28 August to 01 September 2006
- Green Team Climbs Aboard South Africa’s World
Cup Transport Plan
GEF-Backed Project to Pilot Greenhouse Gas Emission
Cuts during Countdown to 2010 Tournament and Beyond
Cape Town/Washington, 28 August
2006 - An ambitious plan to boost public transport
in the run up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup is to
get a helping hand from the Global Environment
Facility (GEF) and the United Nations it was announced
today.
The Government of South Africa
has embarked on a multi-million dollar initiative—the
Public Transport Infrastructure Fund-- to upgrade
bus and rail services in time for the opening
whistle in four years time.
The initiative aims to deliver
mass transit alternatives to car commuting. It
is designed to leave a lasting legacy that will
modernize urban travel for millions of people
well after the final whistle blows and the tournament
has come and gone.
Today Monique Barbut, Chief
Executive Officer of the GEF that this week is
holding its Third Assembly in Cape Town, announced
$11 million-worth of support designed to bring
even greater environmental benefits to the government-led
plan.
The backing will help pilot
three projects in three of the nine South African
World Cup cities. Two are aimed at developing
sustainable transport alternatives that deliver
important cuts in greenhouse gases and thus play
their part in reducing risks from global climate
change.
The third will demonstrate the
benefits of alternative fuels and technologies
like bio-diesel, bio-ethanol and fuel cells.
Ms Barbut, whose organization
manages a $3 billion fund that provides the biggest
source of environment grants to developing countries,
said: “Well designed, well run, and sensibly planned
public transport can play a key role on cutting
climate change emissions. It can also help to
improve local air quality and bridge social and
economic divides”.
“We share the South African
Government’s aspirations on this score and agree
that the 2010 FIFA World Cup represents a great
opportunity to lay out a 21st century, sustainable
transport, network that will have impacts in 2010
and for many years to come,” she added.
The initiative, which is being
implemented by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), has also won the support of
two of the biggest names in football.
In a joint statement (see notes
to editors), Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima of Brazil
and Zinedine Zidane of France, said: “Sub-standard
public transport perpetuates poverty, generates
health-threatening polluted air and contributes
to climate change, which affects everyone, everywhere.
We both have experience of this as we were both
brought up in communities where poor quality public
transport was all too sadly the norm.”
The players, both UNDP Goodwill
Ambassadors, said the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany,
had been a “defining moment” in the greening of
the World Cup.
“So we are delighted that an
initiative, launched today with funding from the
GEF, is underway to carry this green trophy forward
in South Africa. We hope the project will play
its part in making the next FIFA World Cup a healthier,
more enjoyable and more inclusive event while
acting asa catalyst for the development of 21st
century public transport across Africa and the
developing world,” they said.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and Executive Director of the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP), said:” Preliminary results indicate
that the Green Goal in Germany, in which UNEP
was involved, led to some 70 per cent of fans
taking public transport or using alternative modes
such as cycling or walking to get to and from
matches”.
“There were also significant
achievements in areas such as energy savings,
rainwater harvesting and waste minimization at
stadia. Overall the Green Goal demonstrated that
mass audience participation events can be entertaining
and can also leave a positive and lasting environmental
and economic legacy. UNEP and its 2006 partners
stand ready to assist the government, cities and
Local Organizing Committee to score further green
goals in South Africa in 2010,” he added.
The World Bank will also underscore
the wider economic benefits of sustainable public
transport initiatives this week at the Assembly
in a new report.
In Mexico City, where GEF projects
are supporting Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) schemes
alongside cycle-ways and new traffic measures,
a 10 per cent cut in transport-related smog and
fine air particles is expected to achieve average
annual benefits of over $1000 million.
Under a second scenario (see
notes to editors 1) the overall average health
and environmental benefits could be even higher
at some $2 billion annually.
The Marikina bikeway project,
which is focusing on safe cycle ways in Manila,
Philippines, plans to double the share of pedal
power journeys by 2015.
It is estimated that for every
dollar of the around $2 million invested, there
will be a two dollar return in health and wider
environmental benefits.
Such projects are also helping
to boost the incomes of local, often poor, people
according to the new analysis.
The World Bank’s report highlights
Peru: “Analysis of the Lima project shows that
use of bicycles twice a day results in per capita
savings of up to $7.60 per month”. (please see
notes to editors 2 )
The amount of money saved is equivalent to just
under 10 per cent of a Lima resident’s monthly
energy bill.
The new GEF-project in South
Africa, called Sustainable Public Transport and
Sport: An Eco-friendly Vision is expected to announce
the location of the three pilots in 30 days time.
Over recent weeks consultants, funded by the GEF,
have been holding talks with planners and transport
officials at the nine cities staging matches in
2010.
The talks have been aimed at
pinpointing cities where the GEF-funded initiative
can make the maximum impact in terms of cutting
greenhouse gas emissions.
A range of options, based on
the experience of mass and rapid transport projects
completed or underway in other parts of the world,
are on the table.
These include so called Bus
Rapid Transport (BRT) systems in which dedicated
bus lanes are constructed. In Bogota, Colombia,
a BRT system installed there is now moving 40,000
passengers an hour via dedicated bus lanes or
corridors.
Feeder routes, in which conventional
bus networks link low income communities to the
rapid bus corridors, may also be part of the South
African plan.
Other features of similar projects
include the installation of raised platforms and
buses with two doors so that passengers can board
and alight in a couple of seconds.
Pre-paid tickets also speed
the process. In Jakarta, Indonesia, where another
GEF-supported transport project is underway, there
are plans to provide up to the minute time table
and other bus information on passengers’ mobile
phones using the text messaging system.
One of the South African pilots,
possibly in one of the smaller venue cities, is
likely to demonstrate how well-designed cycle
ways and pedestrian routes feeding into the bus
network can offer a rapid and attractive travel
alternative to the private car.
Notes to Editors
1. Scenario 1: a 10% reduction in ozone and PM10
is estimated to yield an average annual health
and environment benefit of $759 million (with
an upper limit of $1607 million and a lower limit
of $154 million).
Scenario 2: compliance with the Air Quality Standard
1 - AQS1 (50 mg/m3 for PM10 and 0.11 ppm 1-hour
maximum for ozone) is expected to result in an
estimated annual health and environment benefit
of $2 billion (with an upper limit of $ 4 billion
and a lower limit of $ 400 million).
2. Taking into account the prevailing bus fares
and average per capita income in Lima, Peru, the
use of bicycle twice a day is expected to result
in the saving on bus fares of approximately US
$ 7.6 per month (i.e., about 9% of the average
per capita income). This amount is equivalent
to what the households spend on the energy bill.
The 2006 FIFA World Cup-Green Goal 2006 is at
greengoal.fifaworldcup.yahoo.net/en/home/
The Global Environment Facility (GEF), established
in 1991, helps developing countries fund projects
and programs that protect the global environment.
GEF grants support projects related to biodiversity,
climate change, international waters, land degradation,
the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants
www.thegef.org
Details of the GEF Assembly are available at http://www.thegef.org/assembly
The three implementing agencies of the GEF are:-
The World Bank www.worldbank.org United Nations
Development Programme www.undp.org
United Nations Environment Programme www.unep.org
