The environment in the news friday, 20 April 2007 unep and the Executive Director in the News
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THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS Friday, 20 April 2007 UNEP and the Executive Director in the News
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_____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Reuters:UN Lauds Al Gore, Environment Leaders at Green Awards {Story also featured in Press TV, China post, News Maxism Scientiffic Americanm Brisbane Times, Sidney Morning Age Ausi, Boston Globe} SINGAPORE: April 20, 2007 SINGAPORE - The United Nations named former US Vice President Al Gore and Olympics chief Jacques Rogge as recipients of environmental awards on Thursday, and urged more action to stop global warming. Only two of the seven winners were present at the ceremony in Singapore to receive trophies made from recycled metal. Gore, a dedicated climate crusader who starred in his 2006 global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", was represented by actress and environmental activist Darryl Hannah. "It has taken too long for global leaders, especially in the United States, to wake up to this fact and respond, but I have hope," Gore said in a speech read by Hannah at the ceremony. Rogge, who was lauded for helping to enforce environmental standards at the Olympic Games, was also not present but told the audience through a video-recording that Beijing, host of the 2008 Olympics, has been asked to "place the bar very high" for environmental standards. "Much more must be done -- we owe this to sport and future generations," he said. Achim Steiner, the UN Environment Programme chief, criticised some governments for appearing ignorant about the effects of global warming. "I am sometimes intrigued by the level of lack of understanding, and some would almost call it ignorance of public policymakers of what we know today," Steiner told reporters before the ceremony, without naming specific governments. The other winners were the Brazilian and Algerian environment ministers, a Jordanian prince, Sweden's Viveka Bohn for leading negotiations on global chemical safety standards, and Elisea Gillera Gozun of Philippines for helping to implement pollution charges in the country. (Additional reporting by Neil Chatterjee) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ________________________________________________________________________
19 April 2007 The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has recognized seven winners of its ‘Champions of the Earth Award’ at a ceremony in Singapore where the agency’s chief praised the activists’ efforts to fight for change. “If we are to shape a new partnership between human-kind and the natural environment upon which all life ultimately depends then we need leaders, we need champions – champions in public life, champions in business and champions in our communities,” said UNEP chief Achim Steiner, who presented the awards on Wednesday evening along with Shn Juay Shi Yan, the current ‘Miss Earth Singapore.’ “The seven winners honoured this evening are from different corners of the planet and drawn from different backgrounds and experiences. But they share a common sense of purpose and of values: namely, to reject the status quo, to persist when others may have failed and faltered and to deliberately seize the opportunities to promote more intelligent ways of managing development,” he said. Actress and environmental campaigner Daryl Hannah, famous for films like “Splash” and her support for renewable energies, received the regional North America Champions prize on behalf of Al Gore, the former United States Vice-President and climate change campaigner. Awards also went to Cherif Rahmani of Algeria, for his work on deserts and desertification; Elisea ‘Bebet’ Gillera Gozun of the Philippines for pushing forward the environmental agenda; Viveka Bohn of Sweden for leadership in chemical safety; Marina Silva of Brazil for protecting the rainforest; His Royal Highness Prince Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan for transboundary cooperation on environmental issues; and Jacques Rogge and the International Olympic Committee for introducing stringent environmental requirements for cities bidding to host the Games. ________________________________________________________________________ News Pakistan: Global corporations need to fight climate change 
SINGAPORE: More global corporations need to get involved in fighting climate change, experts told a major conference in Singapore on Thursday, adding that many companies are already seeing the benefits of environmentally-friendly practices. International businesses have a major role in helping protect the environment, experts said at the start of the UN-backed Business for the Environment Summit. Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said climate change has gained increasing prominence, and companies that adopt environment-friendly policies and standards were likely to gain support from consumers. “If Asian companies are going to succeed as global players, they essentially have to address a global marketplace in which the issue of environmental sustainability is an increasingly important one,” he said. This will translate not only into ethical practices but “is real money in real markets with real consumers.” As an example, the market in Germany for organic food has grown to more than four billion euros a year in fewer than 10 years. Steiner also cited the booming market in energy-efficient light bulbs, and Toyota’s success with “hybrid” cars whose engines combine gasoline power with an electric motor. ________________________________________________________________________ Turkish Press: Business world urged to play role on climate: UN meeting 04-19-2007, SINGAPORE (AFP) An energy-efficient lightbulb. More global corporations need to get involved in fighting climate change, experts have told a major conference in Singapore, adding that many companies are already seeing the benefits of environmentally-friendly practices. More global corporations need to get involved in fighting climate change, experts told a major conference in Singapore Thursday, adding that many companies are already seeing the benefits of environmentally-friendly practices. International businesses have a major role in helping protect the environment, experts said at the start of the UN-backed Business for the Environment Summit. Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said climate change has gained increasing prominence, and companies that adopt environment-friendly policies and standards were likely to gain support from consumers. "If Asian companies are going to succeed as global players, they essentially have to also address a global marketplace in which the issue of environmental sustainability is an increasingly important one," he said. This will translate not only into ethical practices but "is real money in real markets with real consumers." As an example, the market in Germany for organic food has grown to more than four billion euros a year in fewer than 10 years. Steiner also cited the booming market in energy-efficient lightbulbs, and Toyota's success with "hybrid" cars whose engines combine gasoline power with an electric motor. Speakers said energy efficiency is an important contribution that individuals, companies and governments can make to help reduce dangerous carbon emissions. If 30 percent of the world switched to environmentally-friendly lighting, global carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 260 million tonnes (286 million tons), said Martin Goetzeler, chief executive of German lighting giant Osram, which makes energy-saving lamps. The switch to energy-efficient lighting would also slash 460 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity -- roughly equivalent to the annual power consumption of India, he said. US-based Dow Chemical Company has reduced its energy consumption by 22 percent -- more than a self-imposed target -- said David Graham, Dow's vice president for environment, health and safety. Graham added that if the United States trims its energy consumption by 25 percent, "we would completely eliminate the oil coming out of Middle East." Georg Kell, executive director of the United Nations Global Compact, an initiative that brings companies together with agencies to support environmental and social principles, said the compact included only 50 corporations when it began in 2000. While this has expanded to more than 4,000 from 100 countries, the number is only a fraction of the world's 70,000 trans-national corporations, he said. "Clearly, we still have a long way to go to achieve a tipping point and we bet on you the front-runners to help us in this," he said. More than 600 business executives and environment experts from 40 countries are attending the summit -- which ends Friday -- the first major international conference focusing on business and the environment in Asia, according to UNEP. It comes two days after the UN Security Council held a groundbreaking debate on the security implications of climate change as the issue takes on increasing urgency. "Not adopting and adapting to a sustainability approach will increasingly be judged by the markets as ignoring issues which are financially material and in doing so not fulfilling the basic requirements of responsible management," Steiner said. In his opening address, Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Yaacob Ibrahim, said companies now "are being more frequently judged on the basis of their environmental stewardship." Last year, a report commissioned by the British government warned that climate change could bring economic disaster on the scale of the world wars and the 1930s Great Depression unless urgent action was taken. ________________________________________________________________________ Manilla Bulletin: Gov’t perks ket to ‘green’ energy push By MELODY M. AGUIBA SINGAPORE — Government incentives are pertinent in the increasing need to launch technologies that are renewable, energy-efficient, and more ecology-friendly amid the threat of climate change to vulnerable countries of the world like the Philippines face. Since it is obvious that the most severe environmental threat now is the human-induced global increase in temperature, its reversal demands the use of technology by the private sector. But this demands incentives from the government. "Technology holds many keys. It’s they key to our capacity to turning waste into resource, in increasing efficiency by 90 times more. (But) technology needs the right incentives from government. It needs business to do it," Achim Steiner, United Nations Undersecretary General and UN Environment Program (UNEP) executive director, told a press briefing in a presentation of the Champions of the Earth awardees in Singapore. Steiner said UN wants to associate awardees of the Champions of the Earth as key players in stirring private-public sector partnership that leads to the introduction of new technologies. He said technologies like wind power and photovoltaic energy devices that have become more powerful and efficient, ethanol, and energy-saving, longerlife lighting had just taken off in the market which were all results of technical cooperation. Among the Champions of Earth awardees for 2007, Philippine Former Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Elisea G. Gozun tops the list for Asia Pacific for having advocated a public disclosure program called Ecowatch. She also managed the Brown Fund, a financing for environmental initiatives run in a tripartite cooperation between government, business, and civic groups. Gozun told the same press briefing that the technology of turning waste into marine plywood and input in cement-making is now a key component for low-cost housing in the infamous Smokey Mountains in the Philippines. Brazilian Ambassador Paulo Alberta Da Silveira Soares, who is taking the UN award for Brazilian Senator Marina Silva, said biotechnology researches on forest development is helping save one of world¡¯s most biologically diverse forest complex in the Amazon. This is pivotal in discouraging deforestation in the Amazon which, because of Silva’s effort, was already reduced by nearly 40 percent in 2006. Brazilian natural resources too are a rich resource for pharmaceutical products. "We have a National Center for Biotechnology dedicated to the development of research and development of technologies like pharmaceutical products for diseases," he said. Ethanol where Brazil is world leader have multiple benefits including employing five million people in sugarcane alone, environmental enhancement, and national economic benefits (even from export earnings). Brazil , Soares said, also encouraged private sector investments from Indonesia and Singapore on replanting of nature-replenishing eucalyptus trees and from a company, the Petrobas, engaged in alternative renewable energy. Soares said Brazil is also working with the Philippines and other mega-diverse countries like Indonesia and Malaysia in preserving rich natural resources. The Philippines has been identified by studies of Conservation International and the International Union Conservation Network for being a location of the center of the world’s most diverse marine resource within the Verde Island and the Sulu Sulawesi where the highest concentration of marine biodiversity is found. Awardee for Africa, Environment Minister Cherif RAhmani of Algeria , said that very deep man-made diggings in Algeria had created problems on water scarcity, water salinity, health, and the destruction of hundreds of palm trees. But the use of technologies and the political will to implement environmental policies should restore water resources for their beneficial, social welfare use. Rahmani has been recognized for creating the Institute of Deserts in Algeria , rehabilitation of Fort de Tinerkouk, and organization of the Third Festival of Cultures and Civilization of the People of the Deserts. For Europe, the awardee was Viveka Bohn of Sweden who helped spearhead the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). "This (SAICM) important new global policy framework will catalyse and guide efforts to achieve the Johannesburg plan of sound management of chemicals by 2020," UNEP said. Awardees for NORth America was Former US Vice President Al Gore for leading the cleanup on toxic dumps and the formation of the Superfund that held the first hearing on global climate change and led to the drafting of the Kyoto Protocol aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emission. "His critically-acclaimed documentary An Inconvenient Truth based on his presentation on climate change has become the third-highest grossing documentary in the US history," UNEP noted. For West Asia , awardee was Jordan Price El Hassan Bin Talal who has been acknowledged for his transboundary collaboration on the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation. He also led the Royal Scientific Society which advocated water quality management as he also promoted clean and equitable energy production by sharing capital and know-how. ________________________________________________________________________
Georg Kell, executive director of the UN Global Compact, challenged the more than 600 executives attending the Global Business Submit to make "pro-active management of environmental and social issues into a business model that becomes a standard" for others. The compact, started in 2000, is an initiative bringing together companies with the UN and other agencies to support environmental and social problems. It currently has 4,000 members from 100 countries, Kell told the delegates, but worldwide transnationals number 70,000. The meeting came two days after the UN Security Council held a debate on the impact of climate change on conflict. Developing countries objected, maintaining that global warming is not an issue of international peace and order. A UN report released earlier this month warned that billions would face a higher risk of water scarcity and millions would likely go hungry as damage to the Earth's weather from greenhouse gases altered rainfall patters and heightened the risk of drought and flooding. Business executives in Asia were advised of the need to change practices contributing to global warming if they want to succeed in the Western marketplace. "Climate change is not a northern problem," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). "It touches on every sector. " With climate change taken seriously by increasing numbers of people, Steiner said investors and consumers are likely to be attracted to firms that adopt environment-friendly policies. "Not adopting to a sustainability approach will increasingly be judged by the markets as not fulfilling the basic requirements of responsible management," he added. The event, described as the first major international conference focusing on business and the environment in Asia, was aimed at raising corporate environmental responsibility. "If you want to be a global player, these issues will affect your global competitiveness," Steiner said. "Every day we receive new evidence of the harm that human activities are inflicting on the environment," Steiner said. "We face formidable challenges.” Climate change can even have a destabilizing impact on collective security, he said. Delegates focused on market risks and business opportunities resulting from environmental change. "We are seeing rising waters, droughts and floods chasing each other," Steiner said, but "it can never be too late" to tackle the growing threat. Steiner proposed a regulatory framework. Among the companies promoting an eco-friendly product was lighting maker Osram, a wholly owned subsidiary of German giant Siemens. Chief executive officer Martin Goetzeler said in emerging and developing countries, many are still hesistant to replace incandescent lighting systems with energy-saving ones. This is due to the lower purchase price of incandescent lamps despite the energy savings of up to 80 per cent with the alternatives. "There are countries where the question is about affordability," Goetzeler said. Under a clean development mechanism programme, these countries will receive energy-savings lamps free in order to help them reduce carbon dioxide emissions. dpa ry jh ________________________________________________________________________ Agence France Presse :Environnement: Pal Schmitt encourage les efforts de Pékin Pal Schmitt, le président de la commission Sports et Environnement du Comité international olympique (CIO) a déclaré jeudi à Singapour que les organisateurs des JO Pékin-2008 étaient "très impliqués" par les questions de respect de l'environnement. "Ils sont très impliqués. Ils ont promis des Jeux verts, ils se sont engagés à +verdir+ la ville", a déclaré Pal Schmitt en marge de la Conférence internationale sur l'environnement, où il a reçu au nom du CIO et de son président Jacques Rogge - qui en sont l'un des 6 co-lauréats cette année - le prix annuel du Programme des Nations unies pour l'environnement (PNUE) qui consacre les "Champions de la terre" (PNUE). "Je comprends que cela nécessite beaucoup d'investissements et d'efforts", a ajouté M. Schmitt. "A moins de 500 jours du début des Jeux, je pense que ces efforts ont déjà porté leurs fruits". "Dans une grande ville comme Pékin, où par exemple 3000 voitures nouvelles sont mises en circulation chaque jour, il est évident que la pollution est un problème majeur. Même si tout n'a pas été fait, nous devons louer les efforts accomplis", a-t-il précisé, en guise de réponses aux lettres et e-mails qu'il a affirmé avoir reçu, critiquant la pollution à Pékin. "Il y a ceux qui ne sont pas satisfaits, mais les efforts doivent être pris en compte", a ajouté M. Schmitt. Pour respecter les normes environnementales, un thème majeur, la capitale chinoise a pris des mesures, notamment en matière de ramassage des ordures, de contrôle de la qualité de l'eau, de trafic routier (en supprimant du parc automobile 60.000 vieilles voitures et autobus), de réduction des émanations toxiques de carbone, de plantations d'arbres et de création de parcs. A ces fins, 12,3 milliards de dollars (environ 9 milliards d'euros) ont été dépensés depuis 2001, pour que Pékin améliore son image d'une des villes les plus polluées au monde.
More global corporations need to get involved in fighting climate change, experts told a major conference in Singapore on Thursday, adding that many companies are already seeing the benefits of environmentally-friendly practices. International businesses have a major role in helping protect the environment, experts said at the start of the UN-backed Business for the Environment Summit.
Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said climate change has gained increasing prominence, and companies that adopt environment-friendly policies and standards were likely to gain support from consumers. "If Asian companies are going to succeed as global players, they essentially have to also address a global marketplace in which the issue of environmental sustainability is an increasingly important one," he said. This will translate not only into ethical practices but "is real money in real markets with real consumers." A huge growth market? As an example, the market in Germany for organic food has grown to more than €4-billion a year in fewer than 10 years. Steiner also cited the booming market in energy-efficient lightbulbs, and Toyota's success with "hybrid" cars whose engines combine gasoline power with an electric motor. Georg Kell, executive director of the United Nations Global Compact, an initiative that brings companies together with agencies to support environmental and social principles, said the compact included only 50 corporations when it began in 2000. While this has expanded to more than 4000 from 100 countries, the number is only a fraction of the world's 70 000 trans-national corporations, he said.
"Clearly, we still have a long way to go to achieve a tipping point and we bet on you the front-runners to help us in this," he said. More than 600 business executives and environment experts from 40 countries are attending the summit — which ends Friday — the first major international conference focusing on business and the environment in Asia, according to UNEP. It comes two days after the UN Security Council held a groundbreaking debate on the security implications of climate change as the issue takes on increasing urgency. Steiner added that more investors are also putting their money into companies that incorporate protection of the environment as part of their social responsibility. "Here is a clear message for many business and industry sectors, particularly energy-intensive ones with a heavy carbon footprint," he said. "Not adopting and adapting to a sustainability approach will increasingly be judged by the markets as ignoring issues, which are financially material and in doing so not fulfilling the basic requirements of responsible management."
Steiner warned that because climate change issues had been neglected in the past, dealing with them now has become more expensive. "We are faced with climate change, with potentially catastrophic consequences, and they are because we have taken so long to act," he warned. In his opening address, Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said companies now "are being more frequently judged on the basis of their environmental stewardship." Yaacob warned that the need for energy to fuel economic growth had further increased the risk of unsustainable energy production and waste management problems. "In Asia, we could see an increase in the number of nuclear power installations," he said. "We would need to fully address the safety of nuclear power plants, and ensure that nuclear installations meet the highest operational safety requirements," he said. Last year, a report commissioned by the British government warned that climate change could bring economic disaster on the scale of the world wars and the 1930s Great Depression unless urgent action was taken. AFP ________________________________________________________________________ SDA - Basisdienst Deutsch: UNO: Wirtschaftlicher Erfolg und Umwelt eng miteinander verknüpft ___ Weltweit tätige Unternehmen können laut dem UNO-Umweltprogramms (UNEP) auf Dauer nur Erfolg haben, wenn sie schonend mit der Umwelt umgehen. Dabei sei der Klimawandel nicht nur ein Problem des Nordens, hiess es an die Adresse asiatischer Unternehmer. "Wenn ein Unternehmen nicht umweltverträglich und nachhaltig agiert, werden die Märkte das zunehmend als Ignorieren von Prinzipien interpretieren, die für den finanziellen Erfolg des Unternehmens wichtig sind", sagte UNEP-Direktor Achim Steiner am Donnerstag in Singapur. Steiner sprach vor mehr als 600 Unternehmern aus 40 Ländern, die in Singapur an einem Forum über die Umweltverantwortung der Privatwirtschaft teilnehmen. Zu der zweitägigen Veranstaltung hatte das UNO-Umweltprogramm unter dem Titel "Globaler Wirtschaftsgipfel für die Umwelt" eingeladen. Risiken und Chancen Bei den Podiumsdiskussionen ging es unter anderem um Marktrisiken durch den Klimawandel und Chancen, dadurch neue Geschäftsfelder zu erschliessen. Steiner nannte als Beispiel die Palmölproduktion in Südostasien. Indonesien und Malaysia produzieren mehr als vier Fünftel des weltweiten Verbrauchs. Als Biotreibstoff zunächst gelobt, seien Verbraucher in den Industrieländern zunehmend besorgt, dass zur Pflanzung der Plantagen Regenwald abgeholzt werde. Das könne die Absatzchancen beeinflussen. Er setzte sich für Gütesiegel ein, das Firmen erwerben können, die nur Palmöl aus nachhaltiger Produktion verwenden. "Wir müssen die Ressourcen so optimal wie nur möglich nutzen, damit wir künftigen Generationen eine Umwelt mit hoher Qualität hinterlassen können, idealerweise eine, die noch besser ist als die, die wir von unseren Vorfahren geerbt haben", sagte der Umweltminister Singapurs, Xaacob Ibrahim, zum Auftakt des Treffens. Im Rahmen der Veranstaltung sollten am Donnerstagabend auch die UNEP-Umweltpreise "Champions der Erde" vergeben werden. Für ihre Bemühungen um eine sauberere und nachhaltige Umwelt sollten unter anderem das Internationale Olympische Komitee (IOC) sowie der frühere US-Vizepräsident Al Gore ausgezeichnet werden. _____________________________________________________________________________
Friday, April 20, 2007 PORT HARCOURT—AS the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) gets ready to begin clean up of spill sites in Ogoni the body has assured that it would remain firm and committed to its set goals in the area. The Country Director, Mr. Turhan Saleh who spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt while unfolding an outlay of the proposed environmental survey of the area said clean up of the area would be the most challenging task his body would be taking up in recent times. He therefore urged the Ogoni to give them all the support to achieve their aims. According to him, the first phase of the project which would include visits to spill sites, consultations with the people, recruitment and training of both local and expatriate staff, etc, would run from March this year to April next year. Adding, he pleaded with the people to ensure the safety of their facilities as they were set to meet the deadline given for the project. Saleh also assured the people that the second phase of the clean up would deal with environmental contamination in the area. The Presidential Facilitator on Ogoni, Rev. Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, who also spoke, said UNEP would be very transparent and dispassionate in the discharge of its assignment in the area. Rev. Kukah said that as the world’s moral policeman, the United Nations, or any of its agencies, will not engage in acts that would undermine its name, stressing that the organisation will, however, consider the people in recruitments, where necessary, for the job. In their separate responses, during the questions and answers session, the Ogoni expressed satisfaction with the outlay for the first phase of the job and pledged the readiness of the people to support the genuine efforts of the UN agency in putting the true environmental situation in Ogoni on the world map. The Ogoni also called for a post Impact Assessment of spill sites in the area relating to the flaura and fauna. ________________________________________________________________________ Electric New Paper: Meet the serene green beauty queen She has helped plant so many trees, she can't count them By Sheela Narayanan April 20, 2007 IF all environmentalists looked like Hil Yesenia Hernandez Escobar, 23, men would be saving the Earth in droves. Click to see larger image Judging from the number of appreciative stares the statuesque MissEarth (she's 1.81m tall) received as she strode across the Shangri-La Hotel lobby, if she had asked them to volunteer to plant trees, or stop driving, most of them would have done it in heartbeat. The Chilean's long eyelashes and skilfully applied dark eye shadow masked the fact that she had just crossed several time zones to get to Singapore to attend the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Champions Of The Earth Awards at the Shangri-La hotel later tonight. Speaking to The New Paper after a 35-hour flight from Chile, MissHernandez said she took her job as a green beauty queen seriously. The MissEarth title is not as well known as the MissUniverse or MissWorld ones. Those titles, she said, are focused mainly on the beauty of the contestants. In her halting English, she added: 'Sometimes people say MissEarth is not as big as MissUniverse. 'MissEarth has to work harder. It's a beauty contest with a cause. We need to bring attention to environmental causes and that's not easy.' Miss Universe winners are spokesmen for Aids charities and MissWorld queens raise money for children's charities during their stint. The youngest of three children whose her father died several years ago, MissHernandez won her earthy crown last November in the Philippines. Hailing from an island called Chileo, which is the second-largest island in South America and is known for it's abundant nature, she studied tourism and took up modelling. She once spent a month working as a model in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. After that, she lived in Santiago, the capital of Chile, studying engineering, but gave up her studies to fulfil her MissEarth duties. And judging from her resume, she is like a pageant junkie. In 2004, she represented Chile in the MissModel Of The World pageant, making it to the semi-finals. She also participated in the MissSouth American Queen and MissWorld Chile pageants in 2003. Miss Hernandez took special pride in mentioning that she is the second Chilean to win a major beauty contest. 'The last one was Cecilia Bolocco twenty years ago, who won the MissUniverse pageant,' she said. Incidentally, MsBolocco was crowned in Singapore when the MissUniverse contest was held here in 1987. When asked what her 'green credentials' were, MissHernandez replied: 'I work with children to plant trees in their schools and around the neighbourhood in Chile.' She said she can't remember how many trees she has planted to date. Part of her job as MissEarth is to work with the community in Santiago to create an awareness of recycling and conservation. 'The environment is such an important topic this year that Chile finally created an environmental ministry. So what I am doing is very important,' she said. Miss Hernandez also insists that she would never wear fur, even if it cost her modelling gigs. 'I will not do that. It's feels awful having a dead animal on your skin. I would rather not work,' she said. A self-professed outdoor person, she enjoys cycling and jogging. She also loves playing volleyball but with her hectic travel schedule, 'it's a bit boring to play volleyball by myself,' she said with a laugh. 'So I do crunches in my hotel room.' However she admits she hates going to the gym to maintain her slim figure. 'I really don't like all those heavy machines, but when I travel, I don't have a choice. I have to use them,' she said. Miss Hernandez admits she is reluctant to give up her crown later this year, as she will miss travelling the world. 'That makes me very happy. My goal before I give up my crown is to be the best MissEarth ever,' she said. After her stint as MissEarth ends in November, she hopes to continue working with the UNEP and other conservation groups. She also plans to resume her studies, although she is having second thoughts about engineering. 'I think I want to do communications or journalism. I would like to be a broadcast journalist or even be like Oprah Winfrey and Tyra Banks and have my own talk show.' ________________________________________________________________________ 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 423.36 Kb. Share with your friends:
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