Conserving wildlife in Tanzania, Africa's most biodiverse country....

With ecosystems ranging from Lake Tanganyika to Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania is the most biodiverse country in Africa.





Though Tanzania is world famous for its safari animals, the country is also home to two major biodiversity hotspots: the Eastern Arc Mountains and the Albertine Rift surrounding Lake Tanganyika.





Tanzania has set aside nearly a quarter of its land mass in a network of protected areas and more than one-sixth of the country's income is derived from tourism, much of which comes from nature-oriented travel.

Despite these conservation achievements, Tanzania's wildlands and biodiversity are not safe. Fueled by surging population growth and poverty, subsistence agriculture, fuelwood collection, and timber extraction have fragmented and degraded extensive areas that are nominally protected.





Hunting and unsustainable use of forest products have further imperiled ecosystems and species. In the near future, climate change looms as a major threat not only to Mt. Kilimanjaro's glaciers, which are expected to disappear within ten years, but also to Tanzania's many endemic plants and animals found in its montane forests.

Working to better understand these threats and safeguard Tanzania's biodiversity for future generations is Tim Davenport, Country Director for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Tanzania. Davenport, who co-discovered a species of monkey in the Southern Highlands region of Tanzania in 2003, has been working in Tanzania with WCS since 1999.



In Nov. 2006, Davenport kindly answered some questions on the Conserving wildlife in Tanzania, Africa's most biodiverse country

He says that though "humans are not by nature a sustainable animal", conservation success in Tanzania is possible through education, better understanding of local economics, and sustainable development. To future conservationists, Davenport offers this key advice: "don't give up."

i will give part of the interview with him in next chapter.

you are welcome!!!!

Discussing Global Warming in the Security Council: Premature and a Distraction from More Pressing Crises..part 5

An Affront to the Suffering

In essence, the United Kingdom is asking the Security Council to replicate the work of other forums in order to discuss a threat that, even if it develops as predicted, will not result in a tangible threat to international peace and security for decades.

This effort is an affront to the millions currently suffering from the depredations of dictatorial regimes around the world and those facing the near-term threats posed by proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, transnational terrorism, and conflict.

Consider the plight of the people in the Darfur region of Sudan or in Zimbabwe. Both situations involve millions of displaced persons and directly affect the security and stability of neighboring nations Yet the Council has been either silent or ineffective in both cases. Similarly, the Council has long been silent on human rights violations in numerous other countries.

On the issue of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the Council has proven to be a paper tiger in its dealings with North Korea and Iran, which are leading the charge toward widespread proliferation of nuclear weapons technology.

The Security Council has similarly proven unable to address the issue of transnational terrorism. It has not condemned state sponsors of terrorism despite ample evidence of links to international terrorist groups and has demonstrated little concern about encouraging and supporting those groups in their efforts to attack citizens of U.N. member states. The U.N. has been unable even to define what constitutes terrorism.

As of February 2007, the total number of personnel serving in 18 United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations-led peace operations and political missions was over 100,000 individuals.

This number is expected to increase sharply. The U.N. has more troops deployed than any nation in the world except for the United States. The unprecedented frequency and size of recent U.N. deployments and the resulting financial demands have challenged the willingness of member states to contribute uniformed personnel in support of U.N.

peace operations and have overwhelmed the capabilities of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and other parts of the Secretariat that support peace operations. This has lead to mismanagement, misconduct, poor planning, corruption, sexual abuse, unclear mandates, and other weaknesses. Yet the Security Council has been largely silent about how these weaknesses affect its decisions and mandates.

The Security Council has a full docket of immediate threats to international peace and security that would benefit from more deliberation and action. Focusing on the speculative threats that may result from global warming distracts from these vital issues and undermines the seriousness and stature of the body by reducing it to a political theatre.

Discussing Global Warming in the Security Council: Premature and a Distraction from More Pressing Crises..part 4

Alternative Forums

Another global forum to debate global warming is unnecessary and counterproductive. The list of international organizations and forums focused on researching global warming includes many national environmental ministries and agencies and innumerable non-governmental organizations focused on environmental issues.

Within the U.N. system, UNEP and other specialized bodies like the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) are already dedicating massive resources to this issue. Treaties focusing on global warming include the Kyoto Protocol, which has been in force since 2005, and the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.

Two high-level multilateral institutions are expected to grapple with the issue of global warming in the coming months:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 to examine the issue of global warming through joint effort of the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. The IPCC seeks to forge a consensus among climate experts on the state of climate science relating to global warming every five to seven years and present a report for consideration by world leaders.

The IPCC issued assessments in 1990, 1996, and 2001. Its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) is being released in stages this year and will serve as justification for a post-Kyoto climate treaty at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali in December 2007.

The 33rd G8 summit, hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will be held on June 6–8, 2007, in Heiligendamm, Germany and will focus on climate change. Merkel has promised to make global warming "an important issue once again on the agenda during our G8 presidency."

The agenda will build on the 2005 Gleneagles G8 Summit in Scotland, which adopted a statement on the importance of climate change and an agreement to "act with resolve and urgency now."

The statement concluded that"greenhouse gas emissions need to slow, peak and reverse and that G8 countries need to make ‘substantial cuts' in emissions."

Gleneagles also saw the creation of the G8+5 Group comprised of the G8 and Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, China, and India. The mission of this group is to advance deeper cooperation on climate change and trade.

It is difficult to imagine how additional debate in the Security Council will contribute to these efforts. The Security Council lacks the expertise of existing forums or of dissenting groups and scientists and can contribute little of value to the overall discussion.

Between these high-level forums and incessant media coverage, it is impossible to justify placing the issue of global warming on the agenda of the Security Council as necessary to increase international awareness of global warming.

Discussing Global Warming in the Security Council: Premature and a Distraction from More Pressing Crises...part 3

The Current Evidence

The state of current scientific understanding undermines the case for consideration of global warming in the U.N. Security Council.

A review of the evidence reveals fundamental uncertainties and projected harms that, even under worst-case scenarios, are not pressing threats requiring immediate attention by the Security Council.

To what extent is warming caused by human activity? The earth's average temperature has increased over the last 30 years, and many point to this as evidence of harmful, human-induced warming. But temperatures have risen and fallen many times in the past. For example, the Medieval Warm Period was likely as warm as the present.

While it is likely that mankind's activities have made a contribution to warming, current temperatures are within the historical range of natural variability.

How much of an immediate and dire threat is posed by warming? Given that the current upward trend in temperatures is not unprecedented, it stands to reason that such minor warming will not lead to unprecedented catastrophes, and scientific evidence is independently confirming this.

The planet and its inhabitants are much more resilient to temperature variability than had been previously assumed, and the warming over the last few decades has not been particularly harmful to humans or the environment.[5] Indeed, the rise in greenhouse gas emissions and temperatures over this period has been accompanied by declining damages from natural disasters, not the opposite.[

In sum, the more alarming predictions

—dramatic sea level rises, increased storms, wider spread of malaria, etc.

—are not extrapolations of current trends, but radical departures from them. At the very least, they are highly implausible in the near term and so not an imminent threat to international peace and stability, which is the claim made to justify consideration before the U.N. Security Council.


Is reducing CO2 emissions worth the costs? China, which will soon overtake the U.S. as the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, and other developing nations are exempt under Kyoto, and most of the European signatories to the Protocol are not on track to meet its requirements, with several actually seeing their emissions since 2000 rising faster than in the U.S. Britain's emissions are at a ten-year high.

Even if the U.S. had ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and even if Europe and others were in full compliance with it, the treaty would avert an inconsequential 0.07 degree Celsius temperature increase by 2050[, at a cost to the U.S. of $100 billion to $400 billion annually.[

This would directly impact the public with higher gasoline and electricity prices as well as fewer jobs and other consequences. In other words, the Kyoto approach leads to great economic pain and almost no environmental gain.
Even if global warming occurs as envisioned, it is far from clear that acting now to address the threat is the most efficient use of resources.

Many of the disasters predicted by alarmists (e.g., floods, droughts, crop-failures, storms, and vector-borne diseases) will occur from time to time whether or not global warming makes them more frequent or severe. These threats should be faced directly, irrespective of global warming. Costly measures like Kyoto, however, will do almost nothing to cool the planet but would damage economies and sap resources away from more useful and direct efforts to fight these problems.

For example, the Copenhagen Consensus Conference brought together leading economists, scientists, and specialists in May 2004 to prioritize how to best allocate limited resources to address the most pressing global problems. In June 2006, the Copenhagen Consensus Conference brought together U.N. ambassadors, including the U.S., Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani ambassadors, for the same purpose.

In both cases, "[Participants] agreed that the world's top spending priorities should be around the areas of health, water, education and hunger. And, perhaps more courageously, they also said what should not come at the top—financial instability and climate change ranked at the bottom of the list."

Discussing Global Warming in the Security Council: Premature and a Distraction from More Pressing Crises...part 2

The Uncertainty Surrounding Catastrophic Global Warming

Global warming is a legitimate environmental concern, but does it really rise to the level of a security crisis? British policy on climate change subscribes to the European Union position of accepting and pursuing policies based upon worst-case scenarios of global warming.

Substantive political debate on global warming in the U.K. is minimal, and Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chancellor of the Treasury Gordon Brown, and Conservative Party Leader David Cameron are competing to out-do one another with their green credentials and proposals to tax, cap, or otherwise regulate greenhouse gases.

Most leading British scientists, institutions, and policy advisers support extensive, binding international regulatory initiatives on climate change. Specifically, the U.K. has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, the multilateral treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Sir David King, Chief Scientific Adviser to the U.K. Government, argues that without immediate action to address global warming, particularly by the U.S., millions of people around the world will fall victim to extensive flooding, drought, hunger, and debilitating diseases such as malaria. King has argued that global warming is a far greater threat to the world than international terrorism. Indeed, King believes that "climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today."

Such certainty is not supported by the evidence. Contrary to the impression given in press coverage, considerable scientific uncertainties and debate exist.

This is particularly true regarding the more alarming predictions of harm which are invoked to justify the unusual step of the Security Council addressing an issue more appropriately within the purview of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) and other bodies.

Discussing Global Warming in the Security Council: Premature and a Distraction from More Pressing Crises ..part 1

On April 17,
the United Nations Security Council will discuss the security implications of global warming for the first time. The issue was placed on the agenda by the United Kingdom, which assumed the rotating presidency of the Council for April. According to Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett:

The destruction described in [the recently released summary of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] is a threat not only to the UK's prosperity but also to international peace and security. That is why, at the UK's initiative, the UN Security Council will on the 17th April hold its first ever discussion on the security implications of climate change. We hope that this discussion will foster a shared understanding of the way in which climate stress is likely to amplify other drivers of conflict and tension, and thereby strengthen the commitment of the international community to the collective action that we urgently need.[1]

The United Kingdom is wrong to foist this issue on the Council. First, the extent, source, and consequences of global warming are subject to debate, and the possible implications of global warming, particularly the security implications, are speculative. Even if these consequences occur as predicted in the IPCC report, they are not immediate security threats.

Second, numerous policy initiatives, forums, and organizations are focused on studying and evaluating the consequences of global warming. The focus of these efforts and discussions is to clarify the science of global warming and weigh the costs of action to address global warming against the risks of inaction. A debate in the Security Council is unlikely to contribute to these ongoing efforts.

Finally, the Security Council has a full docket of immediate threats to international peace and security that is has failed to resolve. Focusing on speculative threats that may arise decades in the future undermines the seriousness of the body and is an affront to those suffering from immediate crises. Worse, it distracts the Council from pressing threats to international peace and security.

The case of TANZANIA: Cattle clash sparks bitter feud

Nairobi, 14 December (IRIN) - Over 400 people fled their homes in the eastern Tanzanian region of Morogoro for fear of being attacked by Maasai pastoralists after a bloody clash there on 8 December between the pastoralists and farmers left 31 people, mostly women and children, dead.

The clashes between Maasai nomads and farmers in Morogoro had been in progress since the end of October, but worsened during four days of fighting last week, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Tuesday.

The 8 December attack was in revenge for the killing of two Maasai tribesmen and the slaughtering of 35 cows by the farmers, AP said.

The combination of revenge and sheer anger at the confiscation of their herds compounded a conflict over land use to which there is no clear solution in sight.

The clashes started after farmers in Kilosa confiscated herds which had strayed into their fields and held them pending receipt of compensation.

The practice is not uncommon in Morogoro, one of the few regions in Tanzania relatively spared by the drought, where pastoralists and farmers live side by side.

The attraction of pasture land was such that, according to recent research, there were 250,000 head of cattle belonging to the Maasai in the region's Kilosa District, the Tanzanian newspaper the 'Guardian' reported on Tuesday.

The conflict had been ongoing for the past 10 years, Dr E. de Pauw, land use consultant with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), told IRIN.

"There is no proper demarcation between agricultural land and pastoral land," de Pauw said. Herders in possession of excessive stocks of cattle, by virtue of their concentration in Morogoro, grazed them in farmlands, either knowingly or by accident, thereby arousing hostility on the part of the farmers, he said.

President Benjamin Mkapa's new government, formed after the October national elections, is injecting a new impetus to the livestock sector, according to the Pan African News Agency, (PANA). The government had adopted a policy to demarcate pastoralist areas, but its implementation would be difficult, de Pauw said.

The Maasai follow a semi-nomadic lifestyle, moving from place to place, seeking pasture and water.

They would "always seek after the best land [and] no pastoralists will ever move their animals to semi-arid regions", de Pauw told IRIN. Competition for the best land is harsh, especially in times of drought.

Political factors are also at play, the Tanzanian media has reported.

Villagers claimed that the prime minister's office (PMO) had been aware of the conflict between Maasai pastoralists and the farmers as far back as 1997, when farmer representatives sent an appeal to the PMO, but no action was taken, the 'Guardian' reported on Thursday.

The villagers then resorted to forming traditional defence groups, called 'sungusungu'.

"However, the sungusungu were not effective, because they did not get police cooperation," a farmers' representative told the 'Guardian'. Kilosa District Commissioner Edith Tumbo was suspended on Monday by Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye, according to the 'Guardian'.

Cattle clashes: The case of Tanzania {part one}

Summary:

Conflict of interests between sedentary agriculturalists and nomadic pastoralists is a common cause of violent clashes in many places around the world - but not the rule.

In many cases the two ways of securing livelihoods may be complementary and to mutual advantage (cattle, as an example, provide free fertilizer).

Problems arise when drought, intensification of agriculture, or overly large herds cross the line of sustainability for both ways of livelihood.

In Tanzania, there is a decade-old conflict between Maasai pastoralists and farmers. In December 2000, violent clashes left 31 people dead.

IPCC outlines strategies for responding to the impacts of human-caused climate change

Emissions cuts, sustainable development and early measures to adapt could reduce humanity’s vulnerability

Brussels, 6 April 2007 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has finalized a new report that assesses the current and future impacts of global warming and explores opportunities for proactively adapting to them.


The report concludes that the world’s rivers, lakes, wildlife, glaciers, permafrost, coastal zones, disease carriers and many other elements of the natural and physical environment are already responding to the effects of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions.


Rising temperatures are accelerating the hydrological cycle and causing rivers and lakes to freeze later in the autumn and birds to migrate and nest earlier in the spring.


Scientists are increasingly confident that, as global warming continues, certain weather events and extremes will become more frequent, widespread or intense.


Over the coming decades, the Arctic, sub-Saharan Africa, small island states, low-lying coasts, natural ecosystems and water resources and agricultural production in certain regions will be at particular risk.


Dramatic sea-level rises and some other events have the potential to cause very large impacts, especially after the 21st century.


However, the IPCC also finds that early action to improve seasonal climate forecasts, food security, freshwater supplies, disaster and emergency response, famine early-warning systems and insurance coverage can minimize the damage from future climate change while generating many immediate practical benefits.


“Scientists owe much of their new understanding of how climate change will affect the planet to the greater number of field studies and data sets now available to them, as well as to improved consistency between observations and climate model results,” said Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

“We need to strengthen our research and monitoring even further and gain more practical experience in how best to adapt to our new climate,” he said.


Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said, “The invoice for the future impact costs of climate change has been put on the table today by the IPCC. It is not a bill that we would have to pay in full if the world decides now to make deep and decisive cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.”


“The report also emphasizes that adaptation – in developed but especially vulnerable developing countries – is also needed to cope with the climate change already underway. ‘Climate proofing’ infrastructure and agriculture to health care services and communities will require investment but equally intelligent planning so that it is central to decision-making rather than on the periphery,” he added.


The IPCC illustrates the potential for adaptation by describing activities being undertaken in various parts of the world to adapt to current climate change.


Examples include partial drainage of the Tsho Rolpa glacial lake in Nepal, changes in livelihood strategies in response to permafrost melt by the Inuit in Nunavut, Canada, and the increased use of artificial snow-making by the ski industry in Europe, Australia and North America.


Measures being taken in anticipation of future climate change include the consideration of sea-level rise in the design of infrastructure such as the Confederation Bridge in Canada and in coastal zone management in the USA and The Netherlands.

Environmental Terrorism - Identifying the Risks

Summary:

Most recent discussions of terrorism have focused on the identity of the terrorists, their possible motivations, and the increasingly destructive potential of the weapons at their disposal. However, to date, there has been very little discussion about their choice of targets.

An examination of environmental terrorism

requires understanding motivations, identifying vulnerabilities and risks, and working on effective solutions.

At a time when populations all over the world are increasing, the existing resource base (water, energy, soils, and more) is being stretched to provide for more people, and is being consumed at a faster rate. As the value and vulnerability of these resources increases, so does their attractiveness as terrorist targets.

The report examines

the nature and risks of terrorist attacks that use the environment both as a target and a tool. Finally, several ideas for reducing the risk of environmental terrorism are discussed.


Terrorists

often choose their targets because of what they represent, thus skyscrapers and federal buildings. Rivaling both of those, however, for the amount of long-term damage that can be inflicted upon a country, environmental resources should be included as being at risk.

Environmental terrorism is defined ,as.....

in the report as "the unlawful use of force against in situ environmental resources so as to deprive populations of their benefit(s) and/or destroy other property". Readers should take care not to confuse the term with "eco-terrorism".

At first glance,

the distinction between environmental terrorism and eco-terrorism might seem academic. However, operationally there is a significant difference.

Environmental terrorism involves targeting natural resources. Eco-terrorism involves targeting built environment such as roads, buildings and trucks, ostensibly in defense of natural resources.

A second distinction is made between environmental terrorism and more conventional environmental warfare.

It is a distinction that mirrors the larger difference between terrorism and warfare in general.

The easy distinction, that warfare is conducted by states and terrorism by rebel groups, obscures the uncomfortable fact that unlawful acts against non-combatants are often carried out by states. Rather, warfare is governed by two complementary criteria: jus ad bellum (war must be declared for a good reason) and jus in bello (war must be conducted in a just fashion).

Because there is no universally accepted judgment as to what constitutes rightness of cause, applying the first criterion (jus ad bellum) to terrorism is problematic.

Terrorism

however clearly violates the jus in bello criterion, since targeting non-combatants lies at the very core of its strategy. That the target is environmental and not human does not blur the distinction between warfare and terrorism.

The objective of environmental terrorism, however,

is to have a psychological effect on the target population, and just as terrorists do not apply the jus in bello criterion to human non-combatants, neither do they apply it to the environment.

Risk of Environmental Terrorism:

There are two components to measuring the risk of terrorism:
severity of the attack, and the probability of a particular scenario actually occurring.

This is where the approximately $7 billion 16 spent to analyze WMD [weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear bombs] attacks may be misspent: scenarios such as detonation of a nuclear device or deployment of a biological weapon in a populated area, while frightening, fall into the high-consequence/low-probability category.

As risky are the common,

low-consequence/high-probability scenarios such as bombings or kidnapping (low-consequence only in that the number of people directly affected is relatively small compared to a large-scale WMD incident).

Environmental terrorism has the potential to combine the worst of both of these scenarios: it can have higher consequences than conventional civil terrorism because the potential damage from an environmental attack can be long-lasting and widespread, and it is more likely than WMD terrorism because it can be carried out using conventional explosives or poisons.

WMDs.......

are still extremely difficult to obtain and deploy successfully, and are consequently out of range for most amateur terrorist individuals or groups. As a result, terrorists may increase their destructive potential by directing conventional methods against environmental targets, where they are likely to cause more human health and economic damage with less risk to themselves.

The report considers two further types of environmental terrorism: resource-as-tool terrorism and resource-as-target terrorism.

For example, terrorists wishing to inflict damage using resource-as-tool terrorism on a town below a reservoir might poison the water supply.

Using the same example, terrorists wishing to employ resource-as-target terrorism might blow up the dam and flood the town.

Vulnerable resources identified and discussed more fully in the report are:
water resource sites, agriculture and forest sites, mineral and petroleum sites, plus wildlife and ecosystem sites.

Finally,

the most reliable way identified in the report for a nation to protect itself against the disruption caused by environmental terrorism is to diversify resource use wherever possible.

Multiple sources of food, water, and energy mean each individual source is less attractive as a target, and equitable distribution of resources between users contributes to reducing tension over resource scarcity. This may lessen the political motivation of terrorists who take action on behalf of the “oppressed.”

Where are the poor? Experiences with the development and use of poverty maps

Increase effectiveness of poverty reduction efforts through spatial analysis of ecosystem services.

Policymakers will understand and act on linkages between poverty and ecosystem services and improve implementation of national strategies and plans.



Where are the poor?

Experiences with the development and use of poverty maps.

(2002 - 66 pages) The report highlights the use and impact of poverty maps -- the spatial representation and analysis of human well-being and poverty indicators -- in 14 countries and identifies lessons that can guide future poverty mapping efforts

Synopsis: The report highlights the use and impact of poverty maps -- the spatial representation and analysis of human well-being and poverty indicators -- in 14 countries and identifies lessons that can guide future poverty mapping efforts.




Poverty mapping

-- the spatial representation and analysis of indicators of human well-being and poverty -- is becoming an increasingly important instrument for investigating and discussing social, economic, and environmental problems.

Decision-makers need information tools such as poverty maps to help them identify areas where development lags and where investments in infrastructure and services could have the greatest impact.

Once largely the domain of economists and social scientists, poverty maps are now being used by policymakers and many non-governmental entities, including civil society groups, academic institutions, and private businesses.

However, the new and diverse applications of poverty mapping emerging over the past five years have not been well documented.

The World Resources Institute (WRI)

in collaboration with UNEP/GRID-Arendal has conducted a study examining the uses and impacts of poverty maps. Drawing on case studies from 14 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the report reviews how poverty maps were used and some of the factors constraining their use in a wide variety of geographic and institutional settings.

From such experiences come lessons that can guide future poverty mapping initiatives in other countries. Recommendations aimed at national and international actors sketch a plan for sustaining poverty mapping in the countries studied and expanding its frontiers to all developed and developing countries.

EFFECTS of Climate Change: Snow-free Mt Kilimanjaro wake-up call

Formerly snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro

The volcanic crater at the summit of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, as it has not been seen before in 11,000 years.

Summary:

A photo of Mount Kilimanjaro stripped of its snowcap for the first time in 11,000 years was used as dramatic testimony for action against global warming as ministers from the world's biggest polluters met in March 2005.

Gathering in London for a two-day brainstorming session on the environment agenda of Britain's presidency of the Group of Eight rich nations, the environment and energy ministers from 20 countries were handed a book containing the stark image of Africa's tallest mountain, among others

Mount Kilimanjaro Photo Wake-Up Call for Action Against Global Warming

"This is a wake-up call and an unequivocal message that a low-carbon global economy is necessary, achievable and affordable," said Steve Howard of the Climate Group charity which organised the book and an associated exhibition.

"We are breaking climate change out of the environment box. This crisis affects all of us. This is a global challenge and we need real leadership to address these major problems - and these ministers can give that leadership," he told Reuters.

The pictures include one of Kilimanjaro almost bare of its icecap because of global warming, and coastal defences in the Marshall Islands threatened with swamping from rising sea levels.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has vowed to make climate change and Africa the twin targets of Britain's presidencies of both the G8 and European Union this year - bringing both to the fore at a summit meeting in Gleneagles in Scotland in July.

The Kyoto Protocol on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases came into force in February but is still shunned by the world's biggest emitter, the United States, and puts scant limits on China, rising fast up the ranks.

Informal information exchange

Senior officials from both countries will be at the London meeting, whose main thrust is how to achieve the environmental Holy Grail of a sustainably growing low carbon economy.

"There is an attempt to draw the United States in after its refusal to sign Kyoto," said a spokeswoman for environmental pressure group Greenpeace.

"It is very sensitive given that the developing countries are trying to climb the development curve and the developed countries must not be seen to be doing anything to hold them back," she told Reuters.

A senior official at Britain's Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which is co-organising the meeting - the first of environment and energy ministers from developed and developing nations - said the aim was to find common ground.

"This is a chance for people to get together and by not forcing them to negotiate a very concrete outcome ... allow them to explore common interests," she said.

"There are plenty of technologies out there which we can deploy which can help with that shift (to a low-carbon economy) straight away. We know that energy efficiency can already deliver huge carbon savings at a net benefit to our society," she told Reuters.

British think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research

has proposed a multi-tiered approach, calling for progressively deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by rich nations but more flexible commitments from the developing world.

These should be made against the backdrop of long-term efforts to take Kyoto - with the United States and Australia aboard in some form - beyond

the end of its first phase in 2012, it said.

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.