ROAP Media Update 7 March 2006
UN or UNEP in the news
UNEP Enacts Kyoto Compliance Rules
Insurance Journal - March 6, 2006 - The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has formally launched a compliance system for the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The system applies to those countries that have signed the Kyoto Protocol, but does not affect the U.S., China, India or other countries that have failed to ratify the pact. Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commented: "Climate change is the most serious challenge facing the world and the Kyoto Protocol is the internationally agreed mechanism for averting it".
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2006/03/06/66163.htm
Compliance body set up for Kyoto Protocol
Scoop.co.nz, Monday, 6 March 2006, Press Release: United Nations
Compliance body set up for Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gases
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said today that a Compliance Committee for the Kyoto Protocol, the environmental treaty aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, has begun operations, with an enforcement branch dealing with countries having difficulties meeting their commitments.
“A strong and effective compliance mechanism is key to the success of the implementation of the treaty,” said Richard Kinley, acting head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn.
Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), also welcomed the launch of the compliance system, saying it provided the Protocol with “teeth.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0603/S00123.htm
General Environment News
Scientists call for urgent action over extinction rate ABC Online, Australia - Tuesday, 7 March , 2006 Reporter: Sarah Clarke
TONY EASTLEY: Scientists say they have the first concrete evidence to show that the planet is entering the largest mass extinction in 65 million years.
They warn that humans are destroying the biodiversity so rapidly, that some plants and animals are simply failing to regenerate.
There are more than 30 extinction hotspots around the world, with two in Australia, and the prediction is that as many as five million species may be lost this century.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1585594.htm
MEGA-PROJECTS / THAI-BURMESE HYDROPOWER SCHEME - Salween dams 'will push up electricity costs'
Bangkok Post, 7 March 2006 - PIYAPORN WONGRUANG - Mae Hong Son _ Thai-Burmese hydro-electricity projects on the Salween River could hit Thai consumers with higher electricity costs once the dams are operational, experts have warned.
Electricity from the Salween dam projects will likely cause an over-supply of electricity which could force consumers to bear unnecessary investment costs in the dam projects, Witoon Permpongsacharoen, a former member of the National Economic and Social Advisory Council told a recent seminar in Mae Hong Son.
…According to a study by Mr Chavalit, at least 170 fish species inhabit the river, of which 60 are endemic species.
The proposed five-dam mega-project would devastate fish habitat, he said, sharp decreasing the fish populations on which people along the Salween rely.
Geologist Prinya Nutalaya warned of possible damage from earthquakes since there are at least three active faults along the river.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/07Mar2006_news11.php
General News
China urges other nations to share more information about bird flu(Updated 11:36 a.m.)
China Post, Taiwan - 2006/3/7- BEIJING (AP) - China on Tuesday urged other governments to share more information about their bird flu cases in people in order to prevent a human pandemic.
Few developing countries other than China have submitted bird flu samples from humans to international organizations, the state-run China Daily newspaper said, citing an unidentified Agriculture Ministry official.
"The international community should further improve the information-sharing mechanism for the disease," the official was quoted as saying.
The report came as health experts were attending a World Health Organization conference in Geneva that was meant to produce guidelines for public health officials to stop a possible human pandemic in its early stages.
Beijing often uses the English-language China Daily to make announcements aimed at foreign audiences.
The WHO's Asia-Pacific regional director, Dr. Shigeru Omi, criticized China's Agriculture Ministry in December for refusing to share samples from animal outbreaks. The ministry did not respond.
China could reap an economic windfall if it creates an effective bird flu vaccine or treatment before foreign competitors that might be helped by access to its virus samples.
WHO says 175 human cases of bird flu have been reported worldwide, 95 of them fatal, since the latest wave of outbreaks began in 2003.
The disease has ravaged poultry flocks around the world.
China this week reported its ninth bird flu death out of 15 confirmed human cases.
Most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds, but experts fear the H5N1 bird flu virus could mutate into a strain easily passed between humans, triggering a deadly global pandemic.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/i_latestdetail.asp?id=36137
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ROWA Media Update 7 March 2006
Saudi Arabia
GCC committee for environment awareness to meet in Jeddah
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) committee for the coordination of environmental awareness programs is scheduled to hold its second periodic meeting in the National Weather Service Headquarters Office in Jeddah tomorrow.
A statement issued by the GCC General Secretariat today stated that GCC experts participating in the meeting will discuss the appropriate mechanism to implement recommendations of ministers of environment in the GCC, in addition to setting committee'sthe statute, bylaws and estimated budgets.
The statement added, the three-day meeting will also discuss ways to develop awareness programs in the GCC, and developing educational programs in this field. Meetings will also include issuing environmental programs in the field of fungal life forms especially in the GCC.
Participants are scheduled to visit the National Center for Fungal Life in Al-Taif.
This meeting comes under the recommendation of the ninth meeting of GCC Ministers of Environment held in Abu Dhabi last May.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=835415
UAE
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