Posted on 22 September
2009 - La Paz, Bolivia: Celebrations here
yesterday marked the recognition of an area
of southern Bolivia as
a Wetland of international Importance (or
Ramsar Site), the largest declared in South
America’s 7,000 km long Andes Mountains
chain.
The Los Lipez wetlands
complex encompasses 23 high altitude lakes
and lagoons as well as geothermal springs
and flooded grasslands, known as "bofedales",
which are unique to the southern Andes.
It is located in the southern tip of Bolivia,
and neighboring Chile and Argentina.
At 1.4 million hectares
or about one third of the size of Switzerland,
the new Los Lipez protected wetland is also
more than 25 times the size of the Laguna
Colorada, Bolivia’s first Ramsar Site, which
was designated in 1991. Laguna Colorada,
one of most visited protected areas in the
country, is now included within the new
reserve.
Bolivia’s new Ramsar
Site is important for the conservation of
South American flamingo species ranging
over Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru.
In good years, Los Lipez provides nesting
during the summer for over 60% of the total
population of the rare James Flamingo, and
also hosts nearly 30% of the total population
of Andean Flamingos.
Significant archeology
Archeological investigations show hunter
gatherer presence in the area from 6500
BC and also vestiges of the Inca conquest
in the 1400s. It has historically been a
centre of salt extraction as well as of
quinoa and potato cultivation, with the
bofedales providing prime sites for breeding
of llama, alpaca and vicuna.
Bolivia is currently
hosting the 6th annual meeting of the Regional
Initiative for the Conservation of High
Andean Wetlands, attended by delegates from
Andean Countries and Costa Rica, and by
representatives of NGOs including WWF, IUCN,
Wetlands International and Birdlife International.
Juan Pablo Ramos, Bolivian
Vice-Minister for Environment, Biodiversity
and Climate Change, received the Ramsar
Certificate for the designation of Los Lipez
from Maria Rivera, Ramsar Regional Advisor
for the Americas, at the opening of the
meeting in La Paz.
Denis Landenbergue,
WWF International Freshwater Programme,
said “the protection of Los Lipez is also
important due to its location in an arid
mountain region which is very exposed to
the effects of climate change”.
The International Convention
on Wetlands, or Ramsar Convention, was the
first of the modern global intergovernmental
treaties on the conservation and sustainable
use of natural resources. It was signed
in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, and has now 159
contracting parties.
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Green Economy Coalition
urges G20 to match rhetoric with action
Posted on 22 September
2009 - Gland, Switzerland: An environmental
coalition made up of research organizations,
private businesses, trade unions, and environmental
organizations is calling on G20 nations
to accelerate the transition to a green
economy and to ensure a visionary global
climate deal.
In open letter published
today, The Green Economy Coalition, hosted
by the International Institute for Environment
and Development, warns that G20 nations
are failing to match their rhetoric with
action, are delaying the transition to sustainable
development and are promoting climate change
through their subsidies for fossil fuel
production and consumption.
It calls on G20 nations
to honour aid commitments and provide new
funds to enable developing nations to shift
to sustainable development pathways.
“We support the progress
that has been made in stimulating a low
carbon economy through investments in a
range of initiatives such as improved rail
transportation, water infrastructure, grid
expansion and improved building efficiency,”
the letter states. “However, in many cases
there remain large gaps between government
declarations and practice.”
“Many G20 members have
not included sufficient green investments
in their overall stimulus packages, and
the effectiveness of the green stimulus
risks being compromised by delays in the
allocation of funds. At the end of the first
half of 2009, only around 3% of committed
green funds had been disbursed.”
Signatories include
the heads of WWF International, UN Environment
Programme’s (UNEP) Green Economy Initiative,
Consumers International, International Trade
Union Confederation, the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI), International Union for
the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Global
Reporting Initiative, Ecologic Institute,
Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD,
Bellagio Forum for Sustainable Development,
IISD-Europe, the Inspire Foundation for
Business and Society, and the Centre for
Human Ecology.
The Green Economy Coalition
focuses on the policy changes needed to
transform the global economy into one that
is clean, green and equitable.
