXIC water.

  •  JayTime
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:36

    Cracking is a terrible idea. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that pumping large quantities of water and chemicals into the ground is going to cause problems.

    Another case of short term financial gain setting the stage.

  •  Cheddy
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 10:48

    The downside of 5-year gov is no one wants to care beyond the 5-year mark. Fracking creates jobs, but at what cost? Smoking create jobs too – look where that got us. Legalising drugs will also create jobs.
    The gov hires PR companies to look at which short term plan the people are more likely to swallow and then jump on it.
    When it goes wrong, we won’t get the truth – just years of finger pointing.

  •  dmcc
    13TH JANUARY 2014 – 11:21

    1. Bribery, pure and simple. I bet that councils which refuse get their grants cut.

    2. So much for the “greenest government ever”.

    3. I note it’s Total, a French company. Fracking is banned in France.
    Funny, that.

    Source: bbc

UN-Water – Water Thematic Consultation report

This report is a result of sifting through and distilling the hundreds of contributions made in response to dozens of practical questions raised during the 6-months “World We Want” stakeholder consultation. Recommendations emerged for a new development framework that calls for reducing inequalities around water through rights-based approaches to service provision and governance. These approaches should integrate the management of water resources and wastewater, and improvements in water quality, requiring all sectors to break out of their narrow silos.

SIWI

Download the report here: The Post 2015 Water Thematic Consultation (69 pages)
http://www.unwater.org/downloads/Final9Aug2013_WATER_THEMATIC_CONSULTATION_REPORT.pdf

via Welcome to UN-Water.

Letter from the Chairman of Balcombe Parish Council | Balcombe Parish Council

Letter from the Chairman of Balcombe Parish Council

Posted on August 12, 2013 by balcombe1

Over next weekend, from 16th to 21st August, the No Dash for Gas protest group is planning to hold their Reclaim the Power action camp somewhere in Balcombe.  As yet the location for the camp has not been disclosed and remains a mystery.

There have been reports in the media and on the group’s website that they will be here in response to a call from Balcombe to protect our interests. I have yet to establish who, if anybody, issued this invitation. It most certainly was not the Parish Council, and the local anti-fracking group, NoFibs, has confirmed it was not them.

For perhaps too long I have been sitting on the fence balancing the opinions in our village and tolerating extreme views, but the time has come to speak up.

Whilst villagers have voted that we oppose any future fracking and whilst having respect for those who wish to protest peacefully, there are three issues that arise from the intentions of the No Dash for Gas group.

Firstly will the camp itself be a trespass?

Secondly,  and making the first pale into insignificance by comparison, is the promise  of direct action on Monday 19th August  to stop the drilling by acts of civil  disobedience.  It is likely that  this will include an attempt to enter the site and physically stop the  operations, an action that could result in injury to people on either side  of the fence and /or to the police.

At a public meeting held last Friday evening the group sought to justify such actions on the grounds that the company that is drilling is acting illegally and that in consequence illegal actions to stop it are justified. This is quite simply not the case.  Like it or not, the drilling operation is entirely legal.  All the necessary permissions and permits have been sought and are in place.

Thirdly the  group seeks to legitimize such actions by saying that whatever is done is in response to Balcombe residents’ call for help. This is just not true.

So here it is. Balcombe strongly opposes any actions which may be taken which involve civil trespass and/or illegal acts. And I further state this, if the No Dash for Gas group is coming here in the full knowledge that it intends to break the law then it should stay away. It is not wanted in Balcombe! It is duly uninvited.

Alison Stevenson

Chairman

Balcombe Parish Council

via Letter from the Chairman of Balcombe Parish Council | Balcombe Parish Council.