The New Nation - Internet Edition

Roadmap to G8 Hokkaido Summit

Tarequl Islam Munna

Leaders of the Group of eight countries issued a joint communique and a "plan of action" on Climate Change and Energy Security G8 summit from July 7-9,2008 at the Windsor Hotel Toya Resort and Spa in Toyako, Hokkaido island in northern Japan, according to White House of the press secretary and G8 Research Group sources.

In the communique, the leaders declared that "climate change is a serious and long-term challenge that has the potential to affect every part of the globe" and that human activities "contribute in large part to increases in greenhouse gases associated with the warming of the Earth's surface.

As host of the 2008 G8 summit, Japan is eager to take leadership in building international consensus for a post-2012 framework on reducing emissions and tackling global warming after the current Kyoto Protocol expires. Japan has proposed setting up a new mechanism to provide incentives for developing countries to work on cutting emissions, such as by improving energy efficiencies, without affecting economic growth. The Environment, Africa, intellectual property rights, and nuclear safety should be a prominent part of the Japanese focus.

Japan is considering extending about 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) over five years, possibly starting this year, to about 40 developing countries that have expressed their intention to help address climate change by implementing energy-saving targets or specific action plans. With the Japan-led "financial mechanism" on climate change for developing countries, Tokyo is poised to take the lead in negotiations to craft a global framework to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012, especially in the run-up to the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido this July. Japan will ask its G8 peers to join the fund so that it can announce specific programs in the initiative and the amount of funds involved as a tangible result of the G8 summit.

The first session of the G8 environment ministers is to be held on Okinawa, which was the venue of the G8 summit during Japan's previous G8 presidency eight years ago. The need to hold such a meeting is connected with the fact that efforts to abate global climate changes will be the main subject of discussion at the forthcoming summit in Hokkaido. The G8 ecology ministers also plan to discuss measures to avert droughts, and epidemics of infectious diseases such as the Western Nile fever, the spread of which, it is believed, is also a result of global warming.

Japan and the United States are considering convening a leaders' summit of major carbon emitters and a U.S.-led meeting of major emitters ahead of the Group of Eight summit.

Holding the two meetings concurrently in Japan, the two countries plan to take the lead in building a long-term global goal of "halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050" as a "joint conclusion" of the U.S.-led talks and the G8 summit, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and U.S. President George W. Bush have agreed to this bilateral initiative, and the two nations have begun working-level talks on a plan to hold the "Environment and Energy Summit" of G8 leaders and their partners from other carbon emitters and the U.S.-led "Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change" ahead of the G8 summit in Hokkaido.

The United States and Japan will work closely together:

To make the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Bali in December a success and establish a "Bali Roadmap" that will advance formal negotiations on an effective post-2012 framework.

To ensure, in connection with the G8 Hokkaido Summit in Japan this year, that members fulfill their G8 commitments on climate change and energy security, and to cooperate to make tangible progress toward the establishment of an effective framework on climate change beyond 2012 under the UNFCCC. To advance the Major Economies Process leading up to a leaders meeting in 2008 that concludes with a detailed contribution to a global agreement under the UNFCCC by 2009, pursuing an agreement that is based on commitments by all major economies to take action, allows for flexibility and diversity of approaches, and is environmentally effective and economically sustainable.

To focus major economies' discussions of a future global framework on key elements, including:

A long-term global goal for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, consistent with economic development objectives.

National plans that set mid-term goals to advance the global goal, with each country selecting its own mix of binding, market-based, and voluntary measures that are environmentally effective and measurable.

Collaborative technology development and deployment strategies for key sectors, including low-carbon fossil power generation, transportation, land use, near-zero carbon energy (e.g., nuclear, wind, and solar), and energy efficiency -advanced by international sector-based discussion.

Financing mechanisms to support adoption of cleaner, more efficient technologies, along with the reduction and elimination of trade barriers for clean energy goods and services.

And improved measurement and accounting systems to track progress; and Robust programs on forestry, adaptation, and technology access for all UN members.

To highlight the value for a future global framework of a sector-based approach and public-private cooperation, as demonstrated successfully in the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP).

To continue this leading role in research and development of clean energy and climate technologies and encourage other major economies to increase public funding, as the United States and Japan have, for research and development of clean energy and climate technologies in order to promote the commercialization and adoption of such technologies, increase energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while strengthening energy security and economic growth.

To further enhance cooperation in the field of nuclear energy under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership and the U.S.-Japan Joint Nuclear Energy Action Plan, in light of a growing interest in nuclear energy in the Asia-Pacific region, to provide a clean power generating option without greenhouse gases in a manner ensuring nuclear non-proliferation, safety, and security.

(Tarequl Islam Munna: Conservator, wildlife and environment, in taking positive environmental action around the world to conserve the nature and ecological balance on behalf of World Wide .)

Go green! Get green

Mohammad Shahidul Islam

According to some of the world's leading international and development groups, global warming threatens to reverse human advancement and make unattainable all UN targets to lessen poverty. In a journal, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, WWF and 15 other groups state that rich governments must immediately address climate change to avoid "obscene levels" of worldwide poverty. "Food production, water supplies, public health and people's livelihoods are already being damaged and undermined," the journal says. "There is no either/or approach possible. The world must meet its commitments to achieve poverty reduction and also tackle climate change. The two are inextricably linked."

Bangladesh will be greatly affected by global warming. If we really want to save Bangladesh from the ferocious claw of global warming, we need to do something immediately, apart form the government's plan and policy. The word "green" should be spread out across the country. Green day, green night, green university, green city, green tourism, and so on, should be the buzz words not only of the people of Bangladesh but also of whole world. Above all, we have to welcome "Green Technology" in our day to day life. Let's see; "What will be the nature of Green Technology?"

Green technology, the buzz word in America and Europe, is a broad term for more environmentally friendly solutions -- whether it is manufacturing carpeting that produces zero landfill, developing a planned community, turning radioactive cesium into glass, or creating less packaging for frozen foods. We do not need to be chemists to understand or use green technology. We can seek out and stipulate products that support it. And we can easily use its principles ourselves.

Amenities and technology are frequently publicised as ways to make our lives easier, or to make luxuries available to more people. The ugly flip side is that the products, or technologies for making them, harm our environment. The industries and regulatory bodies of the country are taking steps in the right direction. But why should we wait for them to come up with all the answers? By using green technology, we can help our environmental healing process.

Let us see how this works. We go grocery shopping, right? Instead of using the store's paper or plastic bags, we can buy our own reusable bags. Strong, durable, washable bags made of cotton, hemp, or nylon can handle the weight of groceries and can "stand up" just like paper bags. As we stroll down the walkways, we can pick organic produce, eggs, and other items.

There is an abundance of cleaning products available today. We, in fact, need just a couple of all-purpose products to keep our house sparkling. Vinegar and baking soda are inexpensive, effective cleaning products that don't harm the environment. Most commercially popular laundry detergents are made using a petrochemical process. But if we buy one 50-ounce jug of laundry detergent made by using vegetable oils instead of petrochemicals, we can save the world 130,000 barrels of oil -- enough to heat and cool 7,500 homes for a year. Certainly, that is energy competence!

All synthetic fragrances are made using petrochemicals. That includes fragrances in our shampoo, soap, shaving cream, hairspray, so-called "air fresheners," carpet cleaner, and anything else that simply lists "fragrance" as an ingredient. We can make more eco-friendly choices that include no fragrance, or only a natural fragrance, such as an essential oil. Then we will save on oil consumption every time we make that choice.

Many construction materials release dangerous chemical gases that pollute the environment. We can pick materials that are made from sustainable products, and "green chemistry." Green chemistry (a subset of green technology) develops products and processes to reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.

For instance; we want built-in cabinets for the family room. Many ready-made cabinets are a thin wood veneer covering a construction of wood shavings pressed together with a lot of glue -- a blend that can silently give off formaldehyde gases for years. Instead, we may consider cabinets made from solid wood, such as hard pine from sustainable forests. Choose stains and finishes that contain no VOCs (volatile organic compounds), ditto for wall paint.

When selecting carpeting, we should choose from "green minded" companies; such companies consciously use green technology in the manufacturing and installation of their products. Products are made with minimal wastage, and with materials that preserve indoor air quality (as opposed to letting-off harmful chemicals). Furniture companies that use organic fibers and shun synthetic glues, dyes, or finishing sprays during production are also worth serious consideration. The cost is a little more, but the resulting benefit to the environment, including the environment in our own home, is worth it.

Let us walk outdoors. Does a lawn service spray our yard? If we are on a yearly maintenance plan, and we possess an acre of land, we are putting 5 to 7 pounds of pesticides on our lawn every year. That is as much (often more) than farmers put on their crops. Switch to a service that uses all-natural lawn care. Within a year, our lawn could be greener and healthier than our neighbours' lawns. And we will not have to worry about what we track into the house when we walk across our yard.

Imagine a mystical realm of green Bangladesh, where a secret world hides in plain sight and we hold the key to its mysteries. Where time warps on a busy, modern street as we gaze from futuristic storefronts to the line of their nineteenth century rooftops. Catch the green flash of a community garden nestled among the bricks and mortar of urban chaos. Everything we do impacts the environment. What matters is how big a footprint we leave on it. We need to look through "green lenses" to play down that footprint. It can begin with us.

(Mohammad Shahidul Islam is a Faculty Member of National Hotel and Tourism Training Institute, Dhaka Bangladesh.)

Amazon logging means short-lived prosperity

Roberto Villar Belmonte

Devastation, violent land conflicts and rapid -- but short-lived -- economic growth are the traces left by deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon over the last 30 years, according to a new study.

In the past three decades, 700,000 square kilometres of jungle have been consumed, 17 percent of the original forested area. Logging produces an initial boom of prosperity, because the extraction of timber, in most cases illegal, is very lucrative. Then come the farmers and ranchers.

But the wealth lasts, at most, 20 years. Because of the Amazon's abundant rainfall, farming is complicated. When the timber runs out, there is a tendency of the local economy to collapse. Only a few, mostly those working in mining, escape this pattern.

This dynamic was revealed by researchers Adalberto Veríssimo and Danielle Celentano, of Imazon (Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon) in a study published in August, "The Advance of the Frontier in the Amazon: From Boom to Collapse", which analyses the region's economic, social and environmental indicators.

Celentano describes the deforestation as a wave that cultivates jobs and income through the exploitation of timber. But it also cultivates violence and degradation of natural resources.

After the wave passes, "the conflicts diminish, as do the benefits of logging, which is especially predatory, given that agriculture cannot absorb the same amount of labour or generate the same income," said Celentano in an interview.

The experts divided the 770 Amazonian municipalities into four zones: the non-forest, which covers 24 percent of the area of sites in transition between the savannahs of the Cerrado and the jungle; areas currently being exploited (14 percent, with 26 municipalities); the already deforested (10 percent, with 218 municipalities); and the forested (52 percent of the region, with logging at five percent). Their research shows that the destruction of the forest has produced more harm than wealth in the local economy -- a debt that the entire planet ends up paying. The Amazon contributes just over eight percent of Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP), but its deforestation is responsible for nearly 70 percent of the country's climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions. Rural Amazon producers argue that if Europe and the United States logged their forests in order to grow, "we can do it too." In the short term, their argument is valid. But the Amazonian per capita GDP (2,320 dollars) has risen just one percent in the past 15 years, and remains 40 percent below the national mean.

In So Francisco do Pará, which has experienced some periods of prosperity, 96 percent of the jungle has disappeared. Of its 14,000 inhabitants, 62 percent are poor, and 31 percent indigent. This is repeated in many municipalities of the northern state of Pará. In Primavera, for example, GDP feel 20 percent in the past two decades. Deforestation hit 95 percent and nearly half the population lives on less than one dollar a day.

However, the Institute researchers note that it is impossible to be sure that this will be the fate of the areas currently being deforested.

Meanwhile, 60 percent of the 386 rural murders reported in Brazil between 1997 and 2006 were committed in the Amazon, nearly half in areas under intense logging. In that period, land conflicts in the region more than doubled, from 156 to 328. Of the 1,012 cases of slave labour documented between 2003 and 2006, 85 percent were in Amazonian areas.

The Imazon study shows a different pattern in the non-forested area, which is more arid and therefore has better conditions for agriculture. The best example is Sinop, one of the principal cities of the western state of Mato Grosso, with intense lumber processing activity, with the raw material coming from other regions.

Sinop also has vast farm production, especially soybeans. Despite losing 65 percent of its forest, the local economy did not collapse and the city has excellent infrastructure.

Overall, the rate of forest loss is on the decline. It was 25 percent less in the August 2005-July 2006 period. And for this year, officials expect a reduction of 30 percent in total area deforested, for a 12-month total of 10,000 square km -- the lowest since satellite monitoring of the forest began.

The improvement is attributed to greater government regulation and to a decline in crop prices -- which slowed the expansion of the agricultural frontier. But there are signs of price recovery, and that could put to the test the will to stop deforestation, because when farmers are turning a profit they tend to expand their areas of cultivation.

A recent episode illustrates these tensions. On Aug. 20 in Juína, a municipality of northwestern Mato Grosso, dozens of farmers, with the support of Mayor Hilton Campos, expelled two French journalists and seven Greenpeace and indigenous rights activists who tried to visit a recently logged area in Rio Preto, which the Enawene-nawe people claim as their ancestral territory.

"The cities along the agricultural frontiers in the Amazon are lawless lands. The reaction of the rural producers here is normal. For them, our objective is to block their agricultural and ranch projects," Marcelo Marquesina, forestry engineer and Greenpeace campaigner for the Amazon, said in an interview.

In late August, a federal court suspended 99 projects for rural settlement created since 2005 by the National Institute of Colonisation and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) in the west of Pará state. The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed by Greenpeace.

The complaint argued that INCRA accelerated the creation of settlements in biologically rich areas of the jungle in order to benefit lumber interests.

(This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS-Inter Press Service and IFEJ-International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)