UNESCO Press Release No.2007-38

UNESCO Mission confirms threat to Galapagos Islands

Paris/Quito, 16 April - A UNESCO mission has confirmed serious threats to the Galapagos National Park and Marine Reserve and welcomed ambitious measures announced by the Ecuadorian authorities to preserve the site on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The mission confirmed the threat to the outstanding value and physical integrity of this iconic World Heritage site mainly from: the growing encroachment of invasive species, increasing human immigration, uncontrolled development of tourism, and the failure of various institutions and agencies to deal with these threats.

The mission was carried out in keeping with a decision by the World Heritage Committee to take stock of the situation in the Galapagos Islands, and at the invitation of the Ecuadorian government. Held from 8 to 13 April, it was led by Tumu te Heuheu, Chairman of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, Kishore Rao, Deputy Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, and Berndt von Droste of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

The full findings of the mission will be presented to the World Heritage Committee, in charge of implementing UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention, at its next meeting, which will take place in Christchurch, New Zealand, from June 23 to July 2. The Committee will review the findings of the mission and agree on actions to help ensure the long-term conservation of this site, including the possibility of inscribing it on the List of World Heritage in Danger (see http://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines/ paragraphs 177-191 for technical details).

During the visit, members of the mission took part in a multi-stakeholder meeting convened by the Government of Ecuador with the participation of, notably, the ministers and vice-ministers in charge of the environment, multilateral relations, and tourism; the governor of the Galapagos Province and the Mayor of Santa Cruz. The mission also held bilateral meetings with various stakeholder groups and visited some of the key institutions and agencies.

Upon its return to Quito on 12th April, the UNESCO mission met the Minister of External Relations, the Minister for Environment, the Minister for Tourism, the Minister for Internal and External Security, and other senior officials including representatives of intergovernmental, non-governmental and bilateral cooperation agencies.

The mission welcomed the decisive action taken by the President of Ecuador to address comprehensively the long-standing problems of the Galapagos Islands, with a series of new policies to be adopted in the coming two weeks.

International Clean-Energy Partnership Adds 20th Member: Vietnam.

The Methane to Markets Partnership marked a major milestone this week as Vietnam
became its 20th country member. Methane to Markets is a public-private
partnership that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by promoting the
cost-effective, near-term recovery and use of methane, while providing clean
energy to markets around the world.

Vietnam joins a growing number of Asian countries that are actively
participating in Methane to Markets. In particular, Vietnam will bring into the
Partnership its interest and experience in reducing methane emissions from
livestock waste.

The Methane to Markets Partnership brings together the technical and
market expertise, financing and technology necessary to advance methane recovery
and use projects in four sectors: agriculture, coal mines, landfills, and oil
and gas systems. Member countries work in collaboration with the private sector,
multilateral development banks, and other governmental and non-governmental
organizations through the partnership’s project network.

With the addition of Vietnam to Methane to Markets, the Partnership now includes
countries that represent nearly 60 percent of the world’s human-caused methane
emissions.

Methane is a greenhouse gas that is over twenty times more effective at trapping
heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. By 2015, Methane to Markets has the
potential to deliver annual reductions in methane emissions of up to 50 million
metric tons of carbon equivalent, which is roughly equal to the greenhouse gas
emissions from 50 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants.

More than 500 public- and private-sector organizations from around the world
have joined Methane to Markets through the Project Network.

In addition to Vietnam, Methane to Markets Partner countries include Argentina, Australia,
Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico,
Nigeria, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United
States.

Information on the Methane to Markets Partnership:
http://www.methanetomarkets.org 

The “Climate Alliance of European Cities with Indigenous Rainforest Peoples / Alianza del Clima”  http://www.climatealliance.org is Europe´s largest city network dedicated to climate protection. The member municipalities have entered into a partnership with indigenous rainforest peoples to protect theworld´s climate.

The city network was founded in 1990 with the mission to elaborate and implement local climate protection measures especially in the fields of
energy and mobility and to cooperate with indigenous peoples to protect the tropical rainforests. Cooperation partner is COICA, the Coordinating Body
for the Indigenous Peoples´ Organizations of the Amazon Basin. The Climate Alliance represents 50 million citizens in Europe.

“Ecuador set to join ‘pink tide’ washing across Latin America” writes Daniel Howden, “THE INDEPENDENT,” October 16, 2006.

A populist banana tycoon and a left-wing ally of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez were last night heading for a run-off vote after neither won a clear victory in Ecuador’s presidential poll.

Rafael Correa a former finance minister who resigned from the government after speaking out against a US-backed trade agreement, had seen support surge through the campaign as he addressed mass rallies wielding a leather belt and promising to “give the lash” to Ecuador’s elite.

After years of government collapses Mr Correa had vowed to rewrite the constitution, curb political parties, suspend the free trade deal with Washington and refuse to renew an accord on a US military base used to fight drugs.

But Mr Correa’s opponent, the billionaire banana tycoon Alvaro Noboa, gained ground in yesterday’s voting, with exit polls last night suggesting that neither side had won a clear victory. A Cedatos Gallup poll showed Mr Noboa with 27.2 per cent of the votes and Mr Correa with 25.4 per cent after first round voting, while another poll showed Mr Noboa with 28.5 per cent of the votes and Mr Correa with 26.5 per cent.

If the polls prove accurate and no candidate has won more than 50 per cent, the presidency will be decided in a run-off next month. Latin America’s pink tide had been stemmed in recent months with a narrow defeat for Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico and centrist Allan Garcia’s win over Ollanta Humala in Peru.

Ecuador’s election has been electrified by the looming figure of Mr Chavez, Venezuela’s theatrical left-wing President. His barnstorming speech at the United Nations in New York in which he compared President George Bush to Satan and complained of the smell of sulphur on the platform was rapturously received by a growing anti-American movement worldwide.

Mr Correa was quick to see the appeal of anti-Bush rhetoric with voters in Ecuador and noisily trumpeted his support for Mr Chavez’s stand at the UN General Assembly. “Calling Bush the Devil is offending the Devil … The Devil is evil but the Devil is intelligent,” Mr Correa said.

These kinds of comments have struck a chord with an otherwise disillusioned electorate, seemingly enabling him to attract an estimated one-third of voters.

After three presidents were ousted in the last decade, many Ecuadoreans are looking for change. More than half of the 13 million population live in poverty, many of them indigenous communities that still speak Quechua language before Spanish.

An economic crisis in 1999 forced Ecuador to default on its foreign debt and assume the dollar as its currency. Last year civil unrest forced out President Lucio Gutierrez amid claims he had abused his authority.

Although he has a middle-class background, Mr Correa is fluent in Quechua. He also has been involved in educational programmes in poor Amerindian areas, which are expected to give him a strong advantage in a country where 45 per cent of the population claim indigenous heritage. A second vote will likely be close. Mr Noboa may draw on support from traditional parties such as the Social Christians, who see Mr Correa as a threat to their influence, but Mr Correa can appeal to voters from all social classes.

“Both are anti-political candidates taking advantage of the discredited political establishment in Ecuador even if they are on different ends of the political spectrum,” said Michael Shifter at the Inter-American Dialogue think-tank.

“Whoever wins in the second round this is not exactly a recipe for stability.”

From our seat at the fourth floor Press Gallery at the UN General Assembly, we saw on Friday how the Ecuadorian Ambassador, speaking for the Latin American and Caribbean Group at the UN, was the first speaker to go over directly to the Korean Ban Ki-Moon and congratulate him before making his congratulatory speech before the General Assembly. Ecuador is another country that wants to be part of the UN establishment even though it may be entering a period of further instability. As we said at www.SustainabiliTank.info many times before - oil does not make for stability and when running out of oil - stability is further diminuished.