With the announcement that President Obama postpones his trip to Jakarta till June 2010, Indonesia was left to decide on its candidate without the prodding presence of President Obama.

Having discussed with someone in the know of the four men and one woman on the Indonesian list we posted here, it seems that Mr. Hassan Wirajud who is now Member of the Advisory Council to President Yudhyono and was the Foreign Minister who led Indonesia’s delegation at the 2007 Bali conference, has the upper hand as he is considered to be a gifted diplomat and that is what Indonesia think it will be most appreciated in New York.

The other most prominent name is Mr. Rachmat Witoelar the continuing Environment minister who was the actual President of Bali’s Conference of the Parties (COP) 13 in 2007.

The strength of both these men is that they hark back to Bali – the pre-Poznan and pre-Copenhagen times – that is when in effect the last real UNFCCC document was forged. We still think that a Brazilian candidate could find much backing also. This could be seen on the other hand as disengagement from the Dutch leadership that was started with Ms. Joke Waller-Hunter, and the look for new ideas as we witnessed in Copenhagen.

=======================================

 http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/b…

An Australian blog teaches us how elections are won at the UN.

We excerpt here parts of that article that deal with Mew York rather then Australia.

According to reports in 1996 one of the reasons for Australia’s failure to secure enough votes at that time in its bid {for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council} was that Australia was perceived as too close to the United States.
That charge appears to have currency within the Rudd Government for it has changed Australia’s voting patterns at the United Nations since announcing its bid, most noticeably with regard to support for Israel.

There is a deep suspicion that Mr Rudd has been seeking to win the support of Arab nations, leading to suggestions from the Arab League and the Syrian Ambassador that Australia should further distance itself from Israel if it hoped to win their support for the UNSC bid.

There is also concern about the actual cost of the bid, which is officially budgeted at $11.2 million.
This is merely the tip of a potential iceberg.

Considerable time and effort is being devoted to the campaign from within our diplomatic resources.
The Governor-General last year undertook a tour of nine African nations, estimated to cost more than $700,000, which involved actively lobbying for votes.

The Rudd Government has also massively increased the aid budget in the year prior to the vote and there are growing concerns that it will be used to buy votes, particularly in Africa and Latin America, where there are large numbers of UN votes.

Jenny Hayward-Jones of the Lowy Institute criticised this widespread use of aid as a poor use of taxpayers’ money and noted that “the interest in Africa and Latin America of late is really motivated by Australia’s desire to be elected to the UN Security Council.”
I acknowledge that there is great need for aid in these regions, but significant increases in Australian aid can have a bigger impact in our neighbourhood within the  Asia Pacific region, where it is more closely aligned to our national interest.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday announced a new head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Ban told a press conference here that American foreign policy expert Anthony Lake, who was an adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama, will head the UN children’s agency.

“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Anthony Lake as the new executive director of UNICEF,” Ban said. “He brings with him a wealth of experience after a long and distinguished career with the United States government.”

Lake is to succeed Ann M. Veneman, who became UNICEF’s fifth Executive Director on May 1, 2005.

In late December last year, the secretary-general said Veneman would not seek a second term as the UNICEF head.

Veneman’s term expires on April 30, and Ban said that the appointment of Lake, 70, will take effect on May 1. Ban said that Lake will assume his responsibility in the first week of May.

“I thank Ms. Veneman for her immense dedication, energy and determination to improve the lives of children around the world,” Ban said. “She leaves behind an organization well-equipped for the enormous challenges ahead.”

Lake joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1962, and in 1969 accompanied then-National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger on his first secret meeting with North Vietnamese negotiators in Paris.

Lake was one of Bill Clinton’s chief foreign policy advisers when he ran for U.S. president in 1992 and became his national security adviser when he won.

At present, Lake is a professor at School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University.

Source: Xinhua

It is neat press-release re-write!

Mr. Lake also was nine years on the board of the US Fund for UNICEF, including a stint as chair from 2004-2007.

President Obama did not suggest backing Ms. Veneman for a second term at UNICEF.

Bolivia summit to seek global climate change referendum.
(AFP) LA PAZ — An alternative “people’s conference” on climate change in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba in April will seek to advance an international global warming referendum, organizers said Tuesday.

“The only thing that can save mankind from a [climate] tragedy is the exercise of global democracy,” said Bolivia’s United Nations Ambassador Pablo Solon, a key organizer of the summit.

A priority of the meeting would be discussing the possibility of a global referendum “with the goal of reaching two billion people,” he told reporters.

Thousands of people, mostly members of social movements and indigenous groups, are expected to attend the People’s World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights on April 20-22.

Organizers say it is intended to “give a voice to the people” on climate change after the perceived failure of the U.N.-sponsored Copenhagen summit on the same issue.

Solon said he expected participants from 94 countries and representatives from 70 governments to attend, without giving further details.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, who in January issued an open invitation to the conference to governments, scientists, and social movements, has said a number of South American presidents would also attend.

But the outlines of the conference remain vague, and it is so far shaping up to be something between an environmental forum and a political rally. It is expected to tackle many of the themes Morales raised at the Copenhagen summit last year, including creating a “climate court of justice” and the need to “change the system of capitalist consumerism” — proposals that could be included in the suggested global vote.

Solon said the summit’s conclusions would be delivered to the next U.N.-sponsored meeting on climate change, currently scheduled for December in Mexico.

 http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/03/…

Brazilian president lays wreath at Arafat’s grave.
March 17, 2010
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Brazil’s president laid a wreath at Yasser Arafat’s grave after refusing to visit the grave of Theodor Herzl.

President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva met with Palestinian Authority leaders Wednesday in Ramallah.

“I dream of an independent and free Palestine living in peace in the Middle East,” Silva said while in the West Bank. “I believe the Palestinians and Israelis are going to share the land of their forefathers.”

Israel had criticized Lula’s plan to visit the grave of the PLO’s Arafat prior to the visit. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman boycotted Lula’s address to the Knesset Monday afternoon to protest his refusal to visit the grave of Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism.

Lula said prior to his trip to Israel and the Palestinian Authority this week that other countries, like Brazil, should help mediate between Israel and the Palestinians.

——————–
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con…

U.N. chief chides Israel for confidentiality breach.

By Louis Charbonneau
Reuters , Tuesday, March 16, 2010; 3:28 PM

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on
Tuesday criticized Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for
releasing information about what Ban said was a confidential telephone
call between the two men.

“I’m troubled by just a unilateral announcement,” Ban told reporters
when asked about media reports that Lieberman had urged the
secretary-general to be more balanced with Israel.

“That is regrettable,” said Ban, who was visibly upset. “Normal
diplomatic practice is that you agree in advance” on the release of
information about such conversations to the media.

Ban added that that the point of that practice is “to preserve
confidentiality and diplomatic and political sensitivities.”

In the phone conversation, Lieberman told Ban that Israel had taken a
number of positive steps to improve prospects for peace with the
Palestinians and expected a more objective and constructive approach
from the international community, the Israeli news site Ynet reported.

Among the under-appreciated steps that Lieberman told Ban Israel had
taken were a construction freeze on West Bank settlements, the removal
of checkpoints and other gestures, but the only response has been more
complaints and pressure on Israel, Ynet said.

An Israeli political source in Jerusalem confirmed that the Ynet
report was accurate.

Last week Ban publicly condemned Israeli plans to build 1,600 more
homes on occupied land where Palestinians seek their own state,
echoing earlier comments from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden during his
trip to the Middle East.

Israel’s announcement has threatened to torpedo U.S. efforts to launch
indirect peace talks between the two sides after a 15-month hiatus in
direct negotiations.

Ban said he reiterated his condemnation to Lieberman and explained why
he plans to visit the Gaza Strip soon.

“But there was no mention of that” in the information about their
phone conversation released to Israeli media, he added.

Ban will attend a meeting of the Middle East negotiating “Quartet” –
the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations
– in Moscow later this week. After that, he heads to Israel, the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Dear All,

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in partnership with the African Union, is organizing the First Conference of Ministers Responsible for Meteorology in Africa, in order to maximise the potential of weather and climate information for societal benefits.

The Conference will be hosted by the Government of Kenya from 12 to 16 April 2010, in Nairobi.

Journalists are cordially invited to a press conference about this event.

Date and Time: Tuesday 16 March 2010 at 12h00 Venue: Palais des Nations, Room III, Geneva, Switzerland.

—-

Speakers:    Mr Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General, WMO

Mrs Khadija Rachida Masri, Permanent Observer, African Union

Mr Philip Richard Owade, Permanent Representative of Kenya

Ms Shree Badoo Chekitan Servansing, Permanent Representative of Mauritius and Coordinator of the African Group

will be represented at the press conference. Mr Jeremiah Lengoasa, Deputy-Secretary General, and Mr Alioune N’Diaye, Director of the Regional Office for Africa, WMO, will also be present.

Journalists not accredited to the United Nations Office at Geneva but who wish to participate in the press conference are kindly requested to contact Ms Catherine Fegli: tel: +41 22 917 23 13; fax: +41 22 917 00 73; e-mail: cfegli@unog.ch, and visit the following link:

www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpPages)/70991F6887C73B2280256EE700379C58?Open

For information about the African Ministerial Conference:

http://www.wmo.int/pages/africaconf/index_en.html

For more information please contact the Communications and Public Affairs Office, WMO

Ms Carine Richard-Van Maele, Chief, Tel: +41 (0)22 730 83 15, E-mail: cpa@wmo.int ,

Ms Marie Heuzé, Special Advisor, Tel: + 41 (0)22 730 84 78, E-mail: mheuze@wmo.int

Ms Gaëlle Sévenier, Press Officer, Tel: +41 (0) 22 730 8417, E-mail: gsevenier@wmo.int

Internet website: http://www.wmo.int

nbsp;ttp://www.coha.org/brazils-growing-pains…

Brazil’s Growing Pains

This analysis was prepared by Council of Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) Research Associate William Mathis.
Posted 15 Mar 2010

By now the emergence of Brazil as a major power not only in the Western Hemisphere, but also on the world stage, is an undisputed fact. The country, until recently mentioned outside its borders for seldom more than in reference to the Girl from Ipanema, is now on everybody’s lips. Brazil is possibly one of the globe’s most popular and successful nations, experiencing limited negative impact from the global economic crisis that ravaged Western economies, and having beaten out both Chicago and Tokyo for home field advantage in the 2016 Summer Olympics. But as Brazil wows the international crowds with its economic, diplomatic and athletic prowess, the distance that the nation still needs to traverse before solidifying its South American powerhouse status could be formidable.

Noisy Neighbors
One of the most remarkable aspects of Brazil’s supersonic growth is the leverage it has developed on a continent so recently dominated by the U.S. foreign policy agenda. While its government may not be seeking a socialist Bolivarian Revolution, it is far enough to the left as to be deemed sabotage-worthy by Cold War standards and has perfectly cordial ties with left-leaning ideological foes of Washington, such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Iran.

On March 3, 2010, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a stopover in Brazil to meet with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Foreign Minister Celso Amorim to discuss a central issue for Washington’s foreign policymakers, deterring Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. While Iran’s nuclear ambitions thus far have not been proven to extend beyond peaceful energy purposes, the Obama administration is not taking any chances and with distinctly mixed results has been attempting to gather support around the world for tougher sanctions against Tehran. Despite not too subtle pressure from Clinton, Lula and Amorim were prepared to not give in to her demands, refusing to support sanctions outright, although not ruling out the possibility of backing them at a later date. Similarly, in November of 2009, Brazil abstained from voting against Iran in an IAEA vote in the aftermath of the disclosure of the secret existence of an uranium enrichment site in Qom. In May, the Brazilian president is scheduled to meet with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This type of resistance to Washington’s focused policy goals has become characteristic of Brazilian foreign policy making, demonstrating to the US and the rest of the world that the country’s decisions are no longer automatically based on Washington’s interests, but rather its own.
However, despite Brasilia’s swelling activism it may be premature to rule out Washington’s influence on Brazil’s policy decisions. The specific statement that support for sanctions could come later may possibly be linked to election season politics. In addition to the Brazilian president and foreign minister, Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s pick to be the next president, was also present for negotiations with Secretary Clinton. With presidential elections looming on October 3, it would be unwise for Rousseff to portray herself as bending to Washington’s will even if more supportive measures toward the U.S. are indeed planned for the future.

Battle Wounds
In the wake of the bitter diplomatic row that has been ongoing as a result of the 2009 coup against the democratically-elected government of Honduras, there is much fence-mending to be done to heal the somewhat fractured relationship between Brazil and the U.S. Brazilian policy makers were among the most out-spoken critics of Tegucigalpa’s de facto government of golpista Roberto Micheletti and one of President Manuel Zelaya’s most powerful proponents. They even housed the ousted leader in their embassy for months after his secret return to Honduras.
While initially taking a far more cautious approach than most other hemispheric countries in denouncing the coup, the U.S. eventually joined ranks with its Latin American peers. However, its support for Zelaya was short-lived and amounted to far less than meets the eye, seemingly geared more to courting hard-line Senator DeMint’s (R-SC) release of his “hold” on several State Department nominations than fighting to exonerate any democratic principle. As a result, the Obama administration ended up eventually backing elections without the ousted president’s a priori restoration, a move strongly opposed by a majority of countries in the region, including Brazil. With the assured support of the US for the compromised elections, any reconciliation dialogue between Zelaya and Micheletti became irrelevant and ultimately dissipated completely. While few of the region’s nations recognized the legitimacy of the elections that gave office to newly elected President Porfirio Lobo as the new leader of Honduras on 29 November 2009, he was inaugurated two months later.
Despite its best diplomatic efforts, Brazil was ultimately unable to alter the course of events in Honduras, in effect losing a testy diplomatic tiff with the US. For the time being, Brazil continues to stand by its position that presidential elections conducted under the tutelage of the illegal government headed by Micheletti were prima facie illegitimate. But as Brazil tries to preserve its stand, events in Honduras are grinding on, and it’s just a matter of time before Washington will be able to work its will on Lula. Meanwhile, Washington will be doing what it can to force the country and the region to forget the tawdry events that began on June 28. On the same day that Clinton was meeting with the Brazilian president, she also was stopping in Costa Rica to announce, among other news, that the $31million in US aid to Honduras that had been suspended during the coup would now be restored. Clinton also praised the Lobo government and urged the region’s leaders to reinstate Honduras to the OAS.
If the State Department was humiliated by the outcome in Honduras—since it surely cannot say that its shabby script showed any class—it was Brazilian diplomacy that upheld the principle of honor and pro-democracy driven policy over the Honduran affair. One could even argue that it was the Bureau of Western Hemispheric Affairs rather that Zelaya that played the role of the joker. The US has clearly pursued a near-unilateral position on the issue, isolating itself from regional leaders like Brazil by correctly assuming that some other nations like Oscar Arias’ Costa Rica, Alan Garcia’s Peru as well as Alvaro Uribe’s Colombia were prepared to chuck their democratic fandango in favor of an open market and other little favors from Washington. Nevertheless, Washington correctly calculated that its self-serving strategy eventually would save the day with or without outside help.

Tectonic Shift
While Brazil may have been successfully side swiped by the US in relation to the former’s principled response to the Honduran coup, the issue seems not to have in any way augmented Washington’s political capital in the region, nor has it entirely convinced Brasilia to be more malleable to Washington’s demands. Brazil’s continued resistance to tougher sanctions on Iran coupled with its vocal criticism of the logic of President Obama’s policy is only part of that country’s continued flair for independence. Brazil then went on to prove itself to be capable of leadership in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, as it continued its sometimes troubled role of coordinating UN relief efforts on the islands.
At the same time Brazil has made significant steps to replace what many now see as the lame duck OAS now rivaled by a new bloc of Caribbean and Latin American States consisting of an expanded Rio Group, which excludes the US along with Canada. The now expanded Rio Group has traditionally been seen as a talk show and little else. Now Brazil appears driven to institutionalize the group, turning it into a far more powerful actor in the region which rapidly could come to rival the importance of the OAS, or even replace it. Washington already has been feeling somewhat isolated in the OAS lately, where for decades it has been the sole nation to continue to oppose Cuba’s reintegration into the organization, an issue that it brought up once again at the most recent UN General Assembly.
A preeminent Rio Bloc, free of any US involvement, could come to further isolate the US from the region while confirming Brazil’s leadership position which long has been in the offing. The independent and laid back style of Brazil’s foreign policy making is warmly welcomed in the region as a friendlier and more respectful alternative to Washington’s traditional dictates, which in the past has treated Latin America with little respect. If Brazil can maintain its current rate of growth, neither the US nor the rest of the global community will be able to ignore its importance, especially as it comes to occupy a defining role in a region that is home to some of the largest deposits of oil, natural gas, lithium and scores of other commodities. Such importance may even be transformed into a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, a feat that Brasilia has long sought after and which would likely permanently alter the balance of power both regionally and globally.

From: openDemocracy
Date: Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 10:07 AM
Subject: Watch Amartya Sen;s Demos lecture live on openDemocracy

Watch Amartya Sen’s Demos lecture live on openDemocracy tonight at 18.30 GMT.

Towards a people-focused democracy

Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize winning economist, gives the Demos Annual Lecture today at 18.30 GMT. In debate with Ed Miliband, Shirley Williams and Aryeh Neier, he explores the themes of power, justice and capabilities in the contemporary political landscape. Catch the Lecture and debate here, and post your question to the panel chair here or follow the debate on Twitter.

Also today, the Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society publishes its report calling for a radical devolution of power and active voice from parliament to the family.  Geoff Mulgan, Inquiry Chair, in the first of this week’s series of articles – which are all being published on openDemocracy – argues that three crises have triggered a major civil society challenge.

Read the first Making Good Society article here

Rosemary Bechler, Contributing editor, openDemocracy

Elephants or Ivory — Amazing response!

The worldwide UN ban on ivory trading could soon be lifted — a decision that could wipe out Africa’s vulnerable elephants. But a number of a African nations are pushing to uphold the ban. Let’s send them a stampede of support to save the elephants. Sign the skyrocketing petition below, and forward this email widely:

Wow — the petition to protect endangered elephants from ivory poachers is exploding — in just over 72 hours, more than 300,000 of us have signed the call to the UN to uphold the ban on ivory trading and save whole populations of these magnificent animals. The crucial UN vote is expected this week.

Tanzania and Zambia are lobbying the UN for special exemptions from the ban, but this would send a clear signal to the ivory crime syndicates that international protection is weakening and it’s open-season on elephants. Another group of African states have countered by calling to extend the trade ban for 20 years.

Our best chance to save the continent’s remaining elephants is to support African conservationists. We only have days left and the UN Endangered Species body only meets every 3 years. Click below to sign our urgent petition to protect elephants, and forward this email widely — the petition will be delivered to the UN meeting in Doha:
 http://www.avaaz.org/en/protect_the_elep…

Over 20 years ago, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) passed a worldwide ban on ivory trading. Poaching fell, and ivory prices slumped. But poor enforcement coupled with ‘experimental one-off sales’, like the one Tanzania and Zambia are seeking, drove poaching up and turned illegal trade into a lucrative business — poachers can launder their illegal ivory with the legal stockpiles.

Now, despite the worldwide ban, each year over 30,000 elephants are gunned down and their tusks hacked off by poachers with axes and chainsaws. If Tanzania and Zambia are successful in exploiting the loophole, this awful trade could get much worse.

We have a one-off chance this week to extend the worldwide ban and repress poaching and trade prices before we lose even more elephant populations — sign the petition now and then forward it widely:
 http://www.avaaz.org/en/protect_the_elep…

Across the world’s cultures and throughout our history elephants have been revered in religions and have captured our imagination — Babar, Dumbo, Ganesh, Airavata, Erawan. But today these beautiful and highly intelligent creatures are being annihilated.

As long as there is demand for ivory, elephants are at risk from poaching and smuggling — but this week we have a chance to protect them and crush the ivory criminals’ profits — sign the petition now:
 http://www.avaaz.org/en/protect_the_elep…

——————–

Our idea – if Tanzania and Zambia get their way it would be right to start a campaign to boycott tourism to these countries.      Did anyone think that Canada and Japan might also be helped to changing behavior by similar means when traditional killing of seals and whales is what they do? The US has said that it will prosecute and penalize a sushi restaurant that served whale-meat, so invoking penalties might work. If nothing else it will make us feel good for having reacted to someone’s lack of honesty.

Beijing+15, Women and Poverty Posted, on 01 March 2010.
More Educated Are Not More Equal – When it comes to female education rates, progress has been made around the world.

By Mario Osava*
When it comes to female education rates, progress has been made around the world, and in many countries girls and young women have outnumbered and outperformed boys and men at all levels of schooling for decades. Nevertheless, these advances have yet to translate into greater equity in employment, politics and social relations.

In Brazil, for example, 53.3 percent of newly enrolled university students in 2007 were women, who have almost consistently accounted for 55 percent or more of first-year students over the last 15 years. Moreover, the proportion of women among university graduates every year is over 60 percent, which demonstrates that they are more successful students as well.

Females represent a majority at every level of education in Brazil, and the average rate of schooling among Brazilian women is more than one year higher than that of men. Yet women continue to earn 30 percent less than men for the same work, and they occupy a mere 56 of the 594 seats in the Brazilian Congress.

In the Philippines, where women have scored higher than men on literacy for many years, 17.83 percent of women graduate from college compared to 8.24 percent of men, according to data from the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW).

But women tend to pursue higher studies in areas like education and health, while men represent over 80 percent of engineering and law students.

Women also comprise the overall majority among university students in South Africa, although not within traditionally male disciplines like engineering. And while women now have much more significant representation in academia, this trend does not continue to the highest ranks.

In Chile as well, women outnumber men in all areas of education, according to the government’s 2009 Territorial Gender Inequity Index, which is based on literacy rates, years of schooling and net coverage of primary and secondary education. But women make up only 42 percent of the active workforce, and earn 30 percent less than their male colleagues.

“Education alone cannot work miracles,” says Fulvia Rosemberg, a researcher at the Brazilianbased Carlos Chagas Foundation. When it comes to overcoming the inequality of opportunities between the sexes, changing values and attitudes is much more complex, she noted, adding, “As long as child care is not available for all families, there will be no structural changes in women’s participation in the labour market.”

Brazil is a prime example. Only 18 percent of children aged three and under are enrolled in daycare centres, said Rosemberg, who is also a professor at the Catholic University of São Paulo. Moreover, at most Brazilian schools, children only attend classes for half a day, and since women are primarily responsible for child care within the family, this extra responsibility clearly deprives them of “comparable conditions” to men with regard to employment opportunities, she told TerraViva.

Around the world, according to UNESCO’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2010, the proportion of girls among children not in schooling fell from 58 to 54 percent between 1999 and 2007. In other words, while progress has been made, girls still have less access to education than boys.

In sub-Saharan Africa, there were 89 girls for every 100 boys enrolled in primary school in 2006, according to the most recent Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report. The situation is even worse in secondary school, where girls account for only 80 percent of enrolment. In general, girls account for 55 percent of the out-of-school population.

But there are encouraging signs, nonetheless. “Communities have realised that educating girls tends to give higher dividends,” commented Muleya Mwananyanda, coordinator of the Global Campaign for Education’s Global Action Week. Seventeen of the 41 sub-Saharan African countries listed in UNESCO’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2010 have achieved gender parity in primary education.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, there were 107 girls for every 100 boys enrolled in secondary school in 2006, while in East and Southeast Asia the number of girls was 101 and 102 for every 100 boys, respectively, reflecting even higher female enrolment than the gender parity seen in the industrialised North.

But the second-largest country in Latin America, Mexico, has seen a backslide in the education policies implemented in pursuit of gender equity following Beijing.

Advances in school enrolment and attendante resulted in equivalence in male-female enrolment, and efforts were made to achieve greater gender balance in professional and post-graduate training and to eliminate gender stereotypes, says Clara Jusidman, president of the non-governmental Citizens and Social Development Initiative.

However, since 2000 and the arrival in power of the conservative National Action Party – first under Vicente Fox and subsequently Felipe Calderón, the president since 2006 – the education system has seen a resurgence of old values and stereotypes around the roles of men and women.

Today, there are numerous Mexican states governed by conservative politicians that do not permit textbooks with information on sex education and reproductive rights, said Jusidman.

————

*With additional reporting from Nastasya Tay (Johannesburg), Kara Santos (Manila), Emilio Godoy (Mexico City) and Daniela Estrada (Santiago).

At the UN meeting of women commemorating Beijing+15, we picked up a TerraViva IPS handout that made us aware that THE WOMEN OF IRAQ MISS SADDAM. The fscts are that under secular Dictator Saddam Hussein the women had it better then under the present touted democracy.

——–

Women Miss Saddam.
Abdu Rahman and Dahr Jamail, March 13, 2010
 http://original.antiwar.com/jamail/2010/…

BAGHDAD – Under Saddam Hussein, women in government got a year’s maternity leave; that is now cut to six months. Under the Personal Status Law in force since Jul. 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women had most of the rights that Western women do.

Now they have Article 2 of the Constitution: “Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation.” Sub-head A says “No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam.” Under this Article the interpretation of women’s rights is left to religious leaders – and many of them are under Iranian influence.

“The U.S. occupation has decided to let go of women’s rights,” Yanar Mohammed, who campaigns for women’s rights in Iraq, says. “Political Islamic groups have taken southern Iraq, are fully in power there, and are using the financial support of Iran to recruit troops and allies. The financial and political support from Iran is why the Iraqis in the south accept this, not because the Iraqi people want Islamic law.”

With the new law has come the new lawlessness. Nora Hamaid, 30, a graduate from Baghdad University, has now given up the career she dreamt of. “I completed my studies before the invaders arrived because there was good security and I could freely go to university,” Hamaid tells IPS. Now she says she cannot even move around freely, and worries for her children every day. “I mean every day, from when they depart to when they return from school, for fear of abductions.”

There is 25-percent representation for women in parliament, but Sabria says “these women from party lists stand up to defend their party in the parliament, not for women’s rights.” For women in Iraq, the invasion is not over.

The situation for Iraq’s women reflects the overall situation: everyone is affected by lack of security and lack of infrastructure.

“The status of women here is linked to the general situation,” Maha Sabria, professor of political science at Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad tells IPS. “The violation of women’s rights was part of the violation of the rights of all Iraqis.” But, she said, “women bear a double burden under occupation because we have lost a lot of freedom because of it.

“More men are now under the weight of detention, so now women bear the entire burden of the family and are obliged to provide full support to the families and children. At the same time women do not have freedom of movement because of the deteriorated security conditions and because of abductions of women and children by criminal gangs.”

Women, she says, are also now under pressure to marry young in family hope that a husband will bring security.

Sabria tells IPS that the abduction of women “did not exist prior to the occupation. We find that women lost their right to learn and their right to a free and normal life, so Iraqi women are struggling with oppression and denial of all their rights, more than ever before.”

Yanar Mohammed believes the constitution neither protects women nor ensures their basic rights. She blames the United States for abdicating its responsibility to help develop a pluralistic democracy in Iraq.

“The real ruler in Iraq now is the rule of old traditions and tribal, backward laws,” Sabria says. “The biggest problem is that more women in Iraq are unaware of their rights because of the backwardness and ignorance prevailing in Iraqi society today.”

Many women have fled Iraq because their husband was arbitrarily arrested by occupation forces or government security personnel, says Sabria.

More than four million Iraqis were estimated to have been displaced through the occupation, including approximately 2.8 million internally. The rest live as refugees mainly in neighboring countries, according to a report by Elizabeth Ferris, co-director of the Brookings Institution-University of Bern Project on Internal Displacement.

The report, titled, “Going Home? Prospects and Pitfalls For Large-Scale Return Of Iraqis,” says most displaced Iraqi women are reluctant to return home because of continuing uncertainties.

The Washington-based Refugees International (RI) says in a report “Iraqi Refugees: Women’s Rights and Security Critical to Returns” that “Iraqi women will resist returning home, even if conditions improve in Iraq, if there is no focus on securing their rights as women and assuring their personal security and their families’ well-being.”

The RI report covered internally displaced women in Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region and female refugees in Syria. “Not one woman interviewed by RI indicated her intention to return,” the report says.

“This tent is more comfortable than a palace in Baghdad; my family is safe here,” a displaced woman in northern Iraq told RI.

The situation continues to be challenging for women within Iraq.

“I am an employee, and everyday go to my work place, and the biggest challenge for me and all the suffering Iraqis is the roads are closed and you feel you are a person without rights, without respect,” a 35-year-old government employee, who asked to be referred to as Iman, told IPS.

“To what extent has this improved my security?” she asked. “We have better salaries now, but how can women live with no security? How can we enjoy our rights if there is no safe place to go, for rest and recreation and living?”

——————————
(*Abdu, our correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who reports extensively on the region) (Inter Press Service)

The following is a contribution from Phillip F. Henshaw where he argues that when we try to answer a problem, most obviously by spending money to find a solution and provide and answer, we at the same time do indeed create newer levels of problems that will need more complicated answers and will require even higher levels of funds. We try to fight nature rather then learn from it and I suggest we look at the arguments and use them as a new playing field for policy makers. What we hope with this is to enlarge the circle of the debate by letting others come up with contentions that there may be additional playing fields that are harder to quantify. We do not intend to stop there then and ask – try please nevertheless to see if you can yet, in rational ways, answer this need to decide what steps must be taken when one decides on priorities.   With funds that are not unlimited – what are the categories of problems we tackle then first? (the editor)

In effect, we tried already once to tackle these issues under: http://www.sustainabilitank.info/2010/03… but I have to confess that we did not get very far.

Henshaw wrote then – “Even the best of solutions, or could I say *especially* the best of solutions, tend to lead people not having foresight into the deepest sort of trouble.   Eradicating Smallpox was greeted as proof we could overcome any great threat of nature, but incidentally also did serve to greatly multiply people and kicked off our great completely unaffordable profit/science healthcare spiral.   That this is what our healthcare crisis is really about sort of just dawned on me.

What makes healthcare an all but incurable growing addiction is the combination of:

1) our being mortal, so the more healthcare we get the more we physically need, and 2) that this has become the last great growth industry for American capitalism.

It combines the economic arts we are most proud of, science, finance, good works and marketing, to create an incurable and unaffordable economic addiction to disease.

That healthcare has become a genuine cancer by multiplying cures and costs toward the exhaustion of the economy, is a true Gordian Knot of moral quandaries rapidly bankrupting everyone.

Has our talent for controlling nature really become incurable?  … destined to overwhelm us with its natural complications?   That very dilemma also seems to be one that nature solves in making literally every perfect thing she makes, though… i.e. that she somehow doesn’t get carried away with limitless problem solving, and is able to make things whole and perfect anyway.

It’s ‘a long shot’, of course, but this suggests we really need to change.     If we weren’t so busy telling nature how to behave maybe there actually are secrets to find in how she does things worth studying.”

———–

Vicious spirals & their relief – food for thought about solutions that multiply problems.

By  P.F. Henshaw

There are problems that get progressively worse as you work on solving them, often because strategies don’t fit  changed circumstance.   The worst trouble, of course, comes from having strategies that define the environment as part of the model.  Then if the environment changes behavior your model would not have a way of telling you about it.

Figure 1 US Healthcare costs, doubling at 2x the rate of GDP

Take for instance the case of Healthcare costs explosion. Once you see the pattern of wonderful solutions resulting in a unwanted side effects – the health care spiraling costs – it becomes a Type III problem that some may define as “solving the wrong problem”.

We got an entry strategy without an exit strategy.   The same pattern is visible in the environmental impact explosion or when looking at the great financial bubbles.

Basically what happens is that you find people sticking with an old solution and failing to notice the emerging moral dilemmas that could guide them to better choices.

In essence, already J. M. Keynes did see a dilemma coming for economies as a whole, but was ridiculed for it.  Everyone’s best solution for all economic problems was accumulating investment.  He brought up the approaching natural limits of money and what a sustainable economy would need (1).   Paraphrasing, he observed that a non-growing economy would still need to maintain a positive rate of return on investments.   It would then go ever deeper in debt to itself, if its creditors did not spend enough of their earnings to keep the level of financial investment and physical production in balance – bringing about “peak money” at the same time as “peak stuff”.

He of course didn’t phrase it in modern terms that way.  He told it as a parable, he called it “the widow’s cruse” (2) {“However much of profits entrepreneurs spend on consumption, the increment of wealth belonging to the entrepreneurs remains the same as before. Thus, profits, as a source of capital increment for entrepreneurs, are a ‘widow’s cruse’ which remains undepleted, however much be devoted to riotous living”}(J.M.Keynes, Treatise on Money, 1930: p.139) .

Keynes further told it as a story of Elijah and a “more favorable possibility” for limiting the growth of debt as the economy approached natural limits than having conditions become “sufficiently miserable” to bring the net rate of returns on investment to zero.  It’s a variation of the very ancient tradition of debt forgiveness, researched by Michael Hudson (3).  In Keynes version, though, *there are no defaults*.   Pity that his thinking on the subject was treated so dismissively.

The reason it seems so strange is that it implies changing the entire financial game at a time when it’s working fine, and doesn’t need to, an idea that people might use foresight.   It seems irrational!    Many natural growth systems do the very same strange thing, as they grow beyond their zone of limitless freedom and discover the new environments they are entering.   They change their game from one of multiplication to one of refinement and adaptation.   You can begin to understand the systems ecology of it to think of a single living cell that discovers a way to continually multiply its control of its environment.   A single cell in the womb does that, autonomously taking up the nutrients that, to it, are “just free for the taking” and multiplies furiously from one cell to many billions before being born to try its luck with a new environment.

Any kind of natural system that begins with compound growth has to face the same dilemma.  For human economic choices in the same situation the problem is not having an explicit genetic map of how to do it.  We have to use our limited view of the world with alternately brilliant and somewhat ‘flaky’ mental equipment and make up choices as we go.    Our entry plan was multiplying our control of nature, and now we need an exit plan.

I’ve been looking at the problem regarding healthcare for a long time, but only last week really understood the moral quandary it poses.  It seems to raise the subject to the level of mortal and moral threats we face with the energy crisis, climate change, the growing extinction of species, or the financial insolvency of the world.   We’re profoundly addicted, to buying extensions to our lives for growing profit.    It started with the great early achievements of healthcare, like the universally acclaimed combination of great science and our societal commitment to good works in eradicating Smallpox.

It seems *especially* the best of solutions like these that tend to lead people to not have foresight into the deepest sort of trouble ahead.   Eradicating Smallpox was one of the kinds of proof we took as meaning we could overcome any great threat of nature.  We didn’t notice that it incidentally also served to greatly multiply the number of people on the one hand and the start of a wonderful but quite unaffordable teamwork between modern science, public service, and growing profits, while outpacing GDP.  It dawned on me that we really must face the complex moral dilemmas of somewhat turning that teamwork off somehow.

What makes healthcare an all but incurable growing addiction is the combination of 1) our being mortal, so the more healthcare we get the more we physically need, 2) that this has become the ultimate growth industry for capitalism (except circular lending.. of course) and 3) that healthcare is a net resource consumer, not a producer.

The earth is in a resource crisis and we need resources to become sustainable.  The threat combines the economic arts we are most proud of, science, finance, good works and marketing, to make a completely incurable and unaffordable economic addiction and disease.    It seems that healthcare has become a genuine cancer, multiplying cures and costs toward the exhaustion of the economy, a true Gordian knot of moral quandaries rapidly bankrupting everyone.

That there must be *some* other solution is hinted at by how nearly the same dilemma is solved by nature with literally every perfect thing she makes. Everything that becomes perfect switches plans in the middle of the story.  Growth is an amazing run of luck for some system multiplying its control of nature, and then to become sustainable finding its way of giving that up.  The models of how to do it in nature may display better timing, yes, but they also clearly show there are ways to not get carried away with limitless problem solving.  It seems there’s a way to go forward at a dead end, by switching to a strategy of making things whole and complete instead of ever more complex.

It’s “a long shot”, of course, but getting the clear message, that we need to change, is a great start.    If we weren’t so busy telling nature how to behave, for example, maybe we could look and find secrets worth studying in how she does it.   Most efforts are presently looking the other way, of course, with most economic resources still going to people trying to hang onto the failing growth system.  Even most of what is called “sustainability” is focused precisely on that, sustaining growth.  What we rather need is a new purpose, to discover how to jump off the escalator of growth at a practical place.

An important technical problem is that vicious spirals and their relief is partly a critical matter of timing.  Figure 2 shows the basic options for when to make the switch from change in relation to the past, to change in relation to the future.   It illustrates the difference between a transition timed to be smooth, and effortless, and one that’s late and increasingly destabilizing.  Physical systems have momentum in their directions of development, so as in driving a car-  late turns at too high a speed lead to fishtailing – by repeated over-corrections.  That becomes spinning and tumbling with complete loss of control for too late or sharp a turn.   So it’s important that the turn match the vehicle.

Figure 2 Having the time to make changes smoothly, or not

That view at least parallels the human dilemma of having gotten used to a limitless earth that seemed to follow our models, and belatedly realizing our need to change.   All our institutions and finances are designed for doubling assets every 20 years, for example.   Now that we’re running into nature, at scale, the vague models we had for how things worked “out there” also are clearly not what nature is following.   There are major omissions from our models, such as how natural systems have all kinds of independently animated parts, that learn as they go like we do.  Our kinds of models can’t be defined that way.

Another intriguing example of a vicious spiral is in our response to resource depletion and search for sustainable energy and other resources.   Growth naturally uses up resources at ever faster rates.  That we’re even trying to use sustainable resources for sustaining growth is the oddity.   Sustainable resources are only at all sustainable for a stable economy, not an exploding one.   Solar panels simply don’t get an ever doubling amount of sunshine is the problem.   Growing at our traditional “constant” doubling rate our energy use doubles every 30 years, along with the scale, speed and complexity of change.  We’d get confused with the speed of change long before, but also run out of earth to put solar panels on in only about 250 years, completely covering the globe.

An equally odd, but actually much more telling error is the quite widely accepted plan to reduce energy and other resource uses by conserving and making growth more efficient.   The telling thing about that is that improving economic efficiency has been known for 150 years to increase the rate of resource use and depletion, the opposite of what people now use it for.   It’s become our plan for slowing resource use and depletion.  The ratio of efficiency reductions to stimulus for energy  is 2.5.   On average saving 1 unit of energy makes it easier for the economy  to use energy and results in 2.5 units of new uses (4).

The telling feature of this is how clearly it separates what we think we can explain from what the economic system actually does.  It’s a key question for trying to understand what anyone is to believe.  It points to the possibility that the natural systems we refer to in conversation may not physically exist.  That’s a great question to ask, “is anything real out there?”   If you can tell the difference between mental models and physical things it’s easier to see the answer.

Telling the difference can be tricky of course.   To help there are things that logical constructs can do that physical systems can’t, and others that physical systems can do that logical ones can’t.  One thing physical systems can do that logic can’t is to change organization fluidly by themselves.   One thing that logic can do that physical systems can’t is change without a proportional use of energy or continuous complex processes.

One way people are trying to make a better fit between perceived and natural worlds are in the various environmental partnership programs and group learning practices.   In a complex world groups of stakeholders with different theoretical models, life experience, approaches and interests, have a common need to find ways to help solve each other’s problems creatively.

Getting scientists and non-scientists to work together is part of the challenge.  Scientific models are defined without any environment, and without any individually animated parts.  It seems the work is hardly begun of making them into better operating manuals for environments that display little else.

There are lots of people struggling with the basic problems of sustainability science, but there seem very few who appreciate the basic questions yet.    I’m sure there are many worth mentioning for general reading – people who are careful thinkers, have a fresh real world view of natural systems, and are sometimes easy to read include: Elinor Ostrom, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Jane Jacobs, Joseph Tainter and Gerald Midgley.

One quote from Helena Norberg-Hodge (5) illustrates the point. Speaking about practical choices in response to global warming instead of as a political or economic contest she wrote:

“First, people in the South simply cannot replicate the development path taken by the North: not only has our ‘development’ already used up too much of the planet’s resources – including its ability to absorb CO2 emissions – but the South has no colonies to supply it with cheap resources and labor, no ‘Third World’ to exploit. Second, arguing for equity ignores the fact that development and globalization do not benefit the majority; they have instead been responsible for a dramatic increase in poverty, while primarily benefiting only a small wealthy elite.”

In nature, seeing the practical choices is what lets you discover the moral questions you really face, and anything else is simply abdicating the choice to understand enough to make your own choices.

The worst problem before us is how the combined effect of all these multiplying problems, the enormous catalog of liabilities that a strapped future economy won’t be able to afford.   Figure 3 is a conceptual sketch of the problem of “Throwing our energy at an impossible dream” (6).    Putting ever more energy into maintaining a growth system rapidly depletes the resources that are most profitable to deplete, while creating ever expanding overhead costs throughout the system.   Multiplying complexity till it quits is no solution.

Figure 3 The cost of investing in insolvable problems

The work of transitioning to a sustainable economy may be unprofitable or only marginally so, but it may be mostly affordable, and that’s the difference.  The irony is that our dependency on an unsustainable system is foreclosing our opportunity to transition to something that could last.

Only very conceptual work has been done on the question of where we will cross the line of vanishing physical system returns for energy invested (7)(8).  It’s nature’s version of whole system bankruptcy, when the energy overhead costs for obtaining energy exceed the returns.  There is no actual limit to our energy supplies, only to affordable energy.  Using up cheap energy supplies before methods of using expensive ones are available is as great a threat as banking on Ponzi schemes.  It’s also ironically, still the best choice for high financial returns.

To end on a positive note, being strongly pushed into discovering what our real choices are includes finding some positive things.  We need to discover what animates the world around us, and how nature succeeds in both – respecting the genius of every individual thing and finishing what seem like completely impossible design tasks.

Somehow, when running out of seed resources at the limits of their initial growth, is when nature switches to completing and perfecting her most lasting designs.   Whatever nature does always sounds impossible!   The nice part is it’s often easier to do than understand.   Immersing ourselves in studying that for a while might have large hidden rewards.

1)     J.M. Keynes 1935 The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money, chapter 16

2)     P.F. Henshaw 2008 Natural Climax http://synapse9.com/issues/NaturalClime…. note #1

3)     Michael Hudson – 1992 The Lost Tradition of Biblical Debt Cancellations  http://michael-hudson.com/articles/debt/…

4)     P.F. Henshaw 2009 Inside Efficiencies, for BioPhysical Economics 09  http://synapse9.com/pub/EffMultiplies.ht…

5)     Helena Norberg-Hodge 2010 North-South Divide And Tackling Global Warning, Countercurrents http://www.countercurrents.org/hodge2802…

6)     P.F. Henshaw 2009 Throwing our energy at an impossible dreams, picked up by a number of sites, http://energybulletin.net/50990

7)     Charles A. S. Hall, Stephen Balogh, David J. R. Murphy 2009 What is the Minimum EROI that a Sustainable Society Must Have?, Energies 2009, 2, 25-47;

8)     P.F. Henshaw 2009 Profiting from Scarcity, The Oil Drum http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5478

Figures:

1.     Rand 2008 Current and Projected Health Care Spending http://www.randcompare.org/us-health-car…

2.     P.F. Henshaw 2009 Growth & response model, comparing 5 development curves with constant % rates of change, switching from growth in relation to the past to growth in relation to the future at different times.

3.     P.F. Henshaw 2010 Conceptual model of increasing present investment for diminishing future returns for growth systems using current returns on investment for a guide.

 http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/11/15…

Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2010 in THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT.

The Miami Herald’s Andres Oppenheimer shares his opinion on Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva’s consideration to run for secretary general of the UN.

BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
 AOPPENHEIMER at MIAMIHERALD.COM
A short news item in Brazil’s news magazine Veja this week suggested that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is considering running for United Nations secretary general after he leaves office at the end of this year. If true, that would explain a lot of things.

Until now, the conventional wisdom was that Brazil’s recent foreign policy of open support to the world’s most ruthless dictatorships – IRAN – is tied to the country’s emergence as a new power in the world economy, and its desire to flex its muscle as a new — and fiercely independent — player in international affairs.

That’s probably true. But the Veja report — stating that Lula “has been sounded out by more than one person to be a candidate for U.N. Secretary General in 2011” — is adding a new element to the puzzle of what’s behind Brazil’s foreign policy. The Brazilian government says it will not comment on the magazine’s report.

Diego Arria, a former chairman of the U.N. Security Council, told me that “Lula would be a very strong candidate because of Brazil’s weight as an increasingly independent power, and because of his international prestige.” He added that Lula may be catering to an anti-U.S. climate at the United Nations “to position himself as a strong candidate for Secretary General.”

In recent days, Lula has made some shocking statements that are hard to understand coming from a former union leader who opposed military dictatorships. In an interview with The Associated Press, he compared Cuba’s peaceful oppositionists who are waging hunger strikes with “bandits.”

Lula, who recently visited Cuba and posed smiling with that country’s military dictator Gen. Raúl Castro shortly after political prisoner Orlando Zapata died from a hunger strike, said that hunger strikes should not be used “as a pretext” to defend human rights. Lula added, “Imagine if all bandits who are imprisoned in Sao Paulo went on a hunger strike and demanded freedom.”

Days earlier, Lula had reiterated his decision to visit Iran in May, despite international efforts to impose sanctions on that country amid growing evidence that its regime is building nuclear weapons in defiance of international rules.

Does Lula have a chance of becoming U.N. Secretary General? Most diplomats say current Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean diplomat whose term expires Dec. 31, 2011, is expected to run for reelection. Most of the recent U.N. chiefs serve two consecutive terms.

“Lula’s name would be an honor to Latin America, but it’s a tradition for Secretary Generals to run for reelection, and I don’t see a reason why Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would not go for a second term,” Chile’s U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz told me.

Others noted that, if for some reason Ban decided not to run, Asian countries may want to have one of their own diplomats at the job for another five years, in keeping with the tradition that each region gets a two-term mandate. And many point out that Lula doesn’t speak English or French, a major obstacle for a candidate to the top U.N. job.

My Opinion: Most likely, Ban will get a second term, even if many countries would want a higher-profile U.N. chief. Lula is more likely to be offered the job of head of the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, whose current director Jacques Diouf of Senegal has been on the job since 1994 and is on his way out.

Lula would be a perfect candidate for that position because of his successful “Bolsa Familia” anti-hunger program in Brazil and the international recognition it has given him. In addition, the FAO has never had a Latin American chief.

Granted, Lula may find that job too small, but — considering his awful human rights stands — it would be the perfect place for him.

———————-

Matthew Russell Lee of The Inner City Press at the UN points out another interesting angle that might explain the Munoz position:

“Meanwhile, press in Latin America and even Chilean Ambassador to the UN Munoz have been speaking of Brazil’s Lula as a possible UN Secretary General in 2012. While many in the UN might wish that this would happen, it is considered impolitic for Munoz, currently seeking an Assistant Secretary General post from Ban Ki-moon, to talk up a competing Lula candidacy.

Others say “ah ha” about the Lula story, thinking this might explain Lula’s schmoozing with Iran and other non favored regimes. What’s next, Lula praising Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa and his blood bath on the beach? Pro Rajapaksa Sri Lankans are expected to demonstrate Friday at noon in front of the UN, echoing the Non Aligned Movements letter claiming that the UN has no human rights mandate.”

———————

Interesting stuff – the Miami Cubans might not like the idea so they try to preemt the trial baloon that was lauched by the Brazilian Veja – and then, if there is a change at the UN in 2012, it can be assumed that the Asians will claim a repeat of what happened when the US has helped ease out Egyptian Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who was elected as an African, and brought in then Kofi Annan for a full two terms for Africa. If the UN decides that the MENA group – North Africa and Arab Asia – is indeed a separate region – so above example is not precedent – then there would be no opposition to a prominent Latin American to get the nod. The former East European UN region has pretty much dissolved, so the new MENA or OIC structure will be able to put forward its candidate in due time.

——————

Also, what will be the Obama Administration’s position?

For one thing, the March 21, 2010 trip of the US President to Indonesia and Australia might produce a US backing for an Indonesian to head the UNFCCC – the present opening for Dirctor General under the Climate Change Convention. As of now, the countries that have voiced they will put forward their candidates are South Africa, India, and Indonesia. Brazil has not done so – and above information may indeed allow for this more complicated play with Lula getting in the New York picture later.

from:    Marco Grasso <marco.grasso@unimib.it>
date:    Sat, Mar 13, 2010
subject:    New Book on the ethical aspects of adaptation funding

I am writing to announce  a new book series on the ethical aspects of adaptation funding, published by Springer:
Justice in Funding Adaptation under the International Climate Change Regime

 http://www.springer.com/environment/glob…)

Covering the ethical dimensions of international-level adaptation funding, a subject of growing interest in the climate change debate, this book provides a theoretical analysis of the ethical foundations of the UNFCCC regime on adaptation funding, one that culminates in the definition of a framework of justice. The text features an interpretative analysis of the ethical contents of the UNFCCC funding architecture by applying the framework of justice proposed to different areas of empirical investigation.

The book offers scholars working on climate change, international relations, and environmental politics an analysis characterized by both theoretical soundness and empirical richness. The comprehensiveness of the book’s approach should make it possible to plan and implement international adaptation funding more effectively, and eventually to define more just funding policies and practices.

UNEP NEWS: John Scanlon appointed as New Secretary-General of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES)

Geneva (Switzerland)/Nairobi (Kenya), 13 March 2010 –

John Scanlon, a top advisor at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has been named as the new Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). Mr. Scanlon was selected after a global search and selection process yielding close to 200 applicants and will assume his new position in May 2010.

Mr. Scanlon, an Australian national, joined UNEP in 2007 as the Principal Advisor on Policy and Programme to Executive Director Achim Steiner, in which capacity he also led the UNEP internal reform team.

A lawyer by training, he has had a long and distinguished career in environmental law, policy and management at national and international levels.

Among other roles, he was Australia’s first independent Commissioner on the Murray Darling Basin Commission, he held the position of Strategic Advisor to the World Commission on Dams in Cape Town (South Africa), and headed the Environmental Law Programme (Bonn, Germany) at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

He also served as Chief Executive of the Department of Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs in South Australia and held several senior roles in New South Wales including as Deputy Director-General of the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources.

CITES is an international agreement between Governments that was adopted in 1973 in order to ensure that international trade of wild animals and plans does not threaten their survival.

With some 175 Parties, the Convention is one of the world’s most important agreements on species conservation and the sustainable use of wildlife.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP, said: “John Scanlon is a highly qualified and accomplished professional in the fields of environmental law, international policy and governance. His extensive management experience in public institutions and the strategic role he played in UNEP’s recent reform programme make him an outstanding candidate for leading the CITES Secretariat at this critical juncture when the efficacy of environmental governance instruments is under scrutiny.”

CITES is currently holding its fifteenth meeting of the Conference of Parties in Doha, Qatar, from 13 to 25 March. Over 42 proposals are on the table, reflecting growing international concern about the accelerating destruction of the world’s marine and forest ecosystems through overfishing and excessive logging, and the potential impacts of climate change on the biological resources of the planet.

A growing number of commercially exploited fish have come under CITES controls in recent years. For instance, basking and whale sharks were included in Appendix II in 2002, the great white shark and the humphead wrasse in 2004, and the European eel and sawfishes in 2007.

2010 marks the International Year of Biodiversity and the role of CITES in regulating the global trade in plant and animal species is widely regarded as central to promoting the dual objectives of conservation and sustainable use.

Mr. Scanlon succeeds Mr. Willem Wijnstekers who served the CITES Convention as Secretary-General since 1999 and will retire on 1st May 2010.

For more information, please contact
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson/Head of Media, on Mobile: +254 733 632755 or +41 795965737, or Email:  nick.nuttall at unep.org

————–

CITES world conference opens with call for new wildlife trade rules Decisions on the budget will show how seriously 175 member States take new measures to conserve and manage natural riches of the planet.

Doha, 13 March 2010 – Some 1,500 delegates representing more than 170 governments, indigenous peoples, non-governmental organizations and businesses are attending the triennial world conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Bluefin tuna, elephant populations and a wide range of sharks, corals, polar bears, reptiles, insects and plants are top of the agenda for the two-week meeting.

CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers thanked Qatar for hosting the meeting and noted that existing and new challenges require increased political support for the 35-year old treaty to match present day demands. Mr Wijnstekers congratulated the member States for the many conservation successes during these years but warned that more needs to be done.  “We do not want to risk letting down the developing world in its struggle to ensure that trade in wild fauna and flora is conducted legally and sustainably”, he said.

Many of the 42 proposals on the table reflect growing international concern about the accelerating destruction of the world’s marine and forest ecosystems through overfishing and excessive logging, and the potential impacts of climate change on the biological resources of the planet. The UN General Assembly has declared 2010 the international year of biodiversity and the CITES Conference will be one of the key occasions governments have this year to take action to protect biodiversity. Member States will decide by consensus or a two-thirds majority vote for measures to conserve and manage species on the agenda.

“2010 is a key year for biological diversity. By ensuring that the international trade in wildlife is properly regulated, CITES can assist in conserving the planet’s wild fauna and flora from overexploitation and thus contribute to the improved management of these key natural assets for sustainable development”, said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, which administers the CITES Secretariat.

Other issues on the agenda include the adoption of urgent measures to tackle illegal trade of tiger products, rhinos and other species that are on the brink of extinction. It will also address the potential impacts of CITES measures on the livelihoods of the rural poor, those on the frontlines of using and managing wildlife.

For more information on CITES, see www.cites.org.
Jim Sniffen
Programme Officer
UN Environment Programme
New York
tel: +1-212-963-8094/8210
 info at nyo.unep.org
www.nyo.unep.org

Climate science: a peace-studies lesson.

Involves – Civil society Democracy and government International politics;  global security globalisation;  the politics of climate change.

by Paul Rogers, 11 March 2010. OpenDemocracy from the UK.
 http://www.opendemocracy.net/paul-rogers…

The doubters of global warming are emboldened by their new ability – as in the “climategate” affair – to put climate researchers on the defensive. But the experience of comparable assaults on the discipline of peace studies in the 1980s suggests that hostile scrutiny can have longer-term benefits for the target. The author mentions – “The articles in this series try to throw light on recent or current developments in international security. Just occasionally an element of personal experience creeps in. This is one of those.”

The last weeks of 2009 were difficult for the public face of scientific research into global warming. The failure of the climate-change conference in Copenhagen, the identification of minor flaws in the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC’s) published documentation, and the exposure of email exchanges centred on the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at England’s University of East Anglia – all raised doubts about those charged with presenting scientific evidence about climate change and renewing efforts to address the phenomenon. In the case of the email affair – given an extra conspiratorial frisson by being called “climategate” – the careful selection of damaging details by an evidently well-resourced group made it possible to erect a narrative of deception that found an uncritical welcome among climate “sceptics” and “deniers”.

Soon after the furore, Associated Press tasked a team to examine 1,073 emails from the CRU material in order to provide an independent view of what had happened. The result showed no evidence that climate change was faked (see “’ClimateGate’ Doesn’t Show Global Warming Was Faked, AP Reports”, Huffington Post, 12 December 2009); but amid a deluge of negative comment this attracted little attention, and the impression persists that the whole case for human-induced climate change has been severely hit.

For many of the researchers involved, the period of late 2009-early 2010 has been traumatic; they may have had to contend with controversy over the years, but this is something outside their experience.

The intensity of the coverage, and the zealotry of many sceptics in pressing their case, stem in part from changing global circumstances. There has long been deep opposition to any international move towards a low-carbon economy, from reasons both ideological (free-market true-believers) and commercial (the more retrograde transnational corporations, especially fossil-fuel companies). There was no great risk of such a move as long as George W Bush was in the White House; but the election of Barack Obama and the prospect of Copenhagen agreeing a successor to the Kyoto protocol made 2009 potentially a dangerous year. In this context, “climategate” has been a gift.

The peace benefit

The lesson of my own experience in the 1980s suggests that the longer-term impact might be rather different from what the architects of this affair intend. I got into working in the field of international security from teaching environmental science and resource-conflict at Huddersfield Polytechnic, west Yorkshire, in the early 1970s (and recently came across some of my thirty-five-year-old lecture notes dealing with rising atmospheric CO² levels!). I moved to Bradford’s department of peace studies at the end of the decade, just as the cold war was entering a particularly tense period; from around 1980 onwards, several of us there saw the need for independent research and writing on nuclear issues.

An early outcome (with co-authors Malcolm Dando and Peter van den Dungen) was a book about the risks and consequences of nuclear war: As Lambs to the Slaughter: The Facts About Nuclear War (1981). It struck a chord; 25,000 copies were sold in a few weeks, and that year around 500,000 people purchased an accompanying leaflet published by the environment group Ecoropa.

As Lambs… was part of a wider body of writings, much of it for an academic rather a general readership. This was the case with A Guide to Nuclear Weapons (1981) which ran to several editions and led eventually to a reference work: The Directory of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Arms and Disarmament 1990. The core purpose of this writing was to be as accurate as possible; this meant (for example) always analysing Soviet as well as western systems and postures, and having a particular focus on the actual consequences of a nuclear war.

What strikes me in retrospect – and when thinking about the problems that climate scientists now face – is how widely varied were the reactions to our work. Military officers, for example, were actually very interested in it and very ready to engage in intensive debates. I was first invited to lecture at the Royal Air Force staff college in 1982 and have continued frequently to lecture at defence colleges to the present day. Senior civil servants in Britain’s ministry of defence were also willing to discuss our work.

The reaction on the political right – then very much in the ascendancy during Margaret Thatcher’s long premiership (1979-1990) – was very different; it was bitter and sustained opposition to what we were doing. In the Thatcherite view of the world, peace studies was “appeasement studies”, indulgent to official enemies and undermining of the nation’s moral fibre. Many articles and pamphlets were written about the Bradford department’s dangerous and subversive nature; one noble member of the House of Lords (the upper chamber of Britain’s parliament) even described us as a “rest home for urban guerrillas”. Some critics preferred a more personal touch: I was called “Dr Death”, and we regularly got abusive mail (which, on one or two occasions, went as far as death-threats).

It was known that Margaret Thatcher wished “something to be done” about peace studies; but this was politically difficult, since universities still retaine considerable independence (a situation that subsequent governments have done much to redress). than now. But the University Grants Committee (UGC) came under pressure to investigate us and to its credit agreed to do so only if Bradford’s vice-chancellor allowed it; he too was prepared to say yes, but – also to his credit – only if the peace-studies staff gave their consent. We certainly would! What followed was the equivalent of today’s “subject review”. It was thorough and exacting, and the UGC made public its verdict – that the department was maintaining high standards.

That outcome lifted the pressure off peace studies for the rest of the 1980s. With the end of the cold war by the end of the decade, much of the other work our staff and research students already did – on peacekeeping, environmental conflict, and mediation, among other issues – came to the fore; this created the foundation for an expansion of our work in the 1990s.

The landscape after battle

How does this relate to “climategate”? A key factor is that we were exposed to intensive criticism and persistent scrutiny of our work virtually from day one, and this in direct consequence made us hugely aware of the need for very high levels of accuracy and impeccable referencing of sources. Access to a wide range of military and defence journals, and a huge amount of information in the public domain, meant that this was actually not so difficult; but under so much external pressure we learned to be very cautious in our analysis at a time when exaggeration on the issues we addressed was common enough.

Many of us now think that the experience made us better academics. If almost everything you write is going to be exposed to detailed examination by relentless and often politically-motivated critics, then you have to set unusually exacting standards for your work. The likely – and beneficial – implication is that climate researchers who have gone through their own test-by-fire will in future take even greater care over published assessments and analyses.

In many ways we were luckier than today’s climate researchers: for there was an intense focus on our peace-studies work from the very beginning – whereas critics of climate science are able to retrieve work published a decade and more ago, when the issue was far less controversial, in order to pinpoint a minor laxity and use it to great effect to damn the whole enterprise.

The overall effect of the setbacks to climate-science’s public face may amount to the loss of a year in the transition to a low-carbon future, but the good work being done in this area offers many grounds for optimism. The New Economic Foundation’s The Great Transition project, and Tim Jackson’s book Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet (Earthscan 2009) are but two examples. Alongside the evidence that continues to emerge about the accelerating impact of climate change, the flow of impressive research and compelling argument based on even more rigorous standards will ensure that the refusenik stance will in future become harder to make.

In the end, peace studies was made stronger by those who sought to expose it. In a similar way, the travails of climate researchers may well end up reinforcing the integrity of the science and the necessity of the low-carbon transition.

FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2010
U.S. Concerned Over Curbs on NGOs, Press, Internet.
by Jim Lobe who has a blog on US Foreign Policy *

WASHINGTON, Mar 11 (IPS) – Releasing its annual report on the state of human rights around the world, the U.S. State Department Thursday said it was increasingly concerned about curbs imposed by foreign governments on civil society groups, the press, and Internet use.

“We find ourselves in a moment when an increasing number of governments are imposing new and crippling restrictions on the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working to protect rights and enhance accountability,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who released the latest edition of the Department’s massive “Country Reports”.

“New technologies have proven useful both to oppressors and to those who struggle to expose the failures and cowardice of those oppressors,” she added, noting that Washington will seek to “hold everyone to the same standard, including ourselves” in its human rights policies. The 10-page introduction, the most closely read part of a report that covers 194 countries and runs thousands of pages in length, singled out a number of countries for special concern on a range of key human rights issues.

In contrast to introductions issued under the administration of President George W. Bush, the 2009 edition did not categorise specific countries as “the world’s most systematic human rights right violators,” countries which were almost invariably perceived as hostile to the U.S.

The 2007 report, for example, placed North Korea, Burma, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Eritrea, and Sudan in that category. Syria, Zimbabwe, and Eritrea, on the other hand, were not mentioned in this year’s introduction, although their specific Country Reports were no less critical than in previous years.

Indeed, this year’s introduction cited a number of key U.S. friends – notably Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Colombia, Egypt, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, and even Switzerland – as well as Iran, Belarus, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea, for various kinds of abuses.

“It’s a highly inclusive list,” said Tom Malinowski, the director of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch. “You can’t say there’s any glaring omission. They’re highlighting most of the emblematic situations around the world.”

The Country Reports, which were first mandated by Congress in 1976, is based on reporting by other governments, international and local NGOs, journalists, academics, and U.S. diplomats, is widely considered the world’s single most comprehensive accounting of political and civil rights conditions in specific countries.

As in the past, the latest edition does not address rights conditions in the U.S. or in U.S.-controlled facilities overseas, including detention centres at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or in Afghanistan where U.S. personnel have been accused of abuses in the past.

The latest report on Afghanistan, however, noted that “NATO and U.S. forces continue to hand over detainees to (the Afghan intelligence agency) which perpetrates human rights violations, including torture …with impunity.”

Despite a strong emphasis Clinton herself placed in a major speech last December on the importance of “human development”, including food, shelter, health, and education, as part of “our human rights agenda”, the report also does not explicitly cover economic and social rights, an omission that has drawn complaints from many human rights groups in the past.

“As an organisation, we feel this report is not comprehensive because it doesn’t address economic and social rights issues that are happening around the world,” T. Kumar of Amnesty International’s Washington office told IPS.

At the same time, the report stressed the commitment of the administration of President Barack Obama to integrate the U.S. more fully into the multilateral system for assessing and promoting human rights, noting in particular its decision to join the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva and more actively support human rights initiatives in the U.N. General Assembly and in regional organisation.

Next fall, the report said, Washington intends to appear before the UNHRC for its first Universal Periodic Review “of our own domestic human rights situation,” it said.

The introduction covered three major trends in human rights abuses during 2009.

For “countries in conflict,” where combatant civilians faced serious abuses of human rights by insurgents, terrorist or paramilitary forces, and/or government forces, the report’s introduction cited ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Burma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, the north Caucasus region in Russia, Sri Lanka and the Darfur region of Sudan.

It also cited the situation in the Palestinian territories, notably in Gaza where Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in which more than 1,000 Palestinian civilians were reportedly killed.

The introduction, however, stressed that the Operation was undertaken “in response to” rocket attacks from Gaza and made no mention of last September’s UNHRC-mandated Goldstone Report that found that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during the campaign or of the ongoing blockade by Israel against Gaza. Amnesty’s Kumar said he found the omission “disturbing”.

“It is more complicated… to deal with humanitarian questions in a place where …Hamas is largely in control,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner Thursday. He argued that the Goldstone Report had paid “inadequate attention …to the nature of the conflict (as) …an urban conflict, an asymmetrical conflict…”

The second trend highlighted by the introduction included restrictions on freedom of association and expression – including the right to send and receive information via the internet and other media – that make it more difficult for NGOs to establish themselves and press their agendas.

In that respect, the introduction cited abuses in Belarus, China, Colombia, Cuba, Iran (especially after the Jun. 12 election), North Korea, Russia, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan.

On internet freedom, on which Clinton gave a major policy address in January, the introduction was particularly harsh on China and Iran.

It said Beijing had “increased its efforts to monitor Internet use, control content, restrict information, block access to foreign and domestic Web sites, encourage self-censorship, and punish those who violated regulations.”

After the disputed election in Iran, the government had reduced its bandwidth apparently to prevent activists from uploading videos of protests and subsequently blocked access to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites during the Dec. 27 Ashura demonstrations.

Earlier this week, the administration announced exemptions to U.S. trade sanctions against Iran, Sudan, and Cuba to permit U.S. companies to export internet services and other communications software to the three countries.

A final trend stressed in the introduction cited discrimination and harassment of vulnerable groups; among them, racial, ethnic and religious minorities, the disabled, women and children, migrant workers, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals.

In that respect, China was cited for its crackdown against public interest lawyers, Tibetans, and Uighurs; Egypt for its restrictions on NGOs and attacks on Coptic Christians; Malaysia for its exploitation of foreign works; Saudi Arabia for discrimination against non-Sunni Muslims and women; and Uganda for its anti-LGBT legislation.

The introduction also expressed concern about the rise of “traditional and new forms of anti-Semitism,” particularly following the Gaza conflict; “discrimination against Muslims in Europe,” including November’s approval by Swiss voters of a constitutional amendment banning the construction of minarets; and violence against Roma in Italy and central Europe.

———————
*Jim Lobe’s blog on U.S. foreign policy can be read at http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/.

We found the report short of not mentioning the UN and other Intergovernmental organizations. such organizations could be helpful if they chose to be so – in the meantime most act according to the lowest common denominator of Member States.

We have posted several articles on yesterday’s UN attempt at staging a non- event.

It really starts with the announcement of a meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, 11:30 am to 1 pm, today, March 11, 2010, with the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN. THIS IS A CLOSED MEETING and the announcement in the Journal of the United Nations of yesterday, March 10, 2010, that says having that meeting there it does not imply any opinion or endorsement by the Secretariat of the UN.

The meeting is a Briefing on the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC – or the COP 16 of December 2010, that the UN thinks should help it extricate itself from the situation left behind by the Copenhagen COP 15. Mexico is the host and it does not want to be the home of a disaster. So that is why the UN hauled in to New York also Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC, and Professor Robert Dijkgraaf who as head of the InterAcademy Council (IAC) was asked to arrange for a review of the IPCC scientific procedures – a step very much in need now after the fact that the UN decided to cave in to the criticism from the deniers of the idea that there is soundness in the scientific evidence that CO2 emissions are not good for the health of the planet. At least they want to be able to say that damages have not been caused by humans – so why bother with this climate change effort at all?

OK – now step 2 the Journal announces for March 10, 2010, an official UN Press Conference with Mr. Rajendra Pachauri and Profesor Robbert Dijkgraaf. This announcement sounded to me quite insane. What would be the credibility of the reviewer if he lines up at what could have become in a free society at a hearing on the side of the head of the organization he is suppose to review? This really deserved two question marks. The Netherlands is an advanced State to the attention of the UN.

I was tipped off and decided to call in to  Ms. Isabelle Broyer, Chief of the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, as I wanted to get a pass to this Press Conference in order to be able to ask some good questions. As the readers of our website know, I do not hold a Press Pass to the UN since the changes in UN Administration that brought in Mr. Ban Ki-moon who replaced Mr. Sashi Tharoor with Mr. Kiyotaka Akasaka as Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information -  a move that allowed Mr. Ahmad Fawzi, the Director of News and Media Division, to revoke our pass because we did not follow his ways of thinking when it comes to reliance on oil and the essence of sustainable development and problems of global warming/climate change. That was when the job Ms. Broyer holds now was in the hands of Mr. Gary Fowlie who was moved since to another job, and Mr. Fawzi is about to retire at the end of this month also. I thought that Ms. Broyer would show now the courage to correct an evil, but she was not up to this. This caused me to make sure I get the information I was after and I knew that I was on an interesting something when I got the e-mail from Geneva, which I posted, that clearly proved to me that folks from at least two outside agencies do not want to be seen as fall guys for the New York Headquarters.

OK – now step 3 – the Appointments of the Secretary-General for March 10, 2010 include a private meeting at 12:00 pm with Dr. Pachauri followed by a 12:30 pm joint “stake-out” for the benefit of the UN correspondents. A stake-out is a stand-up event where usually the correspondents are allowed to ask questions. In this case – please no questions – just be used as props – please. The event is described in full in the article by Matthew Russell Lee we posted.

As I was at the UN anyway – for a different event – I also learned that there was an adjustment to the Briefings to the Press schedule for the day. Seemingly Professor Dijkgraaf is no push-over to his large credit – he clearly pulled away from joint appearances with those he will be called to investigate, and did not appear at that stake-out, but as the UN is in terrible need to do something on this so called “climate-gate” was given separate Press meeting time at 1 pm.

OK – now step 4 – the output from the Press events of March 10, 2010 include the self-serving “Remarks to Media on IPCC” from the UN Secretary-General that had not the courtesy of allowing questions, and a not-easy-to-get two page document by the uninitiated – “PRESS CONFERENCE ON REVIEW OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE.” This was the document used by Jeffrey Ball in his evaluation for the Wall Street Journal that we also presented.

—————-

The material follows:   http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs//2…

Press Conference on Review of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – March 10, 2010

The aim of an independent review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was to ensure the quality of its future reports, the co-chair of the scientific institute charged with that task said today.

“Our goal will be to assure nations around the world that they will receive sound scientific advice on which Governments and citizens alike can make informed decisions,” Robbert H. Dijkgraaf of the InterAcademy Council said at a Headquarters press conference.

Created by the world’s science academies in 2000, the Council aims to mobilize top scientists and engineers to provide evidence-based advice to international bodies.  IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri announced the review’s establishment amid growing attacks by sceptics following the disclosure that the Panel’s fourth assessment report, which confirmed human responsibility for global warming, contained errors in respect of the pace of the phenomenon.  Mr. Pachauri and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had then asked the InterAcademy Council to lead the independent review.

“Our task is forward-looking,” Mr. Dijkgraaf stressed, explaining that the Council had been asked to form a group that could recommend improved practices and procedures so as to ensure the quality of reports in time to impact the Panel’s fifth assessment, already under way.  That meant that the review and recommendations were required by the end of August 2010, “a very tight schedule”, he said.  Specifically, the review would examine quality control and guidelines for the types of literature appropriate for use in assessments, with special attention to non-peer review literature.  It would also look at the Panel’s procedures for Government review of IPCC materials, its handling of the full range of scientific views and its procedures for correcting errors.

Reviewers had been asked to analyse the entire IPCC process, including management, administration, transparency and the way in which the Panel handled possible errors and communicated them to policymakers and the public, he said.  They would also look at how the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Meteorological Association (WMA), the overall United Nations system and other stakeholders related to the Panel, with a view to strengthening assessments and ensuring consistent application of IPCC procedures.  Finally, they would analyse the Panel’s communication strategies to ensure that the public was kept informed of its activities.

Emphasizing the independence of the review, which would be conducted in accordance with the InterAcademy Council’s own procedures, he said neither the IPCC, UNEP, WMA, nor any related bodies, would exercise control over or oversee the review process or the final report.  The international group of experts to be assembled by the Council would serve on an unpaid, voluntary basis in all cases where the group was asked to provide advice on a particular issue, he said, adding that the United Nations would provide funds for travel and other expenses.

All draft reports of the InterAcademy Council underwent an intensive peer-review process by international experts, he said, stressing that a final report was only released to the public when the Council’s Board was satisfied that the subsequent feedback had been thoughtfully considered and incorporated.  In addition, all efforts were made to ensure that reports were free of national or regional biases.

Responding to questions, Mr. Dijkgraaf declined to comment on Mr. Pachauri’s chairmanship of the IPCC or give his own views on climate change and the Panel’s current structure, only reiterating the forward-looking nature of the review to be conducted, and pointing out that continual review was part of all scientific procedures.

Asked how he hoped to find enough scientists for an independent review when the IPCC counted thousands of the world’s top climate scientists in its ranks, he said it would be a delicate task to find the necessary diversity of scientific disciplines and people with experience of large-scale organizations.  It was also important that all involved maintain objective distance from the Panel’s work.

In response to a question as to whether the opinions of climate change sceptics would be included, he said:  “By nature every scientist is a sceptic.”  As for alleged manipulation of data at East Anglia University and various consultancy agreements that had been the subject of controversy, he said certain case studies might be part of the investigations, but the reviewers would certainly look at management and organizational issues.

Questioned further, Mr. Dijkgraaf said the number of experts to be appointed had not yet been determined, though a substantial number was needed to provide diverse expertise.  Hopefully, there would have been progress in determining the Board’s composition by a 22 March meeting.

* *** *

Further, considering that Professor Dijkgraaf expects to have his panel ready by March 22nd, we would like to point out the added importance of the full day meeting at the Earth Institute of Columbia University on March 25th – we posted.

The meeting gets added interest as the UNSG is part of that meeting, and he will be there at the home of serious scientists that may not treat him as kindly as the UN Department of Public Information. We look thus forward to further disclosures specifically that there are scientists that think the IPCC under the Pachauri ledership erred rather on the low side and not on the high side. Others may even be less kind by saying something like that both men – the UNSG and the head of the IPCC – were choices of the G.W. Bush US Administration.

Jeffrey Ball is Environment Editor and Columnist at  The Wall Street Journal. He covers the issues by pulling in the information from its sources and judges the information’s importance to business.

As  the WSJ describes him – “Jeffrey Ball is The Wall Street Journal’s environment editor. His column, “Power Shift,” appears every other Friday in the paper and chronicles the changing energy and environmental landscape.

Mr. Ball has written about energy and the environment for the Journal for a decade, having covered the oil industry from the paper’s Dallas bureau and the auto industry from the Detroit bureau. His reporting focuses on the economic viability of efforts to change the way society consumes fossil fuels.

He helped create Environmental Capital, the Journal’s daily blog on energy and the environment, and he has appeared on networks including PBS, NPR, CNN and the BBC. Before coming to the Journal in 1996, he worked as a reporter for the Charlotte (N.C) Observer and the Corpus Christi (TX) Caller-Times.

He graduated in 1990 from Yale University, where he majored in history and was editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News.           He lives in Dallas with his wife and two daughters.”

We write the above because we were impressed. – He is a good journalist – he caught on to the implications to business of the uncertainty created by the push against Climate Science and the need to clear up that uncertainty.

He published:

Climate Panel Vows Better Oversight on Research - WSJ.com
Feb 24, 2010 … Write to Jeffrey Ball at  jeffrey.ball at wsj.com …
 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424… We are not sure he was there, but he cut through the nonsense and came up with the essence. We have him take the stage on our website.

Climate Panel Details Its Review Plan: U.N. Appoints Another Global Science Body to Investigate Problems in Now-Controversial 2007 Report on Warming Trend.

By JEFFREY BALL, The Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2010.

The United Nations detailed its plans for an outside review of its beleaguered panel on climate change, amid political reverberations as critics and advocates each jockeyed to use the announcement to their advantage.

The InterAcademy Council, a body representing scientific academies around the world, is to conduct a wide-ranging review of the procedures and management of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The review, to be done by August, comes in response to revelations of questionable behavior and factual errors by some scientists who contributed to the IPCC’s 2007 report, which won a Nobel Peace Prize.

The report called climate change “unequivocal” and “very likely” caused by emissions from human activity.

Robbert Dijkgraaf, co-chair of the InterAcademy Council, said in an interview that a particularly delicate task will be to pick who participates in the review. The council needs people who have knowledge of climate science but aren’t too close to the IPCC: “Clearly you cannot be the reviewer and the reviewed at the same time,” he said. But people involved in previous IPCC reports could serve on the review committee, he said.

The council was set up in 2000 to advise international institutions such as the U.N. and the World Bank. The IPCC chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, participated in a previous council report on energy issues, but Mr. Dijkgraaf said that wouldn’t compromise the council’s objectivity.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made climate change one of the top priorities of his tenure. Mr. Ban took no questions Wednesday and didn’t directly address trhe future of Mr. Pachauri, who has faced calls to resign. But the two stood together at the U.N. podium and Mr. Ban was supportive.

“Regrettably, there were a very small number of errors” in the panel’s 2007 report, Mr. Ban said. “Remember, this is a 3,000-page synthesis of complex scientific data. I have seen no credible evidence that challenges the main conclusions of that report.” In an interview Wednesday, Mr. Pachauri said he would “certainly not” resign.

Critics of proposed greenhouse-gas regulations in the U.S. have begun using questions about the IPCC as their latest ammunition. Peabody Energy Co., one of the country’s major coal producers, filed a petition last month with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s move to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions because it relies on IPCC determinations.

The EPA said in a statement that it is confident its move will withstand legal challenge. “The question of the science is settled,” the agency said.

The IPCC expressed “regret” earlier this year that its 2007 report erroneously claimed that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035. The report also said inaccurately that about half of the Netherlands sits below sea level. IPCC leaders, including Mr. Pachauri, say an independent review is needed to try to restore public confidence in the panel.

The InterAcademy Council’s board is likely to elect members to its review committee on March 22, Mr. Dijkgraaf said. He said the committee probably will include some people who have little exposure to climate science, but have expertise in issues such as quality control of data and use of non-peer-reviewed literature. The report will go through the council’s board, which consists largely of presidents of national science academies.

“Scientific reputations will rest on this, and if it can be shown the science was sloppy, their stars will fall,” said scientific ethicist Thomas M. Powers, director of the Science, Ethics, and Public Policy Program at the University of Delaware, speaking of those involved in the IPCC report. “Apart from divining rods, the best we can do is get the smartest people in the world, the people who know science, and ask them to review their peers.”

Environmentalists said that they hoped the review would quiet criticism of the IPCC. It should “restore public confidence that has been shaken by an aggressive campaign to sow confusion about climate science,” said a statement by Peter Frumhoff, who helped to write the 2007 report and is director of science and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is among those calling for Mr. Pachauri’s resignation, on Wednesday said that the U.S. “cannot afford to continue to base our energy and environmental policies on contaminated U.N. data.”

The InterAcademy Council will probe, among other things, the IPCC’s guidelines for using non-peer-reviewed literature in its reports, how to ensure the IPCC considers a “full range of scientific views,” and how it corrects any errors in its reports once detected, Mr. Dijkgraaf said, The council also will “look at the management of the IPCC,” he said.

Neither the U.N. nor the IPCC will “exercise any control” over the study by the InterAcademy Council, Mr. Dijkgraaf said.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A10.