The environment in the news wednesday, 15 August 2007 unep and the Executive Director in the News

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  Russia's seabed flag heralds global ocean carve-up (Reuters)
  
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  UN Environment Program Is Hacked, Explains Policies on New Media and Corporate Partnering (Inner City Press (New York)
  
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  HEALTH: World Faces New Threats of Water Scarcity (IPS (Italy)
  
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  Se diversifican tendencias en Responsabilidad Corporativa (El Universal)
  
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  Asia Cooperates to Prevent Millions of Environmental Deaths (Environment News Service)
  
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  UN applauds Ontario Plan (London Free Press)
  
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  Climat : au Kenya, il y a péril en la demeure (InfoSud)
  

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  Environmentalists urge Brown to overhaul Britain's energy policy to meet EU targets (The Guardian)
  
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  EU's climate targets 'ambitious' (BBC)
  
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  U.S. environmental adviser says China emissions rise shows need for climate cooperation (Associated Press/IHT)
  
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  Zimbabwe: 'Climate Change to Hit Poor Nations Harder' (The Herald – Harare)
  
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  Tropical Storm Dean Could Become Atlantic Hurricane (Reuters)
  
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  13 Nations Convene to Reduce Gas Emission (Korean Times)
  
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  Biofuels should benefit poor (Financial Times)
  
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  Le développement durable placé au cœur de la Semaine (Le Monde/AFP)
  
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  BBC: Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven'
  

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  ROAP
  
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  ROLAC
  
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  RONA
  
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  UN Daily News of 14 August 2007
  
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  S.G.’s Spokesman Daily Press Briefing of 14 August 2007
  

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - A Russian flag on the seabed beneath the ice of the North Pole is among the few signs that states are waking up to a 2009 deadline for what may be the last big carve-up of maritime territory in history.

By some estimates, about 7 million sq km (2.7 million sq miles) -- the size of Australia -- could be divided up around the world with so far unknown riches ranging from oil and gas to seabed marine organisms at stake.

Only eight claims have been made although about 50 coastal states are bound by a May 13, 2009, deadline for submissions under a U.N. drive to set the now vague outer limits of each country's sea floor rights under a 1982 convention.

"We are clearly behind schedule," said Peter Croker, a senior Irish official who is the outgoing chair of the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which examines coastal states' submissions.

"There's quite a lot at stake. But there has been a bit of inertia," he said.

Russia, Australia, France and Brazil are among the few to have made claims. Most spectacularly, Moscow announced this month that explorers had planted a rust-free Russian tricolor beneath the North Pole in waters 4,261 meters (13,980) deep.

Under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, coastal states own the seabed beyond existing 200 nautical mile zones if it is part of a continental shelf of shallower waters.

Some shelves stretch hundreds of miles before reaching the deep ocean floor, which is owned by no state. The rules aim to fix clear geological limits for shelves' outer limits but are likely to lead to a tangle of overlapping claims.

LAST SHIFT

"This will probably be the last big shift in ownership of territory in the history of the earth," said Lars Kullerud, who advises developing states on submissions at the GRID-Arendal foundation, run by the U.N. Environment Programme and Norway.

"Many countries don't realize how serious it is."

Yannick Beaudoin, who also works at GRID-Arendal, said: "2009 is a final and binding deadline. This allows you to secure sovereignty without having to fight for it."

The biggest controversies look likely to occur in regions where countries ring water, such as the South China Sea or the Arctic Ocean.

Isolated specks on the map, such as Easter Island or Ascension Island, could end up owning vast tracts of seabed. Off Africa, Madagascar may have a strong claim to a shelf stretching far south towards Antarctica.

Sorting out rights to minerals, geothermal energy or marine organisms far from the coast is becoming ever less academic as technology advances -- modern oil rigs can drill in water 10,000 feet deep.

Moscow's North Pole stunt, with explorers planting a flag with a mechanical arm from a submersible, was denounced by some other Arctic countries as a crude land grab.

Russia says a ridge under the Arctic Ocean makes the pole Russian, even though the coast of Siberia is 2,000 km (1,200 miles) away. Greenland, administered by Denmark which also says the pole is Danish, and Canada are at the other end of the same ridge.

"Other coastal states have as good a case as the Russians," said Lindsay Parson, an expert on continental shelf law at the University of Southampton in England.

OPEN QUESTION

Croker said it was an "open question" whether any state could back up a case for claiming the North Pole.

The polar dispute is about more than bragging rights to ownership of what many reckon is Santa Claus's home -- by some official U.S. estimates, the Arctic may hold a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.

"Companies can now exploit oil and gas in deeper and deeper waters," Parson said. "The more you know about resources the harder it is to be friendly in sharing the seabed."

No firm is able to drill anywhere near the North Pole, but global warming may make the region more accessible.

Drilling group Transocean says its Discoverer Deep Seas holds the world depth record for oil and gas drilling, set in 2003 at 10,011 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We are building four new enhanced Enterprise-class drill ships (in South Korea) that will be able to work in water depths of 12,000 feet and drill wells 40,000 feet deep," said Guy Cantwell, spokesman for Transocean.

Any state missing the 2009 deadline risks losing U.N. recognition of the claim. Countries that have not yet ratified the Law of the Sea Convention, including the United States, are not bound by the 2009 deadline.

The U.N. Commission cannot decide on overlapping claims, merely refer them back to governments to sort out -- a process likely to take years, or decades. Any extended rights will apply only to the seabed, not to fish stocks.

Experts say an extension of fishing limits to 200 nautical miles in the 1970s, the last big change of the ocean map, caused barely any conflicts. Britain and Iceland fought "cod wars," but with few casualties in clashes between frigates and trawlers.

Offshore disputes between neighbors such as Iran and Iraq are generally about resources closer to land.

Croker said the deadline might even promote cooperation.

"It could be a trigger for states to sit down and try to sort out these issues," he said, noting that Spain, France, Ireland and Britain had made a joint submission covering the Bay of Biscay. "It can work in a positive way."

Norway, one of the few countries to have made a submission, said it cooperated closely with neighbors such as Russia and Iceland. "We have shared our data at expert levels," said Rolf Einar Fife of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

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Inner City Press (New York):UN Environment Program Is Hacked, Explains Policies on New Media and Corporate Partnering

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, August 14 -- Two days after UN Headquarters acknowledged that the web site of Ban Ki-moon's speeches had been hacked, the UN Environment Program confirmed that it, too, had been targeted, and had to "deactivate" a portion of its site.

            UNEP's Eric Falt stresses that the portion deactivated, the "Creative Gallery probably represents less than 0.5 % of the overall www.unep.org in terms of pages and traffic." That site, which on Monday showed the same anti-war message as appeared on un.org on Sunday, by Tuesday was no longer accessible, displaying instead this message:

"You are not authorized to view this page. The Web server you are attempting to reach has a list of IP addresses that are not allowed to access the Web site, and the IP address of your browsing computer is on this list."

            In response to another question, about his involvement in a UN Communications Group meeting which considered making it more difficult for bloggers to cover the UN, Mr. Falt points out

"a new initiative I recently introduced, whereby UNEP presents a new 'expert' each day on the UNEP website front page to answer questions on the environment and UNEP's work. This facility not only provides answers in real time, but also enables us to monitor the types of questions that interest our interlocutors so we can provide a better service in the definition and implementation of our program strategy."

            One recent expert, on August 9, riffed about the opportunities and luxuries of multinational banks like Standard Chartered:

Banks such as Standard Chartered are in a unique position to be able to have a positive influence on environmental and social issues. Placing an analysis of the social and environmental impact at the heart of your lending decision-making is key... A multi-national bank such as Standard Chartered has the luxury of a well-developed internal policy on these issues, which can act as a driver for local banks to also consider them. An interesting idea which has been carried out in South Africa that might interest you is that of a bank such as SC acting as a 'buddy' to guide a local bank interested in learning about incorporating sustainability issues in credit risk analysis. A recently published report on sustainable banking in Africa may be of interest to you: 'Banking on Value: A New Approach to Credit Risk in Africa'

            While there surely must be some good things to say about Standard Chartered -- and UNEP would find them, no doubt -- it is noteworthy, as regards the environment, that of what Friends of the Earth calls an illegal logger, Wilmar, Standard Chartered is a main financier --

The palm oil industry has attempted to market the trade as environmentally and socially sustainable, but this report exposes these policies as hollow and inadequate. Singapore-based multinational Wilmar is a member of the industry-led Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and is funded by the World Bank's private arm as well as private European banks which have codes of conduct against unsustainable palm oil. Rabobank and Standard Chartered Bank are the main European financers.

            Inner City Press asked UNEP about its activities with another alleged illegal logger, PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (Riaupulp).

Logging (see below)

The Jakarta Post of August 7 quoted Indonesia Greenomics that Riaupulp's "supply of logs as raw material to its mills has drastically increased to 9 million tons in 2006 from four million tons in 2005, but it has never been transparent about from where its mills (received) its logs." The same article mentioned, in Riaupulp's defense, that it had formed "partnerships" with UNEP. So Inner City Press sent UNEP the article and asked, what partnerships?

            Mr. Falt responds:

Subj: Press questions re Riaupulp, unep.fr, UNCG, thank you 

From: Eric Falt [at] unep.org

To: Matthew Russell Lee at innercitypress.com

Date: 8/14/2007 11:32:52 AM Eastern Standard Time

Dear Matthew, Thanks for sending these questions. Please find answers below...

[Q] - Please describe any and all "partnership" or relations UNEP has with PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (Riaupulp).

[A] Since 2006, UNEP has partnered with Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL), which is the parent company to PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper in the context of our Champions of the Earth environmental award and, since 2007, with B4E, the Global Business Summit for the Environment. Information about APRIL, including its involvement with UNEP and the UN Global Compact, and its commitment to corporate social and environmental responsibility is available at http://www.aprilasia.com/index.php.

In recent years UNEP, like many other international and non-governmental organizations, has chosen to engage constructively with selected private sector entities who we believe can make an impact in promoting behavior change in the environmental field.

We are aware that many companies operating in the forestry sector are subject to some controversy. However, we consider that APRIL's own initiatives towards transparency and environmental sustainability, combined with the vigorous scrutiny of regional and global media as well as organizations such as WWF, mean that progress is being made towards more sustainable practices in this industry, and that our engagement with this company allows us to engage them constructively.

[Q] could you describe UNEP's participation in the UN Communications Group meeting in Madrid on June 21-22, 2007, particularly on Item 6 / "new media." Who attended for UNEP, what position did or will they take on these issues, and what update to the June 21-22 discussion can you provide?

[A] I attended the UNCG meeting in Madrid in my capacity as Director of Communications and Public Information at UNEP. On Item 6 (New Media), I participated in the discussion but did not advance a specific 'position' as UNEP does not have one. (NB: Accreditation in Nairobi is done for all UN Agencies operating on the complex through UNIC, which I also head. We essentially follow accreditation procedures decided upon at UN Headquarters in New York).

            Inner City Press' previous article on the UNCG meeting is here. These are issues we will continue to cover. Watch this site.

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The physical availability of water is being endangered by a rash of new threats, including climate change, increase in global population and the sudden growth of the water-hungry bioenergy sector.

Addressing the 17th annual World Water Week, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) Anders Berntell warned that 1.4 billion people now live in regions where there is a real, physical water scarcity, and an additional 1.1 billion live in regions where there is water stress due to over-consumption.

"Clearly, these figures will increase in the future, due to population growth, intensified agriculture and climate change," he told a meeting of over 2,000 water professionals, technicians, scientists and policy makers.

The annual five-day meeting, to conclude Friday, is described as the world's largest single gathering of water experts, including officials from more than 150 organisations.

"We are not prepared to deal with the implications this has for our planet. There is a security component in this that is not fully understood or addressed internationally yet."

"And I am not talking about water security," he said. "I mean political security."

Berntell blamed both international aid donors and governments for their skewed priorities on development spending -- with water and sanitation getting the least.

He contrasted this with the phenomenal 37 percent increase in military expenditures globally during 1997-2006, reaching close to one trillion dollars annually.

"When we look at these figures, I think it is time that we ask ourselves 'Why?'. Why don't governments in developing countries, donor agencies and financiers prioritise water higher? Why are other issues, other sectors higher on the political agenda?" he asked.

In a report released here, the London-based WaterAid has blamed international donors for undermining the development priorities of recipient countries.

"If donors are serious about achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), they must balance their investments more evenly across all the essential services: water, sanitation, health and education."

Besides a proposed 50-percent reduction of poverty and hunger by the year 2015, the MDGs, agreed at the 2000 United Nations Millennium Summit, also include universal primary education; promotion of gender equality; reduction of child mortality and maternal mortality; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a North-South global partnership for development.

WaterAid has called for "urgent changes to the aid system to ensure that donor policy responds to the needs of the poor and tackles the most critical obstacles to development."

The study, titled "How the aid system is undermining the Millennium Development Goals", says progress in health and education is dependent on access to affordable sanitation and safe water.

"And yet both donors and developing country governments have failed to recognise the interrelationship between health, education, water and sanitation," says WaterAid.

Global aid spending on health and education, the study notes, has nearly doubled since 1990 while the share allocated to water and sanitation has contracted.

There are many possible explanations for the marginalisation of the sector, the study points out. "The sector is certainly more complex than health or education, with responsibility often split across several ministries."

Addressing the meeting Monday, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said the vital truth is "if there is no water, there is no life."

Today, more than one billion people are said to lack access to safe drinking water and more than 2.4 billion lack access to basic sanitation.

Every day, he said, "we see around 34,000 people die in diseases related to deficient water and sanitation."

"I don't think that anyone on our planet can stand untouched by these facts. The question is: what can we do?"

The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, agreed on an ambitious goal: that by 2015 the number of people without access to drinking water and essential sanitation should be cut in half.

Between 1990 and 2002, there were some positive results. The number of people with access to safe water rose, from 71 percent to 79 percent.

"If this development continues," the Swedish prime minister predicted, "the goal can be achieved when we write 2015."

But the bad news, he said, is that the goals of essential sanitation are lagging far behind.

"If we see to Africa and several countries in Asia, the future is especially dark."

Reinfeldt singled out his own country as having a long tradition of giving priority to water within the framework of its foreign aid budget.

He said Sweden has continued to provide strong support to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) -- three important actors in the international fields of water and sanitation.

He pointed out that Sweden has also given specific support to platforms where the water issue can be discussed and where actors can meet to change points of views or share scientific results.

The World Water Week is one good example, as well as its organiser, the Stockholm International Water Institute. (END/2007)

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EL UNIVERSAL

Sólo 1% de las empresas que funcionan en América Latina son grandes multinacionales. Pese al bajo porcentaje, éstas aportan 75% del Producto Interno Bruto de la región.

Ellas generan 17% del empleo. Por su lado, las Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas (PYME) representan menos de 20% de las compañías operativas y generan 50% de los puestos de trabajo, así como 17% del PIB.

Los datos, que fueron suministrados por el director ejecutivo del Forum Empresa, Hugo Vergara, evidencian "que es enorme el compromiso y la presión" que tienen y reciben las grandes empresas por parte de sus grupos de interés para que ejecuten un ejercicio responsable de sus operaciones.

Vergara emitió sus reflexiones en el marco de una charla de capacitación ofrecida al personal administrativo de El Universal, con el objetivo de enseñarles cómo se desarrollan estrategias efectivas de Responsabilidad Social, y cómo se respaldan en un balance profesional auditable.

El experto estuvo en el país invitado por el Centro de Divulgación Económica (Cedice) y Digitel, para el cumplimiento de una agenda académica.

Vergara es de la opinión de que este tipo de iniciativas, que es llamada de diferentes formas (Responsabilidad Social Empresarial, Responsabilidad Social Corporativa, u otras) merece ser conocida como "Responsabilidad Corporativa", en un ámbito en el que su aplicación se limita a actores privados.

Agregó que, en cualquier caso, la RC implica una inversión social por parte de la empresa, y este hecho la convierte en una práctica que, ineludiblemente, busca obtener un retorno, y en el plazo más inmediato.

"La Responsabilidad Corporativa está ligada, o debe estarlo, a la naturaleza del negocio, y debe ser entendida, además, como una iniciativa que, entre otros objetivos, ayude a la expansión de ese negocio, y a la generación de bienestar y riqueza en todos los actores involucrados".

La ecuación planteada por el especialista implica que la empresa nunca debe perder el norte de la rentabilidad. "Por muy loable que sea la labor social, sin la generación de riqueza no habrá consumo, tampoco empresa, y mucho menos Responsabilidad Corporativa".

Y esa RC involucra un espectro sumamente amplio. "Es un concepto dinámico, que cambia y se enriquece de manera constante" para adaptarse a las realidades que surgen.

De allí que se vaya diversificando el radio de los llamados "Grupos de Interés" de la compañía, entendidos éstos como accionistas, empleados, proveedores, comunidades y otros que estén relacionados con el quehacer de la organización.

La RC debe tener lineamientos que obedezcan entonces al compromiso con esos grupos de interés y tiene que cumplir con el precepto de la sustentabilidad, "Porque nada se hace si se establece una iniciativa por unos pocos meses que no genere un impacto duradero".

Y todo debe ser plasmado en blanco y negro, explicó. Nunca será inútil la información que documente las iniciativas corporativas, esto en el contexto de un mundo cuyas instituciones exigen con cada vez mayor severidad a los actores privados un alto y auditable desempeño en materia de Responsabilidad, sobre todo para con la gente y con el ambiente.

También recomienda tomar en cuenta los indicadores para evaluar y describir la actuación de la empresa contenidos en el Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), un esquema modelado por dos reconocidas organizaciones no gubernamentales: La Cebes (Coalition of Environmentally Responsible Economies) y el Pnuma (Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente).

El GRI divide sus ramas de estudio en tres grandes ámbitos, coincidentes con la triple línea de actuación de la Responsabilidad Corporativa, que son, a ojos de los expertos, lo social, lo económico y lo medioambiental.

El Forum Empresa es una alianza de organizaciones empresariales que promueven la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial en las Américas.

Cuenta con 22 organizaciones que representan a 20 países en la región y reúne cerca de 3.500 empresas.

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BANGKOK, Thailand, August 14, 2007 (ENS) - At least 6.6 million people die each year in southern Asia due to environmental factors - about 25 percent of all deaths in the region, according to the World Health Organization. Meeting in Bangkok last week, ministers from across the region agreed with environmental and health officials on a plan to reduce that number.

Over the last 50 years, environmental pollution in southern Asia has intensified due to rapid industrialization, urbanization and motorization.

Child with garbage in Pasig City, Philippines (Photo by Mark Gary courtesy WHO/WPRO)

The result has been urban air pollution, the generation of solid and hazardous wastes, as well as numerous disasters and emergencies created by human activities, the officials acknowledged.

"The region's high death toll from environmental degradation can be avoided if we are determined to reverse the current trend," said Shigeru Omi.

Omi is Western Pacific director of the UN World Health Organization, WHO, which jointly organized the First Ministerial Regional Forum on Environment and Health in Bangkok with the UN Environment Programme, UNEP.

The meeting was aimed at strengthening cooperation between ministries responsible for environment and health within Southeast and East Asian countries and across the region.

"Solving environmental health problems requires collaboration between health and environmental sectors. We need to strengthen our collective commitment to priority environmental health challenges in the region," said Omi.

At the two-day meeting last week, ministers and senior officials adopted the Bangkok Declaration on Environment and Health.

The accompanying regional charter identified six environmental and health priorities for joint policies and programs over the next three years:

* air quality

* water supply, hygiene and sanitation

* solid and hazardous waste

* toxic chemicals and hazardous substances

* climate change, ozone depletion and ecosystem change

* contingency planning, preparedness and response to environmental health emergencies

A regional thematic working group has been established for each priority area.

"The Bangkok Declaration takes us a firm step forward from monitoring and assessment of sectoral issues towards the prevention of health impacts," said UNEP Regional Director Surendra Shrestha.

Homes in Hanoi, Vietnam (Photo by Elodie Tomka courtesy WHO/WPRO)

Dr. Vallop Thainuea, deputy minister for Thailand's Ministry of Public Health said, "Since the capacities of countries in the region to deal with environmental health problems are limited, we need to have better intersectoral coordination."

"Harmonized policy responses need to be formulated for the transboundary environmental risk to health. Consequently, there is the need for an integrated management of health and environmental issues in the region," said Thainuea.

The ministers agreed to actively share information and contribute their resources for protection of the environment and health at the local, national, regional and global level.

The Bangkok Declaration provides a mechanism for sharing knowledge and experiences, improves policy and regulatory frameworks at the national and regional level, and promotes the implementation of integrated environmental health strategies and regulations.

The ministerial meeting held on August 9 opened with a scientific segment chaired by Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn of Thailand, president of the Chulabhorn Research Institute.

The princess stressed the importance of addressing environmental health issues in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly carcinogenic air pollutants.

She said the Chulabhorn Research Institute will utilize its links to other institutions and experts in the fields of environmental science and human health, as well as its network of research collaborators, to assist countries in the region to develop the human resources and capacity to deal with these environmental problems.

The Ministerial Regional Forum was attended by environment and health ministers and high level officials from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Representatives from the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and the World Bank also attended the meeting.

A Second Ministerial Regional Forum is planned in 2010 to review progress in implementing the new regional Charter.

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London Free Press: UN applauds Ontario Plan

Tue, August 14, 2007

The province plans to plant 50 million trees by 2020, the premier says.

OAKVILLE -- Ontario is setting an ambitious example for the rest of the world by committing $79 million to plant 50 million trees, Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday.

Ontario is supporting a United Nations campaign to plant a billion trees worldwide by making the largest pledge in North America, with planting in the province to be phased in with about five million new trees a year through 2020.

The Ontario tree project will remove an estimated 3.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2054 -- the equivalent of 172 million cars driving about 100 kilometres.

The additional trees will also mean more natural beauty across the province, more shade for homes to help conserve energy, and healthier ecosystems and wildlife habitats, McGuinty said.

"There's an old saying: 'The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second-best time is right now.'".

"It seems to me we have a special responsibility to the future to do our share, to lead by example."

Ontario should be commended for its commitment to plant so many trees, which is a good investment and should be emulated around the world, said Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox of the UN Environment Programme.

"Planting trees remains the cheapest, most effective means of drawing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," she said.

The mass planting is good for all of Earth, said former astronaut Roberta Bondar, who served as chairwoman for a government review of environmental education in Ontario.

People can't take for granted that Earth is the only known planet that sustains life, and we should appreciate that they can breathe and walk around without a spacesuit, said Bondar, who went into space in 1992 aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Bondar said she wishes everyone could see the "gorgeous, pastel-coloured planet" from space to appreciate our world and to be reminded of the importance of protecting the environment.

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society executive director Janet Sumner said yesterday's announcement is good news, but she called on the Ontario government to do more to protect existing forests.

"It's going to ring hollow if there's not an accompanying announcement to protect our natural forests," Sumner said.

It's estimated logging companies harvest more than 200,000 hectares of Ontario's public forests each year -- an area three times the size of Toronto, she said.

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C’est quoi, le changement climatique ? Dans les pays du Nord, l’attention se focalise sur les gaz à effet de serre, et leurs conséquences sur l’environnement. Des icebergs du pôle Nord, qui diminuent lentement de volume : voilà l’image, encore floue et lointaine, qui s’impose généralement dans les esprits. Mais dans les pays du Sud, économiquement si vulnérables, le réchauffement climatique provoque déjà une recrudescence de cyclones, inondations, sécheresses…

Autant de cataclysmes qui entraînent de vastes mouvements de migration, favorisent des épidémies, alimentent des conflits. Pour bien saisir cette réalité alarmante, le réseau global de journalisme Média 21 a proposé en juin 2007 une première semaine de formation avec des experts, au cœur de la Genève internationale. Au programme de la deuxième semaine : départ vers un autre hémisphère. Direction : le Kenya.

Notre équipe de neuf journalistes internationaux arrive lundi soir à Nairobi, la plus importante mégapole d’Afrique de l’Est : plus de trois millions d’habitants, et des allures de petit Manhattan avec ses gratte-ciel longeant Kenyatta avenue. Panafric Hotel, dans un des quartiers chics de la capitale. L’établissement de luxe est fréquenté par des hommes d’affaires africains et des Kenyans fortunés. On y voit aussi bon nombre de touristes pressés : il constitue une base idéale pour des excursions de safari-photo. A seulement quelques heures de route, se trouvent les plus beaux parcs naturels de la fameuse Great Rift Valley.

Cette vallée du Grand Rift, monumentale faille terrestre courant à l’ouest du pays, est considérée comme l’un des berceaux de l’humanité. C’est ici que des paléontologistes ont mis en évidence les plus anciennes traces de nos ancêtres communs. Elle représente aussi un havre de paix pour les " big five ", les cinq grands mammifères si prisés par les chasseurs d’images occidentaux : éléphants, rhinocéros, lions, léopards et buffles.

Mardi matin. Des experts de l’environnement nous attendent au siège de l’ONU, installé dans un vaste complexe de bureaux dans la périphérie nord de Nairobi, quatrième centre mondial des agences onusiennes. Eric Falt, directeur de la section communications du PNUE (Programme des Nations unies pour l’environnement) rappelle combien il est urgent de sensibiliser les esprits. " C’est comme avec le sida : la prise de conscience a pris du temps. Personne ne voulait en parler. Le même phénomène se produit avec le changement climatique ".

Avec les pays insulaires et côtiers, " le Kenya est en première ligne : une hausse du niveau de la mer aurait des conséquences fatales pour une ville comme Mombassa ", plus important port de la côte est africaine après Durban. Une hausse des températures locales, aussi : les principaux produits d’exportation du pays étant l’horticulture, le thé, le café, les essences, certains spécialistes avertissent qu’il n’y aura pas trente-six mille solutions. Soit on abat des forêts pour déplacer ces cultures à échelle industrielle plus en altitude. Soit il faudra repenser complètement l’économie du continent noir, déjà sinistrée.

Si les effets du changement climatique se poursuivent, dans un proche avenir, l’Ouganda devrait abandonner plus de 90 % des surfaces consacrées à la culture extensive du café. Une catastrophe annoncée.

Une façon aussi de compenser autant que possible les pertes dues à la commercialisation , plus ou moins légale, de charbon de bois, qui décime les espaces verts. " Cela ne renversera peut-être pas le cours du changement climatique, mais nous espérons que cela aura son effet à son niveau ", justifie Eric Falt, convaincu par ce type de campagne.

Des forêts, il en faut pour lutter contre les ravages de l’érosion qui appauvrit les sols rouges de l’Afrique subsaharienne. L’après-midi, découverte des environs du district de Kajiado, au sud de Nairobi. Le long de la route, s’étendent des collines pelées, et des vallons parsemés de rares acacias. Peu de cultures. Plutôt du bétail comme moyen de subsistance. Nous sommes au pays des pasteurs nomades : les Maasai, premiers occupants de tout le centre du Kenya avant l’arrivée des Européens.

Un chemin de terre, et au loin, un groupe de trois maisonnettes aux toitures de tôle ondulée : des femmes maasai s’avancent vers nous, entamant un chant de bienvenue. Sammy Rorore Oleku, coordinateur de l’ONG locale Maasai Environment Development Consortium, nous résume les répercussions du changement climatique : les sécheresses, qui frappaient auparavant la région tous les quatre ou cinq ans, sont devenues de plus en plus fréquentes. Celles de 2000, 2001 et 2002 ont causé des ravages au niveau national, après les pluies diluviennes de 1998.

On peut véritablement parler d’accidents climatiques. De dérèglement, aussi : encore cette année, la saison des pluies (avril et mai, habituellement) a débuté avec un mois de retard. Le mois de juin ? Il devrait être plutôt sec. Or, il pleut à verse depuis des jours… le calendrier des précipitations, devenu très irrégulier, a de quoi inquiéter les populations maasai. Traditionnellement habituées à vivre sur de vastes territoires, elles ont été cantonnés par le gouvernement kenyan dans des zones géographiques restreintes. Leur mode de vie ancestral a été bouleversé, les zones de pâturage réduites, tout comme l’accès aux points d’eau.

Les sécheresses ? Il faut apprendre à vivre avec : il y en a désormais chaque année… Une femme raconte qu’il n’est pas rare de devoir parcourir plus de dix kilomètres par jour pour chercher le précieux liquide, source de vie. Plusieurs projets soutenus entre autres par le PNUE tentent de remédier à la situation : un bassin de collecte des eaux de pluie, qui peut servir à irriguer un potager, ou une citerne, qui peut stocker jusqu’à 6000 litres d’eau potable en une saison.

Mercredi matin : départ pour le lac Naivasha, à environ 80 kilomètres au nord de Nairobi. La route grimpe lentement, puis redescend le long du flanc oriental du Rift : par temps clair, superbe vue panoramique sur les cônes volcaniques des monts Suswa et Longonot. Mais le ciel est gris et on aperçoit à peine que là-bas, au loin, se profilent les douces cimes d’un pays voisin : l’Ouganda.

Région volcanique, les environs du lac Naivasha, juché à 1890 mètres d’altitude, sont aussi connus pour leur imposante station de géothermie d’Olkaria - première installation du genre en Afrique. La géothermie est une source d’énergie durable, bienvenue : elle limite considérablement les émissions de gaz à effet de serre et pourrait satisfaire 50 % des besoins d’électricité du Kenya. Le complexe de la Kenya Electricity Generating Company Limited (KenGen, société privée exploitante) et son réseau de canalisations hors sol transportant l’eau pressurisée - jusqu’à 304 degrés - s’étendent sur des kilomètres.

Cette présence peut sembler incongrue sur le territoire du Parc national du lac Nakuru. Elle ne devrait pas trop gêner les quelques zèbres, girafes et antilopes aperçues de-ci de-là. " Nous avons même prévu par endroits des boucles surélevant les canalisations pour laisser passer les animaux ", fait remarquer Silas M. Simiyu, manager de KenGen. De l’avis général, l’impact sur la nature environnante serait limité. C’est plutôt la pollution engendrée par les exploitations d’horticulture, omniprésentes autour du lac, qui préoccupe Anthony Karinge, responsable au centre de conservation d’Elsamere, établi dans l’ancienne maison coloniale du peintre et naturaliste Joy Adamson - le célèbre éleveur de lions orphelins.

Pour produire des fleurs coupées qui partiront comme produit d’exportation vers l’Angleterre et la Hollande, il faut un éclairage artificiel 23 heures sur 24, et un arrosage constant. Les engrais, pesticides et autres produits chimiques utilisés dans ces serres industrielles sont hautement toxiques. Malgré le code en vigueur du Kenya Flower Coucil, les eaux résiduelles sont parfois mal retraitées et déversés dans le lac. Un lac dont la superficie fluctue toujours davantage, oscillant entre 170 et 250 kilomètres carrés. Le dérèglement climatique n’arrange rien : n’appréciant guère l’instabilité des eaux, " plusieurs espèces d’oiseaux ont déjà disparu, ou ont migré vers d’autres lacs ".

Mais au Kenya, les autres lacs ne sont pas forcément mieux lotis pour abriter les 1100 espèces à plumes recensées. Quatrième ville la plus importante, Nakuru est le chef-lieu de la province de Rift Valley. Il y a quelques décennies, Nakuru n’était qu’une paisible bourgade d’agriculteurs à 160 kilomètres au nord-ouest de Nairobi. Avec une industrialisation rapide, immigrés, paysans et éleveurs appauvris, saisonniers à la recherche de travail sont venus gonfler la population des rives du lac Nakuru, de manière anarchique.

La municipalité, qui a fait du flamant rose son emblème, s’est engagée dans un programme d’urbanisme très progressiste, axé sur le développement durable, nous explique jeudi matin S. C. Kiarie, chef du département environnement. On ne fume pas dans les rues de Nakuru : c’est interdit !

Mais le nerf de la guerre, c’est l’argent. Et l’argent vient en bonne partie des recettes prélevées sur les entrées du magnifique Parc national du lac Nakuru : 40 dollars par touriste, pour admirer enfin des flamants roses, à perte de vue. Fin d’après-midi. M. Debe, guide du Parc national, s’inquiète sur place de la fragilité de l’écosystème. Cette année, les flamants roses sont de retour. Bien heureusement. " Fait exceptionnel, on peut voir qu’ils nidifient même au bord du lac ". Plus loin, un troupeau de buffles se profile dans les hautes herbes. De jeunes zèbres aux brunes rayures broutent sous les acacias.

Le ciel est lourd, l’orage menace. Le lac Nakuru risque de perdre son rôle de première importance pour le tourisme international : il abritait plus de deux millions de flamants roses au début des années 1990, soit presque un tiers de la population totale dans le monde entier. Victime de sécheresses (comme en 1995), de crues imprévisibles (suite aux inondations provoquées par El Niño en 1997-98), de la pollution locale engendrée par l’industrialisation et la déforestation, le lac n’attire plus que de façon sporadique les gracieux volatiles. Ils migrent vers d’autres plans d’eau aux températures et à la salinité plus stables.

Le cliché, si prisé des touristes et qui faisait l’orgueil de Nakuru, pourrait s’envoler à jamais. La même péril guette les visiteurs qui se rendent au lac Baringo, second plan d’eau douce du Rift. Vendredi. L’arrivée au Lake Baringo Club, qui organise des expéditions sur le lac, a failli être reportée. Des pluies torrentielles ont submergé la route B4 menant au lac. C’est une rivière agitée et par endroits, des eaux boueuses profondes d’un mètre qu’il nous faut traverser. Des camions de marchandises restent bloqués sur la rive. Ils ne passeront pas.

Les abords du lac Baringo sont très prisés par un certain tourisme de luxe qui avance armé de jumelles et de gros téléobjectifs: outre quelque 448 espèces d’oiseaux colorés, on peut y apercevoir des hippopotames et des crocodiles. Les vastes propriétés privées détenues par des Blancs, ainsi que l’hôtellerie somptueuse – une belle piscine attend le voyageur fatigué, tandis que le champagne et le vin blanc Chardonnay sommeillent au frais - contrastent fortement avec la pauvreté locale.

L’avenir est entre nos mains, affirmait quelqu’un. Qui nous dira si au 21ème siècle, seuls les plus nantis jouiront d’un splendide panorama et d’un microclimat favorable, tandis que des populations entières connaîtront le douloureux chemin de l’exode?