Formal and informal relations between un headquarters, permanent missions and NGOs - A social network analysis.

NGOs have long been active at the UN, making the organisation a unique venue for analysing the work of NGOs, and how they cooperate with other NGOs, the UN and its member states. After major UN conferences it appeared as if NGOs had become part of the UN machinery, a perception reinforced by the growing number of accredited NGOs, and the positive language of partnership used by the UN itself to describe its relationship with NGOs.On the basis of a social network analysis, this study shows that individual success stories do not translate into a pervasive influence of NGOs at the international level, and more specifically as analysed here, at the UN. There are no formal arrangements for NGO participation at the most important UN organs, the Security Council and the General Assembly. Attempts in the past to establish such mechanisms failed because of the strong resistance of member states. As for informal cooperation, it remains patchy and undermined by a high degree of mistrust between NGOs and the UN, particularly when it comes to member state representatives. The replacement of major conferences by summits with very limited NGO partiCipation, and the failure of the Cardoso Panel to expand NGO rights, further suggests a backlash in UN-NGO relations. Bearing in mind that global governance calls for a stronger role of NGOs in international affairs, and that UN conferences are often mentioned as key venues for global civil society action, the study warns that concepts of global governance and global civil society should only be used with caution. The author used to work for the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service in New York, advised the Office of the Under-Secretary-General in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs on NGO matters and served as the Assistant Secretary of the Committee on NGOs of the Economic and Social Council

Formal and informal relations between UN headquarters, permanent missions and NGOs

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Vivianite formation in ferruginous sediments from Lake Towuti, Indonesia

Ferruginous lacustrine systems, such as Lake Towuti, Indonesia, are characterized by a specific type of phosphorus cycling in which hydrous ferric iron (oxyhydr)oxides trap and precipitate phosphorus to the sediment, which reduces its bioavailability in the water column and thereby restricts primary production. The oceans were also ferruginous during the Archean, thus understanding the dynamics of phosphorus in modern-day ferruginous analogues may shed light on the marine biogeochemical cycling that dominated much of Earth's history. Here we report the presence of large crystals (>5 mm) and nodules (>5 cm) of vivianite – a ferrous iron phosphate – in sediment cores from Lake Towuti and address the processes of vivianite formation, phosphorus retention by iron and the related mineral transformations during early diagenesis in ferruginous sediments. Core scan imaging, together with analyses of bulk sediment and pore water geochemistry, document a 30 m long interval consisting of sideritic and non-sideritic clayey beds and diatomaceous oozes containing vivianites. High-resolution imaging of vivianite revealed continuous growth of crystals from tabular to rosette habits that eventually form large (up to 7 cm) vivianite nodules in the sediment. Mineral inclusions like millerite and siderite reflect diagenetic mineral formation antecedent to the one of vivianite that is related to microbial reduction of iron and sulfate. Together with the pore water profiles, these data suggest that the precipitation of millerite, siderite and vivianite in soft ferruginous sediments stems from the progressive consumption of dissolved terminal electron acceptors and the typical evolution of pore water geochemistry during diagenesis. Based on solute concentrations and modeled mineral saturation indices, we inferred vivianite formation to initiate around 20 m depth in the sediment. Negative δ56Fe values of vivianite indicated incorporation of kinetically fractionated light Fe2+ into the crystals, likely derived from active reduction and dissolution of ferric oxides and transient ferrous phases during early diagenesis. The size and growth history of the nodules indicate that, after formation, continued growth of vivianite crystals constitutes a sink for P during burial, resulting in long-term P sequestration in ferruginous sediment

Microorganisms persist at record depths in the subseafloor of the Canterbury Basin

The subsurface realm is colonized by microbial communities to depths of >1000 meters below the seafloor (m.b.sf.), but little is known about overall diversity and microbial distribution patterns at the most profound depths. Here we show that not only Bacteria and Archaea but also Eukarya occur at record depths in the subseafloor of the Canterbury Basin. Shifts in microbial community composition along a core of nearly 2 km reflect vertical taxa zonation influenced by sediment depth. Representatives of some microbial taxa were also cultivated using methods mimicking in situ conditions. These results suggest that diverse microorganisms persist down to 1922 m.b.sf. in the seafloor of the Canterbury Basin and extend the previously known depth limits of microbial evidence (i) from 159 to 1740 m.b.sf. for Eukarya and (ii) from 518 to 1922 m.b.sf. for Bacteria