The environment in the news tuesday, 25 January 2005
ROAP Media Update – 25 January 2005
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- Tsunami a brutal warning for environmental crisis
ROAP Media Update – 25 January 2005_____________________________________________________ UN or UNEP in the news Two new quakes sow panic – Tsunami-hit nations jittery over temblors Bangkok Post (Thailand), 25 January 2005 – Jakarta, Two 6.3-magnitude earthquakes in southern Asia struck eight hours apart yesterday, causing panic but little damage in a region still traumatised by last month’s quake-triggered tsunami that killed tens of thousands. …Meanwhile, a major conference of biologists and policymakers got under way in Paris yesterday to calls for the world to draw environmental lessons from Asia’s Dec 26 tsunami disaster. …”We have to use this knowledge in the reconstruction,” said Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the UN Environment Programme. “When we strip away these natural forms of protection, we place ourselves in harm’s way.”…
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A senior official in Kenya Monday called for the protection and reservation of forests, saying they are faced with an environmental crisis that could spell doom for the country. With a particular reference to the water catchment area of Cherangani hills forest ecosystem in western Kenya, Environment Minister Kalonzo Musyoka noted that communities living around the area have been encroaching on the forest, an activity that has destabilized the forest ecosystem. "Clearing or burning forests for settlement, illegal charcoal burning, cutting cedar posts and illegal logging of trees, will result into disasters like prolonged drought and drying of rivers," he observed. The minister called for restraint from communities living around forests, saying that besides the forests being significant as biodiversity reservoirs, they ranked high as national assets of environmental, economic, social and cultural values. Forests in Kenya covered three percent of the total land area at independence in 1963 but this has declined to 1.7 percent, a decline that could continue if proper management and conservation measures are not put in place. Musyoka disclosed that the government is starting a participatory management approach in which there will be wider stakeholders and community involvement in managing forests. http://www.panapress.com/newslat.asp?code=eng070377&dte=24/01/2005 Kalonzo Warning over Hydro-Power Sources The East African Standard (Nairobi): Environment Minister Kalonzo Musyoka yesterday sounded an environmental yesterday said Kenya risks a power blackout if the depletion of forests continues. The minister warned that Sondu-Miriu and Turkwell Gorge power plants will soon be "white elephants" given the rate at which Cherangany and Mau forests are being depleted. "Our fear is that Sondu-Miriu will be a white elephant while Lake Baringo, the source of Turkwell Gorge, is drying up. The forest covers are seriously being depleted," said Kalonzo. Addressing a news conference, he called for the conservation of the Cherangany Forest ecosystem. Kalonzo said the reduction of Mau Forest cover has affected Sondu River, the source of hydro-power at the plant. The plant, which is expected to add 60 megawatts to the national power grid, would be completed next year. Japan Bank for International Co-operation has pumped Sh7.6 billion into the project. http://allafrica.com/stories/200501241145.html Kenya govt moves to check hazardous chemicals Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Environment minister Kalonzo Musyoka directed importers Monday to consult with his ministry before bringing any type of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) into Kenya. Musyoka said concern about POPs was mainly due to their high toxicity to man and animals as well as their resistance to degradation in the environment. Last December, Kenya became party to the Stockholm Convention that seeks to protect human health and the environment from chemicals deemed highly toxic and hazardous. The ministry of Environment has already drafted a national plan to implement the Convention. "It is expected that between January and February, stakeholders in the public and private sectors as well as the civil society will have the opportunity to study and make their contributions to the draft," the minister indicated. http://www.panapress.com/newslat.asp?code=eng070375&dte=24/01/2005 State Will Probe Alleged Dumping of Nuclear Waste The East African Standard (Nairobi): The Government yesterday moved to ascertain whether an American company dumped nuclear waste in North Eastern Province under the guise of exploring for oil. Environment minister Kalonzo Musyoka directed the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) to analyze soil samples from the exploration sites, and vowed to sue the company if traces of nuclear waste were found in them. "This is a serious and delicate matter and I have directed NEMA to look into it," he said. There are widespread fears in Garissa, Wajir and Mandera districts that an American company that arrived in the country to prospect for oil in the ‘80s dumped nuclear waste in the remote region. According to the residents, the company excavated deep trenches, which they later covered with concrete slabs. The company officials also allegedly off-loaded huge consignments of mysterious goods at the sites whose contents they did not want the locals to see. The residents in the affected areas have been complaining of strange and incurable diseases, which they claim are caused by the alleged presence of radioactive material. "If results of the samples indicate the presence of radioactive material, we shall unearth the rest of the substances buried at the sites. It is very serious and I thank the writers for exposing the scam," said Kalonzo. The sites in question are Modica, Shanta Abak and Amuma in Garissa District, Gal, Adow and Arbajahan in Wajir and Elwak in Mandera District. http://allafrica.com/stories/200501241156.html Environment: Nigerian City Battling With Mountains of Garbage Inter Press Service (Johannesburg): Tones of garbage dot market places, bus stops and bridges, overwhelming efforts to clean up Nigeria's commercial hub, Lagos. The residents of this sprawling city of over 10 million people dump refuse indiscriminately. Some defecate and urinate in open places. Last year alone, the Lagos state government spent more than 10 million dollars on clearing and disposing of refuse, and demolishing of illegal structures. Despite its efforts, the city still remains one of the dirtiest in the country. Lagos was regarded as the dirtiest capital in the world in the seventies, but the trend changed when military ruler Muhammadu Buhari introduced a compulsory exercise to clean up the city in the late 1980s, which lasted till the early 1990s. With the exercise, Lagos attained an enviable position of one of the cleanest cities. The exercise was abolished by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, while Nigerians were just imbibing the virtue of cleaning their environment. Obasanjo believed the exercise should be voluntary. As a result, Lagos has now reverted to its old appellation of the dirtiest city. In Oct. 2003 a worried Lagos state government launched a "Clean Up Lagos" campaign, initiated by the city's new Commissioner for Environment, an environmental journalist. Volunteers were organized to enforce discipline. Although local officials insist achievements have been made since the programme was set up in Oct. 2003, piles of refuse are still noticeable on major streets of the metropolis. The state ministry of environment plans to build more dump sites and sign agreements with private firms to help turn waste to wealth. It also seeks to embark on more vigorous enlightenment programme on proper waste disposal and clean environment. http://allafrica.com/stories/200501240034.html Cleaner Fuels Project Equipment Arrives in SA Business Day (Johannesburg): Crude oil refinery Sapref received its first shipment of large equipment for the R700-million cleaner fuels project at the weekend, bringing it a step closer to producing petrol and diesel in line with government regulations. Government has decreed that petroleum manufacturers must produce lead-free and low-sulphur petrol and diesel by 2007. The upgrade, known as the Lion project, will allow the Shell SA Energy and BP Southern Africa joint venture to achieve high octane requirements via further petrol refining. Lion project manager Tjalling Terpstra said the shipment included three distillation columns worth R6m built in Malaysia in the past year. Although the columns were sourced internationally, local companies have been involved in their manufacture and transportation As the largest crude oil refinery in southern Africa; Sapref undertakes 35% of the country's refining capacity. This equates to 180 000 barrels daily or 8, 5-million tons a year. Its facilities include a single buoy mooring, through which 80% of SA's crude oil is imported, a storage facility at the Durban harbor, joint bunkering services and the refinery. http://allafrica.com/stories/200501240911.html 25 January 2005 ROWA NEWS BRIEFING . 22 May, 2001 Bahrain Much of beach areas out of reach for ordinary people The destruction of Bahrain’s coastal areas and natural habitats is a serious concern for environmental groups but despite a proliferation of societies and non-governmental organiations to tackle environmental concerns, not much is being achieved in terms of protecting Bahrain’s ecological profile, said a leading environmentalist. Dr Saeed Abdullah, founder of the Kingdom’s first eco-tourism-development office, Al Reem Environmental Consultation and Eco-tourism, a pioneer in environmental consultation and promoting eco-tourism, said despite democracy and greater freedom of expression in Bahrain when compared to other GCC countries, environmental agencies and NGOs lacked the teeth to implement resolutions. “Bahrain is the signatory to many international conventions and resolutions but in recent years, we haven’t done much to implement these resolutions in our country’s developmental blueprint,” he said. “This is especially true of our coastal areas. A recent upsurge in reclamation in coastal areas has put much of our coastal beach areas out of reach of ordinary people. “We urgenty need a development strategy especially for tourism development that’ll include sustainable solutions. I don’t say reclamation of land from the sea is wrong. It’s inevitable. “But we must always create alternative public areas to compensate for land lost to private business development on the coast and include environmental retreats where our local flora and fauna can flourish, thereby maintaining our bio-diversity. We shouldn’t dismantle our own green heritage,” he said. Dr Abdullah’s comments to Bahrain Tribune are particularly timely, given that the House of Deputies is now considering a tripartite proposal to safeguard Bahrain’s beaches and coastal areas. http://www.bahraintribune.com/ArticleDetail.asp UAE Environment meet in Dubai from Jan. 29 A six-day global environmental gathering will be organised in Dubai from January 29 to February 3 by the Emirates Diving Association (EDA) in association with the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD). Also collaborating is United Nations Environment Programme, the Regional Office of West Asia (Unep-Rowa). The Dubai Global Youth Environmental Gathering being held for the second time under the sponsorship of DNRD, aims at enhancing the cultural exchange among youths representing the world's continents, besides encouraging environmental tourism and spreading awareness about global environmental issues. “Around 50 participants from 26 countries are taking part in this event including youths aged up to 35 years from Canada, the US, Brazil, Argentina, Kenya, Egypt, Madagascar, Denmark, Croatia, Austria, Bosnia, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Kazakhstan, Australia, Turkey, Pakistan, the UAE, Lebanon, Palestine, Bahrain, Jordan, Britain among others,” said Amnah Mohammed Ali, Head of the Media Section at DNRD. In addition to the individuals participating in the gathering a number of organisations are also taking part including Environment Canada, Unep TUNZA Youth Advisory Council, Unep, Unep-Rowa, Turkey's World Wide Fund for Natur Clean Up the World Ltd-Australia, Centre for Environment & Development for Arab Region and Europe-Egypt, Access for Marine Conservation for All International-UK and Jordan Press Agency, Petra. “The gathering, taking place at the Knowledge Village, will be an international retreat based in Dubai. It will introduce the environmental activities of EDA which is celebrating its 10th anniversary and will facilitate youth exchange in order to create better cultural understanding, besides enhancing the partnership between international and local organisations,” explained Amnah http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Displayarticle.asp?section=theuae&xfile=data/theuae/2005/january/theuae_january706.xml Lebanon Storms cause flood damage along Beirut River BEIRUT: The heavy rain and strong winds afflicting Lebanon since Saturday snapped a bridge in the Karantina area and flooded the Beirut River. At 9.45 pm yesterday, a bridge next to the Beirut Port and the Beirut slaughterhouse near Bourj-Hammoud collapsed due to water pressure. An increase in the level of water in the Beirut River led to high pressure in the river's water bed, causing the bridge's foundations to shift and the bridge to buckle. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=12055 Oman Oman probe into major oil spill Authorities in Oman have launched an investigation into a major oil spill that shut down the Port of Salalah for 48 hours last week. The port continues to operate at half capacity while a full-scale pollution control and clean-up exercise is under way The accident occurred last Tuesday when heavy fuel oil spilled into the harbour when ‘Maersk Greenwich’, a container vessel belonging to Maersk-Sealand, was being fuelled by a bunkering craft. Some three tonnes of fuel leaked into the sea. The spill was blamed on human error on the part of the crew of Maersk Greenwich. Two of the port’s four berths were reopened to marine traffic after about 48 hours, but the remaining berths remain closed for carrying out cleanup operations. Several vessels were diverted to neighbouring ports or advised to remain in anchorage while the port remained closed. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Displayarticle.asp?section=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2005/january/middleeast_january681.xml Yemen Workshop trains environmentalists to enforce Stockholm Convention In cooperation with the UN Training and Research Institute, the Environmental Protection Authority held a workshop Sunday to train 35 workers in the enforcement of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. The 35 representatives of different ecological agencies were taught how to formulate a plan for implementing the provisions of the convention. Opening the three day workshop, EPA President Mahmoud Shedeiwah confirmed that Yemen has made great progress in meeting the provisions of the convention which Yemen ratified last year on January 9. Meanwhile, as many as 70 experts representing different ministries, government agencies, and NGOs discussed on Wednesday the blueprint of a national plan to eradicate chemical pollution.
Le nettoyage est soutenu par le Programme pour le développement des Nations unies (PNUD), qui fournit l'équipement, et des centaines de plongeurs bénévoles. Le PNUD a averti que certains sites avait subi des dommages extrêmement importants et que le sable ramené sur les coraux pourraient tuer les récifs s'il n'était pas enlevé. En Indonésie, les dommages provoqués à l'environnement ont été estimés à 675 millions de dollars, selon Klaus Toepfer, directeur du Programme pour l'Environnement des Nations unies. "Les dernières enquêtes montrent que les conséquences sur l'environnement sont encore plus alarmantes que ce que nous craignions auparavant", a-t-il déclaré. "Il est clair que la reconstruction en cours doit également investir dans le capital environnemental des ressources naturelles - les forêts, les mangroves et les récifs de coraux", a ajouté M. Toepfer.
PARIS (AFP) - Les scientifiques réunis lundi pour la conférence internationale sur la biodiversité ont lancé un vibrant appel aux gouvernements pour qu'ils agissent face à la "sixième grande vague d'extinction des espèces depuis l'apparition de la vie sur terre", selon les mots du président Jacques Chirac.(…..) Le ministre kenyan de l'Environnement, Mme Wangari Maathai, prix Nobel de la Paix 2004, s'est souvenue "enfant, avoir vu les forêts brûler pour créer de nouvelles terres cultivées".
L'érosion de la biodiversité ne sera pas stoppée avant 2010, comme s'y étaient engagés il y a deux ans les signataires de la convention sur la biodiversité (CDB). Adoptée à Rio en 1992, cette convention a été ratifiée par 188 pays mais elle s'est avérée jusqu'alors impuissante. C'est le point sur lequel se sont accordés les intervenants de la première journée de la conférence internationale sur la biodiversité qui se déroule jusqu'à vendredi à Paris à l'Unesco(……………..)Pour hâter la mobilisation sur la biodiversité, Jacques Chirac a souhaité que les scientifiques forment «un réseau mondial d'expertise» à l'image du Groupe intergouvernemental sur l'évolution du climat (Giec) qui est parvenu à un consensus sur le réchauffement. http://www.lefigaro.fr/sciences/20050125.FIG0358.html ____________________________________________________________________________________________ UN Daily News – 24 January 2005 In the headlines: • General Assembly marks 60th anniversary of liberation of Nazi death camps • Preparations continue for UN peacekeeping deployment in southern Sudan • UN envoy holds intensive meetings with Iraqi leaders in run-up to elections • UN envoy in Burundi deplores killing of provincial governor • Annan calls for wide array of contributors to help preserve biodiversity • In week 5 of tsunami disaster, UN help ranges from topography to AIDS • Tsunami shows that children worldwide need safe water and sanitation – UNICEF • Chief UN adviser on Colombia to conclude term in April • UN disaster assessment and aid team goes to flood-stricken Guyana • Nepalese Government, Maoist rebels urged by UN official to respect human rights • Chief of UN anti-narcotics office visits Afghanistan to look at rising opium problem • No improvement in rate of Romanian babies abandoned at birth, UN report finds
24 January - With everlasting regret for the past and "never again" resolve for the future, the United Nations today commemorated the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps, symbol of the Holocaust that slaughtered at least 6 million Jews and others in World War II. “It is, above all, a day to remember not only the victims of past horrors, whom the world abandoned, but also the potential victims of present and future ones,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the 191-member General Assembly during its first-ever special commemorative session, noting that the United Nations itself was born out of the ashes of the Holocaust. “Such an evil must never be allowed to happen again. We must be on the watch for any revival of anti-Semitism and ready to act against the new forms of it that are appearing today,” he added, paying homage, too, to other groups slaughtered by Nazi Germany, including the Roma people, Slavs, Soviet prisoners of war, the handicapped, Jehovah’s Witnesses and homosexuals. “But the tragedy of the Jewish people was unique,” he stressed. “An entire civilization, which had contributed far beyond its numbers to the cultural and intellectual riches of Europe and the world, was uprooted, destroyed, laid waste.” Turning to more recent cases of genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, Mr. Annan declared: “On occasions such as this, rhetoric comes easily. We rightly say ‘never again.’ But action is much harder. Since the Holocaust the world has, to its shame, failed more than once to prevent or halt genocide.” He noted that even today “terrible things” are happening in Darfur, Sudan, where tens of thousands of people have died and nearly 2 million have been uprooted in fighting between the Government, pro-government militias and rebels. Tomorrow, he expected to receive an international report determining whether this constitutes genocide. The commemoration comes three days before the actual anniversary of the liberation by Soviet troops on 27 January 1945 of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp which, with its gas ovens and crematoria, came to epitomize more than any other the horror. Before the day-long session, which began with one minute of silence, Mr. Annan and his wife, Nane, hosted a coffee reception for death camp survivors and other distinguished guests, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
The General Assembly President, Foreign Minister Jean Ping of Gabon, said the session was symbolic because, through it, the international community could finally, together, "exorcise the tragedy of the Holocaust and, by so doing, express its firm will to condemn to eternal failure tyranny and barbaric behaviour wherever that was displayed." Brian Urquhart, a former UN Under-Secretary-General who was among the first Allied troops to reach the Bergen-Belsen death camp, told the session the inhuman conditions of the starving, broken and traumatized prisoners had to be seen to be believed. "The dead and dying were everywhere," he said. "Who could imagine such horrors?" Like many other speakers, he raised the rallying cry of "never again." Mr. Wiesel said Auschwitz was "an executioner's ideal of a kingdom of absolute evil and malediction." But he looked to the present and future, too, calling for the trial and punishment of those who today preach and practice the cult of death and use suicide terrorism. "The past is in the present, but the future is still in our hands," he declared. For his part, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said it was not too late to work for an international community that is uncompromising in combating intolerance against people of all faiths and ethnicities. "Let all of us gathered here pledge never to forget the victims, never to abandon the survivors, and never to allow such an event ever to be repeated," he urged. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said the UN was ideally suited for genocide prevention since no other organization had so much experience in conflict prevention and the promotion and protection of human rights. "Precisely because genocide never happens entirely without warning, we have to work on combating its harbingers," he declared. Ambassador AG Ravan Farhadi of Afghanistan, speaking on behalf of the Asian Group, said while the General Assembly was commemorating the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, it was high time, based on the lessons learned from that tragedy, to emphasize the central role of the United Nations in ensuring a system of genuine global security and promoting human rights and general human progress, in the face of the new threats and challenges. Speaking on behalf of the Eastern European Group, Ambassador Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria said the Holocaust was a vivid example of the fact that when one minority was persecuted all minorities were threatened, and when all minorities were threatened everybody was threatened. Remembering that political and, above all, moral catastrophe of the past was the best way to fight the evils of the present, he added. Ambassador Manuel Acosta Bonilla of Honduras, speaking on behalf of the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean States, said it was important to ensure that genocide and other crimes against humanity and international humanitarian law must be confronted with comprehensive and powerful global legal measures. To that end, the creation of an international legal system and the fact that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had been established had been important steps towards achieving that goal. "We cannot leave such tragic and dark legacies to our children," he said. Portuguese Ambassador João Salgueiro, speaking on behalf of the Western European and Other States Group, called on the Assembly to once again renew the vows of its foundation, "in particular to reaffirm our faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of all men and women and of all nations large and small." Guinean Ambassador Alpha Ibrahima Sow also spoke on behalf of the African Group. After the session, Mr. Annan and Mr. Shalom were to formally open an exhibition entitled "Auschwitz - the Depth of the Abyss" in the northeast gallery of the General Assembly Visitors' Lobby. The exhibit is comprised of two parts: the Auschwitz Album, consisting of the only surviving visual evidence of mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau from photos taken in May or June 1944 by an SS man of the selection process in which the fit were sent to work and the rest to the gas chambers; and Private Tolkatchev at Gates of Hell, the paintings by Ukrainian artist Zinovii Tolkatchev of the horrors of Majdanek extermination camp. 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 320.87 Kb. Share with your friends:
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