10
Mar 2009 - Asia Pacific fishing nations
could use the presence of tuna spawning
grounds to negotiate better prices and fairer
fishing arrangements with foreign fishing
nations, WWF said today.
The proposal was put
forward as ministers started meeting in
the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby
this week to finalise a plan to protect
marine environments and food security in
the Coral Triangle region, covering waters
between Indonesia, the Philippines, and
the Pacific.
The area provides spawning
grounds and migratory routes for tuna caught
in the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans,
which make up around 70 per cent of the
world’s tuna catch.
“The region’s spawning
grounds are essential to the world’s multi-billion
dollar tuna industry and the world should
be prepared to support their protection
and effective management,” said Dr Lida
Pet Soede, leader of WWF’s Coral Triangle
Program.
“This can help Coral
Triangle countries negotiate fairer prices
and fairer fishing arrangements with non-Coral
Triangle nations, who also fish in these
waters.”
Dr Pet Soede said it
was fitting the final meeting be held in
Papua New Guinea as PNG has taken a leading
role in efforts to bring more sustainability
to the region’s tuna fisheries, which are
critical to the food security of millions.
Managing Director of
Papua New Guinea’s National Fisheries Authority,
Sylvester Pokajam, warned of a collapse
of the big eye tuna fishery unless fishing
nations operating in the Coral Triangle
introduced measures to make the fishery
more sustainable.
“We can see a crash
coming for tuna and this will be disastrous
for many coastal communities in the Coral
Triangle, where millions of people depend
on healthy tuna stocks for food and livelihoods,”
Mr Pokajam said.
“Here in PNG we have
introduced fishing measures within our own
zones in an effort to address the issue
of overfishing, in particular where it comes
to overfishing big eye tuna, but the success
of these measures depends entirely on the
willingness of other non-Coral Triangle
nations to introduce similar measures.”
Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon
Islands and Timor Leste collectively make
up the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral
Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI),
introduced by Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono at the APEC leader’s meeting
in September 2007.
This week’s meeting
is the final ministerial forum before Coral
Triangle leaders gather in Manado, Indonesia
on May 15 to announce details of a plan
to protect marine ecosystems and food security
in the region.
The Indian Ocean Tuna
Commission will meet in Bali at the end
of this month to consider among other things
a set of recommendations by its scientific
committee to reduce fishing pressure on
yellowfin tuna, which it says is likely
to have reached an overfished state.
The World Ocean Conference
and the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit
will be held from May 11 to 15 in Manado,
Indonesia, and are expected to result in
the Manado Ocean Declaration, a definitive
statement on oceans and climate change.
“With climate change
threatening to alter habitats in the region,
it is even more critical to manage marine
ecosystems for the ongoing food security
of the region and for the survival of many
species that depend on the Coral Triangle’s
unique marine environment,” said Dr Pet
Soede.
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WWF: Sweden sets climate
goals example for EU
12 Mar 2009 - The new
climate and clean energy package proposed
by Sweden should serve as an example for
all EU countries ahead of crucial global
warming negotiations, WWF says. If followed
by other industrialised nations the deal
could lead towards a low carbon future and
help combat climate change.
Sweden is just preparing
to take over the EU’s rotating presidency
and it is likely to play a major role during
important international meetings culminating
in the United Nations Climate Change Conference
in Copenhagen, in December, where leaders
from about 190 countries will try to agree
a global deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol,
which expires in 2012.
Sweden’s Environment
Minister Andreas Carlgren said that his
country now aims by 2020 for renewable energy
to comprise 50 percent of all energy produced,
for the Swedish car fleet to be independent
of fossil fuels 10 years later and for the
country to be carbon neutral by 2050.
“We think it is fantastic
that the government recognises the important
role that eco-efficiency plays in improving
the economy,” Lasse Gustavsson, Secretary
general of WWF in Sweden said.
“If the Swedish government can convince
other industrial countries to adopt Sweden’s
ambitious climate package, the world would
be better suited for combating destructive
climate change,” he said.
Sweden, which now plans
to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by
40 percent from its 11000 levels within
the next 11 years, was asked to cut CO2
output by just 17 percent.
The government said
it would stay committed to the proposed
goals and that they were independent of
whether or not a global climate agreement
is achieved.
It wants to reach these
goals through the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM), Carlrgren said.
Unfortunately, according
to WWF, CDM is currently an ineffective
system in desperate need of reform. WWF’s
concern is that unless serious reforms of
the CDM system are enacted, there is a risk
that the 40 percent goal will be watered
down to a mere 27 percent.
“We would prefer
to see a greater portion of these reductions
made within Sweden’s own borders,” Mr Gustavsson
said.
