| Disaster Agencies Urge SAARC Focus on Climate Change, Risk (bdnews24.com, 25 July 2008) |
| Following the adoption of a 3-year action plan early in July by South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – to combat the effects of climate change, South Asian humanitarian agencies have now urged the SAARC to focus on the topic during the 15th SAARC Summit from 27 July to 3 August 2008. The agencies warn that unless climate change is combated, South Asia will be increasingly battered by natural disasters, crippling development efforts and perpetuating the poverty cycle. |
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| East Asia Gears Up for Climate Fight (Vietnam News Agency, 10 October 2008) |
| The Inaugural East Asian Summit Environmental Ministers’ Meeting was held in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 9 October. An initiative of the Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung, this brought together almost 200 officials from 16 East Asian states to discuss environment and sustainable development issues. Industrialization experiences were shared as countries sought appropriate urban-development policies. Ministers reiterated support for the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol and stressed that that building environmentally-sustainable cities was the priority amid seeking solutions for the problems of rapidly growing urbanisation. |
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| Asian Countries Not Responsible for Haze Formation: Sibal (Economic Times, 21 November 2008) |
| India has come out to rebut the report commissioned by the U.N. Environment Program which faulted Asian states for the “brown cloud” of pollution that was contributing to global warming, melting Himalayan glaciers as well as a host of other related problems. Stating that the “brown cloud” phenomenon was not new to Indian researchers, Indian Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal refuted that with carbon emissions per capita of the US being 23 tonnes and Europe’s 10 tonnes against India’s 1.2 tonnes it was not for anybody to say that regional pollution was the fault of India and China. |
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| Central Asia's Biofuel Potential (UPI, 18 December 2008) |
| Unlike the hydrocarbon resource-rich Central Asian states of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, the neighbouring economies of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have not developed as quickly. An environmental-friendly new source of income may soon arrive in the form of the indigenous cash crop, camelina sativa. This alternative energy has a high oil content low in saturated fat which would appeal to health-conscious consumers. Moreover, it is drought-resistant, requires less fertilizer and pesticides, and has the potential to be converted into a jet fuel – as the scheduled Japan Airlines test flight on 30 January 2009 plans to demonstrate. |
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| US Environmental Agency Doing Little to Curb E-Waste Exports, Report Says (Guardian, 18 September 2008) |
| The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published a report in which it faults the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for not doing enough to curb e-waste exports. Much of the report focused on the illegal export of hazardous waste to Asia. |
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| China, India Targets in ‘Right Ball-Park’ for Carbon Budget – PwC (Environmental Finance, 3 December 2009) |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has unveiled its ‘Low Carbon Economy Index’, which aims to assess governments’ progress towards bringing global carbon emissions down to levels likely to avoid catastrophic climate change. John Hawksworth, PwC’s London-based head of macroeconomics, has welcomed both China’s target of reducing carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020, against 2005 levels, and India’s 20-25% carbon intensity pledge over the same period. China announced its target last Thursday, while India made its announcement today. Hawksworth said, "The model says that if China is at the top end of the range, it’s in line with what they need to do… We would have expected a lower number from India, given its lower level of carbon intensity, but it’s in the right ball-park." |
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| Asia Climate Policy on Track Despite Recession, Polls (Reuters, 11 March 2009) |
| Despite the serious challenges posed by the slowing global economy to improving environmental practices, Asia remains committed to pursuing clean energy. Indonesia, India and China in particular back investments which help them gain significant carbon credits. The accelerating effects of climate change have also strengthened international resolve to ink a new environmental framework – the Copenhagen Protocol – this December to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2013. However, while all countries are supportive of implementing tough measures, there remains the “North-South” divide on how to share the huge costs of switching to cleaner fuels and “green” technology. |
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| RP Eyes ASEAN Call for Higher Carbon Cuts (Philippine Information Agency, 21 April 2009) |
| The Philippines aspires to lead a concerted call by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to seek higher and earlier carbon emission cuts in the developed world at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen this December. Philippine Presidential Adviser on Global Warming and Climate Change Heherson Alvarez stated that the Philippines hopes to persuade its neighbours of the urgency of cutting carbon emissions by disseminating scientific data on the effects of climate change on the region. |
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| China Working on Further National Plan to Address Climate Change: Official (Xinhua, 19 May 2009) |
| Xie Zhenhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has announced that China is “working on a further national plan based on a longer term in a bid to strengthen the enforcement of international treaties about the issue.” He added that China makes a “solemn promise to the world” to be “sure to meet its energy saving and emission cut target up to 2010”. The US and China have also held an undisclosed meeting that has yielded new milestones in climate change negotiations. |
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| Climate Change: 200 Days to Copenhagen (IPS, 20 May 2009) |
| Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), has expressed optimism regarding negotiations on climate change. He said, “There is a constructive atmosphere in the negotiations and I’m very encouraged… What I find very positive is that industrial countries are finally giving developing countries some credit for what they’re already doing to address climate change.” The most sensitive issue, and on which success of the negotiations hinges, seems to be financing. The United States and other industrialised countries are likely to oppose an agreement if developing countries are unwilling to bear a fair burden. |
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| We Have to Act to Reduce Pollution: Weeramantry (Daily Mirror, 23 June 2009) |
| At the inauguration of the South Asian Regional Meeting for Environment Prosecution, former Vice President of the International Court of Justice, C.G. Weeramantry stressed the need for the introduction of environmental legislation to help authorities protect the environment. Judge Weeramantry announced that a guidebook on environment law was being compiled for judges who will decide on cases of environmental offences. Sri Lankan Minister of Environment and Natural resources Champika Ranawaka emphasized that as the “carbon debt of the entire South Asian region [amounted] to 48%... the highest for any region”, it was important for South Asian states “to join together in environmental prosecution and set a new world trend”. |
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| UN Chief Warns of Dire Future Without Climate Deal (Reuters, 11 August 2009) |
| At the Global Environment Forum 2009 in Incheon, Republic of Korea, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for more rapid and effective action to slow the effects of climate change. He warned, “If we fail to act, climate change will intensify droughts, floods and other natural disasters… Water shortages will affect hundreds of millions of people. Malnutrition will engulf large parts of the developing world. Tensions will worsen. Social unrest – even violence – could follow.” The pace for global consultation is quickening before the Copenhagen meetings. Talks are scheduled for 10-14 August in Bonn, 28 September to 9 October in Bangkok and 2-6 November in Barcelona in an attempt to reach some preliminary agreement. |
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| India says Developing World Would Not Split in Climate Talks (Reuters, 11 August 2009) |
| The United States and China signed a memorandum of understanding in July 2009 that promised more cooperation on climate change while India and the United States also agreed last month to set up a strategic dialogue, with climate change as a component. Nonetheless, India's special envoy for climate change, Shyam Saran, said that bilateral climate agreements are no solution to fighting global warming and could trigger unwelcome competitive pressures. Negotiations in the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 have unsurprisingly cleaved and India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh will soon visit China, Brazil and South Africa to try to coordinate a negotiating stance. |
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| Republic of Indonesia (RI) Secures Financial Backing from the UK on Climate Change (Jakarta Post, 15 September 2009) |
| While the countdown to Copenhagen is fraught with difficulty and many developing countries argue that carbon restrictions impede their economic growth, Indonesia has secured funding from the British Government for development programs related to climate change. In the 5-year roadmap, the energy, forestry, transportation, waste management, agriculture, maritime and fisheries, water resources and health sectors are slated to receive priority funds from the Indonesia Climate Change Trust Fund. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will act as an interim trustee to disburse these monies. |
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| ASEAN Regional Ministers to Meet in S'pore Next Month to Discuss Haze Problem (Channel News Asia, 15 September 2009) |
| ASEAN environment ministers will meet in Singapore on October 28 to discuss the haze problem. Singapore Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr Yaacob Ibrahim said Singapore has offered to help Indonesia combat its forest fires if the country needs assistance. Malaysia has also offered assistance to Indonesia. However, concerted efforts have been slow as Indonesia and Philippines have not ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which was signed in 2002. Nonetheless, Dr Yaacob said, “Even though Indonesia has not ratified, we have moved forward because we realise that we have other challenges which cannot wait. Thus far, Singapore and Malaysia have made progress by collaborating with some of the local provinces. We acknowledge that Indonesia has been trying to implement measures to bring down the hotspots [and] we believe that the Indonesian government remains sincere in combating haze… It will take strong political resolve by Indonesia to enforce their laws to prevent forest fires, support and cooperation within ASEAN, as well as resources from the international community, to successfully battle the transboundary haze problem.” |
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| Developing Countries Have No Emission Reduction Obligations (Press Trust of India, 2 December 2009) |
| Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has enunciated the common stand of developing countries, saying that India's position on climate change negotiations is rooted in the principle of equity and "common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities" of parties as enshrined in the UN Framework of Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol. Ramesh added that while voluntary actions of developing nations will be subject to international monitoring, report and verification (MRV), industralised nations must also fulfil their commitments under the Convention to provide resources to developed countries to enable them to take mitigation and adaptation actions to tackle climate change. |
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| Climate-Agreement Deadline May Slip to End of 2010 (Bloomberg, 6 November 2009) |
| The long-awaited agreement on climate change scheduled for the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference from 7 to 18 December continues to be hampered by unresolved negotiations. It may well be delayed by a year due to the delay in states’ pledging to cut carbon emissions or providing financial aid to help developing nations in their climate change efforts. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has expressed his concern, saying, “I don’t think we can get a legally binding agreement by Copenhagen… I think that we can get that within a year after Copenhagen.” Kunihiko Shimada, principal negotiator for Japan, shares a similar view – that the broad outlines and issues would be agreed upon this year with further negotiations in the next, such that a final agreement could be ready at the end of 2010. Another Japanese negotiator, Akira Yamada, has stated that while Japan is looking to scale up existing climate aid of an aggregate US$10 billion pledged for 2008 through 2012, a final pledge cannot be made yet because it is still studying how to generate funds for helping poorer nations to adapt to warmer temperatures and cut their own emissions. |
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| China says Rich Countries Undercut Climate Talks (Reuters, 10 October 2009) |
| The recent Bangkok meetings in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit on climate change and the environment in December were rife with disagreements. Su Wei, who led Beijing's delegation to climate treaty talks in Bangkok, said splits over the framework for a new pact to fight global warming remained "quite large". Su also declared that the rich countries seeking to abandon key principles of the Kyoto Protocol – the treaty that governs nations' efforts to address climate change up to the end of 2012 – were in effect "gravely [violating] the fundamental basis of the international climate negotiations”. All this while, negotiators have been debating whether to extend the Kyoto Protocol into a second commitment period from 2013, amend the pact or create a new one – the last step is one which many developing nations resist. Su’s remarks reflect the general sentiment of developing states voiced at the Bangkok meetings – that they "would not discuss a future without the Kyoto Protocol climate pact". Notwithstanding the mixed results of the Bangkok meetings, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak have vowed to "work closely together... to contribute to the successful achievement of the Copenhagen conference". |
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| Environmental Law Evolves (NYT, 1 December 2009) |
| Environmental law has expanded rapidly over the past four decades and now encompasses concerns ranging from air and water quality to the decontamination of hazardous waste sites and the protection of biodiversity. One of the most recent specialties to be studied in law schools is climate change, a complex field that many schools are now starting to explore. Students of climate change law are facing a steep learning curve as they familiarize themselves with climate science. To understand the laws and policy they must first achieve some carbon literacy — an understanding of the sources and effects of the main greenhouse gases. Moreover, climate change will require massive transformations of every economic sector, led by energy and transportation. Patrick Parenteau, Professor of Law at the Vermont Law School, states, "The scope and complexity of the climate change debate makes it very challenging to design a curriculum around it… the law is still emerging so there is a huge amount of uncertainty about the shape that it will ultimately take." |
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| Laos Presses Ahead With Mekong Dam Project (IHT, 6 November 2012) |
Ignoring criticism that a huge hydroelectric dam could irreparably damage the ecology of the Mekong River, the government of Laos has said that it is pushing ahead with the multibillion-dollar project. The United States State Department has issued a statement questioning the rush to complete the dam. The statement noted that “the extent and severity of impacts from the Xayaburi dam on an ecosystem that provides food security and livelihoods for millions are still unknown” and the US was concerned that countries sharing the river had “not reached consensus on whether the project should proceed”. The Mekong River passes through parts of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea. Although the dam is being constructed on a part of the Mekong River that is entirely inside Laos, riparian countries of the lower Mekong signed an agreement in 1995 to consult with one another before proceeding with large projects on the river.
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