Eco Business: Lighting the Dark Continent, by Achim Steiner, Adnan Amin, and Kandeh K. Yumkella
Information Nigeria (Nigeria): UN raises concern over health hazards from electronic waste
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Information Nigeria (Nigeria): UN raises concern over health hazards from electronic waste15 February 2012 A study conducted by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has revealed Nigeria as one of the major sources of electronic waste in Africa without the needed protection against its impact on human health and the environment in the country and the West African sub-region. In the study conducted on Nigeria, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Liberia, and based on the findings of national e-waste assessments carried out in the five countries from 2009 to 2011, it was discovered that those five nations generate “between 650,000 and 1,000,000 tonnes of domestic e-waste” annually. In fact the report, released at last weekend, added that “domestic consumption makes up the majority (up to 85 per cent) of electronic and electrical equipment waste produced in the region”, according to the study titled Where are WEEE in Africa? It is known that electrical and electronic equipment can contain hazardous substances (e.g. heavy metals such as mercury and lead, and endocrine disrupting substances such as brominated flame retardants). The UN report added that “hazardous substances are released during various dismantling and disposal operations and are particularly severe during the burning of cables to liberate copper and of plastics to reduce waste volumes. Open burning of cables is a major source of dioxin emissions, a persistent organic pollutant that travels over long-distances that bio-accumulates in organisms up through the global food chain.” Additionally, the e-waste problem in Nigeria and the other West African nations “is further exacerbated by an ongoing stream of used equipment from industrialised countries, significant volumes of which prove unsuitable for re-use and contribute further to the amount of e-waste generated locally,” the report observed. UNEP’s Where are WEEE in Africa? report sheds light on current recycling practices and on socio-economic characteristics of the e-waste sector in West Africa and also provides the quantitative data on the use, import and disposal of electronic and electrical equipment in the region. According to Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of UNEP, “effective management of the growing amount of e-waste generated in Africa and other parts of the world is an important part of the transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient Green Economy. “We can grow Africa’s economies, generate decent employment and safeguard the environment by supporting sustainable e-waste management and recovering the valuable metals and other resources locked inside products that end up as e-waste.” Highlighting the Rio+20 conference later in June, the report shows how measures such as “improved collection strategies and establishing more formal recycling structures, can limit environmental damage and provide economic opportunities.” Detailing the Nigerian situation, the report disclosed that “an analysis of 176 containers of two categories of used electrical and electronic equipment imported into Nigeria, conducted from March to July 2010, revealed that more than 75 per cent of all containers came from Europe, approximately 15 per cent from Asia, five per cent from African ports (mainly Morocco) and five per cent from North America.” Besides, the UK is the dominant exporting country to Africa for both new and used electrical and electronic wastes, followed with large gaps by France and Germany. In fact Nigeria is deemed “the most dominant African importing country for new and used EEE, followed by Ghana.” Back to Menu ============================================================= Other Environment News AFP: ‘Glue poison’ kills illegal factory workers 15 February 2012 Four workers have died and about 30 have fallen ill in south China from suspected glue poisoning that caused severe nerve damage, health authorities and state media said on Wednesday. The victims worked in Guangzhou city in shoe and bag factories with poor ventilation - most of them illegal - and started falling ill last year after handling poor quality glue, the Beijing Morning Post said. According to the report, those still alive but in serious condition are now incontinent and have experienced memory loss, with some unable to remember simple maths such as calculating one plus two. Others are unconscious. Doctors quoted in the report said their central nervous systems had been damaged, with some of the patients' hands continuously shaking. Wang Min, an official at the Guangzhou Number 12 People's Hospital where 33 of the workers have been admitted since November, told AFP they had all been poisoned by dichloroethane - a chemical compound used to make glue. She said one had since died, another had recovered, and three had been transferred to another hospital. According to the newspaper report, another three people have died from the same form of poisoning. “Currently, there are still 28 people being treated in our hospital, including 16 in serious condition, although their lives are out of danger,” Wang said. “The patients all came from small workshops that made shoes, leather products and bags.” The city's work safety administration refused to comment when contacted by AFP. Most of the factories the victims worked in were operating without a licence, and six people have since been detained for selling low quality glue or illegally storing hazardous chemicals, the report said. The incident is the latest workplace scandal to hit China, where many factories lack adequate safety standards due to lax implementation of regulations. Last May, authorities in eastern China detained 74 people and suspended work at hundreds of factories following a lead poisoning scare - one of several to happen in China in recent years. Experts blame workplace safety problems on rapid industrialisation that has seen many in the world's second-largest economy chase after quick profits - often at the expense of the environment and people's health. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Reuters: EU aviation carbon tax fuels concerns, may go to U.N 13 February 2012 Global planemaker Airbus joined a chorus of concern that a European scheme to charge airlines for carbon emissions risks triggering a full-blown trade war, with implications for plane deals and even Europe's crippling sovereign debt crisis. The EU's Emissions Trading Scheme ETS.L, introduced on January 1, has drawn howls of protest from airlines around the world, with China banning its carriers from taking part. The escalating row comes on the eve of a China-EU summit in Beijing, with the EU looking to China to dip into its huge foreign exchange reserves to help the eurozone tackle a debt build-up that threatens its economic stability. Airbus (EAD.PA) Chief Executive Tom Enders said he was increasingly concerned at the potential fall-out if tensions are not defused. "I am very worried about the consequences of that. What started out as a solution for the environment has become a source of potential trade conflict and that should be a worry for all of us," he told an aviation conference on Monday ahead of the Singapore Airshow. China is a strategic market for the world's two big planemakers, as it coordinates purchases centrally and regularly places orders with Airbus and Boeing (BA.N) in batches of 100 or more to coincide with high-level political contacts. Chinese domestic air traffic quadrupled in the last decade and is expected to keep growing at more than 7 percent a year up to 2030, according to Airbus research, and Boeing predicts China will be the second-biggest market for new aircraft behind the United States between 2011 and 2030. China last year delayed the final signing of a deal for 10 A380 superjumbos worth $4 billion for Hong Kong Airlines in a signal of its displeasure over the EU plans, and in the mid-1990s, it refused to buy French products such as wheat and Airbus planes in retaliation for France selling fighters and frigates to Taiwan. Last week, Beijing banned its airlines from joining the ETS without its permission, and threatened to take unspecified measures to defend itself against the scheme, which levies charges for carbon emissions on flights in and out of Europe. Foreign governments argue Brussels is exceeding its legal jurisdiction by calculating the carbon cost over the whole flight, not just Europe. Non-EU airlines say the levy is discriminatory. Increasingly, governments and the EU's executive European Commission are looking to the U.N.'s International Civil Aviation Organisation ICAO.L to find a global scheme that curbs airline emissions. Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) CEO Goh Choon Phong said opposition to the scheme was based on the way it is applied. "I was quoting the example of us flying non-stop from Singapore all the way to Europe. We get charged the whole journey, when somebody who could fly passengers to an intermediate point, and from there go to Europe, ends up paying much less," he told the same aviation conference in Singapore. Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, said any European policy that alienates the United States, China, Russia, India and three dozen other countries "is simply not going to work." "The risk for the airlines if this generates into a tit-for-tat trade war, is that airlines will be caught in a cross-fire from both sides," he said. During an industry panel discussion, Cathay Pacific (0293.HK) CEO John Slosar took a senior European Commission official to task. "You can't have it both ways. There's a difference between leadership and bludgeoning. You guys applied the latter, and now you're discovering it works both ways," he told Matthew Baldwin of the directorate-general for mobility and transport. EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas acknowledged the growing opposition to the scheme, and said he was willing to be flexible in finding a solution, but the 27-nation bloc would not bow to pressure to suspend the scheme, which it says is part of a global fight against climate change. Aviation accounts for around 3 percent of mankind's greenhouse gas pollution. The ICAO predicts the number of air passengers will hit 6 billion a year on scheduled services by 2030, roughly double today's level. "If you think Europe will be forced to suspend, this is not the case. We must have a real global solution," Kallas said in an interview in Singapore. "Europe will implement its system with difficulties, with conflicts, with court cases, whatever, the system will be introduced," he said. French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani said both Airbus and Air France (AIRF.PA) had expressed their concerns that the dispute should not be allowed to harm French competitiveness. Some European airlines worry the scheme could backfire on them if foreign governments retaliate by limiting traffic rights or imposing tit-for-tat taxes and charges. An analysis by Thomson Reuters Point Carbon last week shows airlines face a carbon pollution bill of 505 million euros for 2012 under the ETS. Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez, president of ICAO's council, said he was confident the 191-member world body would find a solution. "I am confident. What will be the level of agreement, I can't tell you; what will be the scheme, I can't tell," he told Reuters. ICAO's last assembly, in 2010, tasked the body's elected council to work on a series of areas, including alternative fuels, more fuel-efficient airplanes and market-based measures to tackle emissions. That work will be presented in 2013. Critics note the ICAO's failure over more than a decade to find a global solution on aviation emissions, but Gonzales said the fact there was agreement to work on a solution was positive, and the current row over Europe's ETS might push things along. A potential trade war comes as carriers and plane makers are vulnerable to the economic slowdown, with Boeing predicting global airline passenger growth will slow to 5 percent this year from around 6 percent last year. DEFENCE DEALS This week's Singapore Airshow is likely to see U.S. and European arms makers Boeing, Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and EADS slugging it out for contracts as there is a growing appetite for military equipment in Asia, and beyond. India plans to spend about $100 billion over the next decade to upgrade its largely Soviet-era military equipment, which would make it a lucrative market for Boeing and Dassault Aviation SA (AVMD.PA). Dassault's Rafale is also set to become Brazil's fighter jet of choice, with government sources saying Brazil is "very likely" to choose the French plane to refurbish its air force. If confirmed, the deals would enhance France's partnerships with two of the world's biggest up-and-coming economic powers, and provide a boost to President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has cast himself as a champion of French industry and an energetic salesman of the Rafale in particular as he faces a tough re-election fight this year. European and U.S. defense companies, feeling the impact of budget cuts in their home markets, are also competing for jet contracts in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and South Korea. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ New York Times (US): Airbus Worried About Fallout of E.U. Plan to Charge for Airline Emissions 13 February 2012 Airbus on Monday joined a chorus of concern that a European push to charge airlines for carbon emissions risks leading to a trade war, with implications for plane deals and even for Europe’s crippling sovereign debt crisis. The European Union’s Emissions Trading System, introduced on Jan. 1, has drawn howls of protest from airlines around the world, with China banning its carriers from participating. The escalating dispute comes on the eve of a China-E.U. summit meeting in Beijing, with the European Union pushing China to dip into its huge foreign exchange reserves to help the euro zone tackle a debt buildup that threatens its economic stability. Tom Enders, the Airbus chief executive, said he was increasingly concerned at the potential fallout if the tension was not defused. “I am very worried about the consequences of that,” he said at an aviation conference ahead of the Singapore Airshow. “What started out as a solution for the environment has become a source of potential trade conflict, and that should be a worry for all of us.” China is a strategic market for the world’s two big plane makers, because it coordinates purchases centrally and regularly places orders with Airbus and Boeing in batches of 100 or more to coincide with high-level political contacts. Chinese domestic air traffic quadrupled in the past decade and is expected to keep growing at more than 7 percent a year up to 2030, according to Airbus, and Boeing predicts China will be the second-biggest market for new aircraft, after the United States, from 2011 to 2030. China last year delayed the final signing of a deal for 10 A380 airplanes worth $4 billion for Hong Kong Airlines in a signal of its displeasure over the E.U. plans. In the mid-1990s, it refused to buy French products like wheat and Airbus planes in retaliation for France’s sales fighters and frigates to Taiwan. Last week, Beijing banned its airlines from joining the emissions trading system without its permission, and threatened to take unspecified measures to defend itself against the program, which levies charges for carbon emissions on flights in and out of Europe. Foreign governments argue that Brussels is exceeding its legal jurisdiction by calculating the carbon cost over entire flights, not just over Europe. Non-E.U. airlines say the levy is discriminatory. Increasingly, governments and the European Union’s executive arm, the European Commission, are looking to the U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization to find a global system that curbs airline emissions. Goh Choon Phong, the chief executive of Singapore Airlines, said opposition to the system was based on the way it was applied. “I was quoting the example of us flying nonstop from Singapore all the way to Europe,” he said at the aviation conference in Singapore. “We get charged the whole journey, when somebody who could fly passengers to an intermediate point, and from there go to Europe, ends up paying much less.” Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, said any European policy that alienated the United States, China, Russia, India and three dozen other countries “is simply not going to work.” “The risk for the airlines if this generates into a tit-for-tat trade war, is that airlines will be caught in a cross-fire from both sides,” he said. During an industry panel discussion, the Cathay Pacific chief executive, John Slosar, took a senior European Commission official to task. “You can’t have it both ways,” he told Matthew Baldwin of the directorate general for mobility and transport. “There’s a difference between leadership and bludgeoning. You guys applied the latter, and now you’re discovering it works both ways.” Siim Kallas, the E.U. transport commissioner, acknowledged the growing opposition, and said he was willing to be flexible in finding a solution. But he added that the 27-nation bloc would not bow to pressure to suspend the program, which it says is part of a global fight against climate change. Aviation accounts for around 3 percent of mankind’s greenhouse gas pollution. The I.C.A.O. predicts that the number of air passengers will hit six billion a year on scheduled services by 2030, roughly double today’s level. “If you think Europe will be forced to suspend, this is not the case,” Mr. Kallas said during an interview in Singapore. “We must have a real global solution.” “Europe will implement its system with difficulties, with conflicts, with court cases, whatever, the system will be introduced,” he said. Thierry Mariani, the French transport minister, said both Airbus and Air France had expressed their concerns that the dispute should not be allowed to harm French competitiveness. Some European airlines worry the system could backfire if foreign governments retaliate by limiting traffic rights or imposing taxes and charges. An analysis by Thomson Reuters Point Carbon last week showed that airlines faced a carbon pollution bill of €505 million, or $669 million, for 2012 under the E.T.S. Roberto Kobeh González, president of I.C.A.O.’s council, said he was confident the group would find a solution. I.C.A.O.’s last assembly, in 2010, charged the body’s elected council to work on a series of areas, including alternative fuels, more fuel-efficient airplanes and market-based measures to tackle emissions. That work will be presented in 2013. Critics note the I.C.A.O.’s failure over more than a decade to find a global solution on aviation emissions, but Mr. Kobeh González said the fact that there was agreement to work on a solution was positive, and the current fight over Europe’s trading system might push things along. A potential trade war comes as carriers and plane makers are vulnerable to the economic slowdown, with Boeing predicting that global airline passenger growth will slow to 5 percent this year from around 6 percent last year. The Singapore Airshow this week is likely to see U.S. and European arms makers Boeing, Lockheed Martin and EADS slugging it out for contracts, as there is a growing appetite for military equipment in Asia and beyond. European and U.S. defense companies, feeling the effects of budget cuts in their home markets, are also competing for jet contracts in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and South Korea. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Guardian (UK): Monsanto found guilty of chemical poisoning in France 13 February 2012 A French court has declared the US biotech giant Monsanto guilty of chemical poisoning of a French farmer, a judgment that could lend weight to other health claims against pesticides. In the first such case heard in court in France, the grain grower Paul Francois, 47, said he suffered neurological problems including memory loss, headaches and stammering after inhaling Monsanto's Lasso weedkiller in 2004. He blames Monsanto for not providing adequate warnings on the product label. The ruling was given by a court in Lyon, south-east France, which ordered an expert opinion of Francois's losses to establish the amount of damages. "It is a historic decision in so far as it is the first time that a [pesticide] maker is found guilty of such a poisoning," Francois Lafforgue, Francois's lawyer, told Reuters. Monsanto said it was disappointed by the ruling and would examine whether to appeal against the judgment. "Monsanto always considered that there were not sufficient elements to establish a causal relationship between Paul Francois's symptoms and a potential poisoning," the company's lawyer, Jean-Philippe Delsart, said. Previous health claims from farmers have foundered because of the difficulty of establishing clear links between illnesses and exposure to pesticides. Francois and other farmers suffering from illness set up an association last year to make a case that their health problems should be linked to their use of crop protection products. The agricultural branch of the French social security system says that since 1996, it has gathered farmers' reports of sickness potentially related to pesticides, with about 200 alerts a year. But only about 47 cases have been recognised as due to pesticides in the past 10 years. Francois, who suffers from neurological problems, obtained work invalidity status only after a court appeal. The Francois case goes back to a period of intensive use of crop-protection chemicals in the European Union. The EU and its member countries have since banned a large number of substances considered dangerous. Monsanto's Lasso was banned in France in 2007 following an EU directive after the product had already been withdrawn in some other countries. France, the EU's largest agricultural producer, is now targeting a 50% reduction in pesticide use between 2008 and 2018, with initial results showing a 4% cut in farm and non-farm use in 2008-2010. The Francois claim may be easier to argue than others because he can pinpoint a specific incident – inhaling the Lasso when cleaning the tank of his crop sprayer – whereas fellow farmers are trying to show accumulated effects from various products. "It's like lying on a bed of thorns and trying to say which one cut you," said a farmer, who has recovered from prostate cancer and asked not to be named. The French association of crop protection companies, UIPP, says pesticides are all subject to testing and that any evidence of a cancer risk in humans leads to withdrawal of products from the market. "I think if we had a major health problem with pesticides, we would have already known about it," Jean-Charles Bocquet, UIPP's managing director, said. The social security's farming branch is due this year to add Parkinson's disease to its list of conditions related to pesticide use after already recognising some cases of blood cancers and bladder and respiratory problems. France's health and environment safety agency, meanwhile, is conducting a study on farmers' health, with results expected next year. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ BBC News (UK): Madagascar- Cyclone Giovanna death toll rising At least 10 people have been killed by Cyclone Giovanna, officials in Madagascar have said. There are reports of up to six more deaths - with more expected as emergency workers try to establish the extent of the destruction. The tropical cyclone hit the Indian Ocean island on Tuesday, with winds of up to 194km/h (120mph). Meteorologists warn the damage may be as bad as in 1994, when a cyclone killed 200 people and displaced 40,000. Richard Ramandeamanana, a government official in Alaotra Mangoro, told the AP news agency on Wednesday that seven people in his eastern region were killed when Cyclone Giovanna struck land early on Tuesday. His toll included six killed when a building collapsed. Three deaths had been reported in other regions, including two in the badly-hit inland sugar-producing town of Brickaville - and on Tuesday the charity Care says it received reports of five deaths elsewhere. Helicopter flights The worst of the storm was over by Tuesday afternoon - but large parts of the country have been cut off by the storm, making it difficult to fully assess how much damage has been done to agriculture, livestock and homes. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
Mudslides Antananarivo-based journalist Tim Healy told the BBC's Network Africa programme that the capital city experienced very high winds and heavy rainfall for most of the day on Tuesday. There are reports of mudslides along the main Toamasina-Antananarivo road. An image released by the Nasa Earth Observatory and taken on 13 February 2012 of Tropical Cyclone Giovanna located about 250 nautical miles (465km) east of Antananarivo, Madagascar US space agency Nasa says the storm spans hundreds of kilometres Toamasina, Madagascar's main port, has not been as badly damaged as initially thought, director of the charity Care International John Davis told the BBC. But preliminary assessments of the smaller town of Vatomandry - which is home to about 40,000 people and is less than 50km south of where Cyclone Giovanna first hit land - has been badly damaged, he said. "Our people on the ground in Vatomandry estimate that at least 60% of homes were damaged or destroyed," he said. "The sturdier houses may have just lost roofs, while traditional structures made of palm leaves and bamboo were often destroyed," he added. He said at least five people were thought to have died in the wider Vatomandry district but that number was likely to increase as more information emerged about the impact of Cyclone Giovanna. Town criers The government of Madagascar issued the first warnings on Monday afternoon - but residents say the intensity of the cyclone was not explained. Map
But Mr Healy said they were not heard on Monday and it has left many people taken aback by the storm's severity. Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island, is prone to cyclones and tropical storms, especially in the rainy season between February and May. Mike Piggot, a meteorologist with the US-based monitoring body AccuWeather, told the BBC the storm was of a similar strength to Cyclone Geralda. It was one of the worst cyclones to hit Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, and destroyed about 300,000 hectares of crops and left thousands homeless in 1994. The storm is heading towards southern Mozambique. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Directory: cpi -> briefs briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news Download 302.1 Kb. Share with your friends:
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