Managua, Nicaragua: Situated in the heart of Central America, Nicaragua has a very rich biodiversity. As a developing economy, it is highly dependent on its natural resources. However, Nicaragua is one of the countries that suffers the most from the consequences of climate change. For example, farmlands are vulnerable due to extreme weather conditions which cause land degradation and severe erosion.

In the context of Rio+20, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme has launched a public participation campaign entitled "Volunteering for the Future We Want" on UNV China’s Sina and Tecent Weibos on 25 June 2012. Weibo is technically the Chinese translation for microblog. Sina Weibo is similar to a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook, and it is one of the most popular sites in China. Tencent Weibo is also a microblogging site where users may broadcast a message of up to 140 Chinese characters through the web, SMS or smartphone.

UN Online Volunteers Hazel Alfon (Philippines) and Riddhima A. Mehta (India) provide support to the first African Regional Conference on Women Access to Trade and Finance . The African conference is being organized by the Alliance for African Women Initiative (AFAWI), a non-governmental organization based in Ghana.

Thanks to UN Online Volunteer Dominique MacNeill from France, the website of the Gender-Based Violence Information System (GBVIMS) (www.gbvims.org) is now available in French. The GBVIMS is an inter-agency partnership of various UN agencies and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and enables humanitarian actors responding to incidents of gender-based violence to effectively and safely collect, store, analyze and share data reported by GBV survivors.

On 26 February 2012, UN News reported that upon concluding his first visit to Zambia, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he left the country convinced that it has a bright future, especially because of the commitment of the younger generation to democratic principles, human rights and education. “In Livingstone, I had a very impressive and inspiring meeting with young girl students and boy students,” Mr. Ban told reporters at the airport before leaving Zambia for Angola.

5 December is International Volunteer Day. The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme today announced the winners of the "Online Volunteering Award 2011". Every year, more than 10,000 online volunteers engage in the work of non-profit development organizations through UNV’s Online Volunteering service. The award honours the contributions of these volunteers who work entirely over the Internet to contribute to peace and development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The German Foreign Minister, Mr Guido Westerwelle, visited the UN campus in Bonn today.  He was welcomed by the Chair of the Consultative Forum of the Heads of UN Agencies in Germany, Ms Flavia Pansieri, together with the heads of the United Nations agencies in Bonn.  The Minister asserted the commitment of Germany to the UN agencies in Bonn and their work on sustainable development. He also discussed the support Germany was giving to enhance the UN campus facilities as the UN presence in Bonn continues to grow.

In addition to the 8,000 UN Volunteers that the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme mobilizes every year, around 10,000 UN online volunteers provide their support over the Internet to organizations working on the ground.  Via UNV’s Online Volunteering service, they carry out assignments for organizations to help developing countries eradicate poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  They support democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery, and promote environmentally sustainable development.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in China, Renata Lok-Dessallien, celebrated the launch of the China Volunteers Association (CVA) at the Great Hall of People on 26 April 2011. This inclusive volunteer association aims to foster and promote the culture of volunteerism for social development and solidarity.

UNV Executive Coordinator Flavia Pansieri attended the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board in June 2011 in New York. She emphasized the need to acknowledge volunteerism in various ways, “in particular not as an afterthought, but as an intentional component of programmes designed to promote national ownership and the development of national capacities,” she said.