12 March 2013, Antananarivo, Republic of Madagascar – In the framework of the project “Strengthening Capacities in the Republic of Madagascar for National Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) Implementation and Supporting GHS Capacity Building,” a National Forum on Governance for SAICM implementation was held from 5 to 6 March 2013 in Madagascar. The objectives of the workshop were to:

11 March 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - UNOSAT will soon enter the third year of monitoring of the Syria crisis in support of the international humanitarian community and the High-Commissioner for Refugees in particular. UNOSAT first situation maps about the unfolding of the Syrian crisis date back mid-2011. Today, the number of Syrians fleeing increasingly violent conflict has reportedly surpassed the staggering number of one million.

28 February 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - The Local Development Programme of UNITAR, in partnership with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), is launching an e-Learning course in Spanish on Sustainable Urban Mobility in Developing Countries. The course will be running from 3 April to 10 July 2013.

25 February, Hiroshima, Japan - UNITAR has signed a Letter of Agreement with the Ministry of Oil of the Republic of Iraq to train 26 civil servants in both Hiroshima and Tokyo between 16 and 28 March.
The training programme, being developed in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), will address public sector leadership, human resources development and organizational change, along with an examination of the post-conflict reconstruction of Hiroshima and Japan.

Theme: World Heritage Serial Nominations and the Vital Role of Comparative Analysis
Date: 22 - 26 April 2013
Location: Hiroshima, Japan

5-7 Febuary 2013, Osaka, Japan - The International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC UNEP), in collaboration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), is working on an initiative to produce and implement "Guidelines for the development, review and updating of national waste management strategies." It responds to UNEP Governing Council decisions 25/8 and 26/3 calling on UNEP to support national implementation of integrated waste management and to the Rio+20 call for development of comprehensive national waste management strategies (paragraph 218 of t

5 February 2013, Lusaka, Zambia — A national workshop on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) was held on 5 February 2013 in Lusaka, Zambia. The workshop brought together 59 participants from government, industry, civil society, and academia; representing the sectors related to the GHS, as well as a resource person from UNITAR.

15 February 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - As the attention of the international community turns once again to the importance of building resilience through capacity development, UNOSAT and IGAD have launched into a project to do just that, with a practical focus on the use of geospatial technologies to improve disaster reduction in East Africa.

13 February 2013, Lausanne, Switzerland - The campus of the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) played host to the first meeting of the new AP-Swiss initiative launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in partnership with the

8 February 2013, Geneva, Switzerland -  UNITAR’s Multilateral Diplomacy Programme is introducing a new online course, “Climate Change Diplomacy: Negotiating Effectively Under UNFCCC,” in collaboration with Ricardo-AEA and the CDKN Advocacy Fund. Climate change negotiators from the poorest and most climate vulnerable countries are eligible to apply for a fee-waiver, with thanks to the CDKN Advocacy Fund.