Posted on 24 November
2010
Gland, Switzerland: Influential
emerging economies are also emerging with
the leading plans to cut carbon emissions
causing climate change, according to a WWF
study issued today.
Issued as country delegates
head to the UN climate conference at Cancun,
Mexico, Emerging Economies – How the developing
world is starting a new era of climate change
leadership examines emissions trends and
climate action plans for five of the world’s
largest developing economies - Brazil, China,
India, Mexico and South Africa.
It finds that overall
these key emerging economies are acting
with greater determination, ambition and
energy than several countries in the developed
world. But emerging economies could also
do more to stave off the worst potential
impacts of climate change and the report
outlines for each country what the next
moves could be.
“The race to grow clean
technology markets and embrace a low-carbon
future is well underway in some of the world’s
largest emerging economies,” said Gordon
Shepherd, leader of WWF’s Global Climate
Initiative.
“These countries now
have the opportunity to build on their strong
initiatives domestically to show international
leadership under the UN climate process.
“Brazil, South Africa,
China, India and Mexico are strongly placed
at Cancun to push for action on innovative
sources of public financing and a legally
binding climate agreement under the UNFCCC”
said Shepherd.
The WWF analysis shows
that all five economies have reasonably
strong renewable energy standards and emissions
reduction plans, laying the basis for further
action that will be needed in the future.
Mexico is integrating
its climate change mitigation and adaptation
plans and has committed to reduce emissions
by 50% by 2050 compared to 2000 levels.
China is changing its
energy mix and has committed to offering
at least 15% of all energy from renewable
sources by 2020, while emerging as the world’s
largest manufacturer of renewable energy
products in 2009. . This is all part of
securing the 20% reduction in energy intensity
by 2010 compared to 2005 levels that China
pledged last year at the Copenhagen UN climate
summit.
Meanwhile, South Africa
is pursuing a consistent economy-wide approach
to low carbon development planning, working
towards achieving around 34% reduction by
2020 especially commendable given its very
high dependence on coal.
Brazil has reduced deforestation
by 56% since 2004 and has set a 2017 target
for further reductions to 70% below the
average rate between 1995 and 2006.
India is making progress
on solar and wind energy development under
its national action plan on climate change
and may exceed its target of adding 10%
renewable energy power by 2012.
“These countries should
push forward to achieve all they have committed
to nationally and by these actions encourage
and help move those who are still lagging
behind in the renewable energy race,” said
Shepherd.
The report also demonstrates
that collective action is essential from
all emitting countries in order to address
the threats from historic, current and future
green house gas emissions.
“Given the competing
challenges of reducing poverty levels and
investing in development, it is encouraging
that these emerging economies have committed
to reversing the rising trend in emissions
and are pursuing low-carbon development
pathways.”
“We believe these actions
should increased cooperation between progressive
developed countries such as the EU and emerging
economies that could give the UN climate
negotiations a new dynamic,” said Shepherd.
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Timor oil spill inquiry
cites company shortcomings and negligent
regulator
Posted on 25 November
2010
Sydney, Australia: A long-awaited report
into the August 2009 oilspill which widely
affected marine and bird life in the Timor
Sea has condemned “widespread and systematic”
shortcomings by the company constructing
and operating the well.
WWF-Australia, which
played a significant role in publicising
the impact of the remote spill, has welcomed
the report, calling for the Federal Government
“to get serious about protecting Australia’s
oceans and coasts” with “a network of marine
sanctuaries that prevent drilling for oil
and gas in the most environmentally sensitive
areas”.
The report, completed
during early stages of the catastrophic
Gulf of Mexico explosion and oil spill but
not handed down to the Australian Parliament
until this week, was also highly critical
of the Northern Territory Department of
Resources, saying it “was not a diligent
regulator and its minimalist approach to
its regulatory responsiblilties gave it
little chance of discovering these poor
(company) practices."
Initial undersea cementing
problems on the exploration well were compounded
by only one of two planned secondary well
control barriers being installed, the report
found.
The blowout took 73
days to kill. The inquiry was told the oil
from the blowout covered 90,000 kilometres
of sea and reef – much more than the area
admitted to during the spill.
“When WWF visited the
toxic spill last year, it was evident dolphins
and sea birds were swimming
through a noxious mix of oil and chemical
dispersants,” said Dr Gilly Llewellyn, WWF-Australia’s
Conservation Manager.
“This kind of environmental
disaster is unacceptable. Montara and the
Gulf of Mexico spill have
shown the worse case scenario can and does
happen.”
WWF has welcomed the
Government’s decision to accept public comments
on its draft response of tightening regulatory
oversight and better monitoring the impacts
of spills on wildlife.
Payback time for fleets
stealing tuna from oceans
Posted on 25 November
2010
Paris, France: Countries which exceed fishing
quotas on the rare East Atlantic tuna species
should pay for their illegal activity, an
issue that has been key in bringing the
species to the brink of collapse, WWF said.
European fleets, particularly
from France, have massively overfished the
tuna species by up to 100 per cent for years.
Yet they repeatedly
managed to obtain amnesty on the “payback
rules” from the International Commission
for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)
meaning their quotas to catch tuna were
not accordingly reduced in the following
years as set out in ICCAT’s own rules.
“It is astonishing that
some countries seem to be allowed to operate
above any rules and regulations,” Sergi
Tudela, Head of WWF’s Fisheries Programme,
said in Paris on the sidelines of ICCAT’s
annual meeting.
The goals of the meeting
include the enforcement of existing rules
that oblige countries to respect the fishing
quotas on tuna.
“In order to maintain
its credibility ICCAT has to enforce its
rules and oblige fishing countries to pay
back what they have effectively stolen,”
Tudela said.
“Allowing European fleets
to overfish without any consequences is
an embarrassment for ICCAT and its members,
especially at a time when the EU is meant
to be reforming its fisheries policy,” he
said.
In 2005 and 2006 EU
fleets overshot their legal bluefin tuna
quotas by 2,269.3 tonnes and 865.5 tonnes
respectively. According to ICCAT rules they
should have been subject to a 100 per cent
payback. After obtaining an amnesty on this
overfishing from ICCAT the fleets again
overshot the quota by 5,021 tonnes in 2007.
ICCAT has failed for
years to implement sustainable recovery
and management for this fishery in the Mediterranean
Sea, but poor compliance has only made the
situation worse.
Like other species of
bluefin tuna, the eastern Atlantic bluefin
has flesh whose taste and bright red colour
are admired by sushi lovers across the world.
And like other bluefin
tuna species, it is also on the brink of
collapse.
WWF is calling on governments
to end rule-bending and impunity for illegal
fishing. The global conservation group is
urging the inter-governmental ICCAT to implement
a science-based management plan that will
allow the Atlantic bluefin tuna to recover.
Specifically, WWF is
urging ICCAT to cut bluefin tuna catches
in the Mediterranean from 13,500 tonnes
per year at present to less than 6,000 tonnes,
and to allocate the remaining catch to artisanal
fishing fleets.
Destructive industrial
purse seine fleets and fattening farms in
the Mediterranean must be urgently phased
out.
No-fishing sanctuaries
should be established in the species’ six
known spawning grounds in the Mediterranean
Sea.
+ More
From Estonia to Poland
– one of Europe’s largest predators relocated
for survival
Posted on 26 November
2010
Warsaw – WWF plans to introduce lynx from
Estonia into the Polish forests of Piska
and Napiwodzko-Ramuckie in order to combat
the declining population in the country.
The first felines should be relocated by
February 2011.
Bobcat numbers have
been decreasing dramatically in Poland in
the past 20 years resulting in the listing
of the species, mainly threatened by hunting
and habitat loss, in the Polish red Book
of Animals in 1995.
‘The lynx’s survival
is at stake in Poland. With the transfer
of animals from Estonia, we hope to repopulate
the forests and prevent the species from
extinction in the country’ said Pawel Sredzinski,
leader of the WWF Poland Lynx Campaign.
Lynx population in Poland
have benefitted from a ban prohibiting hunting
passed in 1995.
In Estonia, it is estimated
that over a hundred animals are hunted annually.
The situation of Estonian lynx’s population
is stable.
WWF started raising
funds to pay for the transfers. The cost
of relocating just one lynx is 10’000 Zloty,
almost eight times more than the country’s
minimum wage.
There are currently
only 200 lynx in Poland. Most of them live
in the Polish Carpathians but an estimated
60 felines live in the Piska and Napiwodzko-Ramuckich
forests where the Estonia bobcats will be
introduced.
