UNEP NEWS RELEASE - 2008/31

World Heritage Push for Garden of Eden: Italy Backs Bid to List Iraqi Marshlands Following Completion Of UNEP Restoration Project.

KYOTO/NAIROBI, 5 September 2008–A plan to list as a World Heritage Site an
area known as the Fertile Crescent, and thought by some to be the location
of the Biblical “Garden of Eden”, was unveiled today by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) in cooperation with the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The initiative, to be supported by funding from the Government of Italy,
aims to further the protection and conservation of a significant wetland of
global cultural, natural and environmental importance.

The Marshlands, spawning grounds for Gulf fisheries and home to species
like the Sacred Ibis, were almost totally drained and destroyed by the
former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein during the 1990s and early 21st
century.

Dams upstream on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which feed the fabled
area, had also aggravated the decline. By 2002 the 9,000 square km of
permanent wetlands had dwindled to just 760 square km.

UNEP estimated then that these wetlands would be completely lost within
three to five years unless urgent action was taken.

The World Heritage management support plan, announced at the end of a
meeting in Kyoto, follows a four-year, $14 million UNEP project to restore
the ecological viability of the site, while bringing sustainable
livelihoods to the Marsh Arabs.

***

The Marsh Arabs, the 5,000 year-old heirs of the Babylonians and the
Sumerians, and their wetland home had been targeted by the former Iraqi
Government forcing an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 into exile or camps in
and outside Iraq.

With the collapse of the Saddam Hussein Government in mid-2003, local
residents began breaking the drainage embankments and opening the
floodgates to bring water back into the marshlands.,

The UNEP marshland management project, which commenced in 2004 with funding
from the UN Iraq Trust Fund, the Government of Japan and the Government of
Italy, has been working with the Iraqi Environment Ministry and local
communities to accelerate improvements.

These include environmentally-friendly methods that are providing safe
drinking water for up to 22,000 people, the planting of reed banks and beds
as natural pollution and sewage filters and the introduction of renewable
energies such as solar.

A Marshland Information Network has been established. Training in
satellite and field monitoring and wetland restoration and management has
also been part of project which today completed its final evaluation phase
at the Kyoto meeting.

During this meeting, the Iraqi Ministry of Environment also requested UNEP
to provide support for accession to multilateral environmental agreements
(MEAs) in order to take part in the international environmental challenges
but also opportunities facing the planet.

MEAs range from the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to the Convention of
Migratory Species and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Narmin Othman, the Iraqi Environment Minister who is in Japan for the
event, said: “I am very happy that we are now going to work towards making
the Marshlands a National Park and a globally important World Heritage
Site.”

“Because of what Saddam Hussein did, the marshlands were in danger of
completely disappearing as was the centuries-old culture of the Marsh
Arabs. It had become an ecological but also a human tragedy”, she said.

“Now we have 50 to 60 per cent of the marshlands back we can look forward
to further improvements and putting them on the map as Iraq’s first mixed,
natural and cultural World Heritage Site as befits an area of global
significance”, added Minister Othman.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director,
said: “I would like to thank the Governments of Japan and Italy for their
support and congratulate the Iraqi people on these extraordinary
achievements.”

“The work in the Iraqi marshlands may have been unique and challenging for
a whole variety of reasons. But the lessons we have learnt go beyond
Iraq’s border. They provide a blue print for the restoration for the many
other damaged, degraded and economically-important wetland ecosystems
across the world”, he added.

***

Mr. Steiner said he looked forward to working with the Iraqi Government and
cooperating with UNESCO on developing a comprehensive management plan en
route to securing a World Heritage Site listing and thanked the Government
of Italy for its invaluable support.

Chizuru Aoki of UNEP’s International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC)
in Japan, which has been coordinating the project, said today that the
Italian funds would be used to draw up and implement a sustainable
preservation and management plan.

This will include pilot projects on community-wide ecosystem management and
cultural preservation as well as capacity building, jointly with UNESCO and
the Iraqi authorities.

According to UNESCO, the earliest that Iraq could envisage a submission to
the World Heritage Committee might be 2010 which, if approved could see the
Marshlands of Mesopotamia listed as World Heritage in 2011.

“It is essential that we continue to work with the Iraqi partners, UNESCO,
as well as other relevant organizations to help Iraq move towards this
goal”, Ms. Aoki said.

***

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

The Iraqi Marshland Project:  http://marshlands.unep.or.jp/

UNEP’s Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch Iraq Reports:
 http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications…

Downloadable maps and images at www.unep.org?

For more information, please contact: Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson and
Head of Media, +41-79-596-5737 or +254-733-632755, or
 nick.nuttall at unep.org”,

Yukio Yoshii, Senior Liaison Officer, UNEP International Environmental
Technology Centre, +81-6-915-4591, or  yukio.yoshii at unep.or.jp

Habib El-Habr, Director and Regional Representative, UNEP Regional Office
for West Asia, +973-178-12-777, or  habib.elhabr at unep.org.bh.

***********************************
Jim Sniffen
Programme Officer
UN Environment Programme
New York
tel: +1-212-963-8094/8210
 info at nyo.unep.org
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 http://www.koreasociety.org/contemporary…

South Korean Business and the DMZ in an Era of Climate Change

South Korean businesses might use the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea as a resource in the country’s effort to fight global warming.
A Meeting at the Korea Society on New York City is called for September 10, 2008 in order to discuss the areas potential for Sustainable Development.
They will be having experts from The DMZ Forum and Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index program for a get together to discuss how the
DMZ could function as a conservation resource.

with

Hall Healy, President, DMZ Forum
William B. Shore, Secretary, DMZ Forum
John Mickelson, Landscape Ecologist
Christine Kim, Program and Research Director, Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy

Wednesday, September 10, 2008
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM ♦ Registration and Reception
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM ♦ Luncheon and Presentation

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue, Eighth Floor, New York City
(Building entrance on SW corner of 57th Street and Third Avenue)

$20 for members, $25 for nonmembers
Buy tickets
For more information or to register for the program, contact Patrick Clair at (212) 759-7525, ext. 328, or email.

South Korea mastered the game of development economics, rising to become the world’s eleventh largest economy by producing cars, ships and electronics. Now, with climate change a major global issue, the game has changed. From desertification in Mongolia to increased flooding in North Korea, to car emissions, development and air pollution within its borders, South Korea is already wrestling with the effects of global warming on its economy. Can it successfully integrate with the new environmental paradigm?

Hall Healy, president of The DMZ Forum, Inc., believes South Korea can thrive in this new era of green economics, and that the DMZ, untouched by 50 years of development, may be one of its biggest assets. If developed responsibly, the pristine environment of the DMZ could provide clean drinking water to millions of Koreans, trillions of won in income and an untold number of jobs in eco-tourism, sustainable agriculture and ecosystem services. Healy will also discuss other strategies that could help South Korean industries re-tool for the future with landscape ecologist John Mickelson and William B. Shore, secretary of The DMZ Forum. Christine Kim, Yale’s program director for the Environmental Performance Index will discuss North and South Korea’s rankings.

This forum is jointly presented by The Korea Society and the DMZ Forum  www.dmzforum.org)

Reference: www.InnerCityPress.com http://www.innercitypress.com/undpi1koda082708.html         UN Whistleblower in Tokyo Raises Questions of Fraud, Cover-Up and Retaliation from Below    Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis UNITED NATIONS, August 26 — Objections against UN management raised by a high-profile Japanese journalist who headed the UN Information Center in Tokyo until earlier this year reveal a culture of retaliation and denial, alongside questions about the purpose and performance of these Information Centers and the UN’s relations with major donor nations like Japan.    Charmine Koda was named the directly of UNIC-Tokyo in April 2006. Later that year, she discovered systemic financial irregularities at the Center, including the use of falsified invoices to pay for services not yet rendered. She blew the whistle on these irregularities, first to the Department of Public Information which oversees the Information Centers, then when nothing was done, to the Office of Internal Oversight Services. In the resulting audit, Ms. Koda’s own management style came under review, and she was given a series of short-term contract renewals and stripped of various of her powers at the Center.    Ms. Koda filed a harassment complaint against DPI’s then number-two official in March 2008, heretofore not reported in the English language press.  When Ms. Koda moved to schedule a press conference in Tokyo, DPI’s top official Kiyotaka Akasaka in turn summoned some of the UN press corps to his office for a counter-briefing. Only representatives of the Japanese press were invited, an incongruity Inner City Press noted soon thereafter. (Click here for that May 21, 2008 article.)     After questions from Inner City Press, last week finally some answers were provided. Two individuals who requested to be identified only as “UN officials knowledgeable about the case” spoke with Inner City Press for an hour. They emphasized their argument that Ms. Koda cannot be considered a whistleblower, since “it was her job to report what she saw.” They stressed that complaints were filed about Ms. Koda by six of the seven staffers of UNIC-Tokyo “and even the interns.” They said that the money the UN had spent arranging for management training for Ms. Koda could have been spent on substantive programs in other UNICs.     They could not directly explain, however, why if in their view Ms. Koda was such a bad manager, she had been given the management job in the first place. They said that the selection of UNIC directors is vetted by the host governments, particularly in cases like the Tokyo Center where the host government provides most of the funding for the Center’s work. So does a government’s view come into play even earlier in the selection process? The two UN official acknowledged that it does.    How this plays out in the UN Information Centers in Sudan, Zimbabwe and Myanmar will be the subject for future Inner City Press articles. As related to Ms. Koda, the two officials repeated sought to portray the UN as the victim, and Ms. Koda as “not a whistleblower.”  Inner City Press disagrees, for the reasons summarized below. Charmine Koda speaking out     When Ms. Koda finally left the UNIC in June 2008, she wrote a lengthy expose of her time at the UN. This appeared in the Japanese magazine Bungeishunju and has yet to appear in English. Inner City Press has reviewed a 23-page translation of the article. DPI’s attempts to limit it responses to the Japanese-language press, and to claim that Ms. Koda is not and cannot be a whistleblower, are now more understandable, as Ms. Koda’s critique is comprehensive — and she names names.    To set the stage, Ms. Koda describes UNIC-Tokyo as “a small office made up of the Director and 7 staff members, and the Directors have been senior level staff hired by the UN Headquarters and were changed approximately every 2 or 3 years ever since it was founded. In the beginning, foreign nationals were appointed, but in recent years, the position was assumed by Japanese. The first was Mr. Hatsuhisa Takashima (2000 ~ 2002, from NHK), next was Mr. Akio Nomura (2003 ~ 2005, from Asahi Shimbun), and the third Japanese Director was myself.”     To this we can add that the Government of Japan’s role in the selection of directors, and the use of Japanese taxpayers’ funds for the work of the Center, making even more significant the reports of financial irregularities.  As stated by Ms. Koda “The contents of these financial irregularities were later summarized briefly in the report (dated March 11, 2008) of the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) audit. In December 2005, during the time of the former Director, the Center had 3 companies produce fictitious invoices and remitted a total of 3,130,000 yen… According to the explanation of the staff, they were ‘pre-payments’ that were intended to be consumed in the following fiscal year (the end of the fiscal budget year is December), and it is said that this practice had been prevalent since 2000. The audit report states that this is against UN financial rules and is requesting that ‘appropriate measures’ be taken against the concerned staff. The signatures of the former Director and the administrative assistant remain clearly on the fictitious vouchers. And fictitious reporting was being done to the UN Headquarters… I immediately reported all to Director [Paula] Refolo at the Department of Public Information.”   But the UN’s focus soon turned on Ms. Koda herself. As another UN system whistleblower has phrased it to Inner City Press, “the UN always shoots the messenger.” The twist in this case is that, at least on its face, the retaliation was from below. Long-time UNIC staff members who were there are the time of the financial irregularities sent complaints to the UN in New York. Specifically, according to Ms. Koda, six staff members “sent a letter to Director Refolo accusing me of ‘power harassment’ and ‘misbehavior as International Civil Servant.’ (One staff member opposed this kind of action and did not sign the letter.) Letters in support of the accusations addressed to Under-Secretary-General [Shashi] Tharoor by the two former Directors, Mr. Takashima and Mr. Nomura, and a letter by 2 interns addressed to the Secretary-General were also attached… the Department of Public Information took them up at face value, incorporated their arguments one-sidedly, wrote a report pursuing my responsibility, and took the measure to not allow me to refute.”     An official the Japanese Foreign Ministry consulted by Inner City Press for this story stated that “we are keen” on getting to the bottom of the financial improprieties at UNIC-Tokyo “since the money is that of the Japanese taxpayers,” and that Ms. Koda as well as the UNIC-Tokyo staff should be treated fairly during these reviews. A senior Japanese official expressed support for Ms. Koda. But not enough, apparently, to protect her from retaliation, at least for now.  Following this report, Ms. Koda says, “Refolo sent me an email telling me, ‘It has been decided that staff A will do the staff members’ PAS evaluation this year.’ She was going to rob me of what was close to the only authority I had as the Director and hand it over to A. This will be equivalent to DPI’s recognition of staff A as the virtual Director. When I wrote back to that effect, Ms Refolo responded, ‘It is a one- time measure which is necessary… and is being taken mainly as a way to protect you, given that even your most objective evaluation could be perceived by staff as retaliation.’”    The irony appears lost on DPI — they retaliated by stripping Ms. Koda, who had complained of financial impropriety, of her responsibilities, ostensibly so that she would not be charged with retaliation.  Ms. Koda continues that in early 2008 “in Bangkok, a meeting among Directors of UNICs in Asian countries was held and USG Akasaka, Director Refolo and I were there on site. That morning, when I met USG Akasaka at the hotel restaurant and offered him to join me, he asked, ‘Have you seen the OIOS draft report?’ When I answered, ‘Not yet,’ he told me to get a copy from Director Refolo. That evening, as she was leaving to go out for dinner, I somehow managed to stop her and receive a copy. I felt my blood freeze. It wrote the problem of staff management as top priority, and by quoting the contents of the staff’s allegations and the Panel report, it recommended my reassignment. Procurement issues such as financial irregularities were placed in the back inconspicuously.”    Inner City Press has asked OIOS’ Inga Britt Ahlenius about among other things OIOS’ role in the matter, including the allegation by some of the use of OIOS as a part of retaliation, but Ms. Ahlenius has not responded.  Hours later a message arrived, that Ms. Ahlenius is on “annual leave” extending from July 28 through September 15. But the questions asked cannot wait that long. Ms. Koda, for the record, says she keeps an open mind. She concludes “Inside the United Nations, the reputation of the Department of Public Information of its heavy-handed attitude is being talked about. Also from subordinate organizations of other area discontent towards the ways of Director Refolo is being heard. However, as long as the issue is discussed and dealt with only inside the closed environment of the organization called the UN, a fundamental solution to this kind of problem can hardly be expected. I have decided to resign from my post and expose the problem to public review. I would like to express my gratitude to all the people for their trust and support in my work at the UN, and at the same time, I wish to apologize from my heart for not being able to fulfill it. I am still a believer in the principles and the meaningfulness of the activities of the United Nations. To contribute my humble part to the reform of that United Nations, I am determined to fight all the way.”     In light of the repeated argument of the two “UN officials” provided by DPI that Ms. Koda cannot be considered a whistleblower since it was her duty to report improprieties, Inner City Press asked the Washington-based Government Accountability Project (GAP) for comment. In response, Tom Devine, GAP’s legal director, said that “there’s not even a syllable in the UN policy that provides an opening for that loophole. It’s entirely a bureaucratic creation to avoid the approved U.N. rules on whistleblower rights.”     Inner City Press wants to cover more of the UN DPI’s side. The initial block was DPI’s decision to limit its story-telling to the Japanese media. Now, an outgoing difficulty is the unwillingness of DPI to tell any part of its story on the record and for attribution. As Ms. Koda asks, how then are they the Department of PUBLIC Information?” Perhaps DPI is in a dificult position. But how would one know? To be continued.

In Tokyo’s Asakusa district, Saturday August 30, 2008, 4,700 people, organized in 20 Samba schools, turned their district into Little Brazil. They were dressed accordingly, danced the samba, and used decorated cars. This is a tradition started in 1981 - The Asakusa Samba Carnival - when Taito Ward invited over the winning group of that year’s Rio Carnival in Brazil.

Akira Iizuka, a member of samba organization G.R.E.S. Saude in Yokohama, said his group participates in other events, but this is the biggest.

“The Asakusa Samba Carnival is where people can perform a real Brazilian-style carnival,” said Iizuka, who was taking part in his eighth Asakusa festival.

The carnival featured contests for two leagues with a total of 20 teams.

The teams paraded from Umamichi Dori to the end of Kaminarimon Dori in front of thousands of people.

The dancers prepared their own costumes and themes.

While many women wore showy colorful bikinis with big feathers on their head and back, costumes varied widely between the different teams. Members of one team dressed as chefs.

Friday, Aug. 29, 2008

DPJ trio to form new party: Defectors seek to band with two independents also in Upper House.

By KAZUAKI NAGATA and MASAMI ITO
Staff writers, The Japan Times online.
Only two weeks from the start of the extraordinary Diet session, three Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers will leave the DPJ to form a new political party with two Upper House independent lawmakers, officials said.

The three DPJ lawmakers are Hideo Watanabe, a former posts minister, Yasuhiro Oe and Yumiko Himei, all of whom are House of Councilors lawmakers. They have already submitted their resignations to the DPJ, the party said.

The three were reportedly dissatisfied with the current situation of the party led by Ichiro Ozawa, who is likely to be reinstalled without a vote at next month’s DPJ presidential election.

Two other Upper House members, Hiroyuki Arai and Shinpei Matsushita, both currently unaffiliated, are expected to join the new party to be named Kaikaku Kurabu (Reform Club).

The five lawmakers are scheduled to hold a news conference Friday afternoon to announce the creation of the new party and explain their plan of action.

Watanabe, who served as posts minister under former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, is expected to become the leader of the new party. Watanabe’s office declined comment, saying that details will be given at Friday’s press conference.

Watanabe and Oe opposed the DPJ’s position earlier this year that road-related taxes should be abolished, as well as the party’s opposition to the ruling bloc’s Bank of Japan vice governor picks during the last Diet session.

“They submitted resignations, but they have not been accepted yet,” DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama said after a party executive meeting the same day. “The reason is that they became politicians by receiving support from DPJ supporters.”

Because of the support they received, “this is such a treacherous act,” he said, adding if they want to leave the party, they should resign as Diet members, which he and other DPJ executives think is the decent thing to do.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was quick in his attempt to pry open the crack in the largest opposition party. He told reporters Thursday evening that the ruling bloc may be able to cooperate with the new party.

“I think it is possible to work together if parts of (the new party’s) policies or ideas match ours,” Fukuda said. “It is natural to cooperate in the Diet if (our) policies coincide with theirs — that can be said for any” lawmaker or political party.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference later Thursday that he was not surprised by the move of the three DPJ members.

“Looking at the voting patterns (of lawmakers) in the previous ordinary Diet session, I had a feeling something like this was going to happen,” Machimura said. “I take it that creating a new party has major political meaning.”

Meanwhile, he declined comment when asked whether the government is hopeful that the new party might eventually help normalize the divided Diet by siding with the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling coalition.

TRADE WITH RUSSIA HAS BROUGHT PROSPERITY TO THE FORMERLY SLEEPING SHIMANE PREFECTURE OF JAPAN.

Climate conference makes progress on key dispute.

By (AP) Published: 2008-08-23, ACCRA, Ghana.
Delegates at a key U.N. climate conference made headway Friday on a plan to encourage developing countries to regulate carbon emissions by focusing on their largest industries.

The emerging plan sidesteps objections from countries like India and China, which refuse to accept national targets for the overall emission of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

How to get developing countries to commit to reducing pollution levels has deeply divided countries seeking to craft a new climate change agreement to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The meeting of 1,600 delegates and environmentalists from 160 countries was the third conference this year working on the accord, due to be adopted in Copenhagen in December 2009.

The Accra meeting also was discussing ways to integrate the conservation of the world’s ever-shrinking forests into the Copenhagen agreement, as well as studying ways to raise and distribute the tens of billions of dollars needed annually to help poor countries deal with the consequences of climate change.

Under the Kyoto pact, only 37 industrial countries committed to meet specific targets. Together, they were required to cut emissions by an average 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. The United States refused to participate in the Kyoto regime because it excluded China and other large newly powerful economies from any obligation.

Korea, which is not one of the 37, surprised delegates by announcing that next year it will adopt a target for reducing its carbon emissions by 2020, but declined to give specifics. Earlier this year, South Africa also said it would embrace self-imposed targets, peaking its emissions by 2025.

Under the “sectoral approach” now taking shape, developing countries would set pollution targets for specific industries, like cement, steel or aluminum. Unlike the 37 industrial countries, they likely would not be punished for missing their goals.

“Something quiet but quite dramatic is happening,” said David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “People are now talking about the same idea in the same language.”

India voiced reservations, but did not reject the concept. As for China, Doniger said the plan fit neatly with Beijing’s intention to increase the efficiency of its key industries, which produce the bulk of its carbon emissions.

Details of any agreement on the new approach would be complex and difficult to reach, and it is only one of many disputed components of a post-2012 pact.

But consensus appeared to coalesce around the notion that industrial countries will remain legally bound to meet a national cap on their carbon emissions, while developing countries would have flexibility in deciding which industries would be controlled and at what levels.

A critical element calls for advanced countries to provide the technology and funding to help other countries curb emissions in heavily polluting industries.

***

“There is now a basis for discussion,” said Katrin Gutmann, policy coordinator of the WWF Global Climate Initiative. “Before, we worried there would just be more clashes,”

But financing remains unresolved and it was unclear how governments would move forward, she said.

Japan, which advanced the proposal earlier this year to a chorus of criticism, said it was pleased with the response in Accra after it dropped several components that aroused objections.

Developing countries had feared the Japanese proposal was a backdoor device to impose binding targets that would limit their economic development.

“That is a great advancement compared with the beginning of this year,” Japanese delegate Jun Arima told the conference.

——————

From:  sniffenj at un.org
Subject: Cutting Fossil Fuel Subsidies Can Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Says UNEP Report
Date: August 26, 2008 10:21:12 AM EDT

UNEP NEWS RELEASE

Cutting Fossil Fuel Subsidies Can Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Says UN
Environment Programme Report.

Meanwhile, New Assessment of Clean Development Mechanism Shows
Climate-Friendly Energy Projects Achieving Lift-Off in Sub Saharan Africa.

ACCRA/NAIROBI, 26 August 2008 — Scrapping fossil fuel subsidies could play
an important role in cutting greenhouse gases while giving a small but not
insignificant boost to the global economy, a new report by the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP) says.

The report challenges the widely held view that such subsidies assist the
poor, arguing that many of these price support systems benefit the
wealthier sections of society rather than those on low incomes.

They are also diverting national funds from more creative forms of pro-poor
polices and initiatives that are likely to have a far greater impact on the
lives and livelihoods of the worse-off sectors of society.

Globally, around $300 billion or 0.7 per cent of global GDP is being spent
on energy subsidies annually.

The lion’s share is being used to artificially lower or reduce the real
price of fuels like oil, coal and gas or electricity generated from such
fossil fuels.

Cancelling these subsidies might reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much
as 6 per cent a year while contributing 0.1 per cent to global GDP.

***

The report acknowledges that some subsidies or mechanisms, whether in the
form of tax breaks, financial incentives or other market instruments, can
generate social, economic and environmental benefits.

A case in point are feed-in tariffs that have kick-started a renewable
energy revolution in countries such as Germany and Spain.

The report also accepts that there may be cases where some subsidies can,
if well- devised and time-limited, meet important social and environmental
goals — for example, ones to encourage a switch from dirty,
health-hazardous or environmentally harmful fuels such a charcoal.

The report also cites the case of Chile where well-devised subsidies have
increased rural electrification from around 50 per cent to over 90 per cent
of the population over 12 years.

But the report argues that many seemingly well-intentioned subsidies rarely
make economic sense and rarely address poverty. The report, therefore,
challenges the widely-held myth that scrapping fossil fuel supports would
hit the poor.

The report cites liquid petroleum gas (LPG) subsidies in India where $1.7
billion was spent in the first half of the current financial year on trying
to get the fuel into poor households. “LPG subsidies are mainly benefiting
higher-income households. … Despite the ineffectiveness of the subsidy the
programme is being extended until 2010”, says the study.

Indeed the report concludes that in many developing countries the real
beneficiaries of such subsidies are neither the poor nor the environment
but well-off households; equipment manufacturers and the producers of the
fuels.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director,
said: “In the final analysis many fossil fuel subsidies are introduced for
political reasons but are simply propping up and perpetuating
inefficiencies in the global economy—they are thus part of the market
failure that is climate change.”

“There are now less than 500 days before the crucial UN Climate Change
Convention meeting in Copenhagen in late 2009. Governments should urgently
review their energy subsidies and begin phasing out the harmful ones that
contribute to the wasteful use of finite resources and delay the
introduction of renewables or more efficient forms of generation while
creating disincentives and barriers to public transport up to energy saving
appliances”, he added.

***

The new UNEP report– Reforming Energy Subsidies: Opportunities to
Contribute to the Climate Change Agenda—was released today at a meeting in
Accra, Ghana of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Here Governments have gathered to continue negotiations under the Bali Road
Map towards a conclusive and far-reaching new climate deal by Copenhagen
2009.

***

CDM Takes Off in Sub-Saharan Africa:
Today UNEP also presented new findings on the penetration of the Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) in sub-Saharan Africa.

The CDM, part of the Convention’s Kyoto Protocol agreed in 1997, allows
developed nations to offset some of their greenhouse gas emissions by
funding cleaner energy projects in developing countries that generate
carbon credits known as certified emission reductions.

These can range from wind and biomass energy projects to ones that tap
methane from rubbish tips and schemes that encourage the use of less
polluting fuels or power plants.

There has been concern that the benefits of the CDM, a contrasting example
of a policy tool aimed at wider social, economic and environmental benefits
when compared with fossil fuel subsidies, have been by-passing countries in
Africa.

The main countries benefiting to date have been the rapidly developing
economies such as China, Brazil, and India.

The new figures, compiled by the UNEP Risoe Centre on Energy, Climate and
Sustainable Development in Denmark, indicate that this is changing with the
first CDM projects emerging over the past 18 months in six countries– the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique,
Mali and Senegal.

These include an oil well, gas flare reduction project in the DRC and a
river hydroelectric project in Madagascar.

In Kenya new projects include a 35MW extension of geothermal, hot rocks,
generation and a sugar cane waste-into-energy project with Mumias Sugar
Company.

Mr. Steiner added: “Whereas fossil fuel subsidies are an example of a
blunt policy instrument, perpetuating old and inefficient economic models,
the CDM is an example of a more intelligent, market-based mechanism that is
fostering the transition to a modern Green Economy.”

He said the uptake in Africa was due, in part, to the impact of the UN’s
Nairobi Framework initiative launched in 2006.

Here UNEP, along with partners including the UN Development Programme
(UNDP), have been working to build the human and regulatory capacity of
poorer countries to access carbon financing.

Other measures have included awareness-raising among banks and industry
players on the continent to new green finance opportunities.

The UNEP Risoe Centre has been monitoring global trends in CDM investment
and the impacts of these activities for some time.

“Excluding South Africa, there were only six CDM projects in five
sub-Saharan countries in 2006. Now there are 49 projects in 12 countries,
South Africa included”, says Lars Appelquist, a researcher at the Centre.

This still remains low compared to a global tally of close to 3,500 CDM
projects, but does mark a departure from the very low levels of the past.

“As new policy drivers and planned capacity development activities bear
fruit, the market will likely exhibit exponential growth like other
regions”, says Glenn Hodes, CDM Programme Manager at UNEP Risoe. Indeed,
assuming Governments agree on a deep and decisive new climate agreement in
2009, Africa overall could see roughly 230 projects by 2012, according to
Hodes’ and Appelquist’s calculations.

These could cumulatively generate over 65 million certified emission
reductions, worth close to $1 billion at a conservative carbon credit price
of $15.

“Compared to CDM prodigies like India, Africa is poised to be the late
bloomer”, says Hodes.

—————————-

Notes to Editors:

“Reforming Energy Subsidies: Opportunities to Contribute to the Climate
Change Agenda” was commissioned by UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry
and Economics. The principal author is Trevor Morgan of Menecon Consulting
and now with the International Energy Agency (IEA).

It says that Russia has the largest subsidies in dollar terms amounting to
around $40 billion a year and mainly spent on making natural gas cheaper.

Iran comes second with around $37 billion; six countries, spending in
excess of $10 billion on subsidies, come next. These are China, Saudi
Arabia, India, Indonesia, Ukraine and Egypt.

The report can be downloaded at www.unep.org

The new data and estimated take up of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
projects in Africa can also be downloaded at www.unep.org

For more information, please contact: Nick Nuttall, Spokesperson/Head of
Media, UNEP Nairobi, on Tel: +254-20-762-3084, Mobile: +254-733-632755 or
+41-79-596-5737, E-mail:  nick.nuttall at unep.org;
Or Anne-France White, Associate Information Officer, UNEP Nairobi, at Tel:
+254-20-762-3088, Mobile: +254-72-8600-494, or E-mail:
 anne-france.white at unep.org

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