OHRLLS Event Addresses Community Land Ownership in SIDS

News

10 November 2011: The UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and the Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) has convened a special event on the global significance of biodiversity in small island developing States (SIDS) and the importance of community-based partnerships.  

Held at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 10 November 2011, the event aimed to contribute both to the ongoing discussions in the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) Second Committee on the sustainable development of SIDS, and to preparations for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20).

According to OHRLLS, SIDS’ biodiversity is among the most threatened in the world, due to their small size and isolation, the fragility or island ecosystems, and the pressures of deforestation, coral reef deterioration, habitat degradation and loss, and non-indigenous species. The tradition of communal land and marine resource ownership in many island countries requires community support for conservation efforts, making it all the more important to increase awareness of the significance of biodiversity.

The event was chaired by the High Representative for LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS, Chieck Sidi Diarra. It featured keynote presentations by Dr. Eleanor J. Sterling, Executive Director of the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and Dr. Christopher Filardi, Pacific Director at the Centre, remarks by the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Ambassador Dessima Williams of Grenada, and an exchange of views by participants. Participants discussed, inter alia: potential links between local and global processes, such as the UNCSD, and the need for global policies to influence national policies; the imminent destruction of coral reefs without serious attention to their protection; Pacific SIDS’ support for the concept of a “blue economy” in the lead-up to Rio+20; and the positive example of the Global Island Partnership (GLISPA) as a workable partnership. [Website of Event, including summary of statements and discussion]

Islands in an Expanding Sea

The following is the text of an address by Richard Heinberg to the Moana Nui Conference in Honolulu, November 12, 2011. Honolulu was concurrently hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference; as a response to that secretive international trade meeting, the International Forum on Globalization and Pua Mohala Ka Po collaborated to organize Moana Nui.

Expansion of trade depends not just upon favorable trade rules, but financial and monetary integration between nations, as well as the availability of affordable transport fuels. I will argue that current APEC negotiations to increase trade within the Pacific region are a hollow exercise because the preconditions necessary for expanded commerce are disappearing. The peoples of this region therefore need to develop alternative economic plans and strategies.

 

1. The global economic context

The global economic context for the current APEC meetings is not being described publicly in plain, understandable terms by policy makers. That context consists of the slowing, ending, and reversal of the economic growth that was seen in most nations during the past few decades. This reversal of growth is happening due to the convergence of two factors: the deflation of history’s biggest credit bubble, and the depletion of the fuel that made the economic miracle of the 20^th century possible. That fuel, of course, is oil.

 

The world’s petroleum is not about to run out, as the oil industry never tires of reminding us. However, we are indeed seeing flat-lining of production of the cheaply produced, easily accessible crude that has heretofore enabled continuing growth in world economic activity. World crude oil production has failed to increase significantly for the past seven years, while prices have doubled and tripled. The cost to the industry to develop new oil production capacity has soared from $20 per barrel just a few years ago to roughly $85 today. More

Climate Vulnerable Forum

The Climate Vulnerable Forum is a global partnership of leaders of countries most vulnerable to climate change actively seeking a firm and urgent resolution to the growing climate crisis. The Climate Vulnerable Forum was founded by President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives and first met in November 2009. The Declaration of the Climate Vulnerable Forum adopted then expressed alarm at the rate of changes and danger witnessed around the planet due to the effects of human-induced global warming and called for urgent most international cooperation to tackle the challenge.

Climate Vulnerability Forum Declaration

“Alarmed at the pace of change to our Earth caused by human-induced climate change, including accelerating melting and loss of ice from Antarctica, Greenland, the Himalayas, Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, acidification of the world’s oceans due to rising CO2 concentrations, increasingly intense tropical cyclones, more damaging and intense drought and floods, including Glacial Lakes Outburst Floods, in many regions and higher levels of sea-level rise than estimated just a few years ago, risks changing the face of the planet and threatening coastal cities, low lying areas, mountainous regions and vulnerable countries the world over…
“Climate change poses an existential threat to our nations, our cultures and to our way of life.”

Declaration of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (Male’, November 2009)

The Climate Vulnerable Forum convenes governments from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific, committed to demonstrating leadership aimed at tackling what for some nations is becoming an existential challenge. At the Forum meeting on 19 September 2010 in New York, attendees endorsed DARA’s Climate Vulnerability Monitor. More

Pacific Nations Commit to Ensuring Food and Water Security in the Face of Climate Change

Pacific Island government leaders and ministers as well as their metropolitan counterparts attending the 7th Conference of the Pacific Community in New Caledonia this week recognised the importance of ensuring that food and water security can be maintained in the face of climate change now and in coming decades.
Heads of government, ministers and ambassadors from 22 Pacific Island countries and territories and Australia, France, New Zealand and the USA met over two days at the Noumea headquarters of the region's largest development agency, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC). The theme of the meeting was 'Climate Change and Food Security - Managing the Risks for Sustainable Development'.
Delegates welcomed the timeliness of the theme, which highlighted the range of projected impacts that climate change poses, particularly to food and water security in the Pacific Islands region.

The Conference emphasised the importance of a paradigm shift in thinking and planning for climate change, that is, not necessarily 'doing different business but rather doing business differently' to determine the level of acceptable risk at all points and prepare to respond effectively.

The Conference agreed that clearly no one organisation can address climate change related challenges in the Pacific region and that partnerships between development organisations such as SPC and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) were key. SPC and SPREP signed an agreement to collaborate closely on climate change issues at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) Leaders Meeting in Auckland in September. More

Caribbean Risk Management Tools Featured at UNFCCC Workshop

October 2011: The Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recently held a workshop to identify challenges and gaps in the implementation of risk management approaches to the adverse effects of climate change. The workshop included presentations on regional and national experiences on approaches to, and tools for, risk management, such as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility.

The workshop, which was held from 10-12 October 2011 in Lima, Peru, was organized in response to the request by the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) for the Secretariat to organize the workshop, building on the lessons learned and practical experience of international, regional and national organizations and the private sector. Its aim was to provide an opportunity for representatives from Parties, relevant organizations, regional centres and networks, academia, civil society and the private sector to: share information on the current practices, approaches and institutional frameworks for managing climate-related risks at different levels, sectors and regions; and identify region-specific gaps and challenges. The workshop also aimed to enhance participants’ understanding of a possible range of options to address climate-related risks facing countries.

The workshop included a presentation by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) on the Caribbean Risk Management Guidelines for Climate Change Adaptation Decision Making, which were developed to assist risk management practitioners in Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries in the selection and implementation of feasible options for climate change adaptation.

Other presentations included: the intent and practice of integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the Caribbean region, by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA); Pacific regional and international frameworks for mainstreaming climate change adaptation and disaster risk management, by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP); and sovereign climate risk management in practice, by the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF). More

EBRD Backs Marine Bio-Safety Initiative

An innovative programme to protect marine biodiversity, backed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is about to enter a new phase. The project aims to tackle one of the greatest threats to the health of the world’s oceans – the global spread of invasive species and pathogens in the ballast tanks of international cargo vessels.

Ninety per cent of global trade still depends on goods carried by sea. The ships that transport them take   on significant amounts of ballast water to remain stable when their holds are empty. Discharging that water far from the port of origin can seriously damage the local marine ecosystem.

The Black Sea offers many examples: among them, the introduction of a jellyfish from North America which has depleted plankton stocks to the extent of causing the collapse of local fisheries.

Working with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the EBRD's Shareholder Special Fund has made available €320,000 to fund training and awareness programmes and support the development of the technical and infrastructural capacity required to cope with the problem.

Introductory training sessions were successfully conducted in Russia and Ukraine earlier this year. The second phase, targeting private sector companies, will begin in December.

The project is also aimed at readying the shipping and port sectors to comply with a 2004 IMO convention on ballast water, widely expected to come into full force soon.

“There is, of course, a very good environmental reason why vessel operators, ports and other actors should tackle this problem,” said Craig Davies, a Senior Environmental Adviser in the EBRD’s Environment and Sustainability department.

“However, there is also an important business reason: it will soon become mandatory for the shipping industry to comply with the relevant convention on ships’ ballast water. Those who don’t will face serious operational constraints, as they may not be allowed to call at ports of countries that have ratified the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments.” More

UNESCO Youth Forum Focuses on Green Societies and Sustainable Development

19 October 2011: The seventh UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Youth Forum provided a platform for youth to identify priority issues they think should be highlighted at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20). Youth delegates from all over the world voiced their opinions on UNESCO’s role in the promotion of "green societies" and sustainable development.

The session took place at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, on 19 October 2011, and featured two panels: the first consisting of Young Professionals from the natural sciences sector; the second including mostly UNESCO partners. Participants highlighted a number of issues they considered priorities in the preparations for Rio+20, including: green jobs; desertification in Africa; climate change and water resources management in small island developing States (SIDS); disaster risk reduction (DRR) and mitigation; and science governance and science education. Some delegates also shared local experiences in the promotion of green societies in their countries.

The recommendations from the session will be presented to the 36th session of the UNESCO General Conference, in November 2011. More

Achieving sustainable development for small islands

Seychelles President James Michel has said that Commonwealth leaders have recognized the inherent vulnerabilities of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and their need for specific developmental mechanisms to address core challenges such as food security and climate change.

The President attended the Executive Retreat of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this morning.
“As we approach Rio 2012, it is a simple truth that SIDS are more in debt, more vulnerable, and with less finance than in 1992. Sustainable development is still a dream. If we cannot sustain islands, if we cannot achieve sustainable development in these societies that are simply microcosms of our global society, then we may as well agree that sustainable development is not possible,” said President Michel following the meeting.

President Michel said that islands can be the true laboratories for sustainable development and urged other leaders to consider green economy and blue economy projects to be targeted in SIDS. He also emphasized the need for climate change mitigation to be a priority for future consideration. More

Seychelles featured in prominent Business Beijing Magazine

The Seychelles Ambassador accredited to China, HE Mr. Philippe Le Gall, has been prominently featured in the latest issue of the highly popular and respected Business Beijing Magazine.

The four-page article shows a portrait of Ambassador Le Gall holding the island’s unique “coco de mer” nut. The article says that Ambassador Le Gall of the Seychelles brings a unique point of view to Sino-African relations. “Representing a small African country, but also a country active in the Small Island Developing States movement, Le Gall is also accredited to Japan, the Philippines, the Koreas, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Much of his effort is spent promoting tourism to the Seychelles, but the country’s political importance should not be underestimated,” said Charles J. Dukes in his feature article in Business Beijing Magazine.

Ambassador Philippe Le Gall is not shy to say in his interview, “This year we opened a tourism office in our embassy, and a Seychellois tourism attaché has been appointed.” The Business Beijing Magazine says that this shows clearly the commitment of the Seychelles Ambassador to China for the economy of his country. More

That sinking feeling

Is Australia playing big brother to Pacific nations, or the school-yard bully?

As the leaders of Commonwealth nations prepare to meet in Perth this week, The Conversation is examining the role of the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) Meeting.

In our second piece, Keely Boom and Aleta Lederwasch from the University of Technology ask whether CHOGM’s smaller nation members’ concerns about climate change will be drowned out.

Climate change promises to be a hot topic at this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Australia.

The biennial gathering brings together the heads of government of all 54 Commonwealth countries.

CHOGM 2011 will be the largest gathering of world leaders everhosted by Australia. Prime Minister Julia Gillard will chair the event. More >>>

Expert group meeting: Addressing the vulnerabilities of small island developing States more effectively

Date: 5–6 December 2011

Description: The expert group meeting is an opportunity for UNCTAD and the Indian Ocean Commission to contribute to enriching the international debate on possible steps and measures, within and outside the UN system, to support the resilience-building efforts of small island developing States (SIDS) more effectively.

 Concrete avenues for a possible special treatment of SIDS in the framework of international cooperation will be explored. Vulnerability problems have often been identified and described, but rarely answered in terms of international support on grounds of SIDS status. A set of recommendations is expected to result from the meeting, and will be brought to the attention of the preparatory committee for UNCTAD XIII, toward possible further UNCTAD action to alleviate the vulnerabilities of SIDS. The meeting, which will bring together about 12 presenters and an audience of relevant national, regional and international officials, is organized around four sessions, with a sequencing of issues involving three principal questions: Is vulnerability an obstacle to structural progress for SIDS? Could special international support measures for SIDS make resilience-building efforts more effective? What steps could the UN system be enticed to take to make the SIDS agenda an avenue for addressing vulnerability more effectively?

 Co-organized with: UNCTAD and the Indian Ocean Commission
 Language(s): English, French
Contact: Mr. Pierre Encontre Chief, Special Programmes Section Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes UNCTAD

E.: pierre.encontre@unctad.org

Facing droughts, Pacific islands need urgent risk mitigation steps, UN warns

10 October 2011 – Amid growing concerns about drought crises in some small island States of the Pacific, the United Nations today called for comprehensive risk reduction steps to be put in place to protect vulnerable populations living in delicate ecosystems. “It really is time to assist Tuvalu and Tokelau to increase storage capacities and manage their resources sustainably, including more effective warnings for drier spells,” UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) head of policy John Harding said, referring to two of the region’s island States and territories. “With climate change predictions pointing to more acute La Niñas in the futures, plans must also include assistance for communities that will be displaced if existing freshwater is not sufficient,” he added, referring to the weather pattern characterized by unusually cool ocean temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific that can bring abnormal conditions to widely separate areas of the world, from floods to droughts to below- or above-normal temperatures. On the positive side Mr. Harding noted that the strong correlation between drought and La Niña could be a blessing in disguise, since the phenomenon is increasingly predictable and climate experts can inform decision-makers weeks and even months in advance, allowing for increased storage or stockpiling of emergency supplies in advance of a crisis. More >>>

Water emergencies grip Tuvalu & Tokelau

As governments and aid agencies scramble to deliver desalination plants and bottled water to drought stricken Pacific Island nations of Tuvalu and Tokelau, other Pacific Island nations - Samoa and the Cook Islands - are preparing for a similar fate.
Is this band-aid approach to solving this problem going to be enough?


Redina Auina, spokeswoman for the Tuvalu Faith Based Youth network, who partner with 350.org, is in Tuvalu and describes the feelings of people as they face the reality of less than 5 days of drinkable water in the nations capital, Funafuti --
Experts say the past 12 months have been the second driest in Funafuti's 78 years of records. While we do not make any claims to it being solely a climate change related event, the reality is that the line between what is normal climatic variation and what might be extremes resulting from accelerated climate change is being blurred. This is particularly true for the hydrological cycle, which is sensitive to even subtle variations in the global climate and often results in either too much water, or in our case at the moment, too little. With an intense La Nina weather pattern over much of the Pacific, we’re not likely to see rain for months to come. It’s these kind of extremes that we are told will become our new reality for Tuvalu and the Pacific region as a whole. More >>>

Location: Cayman Islands

World Food Day, 16 October 2011

Food prices - from crisis to stability

Price swings, upswings in particular, represent a major threat to food security in developing countries. Hardest-hit are the poor. According to the


World Bank, in 2010-2011 rising food costs pushed nearly 70 million people into extreme poverty.

“FOOD PRICES – FROM CRISIS TO STABILITY” has been chosen as this year’s World Food Day theme to shed some light on this trend and what can be done to mitigate its impact on the most vulnerable.

On World Food Day 2011, let us look seriously at what causes swings in food prices, and do what needs to be done to reduce their impact on the weakest members of global society. More >>>

Location: Cayman Islands

Bahamas at centre stage in UNESCO experts' meeting on climate change

THE Bahamas played a prominent role in a high-level climate change conference organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and


Cultural Organisation.
The conference, to be held in Nassau at the Sheraton Resort from September 21 to 23, will focus on the dangers to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) from sustained changes in global climate patterns.
Local scientist Philip Weech, director of the BEST Commission and internationally renowned environmental scientist, will be among the experts participating in the conference.
He will also conduct a public lecture on the Bahamas' perspective on climate change on Thursday, September, 22, at 6.30pm at the College of the Bahamas' performing arts centre.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Elma Garraway, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, said the Bahamas was honoured to be chosen by UNESCO to host the conference, which is expected to attract nearly 100 delegates from around the world, including several heads of state.
"Besides the economic impact that this conference will have on the Bahamas and the international spotlight that it will place on us for the duration of the conference, it will be an opportune time for us to learn how we can protect ourselves from the increasing threat of global warming which has precipitated a serious shift in weather patterns across the world and indeed the Bahamas," Mrs Garraway said. More >>>

Location: Cayman Islands

Film on Climate Refugees Strikes a Chord

During the shooting of his 2010 documentary “Climate Refugees,” the Irish-American filmmaker Michael Nash visited nearly 50 countries in about


18 months, interviewing politicians, scientists, health workers and victims of floods, cyclones, hurricanes and droughts.

Click here for film trailer

His conclusion was that short- and longer-term changes in climate are causing vast numbers of people to abandon their jobs, homes and countries to seek better lives elsewhere, or to simply survive. (Jeffrey Gettleman’s recent coverage of the Somali refugee crisis in The Times has offered some vivid and disturbing examples, although Somalia’s troubles are also inextricably linked to political turmoil.)

Mr. Nash poses a basic question: what will become of the millions of people whose lack of access to food and clean water leads them to take increasingly desperate measures? What type of strains will huge migration put on resources in more developed countries?

Will this dislocation eventually, as the retired Navy vice admiral Lee Gunn told Mr. Nash, pose a threat to Americans’ national security, too?

By focusing on the consequences of climate change rather than its scientific causes, some experts suggest that Mr. Nash succeeded in circumventing a divisive political debate over global warming and the extent to which human activity contributes to it. More >>>

Location: Cayman Islands

Study Uncovers a Predictable Sequence Toward Coral Reef Collapse

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2011) — Coral reefs that have lots of corals and appear healthy may, in fact, be heading toward collapse, according to a study published by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups.


Using data from coral reef systems across the western Indian Ocean, an international team of researchers identified how overfishing creates a series of at least eight big changes on reefs that precipitate a final collapse. This information can help managers gauge the health of a reef and tell them when to restrict fishing in order to avoid a collapse of the ecosystem and fishery.

The study appears this week in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors of the study include: Tim R. McClanahan and Nyawira A. Muthiga of the Wildlife Conservation Society; Nicholas A.J. Graham and Joshua E. Cinner of James Cook University, Queensland, Australia; M. Aaron MacNeil of the Australian Institute of Marine Science; J. Henrich Bruggemann of Laboratoire d’Ecologie Marine, Université de la Réunion, La Réunion, France; and Shaun K. Wilson of the Department of Environment and Conservation, Perth, Western Australia. More >>>

Location:Cayman Islands

Palau, Marshall Islands to Seek Advice from World Court on GHG Impacts

22 September 2011: The Governments of Palau and the Marshall Islands have called upon the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to seek, on an urgent basis, an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the responsibilities of States under international law to ensure that activities carried out under their jurisdiction of control that emit greenhouse gases (GHGs) do not damage other States.


The announcement was made by Palau’s President Johnson Toribiong during the general debate of the 66th session of the UNGA. Toribiong said urgent action to combat climate change is vital, and that the ICJ has already “confirmed that customary international law obliges” States to ensure activities within their jurisdiction “respect the environment of other States.” Toriniong underscored it was time to determine what the “international rule of law means in the context of climate change.” More >>>

Location: Cayman islands

IDB, GDF Suez to Support Sustainable Energy Access to Isolated Regions

21 September 2011: The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and GDF Suez signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support social entrepreneurial projects aimed at providing sustainable energy access to disadvantaged populations.


During the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting, IDB and GDF Suez agreed to collaborate in a programme aimed at promoting economic and social development of isolated regions, and at reducing energy insecurity worldwide. GDF SUEZ hopes, through its corporate social responsibility programme, “GDF SUEZ Rassembleurs d’Energies,” to sponsor up to eight significant projects with high social impact by 2013. More >>>

Location: Cayman Islands

The Economy, Peak Oil and Permaculture

Richard Heinberg- Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute is a Permaculturist.


His latest book describes The End of Growth- isn't looking for when the recession will end and we'll get back to "normal". He believes our decades-long era of growth was based on aberrant set of conditions- namely cheap oil, but also cheap minerals, cheap food, etc- and that looking ahead, we need to prepare for a "new normal". The problem, according to Heinberg, is our natural resources just aren't so cheap and plentiful anymore, and he's not just talking about Peak Oil, Heinberg believes in Peak Everything (also the title of one of his books). Heinberg thinks for many, adjusting to a life where everything costs a bit more, could be very hard, but he also thinks the transition to a new normal might actually make life better. "Particularly in the Western industrialized countries we've gotten used to levels of consumption that are not only environmentally unsustainable, they also don't make us happy. They've in fact hollowed out our lives. We've given up things that actually do give us satisfaction and pleasure so that we can work more and more hours to get more and more money with which to buy more and more stuff- more flatscreen tvs, bigger SUVs, bigger houses and it's not making us happier. Well, guess what, it's possible to downsize, it's possible to use less, become more self sufficient, grow more of your own food, have chickens in your backyard and be a happier person." This is not all theoretical. In the backyard of the home Heinberg shares with his wife, Janet Barocco, the couple grow most of their food during the summer months (i.e. 25 fruit & nut trees, veggies, potatoes.. they're just lack grains), raise chickens for eggs, capture rainwater, bake with solar cookers and a solar food drier and secure energy with photovoltaic and solar hot water panels. Their backyard reflects Heinberg's vision for our "new normal" and it's full of experiments, like the slightly less than 120-square-foot cottage that was inspired by the Small Home Movement. It was built with the help of some of Heinberg's college students (in one of the nation's first sustainability classes) using recycled and natural materials (like lime plaster). Heinberg admits it's not a real tiny house experiment since they don't actually live in it- his wife uses it as a massage studio, he meditates there and sometimes it's used as a guest house (though that's hush hush due to permitting issues). But their tiny cottage points to the bigger point behind why a transition to a less resource intensive future could equal greater happiness. "Simplify. Pay less attention to all of the stuff in your life and pay more attention to what's really important. Maybe for you it's gardening, maybe for you it's painting or music. You know we all have stuff that gives us real pleasure and most of us find we have less and less time for that because we have to devote so much time to shopping, paying bills and driving from here to there and so on. Well, how about if we cut out some of that stuff and spend more time doing what really feeds us emotionally and spiritually and in some cases even nutritionally." http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=cl8ZHDQQY7I

Remote Island Paradise to Be Powered By Coconuts and Sunshine

In the Malay language, the coconut palm is called “pokok seribu guna,” meaning “the tree of a thousand uses.”





Make that one thousand and one. In just over a year’s time, the entire chain of the Tokelau islands plans to get 100 percent of their energy from a heavenly mix of coconuts and sunshine, according to United Press International.

It is perhaps incontestably appropriate that an island paradise should power itself with its two most plentiful resources. The new energy policy should also help to make these tiny, vulnerable tropical atolls more self-sufficient, as well as send the world a message about the feasibility of locally sourced renewable energy.

Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand, consists of three small atolls located roughly halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. About 1,500 people call Tokelau home. Since the highest point on the islands is only 16 feet, they are particularly vulnerable to the threat of rising sea levels.

Under the new energy plan, most of the islands’ power — 93 percent — is slated to come from solar energy. The coconut power will supply the remaining 7 percent, and will come into play when skies are overcast or when electricity demand exceeds solar supply.
More >>>

Location: Cayman Islands

Climate change threatens to hike hunger in the Pacific – report

BANGKOK (AlertNet) – Climate change threatens to increase hunger and malnutrition among millions of poor people in the 14 small and geographically remote island nations of the Pacific unless action is taken, a new report by the Asian Development Bank said.


Food Security and Climate Change in the Pacific: Rethinking the Options urged Pacific nations, many of which are in fragile and conflict-affected situations and suffering from slow economic growth rates, to manage natural resources better and increase local food production, particularly of climate-resistant crops such as taro, yam, and cassava.

"Rising temperatures and rising tides due to climate change could reduce food supply in the Pacific,” Mahfuzuddin Ahmed, a senior economist in the Asian Development Bank’s Pacific Department who wrote the report, said in a statement.

“With over 10 million people in developing countries in the region, this is a threat that we cannot ignore," he added.

The region is already seeing a decline in agricultural production per capita and productivity has stagnated, the report said, partly due to an increase in migration from rural to urban areas and also because of fragile ecosystems and a limited natural resource base.

The Pacific is also considered one of the most vulnerable to impacts of climate change such as natural disasters and sea level rises, which are expected to reduce the agricultural output further. More >>>

UN Secretary-General Underlines Threats of Climate Change in the Pacific

5 September 2011: During his official visit to Kiribati, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated the President of Kiribati on his active participation in multilateral efforts to address climate change, in particular by promoting dialogue among parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).


Ban met with the President on 4-5 September 2011, and acknowledged the value of initiatives like the Tarawa Climate Change Conference, organized by Kiribati in November 2010, in preparation of the Cancun Climate Change Conference. Both agreed that climate change represents "an urgent and irreversible threat to the people of this region and the planet," and called for urgent action by all parties. They underscored the specific vulnerability of SIDS to the impacts of climate change, adding that it threatens to undo progress achieved in the Pacific region towards achieving sustainable development goals. They both stressed the need for urgent international action to reduce emissions consistent with the science, and for adaptation financing to enable the implementation of critical adaptation programmes.

They noted the actions that can be taken in the Pacific to address climate change, highlighting the actions of Kiribati such as mangrove forest management, biodiversity conservation initiatives, water resource management and the enhancement of coastal resilience. Ban also visited a mangrove planting site and met with the Minister of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development, as well as with communities that have lost homes, land, and fresh water to rising sea levels. More >>>

Location:Cayman Islands

The Peak Oil Crisis: Efficiency is the Solution

If there is a way to get through the loss of fossil fuels, it lies in developing new and more efficient ways to generate renewable energy and more efficient ways of utilizing the fossil fuels we have left.


Renewable sources currently provide only 16 percent of our energy in the U.S. and 11 percent of our electric power. Unless the production of these renewables can be increased substantially in the next 50 years and the efficiency with which we use energy increased many fold, then the world is going to become a very dark and stagnant place.
There is running debate going on between people who believe all is lost without copious supplies of fossil fuels to power the global civilization and those who believe that the conservation and efficiency that will come with very high fossil fuel prices will provide a recognizable future for civilization. The great unknowns in all this is whether there will be sufficient financial and other resources available to effect the transition and whether or not the damage wrought by a changing climate will be so serious that a global transition to renewable energy will be difficult if not impossible.

For the immediate future, however, much of what life in the future will be like will depend on the technologies that will enable civilization to continue while using only a fraction of the energy that is consumed today and to develop the technology to produce large quantities of cheaper renewable fuels. The manner in which our fossil fuels are being used is so wasteful of the energy contained in fossil fuels that major reductions can be made with little real impact on the activities that consume energy. The prime examples of this waste is the internal combustion engine which uses only 14 percent of its fuel to turn the wheels while wasting most of the rest. Huge central power plants waste most of the energy that devours coal and natural gas, and produce much waste heat that is dumped into the air or local water bodies or in line losses. Without the massive waste, the fossil fuel age could last a lot longer. More >>>

Location:Amman, Jordan

Pacific island power recognised at UN

UNITED NATIONS – The Asian group of nations at the United Nations has changed its name to the Asia-Pacific group in what diplomats have called a sign of the growing importance of the region’s island nations.


The change this week comes ahead of Ban Ki-moon becoming the first UN secretary general to attend a Pacific Islands Forum summit in Auckland next week.

The 193-state United Nations has been divided into five regional groups since 1965 to negotiate responsibilities and elections to UN bodies.
Pacific island nations, starting with Fiji, started joining the Asia group from 1970 as they started to become independent. With Fiji, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu now in the group, they make up more than one fifth of the membership and started pressing for the name to change last year.

Diplomats said that at China’s insistence the group will be officially called Group of Asia and the Pacific Small Island Developing States. But documents will be allowed to use the Asia-Pacific Group.

“This is definitely historic,” said Fiji’s UN ambassador Peter Thomson. “It shows that the Pacific island states have come of age at the UN and they are wanting to play their full part and assume their rights and responsibilities.”

The UN secretary general will attend the Pacific Islands Forum summit on September 6 as part of a tour of the region. Ban will hold talks with Pacific leaders, including New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. He will also visit Australia, the Solomon islands and Kiribati on the tour during which his talks will focus on international security, development, and climate change.
More >>>

Location:Cayman Islands