Oil price plunges .53 a barrel

Oil price plunges $4.53 a barrel

The Globe and Mail

March 17, 2008 at 3:59 PM EDT

NEW YORK — Oil fell more than 4 per cent on Monday as speculators sold oil futures to raise cash and cut their exposure to commodities amid a broader decline in world financial markets.

Global markets fell sharply on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to take over stricken investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. for a rock-bottom price of $2 (U.S.) a share.

U.S. crude tumbled $4.53 or 4.11 per cent in its worst single day percentage decline in more than seven months to settle at $105.68 a barrel. London Brent crude settled down $4.14 at $101.75 a barrel.

“In this environment, cash is king. People will be trimming back portfolios to levels that they are more comfortable with,” said Citigroup energy futures analyst Tim Evans.

JPMorgan agreed on Sunday to buy Bear Stearns after its smaller rival ran into a severe liquidity crunch late last week. At the same time, the U.S. Federal Reserve expanded lending to securities firms for the first time since the Great Depression in an attempt to shore up confidence.

Oil traded in a wide range on Monday between a record high of $111.80 to as low at $103.23 a barrel as investment funds sold off holdings.

Oil prices could come under further pressure, analysts said, as refined products prices have fallen sharply, making it less profitable for refiners to turn oil into fuel.

The benchmark U.S. RBOB (reformulated gasoline blendstock for oxygen blend) gasoline futures contract crashed down 18.52 cents or 6.89 per cent to settle at $2.5042 a gallon, dragging the price of RBOB gasoline below that of crude oil for the first time as U.S. gasoline stockpiles have risen to 15-year highs.

Crude oil prices have risen more than over 16 per cent this year, driven in part by speculators buying oil to hedge against inflation and the falling value of the U.S. dollar.

However, analysts say the dollar-trading play could be running out of steam as the near collapse of Bear Stearns has shifted investors' focus to the worsening prospects for the global economy, which could undermine demand for commodities.

“Forget about the talk about the dollar,” said Harry Tchilinguirian with BNP Paribas. “The correction we see now will be very similar to the one we had in January-February, with the equity market dragging everything down.”

Ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have repeatedly said high oil prices are not related to fundamentals, but are the result of speculation and the U.S. dollar's fall.

“There is no problem at all with world oil inventories,” Kuwait's acting oil minister Mohammad al-Olaim said in comments published by state news agency KUNA on Monday.

Some oil executives have also said fundamentals of supply and demand do not explain oil price strength.

“From the physical point of view, there is no high alarm,” Royal Dutch Shell's chief executive officer Jeroen van der Veer said at a news conference. “It's difficult to understand why the oil price is where it is.”

The Cassandras of global warming blame President Bush for running a faith-based, not science-based, presidency. But it's Mr. Bush's successor who, by embracing the fight against global warming, will have to make the greatest leap of faith.

All three viable candidates for the presidency -- Sens. John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama -- have endorsed a so-called cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions.

That isn't just a sharp turnabout from the current administration's policy; it also could herald the biggest new regulatory initiative to be adopted in the U.S. in decades.

The idea is a response to strong science showing carbon emissions contribute to the earth's warming. There's no science, however, that can accurately predict how much economic pain will be caused as a result of their proposals. An analysis published Friday by the Bush administration concluded that carbon emissions could be capped without significantly harming the nation's economic growth over the next two decades. But the report also found that such a step could lead to sharp increases in electricity and gasoline prices.

All three presidential hopefuls would cap emissions at a certain overall level. Anyone wishing to emit more than their cap would have to buy pollution permits from someone emitting less. The total number of permits would be ratcheted down over time. Sens. Clinton and Obama both say they would cut emissions 80% by the year 2050. Sen. McCain aims for a slightly lower 65% target.

Whether these goals can be met without dire economic dislocation is a matter of conjecture.

Last week, at The Wall Street Journal's ECO:nomics conference, optimists abounded. The business executives, entrepreneurs and policy experts who gathered in Santa Barbara, Calif., for the two-day conference mostly thought new technologies could make the task a relatively painless one. Seventy-five percent of those in attendance said the candidates' goals were "feasible"; only 25% said they weren't.

The consensus was that a cap-and-trade system would spark innovation that Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist John Doerr called "the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century."

The optimists may be right. But it's prudent to consider the possibility that they might be wrong.

Let's be clear: a carbon cap-and-trade system is really just a tax, of indeterminate size, by a different name. In effect, it taxes carbon emitters however much it takes to achieve the emissions goal.

Sens. Clinton and Obama have rejected calls from utilities and other businesses to "allocate" the initial polluting rights based on a company's current emissions. Instead, they want to auction off all the pollution rights, making the worst polluters pay a bundle just to keep operating. (Sen. McCain is less clear on this point.)

In the end, of course, consumers will pay this bill, as business passes the costs on. The result could be a heavy new burden on people already feeling the pain of stagnant wage growth and soaring energy prices.

For now, that pain may seem pretty hypothetical to most voters. They are willing to give candidates kudos for getting serious about global warming. At the same time, candidates are using the tens of billions of dollars they hope to raise from auctioning off permits to hypothetically pay for other costly campaign proposals.

That's a neat trick, but probably not a wise one. Any money raised from auctioning off emission rights ought to be devoted to solving the energy problem, encouraging basic research and cushioning the blow for displaced workers and disadvantaged consumers.

Is there an alternative to what the candidates are proposing? If you believe the Earth's future is seriously endangered, probably not. Certainly, the status quo isn't very satisfactory, as carbon-dioxide emissions continue to grow at a startling rate.

General Electric Chief Executive Jeff Immelt told the conference that current government policy, with its mish-mash of unfocused subsidies and contradictory state and federal policies, is a "certain kind of hell." Others in the audience echoed his sentiment.

But with a carbon cap now likely, it's probably time for everyone to be more honest about the costs and the downside economic risks. Obama adviser Jason Grumet came closest when he told the group: "This is going to require a kind of social commitment the likes of which we haven't seen in this country since World War II."

 

EPA Says Carbon Caps Won't Harm Economy Much                            

By STEPHEN POWER    

The Wall Street Journal                                                    

WASHINGTON -- The leading congressional proposal to control greenhouse-gas emissions could be implemented without significantly harming the nation's economic growth over the next two decades, according to an analysis published Friday by the Bush administration. But the analysis also gives ammunition to critics of the proposal. It predicts gasoline prices and electric prices would rise more rapidly if the government implemented the proposed caps on carbon-dioxide emissions.                                                              

ROLAC MEDIA UPDATE

The tip of the iceberg of these tensions emerged earlier this month when the Superior Court of Justice of Corrientes Province ordered the immediate demolition of a 27-kilometer embankment that had been built by forestry companies, without environmental impact studies, in the Esteros de Iberá Nature Reserve.

The reserve, created in 1983, covers 13,000 square kilometers, which hold shallow lagoons, marshes, grasslands, jungles and palm forests that are habitat for 125 species of fish, 40 amphibians, 60 reptiles and 344 types of birds.

It is home to the aguará-guazú (Chrysocyon brachyurus), the Guaraní term for the maned wolf, the largest of the South American canids, and to two highly endangered species: the neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis), and the Pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus).

But about 60 percent of the reserve is in private hands, and 90 percent of that portion is non-floodable lands. Their owners are ranchers, foresters, and rice growers. The remaining 40 percent is public domain, and water covered.

This has put the farmers and ranchers on the defensive, out of fear that their activities will be restricted, as ecologists call for tighter government controls for this unique, dynamic and fragile area.

On the side of the environmentalists is The Conservation Land Trust (CLT), an organization founded in 1992 by the U.S. millionaire Douglas Tompkins, who is acquiring land in and around the reserve with the stated goal of donating it to the government and expanding the Iberá protected area.

"They have already acquired 130,000 hectares but it won't be donated until its preservation is ensured," biologist Sofía Heinonen, director of CLT's wetlands conservation project, told Tierramérica. "We hope to do so in less than 20 years," she added.

Meanwhile, CLT is fomenting activities to raise awareness among the local population and to strengthen the institutions that should be monitoring the reserve. In that context, it supported the lawsuit that a resident filed in 2005 against the illegal construction of the embankment.

Bruno Leiva, resident of Paraje Yahaveré, denounced the company Forestal Andina for building a one-kilometer wall in the wetlands without first conducting an environmental impact study. The court ordered the wall to be removed, but then came the appeals process -- and construction continued in the meantime.

"The zone is very low lying and the embankment makes it so there is either no water at all or that it floods much more than always," Leiva told Tierramérica. "In the town we are 14 families, and if I hadn't filed the suit, anyone else would have, because it is closing us in," he added.

By the time the case reached the Superior Court that issued its ruling this month, the embankment was 27 km long. The Corrientes Institute of Water and Environment (ICAA), with authority to monitor and police in the reserve, never ordered a halt.

"Since 2005 we have been demanding that the ICAA to verify the existence of an environmental impact study for the embankment and it never did," said Leiva's attorney Patricia McCormack, who works as a legal consultant for CLT.

As a result, McCormack has also denounced the ICAA functionaries for failure to comply with their oversight duties.

The ruling was applauded by the foundations Proteger, Vida Silvestre and Environment and Natural Resources, among others.

The attorney is preparing more cases against other embankments built without environmental impact statements, and against rice growers for the contamination their paddies cause the marshes.

"They take water from the lagoons without use permits or paying the required feeds, and they aren't subjected to ICAA controls despite utilizing chemicals that affect water quality," she said.

CLT's strategies run into resistance from Iberá Patrimony of the Correntinos, an organization of agricultural producers who accuse Tompkins of carrying out a foreign takeover of Iberá lands.

"I worked 14 years at the National Parks Administration, and I decided to join CLT because I know the percent set by Tompkins's donation for Monte León," said Heinonen, referring to the 62,000 hectares the U.S. philanthropist purchased and donated in the southern province of Santa Cruz.

"Nothing indicates any hidden intentions in the effort from Tompkins. His conduct was demonstrated in the donation that made possible the Monte León National Park," said Jorge Cappato, head of the Fundación Proteger, active throughout the northeast of Argentina.

"Agricultural and forestry activity in that region must follow territorial regulations," Cappato said in a Tierramérica interview.

The problem is that some companies "want to utilize the area to ultimately plant soybeans or eucalyptus inside the reserve, and that can't be allowed."

Glycerin, a byproduct of biodiesel, currently is an environmental and economic problem for the pioneering companies in the production of plant-based fuel in Brazil and other parts of the world. It can't be dumped, because it would harm the environment, and its storage racks up additional costs.

But what has been a problem is now driving the search to develop new industrial uses of this multi-purpose raw material. Petrochemistry is its principal destination.

"Green propane" already exists -- the raw material of many plastic products -- and its patent belongs to a partnership between the governmental enterprise Nova Petroquimica and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), which is opening the way for replacing the petroleum derivatives used in the plastics industry.

"We have glycerin available in sufficient quantities" to develop this "sustainable path", Pedro Bóscolo, technology manager of the company, told Tierramérica.

Brazil adopted an obligatory mixture of two percent biodiesel in vehicles that run on diesel fuel, B2. This produces a byproduct of 105,000 tons of glycerin per year, according to Bóscolo.

That will be multiplied by 2.5 in 2013, when the country's standard will be B5, with a five percent biodiesel mix, which while allow large-scale industrialization that is also favored by lower price of the raw material.

Brazil consumes 30,000 to 40,000 tons annually of glycerol, the technical name for pure glycerin, which is also a byproduct of the soap industry. It is used in the production of cosmetics, foods, dyes and pharmaceuticals.

For now, glycerin -- nearly 10 percent of the biodiesel produced -- is "an environmental liability" because in rivers it causes the proliferation of plants and bacteria that use up oxygen, killing fish, Claudio Mota, professor at the UFRJ Chemistry Institute, which coordinates green propane research, told Tierramérica.

Burning it is also harmful because it emits acrolein, a carcinogen, and the direct use as fuel could damage equipment, given that the glycerin comes out of the process with impurities, said the researcher. The biodiesel companies are storing it in hopes that a solution can be found, and there have already been reports of glycerin spills into rivers.

This situation pushed UFRJ and Nova Petroquimica to seek ways to make use of the product. Propane was chosen because it is the raw material for many industries in this country, produced from a waste product "and which does not require the cultivation of additional land in competition with food," said Bóscolo.

With the product patented, its current phase is to develop a pilot plant at UFRJ, followed by a slightly larger plant at Nova Petroquimica, before launching large-scale production in 2013.

There is no patent for green propane in Europe, which has long produced more biodiesel than Brazil, and as such has much more glycerin available.

Glycerin had a limited market because it was seen has a costly product, Marcelo Parente, director of the Brazilian Bio-Energy Enterprise (EBB), told Tierramérica. But the byproducts of biodiesel change that scenario.

However, industrialization requires a complex purification process, to which the EBB has dedicated itself, having already obtained "prepurified" glycerin that is of great interest to industry because it reduces costs.

"It's a step towards bi-distillation" for sectors like petrochemistry, said Parente, whose father, Expedito Parente, invented biodiesel 30 years ago and developed biokerosene, a jet fuel made from vegetable oils.

The uses for glycerin continue to multiply. In pesticides it improves efficiency and sprayability, improving adherence to leaf surface, Parente said as an example.

A vehicle assembly company wants to use it in the systems to prevent engines from overheating, substituting it for a petroleum derivative.

But now it can even be justified to exploit glycerin's energy potential. One of its oxygenated derivatives can improve the octane level of gasoline with a mix of one to five percent, and reduce emissions of the toxic carbon monoxide, the researcher said.

So many products in development are a sign that the errors Brazil made since 1970, when it adopted sugarcane ethanol as a gasoline substitute, won't be repeated.

The byproducts, which Mota prefers to call "co-products", could be important for consolidating biodiesel and some oleaginous crops as their principal sources.

At the moment, soybeans predominate in Brazil, despite the low oil output of that crop. Its advantage is the broad production and marketing infrastructure already in place, as well as the great importance of soy bran, which is used as cattle feed.

The obstacles for castor-oil plant are its toxic residues and the excessive viscosity of its oil, said Mota. Furthermore, there is cultural resistance to planting it in some areas of the Northeast, where the government is trying to promote this crop among small farmers, said Parente.

The babaçu, a palm plant abundant in the Northeast and in the eastern Amazon, has the virtue that all of its parts are utilized by the local population. The socioeconomic effects of it being used for biodiesel would also be great, as more than 400,000 poor people make their living by making crafts from its coconuts.
Source: http://www.tierramerica.info/nota.php?lang=eng&idnews=2511
3- Brazil - Fish at Risk of Reproductive Collapse
RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 17 (Tierramérica).- Thirty-two percent of the 142 species of marine fishes in southern Brazilian waters are at risk of reproductive collapse, says a new book.

Along the entire Brazilian coast there are endangered fish species, but the problem is most serious in the south, according to the book, "Nas redes da pesca artesanal" (In the Nets of Artisanal Fishing), published by the United Nations Development Program and the Brazilian Environmental Institute.

The reason is excessive fishing, pollution, expansion of tourism, and the expropriation of land belonging to fisherfolk. "In the south the situation is worse because both industrial and artisanal fishing use nets," Adriane Lobo, UNDP consultant and coordinator of the book, told Tierramérica.

The danger affects 29 percent of the 191 species of the southeast region, 13 percent of the 253 species of the northeast, and three percent of the 74 species of the north.

SANTIAGO, Mar 17 (Tierramérica).- Conatrasal, the Chilean national confederation of salmon industry workers, is demanding that the Navy and the courts investigate the cause of death of a diver who was harvesting salmon at a fish farming operation in the southern region of Aysén.

Conatrasal president Javier Ugarte told Tierramérica that diver Víctor Obando Gallardo, who died Mar. 8, was forced to work despite the fact that the Navy had decreed a ban that day due to bad weather.

Ugarte said that for the past three years they have asked authorities to provide hyperbaric chambers in the region to help divers with decompression. "Aysén is not prepared for the expansion of salmon farming within its territory," said the union leader.

Only three of the 47 forty-hectare farms planned for 2007 were created because the houses necessary were not built, due to a lack of agreement between the Housing Institute and the Agriculture Ministry, the state-run paper "Granma" reported on Mar. 11.

The tree farms are to be given to rural families with use rights since the late 1990s in order to increase and preserve forests.

These agricultural units are "a viable alternative for creating sustainability in desert and arid zones" like those in Guantánamo, Oscar Borges, soil expert from the eastern province, told Tierramérica.

Addressing a technical session at the Twelfth Special COHSOD on children which opened in Guyana yesterday, Dr Nurse cautioned his audience comprising Ministers of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM),  child advocates and  other regional and international stakeholders that by the year 2020,  ten to 14 million people around the world would be at risk to disasters.

Quoting from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report 2007 for which he is the lead author, Dr Nurse noted that current trends indicated that the Caribbean would be experiencing in the next decade an increase in the intensity of hurricanes; severe water crises; frequent outbreaks of several air and water borne diseases, such as an increase in the transmission of dengue fever, as a consequence of the accelerating effects of climate change.

Emphasising that children become extremely vulnerable in emergency situations, Dr Nurse made a strong call for the development of child-centred interventions which should include child friendly shelters and early education of children about the realities of climate change as part of the re-programming process.

According to Dr Nurse, “children need to be taught and not simply be told how to help take care of aspects of their own nutrition and sanitation,” and this education, he said, must start at the early childhood level and continue through to the tertiary level of the education sector in the Caribbean.

He added that in designing such programmes for children, there was a need to consider our vulnerability not just from a national level but as a Community, the CARICOM Secretariat said in a statement.

“While programming for children in the context of climate change and emergencies will require focused site-specific local initiatives, the overall context should be informed by a regional perspective,” the UWI professor asserted.

Dr Nurse pointed out that while we must seek to prevent and minimize mortality in emergency situations, great emphasis should be placed on the long term effects of the aftermath of the disaster.

“While programming must seek to prevent and minimize mortality rate arising from disasters and climate change, it should be emphasized that morbidity and its associated fall-out can impose longer-lasting negative impact on children through displacement, physical injury, disruption in their education and re-adjustment to new environments, “ Dr Nurse reiterated.

The Twelfth Special COHSOD which has its focus on children opened yesterday at the Guyana International Convention, under the theme, Building a Region Fit for Children. 

It has brought together a wide range of regional and international stakeholders and decision-makers, including CARICOM ministers of government, civil servants, child advocates and private sector interests who will focus on progress towards the attainment of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the subsequent establishment of a revised regional Framework of Action for Children. 

Source: http://www.guyanachronicle.com/news.html

7- Mexico - Scientists forecast a storm from climate change

White sand beaches, tropical rain forests and colorful coral reefs -- southern Mexico would appear to have it all.

White sand beaches, tropical rain forests and colorful coral reefs -- southern Mexico would appear to have it all.

But it seems that this area of outstanding natural beauty is also unusually susceptible to danger in the form of costly -- both human and financial -- natural disasters.

This year alone two maximum strength hurricanes passed over the Yucatan peninsula, while extreme floods in the Tabasco and Chiapas regions in October affected half of the region's 2.2 million inhabitants and drew comparisons with the havoc created in the U.S. by Hurricane Katrina.

Both hurricanes and the flood were natural phenomena but scientists and environmental campaigners argue that the force of these devastating disasters is exacerbated by human activity.

The north Atlantic has always been prone to hurricanes. Each season, meteorologists expect the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico to experience between 10 and 20 tropical storms between May and the end of November. But in recent years it has been the intensity of these storms that has surprised analysts. In 2005 there were 15 storms classified as hurricanes, seven of which were considered 'major', or category 3 or more according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

Some scientists believe this escalation in intensity is down to global warming. "Both observation and theory suggest that hurricanes are becoming more intense as the earth warms," says Kevin Trenberth, Head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

Records show that sea temperatures in the band of the north Atlantic where most hurricanes occur have risen significantly since 1994. A rise or fall in surface sea temperature can change a storm's intensity by an entire category, according to Dr Trenberth.

Some scientists have attributed this rise in sea temperature to a natural cycle of warming and cooling known as the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. But tests run on computer models at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where all possible contributing factors can be added or eliminated, conclude that the recent warming of the sea can be related to the dumping of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Dr Trenberth believes that the increasing intensity of hurricanes will conversely result in less storms per year -- a hurricane cools the sea so that there is less likelihood of further storms forming in its wake -- but that the storms that do form will be much more devastating and much more likely to cost human lives.

"Sooner or later [a storm like Hurricane Katrina is] going to happen again," says Dr Trenberth. "It's only a matter of time -- it's quite easy to avoid these storms by chance for a while but sooner or later it will happen again."

Tabasco and Chiapas caught the tail end of one of these storms -- Noel. But the main cause of the floods was two cold fronts which sat over the Gulf of Mexico for several days in late October and early November.

The heavy rain caused the Grijalva, La Sierra, Carrizal and Puxcatan rivers to break their banks, leaving 80 percent of the state of Tabasco under water, 13 people dead and 240 still missing. The Federal Government estimates that half of the region's 2.2 million people were directly affected.

Global warming is partly responsible for the disaster, according to Jorge Escandón, co-ordinator of Greenpeace Mexico's energy and climate change campaign. "At the moment, what we know about hydro-meteorological events is that there will be a major event with major intensity. We have already been told that by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and there are also various Mexican scientists who have modeled these scenarios."

But aside from climate change, Escandón also believes that Mexico's government knew that the state of Tabasco was at risk and did not do enough to prepare for such a scenario.

"The fact is that the government of Mexico published a document on the subject of climate change in 1997 in which the state of Tabasco was singled out as being particularly vulnerable to extreme rainfall.

"You have this since 1997 and the ideal would have been that a degree of adaptation would have taken place. It all suggests a lack of infrastructure."

Escandón believes that the damage in Tabasco and Chiapas could have been considerably minimized, firstly through long-term measures to reduce global warming but also through more immediate actions.

Other human activities also played their part in causing the floods. Deforestation meant that there were not enough trees to soak up surface water, while the Integral Project Against Flooding, set up in 2003 after similarly devastating flood hit the region in 1999, with the intention of building levees and drainage canals along the Grijalva, Carrizal and Samaria rivers was never finished.

Some newspaper reports have highlighted accusations by lawmakers of government corruption, with state officials unable to say where some of the money earmarked for flood prevention has gone.

"The problem of Tabasco is that corruption continues reigning," Francisco Sanchez Ramos, a federal congressman who represents Tabasco, told the LA Times. "Without doubt, this tragedy could have been avoided."

If scientists' predictions play out, this corner of paradise will increasingly experience situations such as the Tabasco floods.

This year Mexico emerged relatively unscathed from the hurricane season -- Ivan and Dean passed over relatively unpopulated areas -- but it seems it is only a matter of time before tragedy strikes again, be it in the form of storms or heavy rains.

The government of Mexico will have to show initiative and prepare for such occurrences if they do not want to be responsible for the loss of lives.

CASTRIES, St Lucia: For nearly ten years the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) in St Lucia has collaborated with many agencies in the area of Business Plannining for Disasters commonly reffered to as Business Continuity Planning.

Through the United States Agency for International Development - Caribbean Open Trade Support [USAID-COTS], NEMO will be hosting two- one day sessions on Business Continuity Planning in St Lucia, March 18 - 19. At the end of the day Agencies will be equipped with the necessay tools to complete a response plan.

The Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Barbados representative office, is designed to facilitate the transition of member countries of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States to compete more successfully in the global economy.

To this end over a four year period, COTS is working with governments, the private sector and non governmental organizations:

1. To enhance private sector growth,

2. Improve the business and investment climate,

3. Increase resilience to natural disasters and

4. Protect the sub-region's biodiversity resources.

Under the Risk Reduction component, COTS will join forces with government, civil society and the private sector to develop and implement programs designed to improve the resilience of the economy to the impacts of disasters. These activities are designed to improve the ability of the countries to prepare for respond to and recover from disaster.

The Disaster Recovery training workshops are designed to share information and generate a commitment to an improved level of Disaster/Emergency planning in general and Recovery planning in particular.

The purpose of the workshop is to deliver appropriate Disaster Recovery training including the preparation of preparedness and response plans to government ministries and private sector entities in Antigua and Barbuda; Grenada; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; St. Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis.

Objectives of the workshop includes -

1. Outline basic procedures for preparing Emergency/Disaster Plans

2. Promote a common understanding of the concept, systems and procedures of Emergency /Disaster Recovery planning

3. Provide templates and outlines of Recovery plans

4. Discuss and clarify the inter-relationship between National Emergency /Disaster Planning arrangements and non-government Emergency/Disaster Recovery arrangements

5. Provide advice and feedback for assessing existing Emergency/Disaster Recovery plans

6. Promote a commitment to intersectoral action to enhance Emergency/Disaster Recovery planning

The desired outcomes will be as follows -

1. A higher level of awareness of the importance of Emergency/Disaster planning

2. Confirmation of the intention to improve contingency planning in all sectors for all major natural hazards

3. Commitment to prepare Recovery plans where such plans are absent or review and update such plans where there exist

4. Acceptance of the need to integrate contingency planning into organizational development arrangements

5. Identification of mechanisms for future collaboration in Recovery Planning among all sectors

2007 was an active year for Saint Lucia as it faced fires, Hurricane Dean and a 7.3 earthquake, all collaborating to illustrate in a tangible manner the need for a Disaster Plan.

CARACAS, Mar 17 (Tierramérica).- Hundreds of liters of red liquid waste were spilled in the waters of the Orinoco River near Ciudad Guayana, 500 km southeast of Caracas and center of heavy industry, including steel, iron and aluminum mills and hydroelectrical production.

The environmental authorities and heads of state and private enterprise remained quiet about the spill, "which is not the first time for the silence, the passivity and the lack of sanctions and preventive measures," Jesús Carrera, activist with the environmental group Biosfera Ecológica, told Tierramérica.

The pipeline that dumped the liquid into the river, near the docks of the aluminum company Venalum, "is one of the 17 polluting discharges that the Orinoco receives at this industrial center, which demonstrates the decline in environmental oversight over more than a decade," says Luis Guzmán, researcher at the University of Guayana.

________________________________________________________________________

Climate change is one of the unfolding calamities of our times. It is our moral responsibility as a country, and as individuals, to address the global threat that may engulf our children.

We are compelled to make difficult choices and change our lifestyles. It is essential that we make changes based on reason, but not group-think. There is a danger that the green herd, in pursuit of a good cause, stumbles into misguided campaigns.

Analysis without facts is guesswork. Sloppy analysis of bad science is worse. Poor interpretation of good science wastes time and impedes the fight against obnoxious behaviour. There is no place for bad science, or weak analysis, in the search for credible answers to difficult questions.

The most troubling recent example of bad science is the allegation, subsequently comprehensively quashed, of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

History is sadly overpopulated with other examples. In 1995 environmental lobbyists obliged Shell, the oil giant, to abandon plans to scupper its Brent Spar platform in the Atlantic and instead tow it to a Norwegian fjord to be dismantled. Break-up came at a high-energy cost, and was subsequently shown to be a greater risk to marine pollution.

Airlines are accused of speeding climate change by fouling the upper atmosphere. But cold analysis of hard facts shows that the damage done is more perceived than real. Imports of cut flowers from Africa were subject to a vociferous consumer campaign because it was assumed that the airfreight cost was scandalous.

A 2007 report showed that imported flowers created just 17 per cent of the carbon emissions of Dutch growers using heated greenhouses. Hilary Benn, as secretary of state for international development, said shoppers should buy African flowers because it helped to sustain African livelihoods.

The environmental benefits of biofuels have been exaggerated. By using land that might otherwise be used to grow edible crops, biofuels have created shortages of food and price rises. Brazilian rainforest is also endangered, as additional land is cleared for food production. Development of genetically modified disease-resistant crops was needlessly impeded by fears that mutant weeds would cause lasting damage. Almost no scientific evidence exists to support the scaremongering.

Wilful ignorance of good science is as depressing as the misinterpretation of bad science. Rising demand for low-carbon energy will be best met from nuclear science. Unfounded fears about the size of nuclear risks, however, threaten the pursuit of this commonsense answer.

Many of those who have demonised plastic bags have enlisted scientific study to their cause. By exaggerating a grain of truth into a larger falsehood they spread misinformation, and abuse the trust of their unwitting audiences. Britain's government may be about to fall for a spurious argument, while simultaneously pandering to wrong-headed populism.

In this case an apparently fair piece of scientific research has been dragooned into the attack. In 1997 David Laist, an American, published a paper suggesting that every year 100,000 sea animals, and one million birds, meet an untimely end thanks to plastic pollution. Dr Laist never suggested this was an incontrovertible fact. But the assertion was, and is, respected as a reasonable estimate. Upon this unassuming foundation, however, is built an edifice of mistaken assumptions. Plastic nets entrap animals and off-cuts from the manufacture of everything from credit cards to watering cans poison or choke. Another piece of work, analysing 243 dead albatrosses, suggests that 90 per cent had come into contact with plastic but only one had died because of a plastic bag.

Plastic bags are objectionable because they make litter, but containers, such as water bottles, are a greater evil because they degrade more slowly. Carbon emissions will only come under control with fundamental shifts in domestic, corporate industrial and agricultural practice. Little good will come from fiddling with the small things while burning issues are ignored.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=211901&Sn=COMM&IssueID=30365

Oman

Oman Wastewater hosts specialists in MBR knowhow

MUSCAT — Oman Waste-water Services Company (OWSC) hosted two leading experts in wastewater recycling technology during a two-day seminar intended to train OWSC staff, including design engineers, managers, and most specifically the plant operators who will be running the company’s future Membrane Bioreactor Technology (MBR) plant. The seminar was held as part of OWSC’s efforts to acquaint its staff with the latest technologies in wastewater treatment and recycling.

The course, conducted by Professor Simon Judd and Dr Bruce Jefferson, provided a valuable introduction to the future of wastewater recycling. Market analyst reports indicate that the MBR market has experienced accelerated growth, and this growth is expected to be sustained over the next decade. As such, this segment is growing faster than the larger market for advanced wastewater treatment equipment and more rapidly than the markets for other types of membrane systems, and the range of commercial technologies and applications is now broader than ever.

The short course, developed by Cranfield University and modified to fit the needs of OWSC staff, brought together relevant biological and membrane treatment operating fundamentals, process design principles, and the latest process developments and operational experiences from around the world. Professor Simon Judd, the course leader, is a leading expert in membrane bioreactor technology, and has authored or co-authored three books based on membrane technology. The second tutor, Dr Bruce Jefferson, is an acknowledged expert in wastewater recycling.

Water Sciences at Cranfield University is an internationally-recognised centre of excellence for applied water and wastewater treatment research and development. The close links of the Centre with industry means that extensive knowledge and experience of the main commercial systems has been gained over the course of the Group’s 16-year MBR research programme.

CHOUF: The Hammana municipality launched a reforestation campaign on Tuesday in an attempt to preserve the area's green spaces and promote tourism there. Hammana Mayor Habib Rizk said the project was launched by the Association for the Support of Civil Peace in Hammana, adding that the group received a number of plants from the Agriculture Ministry.

"We received the plants three weeks ago but we could not have executed the campaign on our own," he said. "We thank all environmental and civil clubs that supported us, in addition to students of the Hammana Secondary School."

Rizk said 350 plants were sowed on Tuesday, and expressed gratitude for the Agriculture Ministry, "which responded to our demand."

"Hammana is not one of those villages which was hit by fires, but it was in dire need of those plants to preserve its vast fields," he said.

"Planting is just a part of the work that should be accompanied by permanent care, including watering and preventing domestic animals from invading planted fields."

"We hope to get the ministry's support in this regard too," he added.

According to Rizk, the campaign will not be the last one.

"As a municipal council, we will work on protecting the environment in Hammana as part of a future plan, enabling the village to recover its role and position on the tourist map in the region," he said.

Representing the Environment Ministry, Georges Akl said: "This campaign is very successful since it increases green spaces in one of the most beautiful Lebanese regions and is based on the civil and municipal community's efforts."

"We should not surrender to the current political stagnation and presidential vacuum; on the contrary, we ought to resist through promoting awareness that is supposed to start with citizens before getting to officials," he added.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=90050

Syria:

Environmental Affair calls for use of Local Energies Sources to Increase Clean Development (Damascus – Syria) “Arabic”

http://www.sana.sy/ara/8/2008/03/18/166340.htm

UAE

Campaign against plastic bags is good

The UAE is no exception in becoming engaged in an effort that would be beneficial to the environment. Bringing about an action policy on the use of plastic bags is an issue that calls for immediate action.

The use of plastic bags across the country and for various purposes has become the norm today. In fact, dependency on such usage has sometimes bordered on the extreme, especially since plastic bags are given away at outlets for free and in many cases in abundance.

But the use of plastic bags has turned into a major problem with ramifications that extend for many generations to come.

Hence, the recent campaign involving government and non-government organisations that aim to reduce the use of plastic bags is welcomed. "My Bag My Earth" campaign - launched in conjunction with Dubai Municipality and International Humanitarian City - estimates an annual use of one billion plastic bags in the country.

The campaign would surely prove to be successful when the public is educated, included in the process, and also given practical alternatives to using plastic.

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