Nairobi, March 2012
- The Government of Norway has delivered
a major boost to efforts to protect vulnerable
communities in Ethiopia from the impacts
of climate change, with a donation of over
$1.5 million to the Ethiopian Environment
Ministry.
Further Resources
Climate Change Adaptation and Development
InitiativeThe money will allow existing
projects, which encourage local communities
to fight food insecurity and environmental
degradation linked to climate change, to
be upscaled and duplicated in other parts
of the country.
The grant is a vote
of confidence in the policy of addressing
climate change mitigation at the local level,
a policy spearheaded by a joint project
of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), with funds provided by
the Government of Denmark.
The project, CC DARE
(Climate Change and Development-Adapting
by Reducing Vulnerability) has championed
community-based climate change mitigation
in eleven countries in sub-Saharan Africa,
including Ethiopia. Between July 2010 and
July 2011, CC DARE channeled over $300,000
into nine projects in Ethiopia, helping
an estimated one million people.
Projects included diversifying
income sources for farmers though activities
such as beekeeping, fruit cultivation, and
fish farming. There was a particular emphasis
on conservation of water resources through
rainwater harvesting, and research was conducted
into expanding the hardiness of indigenous
cattle species to cope with a changed climate.
"These CC DARE
projects daringly help tackle climate change
in spite of, but generously because of,
our vulnerability in Ethiopia," said
Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, Director
General of the Ethiopian Environmental Protection
Authority.
The additional $1.5
million, courtesy of the Government of Norway,
will allow these existing projects in Ethiopia
to continue once CC DARE's operations reach
their culmination later this year. The funds
will also allow the successful projects
to be replicated elsewhere in the country.
Notes for Editors:
With targeted short-term
activities, the CC DARE project has demonstrated
that integrating adaptation into national
development policies can strengthen and
enhance the resilience of countries and
communities against the impacts of climate
change while also contributing to the realization
of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The CC DARE Programme
has provided countries in sub Saharan Africa
with concrete climate change adaptation
actions that will continue to sustainably
provide them with resilient livelihoods
under a changing climate. The programme
has spurred impacts in multiple fronts including
catalytic, Strategic, Policy and innovative.
The merits of the approach is evident in
the engagement of local communities, using
local materials, keeping the implementation
process simple and thus, making adaptation
actions more efficient, more effective,
more affordable, more equitable, and more
environmentally sustainable. The CC DARE
approach has demonstrated that, it is possible
to achieve consolidated solutions for national
priorities on adaptation to climate change
that serve communities.
+ More
Aquatic species dominate
UN-backed scientific meeting
Geneva, 21 March 2012
Geneva, 21 March 2012 – The 26th meeting
of the Animals Committee of the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) today moves
from Geneva, to continue in Dublin, Ireland,
where the Committee will convene jointly
with the CITES Plants Committee. During
the sessions in Geneva, important recommendations
were formulated, aimed at ensuring that
trade in CITES-listed species of animals
is sustainable and based on sound scientific
management. The five-days in Geneva focused
heavily on aquatic species.
Further Resources
CITES official siteOver 150 experts met
in Geneva from 15 to 20 March. They recommended
cautious export quotas for a variety of
species and countries, including seahorses
from Southeast Asia, giant clams from the
Pacific and sturgeons from the Caspian Sea.
Furthermore, the Committee recommended that
exports of live dolphins from Solomon Islands
should be limited to a maximum of 10 animals
a year. The Committee discussed a list of
shark species submitted by member States
that may require additional action to enhance
their conservation and management (see list
attached).
Germany announced that
is considering preparing a proposal to include
porbeagle (Lamna nasus) in Appendix II,
and submitted a draft to the Committee for
comments. Senegal submitted a draft proposal
to transfer West African manatee (Trichechus
senegalensis) from Appendix II to Appendix
I for advice. The Committee noted the proposals
and the issue of how to determine whether
a commercially exploited aquatic species
qualifies for listing on CITES Appendices.
The Committee also examined
international trade in Asian snakes, tortoises
and freshwater turtles, endemic reptiles
and amphibians from Madagascar, scorpions
and African birds. Scientists expressed
serious concern about trade from certain
African countries in grey-crowned and blackcrowned
cranes (Balearica regulorum and B. pavonina),
large waterbirds that typically inhabit
open land near inland water bodies. International
trade in cranes consists principally of
live, wild-taken birds, with trade in captive-bred
specimens also reported. Between 2000 and
2010, trade in some 1,300 live birds has
been recoded. Specific recommendations were
adopted to protect the crane populations
of Guinea, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, South
Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania and
Uganda.
Mr Carlos Ibero, Chair
of the Animals Committee, stated: "I
am glad to see that the Committee was able
to focus on key aquatic species such as
sharks, dolphins and corals in preparation
for the upcoming meeting of the Conference
of the Parties to be held in Bangkok in
March 2013".
CITES Secretary-General,
John E. Scanlon, said: "It is essential
that we provide CITES Parties with sound
science and the best available information
and advice upon which to base their decisions
at the 16th meeting of the Conference of
the Parties. We are most grateful to the
Committee for the scientific expertise they
bring to the work of CITES, which is a critical
part of the success of our Convention".
The CITES Animal Committee
provides its technical and scientific advice
to help ensure sustainability of international
trade in specimens of over 4,500 CITES-listed
species of animals, including caviar from
sturgeons and reptile skins used in luxury
goods.
The 26th meeting of
the Animals Committee will be followed by
three scientific meetings that will be held
in Dublin, Ireland: a joint session of the
26th meeting of the Animals Committee and
the 20th meeting of the Plants Committees,
from 22 to 24 March; the fifth meeting of
the Chairs of the Scientific Advisory Bodies
of the Biodiversity-related Conventions
(CSAB), on 25 March; and the 20th meeting
of the Plants Committee, from 26 to 30 March.
