Posted on
27 June 2009 - Washington, USA: Successful
passage of US domestic climate legislation
through the House of Representatives could
be a further signal that the deadlock in
international climate negotiations might
be coming to an end.
“It is great that the
US domestic climate legislation is now moving
one step closer,” said Kim Carstensen, Director
of the WWF Global Climate Initiative.
“We would have liked
to see stronger commitments in the legislation,
but still it is an important starting point
for the US to engage fully in international
climate regulation.”
The US vote capped an
encouraging week on climate change with
Scotland legislating for emissions cuts
of 42 per cent by 2020 and UK Prime Minister
Gordon Brown becoming the first to commit
to the right magnitude of funding for the
developing world, if not quite yet the necessary
amount.
WWF-US officials commended
the House of Representatives for taking
a first step towards a clean energy economy,
creating jobs and exports, and protecting
the nation’s quality of life and said the
bill is a critical starting point, at a
crucial time given the increasing urgency
of the climate change problem.
The bill – also known
as the Waxman-Markey bill - now goes to
the US Senate.
“This bill is not everything
we need, but it is a critical starting point,
at a crucial time,” said WWF-US President
and CEO Carter Roberts. “We are seeing the
impacts of climate change right in our own
backyards and they are coming faster and
hitting harder than anticipated.”
From heat waves in the
South, to flooding rains in the Midwest,
to drought in the West, every region of
this country is feeling the dangerous and
costly consequences of climate change. We
have to get started, and this bill would
represent an unprecedented leap forward.”
“The choice before us
is two-fold: rise to this challenge by slowing
emissions and preparing for climate change
impacts, or allow the disruption of our
climate to escalate in dangerous and costly
ways. There are no do-overs in this game.
If we bankrupt nature, there will be no
bailout.”
The American Clean Energy
and Security Act would place a national
limit on greenhouse gas pollution that declines
over time, while setting up a market-based
framework to bring down emissions in an
economically efficient manner. It would
also launch an effort to begin preparing
communities across the U.S. to cope with
the impacts that are unavoidable given the
changes we are already experiencing.
Dr. Richard H. Moss,
vice president of the WWF-US climate change
program, emphasized the crucial importance
of passing a strong climate bill this year
in order to demonstrate U.S. leadership
on the issue prior to international negotiations
that will take place this December in Copenhagen.
“Climate change is a
global problem requiring a global solution,”
said Moss. “American families will not be
protected from the impacts of climate change
without reducing emissions around the world.
If we want other countries to put more on
the table in Copenhagen, we need to show
that the U.S. is finally ready to act. Enacting
strong climate legislation is the most effective
thing America could do to negotiate the
strongest commitments from other countries.”
Moss noted that the
bill includes provisions that are essential
to reaching an agreement in Copenhagen.
For example, the bill would make critical
investments in stopping tropical deforestation,
the source of roughly 20 percent of global
greenhouse gas emissions; would promote
technology cooperation between the U.S.
and developing countries to help lower emissions
world-wide; and would help the world’s most
vulnerable people and communities respond
to existing and future impacts from climate
change.
+ More
Time to get serious
for tuna nations
Posted on 28 June 2009
- San Sebastian, Spain: International tuna
treaty parties have totally failed to come
up with ways to cap fishing capacity, are
mostly failing to follow the advice of their
own scientists and are making only slow
progress in reducing illegal fishing and
overfishing and bycatch of other marine
life, according to a new assessment by WWF.
Three scorecards, covering
the management of fisheries, and performance
in reducing illegal fishing and levels of
bycatch, were issued as representatives
of around 80 nations involved in the five
tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organisations
(RFMOs) gathered in San Sebastian, Spain
amid rising global awareness and concern
on tuna.
WWF found that not one
of the tuna RFMOs is doing a good job in
any area. Most are making slow progress
and have room for improvement, but some
are falling way short in important areas.
In general terms, governments
are performing most poorly in the area of
conservation and management of tuna stocks,
with little advance in the key area of addressing
the size and capacity of the fleets chasing
fewer and fewer fish.
All 23 identified, commercially
exploited stocks of tuna are heavily fished,
with at least nine classified as fully fished
and a further four classified as overexploited
or depleted. Three stocks are classified
as Critically Endangered, three as Endangered,
and three as Vulnerable to extinction.
“Our assessment shows
a resource in trouble, fisheries in trouble
and institutions in trouble,” said Miguel
Jorge, Marine Director at WWF International.
“But we believe there is still time to protect
key ocean ecosystems where tuna is a top
predator, and conserve the fisheries and
the communities that depend on them.”
“We now have too much
experience to ignore on how fast over-exploited
fisheries collapse and how slowly, if at
all, they recover. With Bluefin tuna none
of the collapsed populations are recovering
and the remaining populations are clearly
heading towards collapse.”
WWF will be asking the
meeting to do more to prevent bycatch of
turtles, sharks, juvenile tuna and other
animals. Key measures will involve more
effective regulation of the bycatch problem
associated with the use of Fish Aggregation
Devices (FADs).
“We know enough right
now for governments to immediately adopt
and implement best-practices to avoid bycatch,”
said Jorge. “Even best-practices can be
improved, so ongoing research and on-the-water
trials are critical to bring bycatch as
close to zero as possible.”
WWF’s assessment traced
progress on key fisheries management measures
since the first global meeting of governments
involved in tuna fisheries, in Kobe, Japan
in 2007. That meeting agreed on a 14 point
action plan for all RFMOs.
“So far, we haven’t
seen much action,” said Jorge.
“We know what needs
to be done. What we would like to see from
San Sebastian are clear sings that the community
of tuna nations is setting up global consensus
on real moves towards addressing the key
issues of over-capacity and bycatch.
“We know it won’t be
easy, but there are no other choices.”
