Posted on 11 December
2010
Cancun, Mexico: World
governments on Saturday morning laid tentative
groundwork for a global agreement to fight
climate change by making a series of commitments
to progress at the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP16
negotiations in Cancun.
Governments agreed on
a set of decisions that will support further
talks over the next year with the objective
of a final outcome at COP17 in Durban, South
Africa.
In response, Gordon
Shepherd, head of WWF’s Global Climate Initiative,
issued the following statement:
“After Copenhagen governments
came to Cancun bruised and facing public
pressure to act on climate change. It was
hoped that Cancun could establish a platform
for progress, and now countries are leaving
with a renewed sense of goodwill and some
sense of purpose.”
After two weeks of negotiations,
governments made measurable progress in
several important areas, but a lot more
work and some big political challenges remain.
“While they weren’t
able to decide on a second phase for the
Kyoto Protocol, a process has been set in
motion to do so next year in Durban. Major
difficulties remain, however, with objecting
countries, namely Japan and Russia, who
will now face mounting pressures to join
the global community in extending the Kyoto
Protocol. Countries under Kyoto recognised
more firmly that they need to reduce emissions
25 to 40% by 2020 and acknowledged that
their pledges for emission reductions are
just a start and much more is needed to
reach the shared goal of limiting temperature
increase to 2°C. Over the next year,
they need to roll up their sleeves and be
prepared to work hard and creatively to
close this gap.”
“In a critical move,
countries reached agreement on a major sticking
point within the negotiations around a set
of rules for the measurement, reporting
and verification of emission reductions
and finance.”
“Negotiators established
an adaptation committee and its functions,
but the issues of defining vulnerability
and an international mechanism on loss and
damage remain unresolved.”
“Governments backed
a new global “green fund”, but now need
to identify innovative sources of finance,
such as levies on the currently unregulated
international aviation and shipping sector,
that would both address 8% of global emissions
while simultaneously securing billions of
dollars in long-term financing.”
“The decision addressing
emissions from deforestation, also know
as REDD+, did not include everything we
hoped for, but provides a sound foundation
for moving a credible REDD process forward
and an agenda for the work ahead.”
“The Mexican presidency
deserves much credit for the handling of
the negotiations which helped bring governments
together, especially on thorny issues. They
created a negotiation atmosphere that was
inclusive and efficient – and which directly
helped countries regain confidence in the
UNFCCC process.”
“It was also clear from
the outset that many countries had done
the critical work at home that allowed them
to more confidently position themselves
within a global framework. Strong domestic
actions, such as Mexico’s national REDD+
vision and proposals for the United Kingdom
to cut emissions by 60 percent from 11000
levels by 2030, also infused momentum into
the talks.”
But negotiators still
have much to do in the coming months to
secure a global deal in Durban, South Africa.
“We need to see additional
leadership from the European Union (EU)
and other countries such as India and China
on the legal form of an outcome. The EU
and other countries need to also increase
their mitigation commitments to close the
gap between current emissions reduction
pledges and what is required to reach their
shared goal of limiting global warming to
below 2°C.”
“The United States got
off relatively easy in Cancun, failing to
agree to robust reporting and review for
its own actions. To build trust in the year
ahead, the US should embark on a clear process
to pull together its domestic efforts to
reduce emissions into a transparent action
plan that will put it on the road to a clean
energy economy. The United States should
then come to Durban ready to join the world
in support of a legally binding agreement.”
“We also need countries
to go home and continue to develop national
plans to curb climate change. They must
bring these actions into the international
process if we are to truly secure an agreement
in South Africa that meaningfully addresses
dangerous climate change and helps vulnerable
communities adapt.”
+ More
WWF to move critically
endangered rhinos to new habitats
Posted on 09 December
2010
As part of its successful range expansion
programme, WWF will translocate an additional
20 black rhinoceros to new landscapes in
2011, according to an agreement with a South
African wildlife agency.
The rhinos will come
from reserves administered by the Eastern
Cape Parks & Tourism Agency (ECPTA),
a public entity that manages wildlife parks
other natural areas in South Africa.
WWF’s Black Rhino Range
Expansion Project aims to increase the number
of critically endangered black rhinoceros
by moving populations to newly established
habitat areas, which helps to increase breeding
rates. Since 2003, the project has translocated
98 black rhinos to 6 different sites resulting
in the births of at least 26 calves.
There are currently
about 4,700 black rhinos in Africa, up from
a low of approximately 2,100 in the early
11000s. However, rhinos are being poached
at an alarming rate largely due to the illicit
demand for their horns, which are used in
traditional Asian medicine. At least 250
of South Africa’s rhinos have been killed
in 2010.
“There are two sides
to good rhino conservation. One is intensive
security for existing populations. The other
is managing to make sure that your population
grows as fast as possible,” says Dr. Jacques
Flamand, WWF’s Black Rhino Range Expansion
Project Leader. “If you do not manage for
high population growth rate, then effectively
over time you are losing a lot of animals
that could have been born. Rapid population
growth rate can mean the difference between
survival and extinction for a critically
endangered species.”
Growth rates at some
range expansion sites have topped 7% per
year, according to Flamand. “Also, indications
are that the growth rate is improving in
donor populations,” he says.
The agency’s decision
to donate the rhinos comes as its key population
reaches the carrying capacity of its habitat.
“We are proud of the fact that we have successfully
tripled the number of black rhino in our
reserves in the past decade,” says Sybert
Liebenberg, ECPTA’s CEO. “This has enabled
us to be in a position where we can contribute
to the further growth of the national black
rhino population by participating in WWF’s
Black Rhino Range Expansion programme.”
Greece joins cascade towards global water
treaty
Posted on 14 December 2010
UN headquarters, New York: Greece has this
month become the 21st country to ratify
a global water treaty designed to reduce
conflict and guide joint management over
rivers and lakes forming or crossing international
boundaries.
The ratification adds
new momentum to efforts to bring United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational
Uses of International Watercourses (UN Watercourses
Convention) into force. The Convention,
adopted at the United Nations 13 years ago
by an overwhelming majority, becomes effective
once it has been ratified by 35 nations.
“Water is a resource
that often crosses borders, creating both
obligations and opportunities for the development
of successful cooperation between countries,”
said H.E. Tina Birbili, Greek Minister of
Environment, Energy and Climate Change.
“The promotion of transboundary
cooperation on water issues is inherent
to Greece’s foreign policy, since around
25% of its surface water extends to or originates
from neighboring countries. The UN Watercourses
Convention together with the EU Water Framework
Directive constitute the necessary background
and reference point for advancing the transboundary
negotiations that Greece has initiated with
Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia, on the Prespa Lake; with Turkey,
on the Evros basin; and with Bulgaria, on
the Nestos, Strymon, Ardas, and Evros basins."
Busy year for ratifications
Greece’s ratification
contributes to a busy year in the establishment
of the UN watercourses convention, supporting
views that growing global anxieties over
freshwater are boosting support for the
treaty. France has announced its imminent
ratification and willingness to actively
promote the convention in Europe and beyond.
Ratifications earlier this year include
those by Nigeria, in September, and Guinea-Bissau,
in May. Burkina Faso is likely to become
the 22nd contracting state in the near future.
According to Vangelis
Constantianos, Executive Secretary of GWP-Mediterranean,
“Greece’s initiative should serve as a strong
encouragement for other European and neighbouring
countries to join the UN Watercourses Convention
as well.”
For Dr. Fadi Comair,
President of the Mediterranean Network of
Basin Organizations (MENBO), “The ratification
of the UN Watercourses Convention by Greece
is a very important step and we look forward
for a speed entry into force of this convention
which will underpin considerably the culture
of peace and best practices of cooperation
of Mediterranean countries on their shared
water river basins”.
The widespread endorsement
of the convention has been facilitated and
encouraged by the UN Watercourses Convention
Global Initiative, led by WWF, Green Cross,
Global Water Partnership, the IHP-HELP Centre
for Water Law, Policy and Science, under
the auspices of UNESCO (Centre for Water
Law, Policy & Science), and numerous
other partners.
As emphasized by Demetres
Karavellas, CEO of WWF Greece, "the
ratification of the Convention, as well
as other recent initiatives by Greece that
promote transboundary cooperation on water
management issues are certainly remarkable
and encouraging.” And he adds: “We hope
that Greece will show the same consistency
in the implementation of an integrated national
water policy in the immediate future.”
