The environment in the news tuesday, 25 April 2006

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  Ex-Environmental Leaders Tout Nuclear Energy (New York Times)
  
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  Cancers de la thyroïde (Nouvel Observateur)
  
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  Bush Faces Dissent From Republicans on Climate Change (Bloomberg)
  
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  Global warming behind record 2005 storms: experts (Reuters)
  
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  Scientists Say Rising Temperatures Threaten Repeat of Caribbean Coral Death (Associated Press)
  
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  Bold idea for energy woes: global cooperation (Christian Science Monitor)
  
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  La Russie ne peut pas encore utiliser à plein les mécanismes du Protocole de Kyoto (RIA Novosti)
  
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  Spectacular orchids double due to global warming (The Independent)
  
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  Green mini-car to beat congestion (BBC)
  
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  Petrobras Abandons Plans for Oil Road in Ecuadorian Amazon Park (Environment News Service)
  

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  ROAP
  
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  ROA
  
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  Brazil Office
  

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  UN Daily News of 24 April 2006
  
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  S.G.’s Spokesman Daily Press Briefing of 24 Aprl 2006
  

Reuters: IAEA acts to clean up Iraq atom site, 1,000 at risk

VIENNA, April 24 (Reuters) - The International Atomic Energy Agency has begun a drive to clean up the former Tuwaitha nuclear site in Iraq where radioactive residue poses a health risk to 1,000 nearby inhabitants, the nuclear watchdog said on Monday. Residents of Ishtar village near Tuwaitha, 20 km (12 miles) south of Baghdad, are exposed to contaminated rubble left by aerial bombing and looting during and after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein, the IAEA said.

It said a project to clean up Tuwaitha and other nuclear facilities in Iraq was launched earlier this year at agency headquarters in Vienna and Washington had given the IAEA photographs to assist the campaign.

Iraqi and U.S. teams had begun to collect environmental and radiological data and launched studies on health effects among people living near the 56-sq-km (22-sq-mile) Tuwaitha complex.

"This is a huge task, one that could take many years," said Dennis Reisenweaver, the IAEA official in charge of the nuclear clean-up drive in Iraq.

Radiation levels around Tuwaitha register higher than normal and could be a health hazard over time, the IAEA said, attaching photos showing wrecked facades spray-painted with warnings like "radioactive" and "HOT", with children playing nearby.

The IAEA said Iraq's government, plagued by an insurgency against the U.S.-led occupation and reconstruction efforts, had sought the agency's help to prepare plans to decontaminate sites where radioactive material was used or waste was buried.

The project's groundwork was laid at an IAEA meeting in Vienna in February attended by Iraq's science and technology minister and officials from 16 countries, including the United States, and the European Union.

Initial steps would include pinpointing and cordoning off contaminated areas posing the biggest risk to inhabitants.

Some locations remained unknown and a major challenge lay in recovering missing records about the contents of radioactive materials stored in waste containers, the IAEA said.

Armed chaos from militant groups fighting U.S. forces and U.S.-backed Iraqi authorities could pose another serious obstacle as Tuwaitha lies within the "Sunni Triangle" around Baghdad hardest hit by the bloodshed.

Tuwaitha hit the headlines in April 2003 during the war when some 3,000 barrels containing low-level uranium ore concentrate known as "yellow cake" were stolen from the unsecured site.

The barrels were emptied and sold to local people who used them for storing water or food or to wash clothes.

The U.N. Environmental Programme's task force chief told Reuters last year that Iraq's environmental problems were among the world's worst and attempts to address them were being crippled by the lack of public security.

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Reuters: UN to unveil principles for responsible investment
18.4.2006

The guidelines will be published in a document called "Principles for Responsible Investment" (PRI), French state-owned financial institution the Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC) said on Tuesday.

The guidelines aim to encourage investors to address environmental, social and governance concerns, such as harmful emissions, climate change and child labour.

The principles were defined by the United Nations in cooperation with around 20 institutional investors jointly managing $1.7 trillion of assets.

The names of these investors -- the large pension funds and fund owners that will be the first to adopt the principles -- will be announced on April 27, sources close to the matter said.

CDC said a second list of fund managers joining the initiative will be unveiled in Paris by the United Nations and CDC on May 2.

The United Nations Environment programme and Global Compact -- a six-year-old U.N. programme intended to help businesses become better world citizens, which took part in the formulation of the PRI -- both declined to comment.

The principles, which will be strictly voluntary, will support so-called sustainable development -- the goal of allowing the world to develop economically without destroying natural habitats or increasing poverty.

"We subscribe to these principles because we consider that it is in our long-term interest, and this does not go against our pursuit of financial performance," said a source at a fund that took part in the initiative.

Pensions funds ABP of the Netherlands, Previ of Brazil and University Superannuation Scheme of Britain, Swedish insurer Folksam, France's CDC, and reserves funds for French pension schemes are among the institutions that took part in setting the principles, sources said.

CalPERS, the largest U.S. pension fund, and Mitsubishi, Japan's biggest trading house, are considering taking part in the initiative, the sources said.

Global asset fund managers ABN AMRO AM , BNP Paribas AM , Citigroup AM , Groupama AM, HSBC AM and Nikko AM <8603.T> are expected to adopt the principles, they added.

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Prensa Latina: Alertan en Panamá sobre peligros de privatización de beneficios

Panamá, 24 abr (PL) El director regional del Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA), Ricardo Sánchez, planteó hoy aquí la necesidad de impedir la privatización de los beneficios y socialización de los daños para la conservación del entorno.

El funcionario, quien participa en Panamá en el II Congreso Mesoamericano de Areas Protegidas, que se inauguró en esta capital, señaló que mientras no se elimine ese problema las pérdidas humanas y económicas serán incalculables.

Hay individuos que ponen una camaronera en las costas, deforestan, acaban con el bosque de manglar y ganan 300 dólares por hectárea, pero después viene un huracán, penetra y produce mermas muy superiores a lo que pudo haber ganado, comentó.

Esa persona privatizó los beneficios que podía dar el lugar y socializó enormes daños, los cuales el gobierno y el país no tienen como pagar, sobre todo, las pérdidas de las vidas humanas, añadió.

Sánchez sugirió además que se debe trabajar sobre la realidad sociodemográfica de Centroamérica, pues posee altos niveles de pobreza y grandes indicadores de degradación ambiental, tanto en las áreas rurales como en las urbanas.

La contaminación de las zonas marino costeras, las aguas, y la deforestación junto a la pobreza nos ponen en un nivel de vulnerabilidad extraordinario, apuntó.

El directivo señaló que, excepto Panamá, todos los países mesoamericanos son golpeados por los fenómenos atmosféricos.

Recordó el paso del huracán Stan el año pasado, el cual afectó grandemente a Guatemala y México, dejando innumerables pérdidas de vidas humanas y daños económicos.

Hay que prever con la reforestación, cuidado de los bosques, de la zona costera, con manejo sostenible, para minimizar los daños, recalcó.

Por otra parte, durante el inicio del evento, el director regional del PNUMA expresó su gran satisfacción por la presencia de todos los factores implicados con la protección del entorno y no sólo de científicos y expertos.

La utilización de planes económicos en función de la conservación del medio y las comunidades es el eje del desarrollo sostenible, resaltó.

Concluyó planteando que en Centroamérica está concentrada la población rural más grande de Latinoamérica y la más pobre, pero la región posee -dijo- una extraordinaria biodiversidad que debe ser bien utilizada.

El foro, organizado por la Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente y la Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo, culminará el próximo viernes.

Gulf Daily News: Marshland training for 15 Iraqis

FIFTEEN Iraqis are taking part in a training course in Bahrain on how to make use of the Marshlands Information Network. The course is being held today and tomorrow at the Arabian Gulf University (AGU), Salmaniya .

The event has been organised by the Bahrain-based United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for West Asia (UNEP-ROWA) and the International Environmental Technology Centre (UNEP-IETC) in Japan, in co-operation with the AGU.

The destruction of the Mesopotamian marshlands is widely recognised as one of the great environmental tragedies of our times.

The UNEP launched the Marshlands Information Network to combat this tragedy.

The system uses the Environmentally Sound Technologies Information System framework to provide a platform to share information.

The training course will teach participants how to use the system. At the end of the course they will be able to create and manage websites on the Internet, share and search for information across multiple ESTIS websites and appreciate the importance of knowledge management.

They are then expected to teach others in Iraq.

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