The Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) convened in Nairobi on 18-22 February, 2013 in a first ever universal session. Based on the Rio+20 decisions of June 2012, all UN members were for the first time entitled to vote. more

On 26 February 2013, Federal Environment Minister Peter Altmaier and his Armenian colleague Aram Harutyunyan signed a joint declaration on cooperation in the environmental sector in Berlin. This has created an important foundation to strengthen the bilateral cooperation between the Federal Environment Ministry and the Armenian Ministry of Nature Protection. mehr

On 25 January 2013 220 representatives from politics, business and science discussed the framework and strategies of the green economy at the fourth Sino-German Environmental Forum in Berlin. Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Katherina Reiche and Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China Zhou Jian jointly opened the conference. more

Following difficult negotiations, the international Climate Change Conference in Doha agreed on a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. A work programme for the comprehensive climate agreement to be negotiated by 2015 was also adopted. more

On 6 December, during the climate negotiations in Qatar, Germany and the United Kingdom launched the “NAMA Facility” to support partner countries to implement ambitious action against climate change.
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The Germany Government will contribute up to € 4.5 million to a cooperation project. It is intended to start in 2013 and is estimated to reduce 25% of the Dominican Republic's absolute 2010 emissions.
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The German government has officially handed over the building complex Altes Abgeordnetenhochhaus to the Climate Change Secretariat, the largest of the UN organisations based in Bonn. This is a significant step towards establishing a single UN campus in Bonn. more

The 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was very successful. The focus was, as expected, on financing the Strategic Plan 2010-2020 and the Aichi targets. In Hyderabad the parties agreed to double the relevant funding by 2015, thereby making great progress towards achieving the goals. more

www.cbd.int/cop11