The New Nation - Internet Edition

Champions of the Earth for urgent action

Seven leading lights in the battle against global warming who are also catalysing the transition to a greener and leaner global economy were recently acknowledged as the 2008 Champions of the Earth.

The winners, ranging from His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco and the Prime Minister of New Zealand to a Sudanese climate researcher who has been successfully piloting climate-proofing strategies in some of the most stressed communities on Earth, received their trophies at a gala event in Singapore.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) who presented the awards which are hosted in conjunction with the annual Business for the Environment Summit (B4E) said: "The golden thread that links each one of tonight's winners is climate change, the challenge for this generation and the disaster for the next unless it is urgently addressed".

"Our winners for 2008 light an alternative path for humanity by taking responsibility, demonstrating leadership and realizing change across a wide range of sustainability issues. These include more intelligent and creative management of natural and nature-based resources from waste and water to biodiversity and agriculture," he added.

"Thus each one is living proof that the greening of the global economy is underway and that a transition to a more resource efficient society not only makes environmental sense but social and economic sense too. I am sure their leadership and their achievements will inspire many others to act as it inspired us at UNEP to name them the 2008 Champions of the Earth," said Mr Steiner.

The gala event was hosted by UNEP; the Singapore Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and the Singapore Tourism Board with the support of various sponsors and partners including strategic partner Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL); corporate partners Arcelor Mittal, The Dow Chemical Company, OSRAM, Senoko Power, and Siemens. The event's international public relations partner is Edelman, and its global media partners are CNN and TIME.

His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, the European winner, has become an international advocate for greater action on climate change and natural resource management.

In 2005 and 2006 he followed in the footsteps of his great, great grandfather Prince Albert I, by going to the Arctic witness at first hand the impacts. This inspired him to establish a foundation in his own name that currently supports close to 60 projects globally.

In thanking UNEP for awarding the prize, the His Serene Highness pledged to "carry out missions to raise the alarm and heighten awareness in the field. The world is facing an unprecedented threat. We must assume our responsibilities without delay and rise to the challenge that history has placed upon our path".

Abdul-Qader Ba-Jammal, the former Prime Minister of Yemen who was awarded the prize for West Asia, said it was vital to make the connection between improved management of nature and natural resources and the "upgrading of peoples quality of life".

A staunch advocate of more intelligent management of water resources and the need to address sustainable agriculture in dry-lands, he said the awarding of the UNEP prize was not only a personal delight but a "high responsibility".

Timothy E. Wirth of the United States, whose professional and public life has been shaped by climate change and fostering support in his home country for greater action to cut emissions, said: "With each passing month, each passing year we learn more about the urgency of the task".

The winner for North America added:" We still have some ways to go, but we still have time to act before chaos and catastrophe hit the globe".

Liz Thompson, the winner for Latin America and the Caribbean whose many achievements include inspiring and pioneering a response to a major challenge for small island developing states-improved solid waste management-said: "You go to work every day and do something you are passionate about. But do not think anyone is taking notice at this level".

The former Minister of the Environment and Energy of Barbados said she was "gratified, overwhelmed and shaken" by being named a Champion of the Earth which will spur her on to get the world to take climate change issues more seriously.

Dr Atiq Rahman, the Champion for Asia and the Pacific, said the award would spur him on to ever greater "zeal and to work even faster and stronger" to tackle the issues facing his native Bangladesh and the world as a whole.

"I am impatient. Climate change as a man-made disaster is coming at a rapid rate. A one metre sea-level rise would lead to a fifth of my country under water. If we can't feed the people, there will be chaos," he said.

Dr Rahman, Executive Director of a leading South Asia sustainability think-tank, said everyone in the world would, in the final analysis "rise together and deliver a better future for this planet or we will all sink together. By integrating environment and development, we are trying to show that North and South and rich and poor do not have two different fates".

Dr Balgis Osman-Elasha, the winner for Africa, said: " I am trying to convey the message of climate change, to simplify the message, to make it reach the people who are going to be impacted".

The Sudanese researcher has worked on a range of research projects in her native Sudan, including Darfur demonstrating to vulnerable communities the feasibility of adapting to climate change and extreme weather events.

Also a leading author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year co-won the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr Osman-Elasha added: "To be awarded the Champions of Earth is an honor. It gives you the feeling and the power to do more and I think the proudest moment is yet to come. We have no other planet-there is only one Earth: this is the message!".

The UNEP Special Prize for Champions of the Earth 2008 was awarded to Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, whose country has set the trail-blazing target of being climate neutral.

"We have launched the world's first, 100 per cent coverage and all sectors Emissions Trading scheme and we will meet the goal of 90 per cent renewable energy by 2025," she said.

Ms Clark said her vision was "sustain the biodiversity, the cultural diversity and environmental integrity that we have had in our world and which is very, very much under threat". She described being awarded the Special Champions of the Earth prize from UNEP as "just an incredible boost" and a boost for her country's reputation: "You do get your critics. But we are making a difference and we will keep making a difference".

(Source: Unep)

Stink of India's steel frame

Sunita Narain

We were standing in Sarova village, not far from Raipur, the capital of mineral-rich Chhattisgarh. All around us we could see some black stuff scattered on the ground. The villagers told us that the sponge iron factory owner was giving this away as a 'gift' and would even transport it to their lands. They refused to say if they were being paid to dump this reject on their land. But they did whisper to me that the land on which we were standing, laden with black reject belonged to the brother of the sarpanch. The sarpanch they said was earlier against the factory's pollution. But now, after his election he had joined the ranks of the silent.

This was not a benign gift. The factory was getting rid of its waste-char-the left over of its production of sponge iron, used to make steel, which makes infrastructure tick. This rejected remains of iron ore, coal and dolomite, is toxic as it contains huge amounts of heavy metals. The village is poor. The factory is powerful. What better arrangement can there be? Who cares if the water source gets contaminated? After all, toxic pollution is a small price to pay for the nation's progress.

My cynicism is warranted in this case. In this village we could see the water body-the only tank-was layered with emissions of the factory. Villagers told us that everything around them was black-their houses, their clothes, their agricultural fields. Even the rice they grew was caked with black dust. They said they had raised their voice. But nobody listened. They already had three factories in their backyard and now another one was coming up.

The sponge iron factory was visible from where we stood. It was blacker than any kettle in the world. Everywhere I could see clouds of black dust emitted-from where the coal was being unloaded; from where it was being crushed; to where it was being fed into the kiln to be burnt with iron ore and dolomite; from the chimney of the kiln and all the bags of its dust collecting electrostatic precipitators. Outside, the land was piled high with the same char. It was clear why the owner needed to do something charitable with his waste.

As we returned back to the mall-infested aspiring city of Raipur, a grotesque sight unfolded in its vicinity-lines and lines of sponge iron factories, each competing with the other to vomit more black dirt. The next day when I returned to Delhi I found myself staring at full page advertisements, carrying images of the prime minister and the ministers in charge of the ministry of chemical, fertilizers and steel. The proudest achievement in its four glorious years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), screamed the announcement, was that the country had retained its position as the world's largest producer of sponge iron.

This is the progress story of India. With steel prices spiralling out of control, sponge iron is a thriving business. The investment in setting up the sponge iron plant, with its rudimentary technology and little machinery-can be recovered in just over a year. We know that part of the increase in the price of steel manufacturing comes because of the increase in the price of its raw material-coking coal, which India largely imports.

Sponge iron is an alternative route to produce steel-using coal which is still much cheaper. So, as the price of steel gallops, the sponge iron industry makes profits, without the same costs. As a result, plants of all sizes-many less than 100 tonnes per annum are springing up across the country, literally without any check, in the backyard of people's homes. There is intense anger. But governments do nothing. There is money to be made. Profits to be shared.

In response to growing protests from people affected by sponge iron pollution, the Central Pollution Control Board issued draft standards. Under these standards, the industry would not be allowed, 'under any circumstances' to dump its char on agricultural waste; no new sponge iron plant would be commissioned without installation of pollution control equipment capable of meeting stringent air quality standards and plants would need to be sited away from villages and from each other.

It should come as no surprise that these draft standards issued in March 2006 have never seen the light of day. In response to a right to information (RTI) application, the central board said: the standards have been sent to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for notification under the Environment (Protection) Act. Action is awaited. Two years and more later, as new sponge iron plants come up each day, and as village after village continues to suffer toxic pain, the ministry is still sitting on the standards. No prizes for guessing why.

The state government is equal in its callousness. Its contention is that minerals are wealth and they must be extracted at any cost. It refuses to accept the need for environmental safeguards or to ensure that local communities-tribals in this case-worst hit because of mineral extraction on their land-are compensated or that benefits are shared. It said this, in its lengthy response to our state of India's environment report on mining, people and environment. Its lands are rich, and it does not care if its people are poor. Sad.

This is the cheap and dirty industrialisation model that we love to thrive upon. In this case, nobody can argue that this industry is poor, small and desperate and so environmental regulations will cost. In this case, industry is highly lucrative; it involves the biggest names in corporate India.

But still, as environmental standards would raise costs of production, why bother. After all, the affected villagers are voiceless. They will never make it to page 3 as steel barons will and do, day after day. All I can say is that India's steel frame stinks.

(The writer is the editor, Down To Earth, New Delhi, India)

Coral reefs in the Philippined 'slowly dying'

Henrylito D. Tacio

Nearly all of the ecologically-fragile coral reefs in the Philippines are under severe threat from economic development and climate change.

This is according to an update circulated by the Southeast Asian Centre of Excellence (SEA CoE) during the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium held here.

The Philippines is part of the so-called "coral triangle," which spans eastern Indonesia, parts of Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands. It covers an area that is equivalent to half of the entire United States.

Although there are 1,000 marine protected areas (MPAs) within the country, only 20 percent are functioning, the update said. MPAs are carefully selected areas where human development an d exploitation of natural resources are regulated to protect species and habitats. In the Philippines, coral reefs are important economic assets, contributing more than US$1 billion annually to the economy.

"Many local, coastal communities do not understand or know what a coral reef actually is, how its ecosystem interacts with them, and why it is so important for their villages to preserve and conserve it," SEA CoE said in a statement.

Unknowingly, coral reefs - touted to be the tropical rainforest of the sea - attract a diverse array of organisms in the ocean. They provide a source of food and shelter for a large variety of species including fish, shellfish, fungi, sponges, sea anemones, sea urchins, turtles and snails.

A single reef can support as many as 3,000 species of marine life. As fishing grounds, they are thought to be 10 to 100 times as productive per unit area as the open sea. In the Philippines, an estimated 10-15 per cent of the total fisheries come from coral reefs.

Not only coral reefs serve as home to marine fish species, they also supply compounds for medicines. The Aids drug AZT is based on chemicals extracted from a reef sponge while more than half of all new cancer drug research focuses on marine organisms.

Unfortunately, these beautiful coral reefs are now at serious risk from degradation. According to scientists, 70 percent of the world's coral reefs may be lost by 2050. In the Philippines, coral reefs have been slowly dying over the past 30 years.

The World Atlas of Coral Reefs, compiled by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), reported that 97 percent of reefs in the Philippines are under threat from destructive fishing techniques, including cyanide poisoning, over-fishing, or from deforestation and urbanization that result in harmful sediment spilling into the sea.

Last year, Reef Check, an international organization assessing the health of reefs in 82 countries, stated that only five percent of the country's coral reefs are in "excellent condition." These are the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in Palawan, Apo Island in Negros Oriental, Apo Reef in Puerto Galera, Mindoro, and Verde Island Passage off Batangas.

About 80-90 per cent of the incomes of small island communities come from fisheries. "Coral reef fish yields range from 20 to 25 metric tons per square kilometer per year for healthy reefs," said Angel C. Alcala, former environment secretary.

Alcala is known for his work in Apo Island, one of the world-renowned community-run fish sanctuaries in the country. It even earned him the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Rapid population growth and the increasing human pressure on coastal resources have also resulted in the massive degradation of the coral reefs. Robert Ginsburg, a specialist on coral reefs working with the Ro senstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, said human beings have a lot to do with the rapid destruction of reefs. "In areas where people are using the reefs or where there is a large population, there are significant declines in coral reefs," he pointed out.

"Life in the Philippines is never far from the sea," wrote Joan Castro and Leona D'Agnes in a new report. "Every Filipino lives within 45 miles of the coast, and every day, more than 4,500 new residents are born."

Estimates show that if the present rapid population growth and declining trend in fish production continue, only 10 kilograms of fish will be available per Filipino per year by 2010, as opposed to 28.5 kilograms per year in 2003.

GlobeScan sustainable development survey

The latest world survey by GlobeScan finds that the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) continues to lead among organizations expected to play a major role in advancing sustainable development and also to be a leading provider of information on sustainability issues.

In a 2006 survey, sustainability experts were asked to rate a number of organizations on how significant a role they expect each to play in advancing sustainability over the next five years. 54% of respondents think the WBCSD will play a "major role" in the next 5 years, up five points from a 2004 survey. The Council was second only to the European Union (EU), named by 69%.

Governments were the most inclined of the sectors to point to the EU, WTO, and OECD, and along with the business service sector, the most inclined to expect the WBCSD to play a prominent role.

The WBCSD website is not only viewed as the best, by far, for information on sustainable development, it is increasingly seen this way.

When asked to name - without reference to a list - the best websites for sustainable development, most experts mentioned the WBCSD. In total, six in ten experts (63%) were able to mention a website; among these experts, the WBCSD was mentioned by almost one-half (44%). The percentage of respondents citing the WBCSD has increased 16 points since 2003, when the question was first asked.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (16%) and the United Nations (15%) sites ranked second and third.

Experts in the corporate and service sectors are more likely than others to mention the WBCSD. Little variation exists regionally in terms of which websites are the best sources for sustainable development information; however, North Americans are slightly more likely than others to cite the WBCSD.

Experts think that business can make its greatest contribution to sustainable development by addressing energy and climate change issues, followed by corruption and transparency.

Experts were asked how much of a contribution to sustainable development business can make in six different areas. Nine in ten experts (88%, first time asked) thought that the business community can make a "great contribution" on energy and climate change (developing innovative ways to address global warming within a sustainable development framework).

Rated second were corruption and transparency, where three-quarters of experts (73%) thought that business can be effective in promoting the implementation and use of global corporate governance to fight corruption and increase transparency.

Six in ten experts judged that business can provide a great contribution in each of three areas: human rights (63%); water (60%); and development and poverty alleviation (58%). Experts are least optimistic about business's effectiveness in the sustainable management and use of ecosystems (48%).

As a business organization, the WBCSD is heavily involved in all of these areas. It brings together some 180 member companies in a shared commitment to sustainable development through economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. Through its three focus areas, Energy & Climate, Development and The Business Role, as well as various projects, including water, ecosystems, forest products, cement, electricity utilities, tires and health, its aims to provide business leadership as a catalyst for change toward sustainable development.

The Globescan Survey of Sustainability Experts is published twice yearly. Each report is based on the strategic insights and predictions provided by a selected panel of experts across mainly OECD countries. The Sustainability Experts panel represents all sectors: officials in multilateral organizations, government ministries, corporations, industry associations, sustainable development consultants, journalists and academics, as well as leaders of major policy institutes and non-governmental organizations.

Respondents are drawn from five sectors: corporate, government, voluntary (NGO), institutional (e.g., academics), and service (e.g., consultants). Regionally, Asia, Western Europe, North America, Africa, the Middle East, South America and Eastern Europe are represented. Of the 240 respondents, 66% have more than ten years of experience working on sustainable development issues, 25% have five to ten years, and 9% have three to four years. Those with less than three years of experience have been excluded from the research.

(Read the press release online http:// www.wbcsd.org /includes/getTarget.asp?type=DocDet&id=MTk2OTg)