World AIDS Day
13th Annual Music for AIDS Awareness at UNU
2008.12.01 • Many thanks to all who attended the Annual Music for AIDS Awareness jazz concert at UNU Headquarters yesterday for helping us observe World AIDS Day. The concert was given by Teruo Nakamura and his Rising Sun Band from New York and featured presentations and remarks from Dr. Emile Rwamasirabo, Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda, Dr. Shigemasa Sawada, Nihon University, and Kazushige Taniguchi, the World Bank's Special Representative for Japan.
For over a decade Teruo Nakamura and the Red Shoes Foundation have been organising annual concerts in Japan to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. This was the second time to hold a concert at UNU, and we're very pleased to host such an event.
This year the band is playing additional dates across Japan. Don't pass up an opportunity to hear them if you can:
- Dec. 1 - Chukyo University, Nagoya (16:40–20:00)
- Dec. 2 - Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto (18:00–21:00)
- Dec. 3 - Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi (18:00–21:00)
Environmental Monitoring and Governance
UNU and Shimadzu Initiate 5th Phase of Capacity Building Project
UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder (left) and Shimadzu President Shigehiko Hattori following the signing ceremony. Photo: Jeremy Hedley/UNU
2008.11.25 • UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder and Shimadzu President Shigehiko Hattori signed a historic agreement today to establish the 5th phase of the project "Environmental Monitoring and Governance in the Asian Coastal Hydrosphere". The signing ceremony marks a new phase in pollution monitoring in Asia.
The project is one of UNU’s pioneering public and private-sector partnership projects. Established 12 years ago, its aim is to strengthen environmental research and education capacities in Asian developing countries and, over the longer-term, create the scientific infrastructure necessary for environmental governance and pollution-monitoring in the region.
With generous support from Shimadzu Corporation, the 5th phase (2008–2011) will target the monitoring of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the environment. Classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are regulated under the Stockholm Convention, PCBs are toxic to human and ecological health.
For more information on the UNU-Shimadzu project and other UNU initiatives on environmental monitoring, visit the UNU Environment and Sustainable Development website.
Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 60
From left: Konrad Osterwalder, Yozo Yokota, Morten Pedersen, and Vesselin Popovski at the seminar "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 60." Photo: Nicholas Turner/UNU.
2008.11.11 • UNU marked 60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), holding a seminar to assess the progress made and and the challenges remaining since it was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948. The UDHR was the first international recognition that human rights and fundamental freedoms are shared by every person, everywhere. It is almost universally accepted, forming the foundation of international human rights law, and is incorporated into the constitutions and laws of many countries.
UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder opened the seminar by emphasizing the diverse historical roots of the concept of human rights, dating back to what is said to be the first human rights document – the Cyrus Cylinder, issued in 539 B.C. by Cyrus the Great in what is now Iran.
Prof. Yozo Yokota, Special Advisor to the Rector, drew upon his extensive experience in the United Nations Human Rights system to summarize the origins, achievements and shortcomings of the UDHR since it was adopted, and the current challenges the international community faces in promoting respect for human rights.
Dr. Morten Pedersen presented a summary of his research during his two years as a JSPS-UNU Postdoctoral fellow, focusing specifically on the case of Myanmar, which since 1988 has been subject to intense international scrutiny of its human rights record, yet with few positive results. His presentation highlighted the failures of both Western sanctions and Asian engagement, arguing for a substantial increase in aid to help the people of Myanmar and to support longer-term change, developing human resources and nurturing civil society.
Watch the seminar:
First UNU VideoBrief Examines Electric Cars
2008.10.29 • UNU is pleased to announce the release of the first Our World 2.0 VideoBrief. The first episode looks at the development and availability of electric cars. VideoBriefs are short high-definition documentaries which examine key issues relating to climate change, energy, and food security, the subjects at the heart of the Our World 2.0 website.
The videos are intended to present relevant, practical and inspiring information to the average person by unveiling the big picture behind our daily experiences, illustrating policy issues at the local, regional and global levels, and by explaining the science behind how things work.
This episode, called The Electric Sunflower, features Japanese ex-race car driver Yoshio Takaoka and his quest to develop and market electric cars. The video has been produced in English and Japanese and is being shown daily on a 10-metre wide outdoor screen at Yodobashi Camera's Akihabara store in Tokyo during morning rush-hour.
Tune in and visit Our World 2.0 for more VideoBriefs coming soon.
Drug Use Leading to "Silent Ecocide"
Cocaine Linked to Deforestation, Loss of Biodiversity
Photo: Bosque de Niebla, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Kindly provided by Jenni Contreras.
2008.10.28 • The production of one gram of cocaine requires the destruction of four square metres of forest, Colombian vice president Francisco Santos said at UNU today, and creates an estimated 625 grams of waste and 200 millilitres of contaminated water which are dumped straight into the environment.
Vice President Francisco Santos speaking at UNU. Photo: Curtis Christophersen/UNU.
In an astonishing lecture that reframed the dangers of cocaine in stark terms, Santos demonstrated the devastating effects that cocaine production has on the environment of Colombia, the second most biologically diverse country in the world after Brazil. Colombia, he said, was only a trafficking route prior to 1990 when production, following market forces, then moved up the route to be closer to consumers. He warned that equatorial Africa, which has become a major route into European markets (Britain and Spain now have prevalence rates of usage as high or higher than the US) could suffer the same fate as Colombia and become a centre of production.
In addition to the "silent ecocide" caused by cocaine, Santos also called its production a major threat to democracy in the region.
The vice president was speaking on the concept of Shared Responsibility, an internationally recognised principle that calls for all parties affected by the global problem of illicit drugs to joint action. The event was organised by the Inter-American Development Bank, the Embassy of Colombia, and United Nations University.
Watch the lecture on UNU's video portal:
Download the vice president's presentation:
Shared Resonsibility presentation (1.6 MB PDF)
Visit the Shared Responsibility website:
Learn More:
Shared Responsibility: Colombia’s proposal against illicit drugs (512 KB PDF)
The world drug problem seen through a green lens (224 KB PDF)
World Drug Report 2008
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Climate Change: What We Can Do
October 24 is UN Day
Rector Konrad Osterwalder:
What price an environment bailout?
Japan Times, October 24 2008
All must innovate in this time of climate change
Asahi Shimbun, July 4 2008
UNU and Climate Change
A new section of the site launched on UN Day 2008 which will provide access to UNU activities on climate change.
Despite an unseasonal driving rain that kept the outdoor events undercover at UNU Headquarters, almost 500 people attended this year's UN Day celebrations in Tokyo. Coincidentally or not, the theme of UN Day was "Climate Change: What We Can Do" and the weather only helped to underscore the topic.
Climate change, says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is the defining challenge of our time. This year's UN Day seminar, which featured representatives from UNHCR, WHO, UNDP, UNU, and the World Bank, was intended to help the public better understand the range of activities by which the UN and its agencies is addressing the many problems of climate change.
In a video address to seminar attendees, Mr. Ban called for leadership to respond to the challenge. UNU rector, Konrad Osterwalder, wrote in a Japan Times article published to coincide with UN Day that "we must not let the current economic troubles distract us from the larger problems and responsibilities facing us," and asked, in light of the financial crisis, "why should we accept even greater failures of leadership when it comes to climate change, where the stakes are so much higher?"
As the world prepares for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań in December (1–12 December 2008) and we move from discussion to negotiation mode, such questions are by no means merely rhetorical.
Cool Biz of the Year 2008
UNU Rector Accepts Cool Biz Award for UN
UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder accepts a Cool Biz of the Year 2008 award from Hiroko Koshino. At right is actor Tetsuya Bessho who also received an award. Photo: Jeremy Hedley/UNU.
2008.10.07 • UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder accepted a Cool Biz of the Year 2008 award today on behalf of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the United Nations' "Cool UN" initiative.
The award was given to the UN for its role in serving as a model for Cool Biz outside Japan. During the month of August the thermostat in parts of the UN Headquarters building was raised nearly 3 degrees celsius to 25°, reducing the building's carbon emmissions by an estimated 300 tons and saving $100,000 in electricity costs.
It was the first time for UN Headquarters to experiment with the Cool Biz concept, which was initiated in Japan by then-Minister of the Environment Yuriko Koike in 2005. Ms. Koike participated in the awards ceremony as representative of the Cool Biz Promotion Council.
Accepting the award from renowned fashion designer Hiroko Koshino, whose designs have embraced the Cool Biz concept since the inception of the campaign, Rector Osterwalder read a statement from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon which urged nations to put aside their country positions and face a global collective responsibility to our children and the generations of the future.
In Tokyo, where the summers can be particularly hot and humid, UNU Headquarters has been practicing Cool Biz since the beginning of the campaign 3 years ago, setting the building thermostat to 28° in the summer. Energy costs are likewise saved in the winter by keeping the thermostat low.
Climate change poses ‘defining challenge’ of our time, Ban says (UN.org)
Cool United Nations (OurWorld 2.0)
Cool Biz Campaign (Wikipedia)
New from UNU Press
Climate Change in Asia: Perspectives on the Future Climate Regime
Edited by Yasuko Kameyama, Agus P. Sari, Moekti H. Soejahmoen and Norichika Kanie
Looking beyond the Kyoto Protocol's first containment period, an intense and growing international debate over the future climate change regime has emerged. Countries in Asia have particularly high stakes in this regime given the region's high population, growing greenhouse gas emissions, burgeoning economies and vulnerabilities to the impact of climate change. Limited capacity, however, has hampered the participation of many Asian countries in the international debate.
Download the UNU Press 2008-2009 catalogue
(7 MB PDF)
Global Seminar Series
UNU Global Seminars are held annually in Japan and abroad in an effort to increase awareness and enhance understanding of contemporary global issues and the role of the United Nations. This aim is achieved through close interaction of students and young professionals with scholars and experts working in the UNU's global networks.
International Courses
The UNU International Courses (UNU/IC) are organized annually for a select group of postgraduate students and professionals in various occupations in Japan and abroad who wish to pursue careers in international fields in public-service or private organizations
U Thant Lectures
The U Thant Distinguished Lecture Series is a forum through which eminent thinkers and world leaders speak on the role of the United Nations in addressing the challenges facing the world's peoples and nations in the twenty-first century.
UNU Library
The UNU Library plays a vital role in support of dissemination of the knowledge gained in UNU activities and assists learning and research through information resources.
UNU Video Portal
Tune in to UNU events as they happen, and on-demand. Recent additions to the UNU Video Portal:
- 15th U Thant Lecture by Abdoulaye Wade
- UNU G8 Sympsoium: Innovation in the Time of Climate Change
- G8 Dialogue with David Runnals: Climate Change and World Trade
Financial Assistance
The UNU Financial Assistance Programme is implemented by UNU with the generous assistance of the Government of Japan and JBIC which provides reimbursable funds to self-financed students from developing countries studying at junior colleges and universities in Japan.
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Page last modified 2008.12.04.
Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Achieve Universal Primary Education
Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Reduce Child Mortality
Improve Maternal Health
Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases
Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Develop a Global Partnership for Development