'Seize the chance for change'

Bali meeting is an opportunity for the global community to rally and agree on pact to cut emissions
Achim Steiner for the Straits Times 1 Dec 07;

WHEN I step into the conference centre in Bali, I will do so with a far lighter foot-fall than perhaps I would have done 12 months ago.

The spirit of optimism that has taken hold across the world on climate change is palpable, and the momentum is breathtaking.

Can Bali deliver a meaningful outcome and can the international community really rally to forge a deep and decisive emissions reduction regime to kick in by 2012?

Twelve months ago, I might have demurred and prevaricated. The past was characterised by stalemate and finger pointing, with polarised positions lending lethargy and indolence to international attempts to resolve the greatest challenge of our generation.

Not today. Indeed, when one casts a glimpse across the climate change landscape unfolding and the innovations underway, many significant achievements have already been made.

Governments across the world are paving the way forward.

The decision by the European Union to go for a 20 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020, and 30 per cent if others follow, has reaffirmed the once-fading leadership role of developed countries.

Brazil, often criticised for the felling of the Amazon, has reduced deforestation by more than 50 per cent.

In India, the Prime Minister has requested a wide-ranging assessment of greenhouse gas emissions in order to pinpoint areas for action.

China has also reaffirmed its determination to reduce energy intensity and meet its renewable energy targets.

In the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, billions of dollars are being invested in solar power.

Countries in East Africa are testing fiscal and market-shaping instruments to encourage small-scale hydro- and biomass-power generation.

In the United States, close to half of all the states have established renewable energy requirements, and more than 300 cities have set emissions reduction targets in line with the Kyoto Protocol.

Australia's new administration has pledged to ratify the pact. Several countries, including Norway, Costa Rica and New Zealand, have said they will become carbon neutral.

Many others are waiting in the wings, and the United Nations has agreed to achieve similar aims across all the agencies and programmes. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will be among the first, and we hope to announce carbon neutrality shortly.

Meanwhile, corporations in both the developed and developing worlds are switching investments and production lines towards greener goods and services.

De-carbonising and climate proofing the global economy is also about jobs.

A study by the US-based Management Information Services estimated that in 2005, the US environmental industry generated more than 5.3 million jobs. It reckoned that the environmental industry employs 10 times more workers than the US pharmaceutical industry.

In June this year, a Britain-based company, Eaga, which improves the energy efficiency of homes, floated on the London Stock Exchange - it employs 4,000 people in one of Britain's former coal mining regions.

Hansen, a wind power gear-box maker owned by Indian company Suzlon, is building a new factory in Coimbatore that will employ 800 people. A second newly built factory in Tianjin, China, will employ 600.

The Indian city of New Delhi is introducing new eco-friendly compressed natural gas buses, creating an additional 18,000 jobs.

Such jobs are more desirable as well.

In a US survey, more than 90 per cent of the young respondents said they would choose to work for an environmentally friendly and socially responsible company.

Another poll found workers in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Britain and the US happier and more likely to stay if they think their employers have strong corporate social responsibility policies.

The wider social impact is also becoming apparent.

Britain launched its Environmental Task Force as part of the New Deal for young unemployed people in 1998. The government estimated that around 45 per cent of those taking part find work immediately afterwards.

The Green Jobs Act in the US talks about the green economy as a 'pathway out of poverty'.

Future trends are promising.

Mr Roland Berger, a Munich-based consultancy, estimated that more people will be employed in environmental-tech industries in Germany in 2020 than in the car industry.

A report by UNEP's Finance Initiative estimated that the market providing finance for clean and renewable energies could reach US$1.9 trillion (S$2.7 trillion) by 2020.

In the wider environmental landscape, more creative market mechanisms are emerging, such as power companies with hydroelectric stations paying farmers to maintain forests and soils upstream in Costa Rica and Kenya.

Last week, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Commerce Ministry in China announced bans and restrictions on foreign investment in mining and some energy sectors, saying the country wants to encourage foreign investment that will instead protect the environment, cut pollution, develop renewable energy and stimulate innovation.

Research by the University of California at Berkeley indicated that 250,000 to 300,000 new jobs could be generated in the US if 20 per cent of its electricity needs were met by renewable sources.

It is within this landscape that delegates and governments meet in Bali. It may be too much to expect countries to agree over the next few days to a new post-2012 emissions reduction regime.

But agreements on the parameter of the negotiations and on completion in 2009 will be a key litmus test as to whether governments got the message last year.

Needless to say, the established industrialised economies must be the early movers. But the roles of rapidly developing economies in the coming decades and the part they can play in the climate challenge will be central too.

We also really need movement on the issue of standing forests under the banner of 'Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation'. Deforestation is accountable for around 20 per cent of the current greenhouse gas emissions.

Pledges on additional and serious levels of funding for adaptation must be part of the Bali equation, alongside technology transfer of clean and green technologies to developing countries.

Indeed, it is a good sign that ministers from not only environment but also from finance and trade are going to be part of the Bali talks.

In Bali and beyond, we need to also unleash the trillions of dollars in the world's pension and investment funds and steer them on the sustainable investment path.

If we can meet some of these aims, we can unleash human creativity and innovation on a scale that matches the magnitude of the challenge and expectations of communities and citizens everywhere.

Collectively, we have not only stared into the abyss this year, but also peered into a new future of possibilities and change towards a low- carbon, climate-proofed world.

We have been given choices to transform the way we do business on this planet - I cannot imagine that we can do anything less than seize them.

The writer is the United Nations Undersecretary- General and executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

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Local IPCC author: hopes document will be a 'wake-up call'

IPCC report to guide the hands of politicians
Local author of strongly worded document hopes that it will serve as a 'wake-up call'
Arti Mulchand, Straits Times 1 Dec 07;

WHILE its title may not sound like a sure-fire best-seller, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report may be one of the most important documents ever written.

It will guide the hands of politicians as they meet in Bali from Monday to discuss the raging issue.

Self-described 'planetary physician' Richard Somerville was a coordinating lead author and it is his hope that the most strongly worded diagnosis of the earth's fate to date weighs heavily on their minds.

'Public opinion has changed. A lot of people in various parts of the world have been convinced that climate change is real and seriously deserves action,' he told The Straits Times.

What remains, he adds, is to see how policymakers respond.

Closely watched in the upcoming talks, perhaps, will be where Prof Somerville hails from - the United States - where state-level rumbles have indicated a strong grassroots awareness of the issues.

Many will also have an eye on Australia, where the recent departure of Mr John Howard and his replacement as prime minister by the Labor Party's Kevin Rudd represents an about-turn in the nation's stance on Kyoto.

What backs up the change of heart most strongly is the 'unequivocal' science fed into the IPCC synthesis report, which brings together three reports released over the course of this year, with the most dire warning about the fate of the planet to date.

The first, which Prof Somerville was directly involved in, is the result of more than four meetings and countless e-mail messages exchanged by 152 lead authors over four years.

Together with two other reports on adaptation and mitigation, it props up the synthesis report which warns that warming caused by man could lead to 'abrupt and irreversible' climate change impacts.

But the fight behind closed doors in Bali could be far from the 'collegial, harmonious, enjoyable...and really heartwarming process' he experienced putting out that first report, which was devoid of ideology and politicking, he said.

Indeed, of the three reports that feed into the synthesis report, the first, relating to the science behind climate change, has been regarded as less controversial than the two following reports on what should be done about it.

'The science was not diluted, wasn't talked down, wasn't spun, but was respected...The science and the report are firmer than ever before,' he said.

Indeed, he is optimistic about a positive outcome in Bali, as long as the influence that scientists seem to uniquely have on negotiations this time around sticks.

So what does he think has made the penny drop, if it has?

The tide started to turn when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in the US, after the heatwave that struck Europe less than two years earlier, he said. It makes the realisation that climate change is 'real and deserves action' ever more urgent.

'I'm not sure if scientists have ever had much of an influence on the negotiations...and I hope that will change this time because time is running out. You cannot just temporise forever,' he said.

In his capacity as a scientist, he hopes that the IPCC report will act as the 'wake-up call' that it is, and not that it can be.

'I really hope for more action and less rhetoric now that the science itself is so compelling and so solid. I think the scientists have succeeded and played their necessary role...Corporations and governments are used to making decisions under uncertainty and the IPCC has quantified that uncertainty,' he said.

But even if the science is indisputable, finding common ground will be a challenge, he admits. 'The science is solid. I don't know if the political will is equally so. We are asking the world to make difficult decisions. We are asking politicians to do things that cause some hardship now but which will have great benefits for our children and grandchildren,' he said.

He added: 'In some sense the world has gradually woken up to it...But it's not anyone's No. 1 priority. If you ask the man on the street, he is more concerned with economic security, education and health care and those kinds of immediate concerns. It takes time.'

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Cutting emissions: countries like Singapore to act now and take lead

10 years left to reverse climate change: UN
It urges countries like Singapore to act now and take lead in cutting harmful emissions
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 1 Dec 07;

Classifying Singapore as 'developing' is 'inaccurate', Prof Hamilton-Hart said. The Republic should not be given a 'free ride' and have the same benefits as developing nations.

WEALTHIER countries, such as Singapore, have a leadership role in cutting carbon emissions and encouraging Asia's developing nations to go green.

This is a key message in the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP's) latest Human Development Report.

The report warns that a window of only 10 years is left to reverse the effects of climate change - or about 2.6 billion of the world's poor will be hit by problems such as rising sea levels and melting Himalayan glaciers.

Scientists have blamed carbon dioxide emissions from industrialisation for raising average global temperatures.

The UNDP report is regarded as a Bible for crucial UN meetings on climate change in Bali starting next week, said Dr Richard Leete, UNDP representative for Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. The Bali meetings will look at global arrangements after 2012, when the current Kyoto Protocol expires.

The report sets out a framework of targets for developed countries to cut emissions by between 20 per cent and 30 per cent by 2020 and by 80 per cent by 2050.

Developing countries can allow emissions to grow until 2020 and then aim for a cut of 20 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050.

'Action is definitely needed. Politicians who don't heed the call will be held accountable through the ballot box,' Dr Leete warned.

Singapore accounts for 0.2 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, emitting an average of 12.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person per year - among the highest in the world. Emissions per person currently stand at 20.6 tonnes in the United States, 3.8 tonnes in China and 1.7 tonnes in Indonesia.

One of the speakers, National University of Singapore Associate Professor Natasha Hamilton-Hart, believes Singapore is lacking in credibility in two areas if it is to take the lead: its high emissions per capita; and, its status as a 'developing' nation under the Kyoto Protocol.

As a developing nation, Singapore does not have to meet emission-cutting targets. The Kyoto Protocol sets these targets - cutting emissions by 5 per cent from their 1990 levels by 2012 - only for developed countries.

Classifying Singapore as 'developing' is 'inaccurate', Prof Hamilton-Hart said. The Republic should not be given a 'free ride' and have the same benefits as developing nations.

Singapore has set a target to cut by 25 per cent its carbon intensity, or carbon dioxide emissions per gross domestic product dollar by 2012 from 1990 levels - not quite the same as an emissions cut, she noted.

Singapore has maintained that its export-

oriented economy and its status as a manufacturing hub for multinational corporations will unfairly rack up its fuel consumption.

Prof Hamilton-Hart, however, suggests that since Singapore gets the benefits of a healthy export trade, it must also take ownership of its emissions.

'Many countries can make the same claim. If everyone does, we'll never get an international agreement,' she told The Straits Times.

When contacted, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said the Kyoto Protocol was 'the final text' after negotiations, and it was 'inappropriate' for the agency to comment on Singapore's classification as a developing nation.

'Nevertheless, we will still play our part to address climate change, through improving our energy efficiency as well as developing clean energy technologies and solutions,' said the NEA.

jcheam@sph.com.sg

The clock is ticking
# The United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report warns that a window of only 10 years is left to reverse the effects of climate change - or about 2.6 billion of the world's poor will be hit by problems such as rising sea levels and melting Himalayan glaciers.

# Singapore accounts for 0.2 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, emitting an average of 12.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person per year - among the highest in the world. Emissions per person now stand at 20.6 tonnes in the US, 3.8 tonnes in China and 1.7 tonnes in Indonesia.

# Classifying Singapore as a 'developing' nation is 'inaccurate', Associate Professor Natasha Prof Hamilton-Hart says. The Republic should not be given a 'free ride' and have the same benefits as developing nations.

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Luxury labels discover that green is the new black

Business Times 1 Dec 07;

(PARIS) Fair-trade and green-friendly goods are becoming increasingly popular with lovers of luxury, with distinctive products as much as politics driving demand, according to French fashion and consumer experts.

'People are not buying fair trade to help the planet,' said Eric Fouquier, who heads the Thema agency which specialises in 'alternative' consumption patterns.

'Luxury items simply have become industrial and are now so common that consumers are seeking goods that are out of the ordinary.' His view echoed that of others who discussed the growing appetite of consumers for products that respect global environmental concerns on a panel at Paris Fashion Group, a forum of fashion industry specialists.

Young French entrepreneur Francois Morillon, whose Veja organic sneaker brand made of cotton and rubber from Brazil, is making waves in top boutiques, also reckoned politics was far from being the leading factor in his success story.

'Apart from a small number of activists, people don't buy for social or environmental reasons but because they like the product,' he said of his 2003 business that went from nothing to 45,000 sneakers a season, made in collaboration with Brazilian co-operatives.

'We set up our brand because we want to favour change,' he said, 'But it's the exceptional quality of a product, the fact that it's original that sets it apart, that makes it a luxury good.'

But Isabelle Laville, whose consultancy Utopies specialises in fair-trade practices, said that consumption patterns had changed over the past 12 to 18 months with social concerns becoming part and parcel of the luxury sector. Celebrities such as Hollywood's George Clooney and Leonard DiCaprio, or rock star Bono, too had favoured sustainable development by speaking out for ethical causes, she added.

'Customer demand is changing,' said Sylvie Benard, the head of environment for the world's biggest luxury conglomerate LVMH. 'Our customers today are as demanding about luxury as they are about respecting the environment.'

Ms Benard said that LVMH, which owns Moet-Hennessy drinks, Louis Vuitton leather goods and a bevy of perfume and fashion brands, has been striving for the past 15 years to bolster its green credentials.

Moet et Chandon champagnes has halved water consumption over six years while the flagship Vuitton store on Paris's Champs Elysees now uses 60 per cent less electricity than others after revamping its lighting system.

The company too aimed to help its partners in emerging nations such as Vietnam or Burkina Faso - which supply ingredients for perfumes and cosmetics - to develop viable economic projects, she said.

'We don't communicate about what we're doing,' she added. 'To be extravagant out front you need to be impeccable out the back.' - AFP

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'Unethical' luxury brands criticised by WWF
Graham Tibbetts, Telegraph 29 Nov 07

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'Nature's banks' pays dividends: Marine Protected Areas

BBC News 30 Nov 07;

Marine reserves, co-managed by local communities, can help alleviate the impact of poverty, a study suggests.

Research into four successful schemes showed that getting villagers involved in protection projects reduced harmful overfishing and protected incomes.

Average incomes of people who had established no-fish zones were more than double those who did not have protected areas, the authors found.

The researchers produced the report for the Nature Conservancy, a US group.

They said the case studies provided a global blueprint for fishing villages.

Their report, Nature's Investment Bank, examined four marine protection areas in Fiji, Indonesia, Philippines and the Solomon Islands, to assess what constituted a successful scheme.

"The key finding is that local communities have to be involved in the management of the fisheries," said co-author Craig Leisher, a policy adviser for the Nature Conservancy.

"It lowers the enforcement costs dramatically, and it ensures locals benefit financially."

Marine protection areas are designed to ensure fish stocks are maintained, while allowing locals to land catches. However, fishing is prohibited in certain key locations, such as spawning and nursery areas.

He said locals initially expressed concern about the idea of establishing so called "no-take zones".

"Local fishers were quite reluctant, and worried that they were going to lose some of their prime fishing grounds.

"But what we saw in at least two of these sites was that within just two or three years, there was a dramatic increase in the number of fish that were spilling over from the no-take zones.

"It did not take long for the local communities to see the benefits and say 'hey, this may work'."

Net benefits

As well as money from fishing, Mr Leisher added that a healthy aquatic ecosystem had other financial incentives.

"When we looked at the new jobs that were created and which had the biggest benefit to local communities, they were all in tourism.

"There is tremendous potential, certainly within South-East Asia and what we call the coral triangle," he told BBC News.

In some areas, the additional revenue helped fund improvements to villages' infrastructure, such as water tanks and public toilets.

Mr Leisher said that fish also played a vital role in locals' diets, especially children's.

"In all four areas, fish was their primary source of protein and it is part of their staple diet so it could not be more important," he observed.

Secrets of success

The report - co-funded by the Nature Conservancy, WWF Indonesia, the Australian government and Holland's Vrije University - was based on more than 1,100 interviews with locals and opinion formers.

Mr Leisher said the researchers had deliberately chosen areas where the introduction of conservation schemes had been successful.

"The objective was to learn from the sites that had been successful and to discern why they were successful, and look for the common factors," he explained.

"In all four cases, the local fisheries were in crisis before the establishment of the protected areas.

"The primary indicator was declining fish catch - what we called catch per unit of effort. People were having to go out for longer and fish in new places in order to catch the same amount of fish as a few years earlier.

"There has to be a sense of crisis before people are willing to change the status quo dramatically."

But he said the main factor underpinning the successful schemes was convincing people that marine protection areas were more than a paper exercise.

"The key to the whole endeavour is education and awareness; they had to understand that it was something that could benefit them and that it was not an imposition."

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UN body launches database to tackle illegal caviar trade

Yahoo News 30 Nov 07;

The United Nations watchdog on endangered species said Friday it is launching a database to track the international trade in caviar and tackle its illegal trade.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species said the database will record details of all permits and certificates that authorize trade in caviar, and will help detect and deter fraudulent applications.

"This is an important tool in our battle to save sturgeons and fight criminals who seek to over exploit a number of species of great conservation concern," CITES Secretary General Willem Wijnstekers said.

Legal export of caviar has fallen in recent years as wild sturgeon stocks have declined.

Earlier this year, CITES said that states bordering the Caspian Sea agreed to reduce their catch quotas by 29 percent compared to 2005 levels, allowing the export of 3.76 tonnes of Beluga caviar this year.

However, CITES "continues to receive frequent evidence of illegal caviar trade, including in Beluga," the organisation said in a statement.

CITES first imposed caviar trade controls in 1998, after a decline in sturgeon stocks following the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Fishing had increased with the end of communist-era restrictions, raising fears among environmentalists that sturgeon would be wiped out.

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Red tide blamed for Calif. bird deaths

Terence Chea, Associated Press, Yahoo News 30 Nov 07;

Hundreds of dead or injured seabirds have washed up on the shores of Monterey Bay in recent weeks, and scientists believe a red tide of marine algae is to blame.

About 600 birds have been found stranded on beaches in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties since a large rust-colored algal bloom began circulating in the bay about three weeks ago, scientists say.

About 70 of the birds have died, while 530 have been taken to wildlife rescue centers, said Michael Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.

The affected birds include loons, pelicans, western grebes, northern fulmars and surf scoters, said Dave Jessup, a veterinarian with the state Department of Fish and Game. Fish and marine mammals do not appear to be affected.

Officials initially believed the birds were victims of the San Francisco Bay oil spill that has killed or injured at least 2,800 birds. But tests found that the sticky, yellow substance found on the Monterey Bay birds was not petroleum or vegetable oil.

Scientists now believe the birds were injured by a protein that sticks to the birds' feathers and disrupts their ability to stay dry and warm, forcing them from the water where they live and feed.

"The birds are in distress because their feathers are no longer keeping them warm," Ziccardi said. "It's doing something to their waterproofing."

Researchers believe the protein is produced either directly or as a byproduct of the red tide, which is common in Monterey Bay this time of year.

Red tides that produce a neurotoxin have been known to kill sea lions and other marine mammals, but such algal blooms have not occurred in several years.

Many of the beached birds are cold and wet but otherwise healthy when they arrive at the rescue centers, and they recover quickly after their feathers are cleaned, Ziccardi said.

Algal blooms are increasing in frequency and intensity around the world, a trend scientists say may be linked to climate change as well as the use of pesticides and fertilizers.

The algal bloom likely will stay in Monterey Bay and continue injuring birds until a major weather system pushes the red tide out, Jessup said.

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Amazon rainforest 'could resist climate change'

Charles Clover, Telegraph 29 Nov 07;

The Amazon rainforest can withstand climate change and can help to mend the global climate as long as enough forest cover is protected, scientists said.

Previous computer simulations by the Meteorological Office's Hadley Centre suggested that if global average temperatures rose more than 3ºC - the amount predicted by the end of this century - the Amazon forest would be likely to dry out and the rainfall in the region would drop.

Researchers say there is mounting scientific evidence that intact Amazon forests are more resilient to drying out than was previously suggested because of their deep root systems and because plants would acclimatise to increased temperatures and lack of water.

However, where fragmentation and clearing has already occurred, forests are more vulnerable to drying out and the spread of fires, according to an article in the journal Science.

Scientists calculated that the zone with the highest drought risk is in the south east, with a 70-80 per cent risk, while the risk of drying out in the west is only 20 per cent.

Prof Yadvinder Malhi from Oxford university, which led the research with the Met Office in conjunction with some of the world's leading experts on the Amazon, said: "The latest science points to intact rainforests being fairly resistant to a possibly drier 21st century climate in the eastern half of Amazonia.

"However, this resistance breaks down when the forests are opened up and fragmented by roads, logging and agriculture, and become vulnerable to fires. Once burnt, a forest becomes even more vulnerable to the risk of fires.

"Once the forest starts breaking up, rainfall in the region is likely to decline. Hence maintaining sufficient forest cover in Amazonia is an effective means of protecting the region from climate change, as well as directly contributing to slowing down global warming."

Scientists involved in writing the paper will be among the experts attending next week's UN conference in Bali next week where new financial mechanisms for funding the protection of standing forest will be high on the agenda.

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Invasive species threaten land of the dodo

Ed Harris, Reuters 30 Nov 07;

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Three centuries after the dodo's demise, the rich plant and animal life of Mauritius is still under threat, this time from exploding populations of non-native species such as Chinese guavas and Malagasy geckos.

Conservationists on the Indian Ocean island that was once home to the flightless dodo bird say predators like rats and monkeys are being joined at accelerating pace by new arrivals like the giant Madagascar day gecko which first came as a pet.

"From there, it has either been released or escaped. The population is just exploding at the moment," said Nik Cole, a reptile expert with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation.

The Malagasy species is a major threat to native reptiles such as the Mauritian day gecko, he told Reuters.

Other recent arrivals include the apple snail and the red-eared terrapin.

On the small Mauritian island of Rodrigues, scientists have noticed the disappearance of native centipedes since the arrival less than 10 years ago of the Indian musk shrew.

"With many exotic introductions, you don't notice an impact until their numbers reach a certain level," Cole said, echoing the warnings of many other local environmentalists.

"You have got species that are found nowhere else in the world, and they are very naïve to certain types of competition or predation, so they can very easily be wiped out," he said.

The exotic imported animals, plants and even germs out-compete or hunt native Mauritian species which evolved in a less competitive environment over millions of years.

Plants are also at risk from aggressive arrivals such as the Chinese guava, the Malagasy traveler's palm and hiptage which often smother the Mauritian trees.

"Most of the plants in Mauritius that are rare, are rare because of invasive species," Vikash Tatayah, Conservation Manager at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, said by phone.

His organization has had notable success in saving endangered birds such as the echo parakeet, the pink pigeon, and the Mauritius kestrel, down to just 4 known birds in 1974, though the local broad-billed and grey parrots are extinct.

In the case of the green-feathered echo parakeet, ravaged by rats, monkeys and the loss of forests, conservationists swap eggs or chicks between mother birds to maximize their chance of survival, wrap plastic round tree trunks to deter climbing rats, and deepen holes in trunks to hide nests from monkeys.

Scientists say the world has suffered five mass extinctions in its history and a sixth is looming, linked to human activity.

Small islands like Mauritius, evolving at a distance from the larger landmasses, often developed a rich and unique biodiversity -- but in modern times find their flora and fauna threatened with extinction as a result of the growth of global travel and trade.

(Editing by Tim Pearce)

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WTO proposal limits fisheries subsidies

Reuters 30 Nov 07;

GENEVA (Reuters) - New negotiating proposals at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday impose tough limits on subsidies on fisheries, a move that delighted environmentalists concerned about overfishing.

The proposals, from Uruguay's WTO ambassador Guillermo Valles Galmes, who is chairing WTO negotiations on "rules" -- dumping, subsidies and fisheries subsidies -- do not propose a blanket ban on all subsidies to fisheries.

But they list a large number of subsidies, including those for the construction of new vessels, and for operating costs of fisheries, including fuel, that would be banned.

Both the European Union and Korea subsidize fuel for fishing vessels.

Certain subsidies in developing countries, where many poor people depend on fishing for their livelihoods, are exempted from the proposed bans, but countries benefiting from waivers must operate fishery management systems to conserve fish stocks.

The proposals from Valles came in a negotiating text for the Doha round, launched six years ago to boost the world economy and help developing countries grow out of poverty.

WTO delegations agreed on Friday to aim to wrap up the round by the end of next year.

Oceana, which campaigns to protect the world's oceans, said the text from Valles was an important step by the WTO.

"A strong fisheries subsidies agreement would be a hands-down win for the environment," said Courtney Sakai, campaign director for Oceana, which also advises the United States on fisheries subsidies.

"The WTO faces challenges in tackling the issues of subsidies and overfishing, but the potential benefits are enormous," she said. "If the Doha round fails, the oceans will be the big loser.

(Reporting by Jonathan Lynn; Editing by Stephen Weeks)

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Papering over the cracks in carbon credit

Matthew Phan, Business Times 1 Dec 07;

THAI pulp and paper company Advance Agro owns no plantations, yet uses 18 million to 20 million trees a year, providing enough pulp for its mill, which has a 600,000-tonne capacity.

Through an arrangement with farmers in a fertile area with a radius of 200 km in central Thailand, Advance Agro plants fast-growing eucalyptus trees between the farmers' plots of land, then buying the mature trees. This supplements the farmers' income, and does not cause the deforestation for which paper companies elsewhere are criticised.

Unfortunately for the group, carbon credits from avoided deforestation or afforestation cannot be traded under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.

This is a pity, since forestry was a pilot sector of the CDM when it first started. It is difficult to measure exactly the amount of greenhouse gases reduced by keeping a forest, and negotiators were afraid that dubious credits might flood the market.

Another issue is permanence. A tree captures carbon dioxide but releases it again when uprooted. So is it fair to say that the carbon is permanently removed from the atmosphere?

As Rob Fowler, managing director of Abatement Solutions, says, the concept of permanence is 'very difficult for the legal system to deal with'. For example, is 100 years enough to consider permanent? Who bears the liability if, at the 90-year mark, the carbon is inadvertently released?

By UN estimates, deforestation accounts for a quarter of global emissions. And forests often bring other benefits to a region, like higher income or biodiversity. Officials and negotiators have said that they will raise the issue at their meetings in Bali this month.

At Advance Agro, though, carbon credits were not the driving force behind its business model, says senior vice-president Thirawit Leetavorn.

Rather, it wanted a long-term supply of wood that could supplement the income of local farmers, rather than taking a major income source from them as a plantation would have.

'We're a Thai company, this is our second or third generation in the agri-business, so we're close to the farmers,' he says.

A typical rice farmer earns about US$600 per year, and 'may break even if lucky', says Mr Thirawit. The trees, harvested every three years, bring them in an extra US$100 per year.

By using established road networks, Advance Agro avoids building new ones, although it must transport the wood over longer distances. It is also thinking of converting its trucks to use natural gas.

The firm's environmental efforts go beyond forestry. According to Mr Thirawit, its ISO 14001-certified mill uses only six to seven cubic metres of wood to make a tonne of pulp, compared to ten times that at other mills. And it burns the tree waste for electricity, saving some 200 million litres of diesel per year.

Sounds great, but is the model replicable? Perhaps not in places like America, Mr Thirawit concedes. But there is plenty of fertile farmland left in central and north Thailand, and in other South-east Asian countries like Laos and Vietnam, he says.

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Business call for climate change framework

Paul Eccleston, Telegraph 30 Nov 07;

International business leaders have called for a legally-binding framework to tackle climate change.

In an unprecedented move 150 global companies have signed up to a communiqué issued on the eve of the Bali climate summit.

Some of the world's biggest brands including Coca-Cola, Shell, Dupont, Gap, GE, Johnson and Johnson, and Nike have put their names to the initiative as well as a number of Chinese companies including Shanghai Electric, Zhufeng Technology and Suntech.

The Prince of Wales, who is backing the initiative, said: " It is my fervent hope that the communiqué will strengthen the resolve of those gathered in Bali to make the tough decisions the world so urgently needs."

The communiqué has been sent to the 130 Environment Ministers who will attend the Bali conference beginning next week. It will also be hand delivered to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon who will be attending the second week of the conference.

It sets out the companies' belief that "a sufficiently ambitious, international and comprehensive, legally-binding United Nations agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will provide business with the certainty it needs to scale up global investment in low-carbon technologies."

It said the scientific evidence on climate change was now overwhelming and that it presented very serious global social, environmental and economic risks which demanded an urgent global response.

But it also presented a strong business case for action and the shift to a low-carbon economy would create significant business opportunities.

"As business leaders, it is our belief that the benefits of strong, early action on climate change outweigh the costs of not acting," the communiqué said.

The costs of action were "manageable" but each year of delay would cause greater disruption.

The business leaders indicated that overall targets for emissions reduction had to be guided primarily by science and not by economic principles.

They noted that evidence from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) already pointed to a reduction in CO2 emissions being required of "at least 50 per cent by 2050" and that the greatest effort was needed by the big, industrialised countries.

The communiqué was backed Friends of the Earth executive director Tony Juniper, who said it was a significant moment in the fight against climate change. "The shift to a low-carbon economy is not only an environmental imperative but also an unprecedented economic and social opportunity.

"Scaling up clean energy systems and using energy more efficiently could not only slash emissions, but help to improve quality of life for billions and create millions of jobs," he said.

But he warned the time available to make changes was "strictly limited" and a strong outcome was needed from the UN talks starting next week in Bali.

James Smith, chairman of Shell UK, said: "The message is principally one of support for international leaders that business wants to support what they're doing in efforts on climate change.

"It's also that these businesses get it, they see the threat of climate change and they know that action needs to be taken, and that it makes economic sense to tackle climate change.

"They know tackling climate change is the pro-growth strategy and ignoring it will lead to decline."

He said companies wanted to see support for new technology, carbon markets, a price on carbon and regulation and standards on energy and other sectors - with details developed in co-ordination with business once the overall framework had been set by governments.

Alain Grisay, chief executive of F&C Asset Management said his company, which manages investments, believed Sir Nicholas Stern's review on the economics of climate change that inaction would cost more than tackling the problem.

"We also believe it is not just about constraints - the good news is one of development of incentives to develop new technologies.

"By incentivising companies and people who build technologies to move now, we're going to make these companies more competitive, creating new jobs and new job opportunities," he said.

The Bali communiqué is led by the Prince of Wales UK and EU Corporate Leaders Groups, which were developed by the University of Cambridge's Programme for Industry under Charles's Business and the Environment Programme.

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