QUNO, under the Friends World Committee for Consultation, is the only faith-based organization accredited as an observer to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which collates climate science findings to advise all countries. While government representatives cannot change text in the reports, they can negotiate language in the Summary for Policy Makers (SPM), so long as the integrity of the findings is not affected. Negotiation can result in weakening SPM language. At the recent IPCC meeting on Land, QUNO's Representative for Climate Change, Lindsey Fielder Cook, sought to protect language on sustainable and restorative behavior (diet, farming, consumption, restoration/regeneration of eco-systems) and consequences to insufficient action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. She summarized the Report’s main messages as: 1) land is currently absorbing (sink) some 20% of GHG emissions, 2) land degradation must be reversed and overall GHG emissions reduced, and 3) without this, land will become a GHG emission ‘source’, leading to irreversible eco-system collapse and ‘substantial additional GHG emissions from ecosystems that would accelerate global warming’.
Myanmar “sham electionsโ: QUNO hostsย Quaker Houseย briefing
On 2 December, the Quaker UN Officeย hostedย diplomatsย at Quaker House forย a private briefingย in advance of theย elections in Myanmarย that began onย 28 December 2025.ย QUNO Director, Sarah Clarke,ย openedย the meeting, noting thatย โthe world will beโฏwatchingโฏcarefullyย to see howย the international communityย respondsย toโฏthe vote.โย Seanย Dunne,ย an expert who hasย supported election observationย with the UN and the Carter Center,ย including in Myanmar, served as an outside briefer.ย In his remarks, Seanย emphasized that the Myanmarย general elections,ย which areย being conducted by the military regime that overthrew the democratically elected governmentย followingย electionsย in 2020,ย โfail to meet any recognized international benchmark for credibility or genuineness.โย Seanย concurredย withย UN experts,ย numerousย Human Rightsย organizations, and media outlets describing theย elections asย a โcharadeโ or โshamย electionโ intended to โsolicit recognition from foreign governments and legitimize the continuation of military rule, rather than reflect the genuine will of the Myanmar people.โย In Myanmar,ย voting kicked off onย 28 December 2025,ย withย polls beingย held inย roughly aย third of Myanmarโsย townships. Despite two more voting phases scheduled on 11 and 25 January 2026, several million people, 56 townships, andย numerousย political parties,ย including the winner of Myanmarโs lastย credible election,ย the National League for Democracy, have been excluded by the military orย haveย chosenย not toย participate.ย ย As Sean explained, theseย exclusionary factorsย amount to โan incredibly sophisticated form of election engineering.โย Theย implementation of biometric voting and surveillance technology, new laws criminalizing criticism of the election, andย manipulation of representative quotas in Myanmarโs […]
