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Caribbean Public Health Authority on Track for Launch in 2010
By Keith R | September 30, 2009 @ 10:34 pm |
Topics: Health Issues | No Comments »
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From the Caribbean Community (CARICOM):
REGION GEARS UP FOR HEALTH AUTHORITY IN 2010
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ministers of Health meeting in Washington DC, USA at their 18th Caucus fully endorsed the time table for the establishment of the Caribbean Public Health Authority (CARPHA) in 2010.
Among the actions leading up to the start up of CARPHA are the completion of the costing of the functions, infrastructure and staffing, the establishing of a marketing strategy spearheaded by United Kingdom Public Health specialists in collaboration with specialists from the Region, and planning for a Donors meeting coordinated by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).
Funding for the preliminary work has so far been provided by the Canadian Health Agency in Ottawa and PAHO, and the CARICOM Secretariat in tandem with the Caribbean Programme Coordination Office of PAHO in Barbados has been responsible for the administrative and logistic arrangements.
Speaking at the Ministerial Caucus, Hon. John Fabien, Minister of Health and Environment, Commonwealth of Dominica, and Chair of the Council of Human and Social Development (COHSOD), said, “this is one of the most ambitious yet necessary initiatives that would help the Region to best respond to its health needs by pooling its resources into a first rate public health facility that would strengthen the regional capabilities to respond to emergencies and to engage in preventive action.”
It was agreed that CARPHA will merge the public health functions previously carried out separately by the Caribbean Epidemiological Centre (CAREC), the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI), the Caribbean Health Research Centre (CHRC), the Caribbean Regional Drug Testing Laboratory (CRDTL) and the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI).
By agreement of COHSOD and the approval of CARICOM Heads of Government in July 2009, the main campus of CARPHA will be located in Trinidad and Tobago.
Chairman of the CARPHA Steering Committee, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, speaking after the Caucus meetings in Washington, D.C., commended Dr. Jerome Walcott, Project Manager, for what he described as “the spirit of cooperation among CARICOM Health Ministers and technical officers and the donors, which” he stated, “augurs well for setting the stage toward the accomplishment of the objectives to implement CARPHA by 2010.”
More Brazilian States Opt for Smoke-Free Environments
By Keith R | September 29, 2009 @ 11:18 pm |
Topics: Tobacco Control | No Comments »
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The push for smoke-free environments continues to march across Brazilian states — how long before federal legislators decide to extend such protections nationwide?
Today the governors of the southern state of Paraná (PR) and the western state of Amazonas (AM) signed new tobacco control laws, joining Ceará (CE), Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and São Paulo (SP) in restricting smoking in public places. Both new laws have similar definitions of which places smoking should be banned, and both, as in the case of RJ and SP, charge those generally responsible for these places (employer, owner, manager, operator, etc.) with enforcing the ban and subject them to fines if they are found not doing so. If they view an employee, user or consumer violating the Law, and if they refuse to comply, retire them from the premises, if necessary with the help of police force.
Two interesting differences: the AM law includes electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) [even though the federal government just banned their sale and promotion], and the PR law also bans smoking in vehicles in which there are children or pregnant women present. Another difference: the PR law simply references the sanctions in existing federal health law, while AM specifies a range of fines, depending on severity and whether the violator is a repeat offender, of R$1,000-50,000 without prejudice to federal health sanctions (in other words, both can be used).
Both laws ban smoking of any product (whether derived from tobacco or not) in “environments of collective use, whether public or private” if partially or totally enclosed, wherever people stay or circulate. Both laws say that this explicitly covers workplaces, culture environments, leisure environments, religious environments, sport or training environments, common areas in condominiums, nightclubs, theaters, cinemas, bars, luncheonettes, boats, restaurants, food courts, hotels, inns, shopping centers/malls, banks, supermarkets, butcher shops, bakeries, pharmacies, government offices, health institutions, schools or study environments, museums, libraries, exhibition spaces, public or private collective transport (including planes and ferries), official cars and all types of taxis.
A WEEE Bill for Amazonas
By Keith R | September 26, 2009 @ 4:36 pm |
Topics: Electronic/Electrical Equipment, Waste & Recycling | No Comments »
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This week Amazonas (AM) became the latest state in which a bill on “technological trash” (lixo tecnologico or e-lixo) – the Brazilians nickname for what is known elsewhere as WEEE or e-waste — has been introduced. Unlike bills recently introduced in the northeastern states of Bahia and Pernambuco, which are based primarily on a Law on computer-related waste passed in 2008 in the southern state of Paraná, the AM bill instead appears to copy the WEEE law adopted in June by São Paulo (SP).
As with the SP law, the AM bill primarily targets computer components and peripherals, monitors and televisions, energy accumulators (batteries and piles), and magnetized products. It imposes nearly identical extended producer responsibility (EPR), collection, reuse/recycling and labeling obligations to the SP law, so I will not repeat them all here — instead please check out the post about the SP law.
The AM bill is notable not only because it mimics SP’s law, or because it is the first state-level WEEE bill among Brazil’s western states, and as such if passed, it likely will influence neighboring states on this topic. The bill is also notable because AM is a very important production center for electronics in Brazil, particularly in the Manaus Free Zone (Zona Franca de Manaus – ZFM) next to the state capital. As such, theoretically AM could be better placed to handle recycling of electro-electronic equipment (EEE) and components than most Brazilian states, particularly in the Manuas metropolitan area (beyond this area the limitations of the state’s transport infrastructure might impede collection/recycling efforts). This may explain why a bill on computer waste (based on the law recently adopted by the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro) also has been proposed in the Manaus city council.
A Global Initiative on Efficient Lighting
By Keith R | September 26, 2009 @ 2:32 pm |
Topics: Climate Change, Electronic/Electrical Equipment, Energy Efficiency | No Comments »
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From the Global Environment Facility (GEF):
Lighting Up the Climate Change Challenge
A new global initiative to accelerate the uptake of low energy light bulbs and efficient lighting systems was launched today by the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The close to $20 million initiative, the Global Market Transformation for Efficient Lighting Platform that will be implemented in collaboration with the private sector companies OSRAM and Philips, is aimed at reducing the bills of electricity consumers in developing economies while delivering cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases. It is also aimed at replacing fuel-based lighting systems, such as kerosene, that is linked with health-hazardous indoor air pollution.
Globally, 70% of total lighting market sales are still made up of inefficient incandescent lamps. A market shift, from incandescent lamps to energy-efficient alternatives, would cut the world’s electricity demand for lighting by an estimated 18%.
A recent report by US Global Industry Analysts Inc indicates that by 2010, the industrial, commercial, residential, and public lighting market will exceed 94 USD billion with a large part of the growth in developing economies.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: “In many ways the way we light our homes and buildings is akin to still driving around in steam-powered cars or communicating by telegram”.
“This new project aims to accelerate growing national initiatives to replace old bulbs into a global one by overcoming market barriers in developing economies and by setting international energy and performance standards in order to build consumer confidence. In terms of climate change, this is among the lowest of low hanging fruit. Eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are linked with lighting—this project can by 2014 make a big dent in these while saving people money too,” he added.
“This is the time to move forward with a concerted and synergetic approach that truly transforms this market in both the developed and developing world. That’s why we are launching this global initiative to bring the major global players together to phase-out inefficient lighting once and for all,” said Monique Barbut, CEO and Chairperson, the Global Environment Facility.
Using current economic and energy efficiency trends, it is projected that global demand for artificial light will be 80% higher by 2030 with a great deal of that linked to the construction and operation of new buildings in developing economies including China.
If lighting technologies and efficiencies do not improve, global lighting electricity demand will reach almost twice the output of all modern nuclear power plants amounting to 4,250 terawatt-hours (TWh), according to the GEF. Energy saving lights, known as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), are designed to replace incandescent lamps. Some 25% of the energy consumed by CFLs is converted to visible light, compared to only 5% for an incandescent lamp.
Up to 95% of the energy emitted by incandescent lamps is heat, and their efficiency is inherently low. Comparing the two types of lighting, incandescent bulbs last around 1,000 hours, which is significantly shorter than energy saving lamps, with life spans of 6,000 to 12,000 hours.
“There is growing momentum now, and a very aggressive timeline to address the emerging issues of climate change. We have learned a lot in Europe and the United States over the past few years, and need to apply that in the emerging marketplaces of developing countries,” said Kaj den Daas, CEO, Philips Lighting North America. “We have also made great innovative strides in addressing solutions where there is no access to the energy grid. With more than 1.6 billion people living without electricity today in developing areas, there is a growing need to deploy new products, and a growing desire amongst people to experience the benefits of being able to cook, eat, socialize, and for children to do their homework at night safely and conveniently, for the very first time.”
OSRAM representative Martin Goetzeler, CEO said: “Developing and promoting more efficient lighting products has always been part of OSRAM’s DNA. We not only encourage developing countries to partake in the economic benefits of efficient lighting, but we also feel responsible in supporting the implementation of a holistic approach to make light as environmentally friendly as possible and available to all social strata.”
He added: “The lever is enormous. Over 1/3 of the electricity used worldwide for lighting today could be saved. That corresponds to half the electricity consumption of China.”
In 2003, the provision of artificial light was estimated to require the equivalent of approximately 650 million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe), which was equivalent to 8.9% of total global primary energy consumption. Globally, lighting-related CO2 emissions are estimated at 1,900 million tons (Mt) of CO2, equivalent to approximately 8% of world emissions.
Several countries are now phasing-out incandescent light bulbs with Ireland, Australia, Argentina, and the Philippines set to achieve this goal in early 2010.
Recent legislation in the United States will phase out the least efficient lamps by 2014, starting with the phase out of the standard 100-Watt incandescent by 2012. The European Union is starting the process in 2009.
The new global project, which will include a centre of excellence of lighting, will build on and support further commercialization and market penetration among several developing countries that have already made efforts to promote the adoption of CFLs and to phase-out incandescent lamps—some with GEF support and the involvement of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
These include Cuba and Venezuela, which have begun installing energy efficient lighting and others such as China, Vietnam, Morocco, Bhutan, Mauritania, Cote d’Ivoire, and Jordan. At present China and Vietnam are already executing projects that were approved by the GEF; proposals for projects in other countries are under preparation and/or have been submitted to the GEF for approval. The platform will also coordinate and liaise with energy efficient lighting projects in other countries that are supported by other organizations.
Historically, the main barrier hampering the deployment of energy efficient lighting products was their high initial cost. When first launched in the early 1980s, CFLs were 20 to 30 times more expensive to produce than their incandescent equivalents. However, CFL costs have steadily declined through use and increased competition. They now retail for about four times the price of an incandescent lamp.
Consumers have traditionally been slow to come on board and according to some reports, were initially unimpressed by early models, disliking the look and functionality of these models.
Manufacturers are of the view that consumers need to understand how using energy saving bulbs will allow for long term cost savings, as well as be assured of the quality and reliability of new models, as well as the growing number of energy saving options that are and will become available.
One promising innovation is the development of solid state lighting (SSL). This technology is expected to achieve efficiencies at least ten times higher than incandescent lamps, and up to twice as high as fluorescent lamps.
Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps, besides not containing mercury, have other advantages such as a long life, a warm light color similar to incandescent lamps, low heat generation, and the ability to work with dimming switches in certain lamps.
Prospects for Jatropha-based Biodiesel in LAC
By Keith R | September 26, 2009 @ 7:45 am |
Topics: Biofuels | No Comments »
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From the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA):
Jatropha touted as “one of the best alternatives” for biodiesel production in the Americas
- Argentina, Brazil and Costa Rica discussed the generation of fuels from Jatropha curcas, also known as physic nut or piñoncillo.
According to Jamil Macedo, coordinator of a hemispheric agroenergy network, “Despite its limitations, the crop Jatropha curcas L. is one of the best alternatives for the production of biodiesel in the hemisphere.”
Macedo, who is also the Executive Director of the Cooperative Program for Agricultural Research, Development and Innovation in the South American Tropics (PROCITROPICOS), participated in the videoconference “Presentation of the Network for Research, Development and Innovation in Jatropha curcas L. for the Production of Biodiesel in Latin America and the Caribbean – LAC Jatropha Network” held on September 23.
Participating in the videoconference, organized by the Hemispheric Agroenergy and Biofuels Program of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), were representatives of technology and research centers, ministries of agriculture and the environment, universities, international organizations and businesses interested in the topic, in Argentina, Brazil and Costa Rica.
Orlando Vega, IICA Specialist in Agroenergy and Biofuels, explained that the videoconference provided an opportunity to address common problems and identify possible joint efforts in the areas of cooperation, technology integration, knowledge management and the sharing of experiences in the field.
In addition, the countries made presentations on their policy frameworks in the area of agroenergy and on experiences in the generation of biofuels from jatropha in the private sector and in research centers and institutions.
The LAC Jatropha Network is part of the PROCITROPICOS Agroenergy Network and its members are research institutions in Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
The objective of the Network is to promote the partial replacement of fossil fuels with renewable fuels from crops, specifically those derived from Jatropha curcas L. , also known as physic nut or piñoncillo.
According to Macedo, the use of jatropha in producing biodiesel has several benefits. Its seeds produce a very high-quality oil; it is a perennial crop (does not need to be replanted each year); it is highly adaptable; and since it is not a source of food, so it will not compete with food production activities.
In addition, the cultivation of jatropha is suitable for family agriculture, and since it can be grown in combination with other crops, farmers interested in this crop can produce energy and food on the same land.
Nonetheless, there are challenges that must be overcome. Jatropha is susceptible to many pests and diseases, there is a lack of knowledge regarding its cultivation and genetic diversity and, there is a need to develop non-toxic varieties.
Despite these limitations, he is convinced that Latin America has “an abundance of land and water for agricultural production, which makes it possible to produce food, fiber and energy in a sustainable and non-competitive manner, and that the cultivation of jatropha is one of the best alternatives for the production of biodiesel.”
In his opinion, it is necessary to invest more in research and development and promote regional cooperation in research to contribute to reducing the gap between countries and make the best use of the potential of the region.
The LAC Jatropha Network provides an opportunity to exchange scientific knowledge and promote the technological innovations required to make the production of jatropha viable,” he stated.
Improving State-Level Environmental Governance in Brazil / Melhorar Gestão Ambiental Estadual no Brasil
By Keith R | September 25, 2009 @ 6:35 pm |
Topics: Environmental Governance | No Comments »
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Temas Observation: Note how this loan/project is being marketed. The headline trumpets “green growth” when in reality the program is more about strengthening environmental governance/institutions, arguably not as sexy a topic. The Bank argues that this is about ensuring economic growth is as green as possible through good regulation by competent, properly-equipped environmental regulators…seems like they are trying a bit too hard to recast the loan’s purpose…
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From the World Bank:
Brazil: US$24.3 Million for Green Growth
- Facilitating policies for a sustainable economic recovery
While Brazil already is showing clear signs of economic recovery after suffering the impact of the global financial crisis, the World Bank approved yesterday a US$24.3 million loan for Phase II of the Second National Environmental Project (NEP) to support efforts to enhance the environment and sustain economic growth.
“Environmental concerns have become central to public policies in Brazil, and this project is a reflection of this,” said Carlos Minc, Brazil´s minister of environment. “The NEP II initiative has proven that it is possible to achieve important improvements to environmental management at all government levels, integrated with the social and economic sectors. In this new stage, the program will have a total budget of US$34.7 million, of which about US$17 million will help improve environmental licenses in the federal agencies (IBAMA, ANA and ICMBio) and state agencies, as part of the country’s sustainable development goals.”
Brazil has historically based its economy on its immense natural resources wealth. A significant part of its economy relies on the use of natural resources, whether as production inputs or as sinks for production waste. Despite the importance of its natural assets, growth in Brazil has often had negative environment impacts, such as water and air pollution in urban and industrial areas, loss or degradation of forests and ecosystems, and soil loss. These issues end up limiting the country´s future growth potential.
Phase 2 of NEP II will help states and the federal government to reduce some of the costs associated with environmental degradation and to promote an environmentally and socially sustainable growth pattern in Brazil.
“As the economy recovers from the crisis, the project will be especially important to help Brazil attain higher growth in a way that is sustainable in the long term,” said Makhtar Diop, World Bank Country Director for Brazil. “In the past few years, Brazil has demonstrated that growth and protection of key environmental concerns, such as the Amazon, is possible. This project is evidence of Brazil´s commitment to this development path.”
The new phase will consolidate the progress made in environmental capacity in key Brazilian institutions. It will enhance the environmental management capacity of environmental institutions at the federal, state and municipal levels and by demonstrating the effectiveness of targeted subprojects focused on priorities determined by States.
The project has three core components:
- Institutional Development, strengthening environmental licensing policies and procedures at the federal, state and municipal levels; environmental quality monitoring; and economic instruments for environmental management;
- Integrated Management of Environmental Assets providing an incentive to states to identify, rank and address some of their most pressing environmental challenges; and
- Coordination, Dialogue and Communication supporting a unit with the technical and administrative capacity needed to manage subprojects and activities at a decentralized level.
“Since 2002, the government´s environmental program has had four major pillars: decentralization, strengthening of the National Environmental System, social control and integrating environmental issues in all government actions,” said Adriana Moreira, Senior Environmental Specialist and World Bank Project Manager. “The first phase of the program contributed significantly to each one of these pillars, and NEP II is currently the main mechanism to strengthen the capacity at the local, state and Federal levels for environmental management including licensing.”
Phase 1 of the Second National Environmental Project was implemented from 2000 to 2006, with US$9 million. It achieved numerous results including:
- Twenty-five of the twenty-seven states identified environmental priorities to guide subprojects and interventions, and ten states had working water quality monitoring systems;
- Seven additional states (AC, CE, GO, MG, MT, PB and SC) had digital licensing systems, making the licensing process more transparent and efficient. This also transformed the licensing process into a tool for environmental management;
There were forty-three specific subprojects in 17 states, leading to improvements in decentralized environmental management.
Support for an Agreement on REDD
By Keith R | September 24, 2009 @ 8:39 pm |
Topics: Climate Change | No Comments »
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It’s interesting to see the high-level support expressed at the Summit on Climate Change by the Latin American nations of Colombia, Ecuador and Guyana for an internationally-agreed mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in the post-2012 climate change accord to be negotiated later this year in Copenhagen. However, conspicuous by their absence from such top-level expressions of support were the Brazilians, without whom it is doubtful a meaningful REDD agreement can be reached at Copenhagen.
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From the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
REDD: North-South Agreement for New Emissions Reduction Mechanism
- High level event on forests and climate change supports emissions reduction mechanism
In an unprecedented display of cooperation between developed and developing countries on climate change, eighteen Heads of State gathered at UN headquarters in New York to publicly express their commitment and support for REDD—Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing counties.
They asserted that the new climate change agreement to be negotiated in Copenhagen must address in an effective and equitable way the role of forests as a mitigation option.
Following the previous day’s Summit on Climate Change, and in advance of the critical Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen taking place this December, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened leaders and dignitaries from developed and developing countries to dialogue and publicly support REDD. After remarks by Secretary-General Ban, Presidents and Prime Ministers from Africa (Republic of Congo); Asia and the Pacific (Papua New Guinea); Latin America and the Caribbean (Guyana); industrialized countries (Australia, Norway, Sweden), and World Bank President Zoellick took the stand to support progress and actions on REDD. Statements by other high ranking officials included Bangladesh, Belgium, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Indonesia, Japan and the People’s Republic of China also underlined their commitment.
The event marked the largest gathering of countries to date on the issue of REDD, with the participation of over 80 countries and over 150 dignitaries and leaders from international and non-governmental organizations, academia, think tanks and the private sector from around the world concerned with climate change and forests.
“This convergence of world leaders highlights a positive, growing momentum in support of REDD and signals how this mechanism may be feasible from a technical, financial and collaboration perspective,” Secretary-General Ban said about the event. “While drastic reductions in fossil fuel-related emissions are crucial in addressing climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from forests and land use is pivotal to the overall equation.”
Participating developing countries expressed their willingness to undertake significant cuts in deforestation and forest degradation, provided that they receive sufficient financial support. Secretary-General Ban highlighted global emissions can be substantially reduced by preventing deforestation.
A report by the Informal Working Group on Interim Finance for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (IWG-IFR) estimates a 25 percent reduction in deforestation could be achieved with a financial commitment of 15-20 billion Euros ($22-29 billion) by 2015.
Deforestation and the degradation of forests are responsible for just under one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the world’s cars, trucks, ships and planes combined. In addition to storing over one trillion tons of the world’s carbon, forests provide for essential human needs, including adaptation. Yet under the current Kyoto Protocol, developing countries cannot receive credit for the social and environmental benefits their forests provide. The absence of rewards for maintaining forests means they continue to be cut, burnt and degraded. A REDD mechanism, that will be discussed during the climate change negotiations this December in Copenhagen, proposes to change the perverse incentives that make forests worth more dead than alive.
New Facility to Insure Renewable Energy Projects in Developing Countries
By Keith R | September 24, 2009 @ 8:04 pm |
Topics: Renewable Sources | No Comments »
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From the Global Environment Facility (GEF):
Innovative Renewable Energy Insurance Facility Introduced to Cover Risks in Developing Countries
RSA Insurance Group (RSA), and CarbonRe, with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), have launched an innovative mechanism for insuring renewable energy projects in developing countries. The global renewable energy insurance facility, which will be operated via the new internet website “insurance4renewables”, will offer standard and customized insurance solutions for renewable energy projects in developing countries.
Risk management and risk transfer are key components in the successful development of renewable energy projects. Without adequate insurance cover, the planning, construction and operation of mid- to large-scale renewable energy projects would not be viable. This initiative sends a strong message to the international community, who will be meeting at the end of the year in Copenhagen to agree on a crucial post-Kyoto climate change framework agreement. It shows that the right environment can be created to ensure growth and sustainability of renewable energy investments and that all countries can benefit from and contribute to the climate change mitigation efforts. Nearly one third of global investments in renewable energy projects are happening in developing countries. This share can grow at a faster pace if insurance solutions for renewable energy projects are made extensively available to developing countries in the same way as they have been made available in industrialized ones.
To address this need, RSA, Munich Re and CarbonRe have jointly launched “insurance4renewables”, a global renewable energy insurance facility that will be operated online at http//www.insurance4renewables.com. This innovative risk management approach was developed under the umbrella of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Both UNEP and GEF are seeking to raise investors’ awareness of risk mitigation solutions for renewable energy projects and build public-private partnerships to bring necessary standard and innovative risk mitigation tools to developing countries’ markets.
Insurance4renewables is intended to offer tailor-made products for renewable energy projects and to support the development of insurance solutions that meet the requirements of renewable energy projects operating in developing countries where often the lack of data provides a barrier to insurers who aim to underwrite a number of renewable energy risks. CarbonRe, an insurance broker specializing in clean energy projects, is the appointed broker for access to this unique facility. CarbonRe will work together with two leading global insurance groups. This network will offer outstanding expertise embracing a broad spectrum of technologies such as wind power, photovoltaics, solar thermal and biomass and biogas systems in every phase of construction and operation. Besides the traditional insurance products for construction, operation and transit, the facility will be offering on a case–by-case basis innovative covers such as carbon counterparty credit risk insurance, carbon all risk insurance, carbon delivery guarantee insurance/Kyoto Multi Risk Policy and lack-of-sun/wind insurance.
The partners in the initiative will continue to expand the website’s range of offerings as the demand for products and information grows.
Monique Barbut, Chief Executive Officer of the GEF said: “Creative market mechanisms are unleashing investment, innovation and furthering the penetration of wind and solar to geothermal and other clean tech energy systems. Insurance has an important role, especially as more developing countries climb on board the clean energy train. Thus I welcome this innovative insurance4renewables initiative as a part of the catalysts towards a sustainable 21st century.”
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, added: “Renewable energy is one of the key factors in the transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient green economy. Also a key to accelerating access to electricity for the two billion people without it.”
Peter Röder, member of Munich Re’s Board of Management: “The initiative shows yet again how public-private partnerships can give rise to something meaningful and how expertise creates value that benefits everyone. Munich Re has been drawing attention to the necessity of climate protection for a long time, and generating energy from renewable sources is an important part of this. With our know-how, we can offer customized insurance covers for such systems. That benefits the climate, the client and us as a company.”
“We recognize the importance of renewable energy in developing countries and are pleased to be able to provide insurance solutions that will better enable the achievement of their energy goals”, added Ken Norgrove, CEO of Renewable Energy, RSA.
Dirk P. Kohler, CEO of CarbonRe: “Risk management and risk transfer is key to the successful development of renewable (clean) energy projects, and insurance4renewables will provide the best available insurance and reinsurance services to boost projects in developing countries and emerging markets.”
IDB-GEF Grant to Help Haiti Fight Environmental Decay / Don de BID-FEM pour aider Haïti à lutter contre la dégradation de l’environnement
By Keith R | September 24, 2009 @ 7:11 pm |
Topics: Climate Change, Conservation, Sustainable Agriculture | No Comments »
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From the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB):
Haiti to combat environmental decay with IDB funds
- A $3.44 million grant will support sustainable land and forest management practices, improve preservation of Macaya Park
The Inter-American Development Bank on Sept. 23 approved a $3.44 million grant to help Haiti combat rapid environmental degradation through the integration of sustainable land and forest management practices.
The grant, financed by the IDB/Global Environment Facility (GEF), will support reforestation in key watersheds in the southwestern part of the country as well as implementation of a carbon stock and sequestration monitoring system to help prevent greenhouse gas emissions in the area, which is home to the 7,500-hectare Macaya Park.
Haiti has lost virtually all of its forests, and severe land erosion in this mountainous country intensifies during the hurricane season, undermining efforts to improve living conditions in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation. The project to be funded by the grant funds will be executed over four years and has four components:
- Component 1 will strengthen national watershed administration capacity based on a sustainable land and forest management (SLFM) approach and municipal capacity in land use planning. This will include measures to improve the management of Macaya Park in a joint effort between the Environment Ministry and local communes.
- Component 2 will support a program to adopt SLFM technologies to boost planters’ and breeders’ revenues. These measures are intended to build local capacity to protect soil and sequester carbon while favoring fruit and timber tree plantations and greater livestock productivity in the upper parts of the watersheds. This component will also help to restore 200 hectares of Macaya Park forests, solve land tenure conflicts, build small dams and water tanks, promote sheep breeding, and co-finance a coffee-washing center.
- Component 3 will use help to clarify the complex land tenure situation within and around the park and to proceed with its physical demarcation, a crucial measure for its effective protection and management.
- Component 4 will set aside $308,000 to monitor and help prevent GHG emissions and promote carbon sequestration in the area.
The IDB-GEF grant will complement a $30 million grant for Haiti that the IDB approved earlier this month to finance anti-flooding works in three critical watersheds and promote sustainable agriculture development.
A New Recycled Content Standard for Paper/Board in Brazil
By Keith R | September 23, 2009 @ 10:18 pm |
Topics: Waste & Recycling | No Comments »
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As more and more public administrations (municipal, state, federal) in Brazil mandate the procurement and use of recycled paper, whether by law or green procurement policy, the pulp and paper industry has seen the writing on the wall and asked Brazil’s technical strandards-setting body, the Brazilian Association of Technical Norms (ABNT), to formulate a Brazilian standard on what constitutes recycled content for paper and board. ABNT’s Brazilian Committee on Pulp and Paper (ABNT/CB-29) created in June 2008 a study commission on recycled paper.
After participation by 93 representatives of producers, consumers and others, ABNT has published norm “ABNT NBR 15755:2009 – Recycled paper and board – Content of Recycled Fiber – Specification.” That NBR designation indicates that it is a mandatory, not voluntary, norm. Under the norm in order to be called “recycled” in Brazil, paper or board must contain at least 50% recovered cellulose fiber (post-consumer and/or pre-consumer), and at least 25% of the total “recycled” product must use post-consumer material.