‘Incentives Offered to Destroy Forests’

Instead of providing positive incentives to tropical nations to conserve their rainforests and so reduce greenhouse gases emissions, the world indirectly gives “perverse incentives” to destroy them by demanding goods produced by intensive logging, a leading environmental activist says.

VIENNA - “The Kyoto protocol does not give incentives to rainforest nations to protect their forests,” Kevin Conrad, special envoy of the environment and climate change permanent mission of Papua New Guinea to the United Nations told IPS.

The Kyoto protocol is the international agreement that establishes how industrialised countries should reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by an average of five percent relative to 1990 levels. The treaty does not assign targets to developing nations.

One of the instruments of the Kyoto protocol is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), an arrangement that allows industrialised countries with a GHG reduction commitment to invest in projects in developing countries that reduce emissions. This then counts towards their domestic ‘clean’ record. Conservation of rainforests is not included in such projects.

Between 1989 and 1995, global emissions as a result of deforestation amounted to 5,000 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide, studies show.

“Instead of giving us incentives to protect our forests, the world gives countries like mine incentives to destroy them,” Conrad said. Coffee, soy beans, sugar, flowers and wood furniture, he said, can only be produced in developing countries through systematic deforestation.

“Tropical rainforest nations deserve to be treated equally,” Conrad said. “If we reduce deforestation, we must receive fair compensation for reductions. A tonne (of carbon dioxide) is a tonne is a tonne.” Read More

Cayman Institute makes presentation to Cabinet

Press Release
George Town, Cayman Islands 7 September 2007

The Cayman Institute, on August 7th. 2007 made a presentation to the Cabinet of the Cayman Islands Government on energy security.

The Cayman Institute is an apolitical, privately funded, non profit organization established to consider the long term effects and implications of diverse technological, sociological, economical and cultural issues to the Cayman Islands.

A modern, carefully crafted energy policy, creating the legislative and policy frameworks is imperative for all states today. For Small Island Developing States (SIDS) without the resources of developed nation an energy security is even more important.

“The use of alternative forms of energy, solar, wind, ocean thermal conversion, hydrogen and geothermal are vitally necessary to mitigate the threat global warming as well as that of deminishing and ever more costly petroleum based fuels“, said Nick Robson Chairman and founder of the institute. Read the Report (This is a PDF document and will open in a new window)

Ice-Free Arctic Could Be Here in 23 Years

The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at a record low, scientists said last night. Experts said they were “stunned” by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as Britain disappearing in the last week alone. So much ice has melted this summer that the north-west passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and observers say the north-east passage along Russia’s Arctic coast could open later this month. If the increased rate of melting continues, the summertime Arctic could be totally free of ice by 2030. Mark Serreze, an Arctic specialist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre at Colorado University in Denver which released the figures, said: “It’s amazing. It’s simply fallen off a cliff and we’re still losing ice.” The Arctic has now lost about a third of its ice since satellite measurements began 30 years ago, and the rate of loss has accelerated sharply since 2002. Read More

A letter to President Bush regarding “The Surge”

Energy Bulletin. Published on 3 Sep 2007

by Neal Brandvik

I have a feeling President Bush is fully aware of Peak Oil and the stakes on the table for America. I think he was speaking from his heart when he said in his State of the Union Address, “America is addicted to oil!”

I evem have a hunch that every morning President Bush is in the Oval Office he fires up his computer and can’t help but sneak a peek at www.energybulletin.net to check out the latest Peak Oil news.

I was going to e-mail this letter to www.whitehouse.gov but, realistically, it has a better chance of reaching the President if I post it here. Read More

New study from NASA predicts more severe storms

DailyTech - Science 2 September 2007

NASA scientists have developed a new model that is among the first to simulate the strength of updrafts in storms. This model was applied to a global warming scenario to give a possible peek at what future weather might look like
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies is a leading research center, located in New York, which studies Earth's past, present and future climates.
The Institute has recently announced a new study which discusses what future storms might look like in a global warming scenario.
NASA's scientists at the Institute developed a new climate model for the study. The model is among the first to successfully simulate the strength of updrafts in storms. This allows the model to give a more complete picture of the strength of storms that are occurring around the world, and those that may someday occur. Read More