Mon, Nov 14, 2011
Up to 10,000 animal species are thought
to migrate. Yet, increasingly, air, water
and land routes are being destroyed by barriers
ranging from roads, fences, dams and power
lines to unsustainable hunting or
fishing practices, habitat degradation,
pollution and climate change.
By Achim Steiner and Erik Solheim
This article was first published by Project
Syndicate. For permission to reprint, please
contact distribution@project-syndicate.org
For the elephants that
are returning to southern Angola, after
herds were devastated during the country's
civil wars, the battle is far from over.
Old land mines, sown during the decades
of conflict that ended in 2002, are threatening
the lives and limbs not only of people,
but also of the growing elephant populations
that are crossing into Angola from northern
Botswana on ancient migration routes that
continue into Zambia. Mines are a particularly
stark example of how humans interfere with
migratory journeys that have linked breeding
and feeding sites across the globe for millennia.
Up to 10,000 animal
species are thought to migrate. Yet, increasingly,
air, water and land routes are being destroyed
by barriers ranging from roads, fences,
dams and power lines to unsustainable hunting
or fishing practices, habitat degradation,
pollution and climate change.
One example is the critically
endangered Irrawaddy dolphin, found in the
Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. Barriers
to its migration range from entrapment in
fishing nets to conditions caused by gold
mining and dam building.
Likewise, someone strolling
through Norway's Fennoscandia region in
the 1900s would have marveled at the abundance
of lesser white-fronted geese, which then
numbered in the thousands. Today, only 20
to 30 breeding pairs remain - the result,
according to the World Wide Fund for Nature,
of the drainage of wetlands in countries
such as Greece and of hunting along the
bird's migration routes.
In North America, one
of the world's fastest land animals, the
Pronghorn antelope, faces obstacles such
as highways and fencing. The harsh winter
last year left herds stranded and hungry,
blocked by fences while they burned up their
fat reserves searching for ways through.
Similarly, in South Africa, 12 percent of
blue cranes, South Africa's national bird,
and 30 percent of Ludwig's bustards are
dying annually in collisions with a growing
number of power lines.
Climate change is also
having a severe impact on the world's most
peripatetic animals. Migratory species,
from monarch butterflies to humpback whales,
are suffering as a result of shifts in temperature
and the disruption of the traditional timing,
abundance and location of food sources.
The trend looks bad.
However, some countries are taking action.
Since the Convention on the Conservation
of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)
entered into force in 1983, its membership
has grown steadily to include 116 countries
in Africa, Central and South America, Asia,
Europe and Oceania. To date, the CMS has
concluded agreements and memoranda of understanding
to conserve more than 26 migratory species.
Thanks to the CMS, Papua
New Guinea and Mozambique, for example,
recently agreed on cooperative arrangements
to conserve migratory dugongs, animals once
thought by seafarers to be mermaids. Likewise,
a 20-year agreement has recently helped
to increase the number of harbor seals in
the Wadden Sea, shared by Germany and the
Netherlands.
Protecting migratory
species benefits not only the animals concerned,
but humans as well. A 10-year program to
restore and conserve 7 million hectares
of wetlands in China, Iran, Kazakhstan and
Russia has improved conditions for the critically
endangered Siberian crane, as well as drinking-water
supplies, inland fisheries and carbon storage.
Austin, Texas, is home
to the world's largest urban colony of migratory
bats, which live underneath the city's central
Congress Avenue Bridge. On summer nights,
hundreds of people visit to witness the
bats emerge for their nightly feed. Not
only do the bats act as natural pest controllers,
consuming up to 4,000 mosquitoes each per
night; they also underpin a local tourism
industry that generates an estimated US$10
million a year.
On Nov. 20 the CMS will
hold its 10th Meeting of the Conference
of the Parties in Bergen, Norway. Among
other success stories, the participants
can cite the example of the tiny Pacific
island nation of Palau. Many shark species
are now at high risk, owing to growing consumption
of their fins, which are widely believed
to boost sexual potency and enhance general
health. Palau is helping to reverse this
trend. Two years ago, Palau became the first
country to declare its coastal waters a
shark sanctuary - scientists estimate that
shark-diving tours now generate about 8
percent of the country's GDP and that a
single shark generates revenues from ecotourism
amounting to US$2.6 million over its lifetime.
Nature should never
be prized merely for its economic value.
However, in a world of competing demands
and limited resources, economic considerations
can help to tip decisions in favor of conservation
rather than degradation. This kind of strategic
thinking can help to ensure that the world's
10,000 migratory species continue their
journeys, so that future generations can
also marvel at these nomads of the natural
world.
+ More
Mercury Negotiations
Move Forward Towards Global Treaty
Thu, Nov 3, 2011
Representatives from 120 governments are
gathering at the headquarters of the United
Nations Environment Programmed (UNEP) in
Nairobi this week for negotiations towards
a global treaty on mercury.
Nairobi, 3 November 2011 - Representatives
from 120 governments are gathering at the
headquarters of the United Nations Environment
Programmed (UNEP) in Nairobi this week for
negotiations towards a global treaty on
mercury.
The third of five sessions
of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee
(INC3) will address the release of mercury
into the environment from energy production
and industrial processes and the use of
mercury in small-scale gold mining, consumer
goods and its presence in hazardous wastes,
among other issues.
Video: Speech by UNEP
Executive Director at INC3 Opening CeremonyMercury
is listed by the World Health Organization
(WHO) as one of the top ten chemicals of
public health concern. Human exposure to
mercury can damage the nervous system and
cause behavioural disorders. When released,
mercury persists in the environment where
it circulates between air, water, sediments
and soil. Mercury has toxic effects on humans
and wildlife and can enter the food chain
through contaminated fish.
To mark the Nairobi
negotiations, UNEP hosted a press briefing
with senior members of the International
Negotiating Committee, including Chairperson
Fernando Lugris (Uruguay) and mercury experts
from UNEP, WHO and the UN Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO). Panelists briefed
journalists on the implications of a global
mercury treaty for Africa.
Much of the discussion
focused on artisanal and small-scale gold
mining (ASGM) and its effects on human health
and the environment on the continent.
ASGM remains the largest
demand sector for mercury globally, with
an estimated 1300 tonnes set to be used
in 2011.
ASGM is practiced in
around 70 countries, almost half of which
are in Africa. Virtually all the mercury
used in small scale gold mining is released
into the environment, posing long-term risks
for mine workers and communities living
downstream or downwind from mines.
Abiola Olanipekun, INC
Bureau member representing the African regional
group, told the press briefing that alternative
processes for gold extraction which do not
use mercury now exist and that investment
in such methods was essential for reducing
environmental and health risks.
"When it comes
to mercury, Africa is the most vulnerable
region", said Ms. Olanipekun. "Africa
needs these alternatives so that the environment
and people's futures aren't jeopardised.
That's why these negotiations are so important"
Ludovic Bernaudat of
the UN Industrial Development Organization
told journalists that the high price of
gold (currently over US$1700 per ounce)
is sparking a 'gold rush' in many countries,
posing a timely challenge of how to reduce
the use of mercury in the growing, but largely
informal small-scale mining sector.
Under its Global Mercury
Partnership, which brings together governments,
civil society and the private sector, UNEP
is assisting African countries in developing
national mercury inventories. As well as
forming the basis of mercury reduction targets,
developing comparable sets of data from
different countries can serve to enhance
international co-operation on mercury. Inventory
projects led by the Global Mercury Partnership
are currently being explored in Burkina
Faso, Senegal and Mali, for example.
As mercury is present
as a contaminant in virtually all fossil
fuels, reducing emissions of mercury from
coal-fired power stations and the burning
of oil and gas is also a priority for many
countries at the INC negotiations. Other
key issues include the presence of mercury
in cosmetics, such as skin lightening creams,
medical instruments such as thermometers,
or mercury-containing hazardous wastes such
as batteries and fluorescent lamps.
The INC negotiations,
for which UNEP provides the Secretariat,
are at the half-way stage in Nairobi, with
the aim of achieving a global treaty on
mercury by 2013.
Speaking at the opening
ceremony of the Nairobi session, UN Under-Secretary-General
and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner
said: "It is our obligation through
this treaty to create the conditions by
which the world will rapidly reduce the
likelihood of exposure (to mercury) in both
a health and environmental context".
"The key at the
end of 2013 must be that we have a treaty
that sets the world on a course where mercury
is less likely to affect the lives of people
on this planet", added Mr. Steiner.
Among the key objectives
for the INC negotiations are:
Reducing the supply
of mercury onto the market and enhancing
capacity for environmentally-sound storage
of mercury
Reducing mercury demand for products, processes
and international trade
Reducing atmospheric emission of mercury
Addressing mercury-containing waste and
remediation of contaminated sites
Increasing knowledge and capacity building
on mercury
Arrangements for technical and financial
assistance to support implementation
There are important
development and economic factors to be considered.
Artisanal and small-scale gold-mining, for
example, contributes an estimated US$10
billion to the global economy and employs
around 10-15 million people.
However, low-mercury
and mercury-free solutions are available
for gold mining (such as gravity separation
or concentration methods) which can reduce
health and environment risks while avoiding
impact on livelihoods.
