Sections Global Warming RP Fails to Avail of U.N. Program of Greenhouse-Gas Credits (Part 11)
| RP Fails to Avail of U.N. Program of Greenhouse-Gas Credits (Part 11) |
The Philippines once again misses the boat called the "Clean Development Mechanism" (CDM) of the United Nations (U.N.). The CDM is the centerpiece of international efforts to help developing countries combat global warming (GW). The U.N. set up the CDM to raise billions of dollars from the developed (rich) countries for developing (poor) countries in curbing the emission of GW gases.
This U.N. program started in 2002, with contributions from the rich countries amounting to about $100-million. The CDM has grown to $4.8-billion (spelled with a B) in transfer payments to developing countries in 2006 (last year). The CDM's Secretariat is headquartered in Bonn, Germany.
This series of articles has said from the very start that there is available money in rich countries for projects that are designed to combat GW (climate change). But the Philippines has been slow to avail of these international programs and grants for the environment.
On the other hand, the People's Republic of China -- in spite of the adage of the supposed slow boat to China -- has captured the lion's share of the CDM. Last year, China obtained 61% of the so-called U.N. Carbon Emission Credits (euphemism for CDM) that amounted to $4.8-billion. India garnered 12% of the CDM. Other countries in Asia got 7%. Brazil had 4% while the rest of Latin America obtained a mere 6%. Africa got a 3% share while other nations obtained the balance of 7%.
The CDM works this way: The U.N. raises money through a complex market in trading pollution credits. Businesses and governments of rich countries help pay to reduce pollution in poor countries, so as to offset their own emissions. The CDM helps the industrialized countries comply with the Kyoto Protocol limits for emitting climate-changing gases like carbon dioxide.
For every ton of GW gases a developing country like the Philippines can prove that it has eliminated, the CDM Secretariat awards it a credit. Developing countries sold credits in 2006 to rich countries for an average price of $10.70 per ton.
There is also a privately-run pollution-credit market in Chicago, Illinois, that enables some large corporations to buy pollution credits, so as to comply with the mandates of the United States Clean Air Act.
It is not really difficult to raise funding and obtain grants from international entities like the United Nations, the World Bank and other multilateral agencies for the proposed "Filipino version of 'The Manhattan Project.'" What is merely needed is for all the Filipino politicians and national leaders to come together and agree on a bipartisan legal framework for obtaining the foreign aid for projects designed to combat GW and implement the ideas as suggested in this series of articles and in other position papers.
Perhaps the Philippine government can organize as soon as possible a Task Force for the Filipino efforts to fight GW. Perhaps it can ask the Filipino private sector and the Overseas-Filipino communities to join the Task Force. This semipublic entity should do a national plan, finalize the feasibility studies (including environmental-impact reports), handle the overseas funds raised and oversee the projects -- with the urgency, intensity and magnitude as the original "Manhattan Project" that was born during World War II in New Mexico. Yes, the Philippines has to act very soon before it is too late. # # #
Editor's Note: We are inviting readers to participate in the Forum Section of the www.mabuhayradio.com, where we think people may be able to post their comments about the "Filipino version of 'The Manhattan Project.'"
The bleak conclusion came ahead of the publication of a key report by hundreds of international environmental experts.
Agreement on the final wording of the report was reached after a
marathon debate through the night in Brussels.
People living in poverty would be worst affected by the effects of
climate change, the gathered experts said.
"It's the poorest of the poor in the world, and this includes poor
people even in prosperous societies, who are going to be the worst hit," said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Mr Pachauri said those people were also the least equipped to deal with the effects of such changes.
Key findings
Outlining the report's findings, Martin Parry, co-chairman of IPCC Working Group II, said evidence showed climate change was having a direct effect on animals, plants and water.
"For the first time, we are no longer arm-waving with models; this is empirical data, we can actually measure it," he told a news conference.
Key findings of the report include:
* 75-250 million people across Africa could face water shortages by 2020
* Crop yields increase could increase by 20% in East and Southeast Asia, but decrease by up to 30% in Central and South Asia
* Agriculture fed by rainfall could drop by 50% in some African countries by 2020
* 20-30% of all plant and animal species at increased risk of
extinction if temperatures rise between 1.5-2.5C
* Glaciers and snow cover expected to decline, reducing water availability in countries supplied by melt water
The report states that the observed increase in the global average temperature was "very likely" due to man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
The scientific work reviewed by IPCC scientists includes more than 29,000 pieces of data on observed changes in physical and biological aspects of the natural world. Eighty-nine percent of these, it believes, are consistent with a warming world.
Year of reports
Scientists and politicians have welcomed the report. "This further underlines both how urgent it is to reach global agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and how important it is for us all to adapt to the climate change that is already under way," European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told the Reuters news agency.
"This is another wake up call for governments, industry and individuals. We now have a clearer indication of the potential impact of global warming, some of which is already inevitable," said Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society. "The challenge is now to support those people living in the most
vulnerable areas so that they are able to adapt and improve their ways of life."
The wording of the summary of the report, which will be sent to world leaders in time for a G8 summit of industrialised nations in June, was finally decided after scientists and government officials from more than 100 countries worked through the night.
Several delegations, including the US, Saudi Arabia, China and India, had asked for the final version to reflect less certainty than the draft.
It is the second in a series of IPCC reports coming out this year, together making up its fourth global climate assessment.
The first element, on the science of climate change, released in
February, concluded it was at least 90% likely that human activities are principally responsible for the warming observed since 1950.
The third part, due in May, will focus on ways of curbing the rise in greenhouse gas concentrations and temperature.
A fourth report in November will sum up all the findings.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6532323.stm
Submitted by Cesar Torres of San Francisco, CA
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