Issue: 129
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today appointed globally acclaimed actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, best known for his starring role on HBO’s Game of Thrones, as its newest Goodwill Ambassador.
In this new role, the Danish actor will focus on raising awareness and support for the Sustainable Development Goals. Also known as the Global Goals, they are a universal call to action to end poverty, fight inequality and stop climate change.
“My main mission as UNDP Goodwill Ambassador will be to raise awareness and support for the Global Goals for a better future for all, which cannot be achieved without empowering women and protecting our planet,” said Nikolaj Coster-Waldau at a press conference held at UNDP headquarters.
The father of two girls, Coster-Waldau is passionate about ending discrimination and violence against women and girls everywhere. He will use his influence as an actor and advocate to draw attention to critical issues they face and encourage people to be agents of change.
“We are delighted to team up with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. His energy and commitment will help us amplify the urgent and universal message of the Sustainable Development Goals. We welcome Nicolaj's support to ensure that as many people as possible around the world know about the Goals, and can take action to help make our planet a better place for all,” said Michael O’Neill, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of External Relations, UNDP."
In addition to his award-winning acting career, Coster-Waldau is also a producer and screenwriter. After graduating from the Danish School of Theatre in Copenhagen, he received his first major film role in Nightwatch in 1994, a critical and commercial success in Denmark. He has since starred in various films in Europe and North America, including Gods of Egypt, The Other Woman and 1,000 Times Good Night. He will appear later this year in Small Crimes and Spinning Man in 2017.
Kicking off his role as UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, Coster-Waldau will referee the first portion of the inaugural Global Goals World Cup women’s soccer tournament Sunday morning at the 92nd Street Y. Organized in partnership with the Social Good Summit, Eir Soccer and UNDP, the first ever women’s amateur Global Goals World Cup is an annual tournament that aims to connect women across nations to create a better world through sport.
“Refereeing a fantastic tournament that supports the Global Goals will be the perfect way to kick off my new role to promote and advance the Global Goals. I’m urging everyone around the world to get behind UNDP’s mission to end poverty and inequality, protect our planet and transform the lives of each and every one of us,” Coster-Waldau said.
Coster-Waldau is joining a roster of UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors, which includes globally celebrated actors, athletes and even chefs. For the full list of UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors, click here.
Contact information
Images and videos:
Adam Cathro, adam.cathro@undp.org, (o) 212.906.5326, (c) 917.915.9725
Turkey is no longer a country that is losing its forests, but one that is increasing and enriching its forest land each year with reforestation works. There has been 9 million hectares of land reforested since 1946. This is almost 10% of the country’s total land.
The Turkish General Directorate of Forestry is conducting reforestation works in 334 projects with 15.000 personnel and 122.000 forest villagers.
In this context, the General Directorate of Forestry, with financial support from the Global Environment Fund (GEF), made a film about the reforestation works in Turkey. This was made as part of the Mediterranean Integrated Forest Management Project that is being implemented by the Directorate in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The film illustrates the reforestation and tree planting works conducted by the General Directorate of Forestry together with forest villagers in various parts of Turkey.
Stakeholders meeting on Gazipaşa Forest Management Plans was held in Gazipaşa on 16 August 2016 in the context of the “Mediterranean Integrated Forest Management Project.’’
The objective of the meeting was to gather all the related stakeholders and to inform them about the planning procedures and draft forest functions maps and to get their comments and suggestions on the draft forest functions maps of Gazipaşa Forest District Directorate.
Representatives from the General Directorate of Forestry, UNDP, Nature Conservation Center Foundation, NGOs, mokhtars of some villages and related local government organizations participated to the meeting.
During the meeting, planning principles on ecosystem based multi-purposed management, maps of draft forest functions, objectives and conservation targets of the management plans of Gazipaşa were presented to the participants. Some of the Mokhtars have requested to establish new honey forests for bee-keeping and recreational areas around their villages and to establish new oak stands beyond main forest tree species. There was also a request to establish mulberry forest in the degraded forest lands to utilize from the leaves of the trees for the sericulture.
At the end of the meeting, ideas and comments of the participants were received and discussed in terms of draft forest functions maps. It was decided to further inform and brief the village Mokhtars about the draft determined forest functions of the vicinity of their villages in order to get their final ideas and suggestions.
Newly prepared forest management plans of Gülnar Forest District Directorate were presented in a meeting to respective partners in Gülnar on 18-19 August 2016.
The meeting was held in the context of Mediterranean Integrated Forest Management Project. The objective of the meeting was to inform the forest rangers about the principles and differences of the new forest management plans of Gülnar, to find out the system and revision needs to integrate new approaches and models developped under the project into forest management plans of Köyceğiz, Andırın and Pos Forest District Directorates and finally to draw a road map for fully integrated forest management plans of 5 pilot project sites.
Total number of participants was 45 from 5 Regional Directorates, 5 Forest District Directorates, UNDP, related Departments of GDF and Nature Conservation Center Foundation.
Important issues and subjects raised by the participants during the meeting were the technical, administrative, personal assignment for the laboratories, informing the project partners regularly, awareness raising, procurement of some equipment and material for the field staff etc.
n the context of the Mediterranean Integrated Forest Management Project, a meeting on the integration of new models and approaches into forest management plans was held in Gazipaşa on 13 June 2016.
The meeting was organized in Gazipaşa Forest District Directorate with the participation of the staff of Gülnar and Gazipaşa Forest District Directorates, Forest Management Chief Engineers, Inspectors, related Division Directors from General Directorate of Forestry, representative of the Nature Conservation Foundation (DKM), project consultant on forest management and UNDP staff in Gazipaşa.
The objective of the meeting was to get together the both two District Directorates’ staff in order to share experiences on the integration of the new models and approaches into forest management plans and to draw a road map to clear up the difficulties and problems faced during the field work of the forest management teams in Gazipaşa.
Finally, a road map was prepared and all the activities foreseen were identified and timetabled.
The Social Good Summit, which is being held in many cities across the world, is in Istanbul for the fourth time!
The Social Good Summit is a global conference in which the impact of technology and new media on social good initiatives are discussed. This year, it will be held for the seventh time in the world and the fourth time in Turkey. The summit in Istanbul will be held at the Şişli Marriott Hotel on September 29 2016.
The Social Good Summit Istanbul brings national leaders, new media and technology experts, NGO activists and experts from all over the world together to share creative ideas and solutions on how to use new media for social good. Our theme, #2030NOW, asks the question, “What type of world do I want to live in by the year 2030?”
Get ready for a day of social good during which you will get to watch highly esteemed speakers along with people who are on the same page as you!
You can go to sgsistanbul.org to meet the Social Good Summit speakers and register for the summit! Here you will also find links to the previous summits and links to related webpages.
We hope to see you on September 29!
Media Registration: http://www.sgsistanbul.org/dms-kayit/
Audience Registration: http://www.sgsistanbul.org/register/
SGS Istanbul 2016 speakers list: http://www.sgsistanbul.org/?lang=en
Last Year’s SGS in Istanbul: https://goo.gl/uZb18k
WFP - Monitoring Assistants - Izmir (Deadline - 23-September-2016)
WFP - Monitoring Assistants - Mersin/Adana (Deadline - 23-September-2016)
WFP - Monitoring Assistants - Istanbul (Deadline - 23-September-2016)
WFP - Monitoring Assistants - Ankara (Deadline - 23-September-2016)
Regional Project Specialist (Africa) (Deadline - 23-September-2016)
Regional Project Specialist (EC&Arab) (Deadline - 23-September-2016)
UNDP Internship Private Sector in Development (Deadline - 26-September-2016)
Consultant for Technical Advisory Services for New World Project and SDGs (Deadline - 27-September-2016)
Country Programme Specialist (Deadline - 27-September-2016)
Programme Advisor (Deadline - 27-September-2016)
Consultancy Service on Conducting the 2016 Annual Review of the UNDCS 2016-2020 and Drafting the 2016 UN Annual Results Report (Deadline - 30-September-2016)
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Intern (Deadline - 30-September-2016)
Project Administrative Associate (Deadline - 3-October-2016)
Consultant for Adaptation of the Data Journalism Training Manual (Deadline - 5-October-2016)