by anyajulia | Sep 23, 2009 | Headlines, Major Events
The Billion Tree Campaign has reached 7 billion trees—one for every person on the planet.
This milestone was reached with the news that the Government of China has planted 2.6 billion trees as part of this unique campaign, bringing the total to 7.3 billion trees planted in 167 countries worldwide.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said: “Seven billion trees, seven billion commitments to action and seven billion reasons why governments should be inspired to Seal the Deal at the crucial UN climate change convention meeting in Copenhagen in less than 80 days’ time.”
The announcement was made in New York on 21 September at a press conference attended by international dignitaries. The announcement coincided with Global Climate Week, an event launched to mobilize global mass action around the UN high-level event on climate change – including the Global Tree Planting Drive on 19 September where people were encouraged to plant trees on every corner of the planet.
The Billion Tree Campaign was launched jointly with the World Agroforestry Centre during the UN climate convention meeting in November 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya, under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai and His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco.
Its initial goal was to catalyze the pledging and the planting of one billion trees as a way of giving public expression to the challenges of climate change and also forest and ecosystem degradation.
Proving true its motto that ‘Every tree counts, and we count every tree’, the Billion Tree Campaign’s phenomenal success is a result of the participation of people of all walks of life and from every corner of the planet. (UN/PIA)
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by anyajulia | Sep 23, 2009 | Headlines, Major Events, National News
Malacañang welcomes the Senate’s investigation into the possible misuse of the multi-billion-peso road user’s tax.
Administration Senator Miriam Santiago called for the probe on how proceeds of the tax has been spent, noting that P42 billion has been collected since 2001 when Republic Act 8794 was enacted into law.
Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Anthony Golez disclosed that the seven-man Road User’s Board will be able to clarify how the money was spent.
The road user’s tax is collected annually from vehicle owners to finance road maintenance and land transport infrastructures (PIA)
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by anyajulia | Sep 23, 2009 | Headlines, Major Events
In relation to the CFL Distribution Program, the Department of Energy (DoE) invites the public to its 1st Consultation Meeting on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Climate Change.
Its primary focus is to increase consumer awareness on the use of more energy efficient lighting systems to reduce electricity consumption as well as greenhouse gas emissions.
The project will also benefit from the Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits that can be secured from the CDM of the Kyoto Protocol. However, part of the CDM requirements is to consider and internalize local stakeholders’ concerns on the project through the conduct of stakeholder consultations.
The consultation meeting will be held at 9:30 in the morning on September 24, 2009 at the Dynasty Court Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City. (DOE)
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by anyajulia | Sep 18, 2009 | Headlines, Major Events, National News
Mayon Volcano spews three minor ash explosions around 5:37 AM yesterday (September 17). This is according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
Phivolcs recorded the ash explosions lasted for about three minutes producing a brownish ash column that rose to a maximum height of about 700 meters above the crater and drifted to the southwest direction.
“The explosion is a minor one and Alert Level 2 remains in effect over the volcano,” said Alex Baloloy, Phivolcs science research analyst.
According to its latest bulletin issued 8:00 AM today, Phivolcs said that its seismic instruments recorded eleven (11) volcanic earthquakes during the past 24 hours.
Phivolcs strongly recommends that the 6-km radius Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) around the volcano and the 7-km Extended Danger Zone (EDZ) on the southeast flank of the volcano remain off-limits to human activities. (PIA)
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by anyajulia | Sep 17, 2009 | Foreign Exchange, Headlines, Major Events
Journalists for the Asia-Europe competition “Freedom of Young Media”, which is sponsored by Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) and European Youth Press, have until September 20 to submit online entries for the competition.
The competition has three categories: (1) What does “Freedom of Young Media” mean to you and your media?; (2) How are you reporting on “Freedom of Young Media” in your media?; and (3) What challenges regarding “Freedom of Young Media” are you facing during your work?
After the deadline, an experienced jury from both continents will evaluate the submissions and choose ten winners, which will be announced and awarded in Brussels.
The prizes for the winners are an Adobe software package for the 1st prize, a DELL-Netbook for the 2nd prize, and a Microsoft software package for the 3rd prize.
For more details, information is available at http://www.aycn.net/groups/62-freedom-of-young-media. (AMIC/PIA)
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by anyajulia | Sep 15, 2009 | Headlines, Major Events, National News
The National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) 2009 focuses on the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) particularly the MDG 1 (Alleviate Poverty and Hunger). As such, the Department of Education (DepEd) mobilizes schools support by advocating and integrating them in related school-community initiatives.
The annual NSPC draws a thousand campus journalists from public and private elementary and high school students nationwide. It will be held on February 22-26, 2010 in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.
Individual and group writing contests in English and Filipino will carry the conference theme: “Campus Journalism as a Catalyst for Change: Achieving the MDGs by 2015.
The group contests comprise of five categories: editorial page, feature/literary page, news page and sports page.
High school and elementary students will participate in the individual contests such as editorial writing, news writing, feature writing, sports writing. There will also be competitions in copyreading and headline writing, photojournalism, editorial cartooning, and scriptwriting and radio broadcasting. (DepEd)
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