China failing on environment: report......

China has failed to make any progress in protecting the environment in the past three years, state media cited an official report as saying, despite government pledges to put the issue at the top of its agenda.

China ranked 100 out of 118 countries in terms of environmental protection in the China Modernisation Report 2007 - the same level as in 2004, the China Daily newspaper said.

"Compared with its social and economic modernisation, China's ecological modernisation lags far behind," the paper quoted He Chuanqi, head of the research group that put together the report, as saying.

It was assembled by experts and academics from the Chinese Academy of Science, Ministry of Science and Technology and some of the country's top universities, the China Daily said.

Large swathes of China are affected by chronic air pollution from factories, vehicles and coal-burning power plants. Water and land pollution has poisoned many other parts of the country.

The "ecological modernisation" category measured indicators such as carbon emissions, sewage treatment and drinking water availability, the newspaper said.

"The government needs to ensure that economic development will not result in further environmental deterioration in the next 50 years," he said.

But the report said that by 2015, China's social and economic indicators should be on par with developed countries in the 1960s, by which stage China will have completed its transition from an agrarian economy to an industrial one.

China had done well at raising life expectancy, adult literacy and access to higher education, though work remained in other sectors, such as adjusting the proportion of the population living in the countryside. It did not elaborate.

To better address China's development problems, the report recommended the government set up three new bodies - environmental and energy ministries and a regional development agency.

After years of promoting economic growth at almost any cost, Beijing is now struggling to change official attitudes, despite a raft of new policies including tying civil servants' career prospects to their energy-saving achievements.

Urban challenges for sustainable development

This night-time map constructed by NASA shows the increasingly urban nature of the planet.

More than half of the world’s population now live in cities.


Two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities within 50 years.

Already today a third of the world’s urban population dwell in the slums. The fate of the planet depends more and more on the future of cities.

At the eve of New Year 2007 we are facing a historic urban transition – for the first time in history the world’s urban population is exceeding the rural population.

This is a rapid transformation considering that in 1950 only one-third of the world’s population lived in cities.

The absolute majority, up to 95 per cent, of future urban growth will occur in cities in the developing world.

Although cities are centers for economic growth and culture the accelerating global urbanisation also implies huge challenges, since the regions predicted to account for the greater part of the growth are also the regions least equipped to deal with this rapid urbanization.

The growing slums
The pace of urbanization continues to accelerate. The number of cities in the world with populations exceeding one million increased from 17 in 1900 to 388 in 2000.

Most of the world’s megacities with over 10 million inhabitants are in the developing world.

An increasingly urban planet is really not in itself good or bad. The key issue is rather how this predicted growth can take place in best possible way.

How can we avoid problems such as air and water pollution, loss of farmland, and isolation from nature? How do we make urbanization more sustainable?


for more open here....!!

ZAMBIA: Solar power improves everyday life

Several Zambian villages in remote parts of the country that have not been connected to the national power grid have benefited from an initiative to provide solar-power to their communities.

In the modest offices of Nyimba Energy Service Company (NESCO), in eastern Zambia, a sign reads: "Solar is good ... even in thatched houses, it will reach you wherever you are."

NESCO has pioneered a solar energy project, supported by the Swedish International Development Agency(SIDA), that has transformed everyday life in the rural areas where it has been piloted.

One such area is Nyimba, a remote district 320 kilometres east of the capital Lusaka, where residents are no longer restricted to candlelight or paraffin lamps.

At Katalila, a village in the district, Abina Lungu now has a booming business grinding villagers' maize well into the night with the help of solar lighting. Metres away from the grinding mill, Lungu's house is also solar-powered.

"I pay K30,000 [about US $6.25] as a rental charge every month to NESCO but we now want to buy our own solar systems because this has helped us a lot," he told IRIN.

Lungu has calculated that it would be cheaper to buy a solar-power system rather than rent one, as he expects prices for the systems to rise, given their popularity.

To get solar-power into a home, shop or business, NESCO installs a system which includes a solar panel, battery, charge controller and power points at K160,000 [US $33.33], including the contract fee. Thereafter, consumers pay a monthly rental fee.

"For me, it works out cheaper to use solar because paraffin is more expensive and even if electricity comes to Nyimba, not all the people will get connected," said Lungu.

He keeps a battery in his house, in a lockable ventilated cabinet with access for maintenance inspection, while a solar panel absorbs sun rays from the roof to light the bulb in his home.

Lungu is one of a hundred NESCO customers fortunate enough to be connected, among them a clinic, a shop and a hotel. About 360 people are on NESCO's waiting list.

"We are struggling to satisfy demand," said Nesco project manager, Stanslas Sankhani.

The Nyimba district's traditional leader, Chief Ndake, and his subjects have embraced solar-power as a stop-gap measure before Zambia's rural electrification programme extends to their area.

He said the district had potential, as it was endowed with fertile soil and a fair amount of precious stones, but this remained untapped due to the lack of electricity.

The Energy Regulation Board (ERB), Zambia's power regulator, is closely monitoring the Nyimba project and similar ones in Chipata, the provincial capital, and Lundaz, another Eastern province town.

The ERB said there was a need to investigate energy alternatives, given the cost of connecting rural parts of the country to the national power grid.



Currently, only 20 percent of Zambia's total population, and just two percent of the rural population, has access to electricity. This is despite the fact that Zambia is a net producer and exporter of hydro-electricity.

"We have to look at alternative means to provide power to people and this pilot project has scored a fair amount of success. We need a combination of approaches and a way forward to get most parts of Zambia electrified. In some areas it makes economic sense to electrify, or develop mini-hydros, while other places will be difficult to connect to the grid," said ERB spokesperson, Agnes Banda.

The government has set a target to achieve 50 percent access to electricity by the year 2010. In the case of isolated areas, solar-power could be an alternative.

However, the main problem with solar energy is the relatively high initial investment costs, noted a report,

'Issues and Options for Rural Electrification in Zambia', released in March 2002.

But the document, prepared by CORE International, a US Agency for International Development partner, recognised the usefulness of solar power in rural areas - particularly for electrifying villages, pumping water and refrigeration in health clinics.

CORE International described solar as a practical alternative to extending power distribution lines to remote and low-density populations.

"It has been widely used in rural areas around the world. It has also been used in many urban areas because of its environmental benefits and its potential to reduce demand for fossil fuels," the report noted.

ZAMBIA: (1) Lead poisoning concern in mining town

Summary:
Children, as well as adults, in the defunct mining town of Kabwe, Zambia, runt the risk of serious lead poisoning.
Serious symptoms for a long time were thought to be a local strain of malaria, but most probably are lead poisoning.

Children play and bathe in a canal running through the township, and originating at the old mine.

Cleaning-up attempts require people to move, but so far the local population has resisted, since they have nowhere to move to.

Mapping technology to fight poverty

Example from the report: mapping poverty and the spread of cholera in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, January 2001.

A new report highlights the use and impact of poverty maps - the spatial representation and analysis of human well-being and poverty indicators.

In November, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the UN Environment Programme/GRID-Arendal released a report describing the uses of poverty mapping in 14 countries from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Maps are powerful tools for presenting information on social, economic, and environmental problems to non specialists.

WRI emphasises that poverty maps can never become a panacea for understanding or solving poverty problems. However, the new report indicates that poverty maps have helped policy makers and stakeholders promote the development of assets that are key to poverty reduction, such as agro-ecological resources and ownership.

Efforts to reduce poverty in developing countries often rely on resources and services from ecosystems that are becoming degraded.

Combining natural resources maps with maps of poverty distribution and population density can identify the location of vulnerable populations and suggest specific locations for policy action.

“20 litres of clean water a day a human right

This year’s Human Development Report calls for 20 litres of clean water a day for all as a human right.

It also concludes that the global water crisis is a silent emergency experienced mostly by the poor and tolerated by those with the resources, the technology and the political power to end it.


The water crisis in poor countries costs lives, deprives people their dignity and keeps children out of school. It is now high time to really start doing something about it, says Kevin Watkins, lead author of the 2006 Human Development Report:
– When it comes to water and sanitation, the world suffers from a surplus of conference activity and a deficit of credible action.

Watkins frustrations stems from two facts:

1) there is well-documented and enormous suffering around the world due to the lack of safe drinking water and sufficient sanitation;

2) why is not more done when report findings show that each $1 invested in water and sanitation would yield an economic return of about $8?

Half what rich countries spend on mineral water

Each year almost 2 million children die from diarrhoea that could be prevented with access to clean water and sufficient sanitation.

Moreover, 443 million school days are lost as a consequence of water-related illnesses and almost 50 percent of all people in developing countries are suffering from health problems caused by a lack of water and sanitation.

Altogether, this crisis in water and sanitation is holding back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the world’s poorest countries.

– Like hunger, it is a silent emergency experienced by the poor and tolerated by those with the resources, the technology and the political power to end it, says the authors of the report.

This needs to change, stress the authors. So, what would it cost to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 on access to water and sanitation? About $10 billion a year, says the report.

It might seem a large sum, but it actually represents less than five days’ global military spending and less than half what rich countries spend each year on mineral water. The benefits for Sub-Saharan Africa would represent 60 percent of its 2003 aid flows.

Hence, the question is not whether the world can afford solve the global water crisis, but rather if the world can afford not to make the investments.

During the Swedish launch of the report in Stockholm recently, Sweden’s Ministry for the Environment, Andreas Carlgren, agreed:
– It will be enormously cost-effective to invest in the water sector and it reminds me of what we now see when it comes to the climate issue.

One thing that is, however, not put forward enough in the report is the increased need for water in agriculture in the future. Production of food for feeding the growing human population is highly water-consuming.

It takes more than 500 litres of water to produce enough flour for one loaf of bread and up to 7000 litres of water to produce 100 grams of beef in developed countries.

At the same time, urbanisation and increasing wealth are changing food preferences with significant increases in the demand for water-intensive commodities like meat and dairy products.

This involves large-scale groundwater overexploitation and widespread river depletion, which pose a major threat to biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems.

The resulting environmental degradation and loss of production potential caused by water pollution from agricultural chemicals, water logging and salinisation is of course of major importance for human development, especially in the world’s poor regions.

HDR 2006 recommendations:

1. Make water a human right:

Everyone should have at least 20 litres of clean water per day and the poor should get it for free.

2. Draw up national strategies for water and sanitation: Governments should aim to spend a minimum of one percent GDP on water and sanitation

3. Increased international aid:

to bring the MDG on water and sanitation into reach, aid flows will have to double.

Reviews: (3) Poverty and climate change: reducing the vulnerability of the poor

This consultation draft was intended as a contribution to the eighth conference of the parties to the United Nations framework convention on climate change.

It addresses the issue of the expected disproportionate impact of climate change on the worlds poor both through direct impacts and through the exacerbation of existing vulnerabilities.

The initial section of the paper looks in detail at this vulnerability of the poor to climate variability; the potential livlihoods, economic and health impacts and the implications for poverty reduction.

The paper then discusses the lessons for action which can be deduced from, amongst other things, attempts by countries to cope with existing climate variability. These include:

+ Improving governance to cope with climate change

+ Enhancing the resilience of the poor

+ Improving the quality of growth

+ Reforming international and industrial-country policies

Finally the paper examines the way forward concluding "The most effective way to address the increased vulnerabilities due to climate variability and change is by integrating climate concerns in the development process". This might be achieved by:

+ Mainstreaming climate concerns in the development process through interventions that both reorient policies and practices that already integrate current climate variability and filling policy gaps.

+ Assessments of the "expected vulnerability increase" in order to assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of interventions.

+ Strengthening human and institutional capacity in national and international development agencies and in appropriate civil-society organisations.

+ Capturing local knowledge, reviewing and assessing its applicability, and disseminating it to other communities and agencies.

+ The appropriate financing of these enabling activities

Reviews: (2) Impact of climate change in South Africa ...

The scope of effects of climate change in developing countries has been discussed for a long time but there are have been few studies available.

The Centre for Energy and Development Research at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, recently produced a study outlining the predicted economic impacts of climate change in South Africa.

The study attempts to provide preliminary estimates based on secondary data from the findings of the Vulnerability and Adaptation Study for the South African Country Study on Climate Change (1999).

"..The impacts on natural, agricultural, human-made and human capital are addressed using the change in production approach..."

Findings include the following:

+ Tourism may be affected due to a loss of habitats and biodiversity, and due to changes in temperature, humidity and malaria risk, and represents the biggest potential economic loss since tourism contributes as much as 10% of GDP.

+ Changes in ecosystem function, the loss of biodiversity and non-market impacts, brought about by changes in temperature and precipitation, represent the second largest potential economic impact.

+ Significant decrease in river flow in the southern and western catchments are predicted, leading to a shrinkage of areas amenable to the country's biomes to about half of their current extent, with huge losses in biodiversity.

+ The productivity of rangelands increases due to a CO2 fertilisation effect.

+ Whilst changes in terrestrial animal diversity could not be predicted accurately, the study suggests huge losses of species due to range shifts.

+ Forests, small but locally valuable in terms of commercial production of timber and non-timber products stand to be entirely lost.

+ Savannas, important for grazing and the subsistence harvest of numerous resources may be radically reduced, leading to large losses of productive value.

+ Agricultural systems are not nearly as affected as natural systems with the impacts on crop production relatively minor in relation to the value of the sector as a whole.

+ Finally,

the impacts of climate change on human health are considered, concentrating on the increased incidence of malaria, the proportion of deaths being expected to increase and the costs in terms of the treatment costs of the sick and the loss of earnings of the sick or their carers.

Reviews:(1) The End of Development? Global warming, disasters and the great reversal of human progress

After decades of painfully slow human advancement, global warming and bad development threaten a great reversal of human progress.

To illustrate this argument the author documents examples of some of the wider social and environmental implications of policy failures by the international community in addressing climate change and development.

These include weather related disasters, food security, migration, provision of fresh water, and debt

The report goes on to identify some key measures that rich nations must take without delay,

in order to mitigate the worst effects of climate change and inequitable development on the world's poorest people:

+ View every policy through the lens of disaster risk reduction and mitigation

+ Carry out a global assessment of the local impacts of climate change and the costs of adaptation

+ Commit resources to help threatened countries adapt to global warming.

+ Direct a greater proportion of aid towards reducing the risk of weather-related disasters at community level in the world's least developed countries

+ Increase the capacities of national authorities and civil society to address the adverse impacts of climate change and disasters.

+ Make sure aid is spent according to humanitarian need, not according to geo-strategic priorities.

+ Restructure economic adjustment strategies to allow governments to spend more on disaster risk reduction measures and social safety nets for the most vulnerable.

+ Switch investment from fossil fuels to in clean technologies.

+ Plan a progressive reduction in resource consumption by rich nations.

The impact of climate change: "End of development"?

Summary:

A most serious and thought-provoking addition to the debate on the development challenges posed by a failure to address climate change comes from the editor of the renowned World Disasters Report, and the policy director of the New Economics Foundation.

"...They argue that human development faces potentially the biggest U-turn in its history....."

The argument is underlined by a research report on the impact of climate change in South Africa, produced at the Centre for Energy and Development Research at the University of Cape Town.

The policy response is mirrored in a recent consultation draft on reducing the vulnerability of the poor, produced by the World Bank.

Challenges of Global Sustainable Development and the Responses of the Multilateral System

Climate change - impacts & mitigation efforts:Warming oceans main cause of unprecedented Amazon drought

The mighty Amazon river, one of the most water-rich rivers in the world, at this moment is reduced to a trickle in places. Where boats usually transport goods, people are now walking or bicycling. Rotting fish is lying around on the now dried river bottom. The governor of the Amazonas state has declared a crisis due to the drought.
A renowned Brazilian scientists says the unprecedented drought has one main cause: Warming of the oceans. To this should be added reduced evapotranspiration from the vegetation, and forest burning.

Greenpeace campaigners and scientists say the Amazonas may be on a verge of a tipping point, where the continued march towards savannization of the whole area is unavoidable.

The Amazon River is being reduced to a trickle in places. The people of the Amazon rely on the river and its tributaries for everything from food to transportation.
(Photo: Greenpeace via ENS)

Read a review of an ENS report, plus links to previous studies in EDC News.

NIGERIA: World's broken electronics pile up in Lagos, creating toxic dumps

Nigeria is becoming a digital dump, the recipient of vast numbers of broken gadgets from the West that can leak dangerous substances into water supplies and create cancer-causing particles when burnt, a toxic waste watchdog reports.

Basel Action Network,

a US-based lobby group that recently conducted an investigation in Africa's most populous country, found that around 500 giant containers, packed with old computers, televisions and mobile phones, were arriving every month at the main city and port, Lagos.

These electronics are supposed to be for repair and re-use, but BAN estimates that 75 percent of the items are neither repairable nor of any economic value.

So they often end up being dumped at official landfill sites or offloaded illegally by the side of the road or in swamps where they are either burnt or simply left.

BAN says chemicals like lead can leak into the groundwater. And materials used in circuit boards, although safe when the computer is on a desk, can produce carcinogenic particles once set alight.

"Residents breathing in the fumes from the fires or drawing water from contaminated areas are going to be taking in some seriously dangerous substances," Jim Puckett, the BAN official who led the investigation,

told IRIN by phone from the group's headquarters in Seattle

Re-use is a good thing, bridging the digital divide is a good thing, but exporting loads of techno-trash in the name of these lofty ideals and seriously damaging the environment and health of poor communities in developing countries is criminal," he said.

The organisation traces most of the items back to the United States and Europe, and says the export of useless electronic equipment is illegal under the Basel Convention governing the international movement of toxic waste.

Washington has not ratified the treaty, and BAN says many other governments fail to enforce the laws by not certifying that electronic items are fit for re-use before they are shipped abroad.

When repairable products do arrive among the sea of junk, researchers noted that Lagos does have a legitimate and healthy market for restoring old electronic equipment.

Oludayo Dada of the pollution control unit at the Environment Ministry, says that the flow of electronic waste arriving on Nigerian shores has caught the authorities' attention.

"We are still trying to quantify the magnitude of the electronic waste we have in Nigeria and the components that are toxic," Dada told IRIN, adding that the government would need to update its laws to criminalise the import of such products.

"We have regulations covering toxic products in general, but we need to zero in on electronic waste," Dada said.

BAN says another solution is for manufacturers to stop using toxic chemicals in their products, such as brominated flame retardants, beryllium alloys, lead-based solders and mercury lamps.

"Things are completely out of control," said activist Puckett.

"It's time we all get serious about what is now a tsunami of toxic techno-trash making its way from rich to poorer countries........."

Crack-down on Chemicals Criminals in Asia Pacific Registers First Successes

Customs Officers Intercept Illegal Ozone Damaging Substances Under UNEP-Backed Project Skyhole Patching


Bangkok, 12 February 2007

– A new initiative to monitor and curb illegal trade in chemicals that damage the ozone layer-- the Earth’s protective shield-- has begun registering some of it first promising results.


Today it was announced that seizures of up to 64.8 tons of illegal ozone depleting substance (ODS) have been reported in China, India, Thailand and other countries following the start of Project Skyhole Patching.


China Customs seized nearly 8.2 tons of Dichlorodifluoromethane (CFC-12), used in refrigerant and air conditioning systems, in the Guandong Province between September and November 2006 – 752 kg in Shengzhen and 7.5 tons in Huanpu Port.


In West Bengal, India, customs and enforcement officials seized nearly 6 tons of illegal chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) between October and November 2006. Nearly 49 tones of illegal ODS were seized from other countries participating. More is expected to come.


Months after he attended a workshop in Wuxi, China, a Chinese customs officer in Huanpu Port intercepted the illegal ODS using methods he learned there. It is encouraging to see that our training efforts, involving customs and enforcement officers in the 18 participating countries is beginning to have payoffs, said Ms. Ludgarde Coppens, Policy and Enforcement Officer, UNEP.


Project Skyhole Patching, to combat illegal trade in ODS and hazardous waste in the Asia Pacific region began 1 September 2006.

It involves 20 customs and environmental authorities from 18 countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, the Maldives, Mongolia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam.


Since the project began, customs in Hong Kong, India and Thailand have played an active role in sharing information on ODS. Some countries like Viet Nam and Cambodia are holding bilateral discussions on illegal ODS trade.


This timely information exchange among customs and environmental agencies in these countries has helped to monitor the movement of ODS in the region as well as other regions, said Mr. Liu Xiaohui, Head of Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific.


Project Sky Hole Patching is now entering its second phase, which will focus on hazardous waste and begin 1 March 2007. Phase 1 of the project focused on ODS.


CFCs are among ozone depleting substances targeted for phase out under the Montreal Protocol. Now entering its 20th year, the Montreal Protocol, one of the most successful environmental agreements to date, has succeeded in phasing out ODS in developed countries, led to the closure of many ODS producing plants and deterred the creation of industries that use them.


However, phase out of ODS becomes more crucial as the date for complete phaseout fast approaches for developing countries - 38 in Asia Pacific - who have committed to complete phaseout by 2010.

Illegal trade in CFCs and other ODS is expected to grow as a complete ban is enforced. Studies indicate that trade in illegal ODS represents nearly 10-20% of all trade in ODS.

CFCs alone account for 7,000-14000 tons of this trade, valued at US$25-60 million.


The 20th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol will be marked by a series of events and campaigns. This will include an Asia Pacific Regional Media Workshop to be held in Singapore in April this year, which will look at ozone layer protection and linkages to climate change.

ENVIROMENTAL EDUCATION ;Resources for the Future, Inc. / Quality of the Environment Division

Though theoretically,there is enviromental policy in TANZANIA,
Practically,there is no implementation of that policy and even its LAWS,remain a mare paper tiger.

This cause serious and non end enviromenta destruction in tanzania,

And since there is no stong implemented ENVIROMENTAL EDUCATION from primary to higher learning institutions level,

there is no even independent education to University students and colledges of TANZANIA,

in my submission,
i think,to educate "even at basic level" higher institutions students,that means University and Colledge students on enviromental issue and protection,will create large number of intellectualls

who could help the nation on preventing enviroments and education their societies the benefit and protection of enviroments.

vivid example, there is no even enviromental clubs at out respectives universities and colledges,

and my simple poll show that,graduates now nothing about enviromental issues and protections, save only those who take couse/study in that fields as part of their studies or degree.

SO that we must establish COMPULSORY ENVIROMETAL STUDIES TO THE HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTIONS STUDENTS or strong enviromental protection campaigns,

SCOPE: Environmental problems, including interdisciplinary team projects applying regional design to environmental situations and opportunities in wilderness and wilderness fringe areas; rural communities; and urban, urban fringe,

and inner city areas throughout upper midwest. Works with state agencies, community groups, and corporations in identifying and developing creative options involving physical changes protecting human and environmental rights.

Risk analysis, global environmental change, environment and development, and technological hazards.
PUBLICATIONS: CENTED Reprints; CENTED Research Reports; CENTED Monographs; CENTED Working Papers. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES: Distinguished Lecture Series.
and Focus Newsletter.

Resources for the Future;
SCOPE: Management of air, water, and land pollution and the conservation of natural and environmental resources. Focuses on the environmental consequences of human activity and how public decisions affecting the environment are made.

Past research projects include an estimate of the recreation benefits accruing from water pollution control, the health benefits from reducing drinking water contamination, the crop damages avoided by reducing ground-level ozone concentrations, the relationship between air pollution and lung infection, the economics of controlling groundwater pollution, development of an improved methodology for determining the costs of regulation, design of studies for development of fish and wildlife mitigation policies, and development of alternatives for reducing generation of hazardous wastes, and assessment of natural resource damage from oil spills and releases of hazardous substances.

SERVICES: Provides congressional testimony; Prepares articles, for national newspapers. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES: Workshops and Seminars.

Global Environmental Technologies

SCOPE: Interdisciplinary research in environmental problems that cross international boundaries, including stratospheric ozone depletion, global warming, acid rain, and protection of the global commons. Specific projects include assessment of the impact of international environmental treaties, development of new engineering approaches to reduce reliance on halons, recycling/recovery of chemicals restricted by international treaties, assessment of alternative cleaning technologies, and development of alternatives to ozone-depleting technologies. SERVICES: Technology transfer, to developing nations.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES: Conferences.

Global Change and Environmental Quality Program;
SCOPE: Global change and environmental quality research, including global climate change, local and regional environmental quality, and sustainable development.

rule of law...in international law

IV. Protecting our common environment
21. We must spare no effort to free all of humanity, and above all our children and
grandchildren, from the threat of living on a planet irredeemably spoilt by
human activities, and whose resources would no longer be sufficient for their
needs.

22. We reaffirm our support for the principles of sustainable development,
including those set out in Agenda 21,7 agreed upon at the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development.

23. We resolve therefore to adopt in all our environmental actions a new ethic of
conservation and stewardship and, as first steps, we resolve:

• To make every effort to ensure the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol,
preferably by the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development in 2002, and to embark on the required
reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases.

• To intensify our collective efforts for the management, conservation and
sustainable development of all types of forests.

• To press for the full implementation of the Convention on Biological
Diversity8 and the Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries
Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa.9

• To stop the unsustainable exploitation of water resources by developing water
management strategies at the regional, national and local levels, which
promote both equitable access and adequate supplies.

• To intensify cooperation to reduce the number and effects of natural and manmade
disasters.

• To ensure free access to information on the human genome sequence.

V. Human rights, democracy and good governance

24. We will spare no effort to promote democracy and strengthen the rule of law,
as well as respect for all internationally recognized human rights and
fundamental freedoms, including the right to development.