"Out of Balance" climate film targets ExxonMobil

Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters 4 Dec 07;

"When I started to find out who it was that was really fostering the confusion around the issue ... I just thought it was outrageous that here's this company that basically has been portraying this major debate among climate scientists ... when largely the debate was over a long time ago, back in the 90s."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Environmentalists love taking aim at ExxonMobil Corp., which many see as the biggest corporate culprit in human-fueled climate change. A documentary on global warming takes this to a new level: buy the $24.99 DVD online, and the film's distributor will donate $10 to victims of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

"Hey, $10 might not be the $339 billion in revenue that ExxonMobil's going to generate ... this year, but it's what we can do," said Halfdan Hussey, executive director of Cinequest, which is distributing the film "Out of Balance." "We might be able to write a $100,000 check."

The donations would go to the Bidarki Youth Center in Cordova, Alaska, on Prince William Sound, where the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in March 1989, spilling 11 million gallons (50 million liters) of crude oil along 1,200 miles

of Alaskan coastline.

The Valdez spill was what originally got filmmaker Tom Jackson interested in ExxonMobil and its influence.

"I was in college then and pretty upset by that whole thing ... and the way it was handled, or perhaps one would say, mishandled," Jackson said by phone from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He stopped buying Exxon gas and noticed a boycott of the company's credit cards, but did not then associate the company with the growing issue of global warming.

That came much later, after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast and some scientists linked more severe storms with climate change. Scenes of the ravaged Louisiana coastline open the film.

"I myself took a while to come around to the whole climate change issue, and bought the whole 'the jury is still out' (argument)," Jackson said. But then he heard reports that ExxonMobil has funded those skeptical of the reality of global warming.

"FOSTERING THE CONFUSION" ON CLIMATE CHANGE

"When I started to find out who it was that was really fostering the confusion around the issue ... I just thought it was outrageous that here's this company that basically has been portraying this major debate among climate scientists ... when largely the debate was over a long time ago, back in the 90s."

Jackson, who made "Out of Balance" for about $50,000, said the connection between the Valdez spill and ExxonMobil's stance on global warming was former chief executive Lee Raymond, who headed the corporation's cleanup operations in Alaska in 1989. Jackson and others quoted in the film dismissed this operation as a "PR charade" aimed more at looking busy than fixing the problem.

ExxonMobil has weathered numerous accusations of funding what critics call "junk science" on climate change by saying that the corporation funds a wide range of organizations and does not dictate what they produce.

Asked specifically about the accusations in "Out of Balance," ExxonMobil spokesman Gantt Walton said by e-mail, "This film was produced and originally aired a year ago and the recycling of discredited conspiracy theories diverts attention from the real challenge at hand: how to provide the energy needed to sustain and improve global living standards while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

ExxonMobil, unlike other oil companies including BP and Chevron, has not been very vocal in opposing climate-warming emissions. But it did run double-page spreads in The Washington Post and The New York Times to promote its new technology that could make the batteries in hybrid vehicles more efficient.

The ads ran on December 3, the opening day of an international conference in Bali, Indonesia, aimed at figuring out how to cut greenhouse emissions after the current Kyoto Protocol runs out in 2012.

The Exxon Valdez case is still winding its way through the legal system. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the company's appeal to overturn a $2.5 billion punitive damage award to about 32,000 commercial fishermen, Alaska natives, property owners and others affected by the worst U.S. tanker spill.

Exxon's Walton called the spill "a tragic accident," but said the company has paid $3.5 billion in cleanup and other costs and believes that no punitive damage payment is warranted.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Bali talks won't agree carbon capture: U.N. official

Reuters 4 Dec 07;

"I think more pilot projects have to be done, more analytical work has to be done really to convince the skeptics that this is a technology that can be safely applied."

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Current talks in Bali on climate change will not decide to include support for the burying of greenhouse gases as part of a successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N.'s top climate official said.

But the talks may put the so-far unproven technology, carbon capture and storage, on the agenda for future backing, Yvo de Boer told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

About 190 countries are meeting in Bali, Indonesia, aiming to launch two years of talks to agree a new global climate change pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.

"I think there's still quite a lot of concern out there about carbon capture and storage," said de Boer.

"I think more pilot projects have to be done, more analytical work has to be done really to convince the skeptics that this is a technology that can be safely applied."

"It (the Bali talks) might put CCS on the agenda as one technology to be considered as part of a mitigation solution."

Carbon capture technology is widely believed to be a crucial weapon without which emissions of the commonest man-made greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), may pass dangerous limits.

The technology is supposed to trap emissions from coal-fired power plants, which are proliferating globally, and pump the gas underground. But there is no such commercial-scale power plant project yet anywhere.

That is because of the extra expense to install CCS technology, estimated at some $1 billion per plant.

One idea is that, under a new global climate deal, rich countries could meet their emissions limits by funding carbon capture projects in developing nations, earning carbon offsets in return.

Because no new commercial-scale CCS projects are expected to be operational for several years, the technology is only relevant to a Kyoto successor deal.

(Reporting by Gerard Wynn and Alister Doyle, Editing by Anthony Barker)

Carbon capture not on table at UN climate talks: UN official
Yahoo News 6 Dec 07;

An embryonic but much-hailed technology to bury polluting carbon dioxide is unlikely to form part of early negotiations for a new global warming pact, a top UN official said Wednesday.

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said delegates on Indonesia's Bali had discussed carbon capture and storage with enthusiasm.

But he said more research was needed on the still-experimental technology, which some experts say would cut about 35 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions from steel mills, cement plants and power plants.

"I do not expect a decision at this conference on the inclusion of carbon capture and storage," he told reporters on the third day of the conference.

"I think further analytical work has to be done."

The technology would capture carbon dioxide released by power plants or other factories, transport it and bury it underground -- either in old oil fields or coal mines, or even at the bottom of the ocean.

The theory goes that once the gas is buried, it would no longer contribute to global warming, and environmental groups have called for more investment and research into carbon capture and storage.

Europe and the United States are already experimenting with the technology, but it is still in the development stage and requires massive investment to make it commercially viable.

OPEC leaders said last month that they were planning to make carbon capture and storage the centrepiece of their newfound green agenda by urging greater use of the emerging technique to curb carbon emissions.

Nearly 190 countries have gathered at the UNFCCC meeting in Bali, which aims to see them agree to negotiate a new regime to combat climate change when the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.

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Poor nations seen seeking to "climate proof" economies

Alister Doyle, Reuters 4 Dec 07;

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Developing nations from Sudan to Uruguay are finding new ways to "climate proof" their economies from threats ranging from desertification to storms, a U.N.-backed study said on Tuesday.

Schemes to mute the impact of climate change such as wider use of drought-resistant crops, irrigation or better forecasting of storm surges could show how to help protect hundreds of millions of people this century, it said.

Achim Steiner, the head of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP), said that U.N.-led climate efforts had so far focused most on ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions, rather than helping people adapt to effects such as erosion or rising seas.

"One of the big missing links has been adaptation," he said of the report issued at 190-nation climate talks in Bali, Indonesia. About 350 experts made 24 studies around the world in a $9 million assessment of ways to adapt to a warmer world.

Steiner said the report gave "a foundation upon which adaptation can become part of country development plans and built into international assistance". Adaptation is likely to cost billions of dollars in coming years.

In the Bara province of Sudan, for instance, a study showed that a shift to small-scale irrigated vegetable gardens and efforts to stabilize sand dunes had helped raise food output.

For Uruguay and Argentina, the report urged "a review of coastal and city defenses and of early-warning systems and flood response strategies" along the River Plate.

A study showed the population at risk from floods and storm surges along the delta could triple to 1.7 million by 2070. Property losses could range from $5 billion to $15 billion from 2050 to 2100, assuming one storm surge into Buenos Aires.

RAINFALL

In Gambia, a projected decline in rainfall this century is likely to cut yields of millet, a stable crop. The study showed that new varieties of millet and more use of fertilizer were the most cost-effective measures, rather than extra irrigation.

It also said there were risks of a spread of dengue fever in the Caribbean, with a 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) temperature rise likely to triple the number of cases by 2080.

Better education about the risks -- especially that dengue-carrying mosquitoes often bred in water storage drums commonly found outside homes -- could help curb cases.

Researchers said that many of the recommendations would apply, even without climate change blamed on emissions from burning fossil fuels. But they said countries had to take a harder look at threats from a changing climate.

"Adaptation is not an option -- it's essential," said Neil Leary of the International START Secretariat in Washington who led the studies.

The December 3-14 Bali talks are to discuss ways to manage a new "adaptation fund" which has an initial sum of just $36 million but could provide up to $1.6 billion in the period to 2012.

(Editing by David Fogarty)

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150 million to face flood risk by 2070

Simon Challis, Reuters 4 Dec 07;

Even being optimistic that flood protection levels will be high everywhere in the future, the large population and asset exposure is likely to translate into regular city-scale disasters across the globe.

LONDON (Reuters) - As many as 150 million people in the world's big coastal cities are likely to be at risk from flooding by the 2070s, more than three times as many as now, according to a report released on Tuesday.

Climate change, population growth and urban development will mean the number at risk will rise from the current 40 million while total property and infrastructure exposure is forecast to rise to $35 trillion -- 9 percent of projected global GDP.

The report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, put together by disaster modeling firm Risk Management Solutions and leading scientists, is the first part of the largest ever study on urban coastal flood exposure.

The report analyzed the vulnerability now and in the future of 130 port cities to a major flood, on a scale likely to occur once in 100 years.

Miami in Florida will remain the city with the highest value of property and infrastructure assets exposed to coastal flooding caused by storm surge and damage from high winds, the report said.

The city has exposed assets of $400 billion today. Those are projected to rise in value to over $3.5 trillion by 2070.

But with rapid economic development in Asia, Guangzhou in China will be the second most exposed city in terms of assets in 2070, followed by New York, Kolkata, Shanghai, Mumbai, Tianjin, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok, the report said.

GROWTH AND GROWING RISK

Population growth and urban development in coastal cities will increase the exposure, exacerbated by the effects of climate change and subsidence, the report said.

Scientists believe global warming will cause sea levels to rise and bring more frequent and severe storms and other natural disasters.

"This report raises crucial policy considerations, and highlights the urgency for climate change mitigation and risk-informed adaptation strategies at a city level," said Jan Corfee-Morlot, the OECD's senior policy advisor on climate change.

Policies to mitigate climate change will bring "precious time" for exposed cities to implement strategies to adapt to and protect themselves from the higher risk of flooding, said Corfee-Morlot.

Projects to protect cities from flooding, such as the Thames Barrier built to protect central London from a major flood, typically take up to 30 years, said the report.

Policymakers from around the world are meeting this week in Bali to try to hammer out a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol to cut man-made emissions of carbon dioxide that are believed to lead to global warming.

Insurers, who end up paying a large part of the bill from any damage caused by climate change, should encourage policyholders to adopt methods to adapt to effects of global warming, the report said.

(Editing by Matthew Tostevin)


City-scale flooding disasters predicted by 2070
Paul Eccleston, Telegraph 4 Dec 07;

Millions more people across the world are going to be at risk from flooding in the future because of climate change and population increases.

And as many as 150m people in the world's major cities - more than three times the 40m currently - will have to rely on flood defences for protection by 2070, according to a major new study.

But even then city-scale disasters are likely to become regular events across the world.

The gloomy forecasts come from the first stage of the largest study on urban coastal flood exposure ever undertaken.

More than 130 key port cities worldwide were analysed to investigate the likely impact of climate change alongside subsidence, population growth, and urban economic development.

The study focused on the exposure of people and property and infrastructure to a 1-in-100 year flood event now and in the future. The cities most exposed to coastal flooding today and in the future were ranked into a league table.

London was ranked 41 in a list for population exposed in 2070 and 27th for property and infrastructure assets exposed.
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The study found nine of the 10 cities with the highest population at risk will be in Asia. Calcutta was ranked highest, with 14m people exposed by the 2070s.

Property and infrastructure at risk worth $3 trillion today, 5 per cent of current global GDP, will become $35 trillion by the 2070s - 9 per cent of the projected global GDP.

Miami will have the highest exposure with assets worth $3.5 trillion at risk followed by Guangzhou in China, with $3.3 trillion and New York, with $2.1 trillion.

The study was carried out by the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation Development (OECD) and jointly prepared by Risk Management Solutions (RMS) and academics representing the University of Southampton, the Tyndall Centre, Météo-France and the Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement (CIRED).

The study revealed that around half of the total population exposed to coastal flooding caused by storm surge and damage from high winds is contained in just 10 cities split between developed and developing countries with Mumbai (Bombay) being the most threatened by coastal flood.

The risk will increase as the century progresses particularly in the developing countries and by 2070 nine of the 10 cities most at risk will be in Asia.

Calcutta will be the most vulnerable, with the exposed population expected to increase over seven times to more than 14m million people, largely driven by rapid population growth in the city.

Over the coming decades, the unprecedented growth and development of the Asian mega-cities will be a key factor in driving the increase in coastal flood risk globally. In terms of population exposure, Calcutta will be closely followed by Mumbai, Dhaka, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai, Bangkok and Rangoon. Miami is in ninth place and would be the only top 10 city situated in a currently developed country, while Hai Phong (Vietnam) is ranked tenth.

The cities with the highest value of property and infrastructure assets exposed to coastal flooding today are primarily in developed countries.

The top ten cities, which contain 60 per cent of the total exposure, are from only three wealthy countries, America, Japan, and The Netherlands, with Miami ranked top.

But the rapid economic expansion expected in developing nations means that in future the highest exposure will become more concentrated in Asian cities, with eight of the top 10 in this region. Guangzhou is the second most exposed city in terms of assets, followed by New York, Kolkata, Shanghai, Mumbai, Tianjin (China), Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Bangkok.

Dr Celine Herweijer, principal scientist of future climate at RMS, said: "Population growth and development are clearly key drivers of the increase in exposure, particularly in Asia, but climate change and subsidence acutely magnify the problem.

"These findings deliver a clear message to businesses that invest, or are planning to invest, in highly exposed cities to start implementing pro-active risk management strategies that consider how risks will evolve over time,"

"For the insurance industry, there is both an opportunity and a necessity to promote adaptation. Crucially, rising hazard does not have to translate into increased risk if the right measures are taken."

Prof Robert Nicholls, IPCC author and director of research at the University of Southampton, said: "The concentration of flood exposure in rapidly developing cities urgently underscores the need to integrate climate change implications into both national coastal flood risk management and urban development strategies.

"Given the aggregation of people and assets in port cities and their importance to global trade, failure to develop effective adaptation strategies would inevitably have not just local, but international economic consequences."

Stéphane Hallegatte, economist at Météo-France and CIRED, said: "Even being optimistic that flood protection levels will be high everywhere in the future, the large population and asset exposure is likely to translate into regular city-scale disasters across the globe.

"Adaptation strategies need to be underpinned by solid governance, to help key cities understand and proactively manage current and future flood risk."

Asia's delta cities top flooding risk list
Straits Times 5 Dec 07;

Out of 10 cities expected to be most exposed to massive storm floods in 2070, nine are in Asia

PARIS - ASIA'S massive delta cities have the most to fear from catastrophic storm floods driven by climate change, according to a report published here yesterday.

Of 136 port cities assessed around the world for their exposure to once-in-a-century coastal flooding, 38 per cent are in Asia and 27 per cent are located in deltas, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in the report.

Publication of the report coincided with the 11-day United Nations conference in Bali, Indonesia, aimed at shaping a long-term response to the climate peril.

Today, about 40 million people around the world are exposed to coastal flooding in large port cities, according to the report.

The top 10 cities most at risk, in terms of exposed population, are Mumbai, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Miami, Ho Chi Minh City, Kolkata, Greater New York, Osaka-Kobe, Alexandria and New Orleans.

The total value of assets exposed in the 136 port cities analysed was US$3 trillion (S$4.3 trillion) - or around 5 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005, it said.

Miami, Greater New York, New Orleans, Osaka-Kobe, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Nagoya, and Tampa-St Petersburg and Virginia Beach, in the US states of Florida and Virginia respectively, are the most valuable pieces of real estate at risk.

'Climate change is already happening, and concerted action is needed now to prevent its worst impacts,' OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria said at the meeting in Bali, which started on Monday and will run until Dec 14.

'A range of economic policy options is available, and political commitment is needed to implement them,' he said.

The report was authored by OECD experts working with scientists from Britain's University of Southampton, US company Risk Management Solutions and France's Meteo-France and Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research.

They estimated that by the 2070s, the total population exposed could more than triple, to around 150 million people.

Of the 'Top 10' coastal cities expected to be most exposed in 2070, nine are in Asia.

The total value of assets exposed by the 136 cities in the 2070s was put at US$35 trillion, or 9 per cent of projected global annual GDP.

Ranked according to assets exposed to flooding, the 2070 list is headed by Miami, Guangzhou, Greater New York, Kolkata, Shanghai, Mumbai, Tianjin (China), Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

The assessment projected the damage that would be caused by an extreme but very rare weather event - a combination of storm surge and high winds that, in purely statistical terms, occurs once a century.

The exposure rises in the 2070s because of coastal subsidence and further population growth in these port cities, and the risk increases due to climate change, which will raise sea levels and likely make storms more powerful.

In its estimate, the OECD assumed that sea levels would rise 0.5m as a result of thermal expansion as well as from melting ice sheets.

In the first volume of a triple report on global warming, published in February, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said sea levels would climb between 18cm and 59cm by 2100.

But in a summary of the overall report, issued in Valencia, Spain, last month, it said it could no longer put an upper limit on this projection because of uncertainties about ice sheet loss.

The OECD report did not factor in the effectiveness of flood defences in its calculations, saying that exposure to a flood 'does not necessarily translate into impact'.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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Recycling bins take on fancier shapes

Channel NewsAsia 4 Dec 07;

SINGAPORE: Recyling bins could soon take on fancier shapes if the winners of a design competition have their way.

They aim to use their designs to spur companies to get involved in recycling and to spark an interest in people to recycle more.

Bassam Jabry, Chemistry, winner of 10 TouchPoints Design Competition, said: "In Singapore, everybody is very used to not littering. So that's brilliant. We throw away stuff but that in itself has become a problem.

"We are so good at throwing away things that we need to shift that habit a little bit. Certain things like bottles or cans or papers can be recycled very well."

The prototype that won the 10 TouchPoints Design Competition – organised by the DesignSingapore Council a few months ago – costs a few thousand dollars to produce.

It is now on display outside the National Library at Victoria Street, along with winning designs from other categories.

Visitors have written comments about the exhibits in a booklet – one has suggested making a recycling bin for clothes. Another brought up the point that recycling bins should be placed near homes and in HDB estates.

More recycling bins for paper, bottles and drink cans have just been put outside Ngee Ann City. These bins could be fancier if funding for them gets the green light.- CNA/so

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Can We Save the World by 2015?

Bryan Walsh, Time 1 Dec 07;

The whole process can seem frustratingly slow, considering how dire the threat of climate change is — as if we were convening a town hall meeting to decide to put out a fire that is already raging.

If international leaders were as united as the scientific community on climate change, warming might be a thing of the past.

This year the UN's Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a series of reports that laid to rest any doubts that global warming is real — and outlined the frightening consequences of continued inaction. At the release of the IPCC's final summary last month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon — who has made climate change a top priority of his administration — laid out the threat in stark terms. "The world's scientists have spoken clearly, and with one voice," he said. "I expect the world's policymakers to act the same."

Unfortunately, the global political community is a long way from speaking with one voice on anything, and climate change is no exception.

We'll know for sure next week, when environment and energy ministers from around the world meet on the Indonesian island of Bali, for the UN's climate change conference.

The summit has been held nearly every year since 1992, when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) — the document that has since guided international work on global warming — was hammered out.

It was at the 1997 conference, held in Japan, that the Kyoto Protocol was passed, but since then, there's been little progress, thanks in no small part to President George W. Bush's determined foot dragging on climate change.

But with the Kyoto set to go into effect in 2008, this year's talks in Bali will be the most important international environmental negotiations in over a decade. The Kyoto Protocol — which requires developed nations who have ratified the deal to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of about 5% below 1990 levels by 2012 — expires in just five years.

Given how long international treaties take to be developed and ratified, the world needs to begin immediately at Bali the process of preparing a successor to Kyoto to be ready by the end of 2012 — otherwise, we'll be faced with a global vacuum at the very moment when greenhouse emissions must begin falling in order to avoid dangerous climate change.

"It's really critical to get negotiations formally started," says David Doniger, the policy director of the Natural Resource Defense Council's climate center. "We're almost at the point of no return. If we don't turn these emission trends down soon, we're cooked."

The good news is that the White House is seemingly the only place green hasn't gone mainstream. Just last week, 150 top global corporations — including General Electric, Johnson & Johnson and Shell — endorsed a petition calling for mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, a business position unthinkable just a year ago.

Australia — a Kyoto holdout, like the U.S. — just elected a new Prime Minister with a strong environmental record who says he'll ratify the Protocol.

States and cities in the U.S. have taken their own steps on climate change in the absence of action from the White House, and Congress is finally ready to step in; representatives just hammered out the details of a bill raising automobile fuel economy standards to 35 mpg.

"The tenor seems to be different this time," says Jennifer Haverkamp, international counsel for Environmental Defense. "There is a building sense that enough time has been wasted and it is time to act."

One major dispute could trip up progress at Bali, however. Under Kyoto, only developed countries were required to make mandatory cuts in their carbon emissions; developing nations like China and India had no such demands.

The U.S. has long maintained that it won't sign onto a new deal unless the developing countries are included in a more substantive way — a position unlikely to change even when the occupant of the White House does.

Beijing and New Delhi both argue that the vast majority of historical carbon emissions came from the developed nations (CO2 stays in the air for up to 200 years), so action should come from the rich first — a contention arguably supported by the UNFCCC itself, which calls for "common but differentiated responsibilities" between nations on climate change.

But the reality is that the bulk of future CO2 emissions will come from rapidly growing developing nations, and a climate deal that gave them a free pass would be useless.

"We need a process that opens the door for negotiations for all economies," says Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

None of this will actually be decided at Bali. Despite the fact that we are rapidly running out of time to cap carbon emissions — the head of the IPCC has said the world has until 2015 at the latest — Bali is just the beginning of the beginning, not the end.

As Claussen points out, a successful summit would be one that, counterintuitively, leaves much undecided — while attaching a firm deadline to the end of negotiations, with 2010 as the latest possible date.

With the Bush Administration nearing lame duck status, a 2010 deadline would give a new U.S. Administration time — though not much time — to enter the process and hopefully take a leading position.

That extra time might also allow China or India to soften their negotiating tactics, and perhaps accept lesser limitations, such as mandatory targets in energy efficiency or renewable power use.

The best contribution President Bush can make for the Bali process is to continue doing what he has done best on climate change: nothing.

The whole process can seem frustratingly slow, considering how dire the threat of climate change is — as if we were convening a town hall meeting to decide to put out a fire that is already raging.

"Getting 185 countries around a negotiating table is a difficult way to run the world," says Andrew Deutz, who heads the Nature Conservancy's International Institutions and Agreements team.

"But the advantage of the UN process is that it's about the process. It can continue to evolve."

That's already begun to happen in recent years, as consensus on global warming has grown in every corner of the world, as businesses have turned to alternative power and governments have begun to set their own caps on carbon.

But we're in a race and we're already behind. If we can't get off to a good start at Bali, we may never catch up.

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Warming, biofuels to boost food prices for years

Reuters 3 Dec 07;

BEIJING (Reuters) - Food prices may climb for years because of expansion of farming for fuel, climate changes, and demand from richer consumers in fast-growing developing nations, a report from a top food research group said on Tuesday.

Biofuel expansions alone could push maize prices up over two-thirds by 2020 and increase oilseed costs by nearly half, with subsidies for the industry forming an implicit tax on the poor, the International Food Policy Research Institute said.

"The days of falling food prices may be over," said Joachim von Braun, lead author of the "World Food Situation" report and director general of the institute.

"Surging demand for food, feed and fuel have recently led to drastic price increases ... climate change will also have a negative impact on food production," he added.

Growing financial investor interest in commodity markets as prices climb is fuelling price volatility, and world cereal and energy prices are increasingly closely linked.

With oil prices hovering around $90 a barrel, this is bad news for the poor, who have already suffered "quite dramatic" impacts from a tripling in wheat prices and near-doubling in rice prices since 2000, the report said.

Global cereal stocks, a key buffer used to fight famines around the world, have sunk to their lowest level since the 1980s.

More investment in agricultural technology, a stronger social welfare net with particular support for children, an end to trade barriers and improved infrastructure and finance opportunities in less-developed countries, could all help improve food security.

Although increased trade, a key demand of many developing world nations in global trade talks, would bring economic gains, in many cases it would not significantly reduce poverty, the report added.

WARMING, BIOFUELS LOOM

Global warming could cut worldwide income from agriculture 16 percent by 2020, despite the potential for increased yields in some colder areas and the fertilizing impact on plants of having higher carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

"With the increased risk of droughts and floods due to rising temperatures, crop-yield losses are imminent," the report said.

It warned that Africa would be hit particularly hard by changes in weather patterns, in which scientist say man-made gasses pumped into the atmosphere are an important factor.

"When taking into account the effects of climate change, the number of undernourished people in Sub-Saharan Africa may triple between 1990 and 2080," the report said.

Biofuels also threaten nutrition for the poor. Under current investment plans, and assuming expansion in nations with high-potential but without detailed plans, maize prices would rise a quarter by the end of the next decade.

Under a more dramatic expansion, prices could climb up to 72 percent for maize and 44 percent for oilseeds, the report said.

Even when next-generation biofuels that use feedstocks such as wood and straw become commercially viable, competition for resources from water to investment capital may continue.

Global food demand is shifting towards higher-value vegetables, diary, fruits and meat as a result of rapid economic growth in developing countries including China and India.

But it can be difficult for smaller farmers to take advantage of the trend because of large retailers' growing grip on the market and their high safety, quality and other requirements.

(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison, editing by Ken Wills and Jerry Norton)

World farm output to drop due to global warming: experts
Channel NewsAsia 4 Dec 07;

BEIJING - Global warming is likely to cause a significant decline in world agricultural output, with poor countries in Africa set to be hurt the most, a group of farm experts said Tuesday.

As a result, policymakers must take into account food issues when dealing with climate change, a report by the International Food Policy Research Institute said.

"World agricultural output is projected to decrease significantly due to global warming, and the impact on developing countries will be much more severe than industrialised nations," said the report, released in Beijing.

"Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change because of its high proportion of low-input, rain-fed agriculture, compared with Asia or Latin America."

In the report, the group urged policymakers to take agriculture and food issues into account when developing national and international climate change agendas.

The report, titled "The World Food Situation," was released at an international conference aimed at addressing a global rise in food demand.

While hundreds of millions have emerged from poverty through better agricultural techniques, rising standards of living mean that more grain is being used to produce high value products like meat and diary products, the report said.

This in turn makes grain prices rise as demand grows, making it harder for poorer people in the developing world to fulfil their daily food needs.

Due to rising oil costs, the production of biofuels as an alternative energy source was also adding to dramatic changes in the world food situation, which "will adversely affect poor people in developing countries," the report said.

The group called on developed nations to lower trade barriers on farm products and reduce biofuel production, while developing nations needed to invest more in their farming infrastructure.

"Surging demand for feed, food and fuel has recently led to drastic price increases, which are not likely to fall in the foreseeable future," said Joachim von Braun, lead author of the report.

"The days of falling food prices may be over." - AFP/ir


Food prices 'will continue to go up'
Straits Times 5 Dec 07;
Global warming, use of land for bio-fuels and other trends threaten agricultural production, says new report

BEIJING - CONSUMERS worried about rising food prices have more reasons to fret - a new report shows that the worldwide trend is likely to continue for some time.

The reasons: Climate change, falling crop yields and growing demand from rapidly developing countries such as India and China.

The report by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute was released yesterday at an international conference here aimed at addressing a global rise in food demand.

People should get used to paying more for their food for the foreseeable future, the report noted.

Professor Joachim von Braun, director of the research group and the report's lead author, noted that food prices had been dropping since scientists began developing high-yield plant varieties decades ago.

But he told reporters yesterday: 'The days of falling food prices may be over. The last time the world experienced such food price increases was in 1973 to 1974...but today, the situation is completely different.

'For one, the climate risk and climate change situation has increased, the climate vulnerability has increased.'

The institute also said in its report - The World Food Situation - that hunger and malnutrition could rise as poor agricultural communities most sensitive to the environment are hurt.

And it predicted that the world's agricultural production will decrease by 16 per cent by 2020 because of global warming, with land used for certain crops shrinking.

'With the increased risk of droughts and floods due to rising temperatures, crop-yield losses are imminent,' it said.

Prof von Braun said that global cereal stocks, a key buffer used to fight famines around the world, have already sunk to their lowest level since the 1980s.

'The world eats more than it produces currently, and over the past five or six years, that is reflected in the decline in stocks and storage levels,' he said.

'That cannot go on, and exhaustion of stocks will be reached soon.'

And while hundreds of millions of people have emerged from poverty through better agricultural techniques, rising standards of living mean that more grain is being used to produce high-value food such as meat and dairy products, the report said.

This, in turn, causes grain prices to rise as demand grows, making it harder for poorer people in the developing world to fulfil their daily food needs.

The rising cost of oil is also contributing to the problem, as using crops to produce bio-fuels will further reduce the amount of available food and increase prices, the report said.

Bio-fuel expansion alone could push maize prices up by more than two-thirds by 2020, and increase oilseed costs by nearly half, with subsidies for the industry effectively constituting a tax on the poor, it said.

And it warned that, overall: 'The impact on developing countries will be much more severe than on industrialised nations.

'Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change because of its high proportion of low-input, rain-fed agriculture.'

Among the solutions proposed by the institute are more investment in agricultural technology and a stronger social welfare net, with particular support for children, and reduced production of bio-fuels.

It also proposed an end to trade barriers on food, especially in developing countries, so small-time farmers can earn more money.

'A world facing increased food scarcity needs to trade more, not less,' it said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

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A lone voice in China wins friends for environmental campaign

Verna Yu, Yahoo News 4 Dec 07;

From a spartan office in a humble brick building on a university campus, law professor Wang Canfa has gained fame for the legal battles he was waged for thousands of pollution victims across China.

"I feel I have the legal knowledge and should provide help for the underprivileged as best I can," said the diminutive academic at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing.

"This is also my ideal as a law scholar: to seek justice."

The 49-year-old runs the only non-government organisation in China that provides legal help to victims of widespread pollution -- many of whom are poor farmers whose livelihoods have been blighted by industrial waste.

China's impressive economic growth during the past two decades has created unprecedented wealth but has also exacted a monstrously heavy price on the nation's environment.

Those people who suffer the consequences tend to be at the bottom of the social spectrum and Wang, who grew up in rural China, feels a strong sense of empathy for them.

"I understand their helplessness. I know the difficulties they face and their need for help," he said.

Wang was born in 1958, the year that Mao Zedong launched the "Great Leap Forward" movement that resulted in about 30 million people starving to death, and he has painful memories of going hungry as a child.

"There was simply no food around. Once I told my mother I was hungry and she just broke down in tears," said Wang, showing the deep ridges in his fingernails which are the result of malnutrition.

Wang said he felt compelled to reach out to the helpless pollution victims since most of them had little money and few resources to help themselves.

"As a scholar, you have no power, no funding, the only thing you have is the knowledge of environmental law. So how do you make an impact?" he said.

Wang said the idea of setting up a help centre came after he read a press report in 1995 about a duck farmer whose business was ruined by industrial discharge.

The farmer had been denied justice because the local government was protecting a polluting brewery.

Wang contacted the farmer and, after bringing the case to court, the farmer eventually received 40,000 yuan (5,300 dollars) in compensation, not enough to cover his losses but something at least.

"If the victims have no professional help, they wouldn't have got any compensation at all," Wang said.

Nine years on, despite receiving no government or industry funding, the Centre for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims has received more than 10,000 phone calls from people asking for help. He has advised many of them, and fought over 100 court cases.

Its work has won Wang international acclaim, with Time magazine among those to have honoured him, this year naming him one of its "Heroes of the Environment".

The centre also now receives funding from several international foundations, but it still faces a plethora of daily challenges and loses as many cases as it wins.

In most pollution disputes in China, local government tends to side with business, Wang said, because it cannot afford to lose investment.

In fact, fewer than 10 percent of China's environmental cases ever make their way to court because local judiciaries tend to simply refuse to hear those cases, Wang said.

Even for the cases which are heard, it is quite common for courts to consult local governments, which put pressure on judges to avoid paying out compensation to victims.

"We feel very helpless. There are legal channels but they won't let you use them. It's a very sad situation," he said.

Protests over environmental issues are becoming more common across China, with local residents often resorting to violent protests when they feel justice has been denied.

"We feel very angry about those cases where we should have won but didn't due to (government) intervention and the lack of justice," Wang said.

But unlike some activists who suffer harassment and intimidation, Wang said he and his volunteers managed to steer clear of controversy most of the time by maintaining low key tactics and strictly following legal procedures.

Wang remains optimistic because he has in recent years sensed a rise in public awareness about environmental health.

"People now realise that pollution is not normal -- 10 years ago they wouldn't have thought that," he said.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 4 Dec 07

Berlayar Creek
the sad state of our last Southern mangrove on the mainland
on the reddot blog

Naked Hermit Crabs at the Chek Jawa boardwalk
another fabulous day on the adventures of the naked hermit crabs blog

ReefFriends at sea
Sisters was not to be, but Semakau was fabulous
on the colourful clouds blog

Discovery @ Ubin Butterfly Garden
fluttery finds on the discovery blog

Our love for electronic things creates an e-waste problem
on the AsiaIsGreen blog

The Otters' Tale
a young reviewer on the flying fish friends blog

Daily Green Actions
real lights out at Ubin and other urban travails on the leafmonkey blog

How green is your website
on the reuters environmental blog

Making carbon emissions visual
a link to a great ad on the reuters environmental blog

Read more!

After Day of the Red Dye

After Day of the Red Dye, Mindef offers:
# Compensation for lost crops
# Stain removal tips and services
David Boey, Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

THE Defence Ministry has rolled out a battle plan to help the people and businesses affected by a plume of red dye released 10 days ago from Tengah Air Base.

The Ministry of Defence said yesterday that it is working out a 'compensation package' for the farmers who have been forced to destroy their vegetables, which were stained by tiny red droplets.

The spots were traced to a dye which was used in a test to create more visually striking red smoke for the Republic of Singapore Air Force's (RSAF) Black Knights aerobatics team, which is preparing for next year's inaugural Singapore Air Show.

Mindef is also tackling the problem on other fronts:

For property owners: A 24-hour toll-free number (1800-760-8844) links them to advice on how to get rid of the dye stains, which appear mostly as pinhead-size dots and cannot be dissolved in water.

For car owners: Mindef personnel will meet the owners of vehicles with 'stubborn stains', 'for an assessment before making the arrangements to have the stains removed'.

The Straits Times understands that roving teams of professional car polishers may be dispatched to remove the stains and buff cars.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has given an assurance that, while the 200 tonnes of leafy greens being junked are enough to fill some 10 lorries, it expects no impact on food prices.

This is because the amount being destroyed adds up to 'less than 1 per cent of the 350,000 tonnes of vegetables consumed' by Singaporeans in a year.

A farmer who was affected by the dye, Mr Wong Koh Fah, 45, said he is still tallying his losses.

'We'll plant again. I felt reassured when Mindef officers visited my farm to see how they could help,' he said.

Talk of a cash payout comes amid continuing efforts to uproot and destroy crops such as kai lan, kang kong and cabbage at the six affected farms in the Lorong Semangka area in Sungei Tengah.

The AVA said that workers began clearing vegetable plots last Saturday and work should be completed tomorrow.

Mindef has extended a helping hand to residents who live around the RSAF's largest fighter aircraft base, which is in Lim Chu Kang.

Colonel Darius Lim, Mindef's director of public affairs, said Mindef's hotline has received 27 calls since the incident. Most callers asked how the red spots could be removed.

The red dye was released on Nov 23 when, at around 2pm, the engine of an F-16C on the ground was left running for about 20 minutes, so that the effects of the red smoke could be seen.

The plume that emerged was blown south-east across the fenceline by strong winds.

Straits Times readers who live as far away as Dunearn Road in Bukit Timah and the Teck Whye area also complained of cars and clothes speckled with red spots.

A resident of Jalan Jambu Ayer, off Dunearn Road, was so alarmed that she called the police. This resulted in the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), togged up in air-tight suits designed to handle hazardous materials, showing up at her doorstep to check the mystery stains.

An SCDF spokesman confirmed the incident and said that investigations showed that the dye had come from the RSAF air base.

Addressing health concerns, Col Lim said that trials have been suspended. He assured the public that 'the amount of red dye deposited will not cause adverse health effects when inhaled or when in contact with the skin'.

Mr Jason Sia, 29, said the stains remained even after he had hand-washed his white Honda Civic twice. 'The spots are too many to count,' he said.

When told about Mindef's helpline for car owners, Mr Sia said: 'It's better than nothing.'

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Jessica Jaganathan & David Boey, Straits Times 1 Dec 07;

Read more!

Singapore online barter to save money and market products

No cash, no sweat as firms swop goods online
More turning to online barter to save money and market products
Irene Tham, Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

BARTER, that age-old form of trade, is heating up here, with the Internet as a modern-day matchmaker.

A multimillion-dollar business has mushroomed online for mainly small businesses to exchange goods and services.

Two online brokerages here raked in close to $4 million in transactions this year and membership is booming.

One member is beauty salon owner Daisy Leng, who this year saved $2,800 on advertising and computer software, which she paid for with her beauty products instead of cash.

'The savings are very important to a small setup like mine,' said Ms Leng, now a regular barter trader.

Another local set-up, accounting software company A2000 Solutions, saved $10,000 on printing by redeeming credits earned from selling accounting software in a barter trade.

Bartering helps companies save money, as they can use their products to earn credits to pay for their purchases, rather than coming up with cash up front.

There are two online barter brokerages in Singapore: BarterXchange, set up in 2003, and Ozone Barter, founded two years ago.

This year, BarterXchange saw its membership rise by 47 per cent to 250, with transactions worth over $2.5 million, compared to $1.4 million last year. And at 300 members, Ozone Barter's current user base is more than triple last year's count. Its trade volume has reached almost $1 million, up from $180,000 last year.

Advertising and printing services and restaurant vouchers are the hottest items on the two exchanges. Other goods in demand include computer software, executive training and Web hosting.

Buyers and sellers use a medium of exchange called barter points. With each transaction, points are debited against the buyer's account and credited to the seller's account. Each point is equivalent to one Singapore dollar.

To earn points, Ms Leng sells beauty products and spa vouchers, which are often given away as corporate gifts. She recently acquired $2,000 worth of computer software from technology company NextLogic. Both firms met on Ozone Barter.

Ms Leng, who has 'sold' $5,000 worth of goods so far, admitted she was sceptical about online trading at first. But her fears of being cheated were allayed after networking sessions with fellow members, she said.

She added that bartering has also widened her reach, allowing people to sample her products without paying cash at first.

'When customers are happy, they will come to my shop and pay cash for more services,' she said.

NextLogic, which offers technology that allows companies to manage customer data, has had the same experience.

Said Mrs Dagmar Alexyova, founder of NextLogic: 'It is an excellent way for small companies to try out my product.

'When they buy an upgrade later, they can pay cash.'

Making a trade
Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

TO START, locally registered companies sign up on the websites of the two online brokerages here - BarterXchange and Ozone Barter.

To minimise fraud and scam, members' details are checked against the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority's records.

One-time membership fees range from about $200 to $1,500. BarterXchange members pay a monthly fee of $35 and a 6 per cent cut in cash on goods traded.

Ozone Barter members do not have to fork out monthly fees but have to pay a 5 per cent commission in cash for each transaction.

Each trader gets a webpage for product listing on the sites. Companies can find one another by performing a simple product search.

Transactions on both exchanges are mainly within Singapore, although one member of BarterXchange managed to offload $100,000 worth of outdated iPod accessories to a firm in Nigeria in October.

The onus, however, is on the trader to check the company it is dealing with before it makes a transaction.

Both BarterXchange and Ozone Barter have maintained they are not liable for traders' loss from bad deals.

Read more!

Vote for Orchard Road's best dustbin design

Electric New Paper 4 Dec 07;

CHANGING the image of a 'fine city' while passing on the message of saving the environment.

And what better way to do it than to have 'happy, attractive dustbins' that will encourage people to use them.

That is the aim of a group of youths who spent yesterday painting the dustbins.

A total of 88 cheery dustbins would be placed along Orchard Road for the public to vote for the best design.

The dustbins, provided by the National Environment Agency, will be placed from the Orchard/Scotts Road junction to Le Meridien Orchard for three months.

Supported by the Singapore Press Holdings and Paragon Shopping Centre, the event is organised by an informal group of youth leaders comprising polytechnic, university as well as national servicemen.

Called Creative Home, the project is led by Temasek Polytechnic's hospitality and tourism student, Faris Abdulkadir Basharahil.

Referring to the image of Singapore as a country known for its fines for littering, the 19-year-old said: 'We hope to soften the image of a 'fine city' by encouraging the happy use of dustbins when they see attractive artwork on them.

'We believe that a soft and cheerful approach in encouraging people to keep Singapore clean, and to cultivate a sense of ownership and care towards the city, would go down better with the public.

'It may be easy to paint a dustbin, but to turn it into a work of art and a vehicle to promote social change would be something challenging and refreshing.'

And using art as a tool for a social message was what Raffles Junior College student Ng Jia Hui did best.

Calling her piece 'embrace the new, remember the old', the 18-year-old said her aim was 'to create an awareness of the importance of the environment'.

Mr Poh Sze Ying, 20, and a maths undergraduate at NTU, was keen on using traffic lights as his symbols.

Called 'Daisy Traffic Light', the idea of the green lights signalling the go-ahead was his way of 'sending the go green' message.

To vote for your favourite dustbin, you can go to SPH social networking portals www.stomp.com.sg or www.omy.sg from 15 Dec to 15 Feb.

Read more!

People power in climate change: making a difference

People power the way to go
By Thomas L. Friedman, New York Time, Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

I love their tag line. It's what gives me hope: 'We are the people we have been waiting for.'

IT WAS 15 deg C last Thursday in Washington, well above normal for this time of the year, and as I slipped away for some pre-Christmas golf, I found myself thinking of a wickedly funny story that The Onion, the satirical newspaper, ran the other day: Fall Cancelled After Three Billion Seasons.

'Fall, the long-running series of shorter days and cooler nights, was cancelled earlier this week after nearly three billion seasons on earth, sources reported Tuesday.

'The classic period of the year, which once occupied a coveted slot between summer and winter, will be replaced by new, stifling humidity levels, near-constant sunshine and almost no precipitation for months.

' 'As much as we'd like to see it stay, fall will not be returning for another season,' said National Weather Service president John Hayes during a muggy press conference. 'Fall had a great run, but sadly, times have changed.'

'The cancellation was not without its share of warning signs. In recent years, fall had been reduced from three months to a meagre two-week stint, and its scheduled start time had been pushed back later and later each year.'

You should never extrapolate about global warming from your own weather, but it is becoming hard not to.

Consider the final report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was just issued and has had far too little attention. It concluded that since the IPCC began its study five years ago, scientists have discovered much stronger climate-change trends than previously realised, like far more extensive melting of Arctic ice, and so global efforts to reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions have to begin immediately.

'What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future,' said IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri.

And sweet-sounding 'global warming' doesn't really capture what's likely to happen. I prefer 'global weirding', coined by Mr Hunter Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, because the rise in average global temperature is going to lead to all sorts of crazy things - from hotter heat spells and droughts in some places, to colder cold spells and more violent storms, more intense flooding, forest fires and species loss in other places.

While the Bush team will leave office with a perfect record of having done nothing significant to mitigate climate change, I'm heartened that America is increasingly alive on this challenge.

First, Google said last week it was going to invest millions in developing its own energy business. Google described its goal as 'RE

Its focus, said Google.org's energy expert Dan Reicher, will be to advance new solar thermal, geothermal and wind solutions 'across the valley of death'. That is, so many good ideas work in the lab but never get a chance to scale up because they are swallowed by a lack of financing or difficulties in implementation. Do not underestimate these people.

Last week, I met two groups of MIT students who blew me away. One was the MIT Energy Club, founded in 2004 by a few graduate students discussing energy over beer at a campus bar. Today it has 600-plus members who have put on scores of events focused on building energy expertise among MIT students and faculty, and 'fact-based analysis', including a trip to Saudi Arabia.

Then I got together with three engineering undergraduates who helped launch the Vehicle Design Summit - a global, open-source collaborative effort managed by MIT students that has 25 college teams worldwide working together to build a plug-in electric hybrid within three years.

Each team contributes a different set of parts or designs. I thought writing for my college newspaper was cool. These kids are building a hyper-efficient car which, they hope, 'will demonstrate a 95 per cent reduction in embodied energy, materials and toxicity from cradle to grave' and provide '200 mpg energy equivalency or better'. The Linux of cars!

They're not waiting for GM. Their goal, they explain on their website - vds.mit.edu - is 'to identify the key characteristics of events like the race to the moon and then transpose this energy, passion, focus and urgency' on catalysing a global team to build a clean car.

I love their tag line. It's what gives me hope: 'We are the people we have been waiting for.'

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Read more!

Singapore social enterprise: When business and welfare mix

Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

Social enterprises can be for-profit companies with a social mission or welfare agencies with separate business arms designed to generate money in support of their programmes. Arlina Arshad looks at two such ventures

Gaming cafe offers after-school care

THREE years ago, Mr Anderson Tan, 34, opened a cafe where children could hang out and study at after school.

The venture prospered until two gaming centres sprouted up nearby and drove it out of business.

Mr Tan, principal education planner for EduPaths, which provides leadership and life skills to primary school to junior college students, resisted joining the shootem'up bandwagon.

Gaming centres, in general, have bad reputations and may have a negative influence on children, he felt.

But his stance changed one day when a father asked for help installing a video game in a bid to better understand his child.

'After the talk, there was a shift in mindset. If I wanted to reach out to youths at risk, then I must be able to speak their lingo,' said Mr Tan.

So, he introduced the gaming component at the Fun and Educational Cafe in Tampines in March last year. The venture's two void deck shop units have sealed-off classrooms for training, alongside gaming computers.

The concept of marrying an education centre, a cafe and gaming centre was so popular that three more branches have been opened in Potong Pasir, Bedok and Redhill since then.

The for-profit centres get 200 to 300 customers daily, from children to young adults.

Mr Tan said: 'I must know what they like. I can provide games too but in a measured environment.'

He does not get any government funding. Revenue comes from course fees and computer use, which is $2 an hour.

He said he wanted a safe place for youths to hang out at after school, without them milling around the mall.

He said: 'It's not like gaming centres people expect. Here, I can befriend the kids, and counsel those who need advice.'

Consultancy services bring in $130,000

IT WAS getting tougher and tougher to raise money the charity needed from grants and donations.

So, a group of volunteers from the non-profit Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme - or RSVP - hit on the idea of offering their skills.

As former company chief executives, business development directors and strategic planners, they had a wealth of experience to offer.

Said Mr Nat Natarajan, RSVP board member and ProGuide chairman: 'These are people with years of professional expertise, and they could use that knowledge to help others.'

So ProGuide was formed in 2004 as the social enterprise arm of RSVP.

The profit goes back to RSVP to run its own research projects, IT courses and programmes for seniors, mentoring schemes for latchkey children, and rehabilitation and job placements for former mentally-disadvantaged patients.

Currently, it has about 50 RSVP volunteers who regularly offer consultancy services, which include IT, marketing and business advice, to other voluntary welfare organisations which need some help.

According to Mr Natarajan, they charge about what a competing small- or medium-sized company would charge.

For instance, in the last three years, about a dozen welfare organisations had engaged them in projects - each of which cost $15,000 to $35,000.

As a bonus, ProGuide offers a free review of the client's current working system, and even helps list recommendations on how the welfare organisation can be more efficient.

All, but one VWO, engaged ProGuide on a paying basis - evidence that their services were up to par and valuable, said Mr Natarajan with a smile. The one VWO just used their free review.

He reckons that ProGuide makes an average of about $130,000 in gross income a year. At least half of it would go to supporting its programmes.

Mr Natarajan said despite being a social enterprise, the business is run professionally - volunteers will stick to schedules and will come in on time.

And this, he hoped, would help RSVP wean itself off government grants and become self-funding in a few years.

The biggest challenge? Getting the ex-directors and CEOs to work together as team players.

'Once we sort out the egos, the wealth of experience is very valuable. Plus, we have found that they are all professional. Once a boss is appointed, they will all listen to him or her.'

Read more!

Key proposals unveiled to stimulate social entrepreneurship

Funding extended to 2 years, profit sharing after a specified period
Lynette Khoo,
Business Times 4 Dec 07;

(SINGAPORE) The Social Enterprise (SE) Committee chaired by Spring Singapore chairman Philip Yeo released a set of recommendations yesterday, which if adopted, will see the current government funding for social enterprises extended from one year to two years, and enable profit sharing after a specified time period.

The Comcare Enterprise Fund (CEF) under the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS) provides seed funding to social enterprise start-ups with up to 80 per cent of the capital spending and one year's operating costs, capped at $300,000. The average funding is between $100,000 and $150,000 for each successful application.

The SE Committee proposed an extension of the funding period to two years as it recognises that SEs need time to establish and mature as businesses.

To encourage business-savvy entrepreneurs to set up, run and invest in SEs, the SE Committee recommended that CEF-funded enterprises be allowed to take profit after four to five years, while keeping its commitment to a social purpose.

The SE Committee was formed in August last year to find ways to invigorate the local SE sector and came up with a set of recommendations which it released in a report yesterday.

Unlike charities that depend on public funds, SEs are self-reliant revenue-generating businesses that meet social needs. They could be small, medium or large businesses, privately owned cooperatives or business arms of charities.

The number of active SEs in Singapore is estimated to be 150, of which 60 per cent are set up by non-profit or voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs). Sixty-six SEs are funded by the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports and 46 of them are still active. These are small businesses with an average annual revenue of less than $100,000.

'The underlying work is really how to create economic opportunities and jobs for the needy and disadvantaged,' Mr Yeo said at a briefing yesterday. 'It is to give the needy and disadvantaged a permanent employment for income so that they can be independent.'

Mr Yeo noted that some start-ups have the social passion but lack a viable business model. To provide business support and training to new SEs, the SE Committee proposed the formation of a Social Enterprise Association and a Social Enterprise Development Centre (SEDC).

Through the association, SEs can pool resources, network and collaborate to promote the SE sector while the SEDC increases access to services and builds capability. The proposed capability development fund is estimated to cost $500,000 a year.

A key recommendation of the SE Committee is also to encourage diversified sources of funding beyond grants, from private companies, venture capitalists and banks.

With the charity dollar harder to come by these days, VWOs and charities that set up SEs can reduce their dependency on public funds. But NKF chairman Gerald Ee noted that there has not been many success stories seen over the past few years as these organisations lack business expertise.

'While we encourage VWOs and charities to consider this path, we have to also tell them that they need to have a viable business model,' he added.

This is where the SEDC can fill up the gap for consultancy and training and Mr Ee said that he believed that over time, there will be more than one such centre set up to meet such needs.

Besides stimulating the social enterprises, the Committee is also encouraging commercial companies to become socially responsible enterprises (SRE) by employing needy and disadvantaged workers, and modifying the workplace, job or work systems to accommodate and integrate them.

To encourage SREs, the SE Committee is proposing a Caring Companies Initiative with an annual fund of $1 million to help cushion the costs of training, job redesign and integration programmes that companies incur when hiring disadvantaged workers.

The SE Committee also proposed that the Caring Companies Initiative give out high profile awards to recognise employers who have hired a significant number of disadvantaged workers and helped them to be financially independent through training.

These recommendations are being reviewed by the government and its decisions will be announced in March 2008.

Read more!

Energy conservation - do away with suits and ties

Letter from Francis Wong Tai Yin, Straits Times Forum 4 Dec 07;

DESPITE numerous articles and discussions regarding the low temperature setting of air-conditioners in Singapore, we still observe waste of such energy.

Last week, at the opening event of the Energex 2007 conference in Suntec, various distinguished speakers highlighted the point of energy conservation. It was ironical that the room in which the participants were gathered was uncomfortably cold.

While I am sure that the National Environment Agency is trying to educate (why not enforce?) those in building and facilities management roles, I feel that changes are not happening fast enough. This issue is not new as Minister Lim Swee Say's inspiring speech on April 28, 2001, at an American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (Singapore Chapter) event already highlighted this challenge.

Perhaps the reluctance to change stems from the fact that Singapore has adopted the Western dress-code (for men) of the tie and long-sleeved shirt. Is this practical for our climate?

I have not met a single person who was unhappy to remove his tie when the opportunity arose. Because we, in Singapore, have set a social decorum on 'business' dress-code, on top of the culture of 'giving face', we have created an impractical fashion in business.

It could be that the air-cons are set so cold to accommodate those in ties (and suits). Well, that looks like a problem that could be solved.

Boldly, I suggest two possibilities:

1. The Singapore Government sets a rule that it is absolutely acceptable if participants of their meetings (with vendors, corporate companies, international visitors and also internal) need only dress smart (that is, neat). Do away with ties and long-sleeved shirts, and I'm sure that the private commercial organisations will follow. Essentially, donning a suit and tie is voluntary, and at the wearer's own risk of discomfort. Is this too radical? Check out the Japanese government which introduced the 'no tie' summer look, breaking decades of tradition. They have removed the fear of 'not giving face'.

2. Create a new Singapore business dress-code. Each time I travel to the Philippines, I am always impressed with how the barong shirt is accepted as business attire. Yes, we have the batik shirt - but how many of us truly accept this as normal day-to-day business wear?

If we dress right, we eliminate another reason for setting low air-con temperatures unnecessarily. Coupled with the increased awareness and education programmes regarding energy conservation, I believe that Singapore will be seen as a nation that 'walks the talk'.

Read more!

Who pays the bill for a clean, green world?

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller, Today Online 4 Dec 07;

IT could be one of the most pitiless brawls about global burden-sharing since the advent of globalisation in the late '40s.

At its heart is the question of who is going to fund the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions — a topic now on the agenda for a host of meetings to find a replacement or amended extension to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The Kyoto protocol was forged in the mould of yesterday's world — one dominated by the nation-state. Quotas were specified for countries, accompanied by a mechanism that allowed them to trade certificates. In principle, this should have led to higher efficiency, as those who were able to pay could buy quotas from countries that did not require them.

The reality was that rich countries had capital, while poor and newly industrialised countries did not. The result — established producers purchased certificates to 'monopolise' production, crowding out potential competitors in less-developed countries.

This is probably why countries such as China argue that rich nation-states, having enjoyed a free ride in their industrialisation process many years ago, should now bear the burden of halting and hopefully reversing climate change.

Many industrialised nation-states may not necessarily reject that argument, but are cool towards the second proposition — that they assume the lion's share of the burden in addressing climate change. They maintain that while they may have been polluting in their rise to power, the environment was not the problem it is today.

The current dispute seems to overlook an analogous debate when environmental policies took off in some industrialised countries in the '60s and '70s.

Then, consumers and industry were at each other's throats, trying to pass the burden around in the hopes it would lead to a stalemate, so everybody could be let off cheaply in the short term.

The Gordian knot was cut — more or less — by the Polluter Pays Principle, which stated that the ultimate polluter was the consumer. The result was a number of taxes and levies designed to be passed to the ultimate polluter. Many industrialised countries have water levies, taxes on solid waste and petrol taxes.

And apparently, it has worked.

A dramatic improvement in environmental standards and energy efficiency has occurred in countries such as Japan and many European countries. This improvement can only be ascribed to the change in price structure — one that penalises polluters and rewards more environmentally friendly goods or production processes, mainly by way of levies and subsidies.

This hard-won experience teaches that one can only go some way with declarations and regulation. In the final analysis, what matters is to make the ultimate polluter feel the pinch.

As long as the discussion revolves around quotas or regulations allocated to nation-states, the chance for an effective agreement is remote. The circus of accusations and counter-accusations is likely to continue. Having committed themselves so clearly to incompatible policies, it is almost inconceivable that many countries will have a change of heart on how to engender positive climate change.

A seismic policy shift is needed before the impending environmental crisis can be addressed. Negotiations have to target the ultimate polluter: The consumer. This will make it clear that it is not the producer in China, the United States, Europe or Singapore that is ultimately responsible, but the consumer, wherever he or she is.

Such a policy would also be consistent with globalisation. Outsourcing from the US or Europe to China would cause Chinese emission levels to rise. With a system based on national quotas, China would have to "pay" more. But this makes no sense.

A national quota model places newly industrialising countries between the devil and the deep blue sea. Either they absorb the cost, they risk that rich countries will move towards a "coalition of the willing" ready to impose levies. And if newly industralising countries try to pass on the cost to the consumer by increasing prices, they might undermine their own competitiveness.

All three options appear problematic — hence the call to develop an agreement that allows costs to be passed to the ultimate polluter/emitter, in such a way that does not distort competitive advantages and influence relative production costs.

If such a road is not found, two rather unpalatable outcomes may haunt the global economy.

The first is a complete breakdown, leaving an international agreement on climate change hanging. The second is a mix of political compromises that will probably force a cost increase on rising nation-states, introducing global inflation as those states increase their export prices. That would be the last thing the world needs now, what with high oil prices, a sub-prime crisis and falling growth in the US.

We should not forget that cheap production from countries like China has kept global inflation low for the last 15 years. If global inflation starts to rise now, the world economy is likely to jump from the frying pan into the fire.

The writer is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, and an Adjunct Professor at the Copenhagen Business School. The full version of this commentary is at www.opinionasia.com.

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Proposal to pay poor countries to save forests moving ahead

A decision on the initial phases of action could come soon
Arti Mulchand, Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

BALI - A DECISION on a proposal from developing countries to be paid to protect their forests could come soon.

Representatives of the more than 190 countries at the climate change talks were yesterday urged to reach an agreement on the initial phases of action before ministers arrive in Bali next week.

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said pilot projects and payment systems should be taken up, and representatives should also decide on a method to measure avoided emissions.

Negotiations on these issues have been going on for a while.

The Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation plan was initiated by Indonesia and is backed by developing countries with the largest remaining tropical forests, including Brazil and Malaysia.

Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, who is presiding over the talks, said: 'It is vital not just that we take action now, but also that this issue forms a central element of the future climate regime.'

Reaching agreement on issues like this before top ministers arrive would also 'free up negotiating space needed for the post-2012 process', said Mr de Boer, who is the United Nations Framework Convention executive secretary.

The meetings in Bali are aimed at jump-starting talks to find a successor to the emissions-curbing Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012.

Deforestation accounts for almost a fifth of all global carbon dioxide (C02) emissions and is the leading cause of biodiversity loss. Forests are also carbon sinks as they soak up CO2 and temporarily store the carbon. Hence, getting deforestation under control is central to combating climate change.

That is particularly important for Indonesia, where deforestation accounts for about two-thirds of its greenhouse gas emissions, making it the world's third largest CO2 polluter.

Indonesia is, in fact, the world's fastest forest destroyer. Between 2000 and 2005, an area of forest equivalent to 300 soccer pitches was destroyed every hour.

Jakarta's clearing of forests has other environmental implications: The slash-and-burn technique of land-clearing causes the annual haze that has the region - and its economies - in a chokehold.

The current problem is that the forests have no 'value', Indonesia's delegation head, economist and former minister Emil Salim, said at a media briefing here yesterday. It is the reason why forests get cleared for agriculture and ravaged by loggers, he said.

Still, sceptics question the degree of success that a country such as Indonesia, where illegal logging and land-clearing fires are rampant, can achieve.

It is also not clear just how the burden of paying to protect forests should be shared by developed countries. Monitoring mechanisms will also need to be worked out.

But Mr Witoelar believes that the 'carrot-and-stick' approach of paying for forests will work to help solve Indonesia's problem of illegal logging, even as the country tries to put in place more 'pertinent and actual' laws and create incentives for alternative livelihoods.

'It is a matter of survival,' he said.

Climate talks Quickly
Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

TREES PLANTED TO SOAK UP CO2

BALI: Indonesia has planted millions of trees to soak up an estimated 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases to be emitted during UN-led climate talks in Bali, Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said yesterday.

Pines, acacia and meranti trees, a type of tropical hardwood, have been planted on about 4,500ha on the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java, Mr Witoelar said.

Trees absorb carbon as they grow, and those planted would eventually soak up about 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, far more than the emissions caused by conference delegates while staying in Bali and flying to and from the island, he said.

More than 10,000 politicians, officials, activists and journalists are attending the climate talks on the tropical resort island.

'The government of Indonesia is dedicating the carbon stock of the trees to offset the emissions produced by the UN meeting,' Mr Witoelar told a news conference.

'Apart from offsetting emissions, we would like to make this a carbon positive event,' he said.

REUTERS

A TUNE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

BALI: A song aimed at motivating people to work together to tackle climate change was launched at the Bali climate change conference yesterday.

The song Dunia Berbagilah (World, Let's Share Together), written by Indonesian musician Nugie, was jointly launched by Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, the newly elected conference president, and Oxfam's Ari Margiono.

It was performed by the United Voices of Indonesia, a group of 50 singers and musicians from the country, according to anti-poverty group Oxfam's website.

XINHUA

SOW SEEDS FOR BETTER OR WORSE

JAKARTA: Couples wanting to get married or divorced now have to spare a bit of love for the earth under a compulsory tree-planting campaign in one Indonesian district, a report said yesterday.

People planning to marry in Sragen district, on the main Indonesian island of Java, must contribute to the planting of five tree seedlings, district head Untung Wiyono was reported as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.

They are required to hand over their own seedlings, or 25,000 rupiah (S$3.90) to buy some, to whoever officiates at their marriage.

Couples who are looking to divorce must donate 25 tree seedlings, or hand over 40,000 rupiah.

The seeds, of hardwood trees such as teak or mahogany, are handed to the government to be planted, Mr Wiyono reportedly said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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Investors seen as key in averting climate change

Business Times 4 Dec 07;

(BALI) Climate talks launched in Bali yesterday must assure investors of future government backing for climate-friendly energy and building projects, said the host of the meeting, Indonesia's Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar.

The talks, attended by some 190 countries, will try and lay the foundations for a new climate change deal in time to replace or extend the Kyoto Protocol from 2013. A key challenge will be to entice business to invest in cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for climate change.

Investment is needed, for example, to re-direct the world's energy supply away from high carbon-emitting fossil fuels to cleaner sources. But that requires a new policy regime of carrots and sticks.

'The market is a key part of our effort against climate change,' Mr Witoelar told the opening session of the two-week conference. 'The market demands the certainty and predictability we need to offer them. We need to enhance our investments in technology. There are clean technologies available. There's lots of best practice.'

Governments hope the Bali talks will set the platform for agreement by 2009 on specific climate targets or policies, country by country, to succeed existing Kyoto Protocol commitments, which are considered too weak.

For example Kyoto created a carbon market that last year directed US$5 billion of investment into cutting greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. That compares with a needed US$200 billion invested annually by 2030, nearly half of that in developing countries, according to a United Nations report published in October.

'There are potential solutions on the scale needed, but they require international negotiation,' the UN report's lead author, Erik Haites, told a side event in Bali yesterday.

For example, Kyoto only runs until 2012, but investors in big energy projects need to plan returns over 20 years.

Government officials in Bali agreed that clean energy investment was key to the fight against climate change.

'We need to accelerate... technologies that can fundamentally alter (how) we use energy,' US delegation head Harlan Watson said, citing biofuels, renewable power and technology to bury greenhouse gases underground.

The private sector must supply 86 per cent of the investment needed to help adapt to global warming and cut emissions, the UN report said. - Reuters

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Singapore Business Federation to launch clean energy directory next year

Inaugural survey of industry will list a few hundred Singapore-based firms
Matthew Phan, Business Times 4 Dec 07;

THE Singapore Business Federation (SBF) will release the first directory listing of clean energy-related companies in Singapore in the first half of 2008, along with an inaugural survey of the industry.

The directory will be 'comprehensive', and already includes the names of a few hundred Singapore-based firms, according to its director of industry development Patrick Chan in an interview.

But most of these play 'secondary' or supporting roles to the industry, such as in consultancy, financing and research, or logistics and manufacturing of components, he said.

'As far as primary companies are concerned, while we have attracted the likes of REC and Vestas, there are not many locally originated companies in this area,' said Mr Chan.

'Primary' vendors comprise seven of the directory's 15 sub-groupings.

The seven primary sub-groupings range from renewable energy providers (like solar, wind or fuel cells), to carbon trading, energy efficiency, power generation, environmental management and conservation, and other sectors like agriculture.

Another eight sub-groupings play 'secondary' or supporting roles. They include brand names like market research firms Frost & Sullivan, which now have separate divisions for clean energy, oil majors like Shell, BP and ExxonMobil, as well as accounting firms KPMG, PwC and GrantThorton, which are looking at carbon and energy audits.

In comparison, local firms are still very much at the awareness and learning stage, said Mr Chan.

But this has benefited consultancies and research organisations, as firms try to find out more by joining conferences, informal sessions or exhibitions, he said.

Project managers and financiers - of whom many major players have based regional operations in Singapore - have also grown thanks to activity in other South-east Asian countries.

It could be another 1 to 2 years before Singapore firms play a substantial role in clean energy, either as primary vendors or buyers, said Mr Chan.

Meanwhile, the industry survey - which has obtained responses from at least 60 firms so far and is due to release preliminary results in Jan 2008 - will shed light on the state of the industry and clarify issues and future potential.

The SBF includes Clean Energy as one of its three major industry sectors, along with Franchising and Infocomm Technology.

It was added only this year, after the government said in March that it would commit $350 million to research funding for the sector, said Mr Chan.

The Economic Development Board estimates the sector will add over $1.7 billion in value and employ over 12,000 professionals by 2012.

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