Port-au-Prince (Haiti),
21 April 2011 - The stark environmental
challenges in Haiti during 2010 and opportunities
for a more sustainable future are presented
in a new publication from the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP).
UNEP in Haiti: 2010
Year in Review recounts the efforts of UNEP,
in partnership with the Government of Haiti,
the UN system and others to address environmental
issues compounded by the earthquake and
Hurricane Tomas - ranging from severe deforestation
to polluted waterways and degraded coastal
and marine areas - and concludes that most
of them remain unsolved.
However, according to
UNEP, a range of new environmental initiatives
combined with the Government of Haiti's
ongoing resolve provide a path towards overcoming
the country's chronic environmental issues
and supporting its development priorities.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and UNEP Executive Director, said
the earthquake posed a significant setback
to the efforts Haiti had been making to
reverse years of environmental degradation,
overcome poverty and chart a more sustainable
future.
"The tragedy starkly
underlined the vulnerability of people,
the environment and the economy to natural
disasters when the resilience of a country's
ecosystems such as forests and freshwaters
is already weak and compromised," Mr
Steiner said.
"UNEP's goal is
to reinforce the capacity and assist the
people of Haiti to rebuild communities in
ways that reduce its vulnerability to future
shocks as part of a wider transition to
a low carbon, resource efficient, job-generating
Green Economy," he said.
The publication documents
the efforts to mitigate the environmental
impacts of the resettlement of hundreds
of thousands of people and of tonnes of
rubble and waste, in a nation already considered
to be the most environmentally challenged
in the Caribbean.
It gives an insight
into the types of activities and challenges
in such post-disaster settings and sets
out lessons learned so that UNEP and other
organizations can better understand and
prepare to assist in the event of future
major crises.
UNEP and its partners
applied four approaches - awareness raising,
coordination, technical assistance, and
practical action - all with mixed success.
Environmental health
issues centred around:
difficulties with the
collection and disposal of human bodies
problems associated with medical waste disposal
uncontrolled disposal of solid waste, with
extensive illegal dumping
massive sanitation problems in the camps
for displaced people, culminating in a cholera
outbreak
a lack of acceptable solutions for disposal
or treatment of human waste, resulting in
large-scale open-air dumping of human waste
near crowded slum areas.
Natural resource exploitation
issues involved:
increased deforestation
for timber for construction and for fuel-wood
and charcoal
widespread destruction of urban vegetated
areas by uncontrolled settlements of displaced
people
major reconstruction projects approved and
funded without any real form of environmental
impact assessment.
Approximately 60 percent
of Haiti's population suffers from food
insecurity, with more than half of the national
food supply being imported because the level
of land degradation and poor soil quality
has reduced agricultural productivity.
Through the support
of the governments of Norway and Ireland,
UNEP has catalyzed the design and introduction
of numerous initiatives in Haiti in such
areas as sustainable agriculture, fisheries,
ecotourism and renewable energy.
The initiatives are
intended to be nationally-owned and economically
self-sustaining but ongoing foreign aid
will be needed for such projects to flourish
in order to assist Haiti's long-term recovery.
Supported by a consortium
of Haitian and international partners, including
UNEP, the largest new project is the Côte
Sud Initiative. Its 20-year vision is to
transform the lives and livelihoods of more
than 200,000 Haitians by addressing the
severe poverty, environmental degradation,
disaster vulnerability and limited social
services which have plagued their well-being
for decades.
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Abidjan Convention moves
to protect Africa's coasts from oil spills
Nairobi, 20 April 2011
- The coastal waters of West, Central and
Southern Africa - from Mauritania down to
the tip of the continent in South Africa
- are of vital importance to the region's
economy. The marine ecosystems and coastal
areas support rich fisheries and tourism
and are also home to numerous busy ports.
But over the last three
decades, rapid development, pollution and
improper use of resources have had a damaging
effect on coastal ecosystems. Erosion and
flooding are also likely to be exacerbated
by climate change.
The Abidjan Convention
- administered by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) - is an umbrella agreement
that addresses pollution, overfishing, dumping
at sea, exploration of the sea bed and other
activities that can impact on the health
of marine and coastal ecosystems.
Now a new focus has
been added to the work of the convention:
reducing potential risks from oil spills.
Earlier this month,
at the 9th Convention of the Parties (COP)
to the Abidjan Convention in Ghana, governments
from 19 of the 22 countries sharing the
West, Central and Southern African coast
of the Atlantic Ocean agreed to create an
Oil Spill Contingency Plan and establish
a regional centre for co-operation in case
of oil spills and other emergencies.
Increased off-shore
oil exploration is bringing significant
revenue to Western, Central and Southern
African states. But many countries expressed
a strong desire at the COP meeting to work
collaboratively to prevent oil spills, such
as occurred in the Gulf of Mexico last year,
from happening in the Gulf of Guinea or
elsewhere in the region.
The Oil Spill Contingency
Plan will complement existing national plans
and allow countries to promptly report to
each other oil spills or other pollution
incidents occurring in their area of responsibility
or that of another party. Member states
were also encouraged to exchange information
on combating oil pollution and to facilitate
prompt, mutual assistance in the event of
a major oil pollution incident.
The preparation of the
Contingency Plan was a joint effort betwwen
UNEP, the International Maritime Organization
(IMO) and the UN Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO).
"Unfortunately,
it is impossible to rule out that a similar
incident to the tragedy that occurred at
the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf
of Mexico could also take place in this
region", says Abou Bamba, Secretary
of the Abidjan Convention at UNEP. "For
this reason, it is time to strengthen the
existing preparedness and response measures
in place among parties."
Participants at the
COP meeting also agreed as a priority to
build national capacity in oil and gas development
to improve the management of the sector,
to adopt appropriate national policies,
and to conduct strategic environmental and
social impact assessments. The parties also
decided to enact national legislation to
address liability, compensation, safety
and security- related matters for offshore
platforms.
In addition to the new
commitments on managing oil spills, the
COP approved a total of sixteen decisions
which should serve to further revitalize
the Abidjan Convention and confirm its role
as the umbrella organization for marine
and coastal activities in the region.
These included calls
for the convention to work more closely
on coastal erosion and marine protected
areas. This will involve developing a Marine
Protected Areas Protocol to help implement
Articles 10 and 11 of the convention, which
require parties to take all appropriate
measures to prevent, reduce, combat and
control coastal erosion and to endeavour
to establish marine parks and reserves to
protect fragile ecosystems. These aims are
in line with the objectives of the Convention
on Biological Diversity, to which all parties
to the Abidjan Convention have adhered.
Notes to Editors
Visit the Abidjan convention website at:
http://www.unep.org/abidjanconvention/
UNEP's Regional Seas
Programme aims to address the accelerating
degradation of the world's oceans and coastal
areas through the sustainable management
and use of the marine and coastal environment,
by engaging neighbouring countries in comprehensive
and specific actions to protect their shared
marine environment.
The Regional Seas Programme
covers 18 regions of the world making it
one of the most globally comprehensive initiatives
for the protection of marine and coastal
environment. The 18 Regional Seas Convention
and Action Plans (RSCAPs) are important
platforms for the implementation of UNEP's
marine and coastal strategy, global conventions
and MEAs.
Visit the Regional Seas website at: www.unep.org/regionalseas
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Celebrating Earth Day
By Rosa Aguilar Rivero,
Minister for Environment, Rural and Marine
Affairs of Spain and President of UNEP's
Governing Council.
On April 22nd we celebrate the 31st anniversary
of the Earth Day created in 1970, a landmark
for the environmental movement. A movement
that gave birth to the UN Environment Programme
(UNEP).
Since 1970 we have addressed
many aspects of the quality of the environment,
while new threats have emerged. We are at
a moment in the history of humanity that
is essential to take decisions on what model
of development we want.
As President of UNEP's
Governing Council, and with regard to the
international environmental agenda, the
work has focused on two main areas: establishing
the basis for effective environmental governance
and enabling the transition to a Green Economy.
This new model of development based on a
low-carbon economy is essential in ensuring
the adequate mitigation of climate change.
The transition to this new economy model
should therefore be, above all, a just transition
set on a foundation of green and decent
jobs.
UNEP has carried out
this work hand-in-hand with civil society.
In this regard, civil society should be
the main actor from the beginning to the
end. Citizens and governments have to work
together to ensure that the quality of the
environment that allows economic and social
development within the framework of a new
concept for an economy in which social and
environmental externalities of any activity
are explicitly taken into account.
During the Cancun Summit,
the international community expressed their
commitment to take measures to limit a rise
in global temperatures by 2020 compared
to pre-industrial times. In the Durban Summit
that will take place in December this year,
we have the opportunity to explicitly define
the commitments that make it possible to
meet this condition for reducing major emissions.
The Rio+20 summit will
be the turning point that will lay the foundation
for a model of sustainable development that
will allow future generations to continue
enjoying a healthy environment.
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Calls to better manage
natural resources on 50th anniversary of
Sierra Leone's independence
Freetown (Sierra Leone)
/ Nairobi, 27 April 2011 Celebrations to
mark the 50th anniversary of Sierra Leone's
independence resonated with strong calls
to protect, conserve and manage the country's
precious natural resources.
This week's celebrations
included events organised as part of an
ongoing awareness-raising campaign by the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
the Sierra Leone Environmental Protection
Agency and the Environmental Foundation
for Africa.
Focusing particularly
on Sierra Leone's youth, the campaign opened
with a 500-strong environmentally themed
parade in the streets of the capital Freetown.
Scores of school children
and teachers belonging to some 40 green
groups established by the government with
support from UNEP in schools across the
country participated in the event. Also
in attendance were local government representatives,
members of the UN family and numerous local
environmental groups.
Following the parade,
75 students were taken on a tour of the
Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, which protects
and rehabilitates chimpanzees orphaned by
the bushmeat trade or confiscated from wildlife
traders, and of the Guma Valley Dam, a reservoir
that supplies water to a large proportion
of the city.
"The future of
Sierra Leone is in the hands of the children",
said Haddjijatou Jallow, Executive Chair
of Sierra Leone's Environmental Protection
Agency. "Young as they are, if they
put all that has been said into good practice
then we will have a better Sierra Leone."
Through these and other
events, such as a seminar organized by UNEP
for local organizations working to protect
Sierra Leone's environment, the campaign
highlighted the importance of conserving
such natural heritage sites as the Gola
Rain Forest and the Western Area Peninsular
Forest, and promoting sustainable natural
resource management practices as part of
the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient
Green Economy.
"Sierra Leone is
blessed with beautiful landscapes, abundant
wildlife and rich mineral resources",
said Oli Brown, the UN Environmental Affairs
Officer in Sierra Leone. "Well protected
and carefully used, these resources will
be an engine for growth for generations
to come," he added.
Sierra Leone's economy
is almost entirely dependent on its natural
resource endowment, with most employment
in the country linked to environment and
natural resources.
According to the UNEP
report "Sierra Leone: Environment,
Conflict and Peacebuilding Assessment",
released last year, the effective management
of the environment and natural resources
sector is critical to the country's continued
peace and stability, economic development,
rural integration and improved governance
capacity.
Since 2010, UNEP has
been working together with the Food and
Agricultural Organization (FOA) and the
UN Development Programme (UNDP) to provide
capacity-building assistance and technical
support for natural resource management
in Sierra Leone, within the framework of
the UN's Joint Vision for Sierra Leone.
