The environment in the news thursday, 20 October, 2016 unep and the Executive Director in the News
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- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ AP:UN names Costa Rican to head climate change body
- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Reuters: U.N. picks Costa Rican Figueres as new climate chief
- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ BBC News: UN picks new climate change chief
- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Telegraph (UK): Christiana Figueres named UNs new climate chief
- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Independent (UK): Small nations given voice on climate
- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Reuters: U.S. lags China on climate change: Europe climate chief
- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Reuters:U.S. to probe spill, containment efforts in high gear
_________________________________________________________________ Cronica de Aragon (Spain):PNUMA adopta un acuerdo para mejorar el transporte de desechos peligrosos 17th May 2010 Más de cien países adoptaron una serie de recomendaciones para implementar la Convención de Basilea sobre el transporte internacional de desechos peligrosos. En una reunión que concluyó en Ginebra, los delegados destacaron la necesidad de reforzar los controles del desmantelamiento de barcos y el manejo de basura electrónica, como las computadoras y teléfonos móviles descartados. La portavoz del Programa de la ONU para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA), Julie Marks, afirmó que la conferencia logró progresos importantes en la elaboración del borrador de una Convención sobre el Reciclaje de Barcos que será adoptada por la Organización Marítima Internacional (OMI). Por otra parte, agregó que en el foro se analizó la prohibición de la exportación de desechos peligrosos provenientes de los países industrializados a las naciones en desarrollo. También se anunciaron proyectos piloto que implican la realización de encuestas sobre desechos electrónicos en nueve países, entre otros El Salvador, Brasil, Sri Lanka y Samoa. Back to Menu ============================================================= Other Environment News AFP:Costa Rican named UN climate chief 17th May 2010 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has named Costa Rica's Christiana Figueres to be the organization's top official on climate change, his spokesman announced Monday. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said the 53-year-old Costa Rican, currently San Jose's climate change negotiator, would succeed Yvo de Boer of the Netherlands as the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). "Ms Figueres is an international leader on strategies to address global climate change and brings to this position a passion for the issue, deep knowledge of the stakeholders, and valuable hands-on experience from the non-profit sector and the private sector," the spokesman said. De Boer tendered his resignation after last year's Copenhagen climate change talks, which ended in widespread disappointment with only vague promises by nations to cut emissions. Figueres is to assume her post on July 1, five months before the next round of scheduled climate change talks in the Mexican resort city of Cancun. She has been a negotiator of the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol since 1995 and has played a role in designing key climate change instruments, US media reports said. Chief US climate negotiator Todd Stern welcomed Figueres' appointment, calling her "well-qualified with a deep background in UN climate change negotiations." "The United States looks forward to working with Ms. Figueres and partners around the world to build on the progress made in Copenhagen to meet the climate change challenge," Stern said in a statement. Environmental group Greenpeace noted that Costa Rica has set an ambitious goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2021, "the type of attitude we need on the global stage." "We hope she can really engage all countries in a fast-moving dialogue to get agreement on a global deal that will save the world from dangerous climate change," said Wendel Trio, Greenpeace's climate policy coordinator. Figueres's family has a long history of work in government and international affairs. Her father Jose Figueres Ferrer was a three-time president of Costa Rica who abolished Costa Rica's military in 1948. Her mother Karen Olsen Beck who was born in the United States to Danish immigrants, later adopted Costa Rican nationality. Figueres's older brother, Jose Maria Figueres Olsen was elected President of Costa Rica for four years at the age of 39, the nation's youngest president in the 20th century. Figueres completed her university studies at the prestigious Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and at the London School of Economics and Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ AP:UN names Costa Rican to head climate change body 17th May 2010 Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday appointed Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica as the new U.N. climate chief. She is an expert on climate negotiations and the daughter of the country's former president. Figueres, who has been a member of Costa Rica's negotiating team on climate change since 1995, will replace Yvo de Boer as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. "I come to the secretariat with great respect for the institution and a deep commitment to (the) UNFCCC process," Figueres said in a statement issued by the U.N. "There is no task that is more urgent, more compelling or more sacred than that of protecting the climate of our planet for our children and grandchildren." De Boer, who has shephered troubled climate talks for nearly four years, announced his resignation in February, saying he will step down July 1 to work in business and academia. Ban expressed gratitude to de Boer, who is from the Netherlands, "for his dedicated service and tireless efforts on behalf of the climate change agenda," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Nesirky said Monday the appointment was made after consultations with parties to the convention. "(Ms.) Figueres is an international leader on strategies to address global climate change and brings to this position a passion for the issue, deep knowledge of the stakeholders, and valuable hands-on experience with the public sector, nonprofit sector and private sector," he said. De Boer announced his departure two months after a disappointing climate summit in Copenhagen that ended with a nonbinding accord brokered by President Barack Obama promising emissions cuts and immediate financing for poor countries — but even that failed to win consensus agreement. Figueres, 53, will take the helm just five months before 193 nations reconvene in Cancun, Mexico, in December for another attempt to reach a worldwide legal agreement on controlling greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for the gradual heating of the Earth that scientists predict will worsen weather-related disasters. De Boer, European Union officials and others are cautioning that the Cancun conference probably will yield only a first answer on curbing greenhouse gases, and a legally binding climate change treaty isn't likely until next year at the earliest. Figueres has a long history with the climate change convention: From 2007 to 2009 she was vice president of its bureau, representing Latin America and the Caribbean, and over the years she has chaired numerous international negotiations. Her father, Jose Figueres, who led the 1948 revolution and founded modern democracy in Costa Rica, was president of the country three times. Her mother, Karen Olsen Beck, served as Costa Rican ambassador to Israel in 1982 and was elected a member of Congress from 1990-1994. Figueres graduated from Swarthmore College in 1979 and received a master's degree from the London School of Economics. In 1994, she became the director of the technical secretariat of the Renewable Energy in the Americas program, today housed at the Organization of the American States. The following year she founded and became executive director of the Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the participation of Latin American countries in the Climate Change Convention. She is married, has two daughters and is based in the United States, outside Washington, D.C. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Reuters: U.N. picks Costa Rican Figueres as new climate chief 17th May 2010 The United Nations appointed Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica on Monday to be its climate chief to head stalled international talks on how to contain the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Figueres, 53, the choice of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is the first leader of the U.N. climate change secretariat to come from a developing country. She will take over from Dutchman Yvo de Boer from July 1. She beat fellow short-listed candidate Marthinus van Schalkwyk, a former South African environment minister, for a position meant to rally global accord on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol after a disappointing summit in Copenhagen last December. Announcing the appointment, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Figueres "brings to this position a passion for the issue, deep knowledge of the stakeholders and valuable hands-on experience with the public sector, non-profit sector and private sector." The scale of Figueres' task is underscored by a Copenhagen summit where 120 world leaders failed to reach a binding deal, pledging instead to mobilize $30 billion from 2010-2012 to help poor countries deal with droughts and floods, and to try to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius. This year, negotiators have agreed little except to hold two extra sessions in the run-up to a meeting in Cancun, Mexico, that begins in late November. Many policymakers expect the Mexico meeting to fall short of a binding deal, looking to 2011 for agreement on a successor to Kyoto, whose provisions expire in 2012. Some analysts are doubtful of any new formal, binding pact beyond Kyoto, expecting instead a patchwork of national targets and schemes. GOOD FOR BUSINESS In an interview with Reuters after her appointment, Figueres said the world can salvage a new deal to combat global warming but this was not a priority for 2010. Rich countries must first fulfill their pledges on climate aid, she said. "Parties need to prove to themselves that issues already on the table, such as fast-tracking financing, that's not just on paper but can also be delivered. That's the focus of Cancun," she said. The appointment of a U.N. climate chief from the South was widely forecast after a rich-poor rift in Copenhagen, where developing countries said the industrialized world was shirking its historical responsibility for causing climate change. Figueres has been a member of the Costa Rican climate negotiating team since 1995 and has held many senior posts in the U.N. climate process. Her father, Jose Figueres Ferrer, was president of Costa Rica three times. Danish Climate and Energy Minister Lykke Friis said Figueres won unanimous support on Monday from key nations at a meeting of the U.N. climate bureau in Bonn, Germany. "She is highly experienced, she is well connected, she knows all the negotiators. She knows the dossiers," Friis said. U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern called her "well qualified." One source close to the matter said: "If they wanted a technical bureaucrat, she's probably as good as you'll get." Business and those involved in the carbon market would welcome Figueres, said Andrei Marcu, head of regulatory and policy affairs at oil trading firm Mercuria. "From a business point of view, she has been willing to listen in the past and we hope she will continue to do so," he said. Figueres has chaired talks to increase transparency in the global carbon offset market under Kyoto, which delivers about $6.5 billion finance annually to help developing countries cut greenhouse gas emissions. One source said the small island developing states -- among those most at risk from climate change -- argued strongly for Figueres, saying they wanted someone from a smaller nation. Costa Rica has one of the world's most environmentally friendly policies, including a strong focus on ecotourism and a long-term goal of becoming "carbon neutral," under which industrial emissions would be soaked up by forests. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ BBC News: UN picks new climate change chief 17th May 2010 Costa Rica's Christiana Figueres is to be the new head of the UN climate convention, BBC News understands. The UN is expected to confirm her appointment to take over from outgoing chief Yvo de Boer later in the week. Sources close to the UN said she emerged as front-runner after an intervention from small island states. The US-based diplomat, daughter of former Costa Rican president Jose Figueres Ferrer, has taken part in UN climate negotiations since 1995. She emerged as the undisputed front runner only in the last few days. A number of small island developing nations told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that they preferred someone from a smaller developing country to the other leading candidate, South African tourism minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk. Although respected personally, small island states that feel threatened by climate change are understood to have resisted the appointment of someone from the BASIC bloc of countries (Brazil, China, India and South Africa), which argued against swingeing carbon curbs at December's UN summit in Copenhagen. Bali to Copenhagen Ms Figueres has chaired many working groups and committees within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and is regarded as having a deep understanding of its processes and its outstanding issues. Following her confirmation, her immediate task will be to rebuild confidence in the UN negotiations in the lead-up to this year's major summit in Mexico at the end of the year. "There is this misguided view that the UN system doesn't work," said Martin Khor, executive director of the South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation of developing countries. "What happened [in Copenhagen] was deviation from the UN process with the selection and elevation of a small group of countries. "So if you're the new UNFCCC head, the first task would be to project the correct view that the UN processes, its practices and principles, are respected," he told BBC News. Mr de Boer announced in February that he would step down in the middle of this year to take up a position with global accountancy firm KPMG as a consultant on climate and sustainability issues, and to work with several universities. The Dutch official steered the UNFCCC through the most tortuous phase of its existence, spanning the Bali summit of 2007 that promised a new comprehensive global agreement within two years and the Copenhagen summit of 2009 that failed to deliver such an agreement. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Telegraph (UK): Christiana Figueres named UN's new climate chief 17th May 2010 UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said the 53-year-old Costa Rican, currently San Jose's climate change negotiator, would succeed Mr de Boer of the Netherlands as the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). "Ms Figueres is an international leader on strategies to address global climate change and brings to this position a passion for the issue, deep knowledge of the stakeholders, and valuable hands-on experience from the non-profit sector and the private sector," the spokesman said. Mr De Boer tendered his resignation after last year's Copenhagen climate change talks, which ended in widespread disappointment with only vague promises by nations to cut emissions. Ms Figueres is to assume her post on July 1, five months before the next round of scheduled climate change talks in the Mexican resort city of Cancun. She has been a negotiator of the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol since 1995 and has played a role in designing key climate change instruments, US media reports said. Chief US climate negotiator Todd Stern welcomed her appointment, calling her "well-qualified with a deep background in UN climate change negotiations." "The United States looks forward to working with Ms Figueres and partners around the world to build on the progress made in Copenhagen to meet the climate change challenge," Stern said in a statement. Environmental group Greenpeace noted that Costa Rica has set an ambitious goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2021, "the type of attitude we need on the global stage." "We hope she can really engage all countries in a fast-moving dialogue to get agreement on a global deal that will save the world from dangerous climate change," said Wendel Trio, Greenpeace's climate policy coordinator. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Independent (UK): Small nations given voice on climate 18th May 2010 The United Nations has appointed a Costa Rican diplomat as its new climate change chief after small island nations intervened to press for a choice who would represent their concerns about the risks of global warming. Christiana Figueres, a climate change expert, has been a negotiator for her country at international emissions reduction meetings since 1995, and regularly chairs UN meetings. Ms Figueres only emerged as secretary general Ban Ki-moon's choice after a late intervention from small island nations put her ahead of a South African minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk. South Africa argued against strict emission limits at the Copenhagen summit in December, after which the current UN climate chief, Yvo de Boer, said he would step down. Another major summit is due to be held in Mexico later this year. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Reuters: U.S. lags China on climate change: Europe climate chief 17th May 2010 The United States' future as a global economic power depends on what it does to fight global warming and it is lagging behind other countries like China, Europe's climate chief said on Wednesday. European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard told Reuters it was a positive step for the United States to have "finally" unveiled legislation to combat climate change on Wednesday. "This is one of the crucial battlefields over who is going to be the economic leaders of our century," Hedegaard said of the fight against global warming. Democratic Senator John Kerry and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman presented a long-awaited climate bill on Wednesday, which aims to cut planet-warming emissions by a 17 percent in the next decade. While President Barack Obama supports the legislation, it has slim chances of passing unless Kerry and Lieberman win over a group of moderate Democrats and Republicans. "It's not something an ordinary European citizen would say 'Wow, that's really ambitious,'" Hedegaard said. "On the other hand, we know that the United States has been among the later starters, so the important thing now is to get started." The 27-nation European Union has long claimed to be a world leader in the fight against climate change. While the United States and China bicker in negotiations for a new global deal to combat climate change, Hedegaard said Beijing was making great strides against global warming. "The irony is that in the real world outside the negotiation rooms they are just moving," she said of China's efforts to fight global warming. "They are just doing it and they are doing it big scale." Hedegaard praised the United States for including a cap and trade system for reducing carbon pollution by electric utilities and factories in the new climate bill. She said such a system had worked in Europe and China was also considering such a move. Negotiators from 194 nations will gather in Cancun at the end of the year to try to build on the Copenhagen accord signed last December with the ultimate aim of reaching a legally-binding treaty that would set the tempo for global CO2 cuts over the next decade. "There is this feeling now that there is something to build upon," Hedegaard said. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Reuters:U.S. to probe spill, containment efforts in high gear 18th May 2010 The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will be in the political spotlight in Washington Tuesday as energy giant BP scrambled to contain crude spewing from its ruptured deep-water well. President Barack Obama will create a presidential commission to probe the disaster as the oil industry and its practices come under sharp scrutiny in the face of a looming economic and ecological calamity in the Gulf. "Whether it's a nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island or an oil blowout one mile deep, appointing an independent review panel is critical to reduce the risks of future accidents," said Edward Markey, chairman of a House of Representatives committee on global warming and energy independence. The presidential commission will investigate issues related to the spill and its aftermath, including rig safety and regulatory regimes at the local, state and federal levels. The federal government's oversight role, environmental protections, and the "structure and functions" of the Minerals Management Service, the Interior Department agency that has been heavily criticized for regulatory lapses, also will be on the panel's agenda. With a shakeup of the agency imminent, Chris Oynes, the top official overseeing its offshore oil and gas drilling, announced he would retire at the end of the month. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is due to face questions from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday about the agency's failings on issues surrounding the oil spill and how the Interior Department will be reformed. A Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the oil spill is also due to question BP America President Lamar McKay and Steven Newman, president of Transocean, which owned the rig that exploded and was working on behalf of BP Plc. SOME PROGRESS London-based BP said its latest "quick fix" -- a mile-long siphon tube deployed by undersea robots down to the leaking well-- was capturing about a fifth of the oil leaking from the ruptured well. Officials cautioned that the tube is helping contain the oil but will not stop the flow. "I do feel that we have, for the first time, turned the corner in this challenge," BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said in Florida. BP's stock rose more than 2 percent in London on the news but later shed its gains. Investors have knocked $30 billion off BP's value over the spill, which followed the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and the fallout it faces is ramping up. The disaster has hurt BP's image, already tarnished in the United States from a 2006 spill in Alaska from a BP-owned pipeline and 2005 fire at the company's Texas City refinery that killed 15 workers and injured 180. Battling to salvage its reputation, BP said Monday it was providing grants to Gulf coast states to help them promote tourism. Tourism and fishing are two of the economic mainstays in a region known for its beaches, wildlife and mild climate. While the U.S. Gulf Coast has so far been spared a massive landfall of heavy oil, small amounts in the form of surface sheen and tar balls, have come ashore in outlying parts of the coastline of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. "People are freaking out. They see the news and think oil is everywhere, but it is not," said Michael Dorie, co-owner of Wild Native and Five Rivers Delta Safaris, which takes people on eco-tours of Alabama's Mobile Tensaw Delta. "If it all dries up and disappears, well the highlight of my tours is wildlife and pretty flowers. Take that away and my tour becomes just a boat ride. If people see oil slicked birds, how many more will not come?" 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 370.14 Kb. Share with your friends:
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