The environment in the news wednesday, 22 August 2007 unep and the Executive Director in the News
Today’s THV : Study Seen As Conservation Wake-Up Call
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- The Age : Australia turns up the heat on climate change
Today’s THV : Study Seen As Conservation Wake-Up CallPHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A new study of the demise of the ancient city of Angkor is a wake-up call for Cambodia to be more vigilant in its efforts to conserve the site, an official said Wednesday. The study in this week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that Angkor was far larger than previously thought, incorporating an elaborate water management network of nearly 400 square miles and rice paddies to feed more than 1 million people. Researchers discovered, however, that the complex was too vast to manage and could have contributed to the civilization's decline. The extending rice fields resulted in serious ecological problems, including deforestation, topsoil degradation and erosion. Soeung Kong, deputy director-general of the government agency managing the site, said that what happened to ancient Angkor "appears to be repeating itself now" due to over-exploitation from tourism, highlighting the current challenges in managing and conserving the temples. "The findings are eye-opening for us. They awake us to a greater need for safeguarding (the ancient city)," he said. The study, led by Damian Evans of Australia's University of Sydney, revealed that Angkor was "the world's most extensive preindustrial low-density complex" during its zenith between the 9th and 14th centuries — far larger than previously thought. Using airborne imaging radar data acquired in 2000 by NASA, the researchers produced a "comprehensive and up-do-date" digital map of the area, which has been long obscured by jungle. They detailed tens of thousands of individual features of the site across nearly 1,200 square miles, Evans said in a statement on his university Web site. "It shows conclusively that Angkor was a vast and populous network of agricultural and settlement space covering much of the Siem Reap area, and stretching far beyond the well-known temples of the central archaeological park," he said. But the complex's size led to ecological problems that could have doomed the civilization, the researchers found. That conclusion supports a theory in the early 1950s by Bernard-Philippe Groslier, a prominent French archaeologist, that the collapse of Angkor stemmed from over-exploitation of the environment. Soeung Kong said similar problems exist today. Impoverished Cambodia has relied heavily on the Angkor temples to earn much-needed tourism revenue. But in recent years, conservationists have expressed concerns about stress to the monuments, including the famed Angkor Wat, from the ever-increasing number of visitors. They also fear that the unrestricted pumping of underground water to meet the rapidly rising demand of hotels, guesthouses and residents in the provincial town may be undermining Angkor's foundations, destabilizing the earth beneath the temples so much that they might sink and collapse. Evans said the mapping of the area found delicate traces of great archaeological significance, such as ponds, occupation mounds, field patterns and signs of local shrines, still remaining on the ground surface today. But he warned that they "are under serious threat from uncontrolled development in the Siem Reap area." He said his group has recently given the digital mapping database to Cambodia's government to use in taking appropriate and effective measures to safeguard the archaeological landscape. http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=51446 ……………………………… The Age : Australia turns up the heat on climate changeAlexander Downer, August 21, 2007 CLIMATE change is a serious global challenge. The Government has taken serious measures domestically to tackle it and is a respected and committed participant in international efforts to fight climate change. Australians should be proud of what we are achieving at home to meet the climate change challenge. Since 1996, the Government has invested some $3.4 billion on climate change measures. Last month, Prime Minister John Howard announced that every school would be eligible for help to install solar hot water systems and rainwater tanks. Australia was the first in the world to announce plans to ban inefficient light bulbs. We have already co-funded with business some $3 billion worth of clean technology projects. These include the world's largest solar power station and the world's largest carbon sequestration project. We are the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to commit to an emissions trading system and, unlike almost all other countries, Australia will meet the target we pledged at Kyoto through national actions alone. The actions we have taken to curb emissions are vital. But Australia's emissions are less than 2 per cent of global emissions. Climate change demands an effective and enduring global response. The Kyoto Protocol is not it. Kyoto covers barely a third of global emissions. Kyoto requires nothing of big developing economies in our region. And as these economies grow, Kyoto only becomes less effective. Indeed, by 2012, under Kyoto, global emissions will actually rise — 41 per cent over 1990 levels. Kyoto is not the panacea for global warming the Opposition pretends. We have led calls for a new global agreement that sees all big emitters act. We want those negotiations to be launched at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in December. Despite some false claims to the contrary, Australia has a central role and is an active participant in the UN convention. We are the permanent chair of the Umbrella Group, a caucus of 10 developed countries that includes Japan and the US. And we co-chair the UN dialogue on future climate change action. Most developed countries have come to agree with Australia's view that we need to move beyond Kyoto to forge a comprehensive agreement that leads to a global reduction in emissions. The Government wants global action. We warmly welcome the recent US initiative inviting countries to work on a common approach towards climate change. I intend to represent Australia at the first meeting of major economies to be hosted by the US in Washington next month. We also appreciate that getting all 192 UN members to agree is a painstaking task. The urgency of the problem means we can ill afford to pin all our hopes on an eventual UN solution requiring the endorsement of every country, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. I will be delighted when, and if, this happens but, unlike the Opposition's starry-eyed and singular approach, the Government supports immediate practical co-operation, in addition to the UN effort. The second pillar of our international approach has been to make climate change the key focus for the APEC leaders summit in Sydney. Climate change is much more than an environmental issue — it's an economic one. That's why, when US President George Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao and other leaders come to Sydney, climate change will be at the heart of discussions. APEC comes at a crucial moment and we see it as a big step in building a global consensus on the way forward. The third pillar is our effort to drive co-operation on low-emissions technology through the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP6). The partners, which represent more than half of global economic activity, have agreed on more than 90 collaborative projects in emerging clean technologies. Australia has allocated $100 million to these projects. We look forward to the next AP6 ministerial meeting in India later this year. The fourth pillar is the Government's action to avoid deforestation in developing countries through our $200 million Global Initiative on Forests and Climate. Net deforestation contributes about 20 per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions and we must act to stop this deforestation. Last month I co-hosted with Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull a successful forests and climate meeting in Sydney, which more than 65 countries attended. The fifth pillar is our bilateral work with the US, China and other key countries to advance practical climate change responses. Last year, Mr Howard and Premier Wen Jiabao established a high-level bilateral group on clean coal technologies. The Government is also harnessing Australia's aid program to tackle climate change. Climate change is a serious challenge. It will not be solved by adherence to failed strategies or the the kind of empty political posturing we have seen from the Labor Party on this subject. Only the Howard Government has the experience and the international credibility to deliver a meaningful climate change solution for Australia. http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/australia-turns-up-the-heat-on-climate-change/2007/08/20/1187462177433.html .................................................. 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