Questions raised on climate change

Questions raised on climate change

Friday May 23, 2008

WASHINGTON — A coalition of conservative evangelical leaders wants to enlist 1 million Christians to sign a statement questioning whether human-caused global warming is a real threat and arguing that restrictive environmental policies harm poor people.

The "We Get It!" campaign is part of a disagreement among evangelicals about climate change.

"Our stewardship of creation must be based on Biblical principles and factual evidence," the statement says. "We face important environmental challenges, but must be cautious of claims that our planet is in peril from speculative dangers like man-made global warming."

The campaign's materials argue that "recent, slight warming" is an unproven threat that could lead to restrictions in energy use and drive up the cost of energy and food for the world's poor.

Several leaders and groups on the evangelical right back the campaign.

The effort is a response, in part, to the 2006 launch of the Evangelical Climate Initiative, which acknowledged humans cause global warming and argued Christian moral convictions demand an urgent response.

Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-religion_briefs_friday_may_20may23,0,6619656,print.story

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REGIONAL OFFICE FOR WEST ASIA (ROWA) MEDIA UPDATE

25 May 2008

THE United Nations Enviro- nment Programme (UNEP) regional office for West Asia based in Bahrain celebrated the International Day on Biological Diversity yesterday at Beit Al Quran, Diplomatic Area.

The event under the theme Agricul-ture and Biodiver- sity was held in co-operation with the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resou- rces, Environment and Wildlife.

Organisers called upon the international community to double its efforts to achieve by 2010, the International Year of Biodiver- sity, the target of reducing biodiversity loss and preserving it.

The guest speaker was Public Commission director general Dr Ismail Al Madani and UNEP Bahrain office director and regional representative Dr Habib El Habr. Also present was UNEP Bahrain office natural resources officer Dr Ahmed Ghosn.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=218197&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31064

GAZ clocks up a victory

TWENTY-five teams participated in the fifth annual Coca-Cola Environmental Treasure Hunt at Adhari Park yesterday.

In teams of four, participants competed against the clock in a variety of physical activities and mental challenges.

GAZ took the first prize of $1,000 (BD378), while Bahrain National Holding won the second prize of four return tickets to Dubai courtesy of Dadabhai Travel.

The third prize of four tickets to the Lost Paradise of Dilmun Water Park courtesy of Lost Paradise went to Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).

Teams were required to design a hat from recycled items, as well as a flag and compose a song about the environment with the chance of winning five-star dining vouchers. Winners were: The Benefit Company for Best Flag, Standard Chartered Bank for Best Hat and Dadabhai Travel for Best Song.

The event, which also featured fun and entertainment for families, was held under the patronage of the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife president and Southern Governor Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Coca-Cola Middle East was the title sponsor; bronze sponsors were Standard Chartered Bank and Bahrain National Holding; while sponsors in kind were Dadabhai Group, Jet Airways, Sheraton Hotel and Novotel Al Dana Resort.

THE fifth annual Coca-Cola Environmental Treasure Hunt is being held at Adhari Park today. The event is being held from 9am to 2pm under the patronage of the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife president and Southern Governor Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

It will feature a variety of physical activities and mental challenges for participants, as well as fun and entertainment for family and friends.

Teams of four will compete against the clock on foot while they vie for the coveted first place, which will see the winners walking away with a $1,000 (BD378) cash prize.

Spot prizes and incentives are also up for grabs. Prizes include airline tickets and dining vouchers from five-star hotels.

Registration for corporate teams is BD250, and BD120 for individuals and non-governmental organisations.

Coca-Cola Middle East is the title sponsor; bronze sponsors are Standard Chartered Bank and Bahrain National Holding; while sponsors in kind are Dadabhai Group, Jet Airways, Sheraton Hotel and the Novotel Al Dana Resort. For more information, call 17226775.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=218186&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31064

UAE

Reversing the loss of biodiversity

In a bid to counter the fly, a team from the world-renowned ICIPE institute in East Africa recently went to Sri Lanka looking for a natural predator. Researchers have now pinpointed one, which, after careful screening, has been deemed safe to release into Africa's environment and appears likely to defeat the unwelcome invader.

But the pioneering work is now on hold, as are the hopes of millions of farmers for an effective, environmentally friendly answer to the crisis. Countries in Asia - indeed, countries throughout the developing world - are simply not exporting their abundant and economically important genetic resources.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), signed in 1992, promised an international regime on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) of genetic resources. This would allow researchers and companies access to the developing world's genetic treasure trove in return for a share of the profits from the products that are then developed.

But brokering the ABS regime has proven elusive, and, in the absence of an international deal, there has been diminishing access and thus declining benefit-sharing over the past five or so years. This implies potentially huge economic, environmental, and social losses to both the developed and developing world.

These losses include missed opportunities for breakthroughs in pharmaceuticals, foods, biologically-based materials and processes, and biological pest controllers like the promising one isolated by ICIPE. The losses also include failure to conserve the world's dwindling wildlife and rapidly degrading ecosystems, which are worth trillions of dollars in terms of life-supporting services.

An intelligently designed ABS regime offers the chance for poorer countries, which possess the lion's share of the globe's remaining genetic resources, to begin to be paid properly for maintaining them. It could also play an important part in meeting the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, which include halving poverty by 2015.

From May 20-30, governments from more than 190 countries and an estimated 6,000 delegates are meeting in Bonn, Germany for the Ninth Meeting of the Parties to the CBD. Governments have set their sights on securing an ABS regime by 2010, which is also the deadline, agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, to reduce substantially the rate of loss of biodiversity. But accelerated action on many other broad biodiversity-related fronts is urgently needed. Indeed, according to the UN Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook-4 , the world is currently experiencing a sixth wave of extinctions, triggered in large part by our failure to manage natural assets.

Thirty per cent of global fish stocks have collapsed, up from roughly 15 per cent in 1987, and the proportion of fish stocks classified as over-exploited has doubled, to around 40 per cent.

Populations of freshwater vertebrates have declined on average by nearly 50 per cent since 1987, while populations of terrestrial and marine species have fallen by around 30 per cent.

In the Caribbean, more than 60 per cent of coral reefs are threatened by sediment, pollution and over-fishing.

Since the end of the Second World War, more land has been converted to agricultural use than in the previous two centuries.

Every year, 13 million hectares of tropical forests, which contain up to 80 per cent of the planet's biodiversity, are destroyed.

Roughly 35 per cent of mangroves have been destroyed in the last 20 years.

But, alongside these sobering facts, the world is also full of shining and intelligent management. Indeed, protected areas now cover over 12 per cent of the Earth's surface, although the creation of marine reserves remains woefully low.

For example, Paraguay, which until 2004 had one of the world's highest rates of deforestation, has reduced rates in its eastern region by 85 per cent. And in Fiji, no-take zones and better management of marine areas has increased species like mangrove lobsters by 250 per cent per year. Iraq's marshlands have been restored, and local wheat varieties in Jordan and Syria have been preserved.

Nevertheless, despite these signs of progress, we are failing to confront the magnitude of the challenge, particularly in the translation of global agreements into legislation and action at the national and regional levels.

In Bali six months ago, the world achieved a breakthrough on climate change, and both developed and developing countries have embarked on a Road Map towards a new climate regime for 2012. We must become equally committed to reversing the rate of biodiversity loss. The Bonn Biodiversity Conference represents an ideal opportunity to achieve a breakthrough, including on ABS. All of us, not just Africa's fruit farmers, ultimately depend on nature's bounty for our prosperity - indeed, for our very survival.

-Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2008.