24 May 2008 - Turkey
today dropped its strongest hint yet that
it will sign up to the Kyoto Protocol on
combating climate change, and will join
in international efforts aimed at cutting
greenhouse gasses.
Turkish President Abdullah
Gül said he supports the UN plan for
the two year negotiation process agreed
in Bali last year, and added “Turkey is
now preparing to undertake its responsibilities.
Very significant work is currently under
way so as to enable us to take important
steps in the period ahead.”
Speaking at the opening
session of this year's WWF Annual Conference
in Bodrum, President Gül said climate
change affects all of us. “Today, the effects
of global climate change are felt in every
corner of the world'” he said. “While people
are fighting with drought and water shortage
in some regions, other regions are witnessing
pain and destruction brought about by the
effects of tornadoes and floods causing
large scale disasters. The United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
and its priority first step, the Kyoto Protocol,
are considered to be the most effective
tools for sustainable development.”
But President Gül
warned that Turkey's economic and social
development must not be put at risk, and
that industrialised countries must also
do their bit. “International cooperation
in this field is not a one way street, but
one that is two way. Industrialized countries
should take into account the concerns and
expectations of developing countries. Also,
developing countries should draw lessons
from the mistakes that were made during
industrialization and progress on the path
of sustainable development with the awareness
of their responsibilities to future generations.”
The President's words
were echoed by Turkey's Environment Minister
Veysel Eroglu who told the audience of more
than 200 delegates: “Climate change is one
of the most important agenda items in the
world, and Turkey will be one of the countries
most impacted by climate change. We are
committed to our development but at the
same time we are committed to fighting the
the negative impacts of climate change”.
WWF Director General
James Leape welcomed the Turkish President's
hints that Turkey could soon ratify the
Kyoto Protocol. “The UN climate negotiations
represent our best hope of mitigating the
worst effects of climate change,” said Mr.
Leape. “WWF is honoured that President Gül
has chosen to address this critical issue
here at our annual conference, and I am
delighted that Turkey appears to want to
play its full part in reaching a global
agreement to combat global warming. It is
crucially important that Turkey now act
on that commitment, sign on to the Kyoto
protocol and become a full participant in
the international effort to solve this problem.”
Martin Atkin, Director, External & Media
Relations, WWF International
Deniz Tapan, Communications Director, WWF
Turkey
+ More
World's rarest rhinos
make first video trap appearance - then
toss camera
28 May 2008 - JAKARTA--After
just a month in operation, specially designed
video cameras installed to capture wildlife
footage in the jungles of South East Asia
have twice recorded remarkable images of
a mother and child pair of the world's rarest
rhino.
But the success was
not without incident as after a short inspection,
the rhino mother charged the camera installation
in Ujung Kulon National Park and sent it
flying.
"With fewer than
60 Javan rhinos left in the wild, we believe
this footage was well worth the risk to
our equipment," said Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi,
who leads WWF-Indonesia's project in Ujung
Kulon National Park. “It’s very unusual
to catch a glimpse of the Javan rhinos deep
inside the rain forest. The motion triggered
infrared video traps are a useful way to
observe them and the ways they use their
habitat in a more detailed way."
Recordings of the Javan
rhino are the highlight so far of the installation
over recent months of improved video-based
wildlife recording equipment, which in its
pioneering phase in Malaysia has already
provided footages of rare Malayan tigers
in the wild and a Sumatran Rhino in Borneo.
“Setting cameras such
as these is always a challenge, especially
with animals as rare and elusive as the
Javan rhino,” said WWF Malaysia photographer
Stephen Hogg, who designed the video-traps.
“The assault on the camera still has us
baffled because we specifically use Infra
Red (IR) lights as the source of illumination
when we designed and built these units so
as to not scare animals away when the camera
activates.”
The use of video traps
over camera traps is yielding valuable insights
into the behaviour of target and other species
which will aid in their conservation.
In the case of Javan
rhinos, the new video traps replace wooden
bamboo platforms nearly 10 metres off the
ground at wallowing sites, which were difficult
and time-consuming to construct, required
safety training and precautions for users
and offered limited viewing angles. From
a scientific viewpoint, adverse angles and
larger distances meant it was often impossible
to identify particular rhinos.
By contrast, the video
traps are readily relocated, generally safe
to operate and surprisingly robust. “The
camera tossed in our footage was relocated
by a survey team and put back on its stand
next day and hasn’t suffered molestation
by a rhino since,” said Adhi Rachmat, WWF
team leader in Ujung Kulon.
"We are proposing
a test translocation of a few Javan rhinos
in the near future to establish a new population
in a new area. This requires hard data and
reliable science and settting up video traps
allows us to do that without stop sending
researchers to spend the night on rickety
bamboo platforms trying to observe these
highly endangered rhinos," said Adhi.
"Since the video traps don’t have any
moving parts and are very silent, they can
be placed much closer than humans along
the favourite haunts of the Javan rhinos,
like salt licks, trails and mud wallows."
Javan rhinos are found
only in two locations in the world with
Ujung Kulong NP in Java, Indonesia estimated
to have around 60 rhinos -- more than 90
percent of the global population.
To prevent the rhino
population from going extinct from a sudden
catastrophe like a diseases or other natural
disasters, the Government of Indonesia recently
launched rhino conservation strategy titled
“Project Rhino Century (Proyek Abad Badak)
in partnership with WWF, International Rhino
Foundation (IRF), Yayasan Badak Indonesia
(YABI), dan US Fish and Wildlife Service
to create additional Javan rhino populations
by translocating a few individuals from
Ujung Kulon to another suitable site.
The video trap instalment
was done and monitored by a survey team
consisting of biologists, including Ujung
Kulon park rangers, WWF, and local people.
+ More
Videoconferencing against
climate change
28 May 2008 - Videoconferencing
is set to make a significant contribution
to the fight against climate change, by
acting as an alternative to business flights
and bringing into question the validity
of airport expansion plans.
Travelling Light, a
new report by WWF-UK has found that 89%
of the FTSE 350 companies expect they will
want to fly less over the next 10 years.
Air travel is the transport
sector with the second highest impact on
climate in Europe and is one of the fastest-growing
sources of carbon emissions in the UK. International
travel is a major driver of aviation growth,
representing 22% of total passenger trips.
“Our report has revealed
that there is a real appetite among many
of the UK’s biggest businesses to reduce
the number of flights they take,” says Peter
Lockley, Head of Transport Policy at WWF-UK.
“For many companies, travel is a major contributor
to their carbon footprint - more than fifty
per cent in some cases - and green alternatives
such as videoconferencing not only provide
a swift solution for cutting carbon, they
can also save businesses time and money.
In the current economic climate, and with
increasing carbon accountability, videoconferencing
is an easy win for businesses.”
If aviation continues
to grow unchecked, independent analysis
suggests it could consume the UK’s entire
carbon allowance by 2050.
Greater carbon accountability
is not the only reason why more companies
are seeking to reduce their business travel,
or switch to lower carbon alternatives.
Higher oil prices have pushed up the cost
of air travel, at a time when the economy
is slowing down.
If all European companies
were to cut their business travel by 20%
and use video or audio conferencing instead,
some 22 million tones of CO2 would be saved
each year, the report said.
“Videoconferencing is
a useful communication tool and we anticipate
further growth in the use of our videoconferencing
facilities as a result of our continued
efforts to reduce staff travel”, said Andrew
Cave, Head of Corporate Responsibility at
RBS Group, one of the surveyed companies.
“Our use of videoconferencing also fits
well with our continued efforts to reduce
the environmental footprint of our business,
particularly with regard to greenhouse gas
emissions.”
