1.
Songdo International Business District
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Along with Yeongjong and Cheongna, it is part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone. The Songdo International Business District will feature the Northeast Asia Trade Tower, schools, hospitals, apartments, office buildings and cultural amenities are to be built in the district. Replicas of architectural hallmarks, including New York Citys Central Park and Venices waterways and this 10-year development project is estimated to cost in excess of $40 billion, making it one of the most expensive development projects ever undertaken. A small number of Japanese residents have sought to live in Songdo IBD after the Tohoku earthquake, gale International, holds a majority stake of 61%, Posco 30%, and the remaining 9% is owned by Morgan Stanley Real Estate. The plan was designed by the New York office of Kohn Pedersen Fox, infrastructure development, labor, and funding are also being provided by the city of Incheon. Built on 600 hectares of land reclaimed from the Yellow Sea off Incheon, about 56 kilometres from the Souths capital Seoul, Songdo district is the largest private real estate development in history. By its completion date in 2015, the district was planned to contain 80,000 apartments,5,000,000 square metres of space and 900,000 square metres of retail space. The 65-floor Northeast Asia Trade Tower became South Koreas tallest building, computers have been built into the houses, streets, and offices as part of a wide area network. The nation launched a $38 billion economic stimulus package in January 2009, the Framework Act for Low Carbon Green Growth, passed by Koreas National Assembly in 2010, increased this to $83.6 billion spanning five years. Also, it is the city in the world to have all of its major buildings in par or beyond LEEDs requirements, after Greensburg. The schools will be funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the Incheon Free Economic Zone, the development is part of a $35 billion effort by the Korean government to form an international business district that houses competitive universities from around the world. In spring 2014, George Mason University opened its Korean campus in Songdo to support undergraduate academic interests, the 50,000 sq ft clubhouse for the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea which hosted the Presidents Cup in 2015 is also certified. Songdo IBD alone represents 40% of all LEED-certified space in South Korea, in addition, Songdo IBD utilizes a pneumatic waste disposal system. This means no garbage cans on street corners, and no garbage trucks, instead, garbage is thrown into pipes that will suck the garbage underground, disposing of waste, and recycling what can be recycled. There are also 25 km of paths and charging stations for electric vehicles throughout the city. Songdo IBD was designed and created to be a ubiquitous city, what is ubiquitous is the technology, i. e. computers are built into the buildings and streets. For example, Songdo IBD residents can video-conference with their neighbors and they can control lighting, heating, air conditioning and more, all with the push of a button on a control panel. Sensors gather information on things like traffic flow and energy use and this kind of information can be converted into alerts that tell citizens when a bus will arrive, or notify the authorities when a crime is taking place
2.
Incheon
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Incheon, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City, is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi to the east. Inhabited since the New Stone Age, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became a port in 1883. Today, about 3 million people live in the city, making it Korea’s third most populous city after Seoul and Busan. The citys growth has been assured in modern times with the development of its due to its natural advantages as a coastal city. It is part of the Seoul Capital Area, along with Seoul itself and Gyeonggi Province, Incheon has since led the economic development of Korea by opening its port to the outside world, ushering in the modernization of Korea as a center of industrialization. In 2003, the city was designated as Korea’s first free economic zone, as an international city, Incheon has held numerous large scale international conferences, such as the Incheon Global Fair & Festival in 2009. The 17th Asian Games Incheon 2014 was also held in Incheon on 19 September 2014, Incheon has established itself as a major transportation hub in northeast Asia with the world-renowned Incheon International Airport and Incheon Port. The city is home to the Green Climate Fund, an international organization addressing environmental issues. The first historical record of the Incheon area dates back to 475 AD, during the reign of King Jangsu of Goguryeo, by the name of Michuhol, the area underwent several name changes with successive kingdoms and dynasties. In Goryeo era, Incheon was called Gyeongwon or Inju, the current name was turned to Incheon in 1413. Later, Incheon County became Incheon Metropolitan Prefecture, old Incheon consisted of todays southern Incheon and northern part of Siheung City. The city centre was Gwangyo-dong, where the office and the local academy were located. Another historical name of the city, Jemulpo, was not widely used until the opening of the port in 1883, after the opening of the Incheon port, the city centre moved from Gwangyo to Jemulpo. Today, either Jemulpo or Gwangyo-dong is considered Deep Incheon and it was renamed as Jinsen during Japanese rule in Korean peninsula. In 1914, the Japanese colonial government merged outer parts of old Incheon with Bupyeong County, through 1936 and 1940, some part of Bucheon County was recombined into Incheon City, by which some part of old Bupyeong was annexed into Incheon. Incheon was originally part of Gyeonggi Province, but was granted Directly Governed City status on July 1,1981, Incheon was known as Inchon prior to South Koreas adoption of a new Romanization system in 2000. The city was the site of the Battle of Chemulpo Bay, during the Korean War, Incheon was occupied by North Korean troops on 4 September 1950. Eleven days later, Incheon was the site of the Battle of Inchon, the result was a decisive UN victory and it was recaptured on 19 September 1950
3.
South Korea
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South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The earliest Korean pottery dates to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing in the 1st century BC and its rich and vibrant culture left 19 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, the third largest in the world, along with 12 World Heritage Sites. Annexed into Imperial Japan in 1910, Korea was divided after its surrender in 1945, peace has since mostly continued with the two agreeing to work peacefully for reunification and the South solidifying peace as a regional power with the worlds 10th largest defence budget. South Koreas tiger economy soared at an average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus on innovation made it successful, today, it is the worlds fifth largest exporter with the G20s largest budget surplus and highest credit rating of any country in East Asia. It has free trade agreements with 75% of the economy and is the only G20 nation trading freely with China, the US. Since 1988, its constitution guarantees a liberal democracy with high government transparency, high personal freedoms led to the rise of a globally influential pop culture such as K-pop and K-drama, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave, known for its distinctive fashionable and trendy style. Home of the UN Green Climate Fund and GGGI, South Korea is a leader in low carbon growth, committed to helping developing countries as a major DAC. It is the third least ignorant country in the Index of Ignorance, ranking eighth highest for peaceful tolerance. It is the worlds largest spender on R&D per GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science, the name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in 1392, Joseon became the name for the entire territory. The new official name has its origin in the ancient country of Gojoseon, in 1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the official name of the country from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk. The name Daehan, which means great Han literally, derives from Samhan, however, the name Joseon was still widely used by Koreans to refer to their country, though it was no longer the official name. Under Japanese rule, the two names Han and Joseon coexisted, there were several groups who fought for independence, the most notable being the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, the Republic of Korea was adopted as the name for the new country. Since the government only controlled the part of the Korean Peninsula
4.
Climate change mitigation
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Climate change mitigation consists of actions to limit the magnitude or rate of long-term climate change. Climate change mitigation generally involves reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases. Mitigation may also be achieved by increasing the capacity of carbon sinks, Mitigation policies can substantially reduce the risks associated with human-induced global warming. According to the IPCCs 2014 assessment report, Mitigation is a public good, effective climate change mitigation will not be achieved if each agent acts independently in its own selfish interest, suggesting the need for collective action. Nevertheless, financing such adaptive activities remains an issue, particularly for poor individuals, Energy efficiency may also play a role, for example, through improving the insulation of buildings. Another approach to climate change mitigation is climate engineering, most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to stabilize concentrations of GHGs at a level that would prevent dangerous human interference of the climate system. Scientific analysis can provide information on the impacts of climate change, in 2010, Parties to the UNFCCC agreed that future global warming should be limited to below 2.0 °C relative to the pre-industrial level. With the Paris Agreement of 2015 this was confirmed, but was revised with a new target laying down parties will do the best to achieve warming below 1.5 °C. The current trajectory of global greenhouse gas emissions does not appear to be consistent with limiting global warming to below 1.5 or 2 °C, other mitigation policies have been proposed, some of which are more stringent or modest than the 2 °C limit. One of the often discussed in relation to climate change mitigation is the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has the objective of preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference of the climate system. There are a number of anthropogenic greenhouse gases and these include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and a group of gases referred to as halocarbons. The emissions reductions necessary to stabilize the atmospheric concentrations of gases varies. CO2 is the most important of the greenhouse gases. There is a difference between stabilizing CO2 emissions and stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of CO2, stabilizing emissions of CO2 at current levels would not lead to a stabilization in the atmospheric concentration of CO2. In fact, stabilizing emissions at current levels would result in the concentration of CO2 continuing to rise over the 21st century. The reason for this is human activities are adding CO2 to the atmosphere far faster than natural processes can remove it
5.
Climate change
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Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time. Climate change may refer to a change in weather conditions. Climate change is caused by such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics. Certain human activities have also identified as significant causes of recent climate change. Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations, more recent data are provided by the instrumental record. The most general definition of change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long periods of time. Accordingly, fluctuations over periods shorter than a few decades, such as El Niño, the term climate change is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change. Anthropogenic climate change is caused by activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earths natural processes. In this sense, especially in the context of environmental policy, within scientific journals, global warming refers to surface temperature increases while climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing greenhouse gas levels affect. A related term is climatic change, in 1966, the World Meteorological Organization proposed the term climatic change to encompass all forms of climatic variability on time-scales longer than 10 years, regardless of cause. Change was a given and climatic was used as an adjective to describe this kind of change, when it was realized that human activities had a potential to drastically alter the climate, the term climate change replaced climatic change as the dominant term to reflect an anthropogenic cause. Climate change was incorporated in the title of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate change, used as a noun, became an issue rather than the technical description of changing weather. On the broadest scale, the rate at which energy is received from the Sun and this energy is distributed around the globe by winds, ocean currents, and other mechanisms to affect the climates of different regions. Factors that can shape climate are called climate forcings or forcing mechanisms, there are a variety of climate change feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish the initial forcing. Some parts of the system, such as the oceans and ice caps, respond more slowly in reaction to climate forcings. There are also key factors which when exceeded can produce rapid change. Forcing mechanisms can be internal or external. Internal forcing mechanisms are natural processes within the system itself
6.
Climate Finance
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Climate finance refers to financing channeled by national, regional and international entities for climate change mitigation and adaptation projects and programs. According to the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment Report 2011 and these amounts far exceed existing dedicated resources and those proposed under the developed world at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Cancún Agreements. The estimations for the financing for climate change vary according to the geographic, sectorial and activity coverage, timescale and phasing, target. A number of initiatives are underway to monitor and track flows of international climate finance, analysts at Climate Policy Initiative have tracked public and private sector climate finance flows from a variety of sources on a yearly basis since 2011. The Climate & Development Knowledge Network works to developing nations benefit from climate finance. A large number of initiatives that have been implemented to assist developing countries to manage their response to climate change, Climate & Development Knowledge Network Fossil fuel divestment Climate Finance Landscape - http, //www. climatefinancelandscape. org/
7.
Climate and Development Knowledge Network
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The Climate and Development Knowledge Network is a £72 million initiative, formed in 2010, that links developing countries with experts on climate change. CDKNs goal is to services to the sixty countries it plans to serve in its first five years. CDKNs independent Executive Chair is Simon Maxwell, the Network Council, made up of 11 members, governs how the CDKN consortium is run. CDKN coordinates the supply of research and policy information from thinktanks, NGOs and universities to governments and its technical assistance programme acts on requests from nations, and is able to tailor research to countries’ demands. One of the 200 or so projects it has already committed funds to is an initiative to help the Caribbean island of Anguilla increase the amount of energy it produces from renewable sources, the overall aim is to decrease the island’s dependence on costly diesel oil and enhance environmental sustainability. CDKNs effectiveness was evaluated by a team of experts to advise both the funding of DFID and recommend enhancements to its role as a global leader in climate compatible development. It recommended support to CDKN be continued to 2016, in 2015, CDKN became the co-secretariat of the Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership alongside the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Climate and Development Knowledge Network CDKN on Facebook PricewaterhouseCoopers Overseas Development Institute Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano Lead Pakistan SouthSouthNorth
8.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
9.
Donald Trump
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Donald John Trump is the 45th and current President of the United States. Prior to entering politics he was a businessman and television personality, Trump was born and raised in Queens, New York City, and earned an economics degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He then took charge of The Trump Organization, the estate and construction firm founded by his paternal grandmother, which he ran for four. During his real career, Trump has built, renovated, and managed numerous office towers, hotels, casinos. Besides real estate, he started several ventures and has lent the use of his name for the branding of various products. He owned the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants from 1996 to 2015, and he hosted The Apprentice, as of 2017, Forbes listed him as the 544th wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $3.5 billion. Trump first publicly expressed interest in running for office in 1987. He won two Reform Party presidential primaries in 2000, but withdrew his candidacy early on, in June 2015, he launched his campaign for the 2016 presidential election and quickly emerged as the front-runner among 17 candidates in the Republican primaries. His final opponents suspended their campaigns in May 2016, and in July he was nominated at the Republican National Convention along with Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate. His campaign received unprecedented media coverage and international attention, many of the statements he made at rallies, in interviews, or on social media were controversial or false. Trump won the election on November 8,2016, in a surprise victory against Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. His political positions have been described by scholars and commentators as populist, protectionist, Trump was born on June 14,1946 at the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Queens, New York City. He was the fourth of five born to Frederick Christ Fred Trump. His siblings are Maryanne, Fred Jr. Elizabeth, and Robert, Trumps ancestors originated from the village of Kallstadt, Palatinate, Germany on his fathers side, and from the Outer Hebrides isles of Scotland on his mothers side. All his grandparents, and his mother, were born in Europe and his mothers grandfather was also christened Donald. On a visit to his village, he met Elisabeth Christ. He died from the flu pandemic of 1918 and Elizabeth incorporated the family real estate business, Elizabeth Trump and Son, which would later become The Trump Organization. Trumps father Fred was born in the Bronx, and worked with his mother since he was 15 as a real estate developer, primarily in the New York boroughs of Queens and he eventually built and sold thousands of houses, barracks and apartments
10.
2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference
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The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, according to the Bali Road Map, a framework for climate change mitigation beyond 2012 was to be agreed there. On Friday 18 December, the day of the conference. Media also reported that in lieu of a collapse, only a weak political statement was anticipated at the conclusion of the conference. The Copenhagen Accord was drafted by the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa on 18 December and it was taken note of, but not adopted, in a debate of all the participating countries the next day, and it was not passed unanimously. The document recognised that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the present day, the document is not legally binding and does not contain any legally binding commitments for reducing CO2 emissions. The US National Security Agency provided US delegates with advance details other delegations positions, the conference was preceded by the Climate Change, Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions scientific conference, which took place in March 2009 and was also held at the Bella Center. On 28 January 2009, the European Commission released a position paper, the position paper addresses three key challenges, targets and actions, financing, and building an effective global carbon market. Leading by example, the European Union had committed to implementing binding legislation, last December, the European Union revised its carbon allowances system called the Emissions Trading Scheme designed for the post-Kyoto period. This new stage of the system aims at reducing greenhouse gases emitted in Europe in a binding way. Other sectors should buy such credits on an international market, Energy intensive industries in Europe have advocated for this benchmark system in order to keep funds in investment capacities for low carbon products rather than for speculations. The European chemical industry claims here the need to be closer to the needs of citizens in a sustainable way, to comply with such commitments for a low-carbon economy, this requires competitiveness and innovations. The French Minister for Ecology Jean-Louis Borloo pushes the creation of the Global Environment Organisation as Frances main institutional contribution, a draft negotiating text for finalisation at Copenhagen was publicly released. It was discussed at a series of meetings before Copenhagen, delegates from 183 countries met in Bonn from 1 to 12 June 2009. The purpose was to discuss key negotiating texts and these served as the basis for the international climate change agreement at Copenhagen. The AWG-KP still needs to decide on the emission reduction target for industrialised countries. Progress was made in gaining clarification of the issues of concern to parties, the resumed session was held in Barcelona, Spain, from 2 to 6 November 2009. Thereafter, the AWG-LCA met to conclude its work at its eighth session, during the conference some countries stated what actions they were proposing to take if a binding agreement was achieved
11.
2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference
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The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Cancún, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010. In addition, the two permanent subsidiary bodies of the UNFCCC — the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, following the non-binding Copenhagen Accord put forth in 2009, international expectations for the COP16 conference were reduced. Four preparatory rounds of negotiations were held during 2010, the first three of these were in Bonn, Germany, from 9 to 11 April,1 to 11 June, and 2 to 6 August. The Bonn talks were reported as ending in failure, the fourth round of talks in Tianjin, China, made minimal progress and was marked by a clash between the US and China. It calls for more and immediate action, and was slated to be presented at COP16, in August 2010, Ban Ki-moon stated that he doubted whether member states would reach a globally agreed, comprehensive deal, suggesting instead that incremental steps might come. This is the greatest societal and economic transformation that the world has ever seen, other commentators spoke of a positive spirit of negotiation and of paving the way for agreement in Cancun. The outcome of the summit was an agreement adopted by the parties that called for a large Green Climate Fund. It looked forward to a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol, the agreement recognizes that climate change represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet, which needs to be urgently addressed by all parties. 5°C. The agreement also notes that climate change requires a paradigm shift towards building a low-carbon society. The agreement calls on countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as pledged in the Copenhagen Accord. The committee is due to present a plan for the fund by the next climate conference in South Africa starting in November,2011. The conference established the Cancun Adaptation Framework and the Adaptation Committee, and it invited Parties to strengthen and, developed countries should submit annual greenhouse gas inventories and inventory reports and biennial reports on their progress. Once support has been provided they are called internationally supported mitigation actions and it decides to establish a Green Climate Fund, to be designated as an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the Convention. The Climate Technology Centre and Network and the Technology Executive Committee shall relate so as to promote coherence, the Technology Executive Committee shall further implement the framework of the Convention and Committee shall comprise 20 expert members. Urges Annex I Parties to raise the level of ambition of the reductions to be achieved. In the second commitment period, the year shall be 1990. The global warming potentials shall be provided by the IPCC. The agreement includes a Green Climate Fund, proposed to be worth $100 billion a year by 2020, to assist poorer countries in financing emission reductions and adaptation
12.
2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference
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The 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Durban, South Africa, from 28 November to 11 December 2011 to establish a new treaty to limit carbon emissions. A treaty was not established, but the agreed to establish a legally binding deal comprising all countries by 2015. There was also progress regarding the creation of a Green Climate Fund for which a management framework was adopted, the fund is to distribute US$100 billion per year to help poor countries adapt to climate impacts. A primary focus of the conference was to secure a global climate agreement as the Kyoto Protocols first commitment period was about to end, xie said that he was concerned about the reluctance of developed nations to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions. He called on developed countries to provide financial and technical aid to developing nations fight against. Indias representative at the conference, Jayanthi Natarajan stated that India will not be intimidated, there is an attempt to shift the blame to developing countries. Please do not hold us hostage, and please do not take our agreement to be weakness. Natarajan responded to European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, saying that, but equity is the centrepiece, it cannot be shifted. Does fighting climate change mean we have to give up on equity and we have agreed to protocol and legal instrument. Whats the problem in having one more option, India will never be intimidated by any threat or any kind of pressure. How do I give a blank cheque, were talking of livelihoods and sustainability here. Im not accusing anybody, but there are efforts to shift the problem to countries that have not contributed to it, if that is done, were willing to reopen the entire Durban Package. We did not issue a threat, but are we being made into a scapegoat. Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of Friends of the Earth International, said delaying real action until 2020 is a crime of global proportions. An increase in temperatures of 4 degrees Celsius, permitted under this plan, is a death sentence for Africa, Small Island States. This summit has amplified climate apartheid, whereby the richest 1% of the world have decided that it is acceptable to sacrifice the 99%, after two weeks of negotiations a deal was reached only on the last day, Sunday 11 December, after a 60-hour marathon negotiation session. Negotiators agreed to be part of a binding treaty to address global warming. The terms of the treaty are to be defined by 2015
13.
Durban, South Africa
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Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. Durbans metropolitan municipality ranks third among the most populous areas in South Africa after Johannesburg. It is also the second most important manufacturing hub in South Africa after Johannesburg and it forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa and it is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism because of the citys warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches. It is the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal which is the 2nd most populous province in South Africa and it has the highest number of dollar millionaires added per year of any South African city with the number rising 200% between 2000 and 2014. In May 2015, Durban was officially recognised as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, La Paz, Havana, Beirut, archaeological evidence from the Drakensberg mountains suggests that the Durban area has been inhabited by communities of hunter-gatherers since 100,000 BC. He named the area Natal, or Christmas in Portuguese, accompanying Farewell was an adventurer named Henry Francis Fynn. Fynn was able to befriend the Zulu King Shaka by helping him to recover from a wound he suffered in battle. As a token of Shakas gratitude, he granted Fynn a 30-mile strip of coast a hundred miles in depth. During a meeting of 35 European residents in Fynns territory on 23 June 1835, it was decided to build a town and name it dUrban after Sir Benjamin dUrban. The Voortrekkers established the Republic of Natalia in 1838, with its capital at Pietermaritzburg, piet Retief, leader of the Voortrekkers in Natal, negotiated with the Zulu King, Dingane, in order to obtain land for their farming purposes. After negotiations were concluded, Dingane however reneged and had Retief, thereafter the Zulus attacked and killed more than 500 Voortrekkers at Retiefs laager. The Voortrekkers retaliated and broke Dinganes power at the Battle of Blood River, the force arrived on 4 May 1842 and built a fortification that was later to be The Old Fort. On the night of 23/24 May 1842 the British attacked the Voortrekker camp at Congella, the attack failed, and the British had to withdraw to their camp which was put under siege. A local trader Dick King and his servant Ndongeni were able to escape the blockade and rode to Grahamstown, the reinforcements arrived in Durban 20 days later, the Voortrekkers retreated, and the siege was lifted. Fierce conflict with the Zulu population led to the evacuation of Durban, a British governor was appointed to the region and many settlers emigrated from Europe and the Cape Colony. The British established a sugar industry in the 1860s. Farm owners had a difficult time attracting Zulu labourers to work on their plantations, as a result of the importation of Indian labourers, Durban has the largest Asian community on the African continent, and has the largest Indian population outside of India
14.
World Bank
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The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to countries of the world for capital programs. It comprises two institutions, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Development Association, the World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group, which is part of the United Nations system. The World Banks stated official goal is the reduction of poverty, the president of the World Bank is, traditionally, an American. The World Bank and the IMF are both based in Washington, D. C. and work closely with each other, although many countries were represented at the Bretton Woods Conference, the United States and United Kingdom were the most powerful in attendance and dominated the negotiations. Before 1974 the reconstruction and development loans provided by the World Bank were relatively small, the Banks staff were aware of the need to instill confidence in the bank. Fiscal conservatism ruled, and loan applications had to meet strict criteria, the first country to receive a World Bank loan was France. The Banks president at the time, John McCloy, chose France over two other applicants, Poland and Chile, the loan was for US$250 million, half the amount requested, and it came with strict conditions. France had to agree to produce a budget and give priority of debt repayment to the World Bank over other governments. World Bank staff closely monitored the use of the funds to ensure that the French government met the conditions. In addition, before the loan was approved, the United States State Department told the French government that its members associated with the Communist Party would first have to be removed, the French government complied with this diktat and removed the Communist coalition government - the so-called tripartisme. Within hours, the loan to France was approved, when the Marshall Plan went into effect in 1947, many European countries began receiving aid from other sources. Faced with this competition, the World Bank shifted its focus to non-European countries, in 1960, the International Development Association was formed, providing soft loans to developing countries. From 1974 to 1980 the bank concentrated on meeting the needs of people in the developing world. The size and number of loans to borrowers was greatly increased as loan targets expanded from infrastructure into social services and these changes can be attributed to Robert McNamara, who was appointed to the presidency in 1968 by Lyndon B. Johnson. McNamara implored bank treasurer Eugene Rotberg to seek out new sources of capital outside of the banks that had been the primary sources of funding. Rotberg used the bond market to increase the capital available to the bank. One consequence of the period of poverty alleviation lending was the rise of third world debt. From 1976 to 1980 developing world debt rose at an annual rate of 20%
15.
Overseas Development Institute
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The Overseas Development Institute is an independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues, founded in 1960. It does this by locking together high-quality applied research, practical policy advice, since then it has moved several times and is currently on Blackfriars Road. Since 2004 it has had a Partnership Programme Arrangement with the UKs Department for International Development, the Institute also developed a strong focus on communications and bridging research and policy. During Simon Maxwells period as ODI Director, ODI was named Think Tank of the Year 2007 by Public Affairs News magazine and it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010, with guests including former ODI Fellow and UK Business Secretary, Vince Cable. As of 2014 ODI had more than 230 staff and its director from 2013 until 2016 was Kevin Watkins who took over from Dr Alison Evans, formerly of the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University. Its future director will be Alex Their, unlike its counterpart IDS, ODI does not engage in teaching. Speakers include ODI staff, visiting development policymakers, DFID officials and other prominent figures such as Justin Yifu Lin, ODI has published many books, papers, briefings, and two academic journals, Development Policy Review and Disasters. Since 1963 ODI has sent over 900 post-graduate economists to work in 40 mostly low-income countries, participants were initially known as Overseas Development Institute Nuffield Fellows and later titled as ODI Fellows. As a registered charity, ODIs income relies on grants and donations from foundations, non-governmental organisations, david Steven of Global Dashboard criticised the ODI for not making the distinction between subsidy and having a lower VAT rate on fuel comparison to other goods
16.
Ban Ki-moon
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Ban Ki-moon is a South Korean diplomat who was the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 2007 to December 2016. Before becoming Secretary-General, Ban was a diplomat in South Koreas Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated university, accepting his first post in New Delhi. Ban was the minister of South Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. In February 2006 he began to campaign for the office of Secretary-General, Ban was initially considered to be a long shot for the office. As foreign minister of South Korea, however, he was able to travel to all the countries on the United Nations Security Council, on 13 October 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly. On 1 January 2007, he succeeded Kofi Annan, as Secretary-General, he was responsible for several major reforms on peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Ban was named the worlds 32nd most powerful person by the Forbes list of The Worlds Most Powerful People in 2013, in 2014, he was named the third most powerful South Korean after Lee Kun-hee and Lee Jae-yong. In 2016, Foreign Policy named Ban one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers for his achievement of making the Paris Agreement a legally binding treaty less than a year after it was adopted. António Guterres was appointed by the General Assembly on 13 October 2016 to be the successor of Ban Ki-moon as he stepped down on 31 December 2016. He was widely considered to be a candidate for the 2017 South Korean presidential election, before announcing, on February 1. Ban was born on 13 June 1944 in the farming village of Haengchi, Wonnam Township, in Eumseong County. His family then moved to the town of Chungju, where he grew up. During Bans childhood, his father had a business, but the warehouse went bankrupt. When Ban was six, his family fled to a mountainside for much of the Korean War. After the war ended, his family returned to Chungju, Ban has said that, during this time, he met American soldiers. In secondary school, Ban became a student, particularly in his studies of the English language. In 1962, Ban won an essay contest sponsored by the Red Cross, as part of the trip, Ban met U. S. President John F. Kennedy
17.
Clean Development Mechanism
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Annex I parties are the countries listed in Annex I of the treaty, the industrialized countries. Non-Annex I parties are developing countries, both the projects and the issue of CERs units are subject to approval to ensure that these emission reductions are real and additional. The CDM is supervised by the CDM Executive Board under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the CDM allows industrialized countries to buy CERs and to invest in emission reductions where it is cheapest globally. Between 2001, which was the first year CDM projects could be registered and 7 September 2012, as of 1 June 2013, 57% of all CERs had been issued for projects based on destroying either HFC-23 or N2O. Carbon capture and storage was included in the CDM carbon offsetting scheme in December 2011, however, a number of weaknesses of the CDM have been identified. Several of these issues were addressed by the new Program of Activities, in 2012, the report Climate Change, Carbon Markets and the CDM, A Call to Action said governments urgently needed to address the future of the CDM. It suggested the CDM was in danger of collapse because of the low price of carbon, therefore we must do everything in our hands to keep it working, she said. The clean development mechanism is one of the flexibility mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol, the flexibility mechanisms were designed to allow Annex B countries to meet their emission reduction commitments with reduced impact on their economies. The flexibility mechanisms were introduced into the Kyoto Protocol by the US government, developing countries were highly skeptical and fiercely opposed to the flexibility mechanisms. However, the negotiations over the follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol agreed that the mechanisms will continue. The purpose of the CDM is to promote development in developing countries. The CDM is one of the Protocols project-based mechanisms, in that the CDM is designed to promote projects that reduce emissions, the CDM is based on the idea of emission reduction production. These reductions are produced and then subtracted against a baseline of emissions. The baseline emissions are the emissions that are predicted to occur in the absence of a particular CDM project, CDM projects are credited against this baseline, in the sense that developing countries gain credit for producing these emission cuts. The economic basis for including developing countries in efforts to reduce emissions is that emission cuts are thought to be expensive in developing countries than developed countries. For example, in developing countries, environmental regulation is generally weaker than it is in developed countries, thus, it is widely thought that there is greater potential for developing countries to reduce their emissions than developed countries. Emissions from developing countries are projected to increase substantially over this century, infrastructure decisions made in developing countries could therefore have a very large influence on future efforts to limit total global emissions. The CDM is designed to start developing countries off on a path towards less pollution, there were two main concerns about the CDM
18.
Stakeholder engagement
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Stakeholder engagement is the process by which an organisation involves people who may be affected by the decisions it makes or can influence the implementation of its decisions. They may support or oppose the decisions, be influential in the organization or within the community in which it operates, Stakeholder engagement is a key part of corporate social responsibility and achieving the triple bottom line. Companies engage their stakeholders in dialogue to find out social and environmental issues matter most to them about their performance in order to improve decision-making. Engaging stakeholders is a requirement of the Global Reporting Initiative, an organisation with sustainability reporting framework that is widely used around the world. The International Organisation for Standardization requires stakeholder engagement for all their new standards, involving stakeholders in decision-making processes is not confined to corporate social responsibility processes. Its a tool used by private and public sector organisations, especially when they want to develop understanding. An underlying principle of stakeholder engagement is that stakeholders have the chance to influence the decision-making process and this differentiates stakeholder engagement from communications processes that seek to issue a message or influence groups to agree with a decision that is already made. The UK organization The Environment Council developed the Principles of Authentic Engagement and these are intended to provide a framework for genuine stakeholder engagement. Stakeholder participation includes the promise that stakeholderss contribution will influence the decision Stakeholder participation seeks input from participants in designing how they participate, the practitioners in stakeholder engagement are often businesses, non-governmental organizations, labor organizations, trade and industry organizations, governments, and financial institutions. Agreeing on the rules of engagement is integral to the process and it is important for everyone to understand each partys role. Buy-in is essential for success in stakeholder engagement, every party must have a stake in the process and have participating members have decision-making power. Every party must be committed to the process by ensuring action based on the decisions made through the engagement, no decisions should be already made before commencing stakeholder engagement on the issue. It is integral that the dialogue has legitimacy in influencing the decision, Stakeholder engagement provides opportunities to further align business practices with societal needs and expectations, helping to drive long-term sustainability and shareholder value. Library of Stakeholder Engagement articles on TriplePundit Future 500 Boreal-is. com AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard
19.
Top-down and bottom-up design
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In practice, they can be seen as a style of thinking, teaching, or leadership. A top-down approach is essentially the breaking down of a system to gain insight into its compositional sub-systems in a reverse engineering fashion, in a top-down approach an overview of the system is formulated, specifying, but not detailing, any first-level subsystems. Each subsystem is then refined in yet greater detail, sometimes in many additional subsystem levels, a top-down model is often specified with the assistance of black boxes, which makes it easier to manipulate. However, black boxes may fail to clarify elementary mechanisms or be detailed enough to validate the model. Top down approach starts with the big picture and it breaks down from there into smaller segments. A bottom-up approach is the piecing together of systems to rise to more complex systems. Bottom-up processing is a type of information processing based on incoming data from the environment to form a perception. From a cognitive perspective, information enters the eyes in one direction. In a bottom-up approach the base elements of the system are first specified in great detail. These elements are then linked together to form larger subsystems, which then in turn are linked, sometimes in many levels and this strategy often resembles a seed model, by which the beginnings are small but eventually grow in complexity and completeness. However, organic strategies may result in a tangle of elements and subsystems, developed in isolation, during the design and development of new products, designers and engineers rely on both a bottom-up and top-down approach. The bottom-up approach is being utilized when off-the-shelf or existing components are selected and integrated into the product, an example would include selecting a particular fastener, such as a bolt, and designing the receiving components such that the fastener will fit properly. In a top-down approach, a custom fastener would be designed such that it would fit properly in the receiving components, for perspective, for a product with more restrictive requirements, such as a space-suit, a more top-down approach is taken and almost everything is custom designed. In the latter case, the receiving housings would be designed around the selected components, part of this section is from the Perl Design Patterns Book. In the software development process, the top-down and bottom-up approaches play a key role, Top-down approaches emphasize planning and a complete understanding of the system. It is inherent that no coding can begin until a sufficient level of detail has been reached in the design of at least some part of the system, Top-down approaches are implemented by attaching the stubs in place of the module. This, however, delays testing of the functional units of a system until significant design is complete. Bottom-up emphasizes coding and early testing, which can begin as soon as the first module has been specified
20.
Australian National University
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The Australian National University is a national research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, founded in 1946, it is the only university to have been created by the Parliament of Australia. ANU enrolls 10,052 undergraduate and 10,840 postgraduate students, the universitys endowment stood at A$1.13 billion in 2012. ANU is ranked 22nd in the world by the 2016/17 QS World University Rankings, ANU was named the worlds 7th most international university in a 2017 study by Times Higher Education. In the 2016 Times Higher Education Global Employability University Ranking, a ranking of university graduates employability. ANU is ranked 100th in the CWTS Leiden ranking, ANU counts six Nobel laureates and 49 Rhodes scholars among its faculty and alumni. The university has educated two prime ministers,30 current Australian ambassadors and more than a dozen current heads of Government departments of Australia, calls for the establishment of a national university in Australia began as early as 1900. After the location of the capital, Canberra, was determined in 1908. A group of eminent Australian scholars returned from overseas to join the university, including Sir Howard Florey, Sir Mark Oliphant, Sir Keith Hancock, economist Sir Douglas Copland was appointed as ANUs first Vice-Chancellor and former Prime Minister Stanley Bruce served as the first Chancellor. ANU was originally organised into four centres—the Research Schools of Physical Sciences, Social Sciences and Pacific Studies, the first residents’ hall, University House, was opened in 1954 for faculty members and postgraduate students. Mount Stromlo Observatory, established by the government in 1924. The first locations of the ANU Library, the Menzies and Chifley buildings, the Australian Forestry School, located in Canberra since 1927, was amalgamated by ANU in 1965. Canberra University College was the first institution of education in the national capital, having been established in 1929. Its founding was led by Sir Robert Garran, one of the drafters of the Australian Constitution, CUC was affiliated with the University of Melbourne and its degrees were granted by that university. Academic leaders at CUC included historian Manning Clark, political scientist Finlay Crisp, in 1960, CUC was integrated into ANU as the School of General Studies, initially with faculties in arts, economics, law and science. Faculties in Oriental studies and engineering were introduced later, Bruce Hall, the first residential college for undergraduates, opened in 1961. The Canberra School of Music and the Canberra School of Art were amalgamated by ANU in 1992, ANU established its Medical School in 2002, after obtaining federal government approval in 2000. On 18 January 2003, the Canberra bushfires largely destroyed the Mount Stromlo Observatory, ANU astronomers now conduct research from the Siding Spring Observatory, which contains 10 telescopes including the Anglo-Australian Telescope
21.
Government
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A government is the system by which a state or community is controlled. In the Commonwealth of Nations, the government is also used more narrowly to refer to the collective group of people that exercises executive authority in a state. This usage is analogous to what is called an administration in American English, finally, government is also sometimes used in English as a synonym for governance. In the case of its broad definition, government normally consists of legislators, administrators. Government is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state. A form of government, or form of governance, refers to the set of political systems. Government of any kind currently affects every human activity in many important ways, in political science, it has long been a goal to create a typology or taxonomy of polities. as typologies of political systems are not obvious. It is especially important in the science fields of comparative politics. On the surface, identifying a form of government appears to be simple, the United States is a constitutional republic, while the former Soviet Union was a socialist republic. However self-identification is not objective, and as Kopstein and Lichbach argue, for example, elections are a defining characteristic of an electoral democracy, but in practice elections in the former Soviet Union were not free and fair and took place in a one-party state. Voltaire argued that the Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, many governments that officially call themselves a democratic republic are not democratic, nor a republic, they are usually a dictatorship de facto. Communist dictatorships have been prone to use this term. For example, the name of North Vietnam was The Democratic Republic of Vietnam. China uses a variant, The Peoples Republic of China, thus in many practical classifications it would not be considered democratic. Experience with those movements in power, and the ties they may have to particular forms of government. For example, The meaning of conservatism in the United States has little in common with the way the words definition is used elsewhere, as Ribuffo notes, what Americans now call conservatism much of the world calls liberalism or neoliberalism. Since the 1950s conservatism in the United States has been associated with the Republican Party. However, during the era of segregation many Southern Democrats were conservatives, values are sorted from 1–100 based on level of democracy and political accountability
22.
Environmental governance
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Governance includes government, business and civil society, and emphasizes whole system management. To capture this diverse range of elements, environmental governance often employs alternative systems of governance and it views natural resources and the environment as global public goods, belonging to the category of goods that are not diminished when they are shared. This means that everyone benefits from for example, an atmosphere, stable climate. Public goods are non-rivalrous—a natural resource enjoyed by one person can still be enjoyed by others—and non-excludable—it is impossible to prevent someone consuming the good, nevertheless, public goods are recognized as beneficial and therefore have value. The notion of a public good thus emerges, with a slight distinction. The non-rivalrous character of such calls for a management approach that restricts public. One approach is to attribute an economic value to the resource, water is possibly the best example of this type of good. As of 2013 environmental governance is far from meeting these imperatives, “Despite a great awareness of environmental questions from developed and developing countries, there is environmental degradation and the appearance of new environmental problems. This situation is caused by the state of global environmental governance. Environmental governance refers to the processes of decision-making involved in the control and management of the environment, International Union for Conservation of Nature, define Environmental Governance as the Multi-level interactions among, but not limited to, three main actors, i. e. There are many definitions and applications of neoliberalism, e. g. in economic, international relations, however, the traditional understanding of neoliberalism is often simplified to the notion of the primacy of market-led economics through the rolling back of the state, deregulation and privatisation. Neoliberalism has evolved particularly over the last 40 years with many leaving their ideological footprint on the neoliberal map. Hayek and Friedman believed in the superiority of the market over state intervention. As long as the market was allowed to act freely, the law would ensure the ‘optimal’ price. There has been a growing interest in the effects of neoliberalism on the politics of the world of environmental governance. Neoliberalism is seen to be more than a homogenous and monolithic ‘thing’ with an end point. Such neoliberal structures further reinforce a process of enclosure and primitive accumulation or “accumulation by dispossession” that serves to privatise increasing areas of nature. The ownership-transfer of resources traditionally not privately owned to free market mechanisms is believed to deliver greater efficiency, all three examples share neoliberal characteristics to “deploy markets as the solution to environmental problems” in which scarce natural resources are commercialized and turned into commodities
23.
African Development Bank
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The African Development Bank Group is a multilateral development finance institution established to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries. The AfDB was founded in 1964 and comprises three entities, The African Development Bank, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund, the AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies investing in the regional member countries. While it was headquartered in Abidjan, Côte dIvoire, the banks headquarters moved to Tunis, Tunisia in 2003, due to the Ivorian civil war. The agreement came into force on 10 September 1964, although established officially in under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Africa, the AfDB began operation in 1966. Although originally only African countries were able to join the bank, during its forty years of operations, AfDB has financed 2,885 operations, for a total of $47.5 billion. In 2003, it received an AAA rating from the financial rating agencies and had a capital of $32.043 billion. The African Development Bank Group has two entities, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund. Established in 1972, the African Development Fund started operations in 1974, in harmony with its lending strategy, poverty reduction is the main aim of ADF activities. Twenty-four non-African countries along with the AfDB constitute its current membership, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was designated as the depositor bank for the fund according to telegraphs sent from the U. S. Embassy in Abidjan in 1976. The ADF’s sources are mainly contributions and periodic replacements by non-African member states, the fund is usually replenished every three years, unless member states decide otherwise. The total donations, at the end of 1996, amounted to $12.58 billion. The ADF lends at no interest rate, with a service charge of 0. 75%, a commitment fee of 0. 5%. The tenth United Kingdom replenishment of the ADF was in 2006, the Nigeria Trust Fund was established in 1976 by the Nigerian government with an initial capital of $80 million. The NTF is aimed at assisting in the development efforts of the poorest AfDB members, in 1996, the NTF had a total resource base of $432 million. It lends at a 4% interest rate with a 25-year repayment period, the AfDB is controlled by a Board of Executive Directors, made up of representatives of its member countries. The voting power on the Board is split according to the size of each members share, the largest African Development Bank shareholder is Nigeria with nearly 9 percent of the vote. All member countries of the AfDB are represented on the AfDB Board of Executive Directors, dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina is the 8th elected President of the African Development Bank Group], having taken the oath of office on September 1,2015. He chairs the Boards of both the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund, dr. Adesina served as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2015
24.
French Development Agency
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French Development Agency is a public financial institution that implements the policy defined by the French Government. It works to fight poverty and promote sustainable development, in 2014, AFD earmarked EUR8. 1bn to finance projects in developing countries and for the French overseas territories, a commitment up by 4% compared to 2013. Its headquarters is located in Paris and its teams are based in Paris, Marseille and in a network of 72 agencies and representations abroad and in the French overseas territories. AFD is the descendant of the Caisse Centrale de la France Libre created by an ordinance of Charles de Gaulle on 2 December 1941 in London, the Fund’s role was limited to a note-issuing bank and Public Treasury institution. It became the Caisse Centrale de la France dOutre-mer on 2 February 1944 and it did, however, maintain its role as a note-issuing bank. Following the independence of a number of French colonies, CCFOM changed its name to Caisse Centrale de Coopération Economique in 1958, CCCE became Caisse Française de Développement in 1992. Finally, with the reform of French cooperation in 1998, CFD become Agence Française de Développement,2013, Anne Paugam took over from Dov Zerah as CEO. She is the first woman to head AFD,2014, The Act on Development and International Solidarity recognized the importance of the work conducted by AFD towards France’s international commitments. 2015, Gaël Giraud became AFD’s Chief Economist,2016, Rémy Rioux takes over from Anne Paugam as CEO. As a specialized institution, AFD is subject to banking law. AFD is a financial institution. The Government has entrusted it with the role of the operator for France’s cooperation policy. It thereby combines the functions of development bank and implementing agency for France’s Official Development Assistance policy. ”In overseas France, AFD conducts a policy, on behalf of the State, to public authorities. This mandate was reaffirmed during the first Interministerial Committee for Overseas France, chaired by the French President, Agence Française de Développement implements the policy defined by the French Government. It works to combat poverty and promote sustainable development and it achieves this by financing and supporting projects that improve living conditions for populations, promote economic growth and protect the planet. In 2014, AFD allocated EUR8. 1bn to finance projects, including EUR6. 35bn in developing countries, in 2014, AFD allocated some EUR 767m to education and health and invested over EUR 633m in water and sanitation programs. 7% is divided among various sectors, AFD also operates in emerging countries for issues related to the protection of the environment and energy management. AFD, via the projects it finances and several initiatives, is gearing up for the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, AFD has been working for over sixty years to promote development in Southern countries and the French overseas territories
25.
Asian Development Bank
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The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The company also maintains 31 field offices around the world to promote social, the bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and non-regional developed countries. From 31 members at its establishment, ADB now has 67 members, of which 48 are from within Asia, the ADB was modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion with members capital subscriptions. ADB releases a report that summarizes its operations, budget. At the end of 2014, Japan holds the largest proportion of shares at 15. 7%, the United States holds 15. 6%, China holds 6. 5%, India holds 6. 4%, and Australia holds 5. 8%. The highest policy-making body of the bank is the Board of Governors, the Board of Governors, in turn, elect among themselves the twelve members of the Board of Directors and their deputies. Eight of the members come from regional members while the others come from non-regional members. The Board of Governors also elect the president, who is the chairperson of the Board of Directors. The president has a term of office lasting five years, traditionally, and because Japan is one of the largest shareholders of the bank, the president has always been Japanese. The current president was Takehiko Nakao, who succeeded Haruhiko Kuroda in 2013, the bank employs about 3,000 people, representing 60 of its 67 members. The United States was initially opposed to the creation of regional development bank following the establishment of the Inter-American Development Bank in 1959. President Johnson pressed retired World Bank President Eugene R. Black, in the process, U. S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk urged that Japan play an important role in the ADB. He argued that the biggest danger to American foreign policy in Asia was Japans inability to integrate into the Asian society of nations following the animosities of World War II, indeed, there was sharp Asian opposition to Japans participation in the institution. After considerable diplomatic effort, Japan was eventually accepted into the organization by the majority of the participating nations, the Presidency was to rotate between the various countries of Asia. He threatened to travel to every Asian capital and scuttle the project. Eugene Black, with the assistance of President Johnson, was able to mollify President Marcos with the promise to locate the ADB in Manila. As a concession to the Japanese, they were given the inaugural Presidency of the institution - a position they have held onto ever since. By the end of 1972, Japan had contributed $173.7 million to the capital resources
26.
Development Bank of Southern Africa
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At the core of its mandate, the DBSA seeks to play a catalytic role in delivering developmental infrastructure in South Africa and the rest of Africa. The Banks focus areas are the energy, water, transport and telecommunications sectors, with a focus on health. The ultimate vision of the DBSA is to achieve a prosperous and integrated resource-efficient region, progressively free of poverty, through infrastructure development, the Bank attempts to make a meaningful contribution towards peoples social and economic upliftment, while also promoting the sustainable use of scarce resources. Examples of these include SADCs Project Preparation Development Facility and the Infrastructure Investment Programme for South Africa, the DBSA is guided by a number of international, regional and local policies, accords and agreements in fulfilling its mandate. The DBSA provides planning, financing and implementation support to municipalities in sectors that include water and sanitation, electricity, roads, supported municipal programmes include Tshwane Rapid Transit and financing the Durban University of Technology student village. Economic or hard infrastructure is all necessary for the functioning of a modern industrial nation. Ka Xu Concentrated Solar Power Project. Social or soft infrastructure is all the institutions which are required to maintain the economic, health, cultural and social standards of a nation or region
27.
Deutsche Bank
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Deutsche Bank AG is a German global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers in Frankfurt. It has more than 100,000 employees in over 70 countries, and has a presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific. In 2009, Deutsche Bank was the largest foreign exchange dealer in the world with a share of 21 percent. The company was a component of the STOXX Europe 50 stock market index until being replaced on that index on August 8,2016, the bank offers financial products and services for corporate and institutional clients along with private and business clients. Deutsche Bank’s core business is investment banking, which represents 50% of equity, 75% of leverage assets, in January 2014, Deutsche Bank reported a €1.2 billion pre-tax loss for the fourth quarter of 2013. This came after analysts had predicted a profit of nearly €600 million, revenues slipped by 16% versus the prior year. On 7 June 2015, the then co-CEOs, Juergen Fitschen and Anshu Jain, Anshu Jains resignation took effect on 30 June 2015, but he provided consultancy to the bank until January 2016. Juergen Fitschen temporarily continued as joint CEO until 19 May 2016, the appointment of John Cryan as joint CEO was announced, effective 1 July 2016, he became sole CEO at the end of Juergen Fitschens term. In January 2016, Deutsche Bank pre-announced a 2015 loss before income taxes of approximately €6.1 billion, Deutsche Bank was founded in Berlin in 1870 as a specialist bank for foreign trade. The banks statute was adopted on 22 January 1870, and on 10 March 1870 the Prussian government granted it a banking licence, three of the founders were Georg Siemens whose fathers cousin had founded Siemens and Halske, Adelbert Delbrück and L. Bamberger. Its first foray overseas came shortly afterwards, in Shanghai and London followed sometime by South America, major projects in the early years of the bank included the Northern Pacific Railroad in the US and the Baghdad Railway. In Germany, the bank was instrumental in the financing of bond offerings of steel company Krupp, the second half of the 1890s saw the beginning of a new period of expansion at Deutsche Bank. The bank formed alliances with large banks, giving itself an entrée into Germanys main industrial regions. Joint ventures were symptomatic of the then under way in the German banking industry. In addition, the bank rapidly perceived the value of specialist institutions for the promotion of foreign business, the immediate postwar period was a time of liquidations. Having already lost most of its assets, Deutsche Bank was obliged to sell other holdings. A great deal of energy went into shoring up what had been achieved, but there was new business, too, some of which was to have an impact for a long time to come. The bank played a significant role in the establishment of the production company, UFA
28.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies, initially focused on the countries of the former Eastern Bloc it expanded to support development in more than 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Besides Europe, member countries of the EBRD are from five continents, with the biggest shareholder being the United States, headquartered in London, the EBRD is owned by 65 countries and two EU institutions. Despite its public shareholders, it invests mainly in private enterprises. The EBRD is not to be confused with the European Investment Bank, EBRD is also distinct from the Council of Europe Development Bank. In 2006, EBRD stated it would cease spending in the Baltic and central European nations by 2010, in 2010, due to the Great Recession, this process was postponed. The EBRD was founded to support countries of the former Eastern Bloc in the process of establishing their private sectors, to that end, it offers project financing for banks, industries and businesses, for new ventures or existing companies. It works with publicly owned companies to support their privatization, as advocated by the WTO since the 1980s, the EBRD mandates to work only in countries that are committed to democratic principles. Some NGOs have criticized the EBRD for financing projects they consider to be environmentally and socially harmful, among the contested projects are the Ombla power plant in Croatia, the Kumtor Gold Mine in Kyrgyzstan, and the Šoštanj lignite power plant in Slovenia. NGOs have criticized the EBRD on the lack of progress the EBRD makes in its mission, the “transition towards open and democratic market economies. ”For example. The EBRD announced on 23 July 2014 that it would suspend new investment projects in Russia, the European Council declaration was made in the context of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine. As of 2014 Russia has been the biggest funding recipient of all countries, in 2013, the Russian Federation received 1.8 billion € for investments from the EBRD and 1 billion € from the EIB. Russia employed the funds to finance a variety of projects like pipeline valves, property acquisitions, two Russian projects were awaiting funding from the EBRD, a 300 million € plan for promoting energy efficiency, and a $180 million loan to lease agricultural and forestry equipment. The bank stated that it continue to manage on-going projects in Russia. In 2015, the EBRD invested an amount in the Central Asian region. The total investment in 2015 rose by 75% reaching €1,402.3 billion, Kazakhstan reported the largest total volumes of investment. reaching 790 million euro in 2015. The following presidents have served the EBRD to date, the EBRD publishes its tenders and contracts on its own website and in Development Business. A publication launched in 1978 by the United Nations with the World Bank, direct investments range from €5 million to €230 million
29.
European Investment Bank
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The European Investment Bank is the European Unions nonprofit long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. As a policy-driven bank whose shareholders are the states of the EU. It should not be confused with the European Central Bank, the EIB is a publicly owned international financial institution and its shareholders are the EU member states. Thus the member states set the broad policy goals and oversee the two independent decision-making bodies—the board of governors and the board of directors. It is the worlds largest international public lending institution, in 2009, Caisse des Dépots, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, KfW and European Investment Bank founded the Long-Term Investors Club. The European Investment Bank was founded in Brussels in 1958 when the Treaty of Rome came into force and it relocated to Luxembourg, its current headquarters, in 1968. By 1999, it had more than 1,000 staff members, a figure that had doubled by 2012. The EIB Group was formed in 2000, comprising the EIB and the European Investment Fund, the EIB is the EIFs majority shareholder, with 62% of the shares. The total subscribed capital of the Bank was EUR232 billion in 2012, the capital of the EIB was virtually doubled between 2007 and 2009 in response to the crisis. The EU heads of government agreed to increase paid-in capital by EUR10 billion in June 2012, for the fiscal year 2011, EIB lent EUR61 billion in various loan products, bringing total outstanding loans to EUR395 billion, one-third higher than at the end of 2008. Nearly 90% of these were with EU member states with the remainder dispersed between around 150 partner countries, the bank uses its AAA credit rating and funds itself by raising equivalent amounts on the capital markets. As the Bank of the European Union, the EIBs mission is to make a difference to the future of Europe and its partners by supporting sound investments which further EU policy goals. In the wake of the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the EIB is governed by the, Board of Governors – usually the Finance Ministers of the Member States. Their mandate is to authorise EIB activities outside the Union, form credit policy guidelines, Board of directors – twenty-eight members. There are eighteen alternates, meaning some of these positions are shared by groups of states. The board also co-opts a maximum of six experts, who participate in the Board meetings in an advisory capacity, the Board has sole power to take decisions in respect of loans, guarantees and borrowings. They are responsible only to the bank, the headquarters is situated at 100 Boulevard Konrad Adenauer in Kirchberg, Luxembourg. The buildings first phase, now the West building, was designed by British architect Sir Denys Lasdun and is one of his few works outside the UK, an extension, the East building, was designed by Ingenhoven Architects, Düsseldorf
30.
HSBC
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HSBC Holdings PLC is a British multinational banking and financial services holding company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the sixth largest bank by total assets and the largest in Europe with total assets of US$2.374 trillion. It was established in its present form in London in 1991 by The Hongkong, the origins of the bank lie mainly in Hong Kong and to a lesser extent in Shanghai, where branches were first opened in 1865. The HSBC name is derived from the initials of the Hongkong, the company was first formally incorporated in 1866. The company continues to see both the United Kingdom and Hong Kong as its home markets, HSBC has around 4,000 offices in 70 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America and South America, and around 37 million customers. As of 2014, it was the worlds sixth-largest public company, HSBC is organised within four business groups, Commercial Banking, Global Banking and Markets, Retail Banking and Wealth Management, and Global Private Banking. HSBC has a primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the Hang Seng Index. As of 6 July 2012 it had a capitalisation of £102.7 billion. It has secondary listings on the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext Paris, in February 2015 the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released information about the business conduct of HSBC under the title Swiss Leaks. The ICIJ alleges that the bank profited from doing business with tax evaders, in 2016, HSBC was sued by Mexican families involved in deaths by organised-crime gangs for processing funds for the Sinaloa Cartel. It was formally incorporated as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation by an Ordinance of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong on 14 August 1866, in 1980, HSBC acquired a 51% shareholding in US-based Marine Midland Bank, which it extended to full ownership in 1987. HSBC Holdings acquisition of Midland Bank was completed in 1992 and gave HSBC a substantial presence in the United Kingdom. As part of the conditions for the acquisition, HSBC Holdings plc was required to relocate its world headquarters from Hong Kong to London in 1993. In May 1999, HSBC expanded its presence in the United States with the purchase of Republic National Bank of New York for $10. 3bn. Expansion into Continental Europe took place in April 2000 with the acquisition of Crédit Commercial de France, in July 2001 HSBC bought Demirbank, an insolvent Turkish bank. In July 2002, Arthur Andersen announced that HSBC USA, Inc. through a new subsidiary, Wealth, the new HSBC Private Client Services Group would serve the wealth and tax advisory needs of high-net-worth individuals. Then in August 2002 HSBC acquired Grupo Financiero Bital, SA de CV, in November 2002, HSBC expanded further in the United States. Under the chairmanship of Sir John Bond, it spent £9 billion to acquire Household Finance Corporation, in a 2003 cover story, The Banker noted when banking historians look back, they may conclude that was the deal of the first decade of the 21st century
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Inter-American Development Bank
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The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB has four official languages, English, French, Portuguese and its official names in the other three languages are as follows, In all three other languages the Bank uses the acronym BID. At the First Pan-American Conference in 1890, the idea of a development institution for Latin America was first suggested during the earliest efforts to create an inter-American system, the IDB became a reality under an initiative proposed by President Juscelino Kubitshek of Brazil. The Bank was formally created on April 8,1959, when the Organization of American States drafted the Articles of Agreement establishing the Inter-American Development Bank, the Bank is owned by 48 sovereign states, which are its shareholders and members. Only the 26 borrowing countries are able to receive loans, the IDB is the largest multilateral source of financing for the Latin America and the Caribbean region. The IDB is governed by its Board of Governors, a 48-member body who regularly meets once a year, the developing countries that borrow from the IDB are the majority shareholders, and therefore control the majority of the decision-making bodies of the Bank. Each members voting power is determined by its shareholding, its subscription to the Banks ordinary capital. The United States holds 30 percent of the Banks shares, while the countries of Latin America and this arrangement is unique in that the developing member countries, as a group, are the majority shareholders. Though this arrangement was first viewed as risky, it is believed by some that peer pressure prevents the borrowers from defaulting. In March 2015, the Bank updated its Institutional Strategy for 2010-2020, the IDB supports readiness to learn interventions so that children can have access to quality programs within the region. Participating countries include Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, the IDB supports interventions to improve teacher quality in Latin America and the Caribbean and conducts research in the field. It supports the Aligning of Learning Incentives in Mexico, a program that provides monetary incentives to students, faculty. Brazil also supports the program, Multiplying Knowledge, where academically successful students help children in the last years of primary school with mathematics. And the implementation and evaluation of Enseña Chile, a program that attracts outstanding college graduates to teach for two years in vulnerable schools, the Inter-American Development bank focuses on three main areas, incentives, supplies, and administration. The IDB also implemented The Employers’ Survey of Mandatory Skills, that investigated the twenty-first century skills demanded by entrepreneurs for people under 25. The Bank also has interventions in areas that affect children and adolescents in the region, such as education inputs, equity. Climate change threatens both to undermine the efforts of the region to achieve sustainable development and to affect the most vulnerable members of society disproportionally. GCI-9 sets a target of 25 percent of total lending going to a portfolio on climate change, environmental sustainability
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International Development Association
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The International Development Association is an international financial institution which offers concessional loans and grants to the worlds poorest developing countries. The IDA is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, the IDAs stated aim is to assist the poorest nations in growing more quickly, equitably, and sustainably to reduce poverty. The IDA is the single largest provider of funds to economic, the IDA has issued a total $238 billion USD in loans and grants since its launch in 1960. Thirty-six of the associations borrowing countries have graduated from their eligibility for its concessional lending, however, eight of these countries have relapsed and have not re-graduated. At the onset of his term in 1949, then-President of the United States Harry S. The advisory group recommended an international mechanism that would function somewhere in between providing strictly-loaned and strictly-granted funds, the UN and United States government published reports expressing support for the creation of a multilateral, concessional lending program for the poorest developing countries. However, the United States was largely unresponsive and ultimately distracted by its involvement in the Korean War, developing countries grew increasingly frustrated with not being able to afford IBRD lending and perceived the Marshall Plan as a comparatively generous gift to European nations. However, the United States ultimately opposed proposals of that nature, despite the launch of the IFC in 1956, developing countries persisted in demanding the creation of a new concessional financing mechanism and the idea gained traction within the IBRD. Monroneys proposal was more preferred received within the United States than the SUNFED, the resolution passed the senate in 1958, and then-U. S. Treasury Secretary Robert B. Anderson encouraged other countries to conduct similar studies, in 1959, the World Banks Board of Governors approved a U. S. -born resolution calling for the drafting of the articles of agreement. SUNFED later became the Special Fund and merged with the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance to form the United Nations Development Programme, by the end of January 1960, fifteen countries signed the articles of agreement which established the International Development Association. The association launched in September of that year with an initial budget of $913 million. Over the next eight months following its launch, the IDA grew to 51 member states, the IDA is governed by the World Banks Board of Governors which meets annually and consists of one governor per member country. The Board of Governors delegates most of its authority over matters such as lending. The Board of Directors consists of 25 executive directors and is chaired by the President of the World Bank Group, the executive directors collectively represent all 187 member states of the World Bank, although decisions regarding IDA matters concern only the IDAs 172 member states. The president oversees the IDAs overall direction and daily operations, as of July 2012, Jim Yong Kim serves as the President of the World Bank Group. The association and IBRD operate with a staff of approximately 10,000 employees, the IDA is evaluated by the Banks Independent Evaluation Group. In 2009, the group identified weaknesses in the set of used to protect against fraud
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International Finance Corporation
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The IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, D. C. Since 2009, the IFC has focused on a set of development goals that its projects are expected to target, the IFC is owned and governed by its member countries, but has its own executive leadership and staff that conduct its normal business operations. It is a corporation whose shareholders are member governments that provide paid-in capital and it offers an array of debt and equity financing services and helps companies face their risk exposures, while refraining from participating in a management capacity. The corporation also offers advice to companies on making decisions, evaluating their impact on the environment and society and it advises governments on building infrastructure and partnerships to further support private sector development. The corporation is assessed by an independent evaluator each year, the corporations total investments in 2011 amounted to $18.66 billion. It committed $820 million to advisory services for 642 projects in 2011, the IFC is in good financial standing and received the highest ratings from two independent credit rating agencies in 2010 and 2011. IFC comes under frequent criticism from NGOs that it is not able to track its money because of its use of financial intermediaries. Robert L. Garner joined the World Bank in 1947 as a senior executive, in 1950, Garner and his colleagues proposed establishing a new institution for the purpose of making private investments in the developing countries served by the Bank. In 1956 the International Finance Corporation became operational under the leadership of Garner and it initially had 12 staff members and $100 million in capital. The corporation made its investment in 1957 by making a $2 million loan to a Brazil-based affiliate of Siemens & Halske. In 2007, IFC bought 18% stake in the Indian Financial firm, in December 2015 IFC supported Greek banks with 150 million euros by buying shares in four of them, Alpha Bank, Eurobank, Piraeus Bank and National Bank of Greece. The IFC is governed by its Board of Governors which meets annually, each member typically appoints one governor and also one alternate. The IFCs Board of Directors consists of 25 executive directors who meet regularly and work at the IFCs headquarters, the executive directors collectively represent all 184 member countries. The IFCs Executive Vice President and CEO oversees its overall direction, as of October 2012, Jin-Yong Cai serves as the Executive Vice President and CEO of the IFC. President of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim appointed Jin-Yong Cai to serve as the new Executive Vice President, Cai is a Chinese citizen who formerly served as a managing director for Goldman Sachs and has over 20 years of financial sector experience. The corporation operates with a staff of over 3,400 employees, in its fiscal year 2010, the IFC invested $12.7 billion in 528 projects across 103 countries. Of that total investment commitment, approximately 39% was invested into 255 projects across 58 member nations of the World Banks International Development Association, the IFC makes loans to businesses and private projects generally with maturities of seven to twelve years. It determines a suitable repayment schedule and grace period for each individually to meet borrowers currency
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International Union for Conservation of Nature
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of resources is equitable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to equality, poverty alleviation. Unlike other international NGOs, IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation and it tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice, and through lobbying and partnerships. The organization is best known to the public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List. IUCN has a membership of over 1200 governmental and non-governmental organizations, some 11,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs approximately 1000 full-time staff in more than 60 countries and its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several conventions on nature conservation. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature, in the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its relations with the business sector have caused controversy. It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature, establishment In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It is considered to be the first government-organized non-governmental organization, the initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. At the time of its founding IUPN was the international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation Early years. Its secretariat was located in Brussels and its first work program focused on saving species and habitats, increasing and applying knowledge, advancing education, promoting international agreements and promoting conservation. Providing a solid base for conservation action was the heart of all activities. IUPN and UNESCO were closely associated and they jointly organized the 1949 Conference on Protection of Nature. In preparation for this conference a list of endangered species was drawn up for the first time
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KfW
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The KfW, formerly KfW Bankengruppe, is a German government-owned development bank, based in Frankfurt. Its name originally comes from Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau and it was formed in 1948 after World War II as part of the Marshall Plan. It is owned by the Federal Republic of Germany and the States of Germany and it is led by a six-member Managing Board headed by Ulrich Schröder, which in turn reports to a 37 member Supervisory Board. The chair of the Supervisory Board changes annually between the German Federal Ministers of Finance and Economic Affairs, the chairman for 2015 is Wolfgang Schäuble. In 2009, Caisse des Dépots, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, KfW, KfW banking group covers over 90% of its borrowing needs in the capital markets, mainly through bonds that are guaranteed by the federal government. This allows KfW to raise funds at advantageous conditions, KfW is not allowed to compete with commercial banks, but it facilitates their business in areas within its mandate. KfW banking group has three units with distinct functions, as well as several subsidiaries. Lending by KfW group’s two main units, accounting for more than 90% of total lending, is in Germany and, to a limited extent. However, its largest subsidiary, KfW IPEX Bank GmbH, predominantly lends internationally, KfW Förderbank, the largest business unit of the group, committed €47.6 billion in 2014, mostly for housing and environmental protection in Germany. It is especially active in promoting energy-efficient housing for owner-occupied houses as well as for landlords and its energy efficiency standards for houses have become accepted standards in Germany. It also invests in infrastructure such as public transport and sanitation through a sub-unit called KfW Kommunalbank. More recently, it has engaged in education where it provides student loans. KfW Mittelstandsbank, the second largest business unit of the group, provides assistance to German small and medium enterprises including individual entrepreneurs, in addition to loans it also provides equity and mezzanine financing. Its financing totaled €20.4 billion in 2015, KfW has been very active in securitization before this market collapsed during the subprime mortgage crisis. Through securitization it helped commercial banks to transfer risks from their housing, KfW also provides loans to European commercial banks to help them finance SMEs, housing and infrastructure. KfW Entwicklungsbank provides financing to governments, public enterprises and commercial banks engaged in microfinance, different country groups are offered different financing conditions depending mainly on their per capita income. All these financing instruments are part of what is called development cooperation and is more commonly called development aid. In German aid, the work of KfW Development Bank is called financial cooperation which is complemented by technical cooperation by GIZ, the main sectors of financial cooperation are water supply and sanitation, renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as the development of the financial sector