Bianca Jagger: Golden Peacock Award, Gaza conflict protest, and IRENA
Chair of the WFC’s Executive Committee and Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador Bianca Jagger last month received the prestigious Institute of Director’s (IOD) Golden Peacock Award for the Protection of Human Rights in Mumbai, India.
With other celebrities, she joined tens of thousands of protesters in rallies against  the conflict in Gaza on two weekends in January in London.
"The international community must guarantee the immediate halt of the disproportionate and unlawful use of force by Israel against the Palestinian civilian population," she said.  She also drew attention to the fact that 40% of the casualties in Gaza were children.
Ms Jagger also participated in the founding conference of IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency, in Bonn, Germany on January 26. IRENA will constitute an independent driving force behind renewable energy and help to create a level playing field for renewable energy development in the Global South.

Frances Moore Lappé - Outstanding Public Scholar of 2009
WFC Councillor, food author and democracy-advocate Frances Moore Lappé has been named the Outstanding Public Scholar of 2009 by the International Political Economy section of the International Studies Association (ISA). She will receive the award at the group’s annual convention to be held in New York City from February 16-18, 2009. In announcing the award, the committee co-chair Dr. Barry Gills noted, “Frankie Moore Lappé has been chosen for this award due to her lifetime contribution to scholarship and democratic activism. As an indisputable expert on food and hunger, Frankie Lappé's work continues to address the everyday lives of people across this Small Planet. She has consistently demonstrated the highest standards of scholarship, leadership and dedication, and is therefore an example of 'Outstanding Public Scholarship'.”

Youssou N’Dour – Album against AIDS
Council member Youssou N’Dour and thirty-seven of Africa’s best known musicians have released an album to raise awareness about HIV. The UN-sponsored album has been freely distributed to radio and television stations throughout Africa. According to the Pan- African News Agency, the album, which has songs in more than 10 languages, is also to address issues such as poverty, gender inequality, illiteracy and conflict. The song ‘We are the Drums’ calls on people to get involved in efforts to ensure an Aids-free generation by 2015, it says. The latest UN figures show that 22.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV.

Maude Barlow: Resolution to ban bottled Water
A 15-city speaking tour featuring Maude Barlow, WFC Councillor, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians and senior advisor on water to the president of the United Nations General Assembly, has led to a resolution calling on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to phase out the sale and purchase of bottled water. The bottled water industry sells water - a shared public resource - for huge profits, undermining our faith in public water. The Unbottle It! speaking tour is providing communities with information, and helping them "tap into clean, safe public drinking water." "We're on this tour to defend public water," said Barlow. "We're here because we don't have all the water in the world, and there is a global water crisis, and it is the most fundamental and unjust reality in the world." Barlow is attempting to build a case against the bottled water industry, linking it to the privatization and commodification of what she considers to be a basic human right.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah – Speedy Election of new Somali President
In the past weeks, as Ethiopian troops withdrew from Mogadishu two years after rolling in to support the embattled Government from a growing insurgency, WFC Councillor and Special UN Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah urged local factions to ensure peace and stability in the war-ravaged country and to hasten the election of a new president.

Ashok Khosla – Gaza conflict: No clean Water, Sewage in the Streets
WFC Councillor and President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Ashok Khosla, said that the crisis unfolding in Gaza has major environmental aspect which must be addressed without delay. The Gaza Strip, one of the world’s most densely populated areas, is under tremendous environmental stress, and the current conflict is making a dire situation tragic, both for human beings and for nature, said the IUCN.  "What we are seeing in Gaza today is first and foremost a human tragedy," said Ashok Khosla. "The world is focusing, and rightfully so, on addressing the most pressing humanitarian needs of the Palestinian population. But we cannot ignore the longer term impacts of the conflict on the environment and on the civilian infrastructures, which are so essential for the well-being of the Palestinian population." UN reports indicate that more than 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza remain without safe drinking water. Sewage collection systems and treatment facilities have ceased functioning, resulting in sewage in the streets.

Anders Wijkman: CO2 Caps to rule out traditional Coal fired Plants
Europe has not done enough to avert the threat of global warming and must cap the carbon dioxide emissions from its most polluting power stations, European Union lawmakers said in January. WFC Councillor and MEP Anders Wijkman is one of five politicians who proposed CO2 caps that would rule out traditional coal fired plants ahead of a vote on industrial pollution in the European Parliament. The proposed cap for all large, new power stations at 450 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour would have only allowed coal if it is burned in a mix with plant biomass or by using innovative techniques to capture and bury CO2 underground. While this amendment looks set to be ruled as inadmissible for technical reasons, Anders vowed "We will keep trying” adding “Recent science tells us climate change is much more rapid and dangerous than we thought."