On November 3rd in Barcelona, during the COP15 preparatory meetings of the UN Convention on Climate Change, a special ‘Water Day’ event will bring the attention to water as a critical and cross-cutting concern for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The University of the Free State (UFS) in South Africa and the United Nations University (UNU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for joint research and capacity development on 25 September 2009 at the UN Campus in Bonn. The signing representatives were Prof. Herman Van Schalkwyk, the Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UFS, and Prof. Konrad Osterwalder, Rector of the UNU.

The parties share substantial areas of common interest and objectives. They agreed to cooperate and coordinate closely on capacity development programmes.

At the "Climate Change: GA Panel Discussion" that took place 19 October 2009 in New York, Dr Koko Warner from UNU-EHS gave a presentation on "Advancing human security through knowledge-based approaches to reducing vulnerability and environmental risks".

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. e.H. Erich J. Plate retired from the Advisory Committee (AC) of UNU-EHS during the fourth AC meeting that took place 24-25 September 2009. He had been a member since the inauguration of the committee in 2003 when UNU-EHS was founded.

In a speech, Prof. Konrad Osterwalder, Rector of the United Nations University and ex-officio member of the AC, warmly thanked Prof. Plate for his valuable advice and support and wished him all the best.

The first PhD researchers at UNU-EHS successfully completed their dissertations. Xiaomeng Shen, Philine Oft and Adelina Mensah received their doctoral degree this summer.

The three PhD researchers did field work in China, Germany, Peru and Ghana. They focused on risk management and adaptation strategies to environmental threats and mitigation measures. Their research findings aim to be of practical use to support vulnerable communities exposed to these threats and to be used as guidelines and background information for decision-makers.