UNITED
NATIONS, July
1 -- The UN is
bragging about
the Millennium
Development
Goals, even as
what's to come
after is being
fought
about.
Last week
Inner City
Press wrote
about Palau's
and others'
push for a
post-2015
“Sustainable
Development
Goal” about
the
oceans.
On June
28, Inner City
Press attended
the UN's press
conference in
New York about
the MDGs and
asked about
it. But the UN
insisted that
the briefing
was embargoed
until now,
July 1, and
that
the
participants
could not be
named. Why?
Hardly
any other
journalists at
the UN cared
about the MDGs
press
conference.
While the UN
Correspondents
Association
almost
cravenly
goes to any
and all
briefing in
order to say
their name,
this one,
they missed.
(The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
thanked the
briefers -
who must
remain
nameless, by
choice.)
On
the question
of the oceans,
they agreed
that when the
MDGs were
agreed there
was less
awareness: not
even carbon
and climate
change
were the focus
yet. They
agreed with
Inner City
Press'
critique of
the urban
slums data,
not taking
into account
the shift of
population
toward the
cities. (MDGs
Report at page
50.)
But
here is
something
wrong with the
UN system and
its supposed
interface
with the
public on
these issues.
The UN's
“Greening the
Blue”
twitter
account did
not respond on
the carbon
impact of
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
travel, when
asked back on
June 21
by the
Free
UN Coalition
for
Access, @FUNCA_info.
UNDP's
Olav Kjorven
didn't answer
on his carbon
footprint,
nor on whether
the
UN system
favors an
Oceans SDG.
(Inner City
Press is told
that
Ban Ki-moon
doesn't
understand the
concept and
asked for a
briefing.)
UNDP
is pitching
the #Post2015
tumult in “194
countries,”
because a
video they
paid for said
it involved
Rwanda and 193
countries. But
when asked
by FUNCA what
the 194th
country is
-- Somaliland?
-- they did
not respond,
but just dropped
the 194 claim
in favor of
750,000 people.
It's a one way
mirror,
throughout the
UN system.
Palau
by contrast
and its
partner the
TerraMar
project are
reaching out
and
responding,
ready to press
for September
2014. Watch
this site.
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