Cutting emissions of
SLCPs like black carbon, methane and gases
known as HFCs could cut the rate of global
warming by up to 0.5 degrees Celsius, save
millions of lives and reduce crop losses
by over 30 million tonnes a year.
Clean-up of Polluting
Brick Kilns and Cook Stoves Backed by Climate
and Clean Air Coalition
Many of the estimated 100,000 small-scale
brick-making facilities across Africa, Asia
and Latin America are inefficient and emit
significant levels of black carbon and other
pollutants into the atmosphere.
Mexico City, 26 July
2013- Efforts to reduce emissions of so-called
Short Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs) were
given a boost at an international meeting
in Mexico City today.
Members of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition
(CCAC) approved multi-million dollar funding
to support the more widespread uptake of
high quality clean cookstoves that also
cut soot or black carbon emissions.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
Climate and Clean Air Coalition
Cutting emissions of SLCPs like black carbon,
methane and gases known as HFCs could cut
the rate of global warming by up to 0.5
degrees Celsius, save millions of lives
and reduce crop losses by over 30 million
tonnes a year.
Cook Stoves-Catalyzing Best Designs
The increased support
for clean cook stoves, amounting to US$1.4
million, will in part go to supporting regional
testing centres to improve performance standards
for clean cooks stoves and fuels.
Studies indicate that,
depending on the design, choices of fuel
and the conditions in which they are used,
advanced coosktoves and fuels can play a
key role in reducing emissions of SLCPs.
Funding will also be
used to support a fund, known as the Spark
Fund, to provide pre-investment funding
to scale projects that reduce black carbon
and SLCPs while also supporting outreach
and education on the role that advanced
cookstoves and clean fuels can play in mitigating
emissions of SLCPs.
Radha Muthiah, Executive
Director of the Global Alliance for Clean
Cookstoves, which is a member of the CCAC,
said: "The Alliance believes that this
work to support standards and testing for
black carbon, and pre-investment grants
for entrepreneurs to scale projects that
reduce SLCPs, will pay tremendous dividends
for the climate and women and children's
health in the developing world."
Cleaning Up Brick Kilns
At the end of the week's
meeting, hosted by the Government of Mexico,
an additional US$1.6 million was also awarded
to the Coalition's brick kilns initiative.
There are an estimated
100,000 small-scale brick-making facilities
across Africa, Asia and Latin America some
of which have designs that date back hundreds,
if not thousands, of years.
Many are inefficient
and burn highly polluting fuels that emit
significant levels of black carbon and other
harmful pollutants into local communities
and to the atmosphere.
The increased funding
will generate various activities. In Asia,
the aim is to make governments more aware
of the pollution and health issues surrounding
old-fashioned brick kilns while also assisting
brick-makers to identify cleaner designs
and technologies while providing training
on how to monitor emissions improvements.
Beatriz Cardenas of
the Government of Mexico's National Institute
of Ecology and Climate Change, which is
one of the leaders of the Coalition's brick
kiln initiative, said: "In Colombia,
for example, the support will allow the
government to carry out an inventory of
black carbon emissions as a first step towards
managing them down and as a model for other
countries. In Mexico, we plan to generate
a pilot certification system that will identify
bricks made from efficient, less-polluting
kilns."
Cutting Landfill Emissions
The Coalition also approved
an additional US$400,000, building on nearly
US$2 million worth of funding to assist
cites reduce methane emissions from landfills.
The Coalition is currently
working with eight cities including Rio
de Janeiro (Brazil), Cali (Colombia), Vina
del Mar (Chile), Accra, (Ghana) and Dhaka,
(Bangladesh).
The additional funding
will bring to around 24 the number of cities
the Coalition is working with on plans to
capture landfill emissions to compost organic
waste.
Heading off use of HFCs
The Coalition is working
to avoid the wide-spread use of hydroflurocarbons
(HFCs) as replacement chemicals in refrigeration
systems and other sectors. Studies indicate
that if HFCs became widespread by 2050,
they increase rapidly to emissions equivalent
to up to 19 percent of CO2 emissions.
As part of a wider initiative
on HFCs, the Coalition today agreed to conduct
a feasibility study on an innovative approach
to climate-friendly city-wide cooling in
Male, Maldives. This system would entirely
avoid high global warming potential HFCs,
while also improving energy efficiency.
Helena Molin Valdes,
who heads the CCAC Secretariat hosted by
the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), said: "The decisions taken
this week in terms of moving forward on
a range of initiatives sends a good and
strong signal to the Ministerial Meeting
of the Coalition members scheduled for Oslo,
Norway in September."
"The Coalition
and its initiatives are certainly moving
forward at a good rate and there is a real
and tangible sense of enthusiasm and ambition
to make a difference. We are confident that
the Ministerial session can act as a further
catalyst to take forward the common and
collective aims to fast track action on
SLCPs and bring health, climate and food
security benefits to millions of people,"
she added.
Supporting National
Planning for Action on SLCPs (SNAP)
Today the Coalition
also agreed to a second phase of a programme
that is assisting countries to work out
how best to rapidly reduce SLCPs emissions
across their economies and calculate the
likely benefits.
The SNAP initiative
began work in January, and has already supported
four countries - Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana
and Mexico - to plan early and effective
action to reduce damage to health, crops
and climate.
Three inter-governmental
meetings have already been held - in Colombia,
Ghana and Thailand - that highlighted the
benefits of the programme to 250 representatives
of governments and other organizations from
48 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Today the CCAC allocated
a further US$1.9 million which will allow
the initiative to be rolled out to support
further countries around the world.
Notes to Editors
The International Working
Group of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition
(CCAC) was held in Mexico City between22-25
July 2013
The Climate and Clean
Air Coalition to Reduce Short Lived Climate
Pollutants is a partnership of governments,
intergovernmental organizations, the private
sector, the environmental community, and
other members of civil society. Launched
by six countries and the UN Environment
Programme in February 2012, it now consists
of 64 partners, including states and key
international institutions and organizations.
More information about CCAC is at http://www.unep.org/ccac
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INTERPOL Member Countries
Continue Fight Against Illegal Logging in
Latin America Thu, Jul 25, 2013
The project supports
countries in tackling illegal logging and
forestry crime, which undermine attempts
to implement national and international
forest protection policies and sustainable
forestry practices.
INTERPOL Member Countries
Continue Fight Against Illegal Logging in
Latin America
Project Leaf is a consortium initiative
led by INTERPOL, with support from the United
Nations Environment Programme.
Lyon (France), 25 July
2013 -Nearly USD 40 million worth of timber
has been seized in follow up investigations
as part of INTERPOL's Operation Lead targeting
illegal logging, forestcrimes and the criminal
networks behind them.
Building upon the initial
outcomes of the operation, Costa Rica and
Venezuela in particular haveincreased their
efforts in the fight against illegallogging,
confiscating 292,000 m3 of wood and wood
products - equivalent to 19,500 truckloads
- during follow-up investigations and operations.Venezuelaaccounted
for nearly two-thirds of the total, with
188,000 m3 of wood seized in a single month.
Law enforcement agencies
in the two countries conducted intelligence
gathering to identify locations where illegal
logging was occurring, transportationroutes
and the criminals involved in all phases
of the process.Using this intelligence,
authorities carried out operations at logging
camps, sawmills andtransportation corridors.
Project Leaf is a consortium
initiative led by INTERPOL, with the United
Nations Environment Programme and with the
financial support of the NorwegianAgency
for Development Cooperation. The project
supports countries in tackling illegal logging
and forestry crime, which undermine attempts
to implementnational and international forest
protection policies and sustainable forestry
practices.
"Norway and the
global society have invested for years in
the conservation of forests to save the
earth from the dangerous effects of climate
change,protect biodiversity and help people
who live in and depend on forests,"said
Norway's Minister for International Development,
Heikki Eidsvoll Holmås.
"We cannot accept
organized crime destroying our achievements
for their personal profits. I therefore
welcome the results achieved through the
INTERPOLEnvironmental Crime Programme's
capacity building initiatives and law enforcement
operations," he added.
The first phase of Operation Lead, held
under the auspices of INTERPOL's Environmental
Crime Programme and its Project Leaf, was
conducted in 12 LatinAmerican countries
in late 2012. As INTERPOL's first international
operation targeting large-scale illegal
logging and forest crime, it resulted in
nearly200 arrests and seizures of more than
50,000 m3 of wood, estimated at around USD
8 million.
"The ongoing law
enforcement operations in Latin America
demonstrate the profound and long-lasting
impact of INTERPOL's environmental crime
initiatives. Wecontinue to support countries,
and the international community, in their
fight against illegal logging and forest
crime," said David Higgins, Head ofINTERPOL's
Environmental Crime Programme.
"It is important
to continue to evolve our enforcement efforts
and build on the successes of previous operations
to begin to target international criminaloperations
responsible for large-scale illegal logging,"
concluded Mr Higgins.
In addition to the ongoing
law enforcement operations, Venezuelan authorities
have been leading replanting efforts in
affected areas, reforesting some8,000 hectares.
They have also implemented educational programmes
to inform the public about the dangers associated
with illegal logging.
Operation Lead participating
countries; Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, andVenezuela.
- See more at: http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2723&ArticleID=9576&l=en#sthash.Xtl68S2j.dpuf
+ More
UN General Assembly
Sets up New UN Forum to Boost Sustainable
Development Efforts Wed, Jul 10, 2013
The Forum will convene
annually at the ministerial level under
the auspices of the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC) and it will, every four
years, bring together heads of State to
provide added momentum for sustainable development.
UN General Assembly
Sets up New UN Forum to Boost Sustainable
Development Efforts
The forum aims at boosting efforts to tackle
global economic, social and environmental
challenges Photo: World Agroforestry Centre
New York, July 9 2013
- The General Assembly today established
a new High-level Political Forum, which
will replace the United Nations Commission
on Sustainable Development, to boost efforts
to tackle global economic, social and environmental
challenges.
In a resolution adopted by consensus, the
193-member Assembly emphasized the need
for an improved and more effective institutional
framework for sustainable development, and
decided that the Forum should provide "a
dynamic platform for regular dialogue and
for stocktaking and agenda-setting to advance
that process."
The decision follows
up on a key recommendation of 'The Future
We Want,' the outcome document of last year's
UN Conference on Sustainable Development,
known as Rio+20.
"Establishing the
Forum marks a major step forward in implementing
'The Future We Want'," said Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon. "The Forum can provide
the political leadership and action-oriented
recommendations we need to follow up on
all the Rio recommendations and meet urgent
global economic, social and environmental
challenges. "Countries must do their
utmost to realize the Forum's potential."
The Forum will convene
annually at the ministerial level under
the auspices of the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC) and it will, every four
years, bring together heads of State to
provide added momentum for sustainable development.
Its first meeting will be held in September,
during the Assembly's forthcoming 68th session.
The new body is tasked
with providing political leadership, guidance
and recommendations for sustainable development;
reviewing progress in the implementation
of related commitments; and enhancing integration
of the three dimensions of sustainable development
- economic, social and environmental.
"We are simply
not doing enough to meet the fundamental
challenges of our time: to end extreme poverty
in this generation and significantly narrow
the global gap between rich and poor, without
inflicting irreparable damage to the environmental
basis for our survival," said General
Assembly President Vuk Jeremiæ.
"The new Forum
must be more than just a meeting place -
it must be the place where countries and
civil society generate the momentum for
change."
The Forum will replace
the Commission on Sustainable Development,
which was formed after the 1992 Earth Summit
and helped to generate action on a range
of issues that led to international agreements
or treaties.
Governments and civil
society actors, however, came to share a
belief in recent years that a higher-profile
body was needed to guide sustainable development
towards 'the future we want.'
The Assembly recommended
that ECOSOC abolish the Commission upon
the conclusion of its 20th session - whose
timing, agenda and duration was postponed
from May, pending progress on the format
and organizational modalities of the Forum.
- See more at: http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2723&ArticleID=9566&l=en#sthash.7EJi1b7u.dpuf
