Posted on 08 December
2010
Leaders from the finance industry, the UNEP
Finance Initiative and WWF joined forces
today to call for scaled up public finance
and building up the financial mechanism
under the UNFCCC to leverage much greater
amounts of private finance to meet climate
change mitigation goals.
Cancun, Mexico
- Leaders from the finance industry, the
UNEP Finance Initiative and WWF joined forces
today to remind climate negotiators of the
urgent need to scale up the levels of both
public and private financing to halt the
devastating effects of climate change and
enable low-carbon development in emerging
and vulnerable economies.
The leaders and organisations
said that the specific need was to scaled
up public finance and building up the financial
mechanism under the UNFCCC to leverage much
greater amounts of private finance to meet
climate change mitigation goals.
Last month 259 global
investors representing USD15 trillion in
investments issued a statement on climate
change urging international action.
The joint event in Cancun
was presented with a shared vision for financing
action on climate change which outlined
a role for international public financing
in leveraging private finance through de-risking
instruments such as guarantees, first loss
equity vehicles and hedging instruments.
Public finance was also
needed to build developing country capacity
and create the policy frameworks needed
to accelerate private sector shifts to the
low carbon economy, the meeting was told.
In the tight current
budgetary situation of many countries not
all of the public finance will be able to
be sourced from domestic budgets, the meeting
was told, raising the need for innovative
sources of public finance to reach the scale
of resources required.
"The negotiations
are at a crucial stage with ministers arriving
to support negotiators and sort through
the different options on the table,"
said Yolanda Kakabadse, President of WWF
International. "It is essential that
negotiators move decisively to strengthen
the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC, and
establish a robust process to identify innovative
sources of scaled up public finance.
"One area where
progress can be made on both mitigation
and finance is by addressing emissions from
the maritime and aviation industries.
“Public funds are critical
to speed up the development of new technologies,
as well as for adaptation, resilience building,
and preparedness and capacity building measures.
Public funds are also critical in leveraging
private sector finance, which needs to contribute
the great majority of the investments needed
in clean energy technologies. Our experience
is that public investment and initiatives
play key roles in leveraging and directing
private investment."
“Private finance for
low-carbon endeavors in developing countries
can and will only flow at the needed scale,
if firstly, the risk-return profile of such
investments is competitive with that of
conventional investments and, secondly,
if domestic policy frameworks on the ground
display transparency, longevity and certainty,"
said Mark Fulton, Co-chair of the UNEP Finance
Initiative Climate Change Working Group
and global head of Climate Change Investment
Research at Deutsche Bank Asset Management.
"Public finance
from international sources will be needed
to manage risks for investors and create
the capacity in developing countries to
attract and channel private finance into
the green, low carbon economy.”
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Indian wetlands centre
judged best in class
Posted on 03 December
2010
Keoladeo National Park, India: The Salim
Ali Visitor Interpretation Centre in Keoladeo
National Park in Rhajasthan, India has been
judged Asia’s best wetland centre.
The award, conferred
by Wetlands Link International at its third
international conference in Malaysia, recognized
the range of programs and the depth of community
involvement in the four year old centre.
“Salim Ali Visitor Interpretation
Centre has been awarded the award due to
its great range of work, from education
sessions with schools, to outreach work
to local communities excluded from the park,
and even working with local people working
in the park itself,” said Wetlands Link
International head Chris Rostron in giving
the award.
The centre in central
northern India a partnership between WWF-India,
the Rajasthan Forest Department and well
known Austrian crystal and optics manufacturer
D Swarovski & Co. It was named after
Dr Salim Ali (1896 – 1987) who became known
as “the birdman of India” for his pioneering
ornithological surveys of the subcontinent.
World's tallest flying
bird
Dr Ali was also instrumental
in establishing the now World Heritage listed
Keoladeo National Park which incorporated
the 250 year old Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary
– a former hunting reserve for Indian princes
on wetlands adjacent to the Banganga River.
The park boasts around 230 species of birds,
with its icon species being the Sarus Crane
- the worlds tallest flying bird.
WWF has been involved
in core conservation work for the National
Park since 1994. Recent years of repeated
water shortages due to a lack of rain and
a reducing monsoon led to the establishment
with the Forest Department and Swarovski
of a long term community engagement program
called Water for Life.
An essential component
of this program is the Water School which
works with children in the villages situated
around the Park on environment awareness,
especially the wise-use of water resources.
This program has engaged
over 1800 children in the past 2 years and
is supported by the Young Environment Leaders
program, which hones the skills of those
children that show a keen interest in environment
conservation.
