10
Nov 2008 - Iqaluit, Canada: Canada's youngest
territory is facing an international backlash
following its decision to leave unchanged
the number of polar bears it allows to be
killed in part of the Baffin Bay region
each year.
Nunavut, which came
into being in 1999, has bowed to pressure
from the local Inuit hunters and agreed
to maintain the annual allowable harvest
quota of 105 polar bears. The Baffin Bay
sub-population straddles Canada and adjacent
areas of Greenland. The number of polar
bears has dropped from an estimated 2,100
in 1997 to about 1,500 today due to high
levels of hunting by Inuit in both countries.
The hunting quota was
set at 105 in 2004, based on the relatively
large population numbers from the late 11000s.
The harvesting in Nunavut was also based
on an assumption that the number of bears
killed in neighbouring Greenland was as
low as 18 a year, but subsequent research
has shown the actual figure to be about
10 times higher.
"You can't pretend
to be looking after polar bears by carrying
on with the same level of harvest that has
led to a 30 per cent decline in the population,
it is just totally unacceptable,” Peter
J. Ewins, director of species conservation
for WWF-Canada, told Canada's Globe and
Mail newspaper.
WWF is calling for a
joint management plan between Greenland,
Nunavut and the federal Canadian government
that would allow populations to recover
and then be managed on a sustainable level.
For many environmentalists,
polar bears have become a symbol of global
warming because the ice habitat that they
depend on is melting due to climate change.
Environmentalists have
warned that the hunting decision may lead
to international boycotts against Nunavut,
and to concerns that the government, which
relies heavily on advice from Inuit hunters,
is ignoring the scientific research showing
a precipitous plunge in the number of bears.
+ More
EU’s ideas for energy looking tired
13 Nov 2008 - Brussels,
Belgium: A coherent plan to reduce energy
consumption was conspicuous by its absence
from the European Union’s latest attempt
to deal with the energy and climate crisis.
The European Commission
today released an “Energy security and solidarity
action plan”, which addresses some of the
gaps in the present EU climate and energy
policy.
But there were major
contradictions among suggested policies,
a lack of ambition and a mixture of actions
with little relevance for the environmental
and economic objectives outlined in the
proposals.
Energy efficiency is
the most immediate and cost-effective solution
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ensure
resilience to an economic crisis and improve
security of energy supply in Europe. Despite
this it remains absent from the European
Union energy policy.
“Proposed measures fail
in ambition as they do not include a mandatory
energy saving target of 20 per cent by 2020
for the European Union,” said Mariangiola
Fabbri, Energy Policy Officer at WWF-EPO.
“This is key to reduce
consumers’ energy bill, boost innovation,
facilitate the achievement of the EU’s greenhouse
gas emissions reduction targets and support
a strong EU performance at international
climate negotiations.”
As Europe’s buildings
account for 40 per cent of EU final energy
use, the improvement of the Energy Performance
of Buildings Directive should be a priority
and an opportunity not to be missed to strengthen
the EU’s climate and energy goals.
“EU countries should
have been obliged to have stricter standards
for both existing and new buildings by 2015,”
said Fabbri. “We need to shift buildings
from being energy wasters to climate savers.”
On a more positive note
the EU intends to embark on the “Renewable
energy supergrid”, an innovative electricity
highway to connect solar power from southern
Europe and north Africa, offshore wind power
produced in the Atlantic and other renewable
energy sources from the mainland. However,
a continuous focus on fossil fuels might
undermine this project.
“The renewable energy
supergrid must become a priority as it has
the potential to provide renewable electricity
to all European citizens and make the European
energy sector carbon-free in the decades
to come,” said Dr Stephan Singer, WWF’s
Global Energy Policy Director.
“It is disappointing,
though, to see new investments for infrastructures
that keep Europe dependent on oil, gas and
other conventional fuels which counteract
the benefit of renewable energy.”
WWF is urging the European
Parliament and the Council of Ministers
to strengthen the laws and come to an agreement
before the EU elections in June 2009.
