Abu Dhabi to host Eye on Earth summit

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Abu Dhabi is set to host the first ever Eye on Earth Summit from December 12-15 2011, in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), according to a release jointly issued by the UNEP, summit secretariat, the Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency and the Environmental Data Initiative, Abu Dhabi.

The summit, according to the release, will focus on the issue of greater access to environmental and societal data, for which Abu Dhabi has over the past ten years undertaken to develop thought and practice leadership.

Giving a backgrounder to the upcoming summit, the four organizers said despite progress made after Abu Dhabi launched, under the guidance and patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg In 2002, much still remains to be done.

The release said although the AGEDI was designed nine years ago, to help the world’s emerging economies acquire and best use of environmental information, there is still missing, inaccessible or hidden data that cannot contribute to decision-making, but may instead result in flawed judgments with serious consequences.

According to the organizers, Abu Dhabi’s Eye on Earth summit thus aims to find the solutions that will fill those gaps, and by so doing, help the world move towards a more sustainable future, based on informed policy-making.

“Eye on Earth will address this challenge by convening world leaders, the environmental and societal information networking movement and others to identify and celebrate ‘best-impact’; those data initiatives from around the globe delivering greatest benefit,; reach a consensus on the key issues regarding greater data accessibility and encourage stakeholders to collaborate to strengthen existing initiatives and, where necessary, to launch new ones.”

The Summit will be hosted by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), facilitated by the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) and held in partnership with UNEP, while an exhibition will showcase the latest developments in environmental information and technology. 

“Across the world, sharing information has always been crucial to good decision-making. Ensuring that environmental and societal data is accessible to all those who need it whether scientists, communities, governments or thought-leaders, is essential to moving the world towards a future founded on informed policy-making. This is especially the case in emerging economies and to ensure sustainable development patterns. I am very proud that EAD will be hosting this summit,” said H.E. Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General of EAD.

Welcoming the announcement of the Summit, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP said: “In the run-up to the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Eye on Earth presents a timely opportunity to identify practical measures to bridge the environmental knowledge gap and deliver the information and data needed to support a transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient global Green Economy.”

EAD is Abu Dhabi’s environmental regulator and advises the government on environmental policy, while UNEP is the designated authority of the United Nations system in environmental issues at the global and regional level. UNEP’s mission is ‘to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations’.

Energy Commission receives $691,000 grant to reduce fuel shortages

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Ghana’s Energy Commission has received a US$ 691,000 grant from the United States Trade and Development Authority (USTDA), to help it deal with the country’s incessant fuel shortages.

Specifically, the grant is to aid the commission conduct a feasibility study into the development of a floating liquefied natural gas storage and regasification unit in Ghana.

It is expected that the project will significantly reduce fuel shortages and supply disruptions plaguing the Ghanaian energy sector, enable Ghana import liquefied natural gas from the international market, maintain a buffer supply, and regasify the fuel at a significant cost savings over liquid fuels.

The project is also expected to improve availability of gas and also reduce harmful emissions, as power plants replace heavy fuel oil with more environmentally friendly gas.

According to a press release issued by United States Embassy in Ghana earlier this week, the $691,000 grant will assist the Energy Commission in determining the cost effectiveness and technical viability of the emplacement of a ship-mounted liquefied natural gas import terminal, storage, and regasification unit.

It said additionally, it will examine the viability of the accompanying infrastructure, such as mooring and pipelines, required to transmit the gas to shore.

Mr. Alfred Ahenkora, Executive Secretary of the Energy Commission, and Ambassador Donald. G. Teitelbaum, U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, each signed the grant on Monday, June 13, at the U.S. Embassy in Accra on behalf of their respective countries.

 Commenting on the grant, USTDA Director, Leocadia Zak, stated, “We are very pleased to support a project that is so important to the Ghanaian people and such a high priority for the Government of Ghana, we are excited for the opportunity to involve U.S. businesses in the project.”

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency helps companies create U.S. jobs through the export of U.S. goods and services for priority development projects in emerging economies. It links U.S. businesses to export opportunities by funding project planning activities, pilot projects, and reverse trade missions, while creating sustainable infrastructure and economic growth in partner countries.

Zoomlion appeals to Tamale residents to keep their city clean

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

A cross section of Worshippers at the Tamale Central Mosque

The Assistant Operations Supervisor of Zoomlion Ghana Limited for the Northern Region, Mr. Abdullah Abdulai, has appealed to residents of Tamale to desist from indiscriminate littering and dumping of waste in unauthorised places.

He also appealed to the residents to stop the burning of refuse in communal containers provided by Zoomlion, as the act destroys the containers.

Mr. Abdulai was speaking at Zoomlion’s Public Education Campaign in Islamic Communities at the Central Mosque in Tamale recently, where over one thousand worshippers had gathered for Friday prayers.

The Supervisor was of the opinion that the services the  company renders in the region  consisting of  landscaping and beautification; door to door waste collection; water supply; cesspit emptying;  janitorial  and the hiring of heavy-duty equipment, were all geared towards making the city of Tamale  clean, green and a  healthy place to live.

He added that the company’s doors are open and will readily give its support to the community whenever such requests are made appropriately.

Supporting Mr. Abdulai, the renowned Islamic educationist and theologian, Sheik Ishak Nuamah, emphasised the need for Muslims to practice what their religion calls on them to do in respect of personal cleanliness and environmental sanitation.

He stated that Zoomlion as a waste management and environmental sanitation company sees Islam as a religion that preaches cleanliness and therefore appealed to the people to work hard to affirm Zoomlion’s impression about the people in Islamic communities.  

The Imam of the Tamale Central Mosque, Sheikh Abdul Salam, also used the platform to educate the people on Islam’s stand on sanitation, be it environmental or personal hygiene. “Islam is a religion of cleanliness and every Muslim should keep his/her surroundings clean”, he said.

He cited the example of ablution as a clear indication of how much premium the Islamic religion places on environmental sanitation and personal hygiene.

Sheikh Abdul Salam advised the public to put a stop to the indiscriminate littering of the environment, a situation which he believes has a veritable link with the incidence of diseases such as malaria and cholera. “Environmental sanitation is a shared responsibility as we must all come together to fight filth. The government and Zoomlion cannot do this alone so everybody must join hands in this fight”, he admonished.                 

The Communications Officer of Zoomlion in Charge of Public Education, Mr. Ernest Asiedu Caesar, used the occasion to thank the people of Tamale for helping Zoomlion Ghana Limited to keep the city clean and also encouraged them to avoid indiscriminate dumping. Mr. Asiedu Caesar further admonished the people of Tamale to treat the staff of the company with respect, especially the street sweepers and tricycle riders, as their work is very vital to the beautification of the environment and public health.

In an interview, the Communications Manager of Zoomlion, Mrs. Isabella Gyau Orhin, said Zoomlion Ghana Limited is grateful to Sheikh Nuamah for partnering the company in its bid to reach out to the Islamic community. “So far we have been to six regions and we are determined to reach all Muslims with the good news of environmental sanitation,” She said.

UN food treaty on plant genetic resources must protect farmers’ rights – IIED

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), has urged the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture to do more to protect farmers’ customary rights over biological resources.
IIED made the call in a paper submitted to the conference of the treaty’s governing body, which is underway in Bali (from 14-18 March) for its periodic assessment of the treaty’s implementation.
The Treaty (created by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation – UN FAO – in 2003) is meant to protect farmers’ rights in various ways, such as protecting rights over traditional knowledge to ensure benefit-sharing from commercial use.
It is also aimed at ensuring farmers get an equitable share of benefits that arise from the commercial use of traditional crops and have a say in national decision-making on the conservation and sustainable use of Plant Genetic Resources.
According to a press release issued by IIED which stated its position, the conference will also hear the first report on the treaty’s multilateral benefit-sharing fund, which is meant to take a share of profits from patented plant genetic resources and share these benefits with farmers who contribute to the conservation of Plant Genetic Resources.
That notwithstanding, Krystyna Swiderska, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), states that so far the treaty has been very poorly implemented in national law by UN FAO member nations.
She intimates though, that other international agreements that protect the rights of commercial plant breeders (e.g. seed companies) are forging ahead, such as the World Trade Organisation’s TRIPS agreement and the UPOV Convention for the protection of new plant varieties.
“The result is a perverse outcome,” says Swiderska. “Small-scale farmers in developing countries are getting no incentive to conserve their local agricultural biodiversity, while commercial interests are being well-served.”
“This gap undermines the rights of farmers because plant breeders can profit from genetic material conserved and improved by poor farmers without providing anything in return,” she adds.
To her, “This is hastening the decline of agricultural biodiversity, and so limiting the options farmers have to adapt to a changing climate, which has implications for global food security.”
The FAO Treaty recognises the enormous contribution that indigenous and local communities and farmers have made to the conservation and development of crop genetic resources. Yet the ability of farmers in developing countries to continue this role is seriously threatened — not only by a lack of benefit-sharing, but by a lack of secure rights to land and genetic resources and policies that promote industrial agriculture and monocultures.
In IIED’s paper submitted to the conference, it argues for a broad approach to the protection of farmers rights, that goes beyond benefit-sharing to include protection of farmers’ customary rights over genetic resources and associated landscapes, cultural values and customary laws, on which the continued conservation and improvement of crops by farmers depends.
The paper also presents the findings of research in Peru, Panama, Kenya, China and India, which show that traditional knowledge, genetic resources, landscapes, cultural values and customary laws are all inter-linked and inter-dependent.

Greenhouse emissions not attributable to cities alone - Study

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

A yet to be released study on greenhouse gas emissions for 100 cities in 33 nations has shown that the contribution of greenhouse gases to climate change cannot be attributed to cities on the whole.

The study, which was peer reviewed in the journal Environment and Urbanization published by Sage Publications and the International Institute for Environment and Development, has therefore urged policymakers worldwide to take a fresh look at the differences between greenhouse gas emissions from different cities, to identify new opportunities to mitigate climate change.

Commenting on the study which suggests policy tools that city governments can use to take action on climate change, lead author, Daniel Hoornweg, who is also lead urban specialist on Cities and Climate Change at the World Bank, said “Cities worldwide are blamed for most greenhouse gas emissions but many cities have very low emissions, as do many city dwellers in even the most industrialised countries.”

He added that “Differences in production and consumption patterns between cities and citizens mean that it is not helpful to attribute emissions to cities as a whole,” and that “Policymakers need a better understanding of the sources of emissions if they are to develop real solutions.”

Hoornweg and colleagues showed in the study that emissions per person per year vary from 15-30 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in some cities in industrialised countries to less than half a tonne per person per year in various cities in South Asia.

The paper shows that emissions vary greatly depending on whether they are calculated according to what a city (or a citizen) produces or instead of what they consume.

“Lifestyles and consumption patterns are key drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in emissions in far off cities, as in the case of Western consumer demand for Chinese goods,” says Hoornweg. He expatiates that “From the production perspective Shanghai has high emissions but from the consumption perspective its emissions are much lower.”

Equally, a wealthy city where many inhabitants have a high-consumption lifestyle can have low per capita emissions from a production perspective, but very high emissions from a consumption perspective, the study infers.

Adding his voice to the outcome of the study, Dr. David Satterthwaite, editor of Environment and Urbanization and a senior fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development, says; “This paper reminds us that it is the world’s wealthiest cities and their wealthiest inhabitants that cause unsustainable levels of greenhouse gas emissions, not cities in general.”

“Most cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America have low emissions per person. The challenge for them is to keep these emissions low even as their wealth grows,.” He stated. Further. 

Meanwhile, available data as follows, suggests that there is great variation within countries and even within cities:

• In the United States, the emissions per person in Denver are double those of people in New York, which has a greater population density and much lower reliance on private vehicles for commuting; 

• In Toronto, residential emissions per person in a dense, inner city neighbourhood with a high quality public transport system are just 1.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, compared to 13 tonnes in a sprawling distant suburb.

There are also some surprising differences between cities in different parts of the world as follows:

• Many European cities have less than half the emissions per person of many cities in North America;
• Some successful and wealthy cities in Brazil have lower emissions per person than poorer cities in Asia and Africa;
• Emissions per person in London are lower than those in Cape Town, South Africa.

The paper will appear in the April 2011 edition of the journal but has been made available online this month of January and is available through the journal’s ‘on-line first’ facility.

Ghana’s first crude sold above $90 per barrel

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Tullow Oil and the Vitol Group, producers and marketers of Ghana’s oil, have rebuffed claims by a section of the Ghanaian media that the first consignment of 650,000 barrels from the Jubilee Oil Fields was sold below the prevailing world market price.

In a joint statement describing the assertion as incorrect, which was issued over the weekend, Tullow and Vitol said the price per barrel of Ghana’s first crude consignment was sold well over $90.

“We can confirm that the price achieved was well in excess of $90 per barrel, with a small differential linked to the Dated Brent crude price index,” they stressed in the statement issued on their behalf by Infocus PR, a communications and public relations firm.

Tullow and Vitol also stated that as crude oil sales contracts are private and confidential it is not customary to disclose further details.

They however said “It takes a while for the market and, refiners in particular, to assess the fair value of any new crude oil, since ultimately its value reflects the actual yield and quality of products that a refiner obtains as compared with its formal technical and paper yield.”

Confirming that many buyers had expressed interest in Ghana’s sweet light crude oil, Tullow and Vitol said “While we can’t disclose specific details of the actual price obtained for the first sale as these details remain confidential, there was significant interest in buying the new Jubilee crude from at least four major international buyers.”

Tullow Oil and Vitol also hinted of a strong interest from refiners and traders for the new Jubilee crude, which they believe, will contribute to meeting the growing global demand for energy.

The statement further explained that daily prices linked to an index can however move both up and down, as is the case with all crude grades, worldwide.

It expatiated further, that the use of the word “discount” when applied to an index price at the time of a sale, therefore merely indicates its relative value at that actual moment in time, which is a complex but well understood relationship in oil markets.

“It is totally different and should not be confused with the use of the word “discount” as in “sold below its true and fair market value” Ghana’s two oil producers and marketers said.

With an initial production of around 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) Ghana will rank as sub-Saharan Africa's seventh largest producer.
The Jubilee Oil Fields are estimated to hold up to 1.8 billion barrels and have a lifespan of 20 years.

Reducing Waste Can Help Combat Climate Change, Increase Access to Energy - Report

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Cutting emissions from the global waste sector, including the potent greenhouse gas methane, could play a part in combating climate change, says a new United Nations Environment programme (UNEP) report .

The report, Waste and Climate Change: Global Trends and Strategy Framework, which was prepared by the UNEP’s International Environmental Technology Centre based in Japan, examines the contribution the waste sector can make in the fight against climate change and suggest a strategy for increasing this contribution.

It lists three main areas in which greenhouse gas (GHG) savings can be made in the waste sector as reduction of the amount of primary materials used in manufacturing through waste avoidance and material recovery through recycling (avoiding the GHG emissions from the energy used to extract or produce the primary materials), producing energy from waste to replace energy from fossil fuels and storing carbon in landfills and through the application of compost to soils.

Although the waste management sector is contributing 3-5 per cent of global man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, equal to around the current emissions from international aviation and shipping, according to some estimates, the report says the waste sector is in a strong position to move from being an emissions source to being a major emissions saver, in part by harvesting the methane from rubbish tips for fuel and electricity generation.

According to a statement announcing the new findings, in doing so the sector can play a role in bridging the gap between where emissions need to be in 2020 and where emissions are heading under the various pledges associated with the 2009 Copenhagen Accord.

Meanwhile, the recent Emissions Gap Report, presented in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun by UNEP and researchers from 25 modelling centres, says a best-case scenario would see emissions fall to around 49 gigatonnes (Gt) of C02 equivalent, if the Copenhagen pledges are fully implemented.

Also, scientists estimate that emissions need to be as low as 44 Gt in 10 years’ time to stand a good chance of keeping a 21^st century temperature rise to under 2°C.

The statement posits that accelerated action on C02 emissions will be key to bridging this 5 Gt gap. But this could be assisted by greater action on a range of non-C02 pollutants ranging from black carbon and nitrogen compounds to methane.

In his comments on the new findings, Achim Steiner, UNEP’s Executive Director and Under Secretary General of the UN said “Every avenue, every opportunity and every option for cutting greenhouse gases needs to be brought into play if the world is to combat dangerous climate change and set the stage for a transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient Green Economy urgently needed in the 21^st century.”

He added that “The waste sector is already acting to minimise the impacts of potentially potent greenhouse gases like methane, but this is often done on a country-by-country basis,” continuing that “The time is ripe to scale up and deliver a far more coordinated and global response, especially in respect to developing economies.”

He says this offers multiple benefits ranging from curbing greenhouse gas emissions to generating new green jobs and increased access to energy from waste-into-electricity projects.

On her part, the Executive Secretary of the Basel Convention, Ms. Katharina Kummer Peiry, who supported the Waste and Climate Change report said: "I welcome this report as a basis for addressing the ways in which waste management can help combat climate change, an important issue that has so far been underestimated. The Secretariat looks forward to joining forces with others in strengthening this link through the environmentally sound management of waste,” she said.

However, the study also underlines that much work remains to fully estimate the potential emissions contribution - and thus possible emissions savings – from the waste sector because in many countries data can be patchy and methods of calculating waste-related pollution vary between nations.

In fact the report notes that levels of uncertainty can be as high as 10-30 per cent for developed countries (with good data sets) to more than 60 per cent for developing countries that do not have annual data.

Methane emissions from landfills are generally considered to represent the biggest impact on the climate from the waste sector, followed by incineration of waste. Methane is generated in landfills when microbes form and begin to break down organic matter, such as food, paper, wood or garden trimmings.

A roughly even mix of carbon dioxide and methane gas forms during the decomposition process, but the practice in some locations of burying or covering waste can result in a greater proportion of methane being produced. When that methane escapes into the atmosphere it is thought to have a global warming potential 25 times that of carbon dioxide over 100 years.

Landfills that have gas recovery systems in place capture the methane and convert it into fuel and compost. Capture rates vary from landfill to landfill (because they depend on the mix of the materials dumped in them) but estimates from managed landfills in developed countries put capture rates at 50-80 per cent.

One study quoted in the report suggests emissions savings of 132-185 kg CO2 equivalent per tonne of wet, mixed municipal solid waste input stored in well-managed, European landfills. Another study suggests that simply by diverting food, garden and paper waste to composting or recycling stations, thereby reducing the amount of organic matter in landfills, emissions could be cut by 250kg CO2-equivalent per tonne of municipal solid waste.

For example, Germany, between 1990 and 2005, gradually banned untreated organic waste in landfills. By 2012, it is expected that this will have avoided 28.4 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent of methane emissions.

The report estimates that in many developing countries, the level of organic waste (and thus a potential source of methane emissions) is around 50 per cent, cautioning that in a rapidly developing country such as China, it will represent more than half of the waste stream up to and beyond 2030 if no action is taken.

The report notes that handling of greenhouse gases in the waste sector needs to be considered in the light of other environmental, social and economic implications of waste management strategies, which will differ from location to location.

According to the UNEP, although average annual per capita waste generation in developing countries is estimated at 10-20 per cent of that of developed countries, this figure is rising in response to economic and population growth.

It says one of the key challenges is to decouple waste production from economic growth and that some of the world’s poorest countries have difficulty accessing finance and technology to implement waste management and recovery programmes, although some projects are being fast-tracked with support under the Kyoto Protocol and its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Meanwhile, a separate assessment by UNEP’s Risoe Centre in Denmark estimates that around 320 (or just under 6 per cent) of CDM projects in the pipeline are related to landfill gas.

This, according to experts, is just the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of the potential. China for example produces 254 million tons of refuse a year yet only 2.5 per cent of all CDM projects in China are landfill ones, while in India, just under two per cent of CDM projects are landfill.