Review of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference
Shortly after agreement was reached, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the press that the talks had been exhausting.  “The Copenhagen Accord may not be everything that everyone hoped for. But it is a beginning--an essential beginning.”  He said countries have agreed to work toward a common, long-term goal to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius and many governments have made important commitments to reduce or limit emissions.  Significant progress was made to preserve forests and there was agreement to provide comprehensive support to the most vulnerable to cope with climate change.  And he said, “the deal is backed by money,” about $30 billion for short term use.  .  “We have the foundation for the first truly global agreement that will limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support adaptation for the most vulnerable, and launch a new era of green growth.” GO TO THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE FOR MORE ANALYSIS, PICTURES AND VIDEO OF THE CONFERENCE: http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/pages/gateway/copenhagenfieldnotes 

Preparations for the 2010 Commission on Social Development
Marianists International, as members of the NGO Committee on Social Development has been working hard to prepare of this year's Commission on Social Development, 3-12 February 2010. This will be the "policy year" to conclude the two-year cycle on the theme of "social integration/inclusion." We were a member of the NGO team participating in the Expert Group Meeting on this priority theme in November. The final report for that meeting and its recommendations can be found on the NGO Committee's website, http://ngosocdev.wordpress.com/ along with the recommendations from the other expert group meeting in Accra, Ghana. Also available on the website is a report the Committee did on a two year survey of NGO 'best practices' in social integration that included 190 responses from 62 countries. The Secretary-General's background report for the Commission plus all the written interventions by NGOs are available at the UN site for the Commission: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/csd/2010.html.