A newsletter produced by Albaeco,
Sweden
Dr. Fredrik Moberg, Editor
Finally. A Nobel Prize for the environment. Or at least close enough. The
Nobel committee has added a new dimension to peace and, for the first time,
recognised the fundamental links between peace and environmental issues.
While some people still claim that there are more pressing issues, such as
terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, most seem to have gained new insights
and now understand how planting trees can contribute to peace. To me it is
also a reminder to all environmentalists that it is a must to address social
justice and peace if we are to protect the environment. In the words of the
Prize winner herself: “If you want to save the environment, you should
protect the people first, because human beings are part of biological diversity.
And if we can’t protect our own species, what’s the point of protecting
tree species?”
Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 in order to create
livelihood opportunities for poor women and restore the damaged for- est environment
with little technology and limited financial resources. The GBM has organised
poor Kenyan women who have planted some 30 million trees to preserve local
biological diversity and safeguard the supply of ecosystem services.
These trees have helped farmers by combating soil erosion, soaking up rain,
preserving nutrient-rich topsoil and providing habitat for wildlife. Moreover,
trees provide services like supplying oxygen, trapping air pollution particles
and absorbing others, some of which are used as nutrients for growth. Despite
their great value to society, most services provided by forests have until
recently been treated as “commons” without financial worth. However,
there is a growing awareness of the many benefits that forests provide, such
as climate stabilisation, storm protection, watershed protection, biodiversity
conservation and carbon storage – and now even peace.
Maathai has gone from being an activist, having even been called Green Militant,
to become the Kenyan deputy environment minister. She has, beyond doubt, taken
a holistic approach to sustainable development by integrating environmental
issues, democracy and women’s rights. The Green Belt Movement has, among
many other things, worked to re-establish the use of organic methods and indigenous
crops, which many had abandoned for government-promoted export commodities,
such as coffee.
In the meantime, global military spending is on the rise again. Whereas global
foreign aid totals 50- 60 billion dollars a year, the total military spending
might break the one trillion dollar barrier this year, according to a recent
UN-report. I wonder what percentage of that is used for planting trees.
/Dr. Fredrik Moberg, Editor
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Sink or Swim? How to deal with rising sea levels
Coastal communities around the world are at the frontline of climate change with rising sea levels and changing weather patterns encroaching on their land. Should these communities act in an anticipatory manner or react to changes as they occur? And who should enforce and pay for these measures?
There is a growing need for a greater diversity of solutions addressing climate change due, not only to the variation of impacts at local levels, but also to the diversity in local stakeholders’ needs, resources and expectations. This will demand re-thinking of the top-down approaches imposed by many states and international development agencies, said Professor Katrina Brown, from the School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia (UK), in a recent seminar at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Brown and colleagues have compared how communities on the Orkney Islands in the north and in Christchurch Bay in the south of the UK, would prefer to deal with foreseen impacts of climate change on their coastlines. The responses chosen by the respective communities were as separated as the communities themselves. On the Orkney Islands, stakeholders opted for dealing with impacts as they arose, and that the local decisionmaking body should deal with this. In contrast, stakeholders in Christchurch Bay preferred an anticipatory approach to dealing with the impacts of climate change, which would be carried out by a centralised authority.
Adapt projects to local conditions
This study, while based in an industrialised country, is pertinent to those
involved in addressing the impacts of climate change and sea level rise everywhere.
More than 40% of the global population live within 100 km of a coastline.
Sea levels are predicted to rise 9-88 centimetres over the next 100 years,
according to the UN’s panel of expert advisers (IPCC). This could annihilate
many low-lying islands such as those in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and
all coastlines are likely to suffer from land loss and saltwater intrusion.
Climate change is also expected to increase storm intensities and frequencies
and this will also affect coastal areas, particularly in developing countries
where costly precautions are not always possible.
In earlier work Professor Brown has studied reasons why conservation and development
projects often clash and fail to work in the long-term, particularly in developing
countries. She concluded that a misfit of institutions (see this issue’s
Sustainability School) was often to blame. Institutions must accommodate diverse
stakeholders and interests, as well as fit ecosystem dynamics. There are no
homogenous or simple solutions. Locally, communities are economically and
socially very diverse, as are their interactions with the environment and
natural resources.
The failure of higher-level decision makers, state or international organisations,
to adapt their projects to local conditions potentially dooms them to failure.
In conclusion, the responses to climate change will need to be varied not
only due to the variety of expected impacts but also due to the diversity
among affected communities. This is a further challenge for those tackling
the impacts of climate change, but one that they will, soon, have to confront.
- Miriam Huitric
For more information:
School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/cserge/
Few, R, Brown K and Tompkins, EL. 2004. Scaling adaptation: climate change
response and coastal management in the UK:
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/publications/working_papers/ wp60.pdf
"Markets and biodiversity can be strong allies"
It might well be this year’s most important conservation event, the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress, starting in Bangkok on November 17. It will in particular address the role of business in conserving biodiversity and achieving sustainable development.
It is an enormous challenge to meet the needs of growing populations and
emerging markets while at the same time sustaining the very basis of our survival:
the long-term productivity of the life-supporting ecosystems. This challenge
will be taken on by the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress, ”People
and Nature – only one world”, which will open on the 17th of November
in Bangkok.
The congress is yet another sign that the environment movement is no longer
putting plants before people. There is increasing recognition that social,
economic and environmental issues are interconnected. Consequently, working
with the corporate world is increasingly seen as an effective way to safeguard
the environment. Whereas some companies continue to be hungry profit hunters,
neglecting environmental and social aspects, more and more of them want to
change. While the present economic indicators still do not account for the
costs of environmental loss or health, new market incentives for caring for
the environment are emerging. An example is the Clean Development Mechanism.
This allows industrialised countries to invest in clean industries or conserving
forests in developing countries, thereby providing them with credits for greenhouse
emissions.
Other examples of how conservation efforts can be profitable include: the
Nakivubo wetland in Uganda that performs water purification functions equal
to a US$ 2 million per year waste treatment facility and investment in upper
watershed forest management in Ecuador that saves the Paute Hydroelectric
Scheme up to US$ 40 million in direct costs.
Integrating conservation in Poverty Reduction Strategies
The Congress will attract more than 3000 delegates and be the world’s
biggest conservation event in 2004 to explore the relationships between human
development and nature conservation. A number of poverty-related issues will
be covered, for example how environmental and human health relate to poverty
and conservation. In particular, it will include an assessment of the role
of wild species in the livelihoods of the poor; how to integrate conservation
in Poverty Reduction Strategies; and providing more benefits of conservation
to the rural poor. It will also consider lessons learned from around the world
to manage land and seascapes for wise use of the goods and services provided
by their ecosystems.
/Fredrik Moberg
More at:
http://www.iucn.org/congress/documents/capitalism-planet.htm
The Financial Times' focus on Sustainable Business
The Financial Times recently published a report considering the strengths and weaknesses of ”the environmentalist pressures facing companies”. The focus on environmental sustainability in this respected financial newspaper is encouraging, but environmental health seems to remain a secondary concern to, rather than a prerequisite for, economic health.
On October 14th, the Financial Times published a Special Report on the issues facing sustainability in the business world. Overall, the report focused on the economic costs and benefits of improving environmental profiles. The lack of a clear definition of “sustainability”, however, made it difficult to gauge the real degree of environmental friendliness of mentioned endeavours. Environmental health seems to remain a secondary concern to, rather than a prerequisite for, economic health. Nevertheless, the focus on environmental sustainability in this respected financial newspaper is encouraging as this is a crucial medium through which the gap between the economic and environmental sectors can be bridged.
Reduced emissions, increased savings
While most of the articles focused on the rich parts of the world, one article
dealt with new guidelines in the banking sector, such as the Equator Principles,
established for handling environment and human rights issues in connection
with project financing in developing countries. Environmental groups have
welcomed these principles with caution: while seen as a good first step, they
are criticised for lacking transparency.
The report also includes a series of articles that discuss the implications
of new and proposed regulations. It is concluded that Russia’s decision
to sign the Kyoto Protocol, together with rising fuel costs, will result in
regulatory measures by signatory nations and voluntary measures by many industries
to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The report summarises
the concerns of companies protesting against the costs of Kyoto-related policies
and planned EU regulations that will demand the screening of chemicals for
human and environmental health impacts before being released, but several
success stories are also presented where companies have reduced their emissions
while increasing savings. It also looked at the increased interest in environmentally
sustainable production, including agriculture and fishing, by multi- nationals
and the finance sector.
/Miriam Huitric
More at:
The report is accessible to Financial Times subscribers at: http://www.ft.com/susbusiness2004
"Donors must quit funding destructive shrimp farming"
The environmental and socio-economic impacts of intensive shrimp aquaculture in mangroves are unacceptable. Donor agencies should restrict funding to socially and environmentally responsible farming initiatives instead, said Dr. Jurgenne Primavera from the Philippines when visiting Stockholm recently.
On the 22nd of September, Dr. Jurgenne Primavera of the University of the Philippines held a public lecture at Stockholm University. She has been working to increase understanding of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of shrimp aquaculture in mangroves. While increasing in popularity, it is difficult to give tiger prawns a good environmental or social image. Shrimp trawling is wasteful, with 85 to 95% bycatch. Aquaculture, which in Asia has focused on tiger prawns, has its own series of problems. Intensive shrimp ponds usually have a life span of only 5 to 10 years because of self-pollution and disease. Operators move on to other areas, in a pattern of shifting aquaculture, and the remaining degraded lands are no longer suitable for agriculture or aquaculture.
Some 50% of the global mangrove forest loss since the 1980s is a result of
shrimp aquaculture. Photo: Nils Kautsky
Shrimp farming interferes with local food security
Moreover, it is estimated that 50% of the global mangrove loss since the 1980s
is a result of shrimp aquaculture, which will affect many wild stocks including
tiger prawns as they use mangroves as nurseries. Shrimp feed contains fishmeal
and oil from fish caught around the world, affecting distant stocks. Seepage
and release of untreated water cause various pollution problems to surrounding
soils, water tables and seawater.
Furthermore, shrimp farming often interferes with local food security as most
shrimp are exported. Shrimp may also compete with locals for food as: “…in
the Philippines no fish is too small to be eaten”. On average more than
two kilograms of wild-caught fish are used in feed to produce one kilogram
of shrimp. Pond pollution degrades surrounding mangroves and fisheries further
affecting food security. Lowered, salinised and polluted water tables affect
access to drinking water and agriculture.
Can tiger prawns improve their image? Prof. Primavera stressed that the industry
must be based on ecosystems’ capacity to deal with production externalities
and identified three fields for improving the industry.
|
1. Technological improvement to reduce pond externalities
(such as integrated farming of shrimp, fish, crabs and mangrove). |
Most importantly, the industry’s income does not reach those working on farms. This inequity and the environmental and socio-economic impacts have led to violent conflicts, which in Central America alone have resulted in 150 deaths. Dr. Primavera concluded that while ecological sustainability is an important goal, if the industry’s equity problems are not solved, it will remain an unsustainable industry.
/Miriam Huitric
More at:
http://www.albaeco.com/sdu/01/htm/main.htm#aqua
http://www.palawan.com/agriculture/shrimp.html
http://www.ejfoundation.org/pdfs/farming_the_sea.pdf
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