The environment in the news wednesday, 15 August 2007 unep and the Executive Director in the News
Dozens of Hawksbill hatch on island
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- Green diesel available at UAE petrol stations
- Solar car makes stop in Beirut on world tour
- ‘Lake Tiberias water not polluted’
Dozens of Hawksbill hatch on islandAbu Dhabi: A batch of 58 Hawksbill turtles has hatched safely on Saadiyat Island off Abu Dhabi under a programme implemented by the Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) and undertaken by the Emirates Heritage Club (EHC). The findings and recommendations from the monitoring programme form key inputs to the planning process for Saadiyat Island, which is being transformed into an international residential, tourism and cultural hub. "Our aim is to ensure that development does not disturb the natural habitat or wildlife of the island," said Nasser Al Shaiba, Environment Affairs Director, TDIC. The Hawksbill turtles live in the coastal shallows offshore Saadiyat Island. http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10146733.html Green diesel available at UAE petrol stationsABU DHABI — Green diesel is now available at the petrol stations of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), and Emirates General Petroleum Corporation (EMARAT), Dr Salim Al Dhahiri, director-general of the Federal Environment Agency (FEA), has said. Major national oil companies began distributing the ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD) from July 1 to implement the Federal Cabinet Resolution No 34 of 2006 regarding introduction of diesel of approved specifications.
Driver aims to promote alternative energyBEIRUT: Amid a journey around the world with a solar energy vehicle, Switzerland's Louis Palmer arrived in Beirut to promote clean sources of energy. "For the first time in history, we are driving a car, powered by solar energy, around the whole world, Palmer told The Daily Star, near his car parked on Fouad Chehab street. "We will report daily, how people are trying to stop global warming in the different countries of this world, and we want to show that solutions are available and everybody can be part of the solution" he said. Amid the European Sustainable Energy Forum 2007, held in Luzern, Switzerland from July 2 to 6, the solar taxi set off on its pioneering journey. Palmer is expected to end his tour later this year at the original Swiss departure city. So far, Parmer has crossed the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Syria, before coming to Lebanon. He will later continue on to Jordan. "The journey will last around 15 months with a goal to cover at least 50,000 kilometers. I will visit 50 countries and five continents," Palmer said. Bertrand Picard, who intends to fly around the world in his solar plane "Solar Impulse" in 2011, was the first passenger on board, accompanying Palmer on the first stage of his journey. People he met so far along his first phase of the tour showed great interest in the three-wheel car. "Always young people follow me with fingers up," he said. The car has "Use Solar Energy" as its motto in addition to the comments written on its side. In the back a hand-written slogan reads, "If you can, follow me." Palmer said it was written in Turkey by young fans. The "solar taxi" consists of a solar vehicle and a trailer with solar cells. The car was dubbed "Solar" because it is powered 100 percent from solar energy in its journey around the world. The solar powered three-wheel vehicle has a place for an additional person. Palmer makes use of this space to give various passengers a ride along the way - hence the nickname 'taxi.' http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=84517 Jordan ‘Lake Tiberias water not polluted’AMMAN - The Ministry of Water and Irrigation stressed on Tuesday that the water supplied to the Kingdom from Lake Tiberias was not polluted. The ministry issued the statement following reports by the Israeli newspaper Maariv that two beaches on the shores of the lake were closed after they were polluted with sewage. Fecal coliform was present on the beaches at twice the permitted levels, most likely from a sewage leak, according to officials at the Israeli health ministry. Water Authority Secretary General Khaldoun Khashman told Al Rai that water supplied from Lake Tiberias to the King Abdullah Canal, was not contaminated. He said the ministry regularly monitors the quality of water that enters the canal, which receives water from several sources, and can detect any changes in advance. The Kingdom receives one cubic metre per second from the lake in the month of August, according to Secretary General of Jordan Valley Authority Musa Jamini. Jamini said several lab tests are carried out on water coming from Lake Tiberius. http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=1484 ==================================================================== UN DAILY NEWS 14 August 2007 _____________________________________________________________________________ Korean peninsula issues discussed by Ban Ki-moon and DPR Korea ambassador 14 August - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Ambassador Pak Gil Yon of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) met today to discuss peace and security issues affecting the Korean Peninsula. At the meeting held in Mr. Ban’s office in New York, the Secretary-General repeated his support for the Inter-Korea Summit scheduled to be held later this month in Pyongyang between DPRK leader Kim Jong-Il and Republic of Korea President Roh Moo-Hyun. Mr. Ban told Mr. Pak that he hopes it will yield a successful outcome, according to his spokesperson Michele Montas. “In this connection he emphasized the importance of the Six-Party Talks and expressed his hope for a smooth implementation of the February joint statement,” she said. Those talks – which took place in Beijing among the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and the United States – culminated in an agreement on dismantling the DPRK’s nuclear weapons facilities and the return to the country of UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors over four years after they were ordered out after the DPRK withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Last month, IAEA inspectors confirmed that five nuclear facilities in the DPRK have been shut down.
The two agreed to continue dialogue on cooperation in concert with Member States. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr. Ban said he hopes the summit meeting “will provide much firmer and stronger groundwork for the promotion of national reconciliation between the South and North, as well as further expand the scope of exchanges and cooperation, which will eventually lead to common peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.” During the meeting with Mr. Pak, the spokesperson said the Secretary-General also voiced sympathy for the victims of heavy flooding in DPRK and pledged the UN’s continued help in coordinating the aid effort with the international community. In a related development, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that UN agencies were invited by the DPRK’s Government, in a preliminary request for assistance, to jointly survey the situation in the wake of the floods. The assessment mission, in which WFP, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO) participated, today visited one of the four affected provinces. Assessments are expected to continue for two more days to identify the needs of those impacted. UN agencies increase relief effort in South Asia after devastating floods 14 August - United Nations humanitarian agencies continue to step up their relief efforts in the wake of the recent deadly floods across South Asia, distributing food and emergency supplies, vaccinating against infectious diseases and launching public awareness campaigns on the importance of using clean water. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have so far distributed 90 tons of high-protein biscuits in Bangladesh and plan to deliver another 24 tons this week, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters today. In Nepal, also struck by this year’s exceptionally heavy monsoon rains, UNICEF has provided more than 2,000 mosquito nets. In addition, the agency has delivered radio broadcasts in the country’s four regional languages on the need for water purification to prevent the outbreak of diseases. An estimated 45 million people across India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan have been affected by the flooding, with many of them forced to leave their homes. At least 2,200 people have been killed. UNICEF is distributing water purification packs, rehydration packs and water jerry cans in India, where it is also conducting a large-scale vaccination campaign to prevent an outbreak of chicken pox. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has already announced that it is increasing its support of South Asian governments as they respond to the flooding, including by drawing from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Elsewhere, in Sudan, which has been hit by its own recent floods, OCHA now estimates that at least 365,000 people have been affected, and the number of people requiring food assistance is also likely to rise. WFP is providing food rations to some 38,500 people in northern Sudan, the worst-affected region of the country, but also to more than 5,000 people in the south of the vast African nation. The World Health Organization (WHO) has pre-positioned medical supplies in several locations in anticipation of disease outbreaks and has also prepared a plan to prevent further outbreaks of diarrhoea. Lebanon: A year after end of war, UN envoy stresses need to heal political rifts 14 August - Lebanon’s people cannot afford the “fractious political atmosphere” that has emerged during the past year to continue, a senior United Nations official warned today, urging the country’s leaders to prove that they can overcome their differences and serve national interests rather than the agenda of the parties. Geir Pedersen, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, used the first anniversary of the end of the war between Hizbollah and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to caution that the country’s future economic and social progress was being jeopardized by the political deadlock. In a statement which appeared in several Lebanese papers, Mr. Pedersen said “this stalemate has given rise to new dangers. The atmosphere of political division quickly gave way to clashes in January of this year, which turned deadly. More worrying has been the resurgence of sectarian language in many circles.” A new president will have to be elected in the coming weeks and Mr. Pedersen said “this event represents an opportunity” for the leaders of the country’s ruling majority and opposition to rise above their recent disputes. “It is high time that discussions focus on programmes and ideas that address issues of national interest, rather than narrow party agendas,” he said. The Special Coordinator stressed that the responsibility lies with the Lebanese themselves to sort out their differences and determine the path ahead. “There are a number of initiatives to assist the various parties to come together in dialogue and reach mutually acceptable solutions, both on the presidency and the composition of the government. “These efforts will continue, and will be supported to the utmost extent possible by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In all cases, the emergence of two competing governments must be avoided.” Mr. Pedersen also said that Lebanon has made positive but incomplete progress in its reconstruction since the war ended, and that much more work is needed, as well as to ensure a sustainable ceasefire and not just a cessation of hostilities. “Israeli overflights into Lebanese territory will have to stop and Lebanese borders properly secured to prevent arms smuggling. The issue of the Shaba’a Farms is under close study and solid progress has been made towards a provisional determination of the geographical extent of the area.” “Similarly, negotiations to bring about the release of the two Israeli soldiers [captured just before the war began], as well as of Lebanese prisoners, are ongoing, and will hopefully bear results in the near future.” Mr. Pedersen’s comments were echoed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who told reporters today at UN Headquarters that it was vital to restore Lebanon’s political and social stability so that its people could enjoy greater economic prosperity. He called on Lebanese political leaders to ensure that their dialogue with others is as inclusive as possible to promote reconciliation between the country’s different groups. Northern Ugandans want justice for past atrocities, reveals UN study 14 August - A new study by the United Nations human rights office shows that communities in northern Uganda blame both the Government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) for atrocities committed during a more than 20-year conflict, and want those responsible to be held to account. The report, entitled “Making Peace Our Own: Victims Perceptions of Accountability, Reconciliation and Transitional Justice in Northern Uganda,” is based on private interviews with 1,725 victims of the conflict in 69 focus groups in Acholiland, Lango and Teso sub-regions. “Most notably, this research study shows that the population broadly believes that both the LRA and the Government – and specifically their leaders – should be held accountable for the harms they have caused during the conflict,” the report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) found. Participants in the study “repeatedly expressed their need to discover the truth about the past, especially to shed light on the identity of the perpetrators and the nature of the acts that have been committed.” “Sentiments of anger and vengefulness and a desire for prosecution abound in many communities,” the report added. Also, while respondents expressed “an overwhelming desire for reconciliation,” opinions varied on the type of mechanism that would best deliver truth and compensation – both of which were “consistently identified as the principal transitional justice needs of the communities.” Similarly, perceptions on the virtues of amnesty, domestic prosecution, views on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and local or national practices were “greatly mixed” among the victims. “The desire to prevent impunity was, however, consistently present amongst affected communities,” the report stated. The study, which was designed to “amplify victims’ voices,” seeks to contribute to ongoing discussions on how best to redress northern Uganda’s past abuses – a central issue at peace talks between the Government and the LRA. According to the report, current negotiations, being held in Juba in southern Sudan, represent the “best-ever opportunity for lasting peace.” Thousands of people have been killed and an estimated 1.5 million others have become displaced in Uganda or in neighbouring countries since the LRA insurgency began in 1986. During that time, the rebel group has become notorious for abducting children and then using them as soldiers or porters, while subjecting some to torture and allocating many girls to senior officers in a form of institutional rape. In October 2005 the ICC issued its first-ever arrest warrants against Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, and four of the group’s commanders – Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and Raska Lukwiya – on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. UN appeals for funds to help Burundian refugees return home from Tanzania 14 August - United Nations agencies appealed to donors today for at least $20 million for increased food aid to help many of the 149,000 Burundian refugees in camps in Tanzania to return home, warning that without more funding the initiative may collapse. “Unless new contributions arrive now, we will have to cut rations across the board to everyone we assist or face a complete break in supplies in December,” UN World Food Programme (WFP) Burundi Country Director Gerard van Dijk said. Burundi, recovering from decades of devastating ethnic war, is one of the first nations referred to the new UN Peacebuilding Commission that seeks to prevent countries emerging from conflict from slipping back into bloodshed. “While security has improved significantly in Burundi, refugees say that with improved food security, there would be better prospects for return,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) country representative Bo Schack said, echoing WFP’s appeal. “The increased food package is an important step in our joint effort to help returnees reintegrate in their home communities. We are appealing for strong donor support for this initiative.” Without new funds, both the returnee rations and food aid for 815,000 other hungry Burundians are in jeopardy. WFP urgently needs $20 million to continue its work in the small Central African country, one of the poorest and least developed in the world. Since April, WFP has provided a four-month food ration to returnees from Tanzania. The agency and its partner Caritas, a non-governmental organization, will now provide a six-month ration, helping families through their first difficult months before their first harvest in their homeland. “We hope that this larger ration will speed up the pace of returns to Burundi this year,” Mr. van Dijk said. It is “particularly worrying that we are in a funding crunch at the same time as the Government of Tanzania is pushing for more refugees to return home,” he added. “We need to be able to tell families considering a return that they can count on food and other aid to help them.” Returning refugees receive a two-month ration as they start their journey in Tanzania, and can then use vouchers to collect the remaining four-month entitlement close to their homes. Forty-five permanent distribution centres and 72 mobile distribution facilities have been set up in the provinces. In a similar bid to boost repatriation, UNHCR introduced a cash grant in July. Each returnee receives the equivalent of almost $50 upon arrival to buy essential goods. Some 6,000 refugees have returned since the launch of the cash initiative, more than half of the over 10,000 returnees since the beginning of the year.
UNPol, together with the national police and the International Stabilization Force, remains fully deployed to stop any violence in the country, which the UN helped shepherd to independence from Indonesia in 2002. In Dili today, UNPol attended to six incidents, none of which was major. Yesterday in Dili district, there were isolated incidents of rock throwing, concentrating around the airport and Metinaro. Three people were arrested and there were no reports of injuries. Political leaders have been travelling to the east of the country to condemn the recent violence. Two days ago in Baucau, leaders of the former ruling party FRETILIN told supporters that local village and sub-village chiefs will be held responsible for any violence that occurs in their area. In Viqueque a high-ranking FRETILIN official met with supporters and urged them not to commit any violent acts. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Atul Khare has said the violence was “regrettably” being committed by people claiming allegiance to FRETILIN. The UN enhanced its peacekeeping and policing roles in Timor-Leste after violence attributed to differences between eastern and western regions broke out in April and May last year, killing at least 37 people and forcing 155,000 others, 15 per cent of the population, to flee their homes. Experts prepare for UN conference on global warming 14 August - One thousand representatives from governments, business and industry, environmental organizations and research institutions will gather in Vienna at the end of this month to set the stage for a major United Nations conference in December on further reducing the greenhouse gases from human activity blamed for global warming. The conference in Bali, Indonesia, from 3 to 14 December seeks to determining future action on mitigation, adaptation, the global carbon market and financing responses to climate change for the period after the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol. That pact, appended to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), contains legally binding emission reduction targets through 2012. “The discussions in Vienna on possible future emission reduction commitments for industrialized countries, and on strengthened implementation of the UNFCCC, can form the main building blocks of a new climate change regime,” UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said. “What I then hope Bali will agree on is a negotiating agenda over the next two years that will craft an effective, long-term post-2012 regime.” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who will convene a high-level meeting on the issue in New York on 24 September, has said a successor to the Kyoto Protocol must be ready for ratification three years before 2012 to allow time for countries to ratify it. The Vienna meeting from 27 to 31 August – the fourth ‘Workshop under the Dialogue on long-term cooperative action to address climate change by enhancing implementation of the Convention and the fourth ‘Session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments – involves all 191 Parties to the UNFCCC. The UNFCCC secretariat will present results from the analysis of existing and planned investment flows and finance schemes relevant to the development of effective and appropriate international response to climate change. “This analysis is significant because traditional investment needs to be redirected to more climate-friendly and climate-proof alternatives. Failure to achieve changes in investment and financial flows for mitigation will lead to higher emissions, more climate change impacts and larger financial needs for adaptation in the future,” Mr. de Boer said. The latest meetings follow a series of UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports showing unequivocal evidence that world is warming, almost certainly due to human activity, with potentially disastrous effects including more extreme temperatures, new wind patterns, worsening drought in some regions and heavier rainfall in others, melting glaciers and Arctic ice, and rising global average sea levels. UNESCO alarmed by growing violence against journalists in Somalia 14 August - The head of the United Nations body mandated to protect press freedom today voiced grave concern at the growing violence against the media in Somalia following the murder of two journalists and the injuring of a third. “Journalists and media workers provide a service that is essential for any democratic society, a service that becomes all the more vital in societies that are trying to find their way out of strife,” UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said in a statement. “Journalists play an indispensable role in enabling citizens to hold open debate and make informed decisions. There can be no acceptable political or religious reason for attacking the men and women who make possible the fundamental human right of freedom of expression,” he added. HornAfrik Radio journalist Mahad Ahmed Elmi was gunned down by four unknown men on Saturday and Ali Iman Sharmarke, founder and chairman of HornAfrik, was killed in his car by a remotely detonated mine as he returned from his colleague’s funeral. Reuters News Agency Reporter Sahal Abdulle was injured in the blast. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the crimes, the most recent in a spate of attacks against the media which brings to six the number of journalists killed this year in a country that has had no functioning central government since the regime of Muhammad Siad Barre was toppled in 1991. In an earlier statement condemning the attacks, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Eric Laroche called for decisive action to ensure the freedom and safety of the media in the faction-riven country. UN official sounds warning about worldwide supply of clean water 14 August - Water will become the dominant global issue this century, and the availability of its supply could threaten the world’s social stability, the head of the United Nations agency tasked with promoting socially and environmentally sustainable housing has warned. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of the UN Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), told yesterday’s opening of the Stockholm World Water Week that rapid urbanization is placing enormous pressure on the availability of clean water and other natural resources, especially for the poor. She called for “a fundamental change” in the way the world approaches water and sanitation to ensure that enough clean water remains affordable for all for future generations. “There is a need to arrive at a consensus on how the soaring water demands of the cities and towns of the world could be met without compromising the needs of the future generations,” she said at a symposium held in the Swedish capital. UN statistics indicate that, for the first time in history, this year more people live in cities than in rural areas – and that by 2030 the global urban population will reach 60 per cent. “Homo sapiens are slowly becoming homo urbanus,” Ms. Tibaijuka said, adding later that “urbanization is a reality that we must face and turn to our advantage as cities are the centres of economic and social development.” She decried what she called “the myth that the poor cannot afford to pay for water. In reality, the urban poor are rarely connected to municipal supplies, and pay exorbitant prices for water to private vendors, from four times to a hundred times more than their affluent neighbours, who get subsidized water piped to their homes.” Ms. Tibaijuka urged policymakers to work together more closely to ensure that there are realistic pricing policies for water “that will allow its conservation, discourage waste, and ensure that the poor will be able to meet their basic needs at a price they can afford.” The UN-HABITAT chief said “the current level of investment in water and sanitation in developing countries remains woefully inadequate,” and she recommended that such nations examine new and innovative approaches, including more local community and private sector involvement. “The private sector can bring significant efficiency gains and the much needed investment funds to the water sector,” she said, noting that one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is a commitment to halve by 2015 the proportion of people who do not have safe access to water and basic sanitation. The impact of climate change, and its apparent threat of more extreme weather phenomena, further jeopardized the urban poor’s access to safe, drinkable water and reliable sanitation, Ms. Tibaijuka said. UN-backed conference to tackle needless deaths during pregnancy and childbirth 14 August - With a woman somewhere in the world needlessly dying every minute during pregnancy and childbirth, the United Nations is participating in a landmark conference in October to bring an end to millions of maternal deaths globally. More than 2,000 participants – delegates from over 75 countries including senior government officials and cabinet ministers, heads of UN agencies and other organizations, health professionals, economists and reproductive health advocates – will convene at the Women Deliver conference to be held from 18-20 October. The event “will call attention to a tragedy that is not often registered, and will push all concerned to take action,” said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
This year marks the midpoint of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight targets to slash a host of ills by 2015, one of which is the goal of bolstering maternal health. Organizers include UNFPA, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, several government agencies, and dozens of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). 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 361.33 Kb. Share with your friends:
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