Environment Forum

Yellow Humvees and the UN Procurement Scandal

Kenyan blogger Juliana Rotich is the editor of Green Global Voices, which monitors citizen media in the developing world, and is a regular contributor to this page. Thomson Reuters is not responsible for the content – the views are the author’s alone. 

 The use of SUVs by UN staff in Nairobi is rankling some bloggers. They are posting pictures on their blogs, and have even created a flickr pool called ‘Kick The Habit’. The title of the set of pictures borrows from UNEP’s (United Nations Environment Program) campaign from June of this year, which encouraged ‘countries, companies and communities’ to reduce their CO2 emissions.

The blogger on Sukuma Kenya started the flickr pool in June, after he noticed that many UN vehicles in Nairobi were SUVs, and felt that the UNEP campaign did not communicate how it was reducing carbon emissions while it was asking individuals to ‘kick the CO2 habit’.

On the 27th of October, the Journalist-blogger Nick Wadhams noticed a yellow Humvee with United Nations vehicle plates. He posted a picture on his blog, noting a recent report about the United Nations procurement scandal.

Connecting Green Dots in Capetown South Africa

 Kenyan blogger Juliana Rotich is the editor of Green Global Voices, which monitors citizen media in the developing world, and is a regular contributor to this page. ThomsonReuters is not responsible for the content – the views are the author’s alone.

                                                                                                                                                  On October 11th 2008, Global Voices Environment, Carbon Smart and Urban Sprout organized a meetup for environment bloggers in Capetown South Africa. What follows is a rundown of what was discussed.