UN Cuts
Down
Dozen Trees by
East River, ICP
Asked Why,
Disease Reply
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, December
10
-- In
the UN garden
facing the
East River
over the
weekend more
than a dozen
trees were
killed. Inner
City Press was
alerted by UN
staff and went
to check it
out. There
were jagged
tree stumps
extending
north from the
UN Conference
building. Video
here.
Why would the
UN cut down
these trees,
particularly
while in Paris
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon speaks
on climate
change and the
importance of
maintaining
trees?
While
the Temporary
North Lawn
building is to
be demolished
by the end of
the year, the
trees cut down
are not
connected to
that. What is
the UN's
excuse? We and
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asked
on December 8,
video
here,
transcript
below. And two
days later,
the UN returned
with this,
read-out by
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq on
December 10, transcript here:
"I was
also asked a
few days ago
about the
cutting down
of trees near
the North Lawn
Building.
I can announce
today that the
demolition of
the temporary
North Lawn
Building has
begun,
following a
General
Assembly
mandate that
the building
be removed
after the
completion of
the renovation
of the UN
Headquarters
under the
Capital Master
Plan.
Since 2010,
the North Lawn
Building first
hosted
conference
facilities and
the
Secretary-General
with his
Executive
Office.
Later, it
accommodated
the General
Assembly
during the
sixty-eighth
session.
Most recently,
the building
served as the
hub for the
Headquarters
Deployment
Group for the
implementation
of the Umoja
system.
The North Lawn
Building will
now be
dismantled and
recycled.
By September
2016, the
original
landscaping of
the North Lawn
will be
restored.
The
refurbished
sculptures
will be
returned to
their former
locations and
new trees will
be planted for
the ones that
had to be
taken down
after
construction
started, in
2008.
And, as for
the recent
trees, the
honey locust
trees that
were removed
this past
weekend will
all be
replaced with
mature trees
of the same
species.
Regrettably,
the trees,
which were
nearing the
end of their
natural
lifespan, were
diseased.""
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to ask
you, in the
area just
between, I
guess you
could say, the
conference
building and
the temporary
North Lawn
Building,
there were
about a dozen
or more trees
that were…
were
unceremoniously
sawed down
over the
weekend, not
only against
the wall, but
the whole
ivy-covered
region between
one and the
other.
So a number
people have
said it's
pretty
abrupt.
It's the kind
of thing that,
like… at least
in… and the
rest of New
York City
requires an
environmental
impact
statement.
Why were they
torn
down?
And what's
the… how is it
consistent
with the
various
environmental
statements
made by the
UN?
Deputy
Spokesman:
Well, first of
all, whenever
we have any
sort of
activities
reorganising
at the site,
which entails
things like
the chopping
of trees, we
try to make
sure that we
also then do
some sort of
seed planting
to make sure
that
everything is
done
sustainably.
So we would do
that in this
case. I
don't have
anything
specific
about…
Inner City
Press:
There's like
24 stumps.
Deputy
Spokesman:
I don't have
anything
specific about
this.
It's probably
part of the
regular
maintenance
that's
done.
Inner
City
Press: I
have another
question.
Deputy
Spokesman:
No, sorry,
it's time for
our
guest.
Let me get to
Adama
Dieng.
He's been
waiting.
Inner City
Press:
AIDS-Free
World said
it's an
all-male panel
on Human
Rights
Day.
What's your
response?
Deputy
Spokesman:
I'm sorry,
all-male
panel?
Inner City
Press:
AIDS-Free
World says in
an open letter
to the
Secretary-General…
Deputy
Spokesman:
No, on that,
we tried to
have other
guests for…
who are women
for the Human
Rights Day
panel, but
some of them
were not able
to attend at
the last
moment.
Thanks.
...
Back on
November 20 in
the run-up the
the climate
change talks
in Paris, Inner
City Press asked
UN official
Janos Pasztor
if commitments
on adaptation
funding will
be increased,
about
corporations
making
sometimes
dubious
pledges in
connection
with CoP21 and
specifically
about requests
that the Green
Climate Fund
not accredit
HSBC or Credit
Agricole,
given their
track records.
Pasztor
earnestly
answered the
questions,
though he said
he was unaware
of the request
to the GCF
about the two
banks (see here);
he also said
that while the
march planned
in Paris for
November 29
has been
canceled by
the
government,
marches can be
held elsewhere
- in other
countries.
Agence France
Presse, before
other
journalists
got even one
question, cut
in with
repeated
“follow-ups.” France
is branding
CoP21, while
now limited
civil society
participation
- except for
corporations.
Relatedly,
when the
UNFCCC held a
press
conference in
Bonn earlier
in the week,
the corporate
media in the
room had no
questions,
then few
questions. But
the selection
of questions
submitted by
social media
trended toward
Thomson
Reuters
Foundation and
the Climate
Group; press
questions
submitted by
Twitter and
email were
never
answered.
We'll have
more on this.
On October
13
Inner City
Press asked
Pasztor about
criticism of
the OECD's
claims about
developed
countries'
progress
toward $100
billion in
2020, and
about the
IMF's or
Christine
Lagarde's call
for a carbon
tax. Video
here.
Pasztor
replied that
at the meeting
in Peru,
finance
ministers had
raised
questions
about the
OECD's
methodology,
which he said
the OECD
Secretary
General had
responded to.
He called
Lagarde's
proposals “an
important way
that countries
can address
this issue.”
Back on
September 21 the
2015 Equator
Prize winners
were announced at a
UN press
conference featuring
Alec Baldwin
and Hilaria
Baldwin,
UNDP's Helen
Clark and
UNFCCC's
Christiana
Figueres,
about whose 3
degree Celsius
prediction
Inner City
Press asked
last week.
Inner
City Press
asked Figueres
about her
fellow UN
official Janos
Pasztor's
prediction
that current
Intended
Nationally
Determined
Contributions
would equate
to 3.5
degrees. She
did not
disagree;
UNDP's Helen
Clark said the
INDCs are not
ambitious
enough
yet.
Given
UNDP's direct
work with
governments,
Inner City
Press asked
Helen Clark
about, for
example, the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
being accuses
of going soft
on illegal
logging, for
example on
Lebanese-owned
firm Cotrefor.
Video
here.
Alec
Baldwin cited
Canadian tar
sands, and
also
ExxonMobil
(earlier on
September 21,
Inner City
Press asked
about BNP
Paribas
funding coal
power plants).
Climate Week
began...
Inner
City Press on
September 17
asked UN's
Assistant
Secretary-General
on Climate
Change Janos
Pasztor
whether INDCs
to date would
raised
temperatures
by 3 degrees
Celsius,
as Christiana
Figueres has
said, or 2.5
degree as the
Guardian has
an unnamed UK
official
saying.Video
here.
Pasztor's
answer to
Inner City
Press included
"3.5 degrees;"
Figueres'
spokesperson
chimes in this
is the
difference
between frying
and cooking.
But who was
the Guardian's
anonymous
"merely
warming"
source?
Amina
Mohammed,
Special
Advisor to the
Secretary-General
on Post-2015
Development
Planning,
spoke about
financing
issues, on
which Inner
City Press
asked about
how to count
if the $100
billion goal
is reached by
2020.
Back
on August 11
after the
climate change
announcement
of Australia,
Inner City
Press on
August 11
asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
it, video
here, transcript here:
Inner
City Press: in
the statement
about the
countries
coming out
with their
climate change
targets,
Australia came
out with
one.
It's sort of
become a
touchstone,
many people
are saying
there's no way
it would lead
to 2°C…
Spokesman
Dujarric:
First of all,
we very much
welcome
countries that
issue their
INDC.
It's an
important
step, and we
very much hope
that all
Member States
will do
so. They
really need to
be seen as a
floor and not
a
ceiling.
They're a
starting
point.
There will be
discussions
prior to
Paris.
There will,
obviously, be
discussions in
Paris.
People are
free to,
obviously,
express their
opinion on
certain
countries'
INDCs, but for
our part,
we're glad we
have them, and
we do see them
as a starting
point in the
discussions.
Back
on June 18
when the UN
gave a climate
change
briefing by
UNDP's Cassie
Flynn, and Jo
Scheuer, on
June 18 Inner
City Press
asked about
the
under-funding
of the Least
Development
Countries
Fund, and if
South Korea is
backsliding in
its Intended
Nationally
Determined
Contributions.
Video
here.
The
answers, on
film, were to
promote other
funding
vehicles, and
to say that
South Korea
has still yet
to file its
INDC.
Pasztor said
that the CDM
is still
needed; he
said country
have committed
not to
backslide. Video here. (South Korea had yet
to submit its
INDCs, it
seems). Inner
City Press
asked Pasztor
to provide a
comment, if he
has one, once
South Korea's
filing is
made.
Back
on May 5,
Inner City
Press asked
him about
criticism of
the Green
Climate Fund,
including at
the recent
Permanent
Forum on
Indigenous
Issues. Video
here and
embedded
below.
Specifically,
why will the
"Green"
Climate Fund
provide
financial for
coal-powered
plants?
Pasztor
replied that
some felt that
an exclusion
for coal would
have been
divisive. On
statements at
the PFII that
the UN is
helping to
"monetize"
nature,
Pasztor
replied that
most states
feel
differently.
But what about
the
indigenous?
Pasztor
in his opening
statement had
praised the UN
Pension Fund
for now
investing in
"green
equities" and
"green bonds."
Since the UN
has responded
to Press
questions
about
irregularities
alleged at the
Pension Fund
by emphasizing
how separate
and
independent it
is, Inner City
Press asked
Pazstor if the
UN Secretariat
had brought
about this
Pension Fund
decision.
Pazstor
replied that
the Pension
Fund answers
to the
Secretary
General and
that "she" -
Carolyn
Boykin,
presumably -
had made this
decision.
We'll have
more on this,
after noting
Pasztor by no
means the
least
responsive UN
official...
When
last September
21 the
People's
Climate March
assembled at
Manhattan's
Columbus
Circle, there
were
anti-corporate
puppets in
front of the
Trump
International
Hotel and
Tower,
speeches by
coal miners
and from the
Marshall
Islands.
Many called on
the UN to do
better. But UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon joined
the march
mid-way, at
Radio City
Musical Hall
with New York
Mayor Bill de
Blasio.
Senator Chuck
Schumer was on
hand, walking
by a Bronx
contingent
chanting how
Fresh Direct
has broken its
promises.
Inner City
Press' 90
second video
of the march
is here.
The UN's or
"BKM" (Ban
Ki-moon)
Climate Summit
will feature
Cargill and
Walmart,
Credit
Agricole and
Bank of
America. The
last of these
is the first,
in terms of
funding
mountain top
coal removal.
These are the
contradiction.
Inner City
Press tweeted
photos on @InnerCityPress. More to
follow.
The night
before the
People's
Climate March,
the UN
buildings on
First Avenue
lit up with
photos and
footage of
trees and fish
and written
messages.
It is called
"illUmiNations."
Inner City
Press video
here.
Looking back
at the UN's
press release
for the
upcoming "VIP
Press
Screening" --
hard to know
how they could
exclude
non-VIPs from
it, or why
they would
want to --
there were
laudatory
quotes about
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, and:
Obscura
Digital
has staged
similar
large-scale
architectural
mapping
projection
events on the
Sydney Opera
House, the
Guggenheim
Museum, and
the Sheikh
Zayed Grand
Mosque. For
examples of
previous work,
please visit
the following
link http://wdrv.it/1tx7Emd.
In
that video
compilation,
well worth
watching,
there are also
corporate
projects for
Coca-Cola and
YouTube owned
by Google,
with history
at the UN.
A message
Inner City
Press photographed
on September
19, here,
was "In
nature's
economy, the
currency is
not money but
life." Is this
true of
Coca-Cola?
There are
questions
about the UN's
UNcritical
approach to
corporations
and corporate
"partnerships."
In the run up
to the UN's
September 23
Climate
Summit, the UN
put out a
media advisory
promoting the
participation
of 14
corporations
ranging from
Saudi Aramco
through Cargill,
McDonald's and
Walmart to Bank of America and
Credit
Agricole.
Orr mentioned
a luncheon
during the
summit about
carbon pricing
and the UN
Global
Compact, a
branch of the
UN which
repeatedly
says it does
not enforce
substantive
standards,
only
encourages
reporting and
dialogue.
Well,
Saudi Aramco
did not
respond to
the complaint
about
“employees
allegedly
dismissed
after being
detained for
participation
in civil
rights
protests in
Saudi Arabia.”
And what of
the
environment?
Bank of
America has
been the
number one
funder of
mountain-top
removal coal
mining, but
Ban Ki-moon
made it
chairman the
chief of his
Sustainable
Energy for All
initiative.
On behalf of
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
Inner City
Press asked
that those
making
commitments,
like the 14
corporations
named, hold
question and
answer
sessions
during the
summit. We'll
see.
, 
