Uneven Predictions For World Tourism by UN World Tourism Organization. A Down For Travel to and from   Europe and the US, but increases for the Asia, Pacific, African, and Middle East Incoming Tourism – albeit at lower rate of increase.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC TURMOIL HALTS UPWARD TREND IN FOREIGN TRAVEL, WARNS UN AGENCY

The current global economic slowdown brought the growth of international tourism to a standstill in 2008 and threatens to reverse the historic four-year gains made by the industry in foreign travel, according to a report published today by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Although international tourist arrivals reached 924 million in 2008, up 16 million from 2007 or a two per cent overall increase on the year, growth stagnated in the second half of last year, hitting Europe the hardest.

The collapse of financial markets, sharp increases in commodity and oil prices and volatile exchange rate fluctuations combined to force a one per cent decline in international travel in the six months from July, a trend that is expected to continue in 2009.

A three per cent drop off in international arrivals across Europe after June meant the continent was the only region to experience stagnation over the whole year, reported the January 2009 issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.

International travel to Asia also decreased by three per cent in the second half of 2008 after double-digit growth in 2007 and a six per cent increase in the first part of 2008.

On the other hand, the Americas, up one per cent overall; Africa, up four per cent; and the Middle East five per cent; had all posted positive results in the second half of the year, although with a significant slowdown compared with the period between January and June.

The UNWTO report forecasted continued stagnation or decline for this year and beyond, but noted that the high degree of economic uncertainty makes predictions of international travel difficult. If the economy starts to show signs of an early recovery, foreign travel might grow slightly in 2009, but if the economy deteriorates further, then the current forecast might be revised downwards.

As most of the travel to the Americas and Europe originates from countries already suffering from historically severe economic recession, UNWTO expects those two regions to be the most affected with a decline of up to two per cent.

Predictions for Asia and the Pacific, on the other hand, are positive, although growth will continue to be much slower compared with the region’s performance in recent years; the same applies to Africa and the Middle East.

The UNWTO report underscored the fact that the softening of international tourism growth follows four historically strong years, with seven per cent annual growth between 2004 and 2007.

Israel builds its first ‘eco-friendly’ town.
By David Shamah
October 05, 2008
 http://web.israel21c.net/bin/en.jsp?enDi…;

It’s one thing to adopt environmentally conscious behavior, such as recycling, taking public transportation, and saving water or electricity. But that’s not enough for the future residents of the now developing community of Nurit. They plan to live green.

That’s because the Mt. Gilboa town of Nurit is set to be the first planned, eco-friendly community in Israel, with infrastructure and services designed not just to encourage, but to actually enforce environmentally responsible behavior. If you’re planning on living in Nurit, says Danny Atar, chairman of the Gilboa Regional Council, you’re by definition willing to go out of your way to save water, avoid excess waste, and in general reduce your carbon footprint. “Otherwise, Nurit is not for you,” he says.

“We are also considering putting up a new town to attract more residents here from the center of the country, and the whole project just sort of made sense,” Atar tells ISRAEL21c. “Thus was Nurit born.”

***

First homes ready in a year:

And, after intense study and consultations with environmental experts around the world, the town is ready for prime time; work has begun on infrastructure, and the first 100 homes will be ready next year. By 2012, there will be 400 families living in Nurit, Atar says.

Located on Mt. Gilboa itself, Nurit will take advantage of the mountain’s wind and sun to generate power, and will install dozens of wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, enough to provide electricity for all the public buildings in Nurit – and then some.

“We recently got approved for a program by the Israel Electric Company, where residents and public buildings will be able to mount solar PV units on their roofs and sell the electricity to the IEC,” says Atar.

“Together with turbines to generate electricity from wind, we expect that the electricity we generate will be enough to light most of the schools, offices, streetlights, and park lights in Nurit – as well as save homeowners money on their energy bill, since they can get credits for the power their roof PV systems generate that they don’t use, selling it back to the IEC.” Atar says.

The regional council has a program that provides loans for residents to buy and install the PV panel setup, or residents can design the systems into their construction plans, he adds.

Trees as cooling canopy:

Residents will also be asked to grow tall, leafy trees around their homes, creating a natural “cooling canopy” that will help cut down on the need for artificial cooling and heating systems, “saving electricity and reducing pollutants in the atmosphere,” Atar says. And, residents will be asked to build their homes using effective insulation systems, to further reduce the need for air conditioners or heaters. “We hope to be able to limit the use of artificial heating and cooling solutions to the hottest or coldest days of the year,” Atar says.

Nurit residents will be required to save water – naturally. “In theory, Israel gets more than enough rainfall, but much of the rain is lost to evaporation or runs off to the sea,” Atar says. “We are requiring all residents to build rain collection systems and mini-reservoirs to store rainwater. The water will then be funneled into the town reservoir, allowing us to cut down significantly on our use of water from Mekorot, which is drawn from either the Kinneret or Israel’s underground aquifers.”

With the Kinneret [the Sea of Galilee] at an all time low, and Israel scrambling to build desalination plants to make up for projected water shortages, Nurit’s efforts could serve as a model for other, non eco-friendly communities as well.

Saving rainwater is important, but saving “gray water” is even more important, say many environmentalists – and Nurit is requiring all homeowners to install a gray water collection system, which will store waster water from dishwashing, bathing, and other non-sewage (“black water”) sources.

The storage of gray water entails building a separate drainage system, which funnels the water into a tank – and is then used for a variety of purposes, such as watering gardens, decorative fountains, etc. “No one in Nurit will be permitted to use fresh water to water his or her lawn,” Atar says. “Residents will use gray water to water their lawns and run watering systems for plants or orchards.”

Unfortunately, Nurit won’t be able to encourage its residents to trade in their cars for commuting by train, because there is no Israel Railways line in the area, at least for now. But the town will have a complete complement of local and inter-city bus service for those who need to travel. Actually, it is expected that most of Nurit’s residents will work in the area, either at home businesses, in tourist-oriented services such as bed and breakfasts or restaurants, or at one of the industrial zones in the area.

“Many of the homes have been zoned for use as businesses as well, so a resident can operate a small business in their backyard,” Atar says. “There is an industrial zone three minutes out of town, mostly with light manufacturing or agriculture industry allied services. And tourism in this region is expected to skyrocket when regular horse racing begins at the Afula Hippodrome, only a few minutes from here,” he adds.

Nurit is open to anyone willing to live by the town’s eco-friendly ethos – and many Israelis are willing, apparently, because there is already a long waiting list for lots.

Most applicants are from big cities – Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and its suburbs. A few people from the kibbutzim in the area have signed up as well, but the majority are new to the lower Galilee. Which already makes Nurit a success, as far as Atar is concerned. “This is a beautiful part of the country to live in, and thanks to Nurit, hundreds of families are going to get the opportunity to find out just how beautiful it really is,” Atar says.

UNEP NEWS RELEASE – 2008/31

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

***

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

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

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

Downloadable maps and images at www.unep.org?

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

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

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

***********************************
Jim Sniffen
Programme Officer
UN Environment Programme
New York
tel: +1-212-963-8094/8210
 info at nyo.unep.org
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WIP – Starting Labor Day 2008 – Gustav – Just Three Years Later, On-the-Dot, and President Bush Overseas the Surge in KatRitaStan. Mr. McPathetic and the Queen-of-the-Fossil-Carbons, Will Get Anointed Without a Mention of Global Warming.

WIP on our website means WORK (WRITING) IN PROGRESS – or simply unfinished article. When finished the WIP will be taken off but the article will stay in place without the UPDATED designation. Nevertheless, theses introductory lines will remain as a reminder that the article had a long birth.

—————-

We are disgusted.

We happen, personally, to love Arizona, Alaska, Louisiana, Hawaii – those are to us the States of the Union that always were an inspiration to us. We took there on trips our young – real Americans – and imprinted lasting memories in their minds. We have been many times to those four States of the Union. I said inspiration because we regard those States as the remaining places were you can still find a Winetou – the figure Karl May wrote about, and who inflamed my imagination back then when I was a young boy in the Europe of the Nazis. Those were the days my own image of America was formed, and I still was not ready to cut lose from those dreams.

We do not shoot at caribous, We do not even smoke in the honky-tonk bar, we love the Amerindians, the Eskimos, and the native Hawaiians. We watched their love for the land and learned from it. We even visited the Vodoo lady of the spirits in New Orleans, and I was moved to look for her remaining sisters in many places of Latin America, Africa and Asia – even in Scandinavia.

We looked at the way nature was ruined because of oil and coal. Yes, we did not move to live there permanently. We still think that New York and California are the States we prefer to live in. But I can say that I did live for a year in Arizona, and spent the most memorable night of my life in Alaska.

The year in Arizona was with the American Graduate School for International Management (AGSIM or Thunderbird in short) when we developed personal relationship with Thomas Banyaka – the so called foreign minister of the Hopi Indians – the man who was let into Sweden on the basis of his home-made passport, that included an eagle feather, for the sake of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Environment.

But the that night I mentioned in Alaska (one night of many spent in that State) is even clearly of greater interest to me – really unforgettable.

Twenty years ago I made a wrong turn on the Matanuska Glacier (in between the towns of Wasila and Palmer). It was the young ladies of Wasila that spent the night with my wife who luckily was wiser, and did not descend from the parking lot when I went to take, very late afternoon, a picture of the glacier. I wanted also to finish the film, and asked another visitor to take a shot of me with the glacier – as the last shot on the film. An hour later that lady told my wife that “she took my last picture.” Those young Wasila ladies knew how to initiate my rescue and stayed with my wife while waiting for an army (or was it the National Guard?) helicopter to come with day break to search for me. I spent the night stuck behind an ice-rock throwing pieces at shadows to find out if those were not some animal. I literally owe my life to those ladies of Wasila. Was any of them a sister of Sarah Palin? I assume that by that time she was already out to college in Hawaii or Idaho, or was she back on summer vacation? Who knows by now? The Alaska newspapers wrote about my rescue the following day, and a month later I even got a letter from a local army official that wanted to make sure that I was OK and he can close the file on my rescue. I mention this just to say that there is nothing in my past to indicate anything but admiration to those energetic young ladies of Wasila that knew how to handle the situation and call for help from the right quarters, and to those that implemented that rescue. They saved my life, because, as they imagined I will do, I did indeed veer in the wrong direction believing I can reach a highway were I saw moving lights – but which was totally unreachable from where I was. 12 hours later I was rescued by being pulled up with ropes, by a helicopter crew that used body-heat sensors.

And those huge cauliflowers and cabbages, pumpkins of Wasila that grow there in the summer with all those extra light-hours the sun provides? Let me stop here please.

But then, we have a son that was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and who spent his first half year in a crib in Glendale, Arizona. He is now 34 years old and has done, and does, a lot for animals. He would never think of shooting at them. On the other hand, Sarah Palin went with her father to shoot caribou before breakfast.

—————-

We are disgusted because of all that talk of “YOU CANNOT CONTROL MOTHER NATURE.”

***

But we corrupted “Mother Nature.” This is not a nature catastrophe. WE DID IT.
We did it by putting all that CO2 into the atmosphere, and by destroying the barriers in front of the shores.

We caused global warming and Alaska ice is melting away. The Seas are rising.

We pulled oil out of the ground in the Gulf of Mexico and caused the land of Louisiana to sink further.

These misdeeds get their punishment while the GOP continues to march under the flag of enhancement of oil production and use.

Louisiana is just the first State to pay for these misdeeds. Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas are in line.

The Whole World will have to pay for US government’s insistence on avoiding to see the obvious realities.

————–

UNESCO WORLD HERTAGE SITES

SUN and BEACH – MAIN DESTINATIONS in BRAZIL:

Bauhaus-era plant to power Jordan Valley eco-tourism.
By Rachel Neiman, August 5, 2008.
 http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDi…;

Tel Aviv’s White City has the world’s largest concentration of Bauhaus-style buildings.

Less well known, however, are the many other projects built throughout the 1920s to 1950s in the International Style.

One of the most ambitious of these was the Rotenberg Power Plant, which from 1932 supplied both sides of the Jordan River valley with electricity up until 1948 when it was destroyed. In 1994, the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty turned the area into an international border crossing. Now, an equally ambitious Israeli-Jordanian initiative project, spearheaded by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME), aims to revive the area, and the Rotenberg compound along with it, as a unique eco-tourism site spanning both sides of the border.

The Jordan River Peace Park proposes to combine two adjacent areas; Naharayim/Baqura, where a small island was created at the junction of the Jordan and Yarmouk Rivers, and the Jeser Al Majama/Gesher site, known as “Three Bridges”, a historical crossing point of the Jordan River valley. Partners in the project include the Municipality of Muaz Bin Jabal (Jordan), the Jordan Valley Regional Council (Israel), and the Beit She’an Valley Regional Council (Israel), together with FoEME.

According to Gidon Bromberg, founder of FoEME and director of the Tel Aviv office, the initiative intends to provide new livelihood opportunities for the residents of the Jordan Valley. “The potential is tremendous,” he tells ISRAEL21c. “Unemployment right now on the Jordanian side is 40 percent, the only source of employment is agriculture and it’s very poorly paid – JD 80-100 per month, which is nothing – so the livelihood opportunities that the Peace Park presents are great.”

The project proposes to rehabilitate the lower Jordan River by re-flooding the wetlands and rebalancing the ecosystem, a matter that is of primary concern to FoEME.

‘This is 20th century industrial archeology.’

In May, a design workshop (also called a charrette) took place with the participation of faculty and students from Yale University and the Bezalel Academy of the Arts together with Jordanian and Palestinian architects. FoEME presented the results of the charrette in Jordan and Jerusalem, along with recommendations from pre-feasibility studies and business plans.

“Adjacent kibbutzim have already developed tourism industries,” says Plattas, who envisions a car-free compound surrounded by “reservoirs of parking, where people would leave their cars behind and convert to other modes of transport available at the park.”

A history interrupted:

The park will be developed in stages, with Phase 1 on the Jordanian side of what is a truly unique border. At Peace Island the charrette witnessed first-hand Israelis and Jordanians entering the site, without the need for visas and passports – due to terms of the 1994 treaty that took into account “the special circumstances of the Naharayim/Baqura area, which is under Jordanian sovereignty, with Israeli private ownership rights.”

The owners, in this case, include concessionaires Israel Electric Corporation, formerly the Palestine Electric Corporation, whose visionary founder, Pinchas Rotenberg, was awarded use of the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers to supply hydroelectric power to Mandatory Palestine, by the British authorities. Rotenberg successfully negotiated with Jordan’s Emir Abdallah to use 1,500 acres of land that was under Transjordanian control. The station operated from 1933 until it was destroyed by the Arab Legion in 1948 and became part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

“The power station has a history of shared international cooperation that has been interrupted,” says Plattas. Travel itself has its own rhythms and the ongoing tension between Israel and its neighbors has blocked traditional traffic flow, says environmental consultant Aviad Sar Shalom. “Tourism in the area today is mainly on the Israeli side from north to south. This project will restore the natural tourism circulation of east to west.”

Picking up the threads of the past, in 2007, the King Abdullah II Fund for Development endorsed the King Abdullah I/Rotenberg Peace Park. This month, results of the pre-feasibility study and charrette will be presented to the Jordanian Prime Minister who will in turn present it to the King. On the Israeli side, the project was given the green light in principle by the Ministry of Tourism and the Water Authority, and will be presented by the Israeli mayors to President Shimon Peres.

Peace powered potential:

Bromberg says the next step will be for the Jordanian side to be declared a national park, and to link the Israeli sites of Naharayim and Gesher, “and then we’ll continue undertaking concrete investment in the infrastructure in a parallel fashion, preparing everything for the linkage into one cross-border Peace Park. If all goes well, we’ll have enough in place to be able to open in two and a half years time.”

It’s not just wishful thinking, Bromberg points out. “Certain aspects of the project already exist. The Israeli side [Gesher/Naharayim] is already open. And the Jordanians have already started to bring groups to the site; local students and teachers, entrepreneurs and potential investors. Northern Jordan is an area that is very poorly visited at the moment and with high unemployment. That’s why the authorities have shown such interest.”

Nordic Climate Solutions – Scandinavia ´s annual marketplace for low carbon economy leaders – takes place on November 25th and 26th, 2008, in Copenhagen. The event is jointly organized with the Nordic Council of Ministers and a series of industry leaders from the Nordic Region.

Nordic Climate Solutions takes form as a combined conference and trade show. While the conference identifies current challenges and opportunities, the tradeshow presents state of the art solutions for achieving a low carbon economy.

Towards and beyond the Copenhagen UN Summit, NCS gathers a significant number of business and industry leaders. In 2007 the event gathered more than 600 decision makers. This year more than 1000 delegates are projected for the event in November.

As we would like to offer our delegates key insight from experts WE ARE CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR SPEAKERS for the following sessions:

- Building the Future – Energy Efficiency:

What energy and carbon savings could be realized if older commercial buildings had the energy consumption of the newer commercial building stock? How can we improve the incorporation of different energy efficiencies into different types of domestic and non-domestic buildings? And what will it take to achieve mass deployment of carbon neutral buildings?

- Adaptation in the Third World – Markets Beyond China and India:

As a global problem, climate change demands global solutions – yet the majority of the technology and financing for these solutions are not accessible to emerging economies and developing nations. India and China are naturally the center of attention when it comes to CDM projects or other climate action projects and policies, but how can we ensure that countries in Africa, Asia and South and Central America also have the capacity and the technology to develop in a sustainable and climate friendly manner?

- The Future of CDM – The Post 2012 Scene:

At the moment, there are more than 3,000 CDM projects in progress. What is the potential of the CDM on the post 2012 scenario and what concrete measures will be presented a the COP15 to improve this mechanism and ensure that it is contributing to global emission reductions and to technology transfer to all developing nations

Climate Solutions for China:

China is on its way to become the largest energy market in the world, with the greatest environmental challenges. This creates an enormous potential for the Nordic companies. The current five-year plan of China contains 250 billion dollar for investments in energy savings and environmental considerations and a range of ambitious goals.

Thinking Outside the Barrel:

President George W. Bush has stated that: “America is addicted to oil.” At times when the price approaches $150 per barrel – it is an expensive addiction to have. Fortunately, several alternatives exist.

The Finance of Climate Change – A Guide for Governments and Corporations:

The financial markets hold an increasingly important role in government and corporate initiatives designed to fight climate change and make the transition to the low carbon economy.

Less is More – Energy Efficiency (End Use):

Improved energy efficiency is often the most economic and readily available means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, there exists a difference between the actual level of investment in energy efficiency and the higher level that would be economically beneficial from the consumer’s point of view.

The Local Market of the Nordic: Russia:

Recently the Russian economy has been developing at a very high pace and significant investments are being made in the energy and environmental sector, as well as in restructuring.

Adaptation – Urban Climate Solutions:

Even with substantial reductions in emissions today, the delay in the climate system means that emissions we have already released into the atmosphere will continue to affect the climate for years to come. The impact on cities and the people living there will be significant.

De-linking Economic Growth from Emissions – Bypassing the Western Route to Low Carbon Economy:

The interrelations between economic growth, energy and CO2 have a tremendous influence on the possibilities of a global ambitious treaty being drafted at the COP15.

EU – Framework Conditions:

This year a new EU energy market package has been submitted. The ambition is to create framework conditions for efficient and functioning sustainable energy markets. How can the EU balance energy policies between the aims of security of supply, competitiveness and sustainable energy?

Renewable Energy Production;

With a raising stream of billions of dollars into the sector, the investments in renewable energy production reach new records each year.The Nordic Region has great experience in renewable energy production from a wide spectrum of sources. How may this experience and knowledge be utilized in the global market and what are the barriers to expanding the renewable portfolio standard?
If you are an expert who could speak on any of these issues or know someone who is, we would greatly appreciate any recommendations you could pass on.

Please reply to  mwi at mm.dk

Thank you for any guidance/recommendations you can provide.

Meik Wiking
Project Manager
Nordic Climate Solutions

Monday Morning
Huset Mandag Morgen A/S
Valkendorfsgade 13
P.O. Box 1127
DK-1009 København K

T: +45 33 93 93 23
F: +45 33 14 13 94
E:  mwi at mm.dk
W: www.mm.dk

NORDIC CLIMATE SOLUTIONS – NOVEMBER 25TH AND 26TH – 2008.

WWW.NORDICCLIMATESOLUTIONS.COM

 http://www.climatechangecentral.com/publ…

Sustainable tourism taking root in Alberta

Not that long ago, the extent of sustainable tourism in Alberta could almost be summed up by hotel room signs encouraging guests to re-use their towels and turn off lights when they left.

But times are rapidly changing. In today’s hotels and motels, low-flow showerheads and toilets are increasingly commonplace, as are energy-efficient lights and appliances. Behind the scenes, some lodgings are using non-toxic cleaning materials, re-using waste water in flowerbeds and even installing solar panels or turning kitchen grease into biodiesel for running grounds equipment and shuttle buses. Meanwhile, tourism transportation companies are filling up with biodiesel, operating hybrid taxis and offering vehicle rental customers the option to purchase carbon offsets.

With soaring fuel prices and escalating operating costs, all these tourism operators are discovering that embarking on energy-efficiency upgrades is just good business practice. But they’re also finding that these and other green actions are attracting the business of travellers who are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of their journeys.

“We’re seeing more enquiries – particularly from Europe but also from elsewhere – about what sustainable measures our tourism operators are putting in place,” says Don Boynton, Communications Director for Travel Alberta. “It’s become a more important factor in bookings’ decisions by vacation planners and by independent travellers.”

Alberta tourism operators are certainly noticing this shift in attitude. In February, nearly 40 industry officials attended a sustainable tourism workshop hosted by Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation. Delegates agreed sustainable tourism is not a niche market but instead something all operators need to incorporate into their operations. And they recognized that a coordinated provincial plan is needed to develop and promote sustainable tourism in Alberta.

“One of the first things we need to do is create a common language, so that when we use the term “sustainable tourism”, people know what we’re talking about,” says John Samms, executive director of Tourism Canmore, who is leading an initial working group, formed at the workshop, on developing that provincial plan. “Right now, if you ask 20 people what it means, you’ll come up with 20 different ideas.”

Another focus is to improve what we’re doing in the province. One way to do that is to find early adopters of best sustainable practices and market their successes to other people in the Alberta industry. It needs to be a series of baby steps. You can’t get to the top of the ladder if there aren’t rungs along the way.”

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 http://www.climatechangecentral.com/publ…

Ecotourism seeks a greener path in Alberta

Somewhere on the road to utopia, ecotourism took a bumpy detour. Whether it was unscrupulous operators, bloated claims, unrealistic expectations or simply confusion over exactly what ecotourism meant, the concept hasn’t yet lived up to its promise as a low-impact sector of the global industry.

Within Alberta, Aurum Lodge would seem a perfect candidate as an ecotourism operator (see related story). Not connected to the power grid, the lodge meets nearly all its energy needs from a combination of solar power, excellent insulation and conservation practices. Its operators encourage nature appreciation and low-impact activities in the surrounding Rocky Mountains and donate a portion of gross revenues to various environmental causes. Indeed in 2001, it won the first Alberta ALTO Award for sustainable tourism and is the only Alberta lodging to receive a five-leaf rating from the Audubon Green Leaf Eco-Rating Program.

Aurum Lodge

Yet Aurum Lodge owner Alan Ernst remains ambivalent about using the ecotourism label. “There’s no scientific definition of what constitutes ecotourism or even sustainable tourism,” he says. “The term has also definitely been abused. There’s been a lot of green-washing, a lot of people selling themselves as green or environmentally friendly, even though their intent is to bring in more visitors rather than truly protect the environment.”

Still, there are a growing number of Alberta tourism operators who appear to meet the International Ecotourism Society’s definition of ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people.” For example, Inside Out Experience leads visitors on low-impact activities such as rafting and hiking and mountain biking (on established trails) from its base in Bragg Creek near Kananaskis Country; the company often picks clients up in a shuttle bus rather than have them all arrive in separate vehicles. During excursions, guides educate clients about the natural surroundings, outdoor etiquette (such as low-impact camping) and environmental impacts such as nearby logging.

Inside Out Experience also gets as many goods and services as possible from Bragg Creek businesses, and it supports local aboriginal youth. “We’re training 12 kids from the Stoney Reserve to become hiking, biking and rafting guides this summer,” says company owner Andrew Pratt. “That also allows clients to learn about local history from an aboriginal perspective.”

In the Porcupine Hills of southwest Alberta, Shaunere and Brian Lane have won a national environmental stewardship award for reducing grazing pressures, reviving native grasses and restoring creeks on their Brown Creek Ranch. Their rambling property is also a guest ranch to one family or couple at a time.

“The guests get a chance to see a quiet working ranch and wildlife, too,” says Shaunere. “It’s nice to show people that their food begins on a family ranch in a clean, healthy atmosphere. It’s also important to be a steward, because a lot of good agricultural land is being bought up and turned into shopping centres.”

Brown Creek Ranch

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Discussion Papers

Feasibility of Ground Source Heat Pumps in Alberta

Carbon Capture & Storage: The Need for a Longer-Term Collective Approach to Implementation

The Wedges Approach of Stabilizing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Application to CorporationsThe Wedges Approach of Stabilizing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Application to Corporations

Water and Energy Efficiency: The Link

Climate Change – Securities Related Disclosure Requirements

Biodiesel Vehicle Fuel: GHG Reductions, Air Emissions, Supply and Economic Overview

Ethanol Vehicle Fuel: Energy Balance, GHG Reductions, Supply and Economic Overview

Manure Management and Greenhouse Mitigation Techniques: A Comparative Analysis

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Opportunities for Reduction From The Alberta Swine Industry

GHG Reduction in Road Transportation: A Scoping Report into Vehicle Inspection/Maintenance Programs and Alternatives in Alberta

Design Issues for the Implementation and Operation of Greenhouse Gas Inventories and Emission Reduction Registries

Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health

Street Lighting and Traffic Signals Replacement Program

Summary of Federal and Alberta Climate Change Plans

Greenhouse Gas Offsets: An Introduction to Core Elements of an Offset Rule

Implications of an Eco-Certification Program for Alberta

Compliance and the Acid Rain Program

Reduction and Removal of Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Alberta

A Basis for Greenhouse Gas Trading in Agriculture

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Eco-transport clears Banff skies

Jason Hardy is no greenhorn when it comes to sustainable tourism transportation. The Banff Airporter owner used clean-burning natural gas to fuel his shuttle buses for five years, until costly technical problems prompted a search for a better alternative. He’s now switched to diesel vehicles that are using an ever-increasing amount of biodiesel.

Banff Airporter

“As a transportation company, we burn lots of fuel,” says Hardy, whose fleet uses some 25,000 litres of diesel a month transporting visitors between the Calgary International Airport and Banff. “We’re trying to make a difference and reduce our environmental footprint, so we’re interested in alternative fuels.”

The biodiesel in the fleet’s fuel mix – which will increase from five per cent (B-5) now to 20 per cent (B-20) later this summer – currently comes already blended from Alberta sources of canola and rendering plant fat. But Banff Airporter is working with Red Deer College to develop a bioreactor on the company’s Banff premises, using cooking grease from local restaurants and hotels as a biodiesel feedstock.

“It’s a win-win situation,” says Hardy. “We would be recycling a waste product that restaurants normally pay to get rid of, and at the same time we’d be saving money and reducing our environmental impact.”

Transportation companies are among the biggest energy users in Alberta’s tourism industry. With soaring fuel prices, it makes economic sense to run the most efficient vehicles possible. Firms that take a greener approach are also finding it’s becoming a competitive advantage amongst tourists increasingly concerned about climate change. “I think if things like price are equal, more people will make choices based on who is making an environmental difference,” says Hardy.

The Banff Airporter isn’t the only sustainable tourist transportation game in town. The Town of Banff recently launched a fleet of four biodiesel/electric hybrid buses. This combination of electric drive and biodiesel mechanical system is expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 20 per cent compared with conventional buses.

Down the highway in Canmore, Marcus Gorton found it made perfect sense to combine his degree in sustainable design with his experience in the taxi industry. So last year, he launched EcoCab, with a starter fleet of two hybrid taxis – a Toyota Prius and a Camry. On the road for 100,000 kilometres a year, they consume about half the gas and spew less than half the pollutants of regular cabs.

eco-Cab

“Customers love it. A lot of locals are very environmentally friendly, and tourists are very interested in them; most have never been in a hybrid vehicle before,” says Gorton. “I believe in doing business in the most environmentally-friendly way possible.” Like Banff Airporter, EcoCab prints its promotional material on recycled paper and uses green cleaning products.

Car rental companies are also responding to growing public environmental concerns. For example, the triumvirate of Enterprise, National and Alamo now allows customers to purchase carbon offsets when they rent vehicles. For about $1.25 per rental, matched by the companies, customers finance the planting of carbon-absorbing trees, expected to offset about half their vehicle emissions. The three car rental firms are also increasing the number of hybrid and E-85 ethanol vehicles in their fleets.

From:          naturalhabitat at naturalhabitat.rsys1.c…
Subject:       Natural Habitat Adventures: 60-Second Safari to Bhutan
Date:       July 9, 2008

They write:
Join us for a rare encounter with a lost kingdom, an untarnished land, a unique culture and a gentle people that have remained almost unchanged for centuries.

Bhutan is truly an anomaly in the contemporary world. This small kingdom in the heart of the Himalayas has remained in relative isolation, its Buddhist traditions and peaceable ways untouched by outside influence. Home to snow leopards, blue sheep, red pandas, Asian elephants and tigers, Bhutan’s environment and culture are strictly protected.

Only since 1974 have tourists been allowed and visitors to Bhutan remain few. But those who have made the journey with us have discovered a mystical world of incredible mountains, wild rivers and friendly people.

Please click here for a brief photographic introduction to the spirit and nature of Bhutan. And if you want to be among the lucky few who have the opportunity to explore this peaceable kingdom, please don’t hesitate to contact us for an adventure experience quite unlike anything most travelers have ever experienced.

Sincerely,
Your Nature Travel Specialists

P.S. We only have three places on our November 9 – 20, 2008 Bhutan: Spirit and Nature departure. Please call 1-800-543-8917 today if you’re interested in joining us.

Natural Habitat Adventures
2945 Center Green Court
Boulder, CO, USA 80301
800-543-8917 US & Canada
303-449-3711 International

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Pincas Jawetz notes that he has been there – done that – and written about it. www.SustainabiliTank.info was quite intererested in the GNH idea and would like to see how this concept can be picked up for implementation in the West. Meetings at the University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada tried to investigate this and perhaps the day will come that Nations will agree to make their population’s happiness as their national goal.

As per e-mail and Conference website at http://www.aspo-usa.org/aspousa4/

2008 Sacramento Peak Oil Conference, September 21-23, 2008.
Hyatt Regency Sacramento, California
ASPO-USA is A Non-profit, Non-partisan Research & Public Education Initiative Addressing America’s Peak Oil Energy Challenge.

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Agenda Spotlight: Sunday afternoon, Sept. 21

On Sunday you will be able to choose from the following concurrent sessions:

- Reporting the Peak Oil Story
National journalists Neil King (Wall Street Journal) and Bart Anderson (Energy Bulletin), Rob Collier, Stuart Leavenworth, Lisa Margonelli, and Tom Whipple

- Investing in the new Energy Economy
Investment specialists Rick Schechter, Jim Puplava, Jim Hansen and Atticus Lowe

- Tracking the Public Data
Nate Hagens, Kyle Saunders, Jeff Vail, Euan Mearns, Robert Rapier, and Gail Tverberg of The Oil Drum

- Scenarios Planning for State and Local Government
Connecticut State Representative Terry Backer, Bryn Davidson, Dan Bednarz, John Kaufmann, and Dick Lawrence

The day will conclude with a social reception and an evening presentation on “The Oil Story in Iran and Iraq” by Peter Wells.

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Two Full Days of Plenary Sessions, on Monday, Sept. 22 and Tuesday, Sept. 23
will each be followed by social receptions and evening presentations.

Monday, Sept. 22 Demand, Meet Supply
Presentations will include “Petroleum 101″, and “Alaskan Oil: Prudoe Bay Discovery and Outlook for North Slope Oil”; a “Peak Oil Global Overview – An American Wakeup Call”; extent and aging of Global Energy Infrastructure;and the economic impacts of $100 and €70 Crude Oil.

Our luncheon presentation will feature Jim Buckee on “Big Oil & Resource Nationalism”, and a surprise evening presentation (Hint: The words “Exponential” and “growth” will be mentioned.)

Tuesday, Sept. 23 Where Now? Choices for the Long Haul
Presentations will address Natural Gas and Coal as Liquid Fuels Substitutes; Fossil Fuel Limits on IPCC Scenarios; and the costs of renewable energy vs. coal.

Our luncheon and afternoon sessions will focus on the Future of Aviation and Ground Transportation, Sustainable Mobility, and the Transition of Fuels to Flows as the future becomes electric.

Sierra Club Releases National Faith Appreciation Report:

“Faith in Action” highlights environmental initiatives from 50+ faith groups.

June 20, 2008, Washington, DC – Highlighting one exceptional faith-based environmental initiative from each of the fifty states, the Sierra Club today released its first ever national faith appreciation report, “Faith in Action: Communities of Faith Bring Hope for the Planet.” The report illustrates the growing momentum of the “creation care” movement and recognizes local leaders.

“This report demonstrates that the call to care for the earth comes no matter what one’s faith background is,” said Lyndsay Moseley, of the Sierra Club’s Environmental Partnerships Program. “We are inspired by the faith community’s leadership in working to protect the planet, and this report is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to the many people of faith working on creation care initiatives across the country.”

The National Faith Appreciation Report is a project of the Sierra Club’s Environmental Partnerships Program, which works actively with faith groups around the United States to broaden support for environmental protection.

“We are excited by the opportunity to recognize these phenomenal efforts, and hope that this report will further encourage people of faith by illuminating a broad array of successful models of environmental engagement,” said Moseley.

The groups highlighted are engaged in a variety of environmentally-conscious initiatives.

Some examples from the report include:

• The Texas Christian Life Commission, the largest Baptist organization in Texas educating congregations about creation care and calling for a moratorium on building new coal-fired power plants to reduce health risks.
• The Sterling, Va., Community Lutheran Church, whose Earth-Keeping Ministry operates a garden providing organic produce to local low-income families.
• North Dakota’s Prairie Stewardship Network, an ecumenical organization educating the faith community and others about clean energy and global warming.
• Hazon, a Jewish environmental organization in New York City which organizes community bike rides and educates about sustainable living.
• The Catholic Dioceses of Pueblo and Colorado Springs, Colo., whose Bishops spoke out in defense of a polluted creek.
• St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, a Tucson, Ariz., congregation engaging in and teaching about water stewardship and conservation.
• The Islamic Environmental Group of Wisconsin, which is engaged in helping mosques and Muslim families reduce their carbon footprint.

To read the full report, visit www.sierraclub.org

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For those interested in studies more in depth of environmental ethics – here what seems to be an enlightening and very pleasant experience:

 Montana Summer Environmental Ethics Institute.

See www.umt.edu for more details.

The Center for Ethics at The University of Montana will hold its third annual Environmental Ethics Institute in early August of 2008. The institute provides a unique opportunity for scholars, students, professionals, and interested citizens to gather in   Missoula , MT to discuss and reflect on environmental issues.

The institute consists of a seminar, a course, and several public lectures/panel discussions.   Students may enroll for either the 5-day course or the 2-day seminar (or both).   The course requires 4 to 5 weeks of asynchronous online study prior to 5 days of face-to-face contact in Missoula . Students last year loved this format, one commenting that it was “the perfect balance of a variety of teaching strategies!” The seminar is a new offering in 2008, and will be held over two days. A wide variety of interested individuals — students, professors, community members and professionals– will have the opportunity to take part. To learn more about the Environmental Ethics Institute and last year’s events visit: http://www.umt.edu/ethics/Qeei/2007/defa…

The 2008 course offering will be Environmental Ethics and Policy, taught by Andrew Light, Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Washington .

The 2008 weekend seminar will be taught by Karen Warren, Professor of Philosophy at Macalester College ( St. Paul , MN ), and is called Gender, Health, The Environment, and Social Justice: Exploring Their Interconnections.

Registration information can be found at:   http://www.umt.edu/ethics/programs/EEI.h…

For more information please contact Dane Scott ( dane.scott at mso.umt.edu) or Christopher Preston ( christopher.preston at mso.umt.edu)

The Sixth Annual Explorers Club Film Festival – Celebrating the Spirit of Exploration

June 13-14, 2008

46 East 70th Street, New York City, NY 120021

SCREENING SCHEDULE

For reservations, please call 212-628-8383 or email  reservations at explorers.org.

(See below for ticket pricing.)

FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 13

OPENING NIGHT (tickets $40)

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Registration

7:00 pm – 7:30 pm Introduction and discussion with Norman Dyhrenfurth HON’62

7:30 pm – 9:00 pm Screening of THE CONQUEST OF EVEREST

9:00 pm – 10:00 pm Reception

THE CONQUEST OF EVEREST (90 minutes) – The classic 1953 feature documentary of the British expedition to Mt. Everest, led by Sir John Hunt, which culminated in Sir Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay’s historic summit. The film details how the peak was discovered and named, and outlines the previous attempts to reach its summit, beginning in 1922. It takes viewers into the complex planning before the victorious climb, and then accompanies the mountaineers and their Sherpa guides on the actual expedition. Both The New York Times and Time magazine named it one of the ten best films of the year and it received a “Best Documentary” Academy Award nomination as well as a British Academy Award. Directed by George Lowe.

The film will be introduced by Norman Dyhrenfurth, Honorary Explorers Club Fellow, who led the first successful American team to Mt. Everest, having spent three years on the organization and fundraising of this privately-mounted venture. Mr. Dyhrenfurth is coming from his home in Austria as the festival’s honored guest.

SATURDAY, JUNE 14

MORNING SESSION (tickets $20)

9:00 am – 9:30 am Registration

9:30 am – 12:30 pm Program

RETURN TO PENGUIN CITY (Best Science Exploration Film – 48 minutes) – A fascinating, wonderfully told documentary about the Adelie penguins of Antarctica, with the science that was missing from “March of the Penguins.” Researchers Viola Toniolo and Grant Ballard discover that rapid climate changes may not only affect the penguins ability to survive, but it could also have major repercussions well beyond this distant corner of the world. Produced and directed by Lloyd Fales, who will introduce the film.

DOG GONE ADDICTION (Best Adventure Film – 67 minutes) – Hang onto your dog team and join three women competing in the grueling Yukon Quest dog sled race. A young Canadian mother, a Polish adventurer and an Alaska dog sled veteran test their limits and the limits of their huskies through 1,000 miles of sub-zero Yukon and Alaska terrain. This spirited and uplifting account of what can be achieved when you face your fears reveals why the lesser-known Yukon Quest is considered by many to be the toughest dog sled race on earth. Produced and Directed by Becky Bristow, who will introduce the film.

ICE CHALLENGER (Best Film by an Explorers Club Member – 48 minutes) – The first crossing of the frozen Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia in a land-based vehicle. An Explorers Club Flag Expedition by British adventurer Steve Brooks in his Snowbird 6 vehicle, which must be capable of driving on the frozen ice, crossing the open sea, mounting and leaving huge frozen ice pans – all in -40 degree weather. Written and produced by Celia Carey Meyer. Directed by Sean Davison.

AFTERNOON SESSION (tickets $25)

1:00 pm – 1:30 pm Registration

1:30 pm – 5:30 pm Program

PRIZE OF THE POLE (Best Expedition Film – 78 minutes) – An unforgettable film about the darker angels of Robert Peary’s nature – the rarely examined story of his secret Eskimo wife and family and his highly controversial transport of young Eskimos to New York for anthropological study — all told through the odyssey of the renowned polar explorer’s Eskimo great-grandson, who travels to America in search of one lost boy’s fate. A riveting, heart-breaking tale eloquently told by filmmaker Staffan Julen.

STRANGE DAYS ON PLANET EARTH: DIRTY SECRETS (Best Environmental Film – 55 minutes) – The fifth episode of this renowned National Geographic series, produced by the Sea Studios Foundation. Beautifully written and photographed, “Dirty Secrets” propels the audience into a new set of compelling environmental mysteries and inspiring solutions, revealing the strange and often unpredictable consequences of the pollutants we pour into our waters. Produced and directed by Rob Whttlesey. Narrated by Edward Norton. Executive Producer Mark Shelley will introduce the film.

GREENPEACE: MAKING A STAND (Special Jury Award – 48 minutes) – With dramatic action footage, still photographs, lively interviews with unforgettable characters, evocative period and contemporary music, “Greenpeace: Making a Stand” explores what inspires people to risk their lives for their beliefs – to sail a ship into a nuclear test zone, to get between a pod of whales and an explosive harpoon, or to block bulldozers mowing down a forest. This compelling documentary looks at the 35-year evolution of Greenpeace, from the early days of the environmental movement in the 1970s to the front lines of a potentially dangerous campaign in Argentina. Produced and Directed by Leigh Badgley, who will introduce the film.

EVENING SESSION (tickets $30)

6:30 pm – 7:00 pm Registration

7:00 pm – 10:00 pm Program

THE THIRD POLE (Best Exploration Film – 89 minutes) – The extraordinary and untold story of husband and wife mountaineers and filmmakers Hettie and Gunter Dyhrenfruth, who in the 1930s mounted private world-class international expeditions to the Himalaya that were milestones in the exploration of its unclimbed and virtually unknown 8,000-meter peaks. Swiss citizens, Hettie and her son, Norman, were in the U.S. in 1939 when war broke out in Europe. Norman went on to become a prominent American mountaineer and filmmaker, organizer of the first American expedition to summit Everest in 1963. Featuring Norman Dyhrenfurth, Reinhold Messner and Sir Christian Bonington. A film by Andreas Nickel and Juergen Czwienk. Norman Dyhrenfurth will introduce the film, along with Andreas Nickel.

POLYNESIA: THE WAYFINDERS (Best People and Culture Film – 47 minutes) – Part of Wade Davis’ brilliant series, Light at the Edge of the World, this film chronicles the Wayfinders of Polynesia, who inhabited the largest culturesphere in human history, spanning one-fifth of the surface of the planet. The navigators could pinpoint tiny islands in the vastness of the Pacific by reading the stars, the winds and the seas swells. However, this culture that once flourished over 25 million square kilometers of ocean has seen much of its history and tradition die out. To preserve Wayfinding, one Hawaiian learns this art form of navigation and designs a traditional Polynesian boat to sail across the islands. Written and Produced by Wade Davis and Andrew Gregg. Directed by Andrew Gregg. National Geographic photographer Chris Rainier will introduce the film.

For reservations, please call 212-628-8383 or email  reservations at explorers.org.

Tickets are priced as follows:

Saturday Morning Session – $20

Saturday Afternoon Session – $25

Saturday Evening Session – $30

All-Day Saturday Pass – $60 (includes all three sessions on Saturday)

All-Festival Pass – $95 (includes all four sessions on Friday and Saturday)

Please see attached the results from meeting of organizations of Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Communities from Latin America, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Papua, Indonesia, in the city of Manaus, Brazil for the Latin American Workshop, “Climate Change and Forest Peoples: Reducing   Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and the Rights of Indigenous and Traditional Peoples”, 1-4th of April, 2008.

Please forward to who ever you may think is interested, in particular indigenous and traditional population organizations. Please note that the Manaus Declaration and the Synthesis of the working groups are attached in all workshop languages: Spanish, French, Bahasa, English and Portuguese.

Other info:

Link to workshop other documents http://partnerpage.google.com/amazonfore…

Link workshop’s photos: http://amazonforestpeople.multiply.com/

Press news below English (NYT and Mongabay) and Spanish (El Publico)

Sorry for sending so many documents, but it is really important for the REDD Southern Outreach.

Best regards,

Paula Moreira
Advogada – Programa Mudança Climática
Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM)
(Amazon Institute of Environmental Research)
SCLN 210, Bloco C, Sala 211
70862-530 Brasília, DF Brasil
FONE/FAX + 55 61 3349.3698
 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/world/…

El Publico, Spain: ChequeIndígena (attached)

Mongabay: http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0407-manau…

Rainforest peoples form alliance to demand representation at climate talks
April 7, 2008

Rainforest peoples from 11 nations have formed a coalition to demand a greater say in future climate negotiations.

Meeting in Manaus, Brazil, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, representatives of forest communities from Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela signed an agreement that calls on governments to respect forest dwellers’ rights to their land, natural resources and traditional livelihoods. The coalition hopes to gain access to ecosystem services payments like the proposed REDD (“reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation”) mechanism that won preliminary approval at last year’s U.N. climate talks in Bali, Indonesia. Proponents of the initiative say that REDD could deliver billions of dollars to rural communities while protecting forests and fighting climate change.

Some indigenous groups have been supportive of REDD, but others fear that the mechanism could worsen conflicts over land. The new alliance hopes that it can allay these concerns by ensuring that native peoples are represented in climate discussions.

The scenario provided by the REDD mechanisms brings together the interests of forest communities and the interests of scientists, environmentalists and members of social movements throughout the world, said Paulo Moutinho, from the Institute for Environmental Research of the Amazon (IPAM).

The indigenous people need to understand exactly what is happening to their forests. They have always been forgotten when it is time for decision-making and time has come for them to be taken into account because their ancestral knowledge on nature enables them to provide important inputs for the climate debate, added Yolanda Hernà ¡ndez, the indigenous representative of the Maya Kakchiquel people, of Guatemala.

Adilson Vieira, the Secretary General of the Amazon Work Group, said Brazil was an appropriate choice for the conference given the long battle by its native peoples to gain rights to the vast Amazon rainforest.

The experience of the people of the Brazilian forests in their struggle for the establishment of indigenous lands and extractive and sustainable development reserves is an experience that can be used by the other countries in the alliance as an inspiration on their path towards conquering their own rights, Vieira said.

The Manaus declaration was unanimously approved this Friday, April 4th, 2008 by 13 countries. UN observers and non-governmental organizations from Brazil, England and the United States attended the signing.

PRESS RELEASE:

International Alliance will unite the forest peoples

(The objective is to influence the UN debate on climate change)

Manaus, Brazil (4.4.08) – The forest peoples of the world are joining forces in in order to have access to resources deriving from the thriving green market, based on future mechanisms for the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), to be created through the UN Climate Convention. They want to use this opportunity so that their fundamental rights may be fulfilled: the right to land and to natural resources and respect to their traditional livelihoods.

Gathered in Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, the participants of the Peoples of the Forest and Climate Change workshop have just set the basis for an international alliance, based on a Brazilian model with a 20-year long history that brings together indigenous people, extractive producers and riverine populations, inspired in the efforts of Chico Mendes. The new alliance to be established will function as a network and transnational forum for the exchange of experiences between forest populations and mostly for influencing international discussions on climate, deforestation and mechanisms for the reduction of greenhouse emissions.

“When one single country manifests itself and claims its rights at the international level, it is a drop of water in the ocean”, compares Manoel da Cunha, the president of the National Rubber Tappers Council (CNS). According to Cunha, the initiative of establishing a transnational alliance brings greater density to the claims of the forest people and increases the chances from them to be answered.

The launching process to establish an International Alliance of Forest Peoples was unanimously approved this Friday (April 4th) by the 11 countries that signed the Manaus Declaration: Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guyana, French Guyana, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Suriname and Panama and by the members of delegations from Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Asia (Indonesia). The document was approved with the participation of UN observers and observers of non-governmental organizations from Brazil, England and the United States.

In spite of the differences in legislation regarding the use and conservation of forests that exist in these countries still hosting major extensions of rain forests, they share common problems and already feel the negative effects of climate change upon the planet in similar ways: severe draughts, floods, changes in the natural biological cycles, with interferences upon farming and fishing.

“The indigenous people need to understand exactly what is happening to their forests. They have always been forgotten when it is time for decision-making and time has come for them to be taken into account because their ancestral knowledge on nature enables them to provide important inputs for the climate debate”, said Yolanda Hernández, the indigenous representative of the Maya Kakchiquel people, of Guatemala.

“The experience of the people of the Brazilian forests in their struggle for the establishment of indigenous lands and extractive and sustainable development reserves is an experience that can be used by the other countries in the alliance to be established as an inspiration on their path towards conquering their own rights”, said Adilson Vieira, the Secretary General of the Amazon Work Group (GTA).

The differences that exist both inside as well as in between these countries may be better addressed in their quest for common solutions for ensuring the worthy survival of the people and the conservation of forests, i.e., for maintaining the environmental services required to the planet’s balance. “Therefore, the scenario provided by the REDD mechanisms brings together the interests of forest communities and the interests of scientists, environmentalists and members of social movements throughout the world”, says Paulo Moutinho, from the Institute for Environmental Research of the Amazon (IPAM). According to the coordinator of Instituto Socioambiental, Márcio Santilli, this also is an economic opportunity capable of changing the balance of forces on behalf of the acknowledgement of the territorial rights of the traditional and indigenous peoples.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

More information available at www.amazonforestpeople.com

Photos at http://amazonforestpeople.multiply.com/

For interviews, please contact Jaime Gesisky – (55) ** 61 81226042 –  jaimegesisky at gmail.com ; Milena del Rio do Valle (55)**   91 8121 6940 –  mdrvalle at gmail.com

From: Ron Barness, Founder and CEO Ph: (801) 355-6555
Steve Pastorino, Vice President / Marketing Email: Media@ snowlion.com

Snow Lion Expeditions Extends an all-expenses-paid invitation to U.S. National Security Advisor, Stephen Hadley, on one of their Fall Journey to Nepal and Tibet departures.

This is a natural proposition following Mr. Hadley’s TV appearance on which www.SustainabiliTank.info posted on April 13, 2008: http://www.sustainabilitank.info/2008/04…

We consider this proposal by Snow Lion Expedition Totally Brilliant. It is also in the US National Interest – as it is important for policy makers to have good knowledge of the counties they are talking about.

The Snow Lion e-mail follows:

(Salt Lake City, Utah – April 15, 2008). Utah-based adventure travel company Snow Lion Expeditions today issued an all-expenses-paid invitation to U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley for one of its fall departures to Tibet and Nepal.

On a Sunday appearance on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Hadley referred to Nepal at least six times during a discussion of President George W. Bush’s visit to the 2008 Summer Olympics. Hadley said the ongoing situation in Nepal had “nothing to do” with heads of state decisions to attend the Games’ Opening Ceremonies.

He was right! China’s policy towards the region of Tibet, however, is causing several global leaders much consternation.

In a letter sent to the National Security Advisor today, Snow Lion president Ron Barness suggested, “It was probably a slip of tongue, but why don’t you let Snow Lion give you a quick tour of the Himalayas to make sure you don’t confuse the two again? By the way, since Mr. Stephanopoulos didn’t correct you, we’ve invited him as well.”

Since 1992, Snow Lion Expeditions has  www.snowlion.com) offered multiple trips per year to Nepal and Tibet, in addition to dozens of other Asian destinations. Mr. Hadley and his wife, Ann, were offered two of the last remaining spots on the Journey to the Roof of the World expedition, which departs September 30 from Kathmandu, Nepal.

Tibet and Nepal are historic, distinct, neighboring Himalayan kingdoms. Tibet was largely independent from the 17th century to its occupation by China in 1951, which led to the exile of its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in 1959. Nepal, on the other hand, has maintained its independent status for more than 200 years, despite its tenuous position in Asia between China and India.

“Being keenly tuned in to the Tibet situation is of paramount importance to us every day at Snow Lion,” Barness said. “We hope the National Security Advisor will come away from our trip with us with the same awareness.”

Since 1992, Snow Lion Expeditions has been a pioneer in Asian travel, creating enchanting itineraries to 15 Asian nations. Snow Lion now offers more than 40 different itineraries include World Heritage Sites like the Kathmandu Valley, Mt. Everest and Angkor, plus less-traveled spots like Burma and North Korea.

Snow Lion Corporation • 404 North 300 West • Salt Lake City, UT 84103
Tel: 801-355-6555 • Fax: 801-355-6566 • www.snowlion.com

signed:
Steve Pastorino
Vice President, Marketing
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Economists Debate Link Between War, Credit Crisis
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; A03

Economist Joseph Stiglitz says the connection between Iraq and the economic downturn is real. (Photo: Manish Swarup/AP)

For House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the connection between the Iraq conflict and the U.S. economic downturn is simple: “The president has taken us into a failed war,” the California Democrat said recently. “He’s taken us deeply into debt, and that debt is taking us into recession.”

This assessment was put to powerful political effect in the latest congressional hearings on the war, when Democrats and Republicans alike told Army Gen. David H. Petraeus that the oil-rich Iraqi government should relieve the United States of the conflict’s financial burdens. And Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) echoed the theme yesterday at a manufacturing forum in Pittsburgh.

“If we can spend $10 billion a month rebuilding Iraq,” the Democratic presidential contender declared, “we can spend $15 billion a year in our own country to put Americans back to work and strengthen the long-term competitiveness of our economy.”

But this logic may have more political salience than economic validity, according to many economists, who say that the assertions linking the five-year-old conflict in Iraq to the domestic economic slide have been oversimplified.

“You should support the war or oppose the war, which I do and have done from the start, on the merits of the war itself,” said Martin N. Baily, a former chairman of President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. But, he added, “the current problems the United States is facing have very little to do with the war in Iraq.”

Even so, the theme resonated in Congress last week. “We’re kind of bankrupting this country,” Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) told Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. “We’re eating our seed corn. We’re in a recession, and God only knows how long we’re going to be in it.”

The link between Iraq and the downturn reflects a growing public perception that individual economic anxieties must stem somehow from the unpopular war — a unified theory of political misery, said Peter D. Hart, a Democratic pollster.

“It’s a sour economy, it’s a sour mood and it’s a sour situation in Iraq,” he said. “The public has for the last two years been told about the cost of Iraq in terms of human life. But then there was a direct and important switch, when we went into what I call the surge period, where the budget costs became front and center. While the administration was touting military successes, what the American public saw directly were the costs.”

Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who wrote the new book “The Three Trillion Dollar War,” contends that the connection is real. Even with a growing energy demand from China, the United States and elsewhere, oil traders anticipated before the war that the price of oil would remain about $25 a barrel. Instead, it has soared to more than $100 a barrel. Iraqi oil production has not risen with demand, in part because investment in the Middle East has been stunted by war-related unrest.

Those price increases are self-perpetuating, Stiglitz argues. Oil-rich Persian Gulf states are so awash in money that they are not sure what to do with it all. By holding back oil production, they make more off what they do produce and keep their greatest asset — oil — in the ground as they search for ways to spend their cash.

That cash, through state-owned sovereign wealth funds, has flowed into stocks, bonds and other investments, creating incentives for lenders to offer low-interest loans, many of which have now gone sour.

But that is only one factor, by Stiglitz’s accounting. The federal government has sunk deeply into debt, first with tax cuts, then with accelerating war expenditures that have easily topped half a trillion dollars. That limited the government’s ability to keep the economy on track through tax cuts or domestic investments, so the Federal Reserve Board used low interest rates and the free flow of money to keep the economy growing. Cheap credit sparked rash loans, a housing bubble and the current crisis.

“The war played a very important role,” Stiglitz said.

To economists on the left and the right, his analysis strains credulity. Traditional economics hold that large budget deficits “crowd out” private lending, raising interest rates and making lending scarce, not profligate.

“The credit crisis we got into is because of the housing boom, the relaxation of lending standards and certainly a lack of adequate supervision,” Baily said. “I don’t see a connection with government borrowing.”

And most economists still think that oil prices are soaring because of rising demand, not constrained supply.

“I guess you can argue there’s been a contagion of foolishness” sparked by a spendthrift federal government, “but that seems like a stretch,” said Kevin A. Hassett, an American Enterprise Institute economist and an adviser to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Republicans have tried their best to beat back the argument before it takes hold, even citing one of their ideological nemeses, Princeton University economist and liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who has raised doubts about any link between the war and the credit crunch.

“While both parties agree that middle-class families and small businesses are struggling with skyrocketing costs of living, this latest argument from Democratic leaders smacks of political opportunism at its very worst,” House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said last week.

The analysis is politically powerful because people believe it. A CNN poll last month found that 71 percent of Americans say government spending in Iraq is a factor in the economic downturn.

“When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war,” Obama told an audience last month at the University of Charleston in West Virginia. “When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you’re paying a price for this war.”

The analysis will drive the debate on the $108 billion in additional war spending that President Bush is now requesting. Congress is set to begin debate on war funding before the end of the month.

“I think there is a connection between the state of our economy and Iraq, and what we’re spending over there,” said Rep. Baron P. Hill (Ind.), a leading Democratic budget hawk. “We’re limited as to what we can do to stimulate the economy. We’re limited as to what we can do on health care or any other program. We need to spend more money on infrastructure, on roads and bridges that would have a stimulative effect on the economy, and we’re not doing those things because of all the money we’re spending in Iraq.”

Brazil opens condom factory to help preserve the Amazon rain forest.

The Associated Press, April 8, 2008. Picked up by www.SustainabiliTank.info from The International Harold Tribune.

SAO PAULO, Brazil: Brazil on Monday, April 7, 2008, inaugurated a condom factory that officials say will help hundreds of poor Brazilian rubber tappers make a living while helping to preserve the Amazon rain forest.

The plant in the northwestern town of Xapuri will produce 100 million condoms a year, which the government will distribute for free as part of its massive anti-AIDS program, Brazil’s Health Ministry said in a statement.

The latex will be drawn from towering jungle trees in the sprawling Chico Mendes forest reserve by small time rubber tappers who protect their trees — and thus the rain forest — to ensure their livelihood, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

The reserves is named after renowned rubber tapper Chico Mendes who drew international attention to Amazon rain forest destruction. Mendes was shot dead in his home in Xapuri in December 1988 by cattle ranchers.

Rubber tappers in the northwestern state of Acre, where the factory is based, already produce about 6.2 million tons of latex a year, but demand from the factory will boost that amount by about 500,000 tons annually, the ministry said.

The factory will benefit at least 500 families of rubber tappers and will provide about 150 jobs for the town of 15,000, the ministry said.

Brazil currently imports almost all of the condoms despite having large amounts of latex in the Amazon.

Officials see factory as a way to provide rubber tappers and local residents with an economic stake in preserving the rain forest.

UNEP NEWS

International Seminar Shapes Path Towards Sustainable Tourism.      

Oxford/Nairobi,   11   April   2008:   An   international   seminar   on   climate change adaptation and
mitigation   in   the   tourism   sector   concluded today in the United Kingdom after involving 30
high-level   tourism   and   environment   officials   from   developing   countries and small island
developing States.                                                                                                                                                        


Organised   and   coordinated   by   the   United   Nations   Environment Programme (UNEP) and Oxford
University’s   Centre   for the Environment (OUCE) jointly with the United Nations World Tourism
Organization   (UNWTO)   and   the   World   Meteorological   Organization (WMO), this international
practical   seminar   for   tourism   stakeholders   focused   on   capacity   building   and pragmatic
adaptation   and   mitigation   techniques   and methods for developing countries and small island
States in order to address the problems and meet the challenges presented by climate change.

The   seminar’s   delegates   contributed   to   and   took   part   in a series of sessions at Oxford
University’s Balliol College. For three days the participants received high-level training and
carried   out interactive debates including practical ways of integrating the mitigation of and
adaptation to climate change in the tourism sector.

Achim   Steiner,   UN   Under-Secretary-General   and   UNEP Executive Director, said: “The tourism
industry   has a key role to play in confronting the challenges of climate change. Indeed there
is   now a clear understanding that the industry can be part of the solution to climate change,
by   reducing   its greenhouse gas emissions as well as by helping the communities where tourism
represents a major economic source to prepare for and adapt to the changing climate.”

“With its close connections to the environment and climate itself, tourism is considered to be
a   vulnerable and highly climate-sensitive economic sector, similar to agriculture, insurance,
energy,   and   transportation”,   said   Dr.   Murray   Simpson, a Senior Research Associate at the
Oxford’s   University Centre for the Environment and scientific coordinator of the seminar. “At
the same time, tourism is a contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including emissions
from transport, accommodation and activities. In 2005, tourism’s contribution to CO2 emissions
was   estimated   to   be   approximately   5%.   Measured   as   warming effect these emissions could
represent up to 14% of global warming effect.”

For More Information Please Contact Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson/Head of Media, on +254 733
632755, when traveling +41 79 596 57 37 or E-mail:  nick.nuttall at unep.org

or   Robert   Bisset,   UNEP   Spokesperson   in Europe, on Tel: +33 1 4437 7613, Mobile +33 6 2272
5842, or email:  robert.bisset at unep.fr

The University of Oxford Press Office on +44 1865 280534 or  press.office at admin.ox.ac.uk

Dr.   Murray   Simpson, Senior Research Associate, Oxford University Centre for the Environment,
at +44 781 532 5894

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