Traditionally the UN and other humanitarian agencies have only been able to provide aid in countries where their presence is accepted by both the local government and the members of the community where they are working. This is the closest they come to a guarantee of security. Without local acceptance and support, the workers are vulnerable and can’t continue their work. It is easy to see how, under these conditions, a change in public mood could put foreign aid workers at risk.

Some might argue that the shifting role of the UN from strictly neutral humanitarian aid, to more recent less neutral “stabilisation” tasks has put workers at greater risk. But then what of these transition countries that are unable to provide security for their own people; should the international community intervene?

Using armed forces to deliver aid seems counter-productive and has been proven to be disastrously ineffective in the past. So the question then is how do we protect the people who work so hard to help those who need it most? This is a question that needs to be more thoroughly considered before more innocent civilians are killed.

Sadly, however, sharks are killed by the millions to provide fins for shark fin soup, which the Miami Herald reports is increasingly popular. Up to 73 million sharks are killed each year in what is a very un-sustainable fishery.

In March 2010, commerce was chosen over conservation at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Then there was hope. The Maldives created a 35,000 square mile Indian Ocean shark sanctuary. Later in 2010, protective measures for eight sharks were adopted at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.

Then the presidents of Honduras and Palau challenged other UN world leaders to establish additional sanctuaries and to stop the practice of finning, where a shark’s fins are cut off and then the shark is thrown back into the sea to die. At the end of 2010, the U.S. Congress stepped up to the plate and passed the Shark Conservation Act which increases shark conservation efforts and helps stop finning.

Now we need more countries to take responsible actions to help preserve the remaining sharks.

Ban Ki-moon will still be involved with international climate change negotiations, and recently called on the world’s major powers to stop playing politics and reach a climate change agreement. “Consumption without consequences” needs to end, and climate change shows that the old model is dangerous, Ban reportedly said at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

But after Copenhagen 2009 failed, Ban realized that the solution may be in addressing the issue at ground level. Before Cancun 2010, he suggested that financing efforts against climate change and on forestry may be better (read: easier) than reaching a global agreement.

This basic shift of his attention from the problem to solutions is a good one. We can’t afford to wait for the world’s leaders to agree on action if they stall any longer. Let’s help the people who are bringing solutions to the table, such as clean energy. Our world needs it.

The referendum, as you may already know, comes on the heel of a two decade long civil war which finally ended in 2005. The referendum is about whether the southern region should remain a part of Sudan or become a new, independent country. Considering the recent civil war, and some of the humanitarian abuses that occurred during that time, it’s expected that the South will vote for separation.

If the people vote for separation, it’s uncertain what Sudan’s capital Khartoum’s reaction will be. So the satellite will watch for any unusual movements of troops and be ready to alert the UN and other forces if a humanitarian crisis is looming. As well, a map is being developed based on the pattern of burned villages, which may be an indicator of where Khartoum would start an attack.

The technology has been used before, in 2007 when Amnesty International’s “Eyes on Darfur” watched for and helped prevent further humanitarian abuses in the Darfur region of the Sudan.

If you want to get an idea of what a satellite view looks like, go to Google maps and click on satellite view. The visual map shows amazing details, which is similar to the view that will let the UN know what’s happening in the Sudan. The current Satellite Sentinel Project is a collaboration between Google, the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT), the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and celebrity-backed NGOs, reports Radio Free Europe.

Gender equality’s role in overcoming poverty and social ills in our world is well known. Following the Beijing World Women conference in 1995, the World Bank developed an official gender mainstreaming strategy that was approved in 2001. The strategy aims to take into account gender-responsive actions in response to poverty and development needs. A Gender and Development Board was created and major reports to date indicate that gender-based division of labour leads to inequalities and inefficiencies in economics.

Although most regions in the world suffer from gender inequalities, (including OECD nations) disparities tend to be greater in poor countries. Education and health are areas in which progress has been made by the World Bank initiative according to a Bank Strategy paper. For instance the paper states that, “between 1995 and 2000 the Bank lent more than $3.4 billion for girls’ education programs, and was also the single largest lender in the world for health, nutrition and population projects, three-quarters of which contained gender-responsive actions.”

The business case for mainstreaming gender maintains that economies are more stable and grow at a steady rate when women and men are relatively equal. Let’s hope that the Bank continues its gender equality efforts and perhaps the world will become poverty and recession free.

Delegates are also discussing establishing an Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services panel that would assess the loss of nature. Such a panel would play an important role in determining where conservation efforts are most needed. However, in a sadly familiar news report, the BBC reports that delegates are divided and the ongoing disagreements between the rich and poor countries, and business and greens, may derail this and other initiatives.

In addressing the delegates, CBD executive secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf stated that if we allow the current trends to continue we shall soon reach a tipping point with irreversible and irreparable damage to the capacity of the planet to continue sustaining life on Earth, reports Aljazeera. Aren’t truths like this enough to stop squabbling, overcome our divisions, and do what is needed to save life on our planet?

That’s over 166 million undernourished people who live in countries experiencing protracted crises, almost triple the number in other developing countries.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010 hunger report suggests that chronic hunger and food insecurity are two of the most common characteristics of a protracted crisis.

Protracted crises, which go on for years, need long term solutions. Improving agricultural methods to increase the amount of available food is a cornerstone of what’s needed. Currently agriculture receives just 3 to 4 percent of development and humanitarian assistance funds even though it provides the main source of food and income for almost two thirds of the countries’ people.

Also providing social protection and livelihood support is important. School meals, cash and food-for-work activities and vouchers can make a vital difference in the long term, the report suggests.

The Committee on World Food Security will be meeting in Rome from October 11-16 to discuss this report and potential solutions.

As part of her major funding appeal for the ongoing Pakistan Flood crisis, Amos insisted that lessons must be learned from the large humanitarian disasters of recent years, ranging from the 2004 Asian tsunami to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, reports Google News.

Amos argues that the ‘business as usual’ strategy used to tackle these massive emergencies are no longer sufficient in a world that is facing increasingly larger mega-crises.  In Pakistan, aid agencies are struggling to cope with the scale of events as millions of people’s homes and farmland have been destroyed by the floods in a nation that is already home to the world’s largest refugee population (mainly from Afghanistan).

Yahoo News also reports that Amos will be conducting a review of how UN agencies and aid groups react to mega-crises.  New thinking is needed, and ways found to broaden funding and increase responses to large disasters.

Meanwhile, flood waters in Pakistan are moving from North to South, creating a ‘new’ disaster every few days and putting a strain on the humanitarian community.  The International Monetary Fund announced last Wednesday it would give Pakistan a $451 million emergency loan, while the European Union is also considering new ways to help.  By Friday, the sheer size of the Pakistan crisis had forced Amos to make a new monetary appeal, substantially higher than the original $460 million request.

Each of the one million trees to be planted will be added to Earth Day Network’s Billion Acts of Green program as well as pledged towards the UN Environmental Program Billion Tree Campaign, a worldwide tree planting initiative by the UN Environment Programme.  Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will insert a unique code inside the Avatar Blu-ray/DVD which lets fans adopt one of the one million trees being planted.

Tree Canada will work to reforest almost 2,000 acres of pine forest in southeastern Manitoba that were destroyed by hurricane force winds in 2005.

In the UK, The Woodland Trust will provide free tree packs and online support to communities as part of their More Trees, More Good campaign.  The UK has only 4% native woodland cover, but the Woodland Trust suggests that at least twice as many native trees and woods are needed to maintain healthy populations of wildlife and people, and to combat climate change and improve the environment.  Clive Anderson, Sean Bean, and Barry Davison are among the British celebrities who are supporting this program.

In the United States, the tree planting will be sponsored by three organizations.  MillionTreesNYC in New York focuses on increasing green spaces and the urban health environment for low to middle income neighborhoods.  In San Franciso, Friends of the Urban Forest help citizens plant and care for street trees and sidewalk gardens, particularly in low income areas.  And in Los Angeles, TreePeople improves city life by planting trees, including fruit trees which will provide a free source of fruit to help low-income citizens eat healthier.

For information about the other 12 countries involved in the Avatar Home Tree Initiative, see Earth Day Network’s press release.

The UN News Centre reports that a joint campaign by conservation groups and tour operators in the 1990’s has helped set up protected areas in Svalbard, Norway.  Svalbard is the closest tourism outpost to the North Pole, which is 1,000 kilometres away.  The sustainable tourism initiative has enacted new laws protecting biodiversity and has led to the successful protection of polar bears and other native species in the area.

Currently in Norway, partners UNEP and GRID-Arendal are planning to replicate the success in Svalbard by studying how sustainable tourism can support the management and development of protected areas.

In June 2010, participants from 12 countries met in Arendal to discuss how tourism and biodiversity protection in marine protected areas can lead to conservation successes, reports UNEP.  The meeting decided that financial, educational and political support are all important.  Although differences between areas makes establishing criteria that can be used to replicate successful tourism/biodiversity connections difficult, the aim of UNEP’s Linking Tourism & Conservation (LT&C) initiative is to show, learn from and replicate positive examples where tourism supports the management and development of protected areas.

UNEP and GRID-Arendal are hosting a study expedition to Svalbard for conservationists, journalists and members of the public.  They also plan to create an interactive map of tourist destinations engaged in conservation work that will allow travelers to view a destination’s green credentials before booking their trip.  All hail green tourism!