QUNO

QUNO’s Human Impacts of Climate Change programme published a new briefing paper titled "Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR): What is Sustainable and Just?". Written by Dr. Duncan McLaren and Dr. Olaf Corry, two academic experts on environmental law, international politics and geoengineering, this briefing paper is a key resource for understanding the risks of reliance on CDR.  

On 1 October, representatives of QUNO New York met with colleagues from the NGO Working Group for Peace on the Korean Peninsula to hear from Reverend Dr. Kim Hiheon. Reverend Kim is a pastor and peacebuilder from the Republic of Korea (South Korea), who engages in Christian activism on social justice, demilitarization, and unification of the two Koreas. The conversation took place in the context of a deteriorating relationship between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and South Korea, as North Korea has stated its intention to abandon reunification as their goal.  

As the United Nations prepared to open the 79th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September, QUNO began a new chapter of its own. In both the New York and Geneva offices, the QUNO staff was excited to welcome new members of our team. In Geneva, we welcomed new Programme Assistants Johan Cavert and Kaya Van der Horst. In New York, we were joined by Programme Assistants Chelsea Comas and Ailih Weeldreyer, as well as a new UN Representative, Jessica Walker-Keleher.  

Friday 20 September marked the start of the Summit of the Future Action Days, where United Nations stakeholders gathered to address the most pressing issues of our time and express their efforts to work towards a better future. World leaders sought to reaffirm their commitment to peace efforts through the Pact for the Future. Civil society organizations, like QUNO, had an opportunity to engage in the implementation of the Pact for the Future during the Action Days.

As part of the 2024 World Plenary Meeting (WPM), QUNO Geneva Interim Deputy Director and Representative for the Human Impacts of Climate Change Lindsey Fielder Cook, contributed personal reflection and testimony by video recording on the theme of ‘care for creation’. Taking place in South Africa from 5-12 August 2024, the WPM was organized by the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) and hosted by the Southern Africa Yearly Meeting.