The case of coastal management in Tanzania

Summary: Tanzania is attempting to manage the development of coastal areas through an Integrated Coastal Management Strategy (ICM).

Development cooperation experts hail this as a great step forward, but also warn against potential conflicts. It will take time until all stakeholders perceive the value of planned development.

Tanzania's coastal areas are home to a quarter of its population.

Most of theses 8 million people are very poor, yet the coastal regions are home to 75 percent of the country's industries.

Industrial and domestic pollutions problems thus are rampant.



New Strategy Targets Tanzania’s Coastal Problems

The government of Tanzania has joined other Indian Ocean countries to launch a National Integrated Coastal Management Strategy (ICM) that will strive to improve the living standard of the coastal people and revamp national development.

The strategy is a joint initiative between the Tanzanian National Environmental Management Council, the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resource Center, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It was developed following years of community consultation and input.

Coastal erosion, as well as industrial and domestic based pollution in Tanzania coastal urban centers are viewed as critical threats to sustainable development.

According to the ICM strategy team leader Jeremiah Daffa, more than US$13.4 million have been injected into the project since 2000 from the American government through its aid agency USAID.

Daffa says the strategy is intended to improving the environment, as well as the well being and livelihood of all people who utilize coastal resources. These, he says, include the poor coastal communities who are engaged in small scale agriculture, artisanal fisheries, mariculture, use of forests and mangroves, and small scale business.

It will also support local initiatives, decision making for intersectoral development, and harmonizing national interests with local needs.

Michael Korff, counsellor for the American Embassy to Tanzania, attended the strategy's launch in April 2003. He believes that every cent put into coastal conservation is an investment. But Korff cautioned the project managers to expect some resistance when they attempt to implement the strategy, since human beings are resistant to new things regardless of their importance.

"When coastal management was introduced in the U.S. in the 1970s, many people, especially the developers, were sceptical about this management option, thinking it was about stopping development," Korff said.


"But over time, they realized that coastal management was a way to make development more predictable, sustainable and equitable. Coastal activities became more coordinated and coherent as information and decision making was shared among stakeholders, and our country has benefited from this coordination," said Korff.

Joint activities with USAID's private sector program will assist local communities to implement new wildlife and coastal resource management regulations. This support will include business planning, natural resource management and public advocacy, among other skills, to enable local populations to manage and benefit from wildlife populations.
(Map: Expedia.com)




The Tanzania coastal area stretches for over 800 kilometers (500 miles) of coastline covering five administrative regions - the capital region of Dar es Salaam, Tanga to the north of the capital, Coast in the west, and in the south Lindi and Mtwara.

About two thirds of the coastline has fringing reefs, often close to the shoreline, broken by river outlets including Rufiji, Pangani, Ruvuma, Wami, Matandu and Ruvu rivers.

The continental shelf is 5.8 kilometers (3.6 miles) wide, except for the Zanzibar and Mafia channels where the continental shelf reaches a width of about 62 kilometers (38.5 miles).

The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which extends 200 nautical miles out from the Tanzanian shoreline, has an estimated area of 223,000 square kilometers (86,100 square miles).

The five coastal regions encompass about 15 percent of the country’s land area and are home to approximately 25 percent of country’s population. This is about eight million people.

Most rural communities of the coast are very poor, earning less than US$100 per capita.

Yet the area contributes about one-third of Tanzania's Gross Domestic Product. Currently, 75 percent of the country’s industries are in urban coastal areas.

The European Union's approach to waste management is based on three principles

Waste prevention: This is a key factor in any waste management strategy. If we can reduce the amount of waste generated in the first place and reduce its hazardousness by reducing the presence of dangerous substances in products, then disposing of it will automatically become simpler. Waste prevention is closely linked with improving manufacturing methods and influencing consumers to demand greener products and less packaging.

Recycling and reuse: If waste cannot be prevented, as many of the materials as possible should be recovered, preferably by recycling. The European Commission has defined several specific 'waste streams' for priority attention, the aim being to reduce their overall environmental impact.

This includes packaging waste, end-of-life vehicles, batteries, electrical and electronic waste. EU directives now require Member States to introduce legislation on waste collection, reuse, recycling and disposal of these waste streams. Several EU countries are already managing to recycle over 50% of packaging waste.

Improving final disposal and monitoring: Where possible, waste that cannot be recycled or reused should be safely incinerated, with landfill only used as a last resort. Both these methods need close monitoring because of their potential for causing severe environmental damage. The EU has recently approved a directive setting strict guidelines for landfill management.

It bans certain types of waste, such as used tyres, and sets targets for reducing quantities of biodegradable rubbish. Another recent directive lays down tough limits on emission levels from incinerators. The Union also wants to reduce emissions of dioxins and acid gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxides (SO2), and hydrogen chlorides (HCL), which can be harmful to human health.

We offer market place where sell and buy plastic scrap and green products made with recycled materials. Garwer srl sells consultancies, newsletters, marketing services. The easiest way to find out if we have the information you need is to contact us right now.

Work with us for a sustainable future!

ORPHANAGE FOR ELEPHANTS....

Conservationists are warning of a new threat to Africa's elephant population - after a surge in ivory poaching.

The illegal trade has been boosted by growing demand from China, and renewed conflict in Somalia - with poachers selling ivory to buy guns. The result is an increase in orphaned baby elephants.

But as Sky News' Africa Correspondent Emma Hurd reports, a British charity based in Kenya is doing its best to help them...

At the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, just outside Nairobi, four tiny elephant calves snuggle up to their keepers, relying on them for food, warmth and reassurance - everything they would have received from their mothers in the wild.

The "babies", as they're known at the orphanage, were each rescued from certain death.


The 'babies' are fed milk Lempaute, the youngest and the boldest, was found wandering alone in Northern Kenya, after becoming separated from her herd and Shimba was discovered clinging to his dead mother, who'd been killed by poachers.

Galdessa was found in the generator room of a safari lodge, no one knows how he got there and Lesanju, was hauled out of a deep well by local tribesman.

The children of the tribe cut her ears before she was rescued, but at the orphanage she's learned to trust humans again.

"I see them as my children," Edwin Lusichi, the head keeper at the orphanage told me, as the two-month-old calves played around his feet.

"When I came here I was afraid of elephants, but now I know they're friendly and kind."

Edwin, like most of the young Kenyan men who work here, had never seen an elephant before he was employed by the trust, but now he and the other keepers have learned to think like them.


Snooze: With their carers At feeding time they hang blankets from trees so the calves can nuzzle them with trunks as they slurp from the bottles.

In the wild, their trunks would be resting against their mother's hide. At night, the keepers sleep alongside the babies, ready to provide their three hourly feeds.

The trust takes in new orphans almost every month - a steady stream of victims of the clash between wildlife and humans in Africa, where the competition for land has made elephants a hated menace for some communities.

Ivory poaching is another major threat to the elephant population.

The trade is fuelled by the continent's conflicts, with poachers selling ivory to buy weapons.

China's growing influence in Africa is also boosting the trade. Ivory is prized by the Chinese middle classes, much to the anger of the British naturalist, Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick, who runs the orphanage.


Sky's Emma Hurd with elephants "The ivory trade has to be banned once and for all. If there is still legal ivory, then it's easy for illegal ivory to be laundered in to the system. It has to be outlawed completely."

Dame Daphne Sheldrick has spent 50 years raising elephants and preparing them to return to the wild, and she was the first person to discover the formula of milk that would keep elephant calves alive.

It is a long, labour intensive process. Elephants mirror human development, they're dependent on bottle feeds until they're two-years-old (the orphanage has 12 "toddlers") and are not mature enough to join a wild herd until they're ten.

They can live to be 70-years-old.

The little ones have a long journey to freedom ahead of them, but their keepers will be with them every step of the way.

And it is true that elephants never forget. Back in the wild they learn to be wary of humans, but they still remember and approach their visiting keepers decades after their release.

An enviromental crisis in the making in Tanzania...

In a metaphrrical sense one could compare the imminent danger of environmental degradation which we are about to face in this country, with a sword of Damocles ready to strike a fatal blow.

Yet this danger can be avoided if timely and appropriate measures are taken to contain it.

That there is an imminent danger of environmental degradation in Tanzania to day, cannot be disputed nor ignored.

This crisis is characterised among other things by prolonged droughts, increasing number of armed conflicts between farmers and pastoralists, country wide scarcity of water, extensive deforestation, poor harvests and acute conditions of all forms of soil erosion.

With the exeption of prolonged droughts, all those remaining factors can be tackled with relative case, given the will and resolve of this nation to protect its environment.

But because of lack of a comprehensive policy towards environmental protection, the measures we have so far taken, yield little positive impact on the protection of our eco-system as a whole.

What is encouraging however, is the pro-environment alttitude of the new government. The newly elected President has made it clear that fighting against environmental degradation is not only a paramount task of his administration, but he said that it is a matter of life and death.

These strong words are reinforced by his own remarks when he said that all our hopes and dreams, would remian unfulfilled if we fail to contain the damage done to our environment.

In fact he was quite right because all this talk of sustainable development cannot be achieved under the condition of a degraded environment.

Because creating an independent ministry reponsible for environmental issues, the president went a little farther than his predecessor.

In fact he has created an environment where our youngsters from the university with degrees in environmental sciences, would find a ready market for employment.

As an academic object the introduction of environemntal sciences would definitely widen the scope, understanding and awareness towards the meaning and importance of our eco-system. There would certainly be a more position thinking towards protecting it.

One of the main reasons for environmental destruction in our country, overdependency on one source of energy, namely the biomass. This is why charcoal trade is growing phenomenally especially in all urban centres.

Charcoal is the cheapest form of energy and because of this reason, it has attracted so many people. As a result of this, extensive deforestation has taken place and is continuing to take place now.

Although it is not possible to prohibit entirely the use of biomass, yet it is possible to manage the rate of tree felling for the purpose of making charcoal.

This can be done at village and district levels, by insisting on planting trees as a precondition for obtaining a licence to harvest the forest.

But we can also institute country - wide compaigns aimed at promoting the ..... of biogas, whose technology has already been acquired by SIDO.

The aim is to increase the use of biogas nationwide, as a way of reducing our overdependency on biomass.

The success of these compaigns would depend very much on the political will, determination and resolve of village and district governments.

As far as water scarcity is concerned, we can prohibit the cultivation of natural vegetation around areas of water sources.

This can be achieved by launching a strong compaign, geared towards achieving the basic aims of protecting our eco-system, around sources of rivers and lakes.

By using visual aids, electronic media, television and radio, in addition to well publicised political meetings, this objective can be achieved.

A single major obstacle in the protection of our environment is this free moverment of literally thousands of people (mainly pastoralists), accompanied by their huge herds of cattle, under the protect that Tanzanians are free to live anywhere in Tanzania without let or hindrance.

Yet this is basically wrong, because it aggravates the destroction of our environment by ensuring overgrazing, as in the case of Usangu basin in Mbeya.
Not only do they destroy sources of rivers and lakes region but they also disturb the natural environment. These activities should be banned by law.


It is for this specific reason that there is a pressuing need for the establishment of an environmental court, emplowered to impose senteces on defaulters of our eco-system. Without such a legal framework, it would be extremely difficult to protect our environment from destructive forces.

The majority of our people are overwhemingly in support of the policies of this new government. It is for example a very good more in trying to obtain a solution to the environmental degradation now facing the farmer Usangu Basin in Mbeya region.

There has been consultations between the government and representatives of farmers and pastoralists, who invaled that area from as far a field as Mwanza and Manyara. This is extremely an encouraging more in trying to get a solution to the problem of environemntal degradation of this crucially important area.

As a result of this move including other measures taken to protect our eco-system, a sense of public confidence in the new government has been created. People are optimistic that even this difficult and thoring problem of environmental protection would find a suitable solution.

Although not all our socio-economic problems can be solved at one stroke, it is our hope that the government is laying strong foundations in tackling this problem of environmental degradation. Once this problem is resolved, the question of sustainable development would not present a major obstacle.

Can women save the planet? ...

Many of Africa's women are trapped in a vicious circle of poverty and environmental destruction.

Poverty forces people to take what they can from the land and environmental destruction results in yet more poverty.

In Africa, trees are being chopped down at an alarming rate.

Every year, forests roughly the size of Togo are cleared, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.

Many of these trees are being cut down for firewood, which is generally collected by women.
Drought, over-cultivation and overgrazing are other reasons why close to half of the continent's land is now affected by desertification.



"...Why do women damage the environment? And what are women doing to help save the planet? Do women hold the answer to Africa's environmental problems?..."


is it true that women destuct the enviroments??

CHAPTER TWO ; An interview with Tim Davenport:

THIS IS An interview with Tim Davenport


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUESTION: How did you get involved in conservation and why did you choose East Africa for your work?


Dr Tim Davenport after a hike in the Tanzanian forest.

Davenport: ans;I've been interested in the natural world for as long as I can remember. In fact some of my earliest memories are of looking at the pictures in National Geographic, especially those late 60's early 70's editions about sharks and chimpanzees.

My interest in biology led to a BSc in Zoology at the University of Leeds in England, although I never thought I would end up in conservation.

All the ecologists at University seemed very serious and intellectual. I was neither. But when I was given the opportunity to stay on and work for a PhD, I grabbed it.

After that I worked briefly as a Science Editor, and then applied for a position in the early 1990's with the Uganda Forest Department, assessing the biodiversity of the natural forest estate. It was a fantastic and unique experience and I have been in Africa ever since.

I never actively chose East Africa. I stayed on with the Uganda Forest Department and then worked in Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks and also Makerere University.

I ended up living in Uganda for five years.

That was followed by a completely different experience working in the forests of southwest Cameroon with the Worldwide Fund for Nature. I eventually moved to Tanzania with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in 1999.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUESTION: On paper Tanzania has set aside more than a quarter of the country in protected areas -- an outstanding conservation achievement.

How does this translate in practice? Are parks well-respected or do they suffer from poaching, deforestation, and other issues? Do local people take well to conversation efforts or are there conflicts?



Davenport: Parks, reserves and protected areas all over the world face problems and suffer from illegal activities. But Tanzania faces two extra hurdles. One is the poverty that dominates everyone's lives and every decision.

The other is the huge responsibility that goes with having to manage the most biodiverse country in Africa.

It's true that a large percentage of the country is nominally set aside, but in reality outside the national parks, resources to manage these areas are often very limited. That is a big challenge. Furthermore, the majority of protected areas were gazetted in colonial times and were based solely on the management of big game for hunting.

This was well before the days of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services protection and representative PA systems. That said, progress is being made, not least with the country's newest national park, Kitulo, which was designated primarily to protect its unique wild flowers.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

QUESTION: Last year you co-discovered a monkey species that so unique that it was classified as its own genus -- the first such categorization for a monkey since 1923.

What is the outlook for this species and other wildlife in Tanzania? What are the greatest threats to biodiversity and wild lands?

Davenport: As a conservationist I am an optimist by nature, although sometimes it is difficult to stay that way.

The Kipunji is seriously threatened and will probably be designated as 'Critically Endangered'.

We are currently just finishing a complete census - one in which we have tried to locate every group in existence, and count all the individuals within each group - and we will be making this information available soon. As you can appreciate, this has been time consuming, and with the steep montane forest terrain it's also been quite tough.

However, it was important we could do this as quickly as possible, so that we can try and put in place the most effective conservation strategy. Spending so long in the forest has also enabled us to learn a lot about the ecology and behaviors of the Kipunji too, and that has been both useful and good fun.


The Kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji).


Help Tim Davenport
Save the Kipunji!



On the downside though, Mt Rungwe - where the biggest numbers of Kipunji live - is in a very bad condition having had no effective management for decades.

Illegal logging, charcoal extraction and hunting are all common and the forest is badly degraded. Many of the larger mammals, such as the extremely rare Abbott's duiker, are under considerable threat from snares.

To make things worse, as a result of the poor forest, many species (including Kipunji) are forced to come out of the forest more and more to raid crops.

Consequently, they are often killed in traps set by farmers who are just trying to protect their livelihoods.

So we are working with government and local communities to see how best we can manage Mt Rungwe for the benefit of all concerned.

We are also using the Kipunji and Abbott's duiker as 'flagship species' in our education work in the villages and schools around the mountain.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUESTION: You've worked in the montane forests of Tanzania -- areas that seem like they could be vulnerable to climate change. Do you expect global warming to impact these forests? How much of a local threat is climate change?


Mt. Rungwe. Photo by Tim Davenport.

Davenport: It's difficult to say. Whilst I have no doubts about the negative impact mankind is having on our climate, predicting future impacts is not easy. In part because there are so many variables to consider.

If forests are shrinking (and we know they are), how much is it to do with unmanaged extraction, how much is due to fire, and how much a change in climate? Similarly, we have noticed streams and rivers drying up.

Is this a direct result of forest clearance, is it due to water being diverted for irrigation, or is the story more complex? Whilst we are trying to sort these questions out, we obviously have a responsibility to get all the facts right first.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUESTION: What's the best way to protect Tanzania's wildlife? How can conservation efforts be improved? Does eco-tourism have a role or can tourists be disruptive to habitats and local culture?

The Livingstone escarpment within Kitulo National Park viewed from the summit of Mt Rungwe.

Photo: Noah Mpunga / WCS The Poroto Three-horned Chameleon (Chamaeleo fuelleborni) is one of the rarest chameleons on the continent, globally restricted to just four sites in Tanzania's Southern Highlands. Reaching a length of 22 cm, the males of this arboreal species are highly territorial, using their horns to fight for females. They give birth to as many as 15 live young (Photo (c) Tim Davenport / WCS)




Davenport:ANS; Conservation is an extremely complicated business. In order to be truly successful, all the pieces of the puzzle must be in place.

The real conservation problem must be fully understood, all motives must be known, effective and appropriate incentives need to be devised and monitored, and there needs to be the political will to support any changes.

Humans are not by nature a sustainable animal. Learning to become one against a background of rising population is extremely difficult. In many ways the science of conservation is economics, and the art is politics. The biology is often just the more glamorous part that underpins it.

There may not be a single best way to protect Tanzania's wildlife, but the better current approaches are usually broad based. I'll always think, for example, that education is vital.

For conservation practioners the stakes are high. Neither governments, local communities or donors tend to tolerate failure and yet in a business that is so complex, we all need the freedom to try new methods and learn from our mistakes. Sadly, there is rarely that luxury.

Eco-tourism does have an important role, although increasingly these days the phrase has become less meaningful. All too often the word has been hijacked by less scrupulous business people in a bid to attract customers.

That said, tourism contributes 17% of Tanzania's GDP, so is clearly of massive importance to the country. It is important to remember however, that tourism is not in itself the panacea.

Many of the more remote areas (such as the Southern Highlands) are unlikely ever to raise enough from tourism to sustain conservation, and so they will have to rely on other means or funds from other sources to support conservation efforts.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUESTION: How can people here in the United States help with conservation efforts in Tanzania?


Photo by Tim Davenport.

Davenport: Directly, they can support any of the various non-profit organizations that work in Tanzania, or even offer to assist as a volunteer. Links between towns or schools are always good ways of helping out.

You would be amazed at how much can be done with a little imagination. We have a Kipunji Fund set up specifically to help us protect the Kipunji and its habitat, and many projects have similar campaigns. I would also strongly encourage people to visit Tanzania. It is an extraordinarily beautiful and diverse country with a sincerely welcoming people.

It has Africa's highest mountain and deepest lake. It has the Serengeti and the Indian Ocean. An important thing to remember is to try and spend as much money locally and in-country as possible.

Indirectly, I think it is extremely important that everyone helps keep the environment high on the political agenda.

Future generations will not thank us for opting for quick profits now for a few, over a more sustainable and healthier future for the majority.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUESTION: Finally, do you have any advice for students wanting to pursue a career in conservation?


Photo by Tim Davenport.

Davenport: Firstly, I'd say that whilst biology is the traditional route, there are many other much needed - and often underutilized - skills too, including economics, the law, sociology, IT, anthropology, politics, education, etc.

The key skills needed by a conservationist however, are a broad general knowledge and good people skills. So the more people can travel, read and listen, to as many different places, on as many different subjects and to as many different opinions as possible, the better.

And finally don't give up. If you do, you were probably not right for conservation in the first place.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About Tim Davenport - WHO IS HE?

Tim Davenport was born in Manchester, UK and has lived and worked in three African countries since finishing his Zoology PhD.

In Uganda, he worked for the Forest Department, Makerere University and Uganda National Parks, and in Cameroon, he ran projects for the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

Tim moved to Tanzania with WCS in 1999, and there he set up the Southern Highlands Conservation Program (SHCP) in southwest Tanzania, and the Southern Rift Program in Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.

Both programs carry out research, community conservation and protected area management in key threatened habitats.

Tim has worked in over 80 African forests and reserves, and been involved in the designation of new national parks on both sides of the continent. He has published on subjects ranging from national conservation priorities to invertebrate ecology, and from the orchid trade to chimpanzee distributions.

He led the team which first discovered the Kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji) on Mt Rungwe, and was lead author in a May 2006 article in the journal Science that described the Kipunji as Africa's first new genus of monkey for 83 years. His photographs have also been widely published.

In September 2006, Tim was appointed as the WCS Country Director in Tanzania. In addition to the SHCP, WCS has conservation projects in the Tarangire-Simanjiro Ecosystem in northern Tanzania, the Saba Landscape of Rungwa-Ruaha, the coastal forests of Zanzibar, as well as research projects in the Serengeti, the southern Tanganyika lakeshore forests and the Eastern Arc Mountains.

Another chance to manage plastic waste

A comprehensive policy to address the plastic waste problem in TANZANIA and Kenya has been long overdue. Time has come for all stakeholders to harness their resources and get involved in the programmes designed to tackle pollution and health hazards caused by plastics.

Numerous attempts by environmentalists to control the production and use of plastics have, in most cases, been resisted vehemently by some people.

This has left our nation choked in plastic, leading to untold health hazards and flush floods in most urban centres. Experts agree that the only way out of this mess is to enact policies to regulate the production and use of plastics.

Early this year, the Tanzania Government made a bold move by banning the use of various types of plastics, bringing to almost a dozen the countries in Africa that have enacted policies to tackle the menace.

The announcement by Tanzanian Vice-President Ali Mohamed Shein has been hailed as marking the first time an African country has banned plastic bags so as to curb environmental damage.

Biodegradable alternatives

Manufacturers were given six months to phase out the harmful polythene – which takes up to 1,000 years to degrade – and switch to recyclable materials or biodegradable alternatives. Tanzania joins countries such as Rwanda and South Africa which have set the best example in plastic waste management.

In the region, Kenya stands to lose markets for some products packaged in plastic bags that have been banned by its trading partners.

Going by the recent activities, Kenya’s hope of finding a solution to the plastic problem has become a reality, through the new initiative unveiled by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

The country’s hope rests in a joint initiative by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), which have launched a plastic pilot project focusing on Nairobi , before moving to other towns countrywide.

The new initiative builds on four diverse approaches in tackling the plastic problem, including policy instruments, recycling, best practices and public awareness.

The involvement of key stakeholders handling plastic issues is a clear priority, if the project is to succeed. The involvement of industrialists, community-based organisations and the media at the initial stages of this project, provides the much-needed support that was lacking in the past.

Success in addressing the plastics problem, therefore, requires political backing. Affirmed the Government’s stand on plastics when he addressed the 23rd session of the Unep Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, in Nairobi, last year, by welcoming initiatives to address the problem.

Kenyaand TANZANIA can borrow a leaf from successful cases in Africa such as South Africa and Rwanda. The latter has banned plastics materials of less than 100 microns thickness, and backed this initiative with a public awareness campaign. The result? The black plastic bag has disappeared from Kigali and other major towns.

Like Rwanda, Kenya’s pilot project has adopted a participatory approach that involves the private and public sector, consumers and other stakeholders, to come up with economic instruments and facilities to rid the country of plastic bags.

Preventing plastic pollution

There are proposals to prevent plastic pollution, while encouraging re-use and recycling of bags.

Such steps were taken in South Africa and resulted in voluntary interventions in many sectors, including the tourism sector which has introduced environmentally-friendly bags made of sail and denim.

There, should encourage all industrialists in the country to fully support the new move to save the nation from further environmental damage.

Whats New IPEP Projects UpdateS...2006

IPEP has completed or is currently conducting 282 activities in 61 countries: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Gambia, Ghana, Georgia, Guinea Bissau, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

New projects this period include: country situation reports in Albania, Lebanon, Mali, and Slovakia; pesticide contamination investigations in Albania, sampling breast milk for POPs pesticides in Georgia, the impact of DDT and DDE in the Russian Arctic,

and the effect of pesticide dumps in Uzbekistan; awareness-raising projects on zero waste in Bulgaria and Slovakia, POPs impacts in Congo, NIP stakeholders in Guinea Bissau, farmer communities in India, government and NGOs in Kyrgyzstan, focus on PCBs in Sri Lanka, and coastal areas in Syria;

flame retardant sampling in Czech Republic;

and burning dump and incinerator activities in the Czech Republic, Lebanon, Romania, and Thailand.

Efforts are being directed at finishing up project activities as IPEP comes to a close. Further developments in IPEP are described below.

FOR MORE NEWS ON..

Work in the Regions

Anglophone Africa ;

Agenda for Environment and Responsible Development (Tanzania) Silvani Mnganya.

The Hub has been following up with the ongoing projects for timely completion and received progress reports from four projects in Nigeria. Final comments have been made on two reports, Uganda Situation Report; and Community and Workplace Monitoring as a Tool for the Identification of POPs Exposures in Tanzania. The reports will soon be submitted to the Global Coordinator. The Hub is also working on summaries of reports and dissemination of reports to different stakeholders.

Central and Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia Countries

Francophone Africa

Latin America and Middle East

Southeast Asia AND South Asia

OPEN HERE....

Evidence of Human-caused Global Warming “Unequivocal”, says IPCC

Paris, 2 February 2007
– The first major global assessment of climate change science in six years has concluded that changes in the atmosphere, the oceans and glaciers and ice caps show unequivocally that the world is warming.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that major advances in climate modelling and the collection and analysis of data now give scientists “very high confidence” (at least a 9 out of 10 chance of being correct) in their understanding of how human activities are causing the world to warm. This level of confidence is much greater than what could be achieved in 2001 when the IPCC issued its last major report.


Today’s report,

the first of four volumes to be released this year by the IPCC, also confirms that the marked increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) since 1750 is the result of human activities.

An even greater degree of warming would likely have occurred if emissions of pollution particles and other aerosols had not offset some of the impact of greenhouse gases, mainly by reflecting sunlight back out to space.


Three years in the making,

the report is based on a thorough review of the most-up-to-date, peer-reviewed scientific literature available worldwide.

It describes an accelerating transition to a warmer world marked by more extreme temperatures including heat waves, new wind patterns, worsening drought in some regions, heavier precipitation in others, melting glaciers and Arctic ice and rising global average sea levels.

For the first time, the report provides evidence that the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland are slowly losing mass and contributing to sea level rise.


“This report by the IPCC represents the most rigorous and comprehensive assessment possible of the current state of climate science and has considerably narrowed the uncertainties of the 2001 report,” said Michel Jarraud, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). “Progress in observations and measurements of the weather and climate are keys to improved climate research, with National Meteorological and Hydrological Services playing a crucial role.”


“While the conclusions are disturbing, decision makers are now armed with the latest facts and will be better able to respond to these realities. The speed with which melting ice sheets are raising sea levels is uncertain, but the report makes clear that sea levels will rise inexorably over the coming centuries. It is a question of when and how much, and not if,” he said.


“In our daily lives we all respond urgently to dangers that are much less likely than climate change to affect the future of our children,” said Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which, together with WMO, established the IPCC in 1988.


“The implications of global warming over the coming decades for our industrial economy, water supplies, agriculture, biological diversity and even geopolitics are massive. Momentum for action is building; this new report should spur policymakers to get off the fence and put strong and effective policies in place to tackle greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.


The report also concludes that:


• If atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases double compared to pre-industrial levels, this would “likely” cause an average warming of around 3°C (5.4°F), with a range of 2 - 4.5°C (3.6 - 8.1°F). For the first time, the IPCC is providing best estimates for the warming projected to result from particular increases in greenhouse gases that could occur after the 21st century, along with uncertainty ranges based on more comprehensive modelling.


• A GHG level of 650 ppm would “likely” warm the global climate by around 3.6°C, while 750 ppm would lead to a 4.3°C warming, 1,000 ppm to 5.5°C and 1,200 ppm to 6.3°C. Future GHG concentrations are difficult to predict and will depend on economic growth, new technologies and policies and other factors.


• The world’s average surface temperature has increased by around 0.74°C over the past 100 years (1906 - 2005). This figure is higher than the 2001 report’s 100-year estimate of 0.6°C due to the recent series of extremely warm years, with 11 of the last 12 years ranking among the 12 warmest years since modern records began around 1850. A warming of about 0.2°C is projected for each of the next two decades.


• The best estimates for sea-level rise due to ocean expansion and glacier melt by the end of the century (compared to 1989 – 1999 levels) have narrowed to 28 - 58 cm, versus 9 - 88 cm in the 2001 report, due to improved understanding. However, larger values of up to 1 m by 2100 cannot be ruled out if ice sheets continue to melt as temperature rises. The last time the polar regions were significantly warmer than at present for an extended period (about 125,000 years ago), reductions in polar ice volume caused the sea level to rise by 4 to 6 m.


• Sea ice is projected to shrink in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Large areas of the Arctic Ocean could lose year-round ice cover by the end of the 21st century if human emissions reach the higher end of current estimates. The extent of Arctic sea ice has already shrunk by about 2.7% per decade since 1978, with the summer minimum declining by about 7.4% per decade.


• Snow cover has decreased in most regions, especially in spring. The maximum extent of frozen ground in the winter/spring season decreased by about 7% in the Northern Hemisphere over the latter half of the 20th century.

The average freezing date for rivers and lakes in the Northern Hemisphere over the past 150 years has arrived later by some 5.8 days per century, while the average break-up date has arrived earlier by 6.5 days per century.


• It is “very likely” that precipitation will increase at high latitudes and “likely” it will decrease over most subtropical land regions. The pattern of these changes is similar to what has been observed during the 20th century.


• It is “very likely” that the upward trend in hot extremes and heat waves will continue. The duration and intensity of drought has increased over wider areas since the 1970s, particularly in the tropics and subtropics.

The Sahel, the Mediterranean, southern Africa and parts of southern Asia have already become drier during the 20th century.


• The amounts of carbon dioxide and methane now in the atmosphere far exceed pre-industrial values going back 650,000 years. As stated above, concentrations of carbon dioxide have already risen from a pre-industrial level of 280 ppm to around 379 ppm in 2005, while methane concentrations have risen from 715 parts per billion (ppb) to 1,774 in 2005.


• A number of widely discussed uncertainties have been resolved. The temperature record of the lower atmosphere from satellite measurements has been reconciled with the ground-based record.

Key remaining uncertainties involve the roles played by clouds, the cryosphere (glaciers and ice caps), oceans, deforestation and other land-use change, and the linking of climate and biogeochemical cycles.


The IPCC does not conduct new research.

Instead, its mandate is to make policy-relevant assessments of the existing worldwide literature on the scientific, technical and socio-economic aspects of climate change.

Its reports have played a major role in inspiring governments to adopt and implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.


The Summary for Policymakers for IPCC Working Group I,

which was finalized line-by-line by governments during the course of this week, has now been posted in English at www.ipcc.ch. The full underlying report –

“Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis” – will be published by Cambridge University Press.

The report was produced by some 600 authors from 40 countries.

Over 620 expert reviewers and a large number of government reviewers also participated. Representatives from 113 governments reviewed and revised the Summary line-by-line during the course of this week before adopting it and accepting the underlying report.


The Working Group II report on climate impacts and adaptation will be launched in Brussels on 6 April. The Working Group III report on mitigation will be launched in Bangkok on 4 May.

The Synthesis Report will be adopted in Valencia, Spain on 16 November. Together, the four volumes will make up the IPCC’s fourth assessment report; previous reports were published in 1990, 1995 and 2001.


Note to journalists: For more information, please see www.ipcc.ch, www.wmo.int or www.unep.org,