Recent HighlightsÂ
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As convener of the NGO Working Group on Food and Hunger, GPF organized a luncheon with former Secretary General of the Club of Rome Martin Lees on the food crisis and the limits to growth. The discussion examined how the current growth paradigms are failing to eradicate hunger and will increasingly undermine food security in the future. A podcast of the event is available on GPF's website (Feb 9).
The NGO Working Group on the Security Council met with German Ambassador Peter Wittig (Feb 1) and Portuguese Ambassador Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral (Feb 17). The Working Group was also invited for lunch at the Indian Mission by Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri (Feb 4), and at the South African mission by Ambassador Baso Sangqu (Feb 8). These meetings were an occasion to discuss the priorities and strategy of these four elected members in the Security Council.
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What GPF is Working On
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NGO Access at the UN
As reconstruction at UN headquarters gets into high gear, meeting rooms are scarce and NGOs are often the first to be excluded. GPF, as the Co-Convener of the NGO Working Group on UN Access, has been working with partners to keep the doors open. We have pressed UN officials to work collaboratively with NGOs and to be hospitable to the many NGO representatives that annually attend special functions, including the three thousand who recently came to New York to participate in the Commission on the Status of Women.
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Overfishing
GPF has continued its work on the crisis in the world's fisheries, a process that first focused on foreign factory boats taking the fish stocks near the coast of Somalia. This month, we screened a remarkable documentary film, The End of the Line, a dramatic account of how overfishing is destroying all the world's large fish species. We prepared documents on the security impact of overfishing, as the livelihoods of millions of coastal people are taken away by the high capacity, unaccountable foreign fleets.
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GPF in the News
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Executive Director Jim Paul was featured in an article by Radio France Internationale on Security Council reform.
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Spotlight
In February, Alexandra Ortolja-Baird (UK) joined the GPF team as an Associate.
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Upcoming Events
February 16, 1:00 - 2:45pm
Luncheon and Discussion with David Pimentel of Cornell University on "Energy and Eating - How biofuels affect the world's food supply and what we should do about it."
Meetings with Ambassador Pedro Serrano, acting Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations, and French Ambasasdor Gerard Araud.
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