10 October 2018, Atlanta, United States – The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in Atlanta (CIFAL Atlanta) and the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Greater Atlanta hosted a raising awareness event at the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ambassadors and representatives of Permanent Missions in Geneva were invited to join our 5th Friends of UNITAR Meeting, to learn more about UNITAR, its activities and our new Strategic Framework 2018 - 2021.

For the first time, UNITAR partners with a private company to build a core set of knowledge that will help promote conservation, restoration and safeguarding of our planet, while encouraging Danone employees to take concrete action. Through UN CC:Learn, UNITAR and Danone will develop a learning program on climate change for Danone employees.

United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) organized a workshop titled “Climate Change and the Paris Agreement: Challenges and Expectations” conducted by Professor Narinder Kakar, the Permanent Observer for the United Nations mandated University for Peace, and Mr. Santiago Villalpando, the Chief of the Treaty Section of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs. Professor Kakar also serves as Director and Adjunct Professor on UN Environmental Diplomacy Programme at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law of Pace University. The workshop began with a few opening remarks on the importance of the Paris Agreement by Mr. Pelayo Alvarez, who also thanked Professor Kakar and Mr. Villalpando for all their efforts in preparation for the workshop. He then gave participants a brief summary of what to expect from the workshop.

“While donors nowadays emphasize on sustainable development, the finance of such development is becoming scarcer and scarcer. For this reason, governments will need to shift away from traditional external donor funding and move towards more sustainable finance mechanisms that can be allocated and managed in-country.”

UNITAR courses don’t just provide information — they help individuals develop ideas and solutions to the problems they face. They help individuals cultivate sustainable solutions. Mamunur Rahman is one of these individuals.

"Our project has already raised SCP Awareness in almost 500 Sri Lankan students ranging from school-aged children to university staff. At the same time, I am also working to develop a model green university in Sri Lanka, where SCP practices will be developed and, I hope, adopted by other universities in the country to become more environmentally friendly.”  

“Since our app became available, we have seen users from 10 different countries using it. Through the app, it has created a new network for stakeholders to collaborate in order to promote safety practices for nanotechnologies.”

"In the future, I plan to work in the entrepreneurship field, maybe as a business developer or even with my own company. "

“I had the idea in my mind since some time, but the courses I took helped me improve it. And since it also helped me to find more funds, it definitely helped the project to take off.”