UNICEF [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_89711.html
Selected Press Releases

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The Duchess of Cornwall sees how UNICEF protects children from online sexual abuse in Montenegro
PODGORICA, Montenegro, 18 March, 2016 – Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall today visited Montenegro to see how UNICEF is using a new digital application to help children stay safe on the internet and protect themselves from online sexual exploitation.

UNICEF urges EU leaders and Turkey to find common ground for refugee and migrant children
GENEVA, 18 March 2016 – With the lives of more than 20,000 children in Greece and in the Balkans on hold, UNICEF urges leaders of the European Union and Turkey to find common ground for refugee and migrant children when reaching an agreement that could have serious consequences for them.

More than 100 humanitarian agencies call for immediate and sustained access in Syria
GENEVA/NEW YORK, 15 March 2016 – Today, 102 humanitarian agencies urged sustained and unconditional humanitarian access to all Syrians.

Former Australian PM Kevin Rudd, Ethiopian government, UNICEF lead talks on global access to water, sanitation and hygiene
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, 15 March 2016 – Government ministers and representatives of development agencies, civil society, private sector and NGOs are gathered in Addis to agree on a way to meet targets on universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene as called for in the new Sustainable Development Goals.

Malawi tests first unmanned aerial vehicle flights for HIV early infant diagnosis
LILONGWE, Malawi 14 March 2016 – The Government of Malawi and UNICEF have started testing the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) to explore cost effective ways of reducing waiting times for HIV testing of infants. The test, which is using simulated samples, will have the potential to cut waiting times dramatically, and if successful, will be integrated into the health system alongside others mechanisms such as road transport and SMS.

1 in 3 Syrian children has grown up knowing only crisis as conflict reaches 5 year point – UNICEF
AMMAN/NEW YORK, 14 March 2016 – An estimated 3.7 million Syrian children – 1 in 3 of all Syrian children – have been born since the conflict began five years ago, their lives shaped by violence, fear and displacement, according to a UNICEF report. This figure includes more than 306,000 children born as refugees since 2011.

UNHCR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?page=&comid=4a0950336&cid=49aea93a7d&scid=49aea93a40

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Press Releases
18 March 2016
UNHCR on EU-Turkey deal: Asylum safeguards must prevail in implementation

15 March 2016
Syria conflict at 5 years: the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time demands a huge surge in solidarity

IOM / International Organization for Migration [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.iom.int/press-room/press-releases

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03/18/16
IOM Launches Survey: Human Trafficking and Exploitation Prevalence on Eastern Mediterranean Migrant Routes
03/18/16
Switzerland – Nearly 1 in 10 respondents answered positively to an indicator of human trafficking and other exploitative practices.

IOM, Sciences Po Paris Launch First Atlas of Environmental Migration
03/18/16
France – IOM and the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po Paris) have launched the French edition of the Atlas of Environmental Migration.

Mediterranean Migrant Arrivals in 2016 Near 155,000; Deaths Reach 467
03/18/16
Greece – With winter ending and warmer conditions prevailing, the Central Mediterranean migrant route between North Africa and Sicily has become busier.

Japan Backing for IOM Humanitarian Operations Totals USD 46.8 Million
03/18/16
Japan – The Japanese Government has allocated a total of 46.8 million funding to support IOM’s operations in assisting vulnerable migrants, displaced persons, refugees, returnees and affected communities in the midst of conflicts and crises continuing in various parts of the world.

IOM Welcomes Step to Enhance Coordination at Turkey’s Shared European Borders
03/18/16
Turkey – IOM Turkey welcomes the 10th March ratification of an agreement enhancing cooperation at Turkey’s land borders with Bulgaria and Greece to combat irregular activities at borders (including irregular migration and other types of cross border crime) and facilitate the legitimate movement of persons and goods across the borders.

IOM Strengthens Capacities to Fight Trafficking in Persons in the Caribbean
03/18/16
Jamaica – IOM has brought together key stakeholders from five Caribbean territories at a two-day workshop in Belize in an effort to strengthen coordination to counter trafficking in persons in the Caribbean.

IOM Evacuates 250 Most Vulnerable Ethiopian Migrants from Yemen
03/15/16
Yemen – IOM in Yemen resumed humanitarian evacuations of stranded Ethiopian migrants on 15 March.

IOM Surveys Iraqi Migrants to Europe
03/15/16
Iraq – A new study by IOM, “Migration Flows from Iraq to Europe,” explores the experiences of recent Iraqi migrants.

Mediterranean Migrant Arrivals in 2016: 152,697; Deaths: 456
03/15/16
Greece – IOM estimates that 152,697 refugees and migrants have crossed into Europe since the beginning of the year, the vast majority of them (143,205) having crossed through the Greek islands, while the remaining (9,492) have reached Europe through Italy.

Infectious Disease Holding Units Installed at Four Border Posts in Ghana
03/15/16
Ghana – IOM Ghana in partnership with the Government of Ghana installed four infectious disease holding units at Sampa and Elubo Points of Entry (border with Cote d’Ivoire), as well as the Hamile and Paga Points of Entry (border with Burkina Faso), to enhance the screening and surveillance capacities for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and other communicable diseases at these key border posts.

‘Milestone in Migrant Health’ Reached in Philippines
03/15/16
Philippines – The Philippines Department of Health and IOM have renewed a commitment first made in 2013 to work together in addressing the health and well-being, vulnerabilities and challenges faced by Filipino migrants.

UN Women [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unwomen.org/news/stories

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Date: 18 March 2016
Gender equality must be at the core of humanitarian action says international community
At CSW60, government representatives, civil society groups and high-level UN officials highlighted the centrality of gender equality in humanitarian action and urged world leaders to make concrete commitments at the World Humanitarian Summit in May.

Building peace in the Arab region, women’s groups spotlight progress and challenges
Date: 18 March 2016
On 15 March at the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN in New York, a side event to the 60th Commission on the Status of Women featured a rich discussion by Arab women activists about women’s contribution to the peacebuilding processes across the region.

UN Women calls for effective protection of refugee women and girls in context of European Council Summit
Date: 17 March 2016
In the context of the European Council meeting held today and tomorrow, UN Women calls for the specific needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls to be addressed in the response to the refugee and migration crisis.

Building resilience for South Sudanese women through humanitarian assistance
Date: 17 March 2016
Following a successful pilot in 2014, UN Women in South Sudan has scaled up the provision of humanitarian assistance to reach 6,000 vulnerable women and girls and 1500 men and boys in displaced settlements in Nimule, Eastern Equatorial State, Mingkaman in Lakes State and Juba in Central Equatoria State.

Executive Director briefs the Security Council on Liberia
Date: 17 March 2016
Statement to the Security Council meeting on Liberia by UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, 17 March 2016, New York.

Morocco hosts one of the largest gatherings of Arab women parliamentarians for a gender-balanced policy agenda
Date: 17 March 2016
Women parliamentarians from the Arab States region unite to make a difference for sustainable development. While the Arab States region is at a crucial point of transition in history, gender equality and inclusion must be on the top of the region’s priorities.

Press release: UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment holds inaugural meeting
Date: 15 March 2016
The inaugural meeting of the first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment kicked off today during the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Operating under the aegis of the UN Secretary-General, it intends to put women’s economic empowerment at the top of the international agenda, including by defining actions to speed up progress under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A global consultation will take place during the continuation of the meeting on 16 March.

Ten Member States take stock of their progress towards CSW57 Agreed Conclusions
Date: 15 March 2016
At CSW60, for the first time, 10 Member States submitted voluntary reviews of their progress towards the historic Agreed Conclusions from the fifty-seventh session of the CSW (2013), which focused on ending violence against women.

WHO & Regionals [to 19 March 2016]

Disease Outbreak News (DONs)
:: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia 16 March 2016
:: Chikungunya – Argentina 14 March 2016
:: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia 14 March 2016

WHO: Syria 5 years on – delivering health against all odds
15 March 2016 – After five years of a brutal and senseless conflict over 250 000 Syrians have been killed and over half the population forced from their homes out of fear and want.
In the past few weeks however, we are seeing signs of momentum, fragile glimmers of hope. As humanitarians we welcome progress where it means real change..
:: View the photo story
:: Watch the video
:: Read the news release

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:: WHO Regional Offices
WHO African Region AFRO
:: Official visit of Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa to China
Brazzaville, 18 March 2016 – The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti will begin a 4 day official visit to China from 22 to 25 March 2016 at the invitation of the Chinese government. The visit is aimed at further exploring areas of mutual interest in health with a view to having a more structured collaboration between WHO and the Chinese government.
:: Guinea: Two (2) confirmed Ebola cases in Koropara village in Nzérékoré – 18 March 2016
:: WHO statement on the end of the Ebola flare-up in Sierra Leone – 17 March 2016

WHO Region of the Americas PAHO
:: Regional Parliamentary Front against Tuberculosis in the Americas launched in Brazil (03/16/2016)

WHO South-East Asia Region SEARO
:: Media Statement – Create Healthy Environments to Save Lives
15 March 2016

WHO European Region EURO
:: Zika virus vectors and risk of spread in the WHO European Region 18-03-2016
:: TB elimination at stake unless Europe cares urgently for vulnerable, poor and marginalized populations and migrants 17-03-2016
:: Antibiotic awareness drives digital conversation in European countries 16-03-2016
:: Informing policy for young people’s health 15-03-2016
:: New WHO study reveals that while smoking by school-aged children has declined significantly, young people’s health and well-being is being undermined by gender and social inequalities 15-03-2016

WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region EMRO
:: New shipment of health supplies arrives in Taiz City
18 March 2016
:: Sudan: monitoring for polio across sub-Saharan sands
14 March 2016
:: Mobile medical clinics connect patients to health care in camps in Iraq
13 March 2016

WHO Western Pacific Region
:: Zika Outbreak Response in Tonga: Providing Special Care for Pregnant Women
TONGA, 16 March 2016 – On 1 February 2016, the Ministry of Health declared a Zika outbreak in the Kingdom of Tonga. Coincidentally, it was on the same day that the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the recent cluster of microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders reported in Brazil, following a similar cluster in French Polynesia in 2014, constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) as per the International Heath Regulations (IHR, 2005). Pregnant women living in or travelling to areas of Zika virus transmission are given special care in Tonga as the Zika virus may cause microcephaly in babies.

UNDP United Nations Development Programme [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter.html

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Mar 10, 2016
Helen Clark: Keynote speech on Women’s Economic Empowerment for Sustainable Development in Rural Areas
Mar 18, 2016 New York, USA

Helen Clark: Speech on Access to Climate Finance: Ensuring Ownership and Facilitating Access for Exposed Countries
Mar 17, 2016 Westin Grand Hotel – New York, USA

Global transport leaders sign historic declaration at Buckingham Palace in fight to shut down Illegal wildlife trafficking routes
Mar 15, 2016
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is proud to be a signatory to an historic declaration at Buckingham Palace committing leaders of the transportation industry globally to taking major steps to fight illicit wildlife trafficking, a move hailed by HRH The Duke of Cambridge as “a game changer in the race against extinction.”

Magdy Martínez-Solimán: UN70: Rethinking the humanitarian-development nexus: How can the UN achieve a better integration of long-term aid and humanitarian assistance?
Mar 15, 2016 Oslo, Norway

Helen Clark: Speech on Power of Parity: Why and How to Increase the Number of Women in Political Leadership
Mar 14, 2016 UN Commission on the Status of Women Side Event, UN Headquarters – New York, USA

Morocco is fighting climate change with Liquid Gold
Mar 14, 2016
While Argan forests still cover around 820,000 hectares in the mountains of Morocco, one-third of the original tree coverage has already been lost due to pressures from charcoal production and unsustainable agricultural practices in the immediate environment of the trees. The Moroccan government sees high demand for Argan oil on international markets as an opportunity to tie climate change targets to its sustainable development goals through the conservation and expansion of the Argan forest.

UN Statistical Commission :: UN Statistics Division [to 19 March 2016]
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/commission.htm
http://unstats.un.org/sdgs/

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Third meeting of the IAEG-SDGs
30 MAR – 1 APR 2016 Mexico City
The third meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), will be held from 30 March to 1 April 2016 in Mexico City, Mexico. The meeting will be hosted jointly by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.
Meeting objectives
:: Establishment of a tier system for indicators
:: Establishment of procedures for the methodological review of indicators, including approval mechanisms of needed revisions
:: Development of global reporting mechanisms, including identifying entities responsible for compiling data for global reporting on individual indicators and discussing data flow from the national to the global level
:: Discussion of the work plan and next steps

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unep.org/newscentre/?doctypeID=1

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The Secretary-General Message For The International Day Of Happiness
18/03/2016

Climate for Change in Sudan
UNEP’s projects help to halt the vicious cycle of climate change, resource scarcity and conflict
17/03/2016

Without Land Security Long-Term Peace in Afghanistan Will Remain Elusive, Research Says
One of the main stumbling blocks to reversing Afghanistan’s slide into environmental tragedy stems from the failure to look at the links between land and people.
16/03/2016

Floating gardens help lift Bangladeshis out of poverty and stave off worst impacts of climate change
UNEP-UNDP partnership builds resilience to climate change in one of the world’s most vulnerable countries
15/03/2016

Legacy of waste from Great East Japan earthquake underscores need for urgent action on marine litter
14/03/2016

UNISDR UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unisdr.org/archive

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18 Mar 2016
World salutes Sendai Framework
The international community today celebrated the first anniversary of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the world’s most comprehensive blueprint for curbing the impact of natural and man-made hazards, with 20 million people taking to social media to mark the occasion

14 Mar 2016
East Africa passes landmark disaster risk bill
East African countries have reached a landmark in their efforts to curb the impact of natural and man-made hazards, by enacting regional legislation on the management and reduction of disaster risk.

UNESCO [to 19 March 2016]
http://en.unesco.org/news
Selected Press Releases/News

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18 March 2016
With Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Irina Bokova reiterates UNESCO’s commitment to UN Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism

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17 March 2016
At the World Bank, Irina Bokova on enhanced collaboration between humanitarian and development work
On 16 March, Ms Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, took part in a High-Level Private Meeting on Humanitarian and Development Collaboration, jointly chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. During this meeting, principals of UN agencies, multilateral financial institutions, as well as major international non-governmental organizations, explored ways to operationalize Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for global concerted action to “leave no one behind”, stated in his recent report to the World Humanitarian Summit (May 2016), “One Humanity: Shared Responsibility”.

The meeting was an opportunity to exchange views on a new “business model” for humanitarian and development actors to join efforts in reducing need and vulnerability in a durable and sustainable manner, rather than exclusively focusing on meeting short-term humanitarian needs. Participants discussed modalities to bridge the humanitarian-development divide, through strengthened collaboration in data collection and longer-term planning; as well as opportunities to establish new innovative funding mechanisms to support integrated humanitarian-development responses notably to situations of protracted crises and massive forced displacement.

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14 March 2016
Recognizing the strong interaction between ocean health and human health
The interactions between the ocean on one side and human health and well-being on the other are multiple and complex. Until recently the social sciences and the public health communities focused primarily on the negative impacts of the oceans and seas on human health (e.g. weather events and coastal disasters), while the marine biology/marine science communities traditionally focused on the many potential benefits (e.g. healthy foods, novel drugs, etc.) and potentially negative environmental impacts (e.g. red tides, exotic species, etc.) of ocean-human interaction.

UN-HABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme [to 19 March 2016]
http://unhabitat.org/media-centre/news/
[We generally limit coverage to regional and global announcement and initiatives]
Posted March 17, 2016
UN Habitat publishes Persian version of Int’l Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning
Tehran, 17 March 2016 (UNIC) – United Nations Habitat Office in Tehran has translated into Persian and published the 2015 edition of International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning.

UN-Habitat launches the second Kabul Metropolitan Conference
Kabul 18 March 2016— UN- Habitat last week launched the second Kabul Metropolitan Conference aimed at assisting key partners to foster spatial metropolitan planning and governance for the greater Kabul area.

First results of Mexico’s City Prosperity Index (CPI)
Mexico, 18 March 2016 – The first results of the City Prosperity Index (CPI) carried out in 136 municipalities across Mexico were presented in Mexico City earlier this March.

UN-Habitat and partner convene meeting on ‘Financing Urban Sustainable Development in Latin America’
Bogotá, 16 March 2016—Over 40 international experts on finance and urban development last week converged in Bogota, Columbia for the first regional meeting on financing urban sustainable development in Latin America.

ILO International Labour Organization [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/lang–en/index.htm

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17 March 2016
Youth employment
ILO to increase evidence on what works for youth employment in the Middle East and North Africa

14 March 2016
Forced labour
Mauritania becomes the second African country to commit to ending modern slavery
The country is among the first to formally implement the 2014 Protocol to the ILO’s Forced Labour Convention No.29.

14 March 2016
Discrimination at work
ILO: 90 per cent of domestic workers excluded from social protection
New ILO study highlights huge decent work deficits for domestic workers throughout the world.

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.icao.int/Newsroom/Pages/pressrelease.aspx

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16/3/16
ICAO Symposium Continues Momentum toward Safe Integration of Space Transportation
MONTRÉAL, 15 March 2016 – To ensure that momentum of innovation and development of space transportation is not hindered, Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, President of the ICAO Council, has declared that states, international organizations and other stakeholders should work together to ensure that regulations and policies necessary to support space transportation are in place in due time and to include the schedule for these provisions in the 2019 revisions of the ICAO Global Aviation Safety and Air Navigation Plans…

WMO World Meteorological Organization [to 19 March 2016]
https://www.wmo.int/media/news

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17 March 2016
Jason-3 Begins Mapping Oceans, Sees Ongoing El Niño
Just over a month after launch, Jason-3, a U.S.-European oceanography satellite mission with NASA participation, has produced its first complete science map of global sea surface height, capturing the current signal of the 2015-16 El Niño.

The map was generated from the first 10 days of data collected once Jason-3 reached its operational orbit of 1,336 kilometers on Feb. 12. It shows the continuing evolution of the ongoing El Niño event that began early last year.

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16 March 2016
Polar Challenge Launched
Wanted: Autonomous vehicle for 2,000 kilometer mission under sea-ice
Reward: 500 000 Swiss francs
Fairbanks 16 March 2016 (WCRP) The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation have launched a new Polar Challenge to develop an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) capable of a 2 000 km mission under the sea-ice in the Arctic or Antarctic.

The aim is to stimulate innovation into new monitoring tools for the Polar oceans, to complement satellite observations and ultimately expand scientific research capabilities and climate services in both the Arctic and Antarctic….

UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unido.org/news-centre/news.html

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Tuesday, 15 March 2016
UNIDO officially opens Investment and Technology Promotion Office in Nigeria
ABUJA, 15 March 2016 – The Federal Government of Nigeria and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) today officially opened an Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) in the capital,…

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.iso.org/iso/home/news_index.htm

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18 March 2016
Three billion people at risk from cooking emissions
There is a dark side to cooking that half the world population knows only too well as it costs the lives of four million people every year – that’s three times the number of deaths from HIV/AIDS. Most are women and children.

UNWTO World Tourism Organization [to 19 March 2016]
http://media.unwto.org/news

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18 March 2016
Swedish private sector commits to the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism
Visita and Svensk Turism AB have become the latest private sector signatories to the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics. The signature of the commitment to the Code took place on the occasion of Sweden’s Hospitality Industry Congress, held in Gothenburg (17 March 2016).

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15 March 2016
Private sector committed to fight child exploitation in tourism
The 31st Meeting of the World Tourism Network on Child Protection, held on the occasion of ITB Berlin, focused on the role and initiatives of the private sector to fight Child Exploitation in tourism. Awareness raising, training of staff and the implementation of measures along the whole value chain of tourism were pointed out as critical.

…Carol Bellamy, Chair of the Network, recalled the role of the Network as a platform to share research and good practices in the fight against the exploitation of children in tourism.

At the meeting, the Chair of the High Level Global Task Force to End Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism, Najat Maalla M’jid, shared the first findings of the Global Study carried out by the Task Force. Lack of reporting, weak legislation and the anonymity of the Internet were pointed out as some of the main challenges in child protection from sexual exploitation in the sector. The report aims to also address the chronic lack of robust evidence and comparable data on this issue…

…The World Tourism Network on Child Protection is an open-ended network facilitated by UNWTO featuring the multi-stakeholder participation of a range of tourism stakeholders – governments, international organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), tourism industry groups and media associations. Its mandate is to prevent all forms of youth exploitation in the tourism sector (i.e. sexual exploitation, child labour and child trafficking). The Network’s meetings, held annually at the worlds’ foremost Travel and Tourism Fairs, serve as a platform to exchange experiences and best practices, present awareness-raising materials and capacity building tools, and promote the adoption of professional codes of conduct or other responsible practices in line with the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.

ITU International Telecommunications Union [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/index.aspx?lang=en#.VF8FYcl4WF8

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9 March 2016
UN Broadband Commission to government leaders: broadband can be your most powerful development catalyst
High-speed networks and services essential to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals

Dubai, 14 March 2016 – The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development’s 13th full meeting, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, yesterday, reached consensus on the need for a new set of connectivity targets to help governments more effectively harness broadband networks and services to drive progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Commissioners agreed that broadband networks, services and applications have enormous potential to deliver dramatic results in education, health and socio-economic growth. A recent informal meeting of Commissioners at the World Economic Forum in Davos emphasized that connecting the unconnected and generating sufficient investment opportunities for the universal deployment of broadband networks, services and applications will be a key factor in achieving all 17 global goals.

Debate in Dubai around potential new targets focused on the importance of adding targets to measure the utilization of selected broadband-enabled public services, the choice of statistical indicators to accurately gauge broadband access at the country and community levels, as well as the choice of data sources and methodologies for generating accurate, reliable measurement. The Commission also agreed on the importance of developing National Digital Scorecards to measure national progress towards achieving broadband targets….

WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/

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Mar 17, 2016 PR/2016/789
Cybersquatting Cases Up in 2015, Driven by New gTLDs
Amid the roll-out of hundreds of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) such as .GURU, .NINJA and .NYC, trademark owners filed 2,754 cases under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) with WIPO in 2015, an increase of 4.6 % over the previous year.

Mar 16, 2016 PR/2016/788
U.S. Extends Lead in International Patent and Trademark Filings
The United States of America (U.S.) extended its long-standing position as the top source of international patent applications via WIPO amid another strong year of worldwide intellectual property (IP) filing growth, as an electronics manufacturer displaced a watch maker as the leading depositor of international industrial design applications.

CBD Convention on Biological Diversity [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.cbd.int/press-releases/

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2016-03-14
Canada and the United States of America Affirm Partnership on Climate Action, Clean Energy, and the Arctic and its Biodiversity
The Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Mr. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, applauds the Arctic Partnership announced Thursday by United States President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Washington, D.C. Although focused on climate action, the partnership has far-reaching consequences for biodiversity in the Arctic, including the role of indigenous peoples and their traditional knowledge.