THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Wednesday, 7 December 2005
UNEP and the Executive Director in the News
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The worst weather ever? At $200bn, it's certainly the costlies (The Independent)
2005 ranked as costliest year for weather-related natural disasters (Canadian
Press)
Desastres naturales costaron 200 mil millones de dólares (La Cronica de Hoy)
2005 Costliest Year for Extreme Weather (Inter Press Service)
Las pérdidas por desastres naturales en 2005 alcanzaron la histórica cifra de
170.000 millones, según el PNUMA (Europa Press)
Elogia ONU reubicación isleños amenazados por cambios climáticos (Prensa
Latina)
Vanuatu et la Papouasie, nouveaux pays victimes de la montée des océans ?
(Tahiti Presse)
Rising seas force Islanders to move inland, says UN (Pacific Island News
Service)
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Kuwait to host talks on Gulf environment clean-up (Reuters)
Refinery stops producing leaded fuel (The Daily Nation)
El reto: desarrollo sin destruir la naturaleza (Swiss Info)
Water increasingly important to the region (Arabic News)
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Das wäre gut so (Der Tagesspiegel)
Other Environment News
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Montreal climate change conference to resume (Deutsche Presse Agentur)
Red tape hampers CO2 cuts scheme (BBC)
Ozone layer recovery to take extra 15 years (San Francisco Chronicle)
Disminuye ritmo de destrucción de la selva amazónica en Brasil (El Occidental)
La deforestación produjo contaminación de mercurio en Amazonas (Diario Hoy)
In Mongolia, an 'Extinction Crisis' Looms (New York Times)
Environmental News from the UNEP Regions
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ROA
Other UN News
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UN Daily News of 6 December 2005
S.G.’s Spokesman Daily Press Briefing of 6 December 2005
Communications and Public Information, P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: (254-2) 623292/93, Fax: [254-2] 62 3927/623692, Email:cpiinfo@unep.org, http://www.unep.org
The Independent (UK): The worst weather ever? At $200bn, it's certainly the costliest
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
7.12.2005
Severe weather around the world has made 2005 the most costly year on record with
unprecedented levels of insurance claims on damaged property, the United Nations
Environment Programme says.
Early estimates made by the insurance company Munich Re Foundation put the year's financial
losses at more than $200bn (£117bn) with insurance claims running at more than $70bn. In
2004, the previous most costly year for weather-related incidents, losses totalled about $145bn
and claims reached $45bn.
The UNEP said this year's record was partly due to the highest number of hurricanes and
tropical storms since records began more than 150 years ago. Some scientists believe the
upsurge in cases of severe weather may be linked to climate change brought about by man-made
emissions of greenhouse gases.
Thomas Lobster, chief executive of Munich Re Foundation and a member of the finance
initiative of the UNEP, said the global weather in 2005 was exceptional in many ways: "There
is a powerful indication from these figures that we are moving from predictions of the likely
impacts of climate change to proof that it is already fully under way."
"Above all, these are humanitarian tragedies and show us that, as a result of our impacts on the
climate, we are making people everywhere more vulnerable to weather-related natural
disasters."
The year also saw the highest recorded instance of rainfall, 944mm in 24 hours in Mumbai,
India; the first hurricane to reach the European mainland; and the strongest hurricane on record.
Hurricane Vince was the first to make landfall in Europe when it hit the Spanish coast in
October. In November, Tropical Storm Delta hit the Canaries killing several people. It was the
first tropical storm to strike the islands.
Munich Re Foundation collects some of the best data in the world on economic losses and
insurance claims due to natural disasters, the UN agency said. Losses due to atmospheric-linked
disasters showed a far stronger upward trend than those related to earthquakes for the past 50
years, Mr Lobster said.
"We do not underestimate the human tragedy of earthquakes which can kill tens of thousands of
people a year. But our findings indicate that it is the toll of weather-related disasters that are on
the rise," he said.
The Atlantic hurricane season this year broke many records. Hurricane Wilma in October was
the strongest storm ever recorded, and there were so many tropical storms that the US National
Hurricane Centre exhausted its list of 21 alphabetically ordered names. Not all scientists are
convinced climate change is responsible for the upsurge in severe weather, but many computer
models predict such events could occur more frequently in a warmer world.
Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the UNEP, called on the climate change convention being
held in Montreal to reach agreement and send a clear signal to business and governments.
"We must find the political will and the funds necessary to help the most vulnerable people
adapt to the climate change now under way," Mr Toepfer said.
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Canadian Press: 2005 ranked as costliest year for weather-related natural disasters
By DENNIS BUECKERT
6.12.2005
MONTREAL (CP) - Hurricane Katrina has been ranked as the costliest weather disaster on
record, with a price tag of $125 billion, of which $40 billion was insured, a UN climate
conference was told on Tuesday.
But Katrina was just one blow of many that made 2005 a record-setting year for weather
carnage, said the Munich Re Foundation, part of one of the world's biggest insurance
companies.
Economic losses for the year totalled $200 billion, with insured losses running at more than $70
billion, according to Munich Re estimates presented at the climate conference.
Total losses in 2004, which also set a record, were $145 billion. Experts say the cost of weatherrelated disasters has been rising in large part because of climate change.
"I would like to have these figures broadly recognized as the writing on the wall, said Klaus
Toepfer, executive director of the UN Environment Program.
"It is vital that, before this meeting ends, governments send a clear signal to business, industry
and the people of the world that they are determined to continue the battle to curb global
warming."
Thomas Loster, chief executive of the Munich Re Foundation, said 2005 was marked by the
highest rainfall ever recorded in India; the first hurricane that ever made landfall in Europe; and
the strongest hurricane on record.
He said the six strongest hurricanes ever measured have occurred in the past two years.
"We have not only heated up the atmosphere by one degree over the past hundred years, we
have also heated up the oceans, and this has created new risks.
"Scientists would have laughed at you 10 years ago if you had said we would have hurricanes
landing in Brazil or hurricanes making landfall in Spain."
Highlights of the year, as reported by Munich Re Foundation:
-Hurricane Vince made landfall in Spain in October, becoming the first hurricane to hit Europe.
-On July 26, the meteorological station at Santacruz, India, recorded 944 millimetres of rain in
24 hours, the worst downpour recorded in India.
-Hurricane Wilma, which emerged in the Caribbean in Ocotber, was the strongest hurricane
ever.
-As of Dec. 1, there had been 26 tropical storms, five more than the previous record of 21.
Fourteen of the storms were classed as hurricanes.
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La Cronica de Hoy: Desastres naturales costaron 200 mil millones de dólares
6.12.2005
Las pérdidas ocasionadas en 2005 por desastres naturales relacionados con la meteorología
ascendieron a 200 mil millones de dólares, según los cálculos preliminares de la Fundación Re
de Munich, anunciados en Montreal.
Los datos fueron presentados durante la XI Conferencia de la ONU sobre Cambio Climático
que se celebra desde el 28 de noviembre y hasta el 9 de diciembre en esta ciudad canadiense.
Las pérdidas cubiertas por seguros, según los datos del estudio, fueron de más de 70 mil
millones de dólares.
La temporada de huracanes del Atlántico de este año fue la más intensa en los 110 años que se
llevan registros, con una estela de más de tres mil muertos, principalmente en Estados Unidos,
México, Cuba y Guatemala, con 26 tormentas, de las cuales se formaron catorce huracanes, seis
alcanzaron las categorías 3, 4 ó 5, las máximas en la escala de intensidad Saffir-Simpson.
Según la Fundación Re de Munich, las cifras son significativamente superiores a las de 2004,
hasta ahora el año más costos en términos de desastres meteorológicos, cuando las pérdidas
económicas fueron de 145 mil millones de dólares y las aseguradas totalizaron los 45 mil
millones de dólares.
Las razones del aumento de las pérdidas son “parcialmente resultado del mayor número de
huracanes o tormentas tropicales nunca visto desde el inicio de los registros, en 1850”.
La institución alemana indicó que el aumento es parte de una tendencia que está siendo
vinculada “por muchos en el sector (asegurador) con el cambio climático debido a las emisiones
(de gases) realizadas por humanos”.
El sector asegurador también es consciente de estudios que certifican el aumento de grandes
tormentas tropicales en el Atlántico y el Pacífico, hasta un 50 por ciento mayores que en los
años 1970, de las mayores lluvias nunca registradas en Bombay, India, y el primer huracán que
se aproximó al territorio europeo.
Thomas Loster, director ejecutivo de la Fundación y miembro de la Iniciativa Financiera del
Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD), dijo que “hay poderosos indicios
en estas cifras que vemos de predicciones de probables impactos del cambio climático a la
prueba de que ya está sucediendo”.
Loster indicó que el coste de otros desastres naturales comparados con los meteorológicos es
muy superior.
“No queremos infravalorar la tragedia humana de terremotos como el reciente de Pakistán, que
pueden matar a miles de personas al año. Pero nuestras conclusiones indican que es el costo de
los desastres relacionados con la meteorología lo que está en aumento”, explicó.
Por su parte, Klaus Toepfer, director ejecutivo del PNUMA, dijo que “debemos reunir el deseo
político y los fondos necesarios para ayudar a que los más vulnerables del planeta se adapten al
cambio climático que está en marcha. Pero al final, la mejor forma de adaptación es reducir las
emisiones (de gases) mundiales”.
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Inter Press Service: 2005 Costliest Year for Extreme Weather
Jim Lobe
6.12.2005
WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (IPS) - The world has suffered more than 200 billion dollars in
economic losses as a result of weather-related natural disasters over the past year, making 2005
the costliest year on record, according to preliminary estimates released Tuesday by the Munich
Re Foundation at the international climate conference in Montreal.
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These damages significantly exceeded the previous record of 145 billion dollars set in 2004,
according to the Foundation, which is part of Munich Re, one of several leading re-insurance
companies that have warned repeatedly over the past decade that global warming posed serious
threats to the world's economy.
Of the more than 200 billion dollars in losses this year, more than 70 billion dollars was covered
by insurance companies, compared to some 45 billion dollars in damages last year, according to
the Foundation.
It said most losses resulted from the unprecedented number and intensity of hurricanes in 2005,
particularly Wilma, which hit Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula; and Katrina, which overwhelmed
New Orleans and other coastal areas in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and parts of
Alabama.
Wilma, the strongest-ever hurricane, according to records dating back to 1850, caused an
estimated 15 billion dollars in economic losses, of which about 10 billion dollars was insured,
according to the Foundation.
Damages caused by Katrina, the sixth strongest hurricane on record, were significantly greater,
however. Estimated losses come to more than 125 billion, of which more than 30 billion dollars
was insured, the Foundation said.
"There is a powerful indication from these figures that we are moving from predictions of the
likely impacts of climate change to proof that it is already fully underway," said Thomas Loster,
the Foundation's director, who added that policy-makers should not only be concerned about the
staggering economic loss.
"Above all, these are humanitarian tragedies that show us that, as a result of our impacts on the
climate, we are making people and communities everywhere more vulnerable to weather-related
natural disasters," he said.
Loster released the Foundation's report at the ongoing 11th Conference of the Parties to the
U.N. Climate Change Convention, which is addressing what the international community
should do after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol, the agreement by the world's industrialised
countries, with the exception of the United States and Australia, to reduce their greenhouse gas
emissions by about seven percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
Most scientists believe that emissions are the main cause of global warming and that they will
have to be reduced by 60 percent or more in order to stabilise the atmosphere.
While scientists insist that the increases in financial losses caused by storms may not necessarily
be linked to global warming -- increasing populations and economic development in vulnerable
coastal areas may be far more important -- a growing number agree that warming is becoming
an increasingly significant factor.
Such a notion is bolstered by the occurrence of other highly unusual or even unprecedented
weather events recorded during the past year. These suggest the Earth's climate is changing in
ways that are generally consistent with predictions by sophisticated computer models about the
likely impact of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that have been pumped into the
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atmosphere in ever-increasing quantities since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.
Hurricane Vince, for example, was the first hurricane on record to approach Europe, making
landfall in Spain in October. It was the easternmost and northernmost appearance of an Atlantic
hurricane on record, effectively mirroring the appearance of Hurricane Catarina off Brazil in
March 2004. Catarina was the first hurricane in the South Atlantic on record.
Similarly, at the end of November, Tropical Storm Delta hit the Canary Islands to devastating
effect. It was the first tropical storm to ever hit the islands.
And in July, a weather station in Mumbai recorded 944 mm of rain in 24 hours, the greatest and
most intense precipitation event ever recorded in India.
The number of tropical storms broke all records in 2005, according to the U.N. Environment
Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi. As of last week, there had been 26 storms, or five more than the
previous record of 21. Of the 26, 16 reached hurricane force.
Scientific models have predicted an increase in the intensity of storms as the atmosphere -- and
the temperatures of the seas -- became warmer. Tropical storms and hurricanes derive most of
their energy from warm waters.
While scientists agree that it is impossible to link global warming to the frequency and intensity
of hurricanes over a one- or two-year period, recent studies have shown that storms have indeed
become more intense over the past several decades.
In August, for example, Kerry Emanuel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
published a paper in the British scientific weekly Nature which found that hurricanes in the
Atlantic and North Pacific had roughly doubled in power over 30 years.
In September, a group of meteorologists published a study in Science weekly which found that,
while the frequency of hurricanes had significantly increased over the past 35 years, the number
of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes -- the most powerful -- had increased by 80 percent over that
period.
To many scientists, these studies provide additional evidence of a link between warming seas, to
which warmer atmospheric temperatures contribute, and hurricane intensity.
Others insist, however, that the 35-year period is still too short a time period to reach any
conclusion, because such changes may be tied to other natural "oscillations" involving currents
or salinity. In the 1950s and 1960s, for example, hurricane activity was significantly greater
than in the three decades that followed.
In his remarks to the climate conference, Loster stressed that economic losses attributable to
weather-related disasters have risen much more steeply than those caused by earthquakes,
according to records since 1950.
"We do not want to estimate the human tragedy of earthquakes like the recent one in Pakistan
which can kill tens of thousands of people a year," he said. "But our findings indicate that it is
the toll of weather-related disasters that are the ones on the rise."
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Europa Press: Las pérdidas por desastres naturales en 2005 alcanzaron la histórica cifra
de 170.000 millones, según el PNUMA
6.12.2005
Los desastres naturales ocurridos en 2005 causaron cerca de 170.000 millones de euros en
pérdidas financieras, de las cuales menos de un tercio estaban aseguradas, según indicó un
estudio presentado hoy en la Conferencia de Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático, que se
celebra en Montreal.
El Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA) auspició el evento en
el que la Fundación Munich Re explicó la histórica cifra, resultante de una investigación
detallada.
"Compartimos con los asistentes a la cumbre nuestros conocimientos sobre riesgos a nivel
mundial, destacando la necesidad de actuar de inmediato", afirmó el director de la Fundación,
Thomas Loster. "La información ayudará a los negociadores de esta convención en sus
argumentos", agregó.
Las pérdidas de este año, debidas en parte al mayor número de huracanes y tormentas tropicales
registrado desde 1850, forman parte de una tendencia vinculada con los cambios climáticos
como resultado de emisiones de gas de efecto invernadero, destacó el informe.
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Prensa Latina: Elogia ONU reubicación isleños amenazados por cambios climáticos
6.12.2005
Naciones Unidas, 6 dic (PL) Naciones Unidas elogió hoy la reubicación en Vanuatu de un
grupo de isleños amenazados por los cambios climáticos, por considerar que esa acción es parte
de los esfuerzos para combatirse el impacto del calentamiento global.
Un comunicado del Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA) destaca
el traslado a zonas altas de un centenar de pobladores de una aldea de esta cadena de islas del
Pacífico sur que repetidamente había sido inundada por tormentas y grandes olas.
Esta es la primera acción formal auspiciada por un proyecto del PNUMA titulado Capacidad de
Construir para el Desarrollo de la Adaptación de los Países isleños del Pacífico, destinado a
proteger comunidades amenazadas por las crecientes emisiones a la atmósfera.
Esta agencia de ONU dio a conocer este proyecto en la Conferencia de las partes de la
convención de Naciones Unidas sobre el clima, de Montreal, Canadá.
Ese plan forma parte de los esfuerzos del PNUMA para contrarrestar el impacto del
calentamiento global en áreas vulnerables desde Artico a los Himalayas hasta las islas bajas.
Los pueblos del Artico y las pequeñas islas de este mundo enfrentan muchos desafíos similares
como resultado de la elevación de las temperaturas, que en su grado más alto acabará totalmente
con sus formas de vida, indicó el director ejecutivo del PNUMA, Klaus Toepfer.
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El derretimiento y la disminución del mar helado y los riesgos de los niveles del mar, las
tormentas… son las primeras manifestaciones de los grandes cambios en camino, que
eventualmente tocarán a cada uno de los habitantes del planeta, expresó el funcionario.
Toepfer dijo que el llamado de esos pueblos vulnerables “debe ser una señal clara a los
gobiernos de que debemos apurarnos para evitar catástrofes climáticas para esta y futuras
generaciones”.
Según se informó, el PNUMA en colaboración con otros asociados realiza proyectos que
benefician el medio ambiente global, como Programas de Adaptación Nacional para la Acción
en una docena de países, entre ellos Haití, Liberia y Tanzania.
Para los especialistas, otras regiones vulnerables al cambio climático son las montañosas, donde
el derretimiento de los glaciares crea grandes lagos cuyo fango, suelo y bancos de piedras
pueden explotar y enviar grandes cantidades de agua a barrancos y valles.
Estudios de ese organismo de ONU y otros especializados han encontrado 50 lagos glaciales en
Nepal y Bhután.
Actualmente las investigaciones se han extendido a otras áreas de los Himalayas como Pakistán,
India y China.
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Tahiti Presse:Vanuatu et la Papouasie, nouveaux pays victimes de la montée des océans ?
6.12.2005
(Flash d'Océanie) - Taito Nakalevu, spécialiste des changements climatiques au Programme
Régional Océanien pour l'Environnement (PROE, basé à Apia, Samoa), a profité du sommet
mondial des Nations-Unies pour citer en exemple deux nouveau pays insulaires du Pacifique
qui, selon lui, ont déjà fait les frais d'une sensible montée des océans.
Jusqu'ici, le pays emblématique de ce phénomène était Tuvalu, dont les marées d'équinoxe
gagnent de plus en plus, d'une année à l'autre, l'intérieur des terres de ces atolls élevés de moins
de quatre mètres au-dessus du niveau de la mer.
Toutefois, selon M. Nakalevu, qui s'exprimait en début de semaine à la tribune du sommet de
l'ONU de Montréal, dans une petite île de Vanuatu, Tegua, une centaine de personnes du petit
village de Lateu a d'ores et déjà dû déménager pour trouver refuge dans des zones plus élevées,
à l'intérieur des terres.
Selon le spécialiste régional, le PROE a été alerté du fait que depuis août de cette année, les
maisons de ce village et même son église sont l'une après l'autre démontées pour être remontées
à quelques centaines de mètres plus loin, hors de portée des marées.
Sur la côte, la vie est devenue " impossible ", assure l'expert océanien.
" Ce déplacement de populations est devenu l'un, sinon le premier forcé par le changement
climatique " a-t-il affirmé à Montréal, soutenu par le programme des Nations-Unies pour
l'environnement (PNUE).
Autre exemple océanien cité lors de cette conférence : celui des deux milliers d'habitants du
groupe des îles Cantaret, qui envisagent sérieusement de quitter leurs villages pour se réfugier
sur l'île proche de Bougainville (Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée), à quatre heures de barque au sudouest.
Par ailleurs, l'exemple de Kiribati est aussi revenu au devant des ébats, avec les deux îles
inhabitées de Tebua et Abanuea, affleurant la surface de l'océan Pacifique et qui, elles, sont déjà
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considérées comme officiellement englouties et rayées de la carte depuis il y a maintenant six
ans.
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Pacific Island News Service: Rising seas force Islanders to move inland, says UN
6.12.2205
Rising seas have forced 100 people on a Pacific island to move to higher ground in what may be
the first example of a village formally displaced because of modern global warming, a UN
report said.
With coconut palms on the coast already standing in water, inhabitants in the Lateu settlement
on Tegua island in Vanuatu started dismantling their wooden homes in August and moved about
600 metres inland.
"They could no longer live on the coast," Taito Nakalevu, a climate change expert at the
Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), said during a 189-nation
conference in Montreal on ways to fight climate change.
So-called "king tides," often whipped up by cyclones, had become stronger in recent years and
made Lateu uninhabitable by flooding the village four to five times a year.
"We are seeing king tides across the region flooding islands," he said.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a statement that the Lateu settlement "has
become one of, if not the first, to be formally moved out of harm's way as a result of climate
change."
The scientific panel that advises the United Nations projects that seas could rise by almost a
metre by 2100 because of melting icecaps and warming linked to a build-up of heat-trapping
gases emitted by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and autos.
Many other coastal communities are vulnerable to rising seas, such as the U.S. city of New
Orleans, the Italian city of Venice or settlements in the Arctic where a thawing of sea ice has
exposed coasts to erosion by the waves.
Pacific Islanders, many living on coral atolls, are among those most at risk. Off Papua New
Guinea, about 2,000 people on the Cantaret Islands are planning to move to nearby Bougainville
Island, a four-hour boat ride to the south-west.
Two uninhabited Kiribati islands, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, disappeared underwater in 1999.
"In Tegua, the dwellings are moving first. The chief has moved, he has to start the process, so
his people are now following," Mr Nakalevu said.
A church would also be dismantled and moved inland.
Mr Nakalevu said the rising seas seemed linked to climate change.
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It was unknown if the coral base of the island, about 31 square km, might be subsiding. Most
villagers rely on yams, beans and other crops grown on higher ground.
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Reuters:Kuwait to host talks on Gulf environment clean-up
By Stephanie Nebehay
6.12.2005
GENEVA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Kuwait said on Tuesday it would host a meeting later this month
aimed at setting up a regional body to assess environmental damage and coordinate clean-up
projects in the Gulf, including in Iraq.
Khaled Ahmad Al-Mudaf, chairman of Kuwait's authority for assessing compensation for
damages from Iraq's August 1990 invasion and seven-month occupation, made the
announcement at the U.N. Compensation Commission (UNCC).
The UNCC, which finished examining claims from Iraq's neighbours in June, approved cleanup projects worth $252 million -- rejecting most of the $50 billion compensation sought for
pollution from oil dumped or set on fire by Iraqi troops.
The meeting, from December 17-18, will follow talks between officials from five countries
(Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Jordan) in Geneva last month, according to Al-Mudaf.
"In response to the desire by claimant countries and Iraq to enhance regional cooperation, we
have agreed to meet...to address a number of issues concerning regional cooperation, such as the
establishment of a regional environmental rehabilitation advisory group...," Al-Mudaf told the
UNCC's Governing Council, in a speech obtained by Reuters.
The aim was to define the advisory group's objectives and scope, and "establish the programme
for regional cooperation", he told the start of a closed-door, three-day meeting.
He hoped UNCC funds used for clean-up projects would encourage long-term cooperation in
dealing with environmental damage, including that suffered by Iraq.
Iraq is not eligible to receive clean-up funds from the UNCC, whose income derives from five
percent of Iraqi oil sales.
However, Kuwait has suggested that World Bank grants could be a possible source of
environmental funding for its former foe, according to UNCC sources.
The U.N. Environmental Programme (UNEP) has been assessing environmental damage in Iraq,
including its ancient marshlands drained by Saddam Hussein as punishment in the early 1990s.
Last month the Nairobi-based agency called for a clean-up of contaminated industrial and
military sites left over from wars in Iraq, saying $40 million was needed for the next stage.
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The Daily Nation (Nairobi): Refinery stops producing leaded fuel
Story by JUMA NAMLOLA
7.12.2005
Kenya has joined the countries that have eliminated leaded petrol use.
Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL) stopped refining the oil on November 30.
General manager Chris House said yesterday the tanks used to store leaded petrol were being
replaced by those for unleaded fuel and that, in two weeks, all the leaded oil in the tanks would
have been cleared.
Speaking to the Nation by phone in Mombasa, Mr House said the successful production of
unleaded oil, which begun on December 1, was a major achievement for Kenya.
"This is an important development for KPRL and a major achievement for the country as we
join other countries in phasing out leaded fuels," he said.
Mr House said Kenya was able to beat the March, 2002, Dakar Declaration deadline of stopping
leaded petroleum use by December 31.
He said the Government's upgrading of the refinery had enabled it to process unleaded
petroleum and low sulphur fuels.
"In the past, we have been unable to achieve the goal because our company lacked the necessary
facilities," said Mr House.
"With the upgrading, we have begun producing unleaded petroleum, which will be both
environmentally friendly and cheaper to motorists. In 2002, Energy minister Raila Odinga
announced that the Government intended to improve the quality of petroleum products by
introducing unleaded petrol.
The initiative has many advantages. the lead component in petrol is a major source of industrial
pollution hazardous to human beings, animals and the environment. The effort to phase out
leaded petrol was spearheaded by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP),
which warns that lead in petrol is a serious health risk, particularly to children.
A Nation survey in Mombasa yesterday showed most oil companies had very little or no leaded
petrol.
They said the little that was still in their pumps would soon be used up. The change to unleaded
fuel was expected to inconvenience owners of vehicles built before 1985.
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Swiss Info: El reto: desarrollo sin destruir la naturaleza
6.12.2005
Mientras en Canadá el mundo vuelve a hablar del calentamiento del planera, hace algunos días
la Escuela Politécnica Federal de Zúrich (EPFZ) y el Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el
Medio Ambiente (PNUMA) firmaron un "Memorandum de intenciones".
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El convenio refleja el creciente interés en el desarrollo sin perjuicio del medio ambiente.
El documento establece las condiciones marco para el desarrollo de estrategias que faciliten el
registro, monitoreo y reconocimiento temprano de problemas ambientales, pero también para
investigar las interacciones entre ambiente y sociedad. Y no por último, para aumentar la
relevancia, independencia y credibilidad científica de las medidas ambientales.
Klaus Töpfer, director ejecutivo del PNUMA, y Olaf Kübler, presidente de la EPFZ firmaron el
documento en la conferencia 'El rol de la ciencia y la tecnología para el desarrollo', organizada
por Nideco (Network for International Development and Cooperation) y Nadel (Estudio de
posgrado para países en vías de desarrollo).
Töpfer explicó con ejemplos cuán relevante es la problemática medioambiental en contextos en
desarrollo. Por ello, al describir el perfil del PNUMA puso énfasis en los esfuerzos de este
organismo para crear sistemas de conocimientos en los países en desarrollo especialmente
afectados por problemas ambientales.
El peligro de repetir el modelo negativo
Tras expresar su convicción de que una 'política ambiental es la política de paz del futuro', el
directivo del organismo encargado de establecer las políticas medioambientales globales mostró
su preocupación por el modelo de desarrollo que siguen países como China o Brasil.
"Los países en desarrollo se dividen, en general en los del tipo de Africa y los del tipo de China.
Los primeros son el clásico ejemplo de países en desarrollo - bajo Producto Interno Bruto,
economía orientada a la exportación de materias primas – y los segundos se desarrollan
rápidamente, con tasas de crecimiento extremas y graves problemas medioambientales".
Si en China, el país más poblado del planeta, el transporte privado se desarrolla bajo el modelo
de los países occidentales, el mundo tendrá un gran problema. Para enfrentarlo necesitamos
alternativas tecnológicas, agregó Töpfer.
A su criterio, también faltan políticas adecuadas para fomentar una mayor interacción Sur-Sur,
de tal manera que, por ejemplo, la baja productividad agrícola en África se eleve al nivel de
regiones similares en Asia.
Fue cuando aludió a la calidad del suelo. "En comparación con el agua, el suelo es un área muy
descuidada. Su contaminación y degradación es uno de los problemas ambientales críticos a
nivel mundial. Descontaminar el suelo es mucho más difícil y costoso que descontaminar el
agua", advirtió Töpfer, ex- ministro de Medio Ambiente en Alemania.
Como ejemplo positivo, Töpfer mencionó al Grupo Intergubernamental de Expertos sobre
Cambio Climático (IPPC). "Este modelo ha logrado la interfaz entre ciencia y política. Este
grupo no quiere ser prescrito políticamente sino llamar la atención sobre los hechos más
importantes y las correlaciones, para que la política tome las medidas adecuadas".
Compartir con los menos privilegiados
Justamente promover esta interfaz entre ciencia y política es uno de los retos en la colaboración
entre una institución como el PNUMA, que dispone de gran cantidad de datos y la EPFZ, que
12
tiene los fundamentos científicos.
Olaf Kübler, presidente de la EPFZ y físico teórico, manifestó "tenemos la obligación de asumir
una responsabilidad en el desarrollo de otros países y el deber de compartir el conocimiento
adquirido en este centro con esa gran población del mundo que no tiene privilegios y sí muchos
problemas. También esos seres humanos deben ver el futuro como una oportunidad".
En su exposición sobre "Lucha contra la pobreza a través de políticas ambientales", Renate
Schubert, presidenta del Consejo Consultivo Alemán para Cambios Globales (WBGU) y
profesora de Economía de la EPFZ, señaló que luchar contra la pobreza y proteger el ambiente
son dos de los más urgentes retos para la comunidad internacional.
Ambiente y desarrollo están divorciados
Tras explicar cómo la degradación ambiental causa más pobreza, Schubert indicó que una buena
política ambiental puede ser un instrumento exitoso para luchar contra la miseria. Sin embargo,
a menudo, las políticas ambientales y las políticas de desarrollo, estrechamente vinculadas, son
diseñadas separadamente, son incoherentes e incosistentes.
Schubert puntualizó que una mejor calidad ambiental y un mayor desarrollo reducen el
incentivo y la necesidad de migrar, así como el incentivo para el terrorismo y explicó con
ejemplos por qué una política ambiental global es prerequisito para reducir la pobreza.
Se necesita un partenariado global para el medioambiente y el desarrollo, dijo.
Más adelante indicó que los impactos negativos de la pobreza sobre los recursos naturales son a
menudo sobreestimados; sin embargo, los pobres se ven forzados a la sobreexplotación mientras
que la prosperidad y la industrialización son decisivos en la degradación del medio ambiente.
Un desarrollo ciego
Schubert manifestó a swissinfo que los suelos contaminados por pesticidas, plásticos y baterias
son efectivamente consecuencia de un desarrollo negativo, hecho a ciegas, sin considerar los
aspectos ambientales.
Por otro lado, Schubert no considera negativo que buena parte de la investigación se oriente hoy
más a generar ganancias. "El problema es orientarse sólo a las ganancias a corto plazo, sin
pensar a mediano y largo plazo".
Si hoy manejo un área de tal manera que en el futuro allí no haya más recursos naturales, las
ganancias serán extraordinariamente malas a largo plazo. Por eso la humanidad debe
acostumbrarse más a tener una perspectiva a largo plazo, lo que no ocurre hoy, precisó.
Interrogada si como mujer ve los problemas ambientales y la pobreza desde otra perspectiva,
respondió: "Las mujeres sufren especialmente cuando empeoran las condiciones ambientales.
Es urgente hacer algo en el tema de género y de educación, incluyendo formación ambiental".
Schubert dijo sobre Latinoamérica que también este continente debe ser más conciente del valor
de los recursos naturales y tener una perspectiva a largo plazo. "Si el desarrollo no va de la
mano del medioambiente, no hay chance".
13
____________________________________________________________________________
Arabic News: Water increasingly important to the region
6.12.2005
An Arab workshop on waters, environmental desertification and biological diversity opened at
the Damascus-based Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) on
Monday sponsored by the Islamic Bank for Development and the United Nations Environment
Program (UNEP).
Experts from Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, UAE, Bahrain and Syria are participating in the 3-day
workshop.
Director General of ACSAD, Farouk Fares, pointed out in an opening speech to the increasing
importance of waters and its becoming a political issue in the next decade, particularly in the
Middle East as the most sensitive part of the world that suffers from this phenomena.
He indicated that these circumstances would lead to a new situation that requires securing fresh
waters and facing water deficit in line with a set of options based on the principles of durable
development of available water resources in terms of use, search and development.
Fares said that desertification, climate changes, land deterioration, land and water
environmental pollution and the extinction of many biological creatures have all become main
concerns for all political and scientific circles around the world.
Representative of the UNEP, Ahmad Ghosn, said in a speech at the workshop that the Arab
region has been suffering from a sharp decrease of fresh water as a result of its climate
conditions.
He added that 65 percent of rivers in the Arab region originate from outside their area, and due
to population increase and development needs, coupled with frequent droughts, the individual
quota of waters deceased to 800 cubic meters from 4,000 in 1950.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Der Tagesspiegel: Das wäre gut so
Von Hermann Rudolph
7.12.2005
Weshalb soll er sich das antun? Kann man ihm überhaupt zuraten? Längst ist das
Schauspiel ein Ärgernis, das um eine mögliche Kandidatur von Klaus Töpfer für das
Amt des Regierenden Bürgermeisters bei den Abgeordnetenhaus-Wahlen im nächsten
September stattfindet. Das klandestine Drängen unter dem Druck nachfolgender
Veröffentlichungen, mit dem ihm die Berliner CDU zusetzt, ist fast nur noch peinlich.
Dabei kann es bei dieser Frage doch nicht um politische Nothelferdienste gehen,
sondern nur darum, ob auf Töpfer in Berlin eine Aufgabe wartet, die ihm angemessen
ist. Und ob er eine echte Chance hat.
Was Letzteres angeht, so legt der Rang, den die Berliner CDU in der Öffentlichkeit
einnimmt – eben erst grell beleuchtet durch ihren Sturz unter die 20-Prozent-
14
Umfragemarke –, nahe, alle Hoffnungen fahren zu lassen. Aber war nicht auch die SPD
tief unten, bevor Klaus Wowereit sie an die Macht manövrierte? Alle Parteien, zumal in
Großstädten, sind heute extremen Schwankungen in der Wählergunst unterworfen. Sie
alle hängen von der popularisierenden Kraft einzelner Führungsgestalten ab. Erwägt
man, was die Berliner SPD ohne Wowereit wäre, so gewinnt man eine Vorstellung für
das, was die Berliner CDU, vielleicht, mit Töpfer sein könnte.
Dass die Berliner CDU sich nicht selbst aus der Misere ziehen kann, in die sie nach der
Politikwende vor vier Jahren geraten ist, hat die Causa Steffel gezeigt, und die Ära
Diepgen ist kein Beweis dagegen. Erstens waren kommunal ausgerichtete Parteien
damals noch nicht so weit aus dem Blickfeld der Öffentlichkeit geraten wie heute, und
zweitens entringt sich der Brust geplagter CDU-Sympathisanten doch eher der
Sehnsuchtsruf nach einem neuen Weizsäcker, der wie einst das Tor zur Macht aufstoßen
soll. Andererseits hat die Hauptstadtrolle die bürgerliche Durchmischung Berlins
gestärkt. Die Ver-Bundesrepublikanisierung der Stadt schreitet voran. Nur dass die, die
in die Stadt strömen, die jungen Aufsteiger, die Zuarbeiter der Politik, die VerbandsRepräsentanten und selbst die stadtluftbegierigen Ruheständler nicht auf das
kleinkarierte Gehabe der CDU ansprechen. Aber hier ist ein Potenzial, das zu aktivieren
ist.
Wäre Töpfer der Mann dafür? Weil der Mann, der seit Jahren als UN-Umweltdirektor
quer über den Globus jettet, etwas von Entwicklungshilfe versteht? Lassen wir die
Witze. Weltläufig, fantasievoll, durchsetzungsfähig ist Klaus Töpfer jedenfalls. Das hat
er auch in seinen zehn Ministerjahren im Kabinett Kohl bewiesen. Da war der Experte
für Raum- und Landesplanung, der er von Haus aus ist, immer einer der politisch
interessantesten Köpfe. Vor allem aber war er es, der den Hauptstadtumzug aus der
Sackgasse herausbrachte, in die dieser Mitte der neunziger Jahre zu geraten drohte. „Der
Hauptstadtmacher“ wurde er damals genannt. Es ist die einfache Wahrheit, dass Berlin
heute nicht dort wäre, wo es ist, wenn nicht Klaus Töpfer gewesen wäre.
Aber jeder weiß auch, dass die Stadt in der Bundesrepublik noch nicht wirklich
angekommen ist, dass beider Verhältnis jedenfalls gewöhnungs- und
verbesserungsbedürftig ist. Es kann auch keine Frage sein, dass die Stadt gegenwärtig
politisch eine dürftige Rolle spielt. Es gibt zu denken, dass Berlin noch nie so schlecht
repräsentiert war wie in der Berliner Republik: Das neue Kabinett kommt ohne Berliner
aus, die Parteivorstände fast, und auch im Bundestag sitzen die HauptstadtAbgeordneten nicht gerade in der ersten Reihe. Klaus Wowereit, immerhin, hat es
geschafft, dass die Hauptstadt ins Grundgesetz kommt. Aber das ist nur der
verfassungsrechtliche Eckstein für die notwendige Anstrengung, den Hauptstadtprozess
weiter voranzutreiben. Töpfer hätte das Format, hier die Dinge weiterzubringen.
Kommt er oder kommt er nicht? Man muss diese politische Gretchenfrage gar nicht
parteipolitisch traktieren. Es tut keinem Gemeinwesen gut, wenn die politischen
Kräfteverhältnisse aus dem Gleichgewicht geraten. Vielleicht nicht die CDU, zu der
auch vielen ihrer Anhänger nichts mehr einfällt – aber Berlin hätte Klaus Töpfer
verdient.
15
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Other Environment News
Deutsche Presse Agentur: Montreal climate change conference to resume
6.12.2005
The United Nations conference on climate change in Montreal was scheduled
to resume Tuesday after the United States the previous day continued to block
the opening of talks on the extension of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
European environment ministers at the 180-nation conference on climate
change had urged the U.S. to join the main international pact to curb greenhouse
gas emissions - a call Washington has firmly rejected.
The conference, which opened on November 28, was supposed to focus on
setting targets beyond 2012 as well as confirm the rules of the existing treaty.
In his first major appearance abroad, Germany's Environment Minister Sigmar
Gabriel said he would prefer the U.S. not to participate in the talks on a
possible Kyoto II if it risked leading to a "very soft agreement" instead of a
binding protocol.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, which came into effect six years ago, more than 30
industrialized countries are supposed to reduce their emissions of six
greenhouse gases by at least five per cent of their 1990 levels before 2012.
Several controversial topics look set to dominate the ministerial round of
talks, which takes place over the last three days of the conference, starting
Wednesday.
Although all the states which have ratified the treaty approve it in
principle, Saudi Arabia is blocking the acceptance of a system to monitor
countries' observance of their targets.
The ministers will also discuss proposals to strengthen aid to poorer
countries to pursue eco-friendly development policies.
Several countries have welcomed a proposal from Costa Rica and Papua New
Guinea to reward developing countries for protecting their forests.
Burning and logging of trees still accounts for 20 per cent of man-made
carbon dioxide, one of the key greenhouse gases, yet, under the rules of Kyoto,
there is no mechanism to earn credits through projects which avoid
deforestation.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned global warming was
having a massive effect on human health in Europe. Rising temperatures are
16
causing food bacteria to multiply, the WHO told the conference.
In the summer of 2003 alone, some 35,000 people died of heat, the WHO added.
___________________________________________________________________________
BBC: Red tape hampers CO2 cuts scheme
By Tim Hirsch
6.12.2005
Business groups are warning that the prospects of cutting greenhouse gas emissions under the
Kyoto Protocol are being jeopardised by UN bureaucracy.
They claim that the system known as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is being
hampered by delays.
The CDM gives "carbon credits" to clean energy projects in poorer countries; those credits can
then be bought by companies in industrialised nations
Critics say the problems will hamper progress towards the Kyoto targets.
This system has officially come into legal existence this week, with the approval at the Montreal
conference of the "rulebook" of the Kyoto agreement. But already, negotiators are discussing
proposals to reform and streamline the CDM.
Win-win solutions
At the centre of the controversy is a body known as the CDM Executive Board, based in the
German city of Bonn, whose job it is to register projects under the mechanism, and issue what is
in effect a new currency, the Certified Emission Reduction (CER).
These are expected to be in great demand as industrialised countries struggle to meet their
targets - Canada, for example, has increased its emissions by 24% since 1990, compared to its
commitment under Kyoto which is for a six per cent cut.
The CDM was designed to provide win-win solutions: instead of reducing their own emissions,
countries in Canada's position could buy CERs from developing states, as could European
companies struggling to meet targets imposed under the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme.
Those developing states would gain new clean energy projects, helping them to develop
sustainably.
Alternatively they could be awarded credits through carbon-storing land use policies such as
forestry.
So far only 39 projects have been approved in the entire developing world - about 400 more are
in the pipeline, but some analysts argue that the pace of generating these credits is wholly
inadequate.
According to John Drexhage of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the
problem is that the CDM board was set up like a typical UN institution rather than one which
must respond to the needs of the private sector.
Mr Drexhage told the BBC News website: "The World Bank has estimated that countries may
need as many as 1,500 to 2,500 projects annually during the Kyoto period (2008-12).
17
"At this point in time, even under a much more expedited process, the UN secretariat estimates
it would be able to approve between 400-500 projects.
"The potential consequence of this shortfall is either that countries would not be able to comply
with their commitments under Kyoto, or would choose to purchase considerable quantities of
'hot air' from Russia and the Ukraine, which would compromise considerably the integrity of the
Kyoto agreement."
'Hot air' is the term given to the spare emission credits earned by governments in the former
Soviet Union and its satellites when their state-run industries - and with it their emissions collapsed in the 1990s.
If these are sold onto the world market, countries would technically be able to meet their Kyoto
targets without achieving any new reductions.
Slow progress
Another critic of the system, Tod Delaney of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, said
the problem was that by imposing over-rigid rules for allowing projects to qualify for credits,
the pace of approvals was simply too slow.
"As opposed to trying to make the process perfect, we should have just tried to make the system
work so it would generate enough credits, and then after a period of time we could make the
refinements people want," said Mr Delaney.
"Instead what the countries have done is to put the refinements in, and found that they really
muddy up how we get credits out of the system."
An example of the practical problems being created was given at a side event at Montreal by
Marcelo Junqueira of the company Econergy.
He has been trying to use the CDM to help persuade sugar companies in Brazil to generate
green electricity from bagasse, the woody waste from sugar cane plants.
Mr Junqueira said that long delays in registration of the projects, together with downward
revisions of the price owners could expect to get for the credits, was starting to put some of
them off the idea.
"I've been pushing all of the sugar industry in Brazil to use the CDM as a source of funding for
their projects," he said.
"Some of them believed in it, but they are now a bit disappointed with the result.
"Because of this bureaucracy some of these projects will not fly, and that means there will be
more emissions of carbon dioxide," said Mr Junqueira.
Keeping it real
But defenders of the CDM say it is too early for condemnation, as the process could only start
seriously once the Kyoto Protocol came into force earlier this year.
They also point out that the body which has to consider the projects is badly underfunded by
some of the rich countries now complaining about its inefficiency.
18
Some organisations are concerned that in a rush to "streamline" the system, its environmental
integrity could be jeopardised.
Annie Petsonk of the US campaign group Environmental Defense said, "One of the proposals is
to remove the criterion called 'additionality', which means that the project has to prove that it is
reducing emissions below what would have otherwise occurred.
"You need to have that criterion in, or there is a danger that you will devalue the currency."
____________________________________________________________________________
San Francisco Chronicle: Ozone layer recovery to take extra 15 years
Scientists blame use of banned chemicals
- Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer
7.12.2005
The Earth's endangered ozone layer, which shields life from cancer-causing solar radiation, may
take up to 15 years longer to recover from harmful industrial chemicals than previously
predicted, scientists said Tuesday.
Scientists had thought that the damaged ozone in the upper levels of Earth's atmosphere would
rebound by 2050, but new computer models of the atmosphere suggest it may not happen until
2065, said Paul Newman, an atmospheric scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md., attending this week's American Geophysical Union conference in San
Francisco.
One possible reason, he and other scientists at the conference suggested, is the widespread illicit
use of the ozone-damaging chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, despite a ban in
the 1990s by many industrial nations. Chlorofluorocarbons were commonly used in most
household appliances, spray cans and air conditioners.
It's all but impossible to determine which nations might be major emitters of
chlorofluorocarbons because the chemicals quickly disperse into the global atmosphere, the
scientists said.
However, "it is clear that these ozone-depleting chemicals are being held (for commercial or
consumer use) for a longer period of time" than scientists had anticipated, said Dale Hurst, a
research associate at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Global Monitoring
Division in Boulder, Colo.
As a result, the most infamous symbol of ozone degradation -- the huge ozone "hole" over
Antarctica discovered in the mid-1980s -- won't recover until 2065, Newman said.
Since the 1980s, scientists have recognized chlorofluorocarbons as the main threat to the ozone
layer. They accumulate in the upper atmosphere and trigger a chain of chemical events that
breaks down ozone gas in the stratosphere.
Normally, ozone -- a molecule of which is three oxygen atoms bound together -- prevents much
of the sun's ultraviolet radiation from reaching Earth's surface. Excess exposure to ultraviolet
light can cause skin cancer and damage vegetation.
Many industrial nations, including the United States, phased out mass production and use of
chlorofluorocarbons in the 1990s, as part of a treaty called the Montreal Protocol.
19
For years, scientists have used satellites, aircraft and ground stations to measure atmospheric
concentrations of chlorofluorocarbons and their chemical breakdown products, such as lone
atoms of chlorine and molecules of hydrogen chloride. Recent measurements suggest that
despite the widespread phaseout, people in unknown locations -- probably mostly in stilldeveloping nations -- are continuing to use chlorofluorocarbons, which are leaking into the
atmosphere.
Who they are, though, is anyone's guess.
Newman jokingly cited what he called "urban legends of people who are traveling into Mexico
and buying CFCs (for their car air conditioners) and bringing them back," he said. "I don't know
if it's true."
The scientists said they weren't sure what, if any, legal action could be taken against other
nations that violated terms of the Montreal Protocol by failing to suppress illegal
chlorofluorocarbon use. Countries that signed the protocol are "counted on to be honest," Hurst
said.
In any case, Newman added, "we're scientists -- we don't make policy. We provide (scientific)
information that policymakers draw upon."
_____________________________________________________________________________
El Occidental (Mexico): Disminuye ritmo de destrucción de la selva amazónica en Brasil
6.12.2005
BRASILIA, Brasil (AGENCIAS).- El ritmo de destrucción de la selva amazónica brasileña
experimentó una disminución considerable este año como resultado de los esfuerzos oficiales
para detener el fenómeno, informó el gobierno el lunes.
La destrucción entre julio de 2004 y agosto de este año fue de 18,900 kilómetros cuadrados, lo
que indicaría un freno a la deforestación, dijo la ministra del Medio Ambiente, Marina Silva, en
una conferencia de prensa en el palacio de gobierno y en la que estuvo acompañada por altos
funcionarios de al menos otras cuatro carteras.
Aún así, el área destruida equivale a más de la mitad de un país europeo como Bélgica, con
30,528 kilómetros cuadrados.
En el periodo comprendido entre julio de 2003 y agosto de 2004 fueron destruidos 27,200
kilómetros cuadrados.
La ministra subrayó que la reducción respecto al año anterior representaba un 31% y que el
ritmo menor de devastación se había presentado sobre las márgenes de carreteras de la región
amazónica.
Pero entidades no gubernamentales destacaron que gran parte de la reducción reflejaba una
caída en los precios de la soja y, consiguientemente, en plantaciones menores por parte de las
grandes haciendas.
La ministra dijo que la reducción ha sido la mayor desde mediados de la década pasada, cuando
de un año para otro la devastación cayó en un 37%.
20
"Es la primera vez en nueve años que hay una baja", dijo Silva.
"El desafío es huir de la montaña rusa (de altas y bajas en la cifra de destrucción) y que la baja
sea permanente", dijo durante la conferencia de prensa Joao Paulo Capobianco, secretario de
Biodiversidad y Bosques del ministerio.
Capobianco dijo que entre las causas de la merma está la creación de las llamadas "unidades de
conservación ambiental" o zonas protegidas, bajo las cuales se colocaron 85,000 kilómetros
cuadrados en los últimos 12 meses.
"El gobierno está celebrando, pero nosotros no vemos ninguna razón para la fiesta", dijo Paulo
Adario, coordinador del Programa Amazonas, de Greenpeace, "porque 18,900 kilómetros
cuadrados son aún (una cifra) increíblemente alta e inaceptable", agregó.
Adario dijo que Greenpeace reconoce que el gobierno ha tenido algunos éxitos en contener la
destrucción del Amazonas.
Pero, agregó, gran parte de esa mejora se debe a dos factores que no se repetirían: la declaración
de vastas porciones de territorio como reservas, en una medida anunciada tras el asesinato, en
febrero, de la misionera estadounidense Dorothy Stang, quien por años luchó en defensa del
Amazonas y sus pobladores; así como por operativos policiales en junio contra funcionarios
ambientales corruptos, en una acción que llevó a suspender la emisión de permisos de tala en
estados como Mato Grosso, donde se registran algunos de los peores índices de destrucción.
___________________________________________________________________________
Diario Hoy (Argentina):La deforestación produjo contaminación de mercurio en
Amazonas
30.11.2005
La deforestación de más de dos millones y medio de hectáreas que sufrió la región amazónica
desde fines de la década de 1990 es la principal responsable de la contaminación por mercurio
que afecta a esa zona y pone en riesgo la vida de miles de personas, reveló hoy un trabajo
realizado por especialistas brasileños y canadienses.El análisis que fue financiado por el Centro
Internacional de Investigaciones para el Desarrollo (IDRC) de Canadá sostiene que el desmonte
de los bosques nativos provocó más contaminación por mercurio, que el uso que hacen de ese
elemento natural los buscadores de oro del Amazonas.
El IRDC difundió su investigación en el espacio que tiene en el salón de organizaciones no
gubernamentales dentro de la XI Conferencia de las Partes de la Convención Marco de las
Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático, que se desarrollará hasta el 9 de diciembre en el
Palacio del Congreso de Montreal.
Un grupo integrado por científicos brasileños y canadienses de distintas disciplinas médicas y
ambientales estuvieron viajando varias semanas durante nueve años a la aldea de Brasilia Legal,
ubicada a orillas del río Tapajós, muy cerca de las minas de oro.
21
Los investigadores, motivados por saber cuáles eran las causas y los efectos en los humanos de
la contaminación de mercurio, sobre todo en los humanos, realizaban para llegar hasta la aldea
varios viajes por agua de 12 y 18 horas.
Ese grupo que era de la universidad de Quebec, en Montreal, y de la de Pará, en la ciudad
brasileña de Belén, adoptó las constumbres de los lugareños y sus hábitos alimenticios,
comiendo tres veces por día pescado y frutas.
Jean Lebel, jefe del equipo en el Programa Enfoques Ecosistémicos en Salud Humana del
IRDC, determinó en el informe, que el nivel de mercurio en el pelo de los investigadores "se
duplicó y hasta triplicó" a los pocos días de estar en la aldea.
En ese sentido, los primeros estudios arribaron a la conclusión de que había una contaminación
por mercurio que se transmitía a través del ambiente y del alimento, básicamente de los peces
que tuvieran mercurio en su cuerpo.
Pero, según reveló en la investigación, Marc Lucotte, bioquímico de la Universidad de
Quebec, se examinaron muestras de suelos y sedimentos y fue allí en donde se descubrieron
altos niveles de mercurio "que estaba naturalmente en el suelo".
El mercurio es uno de los elementos naturales de mayor toxicidad que es expulsado por los
volcanes y tiene la praticularidad de evaporarse, con lo cual puede retornar a la corteza terrestre
a través de lluvias.
Lucotte explicó que "los suelos del Amazonas tienen entre 500.000 y 1.000.000 de años de
antigüedad por lo cual esuvieron recibiendo mercurio de la atmósfera durante mucho tiempo".
Lo que pasó, según los investigadores, es que como consecuencia del desmonte de los bosques
nativos para realizar actividades agrícolas se perdieron cultivos que absorvían el mercurio, el
dióxido de carbono y bajaban la cantidad de esos gases en la tierra.
Además, el mercurio se depositó en las aguas del Amazaonas porque el sistema de tala y quema
de árboles hace que los restos de tierra y plantaciones con ese elemento queden a orillas de los
ríos, volcándose a las aguas donde se lo comen los peces.
El informe del IRDC, acotó que se descubrió que los peces chicos, que son herbívoros, tenían
menos cantidad de mercurio en su cuerpo que los grandes que se alimentan de otros peces.
La misma situación se repitió en los humanos porque quienes comían más frutas y verduras, que
pescado, tenían menos mercurio en el cuerpo.
22
Por lo cual, la actvidad ahora está centrada en buscar qué tipos de cultivos pueden aumentar las
fuentes de alimentos, mejorar la dieta y reducir la expansión del mercurio.
La intoxicación por mercurio se conoce como la Enfermedad de Minamata y debe su nombre a
una localidad japonesa, donde en 1950 miles de personas resultaron afectadas.
Esta patología provoca debilidad muscular, falta de visión, dificultad en el habla, parálisis,
puede ocasionar convulsiones y finalmente la muerte.
___________________________________________________________________________
New York Times: In Mongolia, an 'Extinction Crisis' Looms
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
6.12.2005
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia - On a highway west of this capital, roadside signs advertise
marmot, fox and other wildlife, and stacks of skins stand on display. In open markets, traders
conduct a gritty commerce in furs and hides, much of it illegal. Similar markets flourish
elsewhere in Mongolia, especially along the border with China.
If the good news in Mongolia is the gradual comeback of the Przewalski wild horses, the
disturbing news is the diminishing numbers of other wildlife, under relentless siege by
overhunting and excessive trade in skins and other animal products.
A new study of wildlife, one of the country's most distinctive resources, has revealed alarming
declines in most species, especially in the last 15 years. By some estimates, the populations of
endangered species - marmots, argali sheep, antelope, red deer, bears, Asiatic wild asses - have
plummeted by 50 to 90 percent.
The only other possible exception to the woeful trend, conservation experts say, is the apparent
increase in wolves. That is hardly welcomed by herders. If the animals wolves prey on become
scarce, these predators can be expected to become a greater menace to livestock, and there is
reported evidence that this is already happening.
"The country is facing a quite extraordinary and unnoticed extinction crisis, or at least the threat
of one," said Peter Zahler, assistant director for Asia at the Wildlife Conservation Society in
New York.
The conservation society, with financing from the World Bank, conducted the comprehensive
study of Mongolia's wildlife and concluded, "There is near unanimous agreement among
hunters, traders and biologists in Mongolia that continued wildlife trade at the volumes reported
is unsustainable."
In August, biologists, international conservation specialists and Mongolian government officials
met here to review the study's findings. Participants, the conservation society reported, cited
numerous shortcomings in the laws and the management and enforcement practices that
contribute to the problem. They also said that corruption existed "at all management levels."
Even though the Mongolian Constitution declares wildlife to be a common resource of the
people, the society's investigators found that the government had made only feeble efforts to
regulate trade and control hunting.
A draft report of the study, "The Silent Steppe: The Illegal Wildlife Trade Crisis in Mongolia,"
was circulated recently. It noted that the country's independence from the Soviet Union, in
1990, "was the undoing of Mongolia's century-long effort to control wildlife trade." Once on its
own, the country's "economy halved, inflation skyrocketed, incomes fell to near zero and store
shelves emptied."
23
Under the circumstances, the report continued, "virtually everyone was looking for a way out of
this sudden poverty and, for many, wildlife, now unprotected, provided the answer." Hunting
for subsistence and income increased. Illegal trade in meat and other animal products
proliferated.
"Neighboring countries, especially China, have been the happy recipients of this new stream of
wildlife product, consuming millions of animals every year and generating uncounted profits,"
the report said.
The investigators determined that more than 250,000 Mongolians, out of a population of 2.6
million, are active hunters. The wildlife trade is conservatively estimated to exceed $100
million a year, which does not include sales of game meat and traditional medicinal products
derived from animals. Nearly all the trade is illegal.
James R. Wingard, a Montana lawyer who specializes in conservation law, spent much of this
year directing the study.
He and students at the National University of Mongolia conducted more than 3,000 interviews
with hunters, biologists, government officials and wildlife traders, known here as "changers."
With Dr. Zahler and other experts, he also examined the available research reports on animal
populations, their reproduction and growth rates and the environment's carrying capacities for
the individual species.
One morning, Mr. Wingard stopped at several roadside trading establishments outside Ulan
Bator. They had large warehouses behind high wooden or concrete fences, but they did not
conceal the nature of their business. At one place, a sign with bold black words read like a
menu: marmot, goat, cow, horse, deer and fox.
"They know about our project," Mr. Wingard said as he walked over to speak with one trader.
"They are very, very open in talking with us. The animals may be illegal to hunt, but once the
animal enters the market, there's virtually no control."
Last year, for example, the government imposed a ban on hunting marmot, a rodent with
behavior similar to that of prairie dogs and once plentiful in burrows everywhere on the plains
and in the hills. Yet marmot fur still shows up on the market, fetching $10 each. The Chinese,
Mr. Wingard said, stitch marmot fur in with sable in making what they sell as sable coats.
A marmot census cited in the report showed that the animals, which once numbered 40 million,
had dropped to 20 million in 1990 and fewer than 5 million in 2002, a decline of 75 percent in
only 12 years.
"If this trend continues, soon you're going to see an ecological crash," Mr. Wingard said.
The prospects are even more alarming for other species. In the last five years, the saiga antelope
has declined from more than 5,000 to fewer than 800; the saiga horn is prized in China as a
traditional remedy. The red deer population has fallen 92 percent in 18 years, and the argali, the
wild mountain sheep with handsome spiraling horns, are down 75 percent in 16 years.
One of the rarest animals in the Mongolian mountains is the snow leopard, and its survival is
endangered. Though the trade is difficult to track, investigators said they found 17 fresh leopard
skins in a small border town in China, apparently poached in Mongolia. Last summer, Russian
border guards confiscated 13 Mongolian skins.
The Gobi bear, a small animal related to the brown bear and known to exist only in a corner of
the desert here, may be beyond saving. Dr. Zahler, of the conservation society, said that as few
as 25 were left.
"The bears appear to face numerous potential threats, ranging from lack of food and water to
inbreeding and fragmentation of the few remaining breeding adults," Dr. Zahler wrote in an
earlier research report.
At the International Asiatic Wild Ass Conference, held in August at Hustai National Park in
Mongolia, biologists and conservation experts expressed concern over the diminishing numbers
24
of the animal known here as the khulan. It is one of only three species of ass left in the wild; the
others are in Africa and different parts of Asia.
The khulan, smaller than a horse but larger than a donkey, used to be a familiar sight even in the
Gobi Desert. No one knows how plentiful they were, but a 2003 census numbers them at
20,000. Scientists at the conference said that overhunting and recent bitter winters are probably
causing a net loss of khulan population of 10 percent a year.
Petra Kaczensky, a wildlife biologist at the University of Freiburg in Germany, said, "We see
signs of poaching throughout the national parks," which are supposedly protected lands closed
to hunters.
Christian Walzer, a biologist at the veterinary college of the University of Vienna, said the
attitude of the Mongolian people, though understandable, was an impediment to regulating
khulan hunting.
"They don't want there to be more khulan and don't want them to disappear," Dr. Walzer said.
"They worry about the grazing competition they give their livestock. If my livelihood depended
on my sheep and their pastures, I wouldn't look with favor on a thousand wild ass showing up at
my door."
The herders also hunt the khulan for meat, either to eat or to sell in town. Mr. Wingard said
meat processors in Ulan Bator were doing a thriving business making sausage out of wild ass
meat.
Over dinner in Ulan Bator - hold the sausage, please - Mr. Wingard assessed the situation: "This
is the least populated large country in the world. So it's not habitat loss or fragmentation that is
the big problem. It's unregulated wildlife trade."
He said the sheer size of the country made it unrealistic to police hunting strictly, and some of
the rangers also are involved in poaching. He suggested that local communities must be given
clear incentives to support enforcement of hunting laws and bans. Of greatest importance, he
said, the government must enact and enforce tougher legislation intended to curb demand by
controlling trade in animal products.
"There seems to be a growing political will to do something about it," Mr. Wingard said. "If you
could control the trade, you could have the Africa of Asia here, as far as wildlife is concerned,
and then the tourism associated with wildlife, as in Africa."
And the problem is not confined to Mongolia. In "The Silent Steppe," Elizabeth L. Bennett,
director of the conservation society's hunting and wildlife program, wrote, "The single greatest
threat facing many species of wildlife across the world today is hunting for commercial wildlife
trade."
____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
25
ROA Media Update 7 December 2005
UNEP-UN in the news
UN Organizes Lake Victoria Clean-Up
New Vision (Kampala): UNITED Nations Habitat is facilitating an annual Lake Victoria Clean
Up Week, participants at the 11th World Lakes Conference have been told. This is a social
responsibility exercise that seeks to mobilize local authorities and stakeholders to develop a
programme for laying out city development strategies for improved urban environment and
poverty reduction. It is expected that when the appropriate physical, financial and policy-based
infrastructure is in place, it will be easier for the lake to support the surrounding region's
populations through fishing, supply of domestic and industrial water, hydropower, navigation
and tourism. From Lake Victoria Development Programme to Lake Victoria Basin
Commission, the community has put in place a protocol for Lake Victoria development. This
partnership agreement on sustainable development of the Lake Victoria Basin was signed by the
EAC with the governments of France, Norway, Sweden, the World Bank and the East African
Development Bank. A newly-launched Atlas of African Lakes by UNEP presents sharp pictures
of the effects of forest loss, invasive species, land degradation, pollution and inefficient
irrigation taking their toll on Lake Victoria. "I hope these images of Africa's lakes will
galvanize delegates to even greater action to conserve and restore these crucial water bodies. Of
huge economic importance are these lakes," said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director.
The Atlas, to be published in 2006, will be of great significance to researchers, education
institutions, media institutions, policy makers and governments in their efforts of formulating
practical
solutions
to
restore
the
African
lakes'
productivity.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200512050671.html
General Environment News
Africa lobbying at climate change meet in Montreal
Montreal, Canada (PANA) - African delegates at the UN Conference on Climate Change, who
are engaged in intense lobbying to make negotiations move forward on issues such as the
adaptation fund of the Kyoto Protocol, including the Global Environment Facility (GEF),
propose to entrust its management to the World Bank. African countries, with the support of
NGOs present in Montreal, take the view that it is fundamental that this fund be administered by
the conference of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol and not by the GEF which is dominated by
the countries of Annex 1 of the Protocol bringing together the biggest polluters of mainly
industrial nations. GEF was set up in 1990 in order to provide extra financial resources to face
up to global environmental issues, namely in developing countries and economies in transition.
During discussions and round tables, Africa pleaded for the strengthening of GEF financial
resources for the Least Developed Countries and the Special Fund for climatic changes.
"Though under-represented, Africa must become a force in the proposal to contribute to the
search for innovative solutions to the serious problems to which mankind must face up: the
disastrous consequences of a dangerous global warming," "Eco", the daily bulletin published by
the NGOs, said Tuesday. "As regards adaptation, it is urgent to respond efficiently to the needs
of the Least Developed Countries which have identified a set of actions in their national
adaptation plans of action," the NGOs pointed out. "All these plans of action, ready to be
implemented as early as 2006, can only be carried out if industrialized countries keep their
commitments of extra financial contributions," the NGOs added. Speaking of the clean
development mechanism, the NGOs deplored the fact that Africa appears as a poor relation of
the system which is expected to benefit it. The ministerial part of the Montreal conference on
climate
changes
starts
Wednesday
morning.
http://www.panapress.com/newslat.asp?code=eng100521&dte=06/12/2005
26
FAO report says govts tackling illegal logging
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A research conducted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO), in collaboration with the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), suggests
that world governments are becoming increasingly innovative and effective in tackling the
problem of illegal logging. The research is summarized in a recently-published joint FAO-ITTO
report, titled "Best Practices for Improving Law Compliance in the Forest Sector," which
highlights successful efforts to combat illegal logging undertaken in Bolivia, Cambodia,
Cameroon, Ecuador, Honduras, Indonesia, Gambia, Italy, Malaysia, Mozambique, Nicaragua
and Peru. The report, according to a news release issued by FAO, gives examples of some of the
innovative approaches already being used by governments. And though too early to quantify the
success of the measures highlighted in the report, said ITTO expert Steven Johnson, some of
them are producing visible improvements. "By sharing these successful case studies, ITTO and
FAO hope to provide guidance to other countries wrestling with the problem of illicit logging,"
the official said. FAO's most recent Global Forest Resource Assessment found that while the
world's rate of net forest loss was slowing, deforestation was still continuing at an alarmingly
high rate of about 13 million hectares per year. "Most of that loss occurs as a result of forests
being converted to agricultural land, but illegal logging plays a role too," observed the FAO.
According to World Bank estimates, governments lose revenues totaling around US$5 billion
annually as a result of illegal logging. Beyond financial impacts, illegal logging also leads to
unsustainable forest management, distortion of timber markets and exacerbation of income
disparities,
FAO
and
ITTO
noted
in
the
report.
http://www.panapress.com/newslat.asp?code=eng100391&dte=05/12/2005
Confusion over Unleaded Petrol
New Era (Windhoek): CONFUSION seems to reign supreme amongst motorists here with
regard to the phasing out of leaded petrol beginning January 2006. Many people don't even
bother about the upcoming new situation because they believe it does not make any difference
using leaded or unleaded petrol. "There was a time when I went to a service station and I didn't
find the 93 petrol. So I used the 95 petrol, which up to now has not caused any problem. My
vehicle is still running," says a principal of a school here. He notes further that information
about what the new changes entail is very sketchy to him and he will need to do more research
on how to adjust to the new situation. His vehicle is a Toyota 4x4 1996 model. A far as Sinsikus
Errki is concerned this whole thing is just a business deal between the Government and oil
companies, which want to have a monopoly over selling petrol. He says the Government is
being abused by money-mongers to threaten its own citizens into incurring expenses more than
what they can afford. Errki says it is expensive to adjust his vehicle to fit the new situation. His
is a Toyota 4x4 model 1993 and he believes that if he tries to tamper with it, it will cost him
between N$1000 and N$2000 to meet the requirements of the new arrangements. In his view
the Government wants to create an unnecessary crisis, which will affect the very people who
need to be assisted by the same Government. Instead of the Government creating favorable
living conditions for the people, it is making life difficult by putting up barriers such as
limitations on the type of petrol to be used. http://allafrica.com/stories/200512050788.html
Telecoms Masts and Our Health
This Day (Lagos): The incredible growth in the Nigerian telecommunication sector should give
the telecoms regulator the Nigerian Telecommunications Commission (NCC) cause to
celebrate. According to NCC pundits, Nigerians have never had it as good as far telephone
services are concerned. Millions can rightly testify to this. Four years ago, I had no mobile
phone, but today I have two. I am at verge of buying a third line, because both are inefficient.
27
This debate about the state of our telecommunications industry is ongoing; the focus of my
writing however, is environmental and health concern. Our telecom industry's phenomenal
growth is world acclaimed. A country with an insatiable appetite for telephone hardware and
accessories will be the toast of the manufacturing world. A world survey will reveal that Nigeria
is perhaps the biggest market in the world for devices such as chargers, batteries, carries case,
antennas, hands -free kits, cordless earphones etc. Proliferation of telephone masts and antennas
in Lagos is proving to be a challenge which the authorities seem helpless to deal with. The
governments at both State and Federal levels have not taken environmental concerns very
seriously. Regulation and control of the industry as far as environment and health issues are
concerned are very weak. The emphasis is on an aggressive program of accelerated growth of
the mobile markets. The health implications of continued exposure to Radio Frequency (RF)
radiation are ignored. No special program of research and protection for the subscribers, the
staff of the telecommunication companies, and those who reside near the telecoms installations
and infrastructure is undertaken. The health implications of mobile phones are not being
addressed by the relevant authorities. The public does not have sufficient information about the
health hazards they are exposed to either by using mobile phone or being close to a base station.
For the operators in the industry, it is just business as usual. According to the experts, concern
about the link between RF exposure and cancer is not misplaced. They advise that 'Handheld
mobile phones were not used regularly until the 1990s, so published studies at present can only
assess relatively short lag periods before cancer manifestation. The relative lag periods are
unknown'. It warns further,' no study populations to date have included children, yet children
are increasingly heavy users of mobile phones and they are potentially highly susceptible to
harmful effects. According to The Daily Independent Newspaper, UK, of Monday April 7, 2003
cell-phones are at the centre of new safety fears in Britain since scientist have found the first
evidence of a link with brain cancer. http://allafrica.com/stories/200512050947.html
Deforestation Lowering Water Levels
New Vision (Kampala): THE massive destruction of forests in Western Kenya is the main cause
of reduced water levels on Lake Victoria, experts attending the recently concluded 11th World
Lakes Conference in Nairobi said. Edward Mulama of the environmental information network
said the lake had greatly been degraded as a result of the destruction of Western Kenya forests
either for burning charcoal or harvesting crops through deforestation. "The situation had
worsened since this had reduced the lake's water levels, thus destroying fish stocks," he said. As
a result of the low levels on the lake, Mulama said fish had become scarce, depriving people of
their livelihood from fish sales. Another expert said Lake Victoria used to produce over 500,000
tones of fish every year, but the demand had increased by a similar number owing to heavy
demand for fish. The biannual conference, which was opened by Kenya's Vice-President Moody
Awori, brought together more than 200 delegates from all over the world. The delegates shared
experiences in addressing the benefits of the great lakes to the human society as a catalyst for
peace and poverty reduction. The conference's theme was Management of Lake Basins for their
Sustainable Use - Global Experiences and African Issues. Nobel Peace Laureate Professor
Wangari Maathai called on all delegates to consider practical conservation of natural
ecosystems, which are a source of livelihood to man. The conference pointed out several
challenges to be tackled, and these included deforestation of water catchment areas, the rapidly
increasing water hyacinth and the conflicts that have plagued regional cooperation.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200512050673.html
Kenyan engineers assess damages after earthquake
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyan civil engineers Tuesday began examining buildings for "any
structural damages" hours after panic hit Nairobi and other major towns after tenants reported
28
hearing aftershocks of an earth tremor. Kenyans were frightened by a powerful earthquake,
which hit East Africa. Scientists said the tremor was felt as far as DR Congo, Tanzania and
Kenya's Rift Valley. Several buildings in Nairobi were evacuated around 0900GMT after
tenants reported a second tremor, which was an aftershock of the earthquake, which hit east and
central Africa mid-afternoon on Monday. The Kenyan government deployed civil and structural
engineers to scrutinize the degree of damages don to buildings, most of which showed huge
cracks on the walls. Nairobi's tallest building runs about 35 storeys and most of the buildings
average
20
storeys,
mostly
built
using
concrete
materials
and
steel.
http://www.panapress.com/newslat.asp?code=eng100481&dte=06/12/2005
Workshop on Devising Management Plan for Biodiversity Conservation Kicks Off
The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa): A two-day workshop aimed at devising management plan
for biodiversity conservation in Ethiopia began yesterday here. Opening the workshop Director
General of the Institute of Biodiversity Conservation Dr. Girma Balcha said though efforts have
been made in the past to conserve biodiversity in Ethiopia the success has been inadequate. The
reason, according to Dr. Girma, is that the efforts were not well concerted to a level to reverse
eco-system degradation and habitat fragmentation. The workshop jointly organized by the
Oromia Agriculture and Rural Development Bureau and the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS)
particularly focuses on the Bale Mountains National Park which is selected as a model of the
managerial plan. The Bale Mountains National Park is selected for it is one of the two national
parks found in the highlands of the country and is home to 11 of the 22 endemic mammals. The
Institute of Biodiversity Conservation has just completed the national biodiversity conservation
strategy and action plan in a manner that meets international standard. The objective of the
study is to facilitate means to conserve and protect the flora in and around the Bale Mountains
National
Park
that
is
used
for
medicinal
purposes.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200512060537.html
____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
29
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
DAILY NEWS
6 December, 2005
===================================================================
UN ELECTORAL CHIEF CARINA PERELLI DISMISSED FOR MISCONDUCT
Carina Perelli, the Director of the United Nations Electoral Assistance
Division, received a letter this morning informing her of the
Secretary-General's decision to summarily dismiss her for misconduct, a
spokesman for the world body announced today.
The decision took immediate effect, Stephane Dujarric told reporters at UN
Headquarters in New York.
Asked about the charges against Ms. Perelli, he confirmed that the
complaints included allegations of harassment, including sexual
harassment, and abuse of authority.
The charge letter was sent to Ms. Perelli on 4 August. The standard
extension is two weeks, but in this case, following a number of
extensions, she responded on 17 November, Mr. Dujarric said.
Asked how the dismissal would affect UN support for the Iraqi elections,
the spokesman said it should not affect the UN's electoral work in Iraq or anywhere else.
He noted that Craig Jenness of Canada serves as International Commissioner
on the Independent Electoral Commission for Iraq and leads the UN effort
on the Iraqi elections. Mr. Jenness leads a team of 24 international
electoral staff currently in Baghdad.
Asked about the UN's zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment, the
spokesman said that each case is analyzed and assessed on its own merits.
The UN has a duty to act when these matters arise, he said.
***
UN EMERGENCY COORDINATOR MEETS WITH PRESIDENT OF ZIMBABWE ON AID
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe met this morning with United Nations
Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, who is in the country to assess
the humanitarian needs of the population including those evicted in a
massive Government slum-clearance effort that left hundreds of thousands homeless.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Mr. Egeland said he had “a long, good
and frank exchange” with the Zimbabwean leader. He said he explained to
the President that the UN can be more effective if there are better
procedures for how to help.
30
“There is disagreement around the eviction campaign,” Mr. Egeland said, in
response to a question. “There is disagreement on how to help those who
were evicted. There has been some concern on how to reach food security.
But this is not the time to list all the points of disagreement.” Mr.
Egeland said that he did not think they disagreed on the need to help the
people to help themselves.
In addition, he said there was agreement on redoubling efforts to meet the
challenges of millions of people who are infected with HIV and the more
than a million children who are AIDS orphans.
The complex humanitarian emergency in Zimbabwe comprises a combination of
widespread food insecurity, high unemployment and a 25 per cent HIV/AIDS
prevalence rate, in addition to the homelessness caused by Operation
Murambatsvina (Restore Order).
During his three-day trip, which ends today, Mr. Egeland also met with the
Minister of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development, visited
displaced persons. Government housing projects, and an orphanage and
education centre for AIDS orphans and HIV-positive children.
He met with church leaders, representatives of national and international
NGOs and members of the resident donor community as well.
Zimbabwe’s six-month-old Operation Murambatsvina (Restore Order) slum
clearance program, described by senior UN officials as an ongoing
violation of human rights, has forced an estimated 650,000 to 700,000
people into conditions much worse in many cases than before they were evicted.
On 31 October, Secretary-General Annan appealed to the Government to allow
UN humanitarian assistance to the country after the authorities rejected
the world body’s aid amid reports that tens of thousands of people there
were still homeless and in need of help.
***
REPORT ON UN PROCUREMENT CALLS FOR BETTER SAFEGUARD AND
OVERSIGHT SYSTEMS
Unless addressed soon, serious oversight and safeguard deficiencies leave
the United Nations Procurement System (UNPS) open to fraud, according to a
new independent assessment carried out on Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s
initiative in the wake of the Iraq Oil-for-Food scandal.
The report by Deloitte Consulting LLP, a 150-year-old global accounting
and consulting firm, found that UNPS employees effectively constitute the
controls that are in place. “Such a significant reliance on people leaves
the UN extremely vulnerable to potential fraudulent or corrupt activity,
and limits the Organization’s means to either prevent or detect such
31
actions,” it concludes.
The assessment also found weaknesses in ethics and integrity training,
which were not supported by management, along with a “lack of urgency in
response to adverse audit findings, and unclear lines of authority and accountability.”
The report recommends remedies for each of the adverse conditions existing
in procurement, including updated procedures and guidelines, improved
professional development of management and staff, an enhanced ethics
programme, and a reconsideration of staff rotation policies.
The Secretary-General ordered the procurement appraisal in April after
irregularities were uncovered by both the UN’s own oversight office and
the independent panel investigating the Iraq Oil-for-Food programme. At
that point, Mr. Annan placed the procurement division under the direct
authority of UN Controller Warren Sach.
The third Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC),
headed by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, accused former
procurement officer Alexander Yakovlev of soliciting kickbacks. The
Secretary-General waived Mr. Yakovlev’s immunity, while the UN’s Office of
Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) worked with the United States
Attorney’s office to help its investigation of the former procurement
official, who was arrested.
Introducing the report at a UN Headquarters press conference this
afternoon, Christopher Burnham, the Under-Secretary-General for
Management, stressed the comprehensiveness and clarity of the findings,
and their significance in relation to reform measures being implemented by Mr. Annan.
Asked about a previous study produced by UNPS itself, Mr. Burnham replied
bluntly: “I’m dismissing [that] report.” The new study, he added, clearly
shows a “significant lack of managerial oversight in the past.”
At the same time, he emphasized that the new report did not seek to
pinpoint incidents of fraud, abuse or incompetence. That will have to
await the results of “forensic audits,” or investigative reports due in June 2006.
The UN management chief also stressed that the seriousness of the Deloitte
report underscores the importance of reform proposals that Mr. Annan has
pushed on his own authority or presented to the General Assembly in cases
when its approval is required.
In an Op-Ed appearing in today’s Wall Street Journal, Mr. Burnham
elaborated on this point, underscoring the importance of the
Secretary-General’s initiatives concerning financial disclosure,
whistle-blower protection, the implementation of International Public
Sector Accounting Standards, a UN ethics office, and an Independent Audit
Advisory Committee.
32
“The global taxpayer should rest assured that the UN is undergoing
significant change in accountability, transparency and ethical conduct,” he wrote.
***
DR CONGO ELECTIONS WILL REQUIRE IMMENSE LOGISTICAL EFFORT, SECURITY
COUNCIL TOLD
The peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is on the
right track, but the referendum this month and the legislative elections
due to take place by the end of next June will require immense logistical
effort, the leader of the Security Council’s early November mission to
Central Africa said today.
Introducing a written report on the trip, the Permanent Representative of
France, Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sablière, who had also briefed the
Council on the trip last month, said a tight timetable must be met between
the 18 December referendum and the legislative and presidential elections
due to take place before the end of the transition period on 30 June 2006.
The security in the east of the country was another source of concern,
owing to the actions of armed groups there. Whether those groups were
Congolese or foreign, whether or not they represented a serious military
threat, it was the Congolese people who were the first to suffer, he said.
The Council, therefore, should help the country reform its armed forces
and establish the rule of law. The DRC Government should bring its full
determination to that task and the international community and the
countries in the region should provide their unwavering support, Mr. de La Sablière said.
On Burundi, he said the process of peace and national reconciliation there
was a “stunning success in the region,” and Burundians could be proud of
their accomplishment.
A major problem, however, was the presence of the rebel Palipehutu-FNL
(Forces Nationales de Libération) even though the Tanzanian authorities
had undertaken mediation efforts to encourage that movement to join the
peace process and return to the negotiating table, Mr. de La Sablière said.
A year ago the Council said that it was prepared to consider sanctions
against individuals who threatened the peace and national reconciliation
process in Burundi. If the Government asked for sanctions, the Council
members should be prepared to impose them, he said.
Though Mr. de La Sablière focused on DRC and Burundi, the mission also visited Rwanda,
Uganda and Tanzania.
***
DEADLY VIOLENCE IN SRI LANKA MUST NOT DERAIL PEACE PROCESS – ANNAN
33
Strongly condemning the recent violence in Sri Lanka, United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan today voiced hope that it will not hamper the
commitment of the Government or rebels to the peace process.
The Secretary-General’s statement, issued by his spokesman in New York,
came in response to clashes in Jaffna and the northeast of Sri Lanka,
where more than twenty soldiers and civilians have reportedly been killed
over the last three days.
“The Secretary-General is very concerned about the increasing tensions in
the country and appeals to all parties to uphold the 2003 ceasefire
agreement,” his spokesman said, voicing hope that the violence “will not
undermine the commitment of the new Government and the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the peace process.”
***
SUDANESE REFUGEES HEAD FOR HOME WHILE CONGOLESE REFUGEES
PREPARE TO LEAVE SUDAN – UN
Some 12,000 internally displaced Sudanese returning home with half a
million head of cattle will take a month to traverse the bridge that is
the only crossing-point over the White Nile in the region and many animals
risk being killed on the heavily mined road leading there, a United
Nations refugee agency spokeswoman said today.
The Dinka herdsmen have been trekking from West Equatoria, the area of
their refuge from civil war, to their homes in Bor, some 180 kilometres
north of Juba, the recently designated capital of South Sudan, where they made a rest stop.
The only road between Juba and Bor remains heavily mined and UN agencies
are concerned that many cattle will die during the migration, the
spokeswoman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), Jennifer Pagonis, told reporters in Geneva.
To avoid congesting Juba, former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army
(SPLA) soldiers escorting different groups of men and cattle have been
directing them through the outskirts of Juba and towards the bridge which
will take them in the direction of Bor, she said.
The 21-year-long conflict in south Sudan, brought to an end by a peace
agreement in January, displaced more than 4 million people within Sudan,
while another 500,000 Sudanese fled to neighbouring countries.
Some of the south Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries have begun
to go back home after two decades abroad, while some 1,700 refugees from
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are preparing to leave south
Sudan for their home country after 40 years in exile.
34
The DRC refugees settled in Juba after fleeing the post-independence
turmoil and coup that brought Mobutu Sese Seko to power in 1965 in the
country he renamed Zaire.
Even though a large number of the group were born in South Sudan and have
been integrated into Sudanese society, some want to return to the land of
their forebears and have asked UNHCR to help them repatriate, Ms. Pagonis said.
Cooperating closely with the Sudanese Commission of Refugees in
identifying the refugees, UNHCR expects to complete their registration on
Friday and to start the first repatriation by plane as soon as possible to
areas near Kisangani, Bumba, Akete or Banduka in eastern DRC, she said.
***
INTERPOL PUBLISHES FIRST NOTICES FOR SUSPECTED TERRORISTS ON UN
SANCTIONS LIST
In a bid to tighten the noose around terrorists, the first Interpol-United
Nations Security Council Special Notices have been issued for individuals
targeted by UN sanctions against Al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Among the individuals on this first group of four notices is Abu Musab
Al-Zarqawi, one of the world’s most notorious terrorist suspects, wanted
by police in a number of countries for a series of major attacks on
Al-Qaida’s behalf.
The new notices are being distributed to all of Interpol’s 184 member
countries using the organization’s global police communications system. If
the whereabouts of suspects named in these notices become known to police,
the Interpol National Central Bureau in the country concerned will be
notified immediately so that competent authorities can take the necessary
action to implement the UN sanctions against them.
The new initiative responds to a Security Council resolution unanimously
adopted in July which called on the Secretary-General to work with
Interpol to provide better tools to assist the Council’s ‘1267 Committee,’
which is responsible for monitoring the freezing of assets, travel bans
and arms embargos aimed at groups and individuals associated with Al-Qaida and the Taliban.
The creation of the Interpol-UN Security Council Special Notice was
approved formally by Interpol’s General Assembly in Berlin in September,
and a team at the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon, France, was
immediately assigned to work with UN officials on details of
implementation and related technical issues.
“I believe publication of these new notices will send an important message
to the international community that Interpol and the United Nations are
working together in a proactive manner to ensure that terrorists are
brought to justice,” Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said.
35
“I think the very fact that notices of this sort are being published will
have a significant effect on the movement of terrorist suspects across
international borders and will make it less likely they will engage in
financial dealings or the purchase of weapons.”
The Consolidated List on Al-Qaida and the Taliban maintained by the 1267
Committee contains the names of more than 300 suspects and more than 100
entities. The UN and Interpol will work together to issue additional
special notices in the future for many of the individuals on the list.
“The Interpol-UN Special Notices make clear the common commitment of the
United Nations and Interpol to fight terrorism,” said the Chairman of the
UN 1267 Committee, Ambassador César Mayoral of Argentina. “They will also
provide a considerable boost to the implementation of the UN-mandated
sanctions on terrorists and their supporters throughout the world.”
The new Interpol-UN Security Council Special Notices reflect the growing
cooperation between the two entities. Interpol officers were also recently
invited to Beirut to assist the UN investigation into the assassination of
former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
***
UN MISSION CHIEF HEADS FOR NIGERIA WHERE SUDANESE PEACE TALKS HAVE
BECOME DIFFICULT
The senior United Nations envoy to Sudan will head to Abuja on Sunday to
help with difficult peace talks in the Nigerian capital between the
Sudanese Government and the two main rebel groups in western Sudan’s
Darfur region amid continued insecurity there, the United Nations Mission
in the country (UNMIS) announced today.
Jan Pronk’s trip will aim to boost “the ongoing negotiations process,
which does not seem to progress as expeditiously as hoped, in order to
reach an agreement by the end of this year,” UNMIS said.
In advance of that trip, Mr. Pronk will make one of his regular visits to UN deployment areas
with a three-day tour of Rumbek and Wau in southern
Sudan, where peace agreements restored stability at the beginning of this year.
The security situation in Darfur over the past week has been characterized
by banditry, including looting and inter-tribal fighting, alleged clashes
between the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and tribal groups, as well as
harassment, threats and sometimes beating of the staffs of UN agencies and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), according to the mission.
Meanwhile, the situation in West Darfur is cause for concern, UNMIS said,
with the leader of a third rebel group, the National Movement for Reform
and Development (NMRD), claiming responsibility for an attack late last
36
month on a police outpost which injured seven policemen.
Around the same time, either Chadian deserters or the NMRD are suspected
of having attacked an African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) patrol, wounding
five African peacekeepers, UNMIS said. Attacks by unidentified armed men
on internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees were reported near the
border with Chad and at Tonkitier IDP camp.
The NMRD has not been included with the SLM and the Justice and Equality
Movement (JEM) in the Abuja peace talks.
In southern Sudan, the rebel Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has
murdered, raped, robbed and abducted civilians, including humanitarian
workers, “adding to fears that the Ugandan rebel group has made the
targeting of aid workers part of its strategy,” the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) added.
***
BIRD FLU: ANNAN SEEKS AFFORDABLE DRUGS FOR POOR STATES, MEETS
PHARMACEUTICAL CEO
In an effort to ensure affordable treatment for poor States in the event
of a human bird flu pandemic, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
has met with the head of the pharmaceutical Roche group, and has voiced
the hope that donors would be generous with funding to buy the Tamiflu
drug in bulk for needy countries.
Mr. Annan, who two months ago appointed a UN system coordinator for a
possible pandemic amid concern that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a
deadly strain that spreads easily from person to person, met with Roche
Chairman and CEO Franz Humer yesterday and congratulated him on his firm’s
responsiveness to the threat so far.
Mr. Annan “reiterated the importance of ensuring access of preferentially
priced treatment for Avian Flu to the poorest and neediest countries,” UN
spokesman Stephane Dujarric said today.
The Secretary-General also repeated his standing position that “the best
way to protect the intellectual property rights was to make sure that the
poorest and neediest countries get the medicines they need at a
preferential price,” Mr. Dujarric said, adding that the two men agreed to
keep their channels of communications open.
At the end of September, Mr. Annan appointed David Nabarro, a senior
public health expert in the UN World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure
coordinated UN support for effective local, national, regional and global
preparations for a potential pandemic, underlining even stronger
involvement by the world body in the fight against the disease.
37
Ever since the first human case of H5N1, linked to widespread poultry
outbreaks in Viet Nam and Thailand, was reported in January last year, UN
health officials have warned that the virus could evolve into a human
pandemic if it mutates into a form which could transmit easily between
people. Cases so far have been traced to infection directly from diseased birds.
The so-called Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920 is estimated to have
killed from 20 million to 40 million people worldwide. Overall, there have
been 132 reported human H5N1 cases, 68 of them fatal, all in South-East
and East Asia. Some 150 million domestic birds have died or been culled in
an effort to curb its spread.
***
UN STAFF AND MATCHING FUNDS RAISE NEARLY HALF A MILLION DOLLARS
FOR TSUNAMI RELIEF
The United Nations Staff Relief Committee for Tsunami Victims, which
collected nearly a quarter of a million dollars that was later doubled
through matching funds, has signed an agreement with the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) to implement a range of projects helping
survivors of the catastrophe to rebuild their lives.
The staff donations will fund projects directly benefiting the people
affected by the tsunami, including housing, livelihoods and critical
infrastructure in Indonesia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. The UN Foundation
has matched the staff contribution of $245,477, bringing the total funding
for the programmes to almost $500,000.
One new programme is aimed at improving livelihood opportunities for women
in Aceh, another will help rebuild or repair scores of houses on Mathiveri
Island in the Maldives, and in Sri Lanka, a programme will help restore
livelihoods, including marginalized groups such as handloom weavers in the
East and lace makers in the South, according to UNDP.
At today’s agreement signing ceremony, Shihana Mohamed, Chairperson of the
Relief Committee, said she had been inspired by the outpouring of support.
“The solidarity and feeling for the victims was tremendous,” she said.
“Some staff members even contributed twice.”
The funds were raised during the first three months following last
December’s tsunami, which killed about 231,000 people. Ms. Mohamed said
the fundraising extended to staff in all UN agencies and was supplemented
by six well-attended fundraising events.
Hafiz Pasha, UN Assistant Administrator and Director for the UNDP Regional
Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, said the contribution comes as the UN is
moving beyond the emergency Flash Appeal period and into the mid-term
recovery and longer-term reconstruction phase.
38
“The timing is perfect and the contribution is very significant,” he said,
adding that UNDP would exercise the highest standards of accountability
and transparency in using the funds.
***
AFRICAN POLITICIANS CONVENE FOR CONFERENCE ON ENDING FEMALE
GENITAL CUTTING
Ways of ending the dangerous practice of female genital cutting that
violates the fundamental human rights of 3 million girls in sub-Saharan
Africa and the Middle East were discussed by African parliamentarians as
well as religious and traditional leaders at a just-concluded seminar
co-organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Dakar, Senegal.
UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said Africa’s lawmakers have
“enormous power” to help end the debilitating and sometimes deadly
tradition. “It is essential that they take action to prohibit this harmful
practice and other forms of gender violence,” she said.
While progress towards abandoning female genital mutilation has been
painfully slow, experts are optimistic that, with adequate support from a
broad range of institutions, including national parliaments, the practice
can be eliminated within just one generation, UNICEF said.
The conference called, “Violence against Women, Abandoning Female Genital
Mutilation: The Role of Parliaments,” was held from 4 to 5 December and
was organized by UNICEF along with the National Assembly of Senegal and
the African Parliamentary Union (APU) in cooperation with the
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
***
PAKISTAN: WITH SNOWS COMING, UN ON STANDBY FOR LARGE INFLUX OF
QUAKE SURVIVORS
With heavy snow forecast in northern Pakistan by the end of this week, the
United Nations refugee agency is standing by for a possible exodus of up
to 230,000 earthquake survivors from higher elevations and needs over $5
million more to funding its operations through the harsh Himalayan winter.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plans to have 43 mobile
teams on the ground by the end of this week, providing technical advice
and aid to the army and the Pakistani authorities in 30 organized camps
and scores of spontaneous camps, eventually expanding the number of teams to 65.
“UNHCR's main priority is assisting local authorities with the
'winterization' of planned and spontaneous camps,” agency spokesperson
Jennifer Pagonis told a news briefing in Geneva today.
39
“It is crucial that every tent has a minimum of two plastic sheets, four
mattresses, a stove and fuel and that each person has three blankets. We
are also tapping the knowledge of Afghan refugees on how to winterize
tents through the safe use of stoves,” she said, referring to the millions
of Afghans who sought refuge in Pakistan over the past 25 years.
The 8 October quake killed some 80,000 people, injured as many others and
left up to 3 million homeless.
The Pakistan government estimates that 100,000-200,000 more people could
come down in the North West Frontier Province and 30,000 in
Pakistan-administered Kashmir with this week’s snows.
UNHCR is continuing to fly in relief items. In the coming weeks, together
with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), it plans to transport
30,000 stoves by commercially chartered planes from Turkey and Jordan, and
some by road from Iran.
“We are buying some 250,000 blankets in India and China to add to the
600,000 blankets we have already sent to Pakistan,” Ms. Pagonis said. “We
are also planning to dispatch over 100,000 plastic sheets from our
recently replenished emergency stockpile in Copenhagen and are sending an
additional 15 vehicles for our teams on the ground.
“Needs however, continue to remain high on the ground, particularly with
the possibility of population movements from higher elevations. So far we
have received $24.52 million in funding but we need over $30 million to
get through the winter period.”
***
UNESCO SETS GUIDELINES TO PROTECT QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOR
FOREIGNERS
Faced with the exponential growth of higher education, from traditional
universities to virtual organizations specializing in e-learning, the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
is co-sponsoring a set of guidelines to protect students studying abroad
from low-quality services.
“Quality is an issue,” UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education
Peter Smith said of the guidelines drawn up in collaboration with the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a group of
30 industrialized countries sharing a commitment to democratic government
and the market economy.
“The Organization (UNESCO) has long encouraged the internationalization of
education and the involvement of a range of partners, but we must also
protect students from inadequate learning resources, low-quality
40
provisions, degree mills and bogus institutions,” he added.
The Guidelines spell out the responsibility of foreign providers to
deliver programmes of comparable quality to their domestic provision,
encourage the establishment of a comprehensive system of quality assurance
and accreditation and emphasize the need for increased transparency on
quality, which will allow students to make informed decisions and
facilitate recognition of qualifications.
They bring together various stakeholders and stress the need for
collaboration and invite student bodies to get involved as active partners of quality provision.
This is the first time that UNESCO and the OECD have collaborated in
developing guidelines in this way. Although not binding, their endorsement
by two international organizations grouping 191 countries gives them significant force.
The two will continue working together to implement the Guidelines. UNESCO
will take the lead in capacity-building such as aiding governments in
developing regulatory frameworks, organizing regional and sub-regional
workshops, and developing toolkits and other training materials. And the
two will together develop an international portal listing all recognised
higher education institutions/providers.
An estimated 2 million foreign students are studying in OECD nations, 61
per cent of them from outside the OECD. According to UNESCO statistics,
out of every 10 tertiary students studying abroad, five are Asians, three
are Europeans and one is African. Half of all foreign study takes place in
Europe and one-quarter in the United States.
The range of providers has also dramatically evolved from traditional
universities to e-learning, and from private companies and international
corporations to partnerships between private and public groups. According
to the OECD, the higher education market in its member states is
conservatively worth some $40 billion annually.
***
UN REFUGEE CHIEF VISITS NORDIC COUNTRIES, AMONG HIS AGENCY’S TOP
DONORS
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) António Guterres
arrived in Denmark today at the start of a four a four-day visit to the
Nordic Countries, major supporters of the agency’s global operations.
“Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden are key strategic partners in our
work for refugees around the world,” UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis
told a news briefing in Geneva of the four nations that Mr. Guterres is visiting.
The four countries are among the top 10 per capita donors to UNHCR,
contributing a total of nearly $200 million so far this year (Sweden:
41
$77.6 million, Norway: $55.7 million, Denmark: $44.2 million, Finland: $15.8 million).
Mr. Guterres will meet with senior government officials, parliamentarians,
non-governmental organizations and others.
***
CAMBODIA: UN ENVOY HEARS COMPLAINTS OVER ARRESTS, CONSTRAINTS ON
FREEDOM
The United Nations envoy for human rights in Cambodia, on his first visit
to the country, is to take up with the Government the many complaints he
has heard about the judicial system, the detention of eminent persons in
politics, journalism and trade unions, and the lifting of parliamentary
immunity of opposition party members.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative Yash Ghai, who ended
his eight-day visit yesterday, said non-governmental organizations told
him of the constraints they face in the performance of their duties, and
of increasing restrictions on their freedoms of association, assembly and expression.
Many concerns were also expressed over the difficulties rural communities
face in sustaining their livelihoods as a result of losing land and access
to natural resources, he said in a statement, adding that he would take up
these matters with the Royal Government of Cambodia.
During his visit Mr. Ghai met with the King, senior Government officials,
court authorities and representatives of political parties,
non-governmental and community organizations and trade unions as well as
with resident UN staff.
He was able to visit parliamentarian Cheam Channy in the Military Prison,
and radio broadcaster Mam Sonando and trade union leader Rong Chhun in the
prison of Prey Sar. He also participated in a radio programme on the
occasion of Human Rights Day.
***
UN ENVIRONMENTAL BODY HAILS RELOCATION OF ISLANDERS THREATENED
BY CLIMATE CHANGE
As part of the effort to combat the impact of global warming on vulnerable
areas from the Arctic to the Himalayas to low lying islands, the United
Nations environmental agency today heralded what may be the first case of
a small island community to be formally moved out of harms way in the face
of climate change.
Details of the scheme, in which 100 villagers were relocated to the
interior of Tegua in the South Pacfic island chain of Vanuatu after their
coastal homes were repeatedly swamped by storm surges and waves linked to
42
climate change, were unveiled at a meeting organized by the UN Environment
Programme’s (UNEP) polar centre during the 11th Conference of the Parties
to the UN climate convention in Montreal, Canada.
UNEP said the relocation - one of, if not the first such formal action under a project entitled Capacity Building for the Development of
Adaptation in Pacific Island Countries, underlined the increasingly
drastic measures now underway to conserve low lying communities as a
result of the rise in human-made emissions to the atmosphere.
“The peoples of the Arctic and the small islands of this world face many
of the same threats as a result of climbing global temperatures, the most
acute of which is the devastation of their entire ways of life,” UNEP
Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said.
“The melting and receding of sea ice and the rising of sea levels, storms
surges and the like are the first manifestations of big changes underway
which eventually will touch everyone on the planet. The plight of these
vulnerable peoples should be a clear signal to governments meeting here in
Montreal that we must hurry up if we are to avert a climate-led
catastrophe for current and future generations,” he added.
UNEP, in collaboration with others and with funding from the Global
Environment Facility, an independent financial organization that provides
grants to developing countries for projects that benefit the global
environment, is developing National Adaptation Programmes for Action
(Napes) in more than a dozen countries including Haiti, Liberia and Tanzania.
Other areas vulnerable to climate change are mountain regions where the
melting of glaciers is creating huge lakes whose mud, soil and stone banks
could burst sending huge quantities of water down gulleys and valleys.
The threat is underlined in the Himalayas where studies by UNEP in
collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development (ICIMOD), have found some 50 glacial lakes that are of concern in Nepal and
Bhutan.
The research, in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Network for Global
Change Research, is now being expanded into other areas of the Himalayas
including Pakistan, India and China. UNEP is looking to secure further
funding for this initiative through the GEF to help to pinpoint more newly
formed glacial lakes at risk of triggering so called GLOFs or Glacial Lake
Outburst Floods and to develop early warning systems for such potentially
life and infrastructure threatening events.
***
For more details go to UN News Centre
43
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE
SECRETARY-GENERAL
6 December 2005
Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric,
Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon.
Later, we will be joined by Mr. Christopher Burnham, Under-Secretary-General for
Management, who will be here to brief you on the outcome of a survey of the United Nations
procurement office, which was conducted by the Deloitte consulting firm.
**Carina Perelli
This morning, Ms. Carina Perelli was given a letter informing her of the SecretaryGeneral’s decision to summarily dismiss her for misconduct. That decision is effective
immediately.
** Zimbabwe
Turning to Zimbabwe, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, who
is in Zimbabwe to assess the humanitarian situation in that country, met with President Mugabe
this morning.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Mr. Egeland said he had “a long, good and frank
exchange”. He said he explained to the President that the United Nations can be more effective
if there are better procedures for how to help.
In response to a question at a press briefing afterwards, Mr. Egeland said that he did not
think they disagreed on the need to help the people to help themselves. “There is disagreement
around the eviction campaign”, Mr. Egeland said. “There is also disagreement on how to help
those who were evicted. There has been some concern on how to reach food security. But this
is not the time to list all the points of disagreement”, said Mr. Egeland.
He went on to add that there is agreement to work to redouble our efforts to be more
effective to meet the challenges of millions who are infected with HIV/AIDS and the more than
a million children who are AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe.
**Avian Flu
Yesterday, the Secretary-General met with Franz Humer, Chairman and CEO of the
pharmaceutical group Roche, and discussed preparations to deal with a possible global avian flu
pandemic.
In that meeting, the Secretary-General congratulated Roche and Dr. Humer for their
responsiveness, and reiterated the importance of ensuring access of preferentially priced
treatment for avian flu to the poorest and neediest countries.
He also expressed the hope that the donors would be generous with funding to buy the
Tamiflu drug in bulk for poor countries.
44
The Secretary-General reiterated that the best way to protect intellectual property rights
of the pharmaceuticals was to make sure that the poorest and neediest countries get the
medicines they need at a preferential price.
**Security Council
The Security Council today held a public meeting to discuss the recent Council mission
to the Great Lakes area and Central Africa.
Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sablière of France, who led the mission, briefed the
Council on its work and on the written report that followed it. The ambassadors of Burundi,
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo also contributed to the discussion.
** Côte d’Ivoire
Late yesterday we issued a statement from the Secretary-General welcoming the
appointment of Charles Konan Banny as the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire for the transition
period. The Secretary-General, in a statement, urged the parties to cooperate fully with the new
Prime Minister.
We have the full text available upstairs.
**Human Rights
Louise Arbour, who, as you know, is the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and
Robert Orr, the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning, will be briefing NGOs today
on the proposed United Nations Human Rights Council. The discussion begins at 1:15 p.m. in
Conference Room 2 and it is open to the press.
Ms. Arbour will brief you here in Room 226 at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.
**State of Microcredit Summit Campaign 2005
Also, at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon, the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh will hold a
press conference on the reported title of “The State of Microcredit Summit Campaign 2005”.
**Secretary-General’s End-of-Year Press Conference
Lastly, you’d all been asking us about an end-of-year press conference by the SecretaryGeneral. That has now been scheduled for 21 December, two weeks from tomorrow, at 10:30
in the morning right here in this room.
That’s it from me. Any questions?
**Questions and Answers
Question: Anything on the interviews in Vienna?
Spokesman: No, we have no information on the interviews.
Question: Again, on the mass graves?
Spokesman: No, nothing aside from what we said yesterday.
Question: On the extension of the mandate?
45
Spokesman: On the extension of the mandate, I know you had asked, or someone had
asked yesterday, about a letter from the Lebanese Government. The Secretary-General this
morning was shown a letter from the Prime Minister of Lebanon, in which the Prime Minister
asked that the Council extend the Mehlis independent inquiry by a further six months. The
Secretary-General will now forward that request, that letter, to the Security Council for action.
Question: On the investigation in Vienna, I know you don’t have any information on
that, but I have a question. Who paid for the trip to Vienna and for the accommodations of the
Syrians in Vienna? Did the Syrian Government pay, or did the United Nations pay for that?
Spokesman: That’s a legitimate question. I’ll try to get you an answer for that. [He
later informed the journalist that the Syrians paid for their travel and all other expenses.]
Question: On the Perelli case. Everyone is asking, why now? Why couldn’t the United
Nations have waited a week until these elections were over? My question was, was she
engaged in supervising, organizing or working on the elections right up until today?
Spokesman: No. Mr. Craig Jennessof Canada has been on the ground as the lead
United Nations electoral officer in Iraq since 23 October. He had a hand-over period with
Carina while they were in Baghdad. Mr. Jenness leads our effort. He has a team of about 24
international electoral workers, and he is leading. He is the lead person for the United Nations
on the Iraqi elections.
Question: I’m told that Mannet also investigated (inaudible) two or three years ago at
the urging of the Secretariat -- Stephanides and his operation. First of all, can you confirm it?
Secondly, is there any pattern here of using Mannet as a political tool inside the United
Nations?
Spokesman: First off, I’m not aware of any other investigation by Mannet. But you
have to be aware that the decision to dismiss Ms. Perelli was based on the work, the
investigation, conducted by the office of human resources. It is not based on Mannet.
Following the Mannet report, which was forwarded to the head of the political affairs
department at the time, there were a number of issues that came up, including the issue of
harassment and sexual harassment. The head of political affairs then asked the human resources
department to start an investigation and they did just that. What you see today is the result of
the work of the human resources department.
Question: The human resources report, wasn’t it based entirely on the Mannet findings,
I mean the critical findings?
Spokesman: I think the way to put it is that Mannet flagged some issues, but human
resources interviewed dozens of people; did not rely on information that may have been
collected by the Mannet survey. Again, the result of what you see today is based on the work of
the United Nations human resources department.
Question: Did human resources interview Perelli in the course of their investigation?
Spokesman: They interviewed all sorts of people, dozens of people. She was made
aware, she’s been made aware, of all the charges against her. She’s had a number of
opportunities to respond to those charges.
Question: Did she respond? What form was that opportunity? I mean, was an
interview conducted?
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Spokesman: There were a number of written exchanges between her and human
resources. But she was given the written allegations of misconduct, all the relevant
documentation, and she was given a chance to respond.
Question: Did she respond?
Spokesman: You’d have to ask her about most of the details of her response. I don’t
want to go from here into the details of the response since the case will most likely be appealed.
Question: Just a follow-up on that. Are you concerned that there may have been any
violation of disciplinary procedures on this case, given the fact that, you know, when we talked
to her in the elevator going up for her meeting this morning, she said she still had absolutely no
information on what she was about to face outside of what she learned from the press?
Spokesman: As I said, she was given the written allegations of misconduct and all the
relevant documentation. The exact procedure to be followed was followed in this case.
Question: What does this mean for -- and we were told that there’s a zero tolerance
policy on sexual harassment claims -- what does this mean for other staff or senior managers
who currently face sexual harassment claims?
Spokesman: It’s that each case will be analyzed and assessed on its merit. Zero
tolerance means zero tolerance.
Question: So that’s how it is for Ruud Lubbers, for example?
Spokesman: I said each case is analyzed and assessed on its own merit. I think we have
a duty to act on these, when these allegations come up, in terms of the rest of the staff here at
the United Nations, people who feel they’re subjected to this kind of atmosphere.
Question: I just want it to be made clear. All the questions have been asked. How
many inquiries took place in the case of Ms. Perelli? There was one in May, and there was one,
I believe, during December, and then there was a third one now?
Spokesman: There was the Mannet study asked for by the Department of Political
Affairs, and then the Office of Human Resources Management investigation. The first charge
letter was sent to her in August informing of the conclusion of that investigation.
Question: So it finally ended in August? The last inquiry ended in August?
Spokesman: That’s correct. From August until now has just really been a back and
forth with her on administrative issues and on the investigation.
Question: Since yesterday you said that until the papers were served you weren’t going
to comment on the merits of the case, could you specify -- now that you’ve fired the most senior
political, I mean, electoral official -- can you specify what exactly are the charges that led to
that, and how many cases of sexual harassment and what their veracity is?
Spokesman: The veracity we obviously feel very strongly about; otherwise we wouldn’t
have gone ahead with the case. They include allegations of harassment, including sexual
harassment and abuse of authority. That’s as far as I can go at this point.
Question: Speaking of those allegations, what’s the status of the Dileep Nair
investigation?
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Spokesman: There’s nothing more than what I’ve told you, I think, 10 days ago. It’s
my understanding that Mr. Ackerman is still going on with his work and he has not yet provided
us with an end-date for the end of his work. But I will check again as soon as this briefing is
over.
Question: With regard to Ms. Perelli, what discussions took place on whether it would
have been convenient to wait until after the Iraqi elections, and what was factored into the
decision not to wait?
Spokesman: What was factored in was that she was, you know, as I said, since 23
October she was no longer involved in the Iraqi elections. A letter was sent to her on 4 August.
There is usually about a two-week extension, a two-week response time for her to respond. She
was granted a number of extensions, because she was, in fact, on mission. She finally
responded on 17 November. But I think it needs to be re-stated that the United Nation’s work
in Iraq on the election and other issues continues unaffected.
Question: Steph, but there was a meeting reportedly between members of the political
department and Mark Malloch Brown in which he told them that the reason that she was... He
was asked why there’s a double standard on Stephanides being fired summarily and nothing
happens to Perelli. He said Perelli was indispensable, and her work in Iraq -- nobody else was
willing to do that kind of work. You can’t say, based on that, that there was no political
consideration involved here.
Spokesman: The case was examined on its own merit. The Secretary-General made the
decision to dismiss her, which is a pretty serious decision, based on the merits of the case.
Question: That doesn’t seem so from what Mark Malloch Brown said.
Spokesman: You know, she has now been separated from service, and as I said, our
work in Iraq since 23 October has been led by Mr. Jenness and he is the lead United Nations
person on the Iraq work.
Question: On a somewhat separate issue: the General Assembly is getting ready to pass
a resolution that declares 2008 the International Year of the Potato. Noting that the potato is a
staple food in the diet of the world’s populations, I’m wondering how much the United Nations
is planning to spend on focusing world attention on the role that the potato can play in providing
food security?
Spokesman: I would encourage you to ask the questions of the Member States as to
what lies behind this resolution and how much money they expect us to spend on it.
Question: Small potatoes.
Spokesman: (no response)
Question: Turning back, Stéphane, to the Perelli case. Considering the severity of the
charges now being brought against Ms. Perelli, didn’t, in hindsight, the Secretariat, the
Secretary-General, commit a mistake by sending her, while she was being investigated, to such
sensitive missions as she went on -- Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan? How do you explain that?
Spokesman: I think one has to wait for the conclusions of the investigation and for her
to have a chance to respond.
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Question: But wouldn’t the normal course of action have been to suspend her while she
was being investigated?
Spokesman: Each case, as I’ve said, is analyzed and assessed on its own merit.
Question: You’re not answering my question. Is it the normal course of action to send
someone who is being investigated, on such serious charges as you say, to go on such sensitive
missions as she did?
Spokesman: The decision at the time to send her was the one that we had to take.
Question: “Separated from service” means that she’s no longer being paid by the United
Nations?
Spokesman: That’s right. Her service with the United Nations ends effective today.
She is no longer permitted to come into the building unless she makes an appointment for
affairs having to do with a potential appeal to her case.
Question: Just a follow-up on that.
Spokesman: On the potato?
Question: Sorry, on Perelli. She says that her locks were changed last week and her email account was frozen.
Spokesman: I was assured that her locks were changed, in fact, this morning.
Question: We wrote the story yesterday. Is it standard procedure for them to change the
locks before they announce that she was fired?
Spokesman: As I said, I was told that the locks were changed this morning.
Question: Totally off the subject: What is the status of the United Nations Office of the
Special Envoy for Children and Armed Conflict? This was an office in flux. Have you decided
to keep it or leave it?
Spokesman: I have no update, except to say that it continues to be headed by Ms. Karin
Sham Poo, and if there’s anything to add I’ll let you know after the briefing.
[It was later announced that the officer in charge is Carolina Owens.]
Question: On the potato again, can you tell us which Member States were behind that?
Spokesman: I would urge you to canvass all one hundred and ninety-one.
Question: Can you update us on the United Nations budget negotiations going on at the
Secretariat?
Spokesman: We will try to get you an update on those discussions.
Question: Do you have any updates on the possibility of a visit by United Nations
expertsto China and Russia on the chemical spills?
Spokesman: No, I do not. But we will get you something right after the briefing.
Mr. Burnham, you’re most welcome to join us.
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