High-level international talks have begun in Sydney about the best way to tackle global warming.
Senior officials and ministers from Australia, Japan, the United States, China, South Korea and India are taking part in the two-day Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate meeting (AP6).
Read the full article: Summit open for business (The Age)
Related article: Climate change bloc may grow to rival Kyoto (Sydney Morning Herald)
As the United Nations summit to review progress of the Millennium Development Goals draws to a close in New York, millions of volunteers around the world will take to their local parks, waterways, streets and forests in a bid to clean up the environment and promote sustainable living.
625 members, mobilising over 35 million volunteers from 115 countries, will take part in this year’s Clean Up the World Weekend, celebrated globally on 16-18 September.
The campaign, held in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has grown steadily since the inaugural event in 1993 and has recorded an estimated 18% increase in participation this year.
Activities will range from cleaning up small villages to overhauling entire countries. Across many regions communities will also implement recycling and educational programmes.
“Clean Up the World is an outstanding example of sustainable development in action with so many of our volunteer creating greener cities and communities for us all to live in,” said Ian Kiernan, Chairman and Founder of Clean Up the World. “Our volunteers transcend geographical, religious and political barriers to clean up, fix up and conserve our precious environment.”
“Clean Up the World recognizes the importance of the environment to our everyday lives,” said UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer. “The environmental awareness that is growing worldwide—from the grassroots to governments—is due in no small way to the efforts of organizations such as Clean Up the World. At the heart of the campaign is a simple message: what we do matters. We all can—and must—take responsibility for our actions, and take the future of our planet into our own hands.”
In Malaysia, close to 2,000 volunteers will remove rubbish from the famed Terengganu beaches on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. Ian Kiernan will be assisting volunteers in removing the plastic rubbish, petrol cans and nets that are obstructing access to nesting grounds for critically endangered turtles.
Active environmentalist and entertainer Bette Midler, a new ambassador of the campaign, together with her team at the New York Restoration Project will be incorporating recycling and clean up activities into the annual Little Red Lighthouse Festival in Fort Washington Park in New York City.
From the commercial center Côté Béru to the pristine Loire Valley in France, French Sailing Federation, France Nature Environment, and Clean Up the World’s global Patron Fondation d’Entreprise Veolia Environnement, will lead thousands of volunteers in clean up activities across the country.
In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Tony Blair recently pledged his support of a clean up event in Sedgefield, “I would encourage the officers of Sedgefield Borough Council to seek out other partners in this country and around the world to join in and support this worthwhile initiative. It’s our world, and both individually and collectively we all have a responsibility to Clean up the World.”
UNEP, through its Regional Office for Africa, works to restore clean water to Nairobi’s riverine system and will coordinate clean ups to promote a healthier environment to Nairobi residents.
Hundreds of volunteers will clean up and plant trees throughout the “Jardín de la Reina”, the second largest National Park in Cuba.
Over 2,500 girl guides will clean up the beaches, parks and historical places around the 33 Bahrain islands situated in the Arabian Gulf.
Communities are encouraged to register with Clean Up the World by visiting www.cleanuptheworld.org. Members receive information and materials to assist with the promotion and implementation of environmental activities.
Original press release: Environmental Sustainability In Action – Nations Unite for a Greener World (UNEP)
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and governments around the world are preparing to celebrate two key milestones on the road to recovery for the world’s stratospheric ozone layer: the Montreal Protocol and the Vienna Convention.
“The campaign to protect the ozone layer represents an extraordinary success story – but until emissions of CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances are reduced to zero, saving the ozone layer will remain an unfinished business,” said UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer.
This year’s Ozone Day theme is “Act Ozone Friendly – Stay Sun Safe”. Although levels of ozone depleting substances in the stratosphere now seem to be at or near their peak, the ozone layer will remain particularly vulnerable during the next decade or so. People must therefore be reminded to protect themselves and their children against the increased ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth’s surface, which can cause skin cancer, cataracts and other illnesses.
The signing of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer on March 1985 when nations agreed in principle to tackle a global environmental problem will be marked in Vienna by two events. On 19 September, a seminar in Vienna on ozone science, negotiations, technologies and funding will feature Nobel Laureate Mario Molina, former UNEP Executive Director Mustafa Tolba, and former Multilateral Fund Chief Officer Omar El-Arini.
On 21 September the Government of Austria will host an awards ceremony recognizing the contributions of diplomats and scientists who contributed to the Vienna Convention’s development. Mr. Toepfer and World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Michel Jarraud will present the awards.
The signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer on 16 September 1987, now celebrated every year as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, will be marked around the world. The Protocol builds on the general framework set out in the Convention by elaborating detailed phase-out schedules for CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances.
Celebrations of International Ozone Day are being organized by governments worldwide, for example:
The private sector is also getting into the action. For example, India’s largest international carrier, Air India, and one of the country’s leading banks, the Bank of Maharashta, are hosting outreach events and producing awareness materials.
In addition, UNEP’s OzonAction Programme, which provides technical and training services to assist developing countries with meeting their compliance commitments under the Protocol, is supporting this year’s celebrations through:
Original press release: Two Decades of Protecting the Ozone Layer to be Marked (UNEP)
The following is an excerpt from an official Whitehouse statement about the Energy Policy Act:
‘Today, President Bush Signed Into Law The First National Energy Plan In More Than A Decade. The President’s national energy plan will encourage energy efficiency and conservation, promote alternative and renewable energy sources, reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy, increase domestic production, modernize the electricity grid, and encourage the expansion of nuclear energy.”
Read the presidents speech here: President Signs Energy Policy Act
600 children from around the world gathered for the UNEP Children’s World Summit for the Environment in Japan are challenging the world’s leaders to pay higher attention to energy, biodiversity, and water and recycling. At the same time they all commit themselves to environmentally friendly actions to make a difference for the future.
The world summit for children was organized by the United Nations Environment Programme, with His Imperial Highness Prince Akishino of Japan as the honorary president. The prince’s family, including two daughters, also took part in activities during the program, which was held in the Aichi Prefecture in Japan.
The 600 delegates, ages 10 to 14, came from 65 nations, many of them from developing countries. Learning and sharing experiences on important environmental issues was the main purpose of the meeting.
“We commit ourselves to saving energy and using renewable energy sources” say the children in their statement. They also challenge the leaders in a petition, asking them to “create and enforce laws to improve efficiency in production, consumption and conservation of energy”. They demand that the leaders set examples also in the issues of biodiversity, water and waste processing.
At the closing of the four-day summit on Friday, UNEP Deputy Executive Director Shafquat Kakahel promised that the children’s message would be delivered to the UN Secretary-General. He also assured the children that their message included on a 14 meter long canvas will have a prominent place in front of the UN headquarters in New York to remind the world’s presidents and prime ministers of the hope of the children for a better environment.
“It is difficult but not impossible to work for a green future”, says one of the delegates, 13-year old Marisa Tania from Indonesia. In her home town Surabaya she says she cannot see the blue sky due to air pollution and the river Kalimas is badly polluted. During the meeting in Japan she has learned about solutions on environmental issues from the many new friends she made. It has inspired her to continue work for awareness in her ecology club at home, she says.
During this final day of the summit UNEP announced that the next Tunza Children’s Conference on the environment will be held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, in August 2006. The 2008 Tunza conference will be held in Stavanger, Norway.
The meeting in Japan has also elected new junior board members who represent the children in the preparations and take responsibility for preparing the messages to the world leaders. New members are Ranjani Dharmarajan, Kenya; Oyatogun Oluwafumilayo; Nigeria Jessie Mehrhoff, USA; Arwa Omary, Lebanon; Nikolas Theofilidis, Greece; Alejandro Posada, Colombia; and Angel Chui, China. Malaysian Hana Azizan, Syaza Salen, Jes Ebrahim and Zainal Najeem will also join the junior board in preparations for the next conference.
Original press release: Children Challenge World Leaders on the Environment (UNEP)
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Image source: WWF
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A US-led Asia-Pacific regional energy pact, expected to be announced Thursday, offers no alternative to binding caps on pollution levels, says WWF.
WWF warns that such a pact between the US, Australia, China, India and South Korea, which is designed to combat greenhouse gas emissions by developing environmentally friendly energy technology, cannot be seen as an alternative to the Kyoto Protocol.
While WWF does encourage countries to work together on technological developments, it notes that the most effective way to reduce emissions globally is for the world to work together under one agreement rather than multiple plans and agreements.
This is why the Kyoto Protocol, based on binding caps on emissions, is the first effective treaty to counteract global warming. There are 152 nations signed-up to the Protocol, excepting the US and Australia.
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