The environment in the news friday, 20 April 2007 unep and the Executive Director in the News
UN or UNEP in the news Manila Bulletin : Gov’t perks key to ‘green’ energy push
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- KalingaTimes : Asian businesses urged to be eco-friendly
UN or UNEP in the newsManila Bulletin : Gov’t perks key to ‘green’ energy pushBy MELODY M. AGUIBA SINGAPORE — Government incentives are pertinent in the increasing need to launch technologies that are renewable, energy-efficient, and more ecology-friendly amid the threat of climate change to vulnerable countries of the world like the Philippines face. Since it is obvious that the most severe environmental threat now is the human-induced global increase in temperature, its reversal demands the use of technology by the private sector. But this demands incentives from the government. "Technology holds many keys. It’s they key to our capacity to turning waste into resource, in increasing efficiency by 90 times more. (But) technology needs the right incentives from government. It needs business to do it," Achim Steiner, United Nations Undersecretary General and UN Environment Program (UNEP) executive director, told a press briefing in a presentation of the Champions of the Earth awardees in Singapore. Steiner said UN wants to associate awardees of the Champions of the Earth as key players in stirring private-public sector partnership that leads to the introduction of new technologies. He said technologies like wind power and photovoltaic energy devices that have become more powerful and efficient, ethanol, and energy-saving, longerlife lighting had just taken off in the market which were all results of technical cooperation. Among the Champions of Earth awardees for 2007, Philippine Former Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Elisea G. Gozun tops the list for Asia Pacific for having advocated a public disclosure program called Ecowatch. She also managed the Brown Fund, a financing for environmental initiatives run in a tripartite cooperation between government, business, and civic groups. Gozun told the same press briefing that the technology of turning waste into marine plywood and input in cement-making is now a key component for low-cost housing in the infamous Smokey Mountains in the Philippines. Brazilian Ambassador Paulo Alberta Da Silveira Soares, who is taking the UN award for Brazilian Senator Marina Silva, said biotechnology researches on forest development is helping save one of world¡¯s most biologically diverse forest complex in the Amazon. This is pivotal in discouraging deforestation in the Amazon which, because of Silva’s effort, was already reduced by nearly 40 percent in 2006. Brazilian natural resources too are a rich resource for pharmaceutical products. "We have a National Center for Biotechnology dedicated to the development of research and development of technologies like pharmaceutical products for diseases," he said. Ethanol where Brazil is world leader have multiple benefits including employing five million people in sugarcane alone, environmental enhancement, and national economic benefits (even from export earnings). Brazil , Soares said, also encouraged private sector investments from Indonesia and Singapore on replanting of nature-replenishing eucalyptus trees and from a company, the Petrobas, engaged in alternative renewable energy. Soares said Brazil is also working with the Philippines and other mega-diverse countries like Indonesia and Malaysia in preserving rich natural resources. The Philippines has been identified by studies of Conservation International and the International Union Conservation Network for being a location of the center of the world’s most diverse marine resource within the Verde Island and the Sulu Sulawesi where the highest concentration of marine biodiversity is found. Awardee for Africa, Environment Minister Cherif RAhmani of Algeria , said that very deep man-made diggings in Algeria had created problems on water scarcity, water salinity, health, and the destruction of hundreds of palm trees. But the use of technologies and the political will to implement environmental policies should restore water resources for their beneficial, social welfare use. Rahmani has been recognized for creating the Institute of Deserts in Algeria , rehabilitation of Fort de Tinerkouk, and organization of the Third Festival of Cultures and Civilization of the People of the Deserts. For Europe, the awardee was Viveka Bohn of Sweden who helped spearhead the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). "This (SAICM) important new global policy framework will catalyse and guide efforts to achieve the Johannesburg plan of sound management of chemicals by 2020," UNEP said. Awardees for NORth America was Former US Vice President Al Gore for leading the cleanup on toxic dumps and the formation of the Superfund that held the first hearing on global climate change and led to the drafting of the Kyoto Protocol aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emission. "His critically-acclaimed documentary An Inconvenient Truth based on his presentation on climate change has become the third-highest grossing documentary in the US history," UNEP noted. For West Asia , awardee was Jordan Price El Hassan Bin Talal who has been acknowledged for his transboundary collaboration on the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation. He also led the Royal Scientific Society which advocated water quality management as he also promoted clean and equitable energy production by sharing capital and know-how. http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2007042092183.html ....................................................... KalingaTimes : Asian businesses urged to be eco-friendlySingapore: Business executives in Asia were warned Thursday of the urgent need to change practices contributing to global warming if they want to succeed in the Western marketplace. "Climate change is not a northern problem," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). "It touches on every sector." More than 600 business leaders were attending the Global Business Summit for the Environment, the first major international conference on business and the environment in Asia . The event was organized by the UNEP to raise corporate environmental responsibility by bringing companies together with the UN and other agencies. "If you want to be a global player, these issues will affect your global competitiveness," Steiner said. "Every day we receive new evidence of the harm that human activities are inflicting on the environment," Steiner said. "We face formidable challenges." Climate change can even have a destabilizing impact on collective security, he added. Delegates focused on market risks and business opportunities resulting from environmental change. Among the risks that businesses face is "how to factor in climatic change," Steiner said. Looking ahead, he cited the predictability of biofuels. "We are seeing rising waters, droughts and floods chasing each other and diseases," Steiner said. "It can never be too late" to tackle the environmental concerns. A regulatory framework is needed, Stiner said. Among the companies with an eco-friendly product is lighting maker Osram, a wholly owned subsidiary of German giant Siemens. Chief executive officer Martin Goetzeler said in emerging and developing countries, many are still hesistant to replace incandescent lighting systems with energy-saving ones. This is due to the lower purchase price of incandescent lamps despite the energy savings of up to 80 percent with the alternatives. "There are countries where the question is about affordability," Goetzeler said. Under a clean development mechanism programme, these countries will receive energy-savings lamps free in order to help them reduce carbon dioxide emissions. –DPA http://www.kalingatimes.com/orissa_business/news/20070419_Asian_business_urged_to_be_eco_friendly.htm ...................................................... 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 423.36 Kb. Share with your friends:
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