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Campaigner Urges More Funding for Third World Family Planning. June 07, 2008 Press Association Newsfile
Founder-director of Forum for the Future, Jonathon Porritt, told an audience that failing to prioritise family-planning will have a more damaging impact than HIV.

He compared current levels of international aid for family planning and for addressing HIV.

Funding for family planning has reduced over the years, while funding for HIV has grown from 300,000 US dollars in 1996 to 8.3 billion dollars in 2005.

The UN is calling for funding to be increased to around 22 billion dollars.

Mr Porritt said the world would not be able to sustain a population of nine billion by 2050 and family planning could be a solution.

Climate change, water shortages, hunger and collapsing eco-systems, worsened by high levels of fertility in the worst-affected countries, represents more of a threat than HIV. He said: "What really matters is ramping up spending on family planning. Investments in fertility management today could reduce that population to less than 8.25 billion by 2050."

Nothing is being done because church leaders, "politically-correct" environmentalists and development experts ignore population growth as a threat.

The vast majority of cowardly politicians in the rich world are only too happy to play their game. rw
Karen Gaia says: While it is true that family planning funding is reduced and more is definitely needed, part of the article is not quite right: the Sierra Club, for example, does not ignore population growth as a threat, and some church leaders do admit that unsustainable population growth is a problem.

Egyptian President Says Unrestricted Rise of the Population Affects the Quality of Life. March 17, 2008 International Herald Tribune
Egyptian President Mubarak warned that the unchecked rise of the population would wipe away all country's economic growth.

Mubarak's remarks came at a meeting to address the shortages of subsidized bread that have hurt millions of the poor as well as a lack of housing. "The unrestricted growth of the population affects the quality of the citizen's life and the nation as well," Mubarak stressed the need to drop the birth rate in Egypt where the population has tripled since 1952 to 76 million. The president has often cited population growth as a major obstacle to the country's economic development. Mubarak told the government to raise awareness over the effects of a rising population on drinking water, the sewage system and hospitals and schools.

The ministers also discussed how to build new towns to absorb the increase in the population and more industrial projects to provide jobs. But many Egyptians see large families as a source of financial security.

Rising food prices, stagnant wages and an inefficient and corrupt distribution system have led to hours-long lines for subsidized bread. At least 10 Egyptians have died in incidents at bread lines this year.

Health Minister announced an $80 million family-planning campaign with the slogan "Two children per family -- a chance for a better life."

Egypt's fertility rate, 2.7 children born per woman, places it 88th. The US ranks 126th with 2.1 children per woman.

Egypt has had aggressive birth-control campaigns in the past. TV ads in the 1990s urged condom use, showing a small family ascending into prosperity and a large one descending into poverty.

People listen to the president, but they don't follow his recommendation, because it is a necessity for them to have children. rw

Global: Climate risk from flat-screen TVs. July 07, 2008 Guardian (London)
The rising demand for flat-screen TVs could have a greater impact on global warming than the world's largest coal-fired power stations. Manufacturers use nitrogen trifluoride to make the TVs, and as the sets have become popular, annual production of the gas has risen to about 4,000 tonnes.

As a driver of global warming, nitrogen trifluoride is 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Production of the gas, which remains in the atmosphere for 550 years, is expected to double by next year. Emissions of the gas are not restricted by the Kyoto protocol or similar agreements.

This year's production of the gas is equivalent to 67m tonnes of carbon dioxide. Concerns have led Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology to avoid using the gas. Very little nitrogen trifluoride is released into the atmosphere. But the gas is not controlled in the same way as other greenhouse gases. rw
Karen Gaia says: You can't always rely on technology to get us out of trouble. Often, it is technology that gets us into trouble.

Family Planning Gets Mere Sliver of Aid Pie. April 12, 2008 InterPress Service
The UN warns that a decline in funding for reproductive health is threatening efforts to reduce poverty, improve health and empower women. Funding for family planning is lower than in 1995.

If this trend is not reversed, it will have implications for countries to address the unmet need for such services, and could undermine efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies.

The largest share of population funding is being diverted to fight HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Funding for family planning as a percentage of all population assistance has dropped from 55% in 1995 to 7.0% in 2005.

The victims are poor women who cannot plan their families. There are 200 million women in the developing world with unmet needs for contraception.

The highest number is in Africa.

The result is increasing numbers of unwanted pregnancies. We will not attain the MDGs if we do not ensure universal access to reproductive health. Ensuring access to family planning would reduce maternal deaths by 20% to 35% and child deaths by 20%.

Spending in 2005 saw an increase for STDs (72%), while funding for family planning services declined to 7.0% and basic reproductive health services to 17%, but an increase of 4.0% for research and analysis.

The U.N. report predicts that the increase in funding for AIDS-related activities will continue.

The HIV/AIDS crisis is worse than anticipated while infant, child and maternal mortality remain unacceptably high in many parts of the world.

Without a firm commitment to population, reproductive health and gender issues, it is unlikely that the goals and targets of the MDGs will be met.

Barriers to family planning persist for various reasons and there is concern about health risks and side effects.
* Contraception is not available or the range of available methods is limited.
* The woman, her partner, or family members are opposed to family planning.

Family planning advocates have shifted from focusing solely on decreasing population growth to encouraging couples to achieve their personal fertility goals by helping them choose the number and spacing of pregnancies. rw

Child Deaths Worldwide Fall Below 10 Million a Year for First Time, New UN Figures Show. September 25, 2007 UN News Centre
Child deaths worldwide have fallen to 9.7 million, down from almost 13 million in 1990, thanks mainly to campaigns to combat measles and malaria and promote exclusive breast-feeding.

Of the 9.7 million children who perish each year, 4.8 million are from Sub-Saharan Africa and 3.1 million from South Asia. In the developing world, child mortality is higher among children living in rural areas and in the poorest households. In developed countries there are 6 deaths for every 1,000 live births.

The Latin American and Caribbean region have 27 deaths for every 1,000 live births, compared to 55 per thousand in 1990.

There has been significant progress in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Under-five mortality has declined 29% between 2000 and 2004 in Malawi. In Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda and Tanzania child mortality rates have declined by more than 20%.

The highest rates of child mortality are still found in West and Central Africa. In southern Africa hard-won gains in child survival have been undermined by the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Much of the progress is the result of the widespread adoption of basic health interventions, such as early and exclusive breast feeding, measles immunization, Vitamin A supplementation and the use of insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria. rw

Canada: Climate Change Ticks Ever Closer. September 01, 2007 Toronto Star
At the foot of Leslie St., a spit of land fans out into Lake Ontario. The peninsula, built with rubble from Toronto construction sites, has grown into a home to butterflies, birds, rabbits and coyote.

The park is popular with migratory birds many coming from as far away as South America.

But among these birds and animals are ticks that can carry Lyme disease.

Every morning the co-ordinator of the Bird Research Station in Tommy Thompson Park organizes a group of volunteers who track the birds. It is part of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network sites across southern Canada and the northern United States that monitor the population trends of northern breeding birds.

From March to June, volunteers plucked ticks from migrating birds and mailed them to scientists who are trying to gain a better understanding of how birds and climate change might increase the spread of Lyme disease through Canada.

Since the 1970s, parts of the US have suffered an epidemic of Lyme disease, mostly within the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and north-central states.

In the US, approximately 20,000 new cases are reported each year. The disease is rarely reported in Canada, but ranks among the top bug-borne diseases in the United States.

Ten years ago, eastern Canada had only two known populations of blacklegged tick. Today, there are 13 or 14. They tend to settle in migratory bird landfalls. Leslie St. Spit, the Toronto Islands and the Toronto lakeshore are popular resting spots for migrants.

Toronto has always been on the migration highways, there are lots of green spaces where the birds can drop in and rest. The birds may be bringing ticks into Canada after passing through the northeastern and north-central states, where they're abundant.

All the stations from western Ontario to Nova Scotia captured migratory birds with ticks on them.

Canada's cooler climate offered protection from the diseases of warmer regions. But as climate change brings milder winters, scientists worry that the ticks may move farther north.

The warmer air temperature can make it easier for the insect to survive the Canadian winter. Should greenhouse gas emissions remain high, average summer temperatures in southern Ontario are expected to be 4 to 5C warmer and average winter temperatures about 6C warmer before the end of the century. rw

Despite Their Safety, IUDs Are Underused in Developed Countries. September 05, 2007 Eureka Alert
Misconceptions around IUDs mean that they are underused in developed countries, despite being a safe form of contraception. IUDs are cost effective when continued long term, and can have health benefits beyond contraception. Fertility is restored on their removal, and their efficacy does not depend on the user's behaviour. Pain and heavy bleeding are common reasons for discontinuing use of an IUD within the first year, but can usually be managed with appropriate pain relief.

Data shows these devices are underused in developed countries. Nearly half of all users are in China, while only 6% in the UK, 4.6% in Australia and New Zealand, and fewer than 1% in the U.S. use this method of contraception.

Reluctance to use IUD's seems to stem from the experience with the Dalkon Shield in the 1970s, which caused pelvic infections. Legal action against manufacturers led to a sharp decline in the use of all IUD's and their withdrawal from the US market in the 1980s.

Since then, misconceptions have persisted, such as the belief that these devices cause pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.

Evidence suggests there might be a small increased risk in the first 20 days after insertion, but beyond that the risk of upper genital tract infection does not differ from that in non-users.

Pelvic inflammatory disease is frequently caused by untreated Chlamydia so testing for and treating any infection before inserting a device is recommended, along with and advice on the use of condoms to protect against sexually transmitted infections. rw

Import-Export Business - How Globalization is Smothering U.S. Fruit and Vegetable Farms. August 30, 2007 Grist Magazine
President Bush roiled U.S. vegetable farmers by announcing a crackdown on undocumented workers. Last week, Smithfield Foods inked a deal to export 60 million pounds of U.S.-grown pork to China.

These events, illustrate that the globalized food system continues to gain traction.

Bush's move puts a squeeze on U.S. vegetable growers, and will likely result in more food from nations with weaker environmental regulations. More industrially produced food result in more pressure on soil and water resources, more greenhouse-gas emissions, and more fertile land made vulnerable to suburban sprawl.

As U.S. fruit and vegetable farms have scaled up to meet the demands of buyers like Wal-Mart, they've come to rely on low-wage and highly flexible workers. These mega-farms specialize in one or two crops, and rely on poisons to keep pests and weeds away.

Most estimates say 70% of U.S. farmworkers are undocumented. For several seasons now, farmers have had to scramble to find enough workers to harvest their crops. One factor has been an increasingly militarized border, another has been the building boom. In New York's Hudson Valley, where workers come from Mexico and Central America, apple growers fear a bumper crop could largely wither on the branches. It's a very labor-intensive industry, and there is no local labor supply. In Arizona farmers are hiring inmate labor. But an Arizona prison official acknowledged that inmates can offset only a fraction of the state's farm-labor shortage.

Fruit and vegetable farming, like manufacturing over the past generation, has entered a relentless hunt for cheap labor markets and lax regulatory regimes.

The U.S. is already outsourcing an increasing share of its fruit and veg production. But with marketing relationships and trade infrastructure in place, nothing stops distributors from buying cheaper Mexico-grown lettuce over California product, or New Zealand apples over those grown in New York or Washington. When farmers can no longer work their land profitably they generally sell it to developers, and succumb to low-density sprawl. That's already happening in California. Production of the fruits and vegetables we consume shifts to nations with weaker regulatory regimes than ours, meaning more agricultural chemicals released into the biosphere. And increasing distances mean burning more fossil fuel to haul from farm to table.

While U.S. vegetable farming gets squeezed between labor shortages and global competition, other forms of U.S. agriculture, industrial grain and meat production, thrive in the global marketplace. rw

Nepal: A Mountain to Climb? How Pico-Hydro Helps Rural Development. April 11, 2008 RenewableEnergyWorld.com
A pico-hydro power plant for lighting in a remote and village in Nepal shows what can be achieved with rural electrification.

Nepal is a developing country, 138th of 177 countries using the Human Development Index. Some 80% of the population live in rural areas that are difficult to access. Nepal ranks among the lowest of the word's economies at 197th out of 225.

Biomass fuel consumption in Nepal represents 93% of usage nationwide, and 100% in remote mountain areas.

Humla is 17 days walk away from the nearest road. Compared to developed nations infant mortality ranges from 86 to 53 per 1000 live births for the poorest and richest 20% respectively. A Holistic Community Development (HCD) approach for the communities living in the impoverished Karnali region of Humla has been developed.

Various needs cannot be addressed using a single approach. Primary health needs have to be addressed in a multi-pronged approach. Installing small scale electricity benefits health through the reduction of pollution from open fire cooking, heating and lighting. They also benefit education, with light for evening classes for mothers and out-of school children, and the environment through the reduction of biomass.

Other critical needs can be neglected, such as a lack of a sewage system, and contaminated drinking water. Villagers define their most urgent needs as, electric light, a smokeless stove, a toilet nearby, and clean drinking water. These four demands are installed, as a group, into each home, and includes a smokeless metal stove, solar lighting, a pit latrine, and access to safe drinking water. Experience shows that a single-pronged approach is neither sustainable nor beneficial in the long-term.

The communities in Humla need to tap their available renewable energy resources. In the target village, water flowing year-round in a nearby stream, plus an average of 5�6 kWh/m2 per day of sunshine, provide significant resources suitable for providing minimal indoor lighting services. In Humla, all families use a resin-rich wooden stick to light indoor living spaces. The amount of equipment and machinery that would need to be air lifted into the village makes such a project difficult. Initial project costs and the ongoing maintenance costs would be far beyond the local community's economic capacity.

Project planners, in collaboration with local people, have to understand and openly discuss the local cultural attitudes toward change. The step-by-step approach begins small, it also means that misuse of the system has a relatively small and easily addressed set of consequences. Villagers learn new skills and competencies, and develop a strong sense of ownership for the new technology. That allows a seamless transfer of the project to the local community, which is prepared and able to run and maintain the system.

A typical project generates 1.1 kW at a maximal water flow. The project, developed white light emitting diode lamps, with the unit consuming just over 1 W. These lamps are almost unbreakable, and last more than 20 years if used for 7 hours a day.

The entire power plant was built with locally available materials provided by villagers as part of their contribution to the project. In addition individuals from every household contributed labour to the building and installation process.

Buy-in, participation and local sense of ownership were prioritized. At the completion of the project, villagers were proud of their achievement. The generator's 225 V AC is transformed to 615 V AC, travels via an underground cable to the village, and transformed to 225V AC. The system was modified so that 850 W or more can be diverted full-time to a water heater that heats water in a 500 litre plastic tank that is insulated with pine needles and nestles within a larger, 1000 litre plastic tank.

The warm/hot water is used for showering, to prepare meals. The integrated long-term approach has been shown to be a significant step in the right direction. With time, those offering assistance and those receiving it will experience the mutually beneficial, benefits. However, this will most likely unfold over the course of two generations of living and working with the people who are being helped to escape the vicious circle of poverty and hopelessness. rw
Karen Gaia: While trekking in Nepal, our small group visited a village with a small hydro plant similar to the one described. All of the materials for the plant were carried in on the backs of men. But the villagers were proud of the system and appreciated its benefits.

Dr. Albert Bartlett: Arithmetic, Population and Energy. April 27, 2008 Global Public Media
An ad from 1975 asks "Could America run out of electricity?" Our need for electricity doubles every 10 or 12 years. That's an accurate reflection of a long history of steady growth of the electric industry in this country, growth at a rate of around 7% per year, which gives you doubling every 10 years.
Did you realise that 7% growth per year could give an incredible consequence? That in ten years you'd use more than the total of all that had been used in all the proceeding growth?

In the summer of 1986, the world population had reached five billion growing at the rate of 1.7% per year. More recently in 1999, we read that the world population had grown from five billion to six billion The world population today is increasing by about 75 million additional people every year.
If this current modest 1.3% per year could continue, the world population would grow to one person per square meter on the dry land surface of the earth in just 780 years, and the mass of people would equal the mass of the earth in just 2400 years. Well, we know this couldn't happen. Zero population growth is going to happen. Today's high birth rates will drop; today's low death rates will rise till they have exactly the same numerical value. So maybe you're wondering then, what options are available.

Some of those things that we should encourage if we want to raise the rate of growth of population and in so doing, make the problem worse. Everything in the list is as sacred as motherhood. There's immigration, medicine, public health, sanitation. These are all devoted to the humane goals of lowering the death rate and that's very important to me, if it's my death they're lowering. But then I've got to realise that anything that just lowers the death rate makes the population problem worse.

Then there are some of the things we should encourage if we want to help solve the population problem. Abstention, contraception, abortion, small families, stop immigration, disease, war, murder, famine, accidents.

It's obvious nature is going to choose and we don't have to do anything�except be prepared to live with whatever nature chooses. Or we can exercise the one option that's open to us, and that is to choose first from the last list.

How long can growth continue? You don't need arithmetic to evaluate the contradictory statements that we've all heard and read from experts who tell us in one breath we can go on increasing our rates of consumption of fossil fuels, in the next breath they say "Don't worry, we will always be able to make the discoveries of new resources that we need to meet the requirements of that growth."

Bill Moyers asked Isaac Asimov, "What happens to the idea of the dignity of the human species if this population growth continues?" and Asimov says, "It'll be completely destroyed. In the same way, democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive overpopulation. Convenience and decency cannot survive overpopulation. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies, the more people there are, the less one individual matters."

We must recognise that population growth is the immediate cause of all our resource and environmental crises.

Can you think of anything that can get better if we crowd more people into our cities, our towns, into our state, our nation, or on this earth?

The late Reverend Martin Luther King Jr said, "Unlike the plagues of the dark ages, or contemporary diseases which we do not yet understand, the modern plague of overpopulation is solvable with means we have discovered and with resources we possess. What is lacking is not sufficient knowledge of the solution, but universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem and the education of the billions who are its victims." rw

China: Food Security: Moving Towards the Precipice?. February 28, 2008 Economic Observer
The Chinese government has imposed temporary price-controls on basic food products after the consumer price index jumped to an 11-year high. Rising food prices reflected a global trend driven by population growth, changes in dietary trends, demand for biofuels, and climate change.

China and the world are accelerating toward a precipice. China's demand for meat is a significant factor and the increasing demand for feed grains on the world food market. China's population is large and growing, and its demand is rising rapidly. But this is a global crisis traceable to ignorant leadership almost everywhere. China's leadership has been more sensible than that of the US, at least China is trying to control its population!

Most Americans can afford to pay more for food. Since the US is the world's leading exporter of grains, absolute shortages are not likely soon, other than perhaps short-term shortages of meat if livestock producers sell off their herds because they can't afford to feed them.

China is more constrained and more water short. China will likely have other problems: it may become harder to import foods, and higher food prices will impact a large segment of the Chinese population. China's foreign exchange may be able to overcome much of the problem, although if it enters the military confrontation with the U.S. over Caspian Basin fossil fuel stores that both countries are planning on, both could suffer a fatal nuclear convulsion.

This is a slow, long-term crisis; it calls for an assessment of China's agricultural system with an eye to making it as sustainable as possible, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and artificial fertilizers and pesticides. It is important to anticipate climate trends and adapt to them. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is imperative but agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gases. And, the sooner China's population policies are successful, the greater China's chances of survival.

Grain reserves are at their lowest level in the last decade. Cereal grains comprise the feeding base of humanity, although a growing portion of them are fed to livestock.

The high water needs of modern grains mean that the most productive food production depends on irrigation, and most of the areas that can feasibly be irrigated already have been. As climate disruption proceeds, it is possible that the climates in regions of good soils will become less favorable to crop agriculture. Climate change will require expenditures to continually adjust the water-handling infrastructure, and it seems that this will result in more serious mismatches between where water is needed and where it is available. In Asia, rice and wheat crops are growing at very close to their high temperature limits, so more heating could have drastic direct impacts on yields.

The boom in biofuels is causing a displacement of crops grown for food. In the last year or two, this seems to be the biggest cause of food shortage and rising prices, but it is just an exacerbation of an already tight situation.

Global warming and the "oil peak" will constrain the use of fossil fuels, and the production of fertilizers in the next few decades. Water shortages are appearing and may get worse. Agriculture in many developing regions, is largely undeveloped and unproductive in modern terms. Unless priority is given to maintaining and increasing agricultural production, the picture will be very bleak. rw

Vietnam: Shortages Threaten Farmers� Key Tool: Fertilizer. 2004 New York Times*
In Vietnam a few decades ago, crop yields were far lower and diets much worse.

The widespread use of inexpensive chemical fertilizer helped power an agricultural explosion that had already occurred in other parts of the world. Yields of rice and corn rose, and diets grew richer.

Now those gains are threatened by shortages and soaring prices for fertilizer. Some kinds of fertilizer have nearly tripled in price in the last year, contributing to a rise in food prices that, according to the UNWFP, threatens to push tens of millions of poor people into malnutrition.

In the US, farmers in Iowa have increased the age-old practice of spreading hog manure on fields. In India, the cost of subsidizing fertilizer has soared, leading to political dispute. And in Africa, plans to increase crop yields are in jeopardy.

As demand grows, the fertilizer mines and factories are unable to keep up. Some dealers in the Midwest ran out of fertilizer last fall, and they continue to restrict sales because of a limited supply.

Agriculture and development experts say the world has few alternatives to its growing dependence on fertilizer.

The demand for fertilizer has been driven by population growth, shrinking grain stocks and biofuel. But the biggest factor has been the growing demand for food, especially meat, in the developing world.

Consumption of fertilizer increased by 31% from 1996 to 2008, driven by a 56% increase in developing countries. Fertilizer is a combination of nutrients. The three most important are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Nitrogen in a form that plants can absorb is scarce. But a procedure, primarily fueled by natural gas, converts it into a usable form.

As the use of such fertilizer spread, from 1900 to 2000, worldwide food production jumped by 600%.

Initially, the fertilizer went to wheat and rice that served as the foundation of a basic diet. But recently, hundreds of millions of people began earning enough money to buy more meat from animals fattened with grains. These factors translated into rising fertilizer demand. Manufacturers are scrambling to increase supply. At least 50 plants to make nitrogen fertilizer are under construction, but these projects are expensive and time-consuming, and supplies are expected to remain tight for years.

High prices and spot shortages has forced some farmers to revert to hog manure. This strategy has limits as manure contains so little nitrogen that tons are required on each acre. Once new supplies become available, the rising use of fertilizer will still pose difficulties.

In the Gulf of Mexico, nitrogen runoff from fields in the Corn Belt washes downstream and feeds plant life in the gulf. The algae blooms suck oxygen from the water, killing other marine life.

More than 400 dead zones have been identified, from the coasts of China to the Chesapeake Bay, and the primary reason is agricultural runoff. A UN recommended techniques that offer some of the same benefits as chemical fertilizer, like crop rotation that naturally add some nitrogen to the soil.

But others say those approaches will be not meet the world's rapidly rising demand for food and biofuel. rw

Australia: Climate Change Likely to Dominate Debates. April 08, 2008 Age
This climate scenario is likely to hit Australia before the globe warms by between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees.

It's 2012. Energy costs have skyrocketed in the two years since businesses were forced to buy permits to emit greenhouse gas.

The poor pay about $600 extra a year for electricity, so goods are more expensive, especially food and transport. Water costs more as we develop ways, to increase its supply.

This is the picture former Victorian deputy premier John Thwaites will paint at the environment session at Kevin Rudd's 2020 Summit. "There needs to be some support that assists with higher energy and water bills. But the primary goal has to be to get them to reduce emissions through energy efficiency and housing being upgraded."

The climate debate it is likely to feature in half the summit sessions, including health, rural Australia and the economy.

The full title of the environment session is ambitious � Population, Sustainability, Climate Change, Water and the Future of our Cities.

What impact will climate change have on our water supplies? Projections suggest that water demand will exceed sustainable supply by 2025.

There are also important issues including better planning for the predicted increase in extreme weather events. It is likely to require a program encouraging more volunteers and better preparing households. rw

U.S.: White House Issues Climate Report 4 Years Late. May 30, 2008 Yahoo News
Under a court order and four years late, the White House produced a "one-stop shop" of threats to the United States from man-made global warming.
It pulls together different U.S. studies and international reports into one document required by law. A Canadian climate scientist called it "a litany of bad news in store for the U.S."

One of the scientists who reviewed the report said: "It basically says the America we've known we can no longer count on."

White House said the report was comprehensive and "communicates what the scientists are telling us."

� Increased heat deaths and deaths from climate-worsened smog.

� Worsening water shortages for agriculture and urban users.

� A need for billions of dollars in more power plants. Summer cooling will mean Seattle's energy consumption would increase by 146% with the warming by the end of the century.

� More death and damage from wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters and extreme weather.

� Increased insect infestations and food- and waterborne microbes and diseases.

Climate change is likely to accentuate the disparities in the American health care system. Many of the health effects are likely to fall disproportionately on the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the uninsured."

Every four years the government must produce a comprehensive science assessment of global warming.

Environmental groups got a court order to force the Bush administration to produce the document by the end of this month. rw

Protecting Endangered Species Could Boost the Democratic Republic of Congo's Economy. August 08, 2007 ABC News
The gorillas of Central Africa live in the Virunga Mountains, a region that has seen more killing over the last two decades. Their home spans more than 50 miles between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In Rwanda and Uganda the gorillas are well protected and reproducing steadily, and that has brought back a booming tourism market.

But in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park, mountain gorillas are dying with little protection from officials. With minimal funding and few guards to keep watch over the species, the DRC's mountain gorilla population is decreasing rapidly. According to the World Wildlife Fund, approximately 700 mountain gorillas live in the wild, 150 reside in the DRC.

July 22, four mountain gorillas, one male silverback and three females were shot dead in the DRC. A fifth is missing and a 5-month-old baby gorilla is now an orphan.

This reduced the mountain gorilla population in the Virunga Mountains by 1.6%, including the loss of five females. If we can't stop these attacks, our closest living relatives will disappear from the planet.

The success of tourism in Ugandan and Rwandan wildlife preserves is a model for organizations hoping to improve the lives of mountain gorillas in the DRC.

While tourist groups in the neighboring countries participate in expensive guided tours in hopes of spotting groups of mountain gorillas, the DRC has no comparable program.

"The Congolese Park and Wildlife Authority has authority over [the Virunga National Park. They have no money and the trackers and guides are working with no money and food.

Wildlife organizations help the Virunga National Park become not only a sanctuary for the mountain gorillas but also a source of income for the struggling country.

UNESCO is planning a mid-August mission in the DRC where it will investigate the gorilla killings and work with the Congolese and wildlife organizations to "avoid an ecological and economic disaster."

Meanwhile, the effort to train guides and trackers also care for the injured gorillas in the DRC is under way.

Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project provides an orphanage. Ten young gorillas reside in the facility, many were left alone to fend for themselves a predicament that would have led to their deaths.

Many of the gorillas are injured when poachers take them away from their mothers, in the hope of capitalizing on tourists' desire to interact with African wildlife.

Congolese trackers and guides receive medical care, they are tested for communicable diseases before they enter the gorilla habitats.

There are dangers when humans interact so closely with the mountain gorillas, primarily the transfer of human disease. Only a few groups are designated for tourism, and certain distances are required between tourists and gorillas. Some researchers argue that poachers and bush meat hunters are the real dangers to the gorilla populations.

The DRC and its neighbors face a choice: fund gorilla preserves or focus on exploiting other natural resources. Sustainable tourism must balance the need to fund conservation and the risk of exploiting the animals. rw

Reflections on Cuba: Health, Terror,. September 17, 2007 Dissident Voice
Cuba has more doctors per capita, 1 per 170 people, than the US, 1 per 188. In addition to its current 70,000 doctors, 65,000 new students have enrolled in Cuban medical schools since 2004. If Cuba does not already, they will soon lead the world in doctors per capita, meeting their accomplishment in teachers. Most doctors in Cuba are women, as are most philosophers. Cuba also exports more doctors and health professionals to the third world - to 68 countries - than any other country, including roughly 15,000 doctors and dentists to Venezuela in exchange for much needed oil. The paradox is partly resolved in Fidel's comment "Human capital is worth far more than financial capital."�

Cuba has a three-tiered model:
(1) Health guardians, that include neighborhood-based teams of physicians and nurses, who interact regularly with citizens in their community, provides childhood immunization against 13 preventable diseases. That, along with guaranteed nutrition and a real sense of belonging to a community, is a key component in Cuba's low infant mortality rate that is lower than that of the US;
(2) A network of healthcare polyclinics (over 470) dedicated to integrating multi-medical-specialties (e.g. pediatric medicine, heart treatment, ophthalmology, optometry, x-rays, rehabilitation, 24 hour dentistry, minor surgery, ultrasound diagnostics, etc.);
(3) Hospitals: acute care facilities spread across the island. One of these larger Cuban hospitals was featured in SiCKO.

A 400+ page US document from 2004 called "A Plan for Assistance to a Free Cuba," claims the US will apply to Cuba the lessons learned in Afghanistan and Iraq (Fallujah, Haditha, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, for example?) It says it will bring literacy and vaccines to Cuban children, not knowing that Cuba has a 100% literacy rate, and among the best vaccination programs for children in the hemisphere. Cuban social security will be eliminated and old people will be put to work (60 is the current retirement age in Cuba). The document proclaims that the US will abolish all Cuban social programs (schools, health care, sustainable farms, etc.) and privatize them. rw

Linking Environment with Development. April 12, 2008 The Daily Star
Bangladesh is going through a social and economic transformation. The concept of sustainable development requires integrating objectives. The future of sustainable development lies in the evolution of the character of governance. We are to find how to pursue economic development without degrading environment and ecosystem resources. We are also have to turn disaster risk reduction into sustainable development policies.

Addressing emerging needs require inclusive and pro-poor growth with equity and justice. Integration of environmental priorities into national strategies for poverty eradication and sustainable development needs special attention. We are remove barriers toward strengthening capacities at individual, and institutional level to implement national policies and programmes toward sustainable development.

It is also relevant to implement the national programs - such as National Water Management Plan, Land Use Policy, Fisheries & Livestock and Agriculture Policy - to achieve sustainable development in Bangladesh. The PRSP Phase II provides us an opportunity to integrate these policies with poverty-environment in Bangladesh. How can we build partnerships for learning to ensure more effective ways to implement those policies and plans.

Over the last 15 years Bangladesh has made gains in human development indicators. In the 2007 UNDP Human Development Report, Bangladesh is ranked 138 among 177 countries with an HDI score of 0.509, which places it among countries considered to have achieved medium human development.

Despite impressive gains Bangladesh faces challenges. Achieving the MDGs within the next decade will require more ambitious and effective strategies. Urban poverty has risen accompanied by lack of decent work and adequate shelter. The critical challenges of attaining environmental sustainability (MDG Goal 7) are still inadequately addressed. This is further deteriorated by absence of land zoning and weak environmental governance. Climate change has led to serious deterioration of ecosystems.

There is a growing consent that democratic governance creates the conditions for sustainable development and poverty reduction. Local governments can play a major role. Improvement in the dialogue between the state, citizens and their communities, is also a requisite.

Local and regional development strategy involves building partnerships between national and local authorities, community organisations, civil society, and the private sector. However, there is a need for a technical advisory body for the services to be provided. Other strategies needed are: strengthening the capacities of local governments in sustainable development; supporting central governments to formulate policies promoting decentralisation to foster natural resource management, and strengthen local development; and empowering women's associations and users of natural resources.

Sustainable development is vital in both poverty alleviation and sustainable environmental management. In Bangladesh where competition for resources is intense and the carrying capacity is under severe strain, the concept of eco-system restoration and regeneration, has immense potential to relieve social tension and improve public well being. rw

Brazil: Controversial Bill to Sterilize Younger Women. September 05, 2007 InterPress Service
A draft law to reduce the minimum age for voluntary sterilisation in Brazil's public hospitals from 25 to 18 is opposed by the government.

A Brazilian Republican Party senator and bishop of an evangelical sect, Marcelo Crivella, who introduced the draft law said it would help reduce violence, because "children who would be hungry and abandoned wouldn't be born".

The current law states that voluntary sterilisation is only for men and women over 25 years of age and have at least two living children.

The Health Ministry is against the law. Family planning is available including tying off the Fallopian tubes.

The Health Minister said he was opposed because that's not family planning, it's fertility control.

Coordinator of the Technical Area of Women's Health told IPS that tubal ligation is an irreversible contraceptive method. Studies indicate that between 2% and 13% of women change their minds, depending on age and circumstances. Among women under 30 at the time of the operation, most change their minds.

An NGO told IPS that the latest study carried out in 1996 showed that 77% of women who were married or in a stable relationship used some method of contraception. 40% had been sterilised between the ages of 15 and 49.

The study was undertaken by BEMFAM, which works on sexual and reproductive health issues in 13 Brazilian states.

The average age of the women at the time they were sterilised was 28.9 years, but 20% of them were under 25. Thirty-seven percent were aged 25 to 29, 28% were aged 30 to 34, 12% were aged 35 to 39, and three percent were aged 40 to 44.

Contraceptive methods used according to the women's age and circumstances. Many women at the height of their fertility use contraceptive pills, and when they have the ideal number of children, they choose to be sterilised.

The more education a woman has, the wider the variety of family planning methods used, and the more frequently their partners have had a vasectomy. We could do more through public policies, like giving the public more information about the variety of methods, and awareness-raising campaigns so that women can exercise birth control without resorting to a drastic measure. Sterilised women often change their minds when they begin a new relationship, or if one of their children dies.

In the context of poor populations with limited access to healthcare and education, sterilisation is often a vote-catcher. Many women who have little money or education choose to be sterilised, thinking they won't have to worry any more.

A census on family planning is being carried out by the Health Ministry to find out whether in Brazil, caesarean sections encourage sterilisations, or whether sterilisation encourages caesareans.

The new National Policy on Family Planning provides for a campaign to offer clear information and stimulate family planning, and mass distribution of educational material about contraceptive methods to schools and community centres.

It also plans to expand the supply of contraceptives to basic health clinics from 20 million to 50 million and to encourage vasectomy.

In 1960 the fertility rate stood at six children per woman, but by 1996, it had fallen to 2.3 children per woman, and in some urban centres it was 1.9.

The expert cited economic reasons for the decline in fertility, such as migration from rural areas to the cities, and women's entry into the labour market. rw

Nigeria: One Out of Five Children Will Die Before Age Five. August 28, 2007 Africa News Service
Prof. Njokanma revealed that one out of every five Nigerian children will not live to 5 years

More than half will succumb to death within their first day in the world. Malaria, malnutrition, respiratory diarroeal diseases and vaccine-preventable diseases, poliomyelitis and tuberculosis, still rank very high among them that maim and kill our children.

Childhood mortality ranked 13th worst in the world with Nigeria behind Ghana and South Africa.

He attributed high mortality rate to poor supervision of pregnant women. The state of facilities do not encourage professionals to put in their best to child-care delivering.

Poor planning of basic health framework, poverty, ignorance, emigration of top ranking personnel in 1980s and 90s and continued emigration of young medical people as the major causes of children mortality in our country.

The Federal Ministry of Health was aware of these problems but lacks the political will to put things in order.

All health workers at the maternity to make efforts at seeing that children are taking proper care at birth.

He called for increased allocation to primary health care from all tiers of government so as to boost child healthcare.

He added that free and accessible health care is possible in the country, If only corruption is eradicated. rw

Her Body: Seven Ways to Save a Mother's Life. August 07, 2007 Newsweek (US)
Every minute a woman dies of complications of childbirth. The most common causes are uncontrolled bleeding, infection and obstructed birth. And for every woman who dies, another 30 become sick or injured. Childbirth is the leading cause of death and disability for women of reproductive age.

What makes these numbers appalling is that modern medicine has the tools to make childbirth safe for all women. Women need to understand the trouble signs in pregnancy and access to skilled care is vital. Pregnant women do not get the help they need. Poverty is often the reason but also war and political upheaval.

In the U.S., the maternal mortality rate among black women is four times the rate white women and black women are at higher risk of delivering prematurely and having low birth weight babies. Among American women, the most common complication is eclampsia, a condition that causes seizures. Women are at higher risk if they are obese, diabetic or have high blood pressure.

Conferences like Women Deliver help by bringing together policymakers, but there's a lot you can do. :

1. Tell policymakers that women count.
2. Educate yourself if you're pregnant.
3. Help educate other women.
4. Fight domestic violence.
5. Learn what's happening to women in the rest of the world.
6. Reach out to women in trouble.
7. Become an advocate for health care for women and children. You can help millions of women around the world whose stories need to be told. rw

Ghana: Girls and Early & Child Marriage. August 13, 2007 Africa News Service
In Ghana, a child below the age of eighteen is classified as a minor. The acceptable age for marriage is eighteen years and above.

However, religious, traditional, and other values give way for such minors to be given in marriage.

Early Child marriage is prevalent in Ghana. It is hard to know the exact number of child marriages as many are unregistered and unofficial.

Child marriage occurs more frequently in rural settings than in urban ones. Women with primary education are less likely to be married as children than those with no education.

Girls who marry young are more likely to live in poverty, experience violence and abandon school.

In spite of legal provisions, child marriage is still practiced in many developing countries.

If current patterns continue, over 100 million girls in the developing world will be married during the next 10 years.

According to UNICEF, child marriage is a violation of human rights. In places where child marriage is practiced in Ghana, girls have no say on when and whom to marry and have no independence once married.

Sex in child marriage is more frequent. Poor families regard early marriage as a tactic for survival.

Some consider child marriage a protection for girls from the dangers of sexual assault. Girls enter child marriage with little information about contraception, safe motherhood, and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

Pregnancy is the leading cause of death for adolescent girls coupled with health problems such as obstetric fistula.

An Obstetric fistula is an injury of childbearing usually caused by several days of obstructed labour, without timely medical intervention.

The risk that their babies will die in their first year of life is 50% higher than for children born to women in their 20s.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the rights to "free and full" consent to marriage and determines that this standard is not met when a person is not mature enough to make an informed decision.

The International Convention on the Rights of the Child upholds the rights of a child to be protected from harmful traditional practices.

Yet, child marriage persists in developing countries because they lack resources and sometimes the political commitment to enforce such laws.

In Ghana, Civil Society groups are working to discourage the practice by creating community awareness of the adverse consequences.

Recently there were media reports of a 19-year old girl who had fled from early forced marriage, even though she is not a minor. She was rescued by the police in Accra after she was chained and concealed under the metal seats of a bus.

Human rights activists have been fighting to put an end to early and forced marriages. rw

Another Sunny Year for Solar Power. June 2008 BRY
Global production of photovoltaic (PV) or solar cells increased 51% in 2007, to 3,733 megawatt, bringing cumulative global installations of PVs since 1996 to more than 9,740 megawatts. Germany produced 1,063 megawatts of solar cells in 2007, up 56%. About 40,000 people are now employed in the PV industry in Germany who remains the world's top PV installer, accounting for almost half of the global market in 2007. As capacity has risen, PV installed system costs have been cut in half in Germany between 1997 and 2007 and now meet about 1% of Germany's electricity demand, a share that some analysts expect could reach 25% by 2050. Japan produced more PV cells than any other country, with 920 megawatts manufactured in 2007. Unable to compete with China and Taiwan for low-cost solar cells, Japanese manufacturers are looking to thin-film technology. China has become the second largest cell-producing nation after Japan, but the Chinese market for PVs remains small, and much of the 20 megawatts of new capacity installed in 2007 was for remote off-grid applications. Spain ranked second after Germany for total installations in 2007 and added from 425 to 640 megawatts in 2007. In the US, cell production rose 48% to 266 megawatts. An estimated 150 megawatts of new gridconnected PV was installed in the US in 2007, putting the nation in fourth place for total capacity-behind Germany, Japan, and Spain. Southern California Edison announced plans to install 250 megawatts of distributed capacity over the next five years.

Strong growth occurred against a backdrop of polysilicon shortages. New capacity will come online in the second half of 2008. The European Photovoltaic Industry Association projects 80,000 tons of annual production by 2010, up from just over 37,000 tons in 2007.
The shortage is driving advances in thin film technologies, that can be integrated into roof shingles, siding, and the windows. Thin-film production has increased nearly fourfold in the past two years, claiming more than 10% of the global market in 2007. Performance data for such technologies are limited, and efficiencies remain low compared with conventional solar cells. But the situation is improving and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory set a new record at 19.9%, close to commercial levels for conventional cells.
Prometheus Institute projects that installed system prices for large projects will fall 50% by 2010, to $4 per watt.

Solar electricity is likely to become cost-competitive with the retail price of electricity in many parts of the world in the next several years. rw

World Water Day 2008: Sanitation Message From UNESCO Director-General. March 20, 2008 Kazinform
One of the greatest challenges faced by humankind is to improve the well-being of the 2.6 billion people lacking access to basic sanitation. Progress towards the MDG target of halving the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation has been slow and uneven.

Access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation services is a prerequisite for achieving the MDGs on poverty, health, gender and environmental sustainability. Primary benefits include enhanced public health, reduction of water-borne diseases, and the prevention of premature death of millions of people. Better sanitation also results in enhanced human development, dignity, privacy and safety, particularly of women and girls, and greater advancement in gender equality.

Direct disposal of vast amounts of untreated wastewater and human waste poses a threat to the health of aquatic ecosystems. There is an urgent need to address the issue of sanitation in a sustainable manner. Significant advancement has been made in the development of low-cost technologies for sanitation. Mainstreaming sanitation at the national level is a starting point to accelerate progress. UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme addresses the issue of sanitation in the broader context of sustainable urban water management. rw

Shadings to Greener Buildings. January 17, 2008 Christian Science Monitor
In 2000, a consortium of corporations, builders, architects, government agencies, and nonprofits created a system called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) to measure just how "green" a building would be. A building can win a "certified," "silver," "gold," or "platinum" rating.

More than 1,000 projects have already earned some level of certification. They include libraries, schools, and corporate headquarters. The city of Greensburg, Kan., flattened by a tornado last May, has pledged to rebuild its public buildings to LEED platinum standards. The Washington headquarters of the US Green Building Council (USGBC), the nonprofit that created LEED, earned a platinum rating by using environmentally friendly materials for their floors. It also contains reclaimed timbers and is illuminated by efficient lighting.

A new Bank of America branch in Adelanto, Calif., features rooftop solar panels that provide 60% of electricity needs and 20% of its construction materials are recycled. The building uses 40% less water than a traditional bank building. Architects can be tempted by focusing on LEED to build simply for certification. A trial LEED program also acknowledges that broader community planning is part of any truly green lifestyle. Buildings close to public transit and services, cut vehicle use. Dense developments are often the most ecofriendly: New York City boasts 2.7% of the US population but generates only 1% of US greenhouse gases.

Benefits in LEED certification save money on energy costs over the long run, and also win the goodwill of customers and potential employees. LEED isn't perfect. But it can lead in the right direction. rw

Global Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP). March 14, 2008 The Encyclopedia of Earth
Humanity's impact on the biosphere exceeds natural variability in many cases. Up to 83% of the global terrestrial biosphere as under human influence.

HANPP, the "human appropriation of net primary production," is an indicator that the area used by humans and the intensity of land use. It is a measure of human activities compared to natural processes. Then follows a very long and detailed section on different definitions.

One of the strengths of HANPP is that it can be assessed in a spatially explicit way, i.e. it is possible to produce maps of HANPP that localize the human impact on ecosystems. In this case, the three above-mentioned parameters must be calculated in a spatially explicit way, using geographic information systems (GIS) technology.

The most important factors influencing NPP in the absence of human activities are climate and soil quality, and there follows another long and detailed section on this subject. There follows estimates of global HANPP given by different authors.

HANPP is a major indicator of human pressures on ecosystems. HANPP relates to global sustainability issues such as endemic malnourishment of a large proportion of world population, the ongoing conversion of valuable ecosystems (e.g., forests) to cropland or grazing land with detrimental consequences for biodiversity and global, human-induced alterations of biogeochemical cycles.

The analysis of socio-economic drivers of HANPP as all as of its ecological impacts should remain high on the agenda of sustainability science. In particular, understanding the interrelations between HANPP and changes, especially those related to transitions from agrarian to industrial society, should be a priority of global change research. rw

A Global Need for Grain That Farms Can't Fill. March 09, 2008 New York Times*
Everywhere, the cost of food is rising sharply due to runaway demand. The economy of the world's developing countries have been growing at about 7% a year, an unusually rapid rate that means hundreds of millions of people are getting access to a better diet. Farmers the world over are producing flat-out. American agricultural exports are expected to increase 23% this year to a record $101 billion, while grain stockpiles have fallen to the lowest levels in decades. Scarcity and high prices will last for years and is likely to present big problems. Rising food prices in the US are helping to fuel inflation reminiscent of the 1970s.

Overseas the increases are depriving poor people of food, setting off social unrest. In the long run, the food supply could grow. The big question is whether such changes will be enough to bring supply and demand into better balance.

The Agriculture Department forecasts that farm income this year will be 50% greater than the average of the last 10 years. Prices have more than tripled, partly because of a drought in Australia and bad harvests elsewhere and also because of global demand. In seven of the last eight years, world wheat consumption has outpaced production. Stockpiles are at their lowest point in decades.

In Pakistan, thousands of paramilitary troops have been deployed to guard trucks carrying wheat and flour. Over all, food and beverage prices are rising 4% a year, the fastest pace in nearly two decades.

The Agriculture Department forecasts that world wheat production will increase 8% this year.

As the newly urbanized and newly affluent seek more protein and more calories, "diet globalization" is playing out around the world. Demand is growing for pork in Russia, beef in Indonesia and dairy products in Mexico. Rice is giving way to noodles, home-cooked food to fast food.

Nigeria grows little wheat, but its people have developed a taste for bread which has been displacing traditional foods made from cassava root.

Demand was also rising in many other places, at the same time, drought and competition from other crops limited supply.

Bread prices in Nigeria have jumped about 50% and bakers started making smaller loaves. rw

Malawi: MGDs: From Social Consumption to Sustainable Growth. January 30, 2008 Malawi's Daily Times
Malawi is three years from meeting the objectives in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS), designed to create wealth through sustainable economic growth and development as a means of achieving poverty reduction.

Emphasis would be on six priority areas of agriculture and food security, irrigation and water development, prevention and management of nutrition disorders and HIV Aids and integrated rural development.

Integrated rural development is one of the key pillars of MGDS, and will entail the establishment of rural growth centres.

This is expected to transform them into potential engines for economic growth.
The framers of this strategy built on the successes and failures of previous economic blue prints.

The Minister of Finance says the success of the MDGS depends on channelling resources to five areas, sustainable economic growth, social protection, social development, infrastructure development and improved governance.

To implement the strategy, the programmes would be channelled through the national budget. But the key challenge has been lack of cooperation amongst the key stakeholders. Government will spearhead the implementation, but stakeholders will have to compliment by aligning and harmonising their programmes and activities. For instance a survey by The Business Times in most district assemblies in southern region shows that there is no policy at district level to channel resources towards those sectors that are linked to the MGDS. Furthermore, most NGOs do not complement each others' efforts in the implementation of programmes that are directly linked to the success of the programme.

The MGDS is to serve as a single reference document for policy makers in government, the private sector, civil society, donors and cooperating partners and the general public on growth and development priorities for Malawi.

But it is imperative for Malawians to change the way of doing things, to invest and spearhead industrial development to create wealth and employment. rw

Oil Demand, the Climate and the Energy Ladder. January 19, 2008 New York Times*
Energy demand is expected to grow in coming decades. Jeroen van der Veer, Royal Dutch Shell's chief executive, recently offered his views on the energy challenge facing the world and the challenge posed by global warming

You go from six billion people to nine billion people in 2050. Many more people climbing the energy ladder creates that enormous demand for energy.

Politicians think we have a choice between fossil fuels and renewables. We have to grow both fossil fuels and renewables. And that will be a huge effort.

In the very short term, carbon emissions will increase. But over time people will figure out ways, that while using fossil fuels, you try to find carbon solutions. The problem is that many of the renewables, if you take the subsidies out, are still too expensive. There is no lack of oil or gas, or coal. The problem is that the easy-to-produce oil or gas will be depleted. But if you look at difficult oil or gas, which the industry call the unconventionals, such as oil sands or shales, they may be exploitable. But per barrel, you need more technology and investments, and per barrel you need a lot more brain to produce it. It's much more expensive.

If carbon is the bottleneck, you get more carbon reduction for less money by tackling the power sector and maybe the building sector. rw

China: Association Raises 620 Mln Yuan for Family Planning Service. January 23, 2008 China View
The China Family Planning Association raised 620 million yuan (about 86 million U.S. dollars) in 2007 to provide family planning and reproductive health care services.

"We will set up family planning centers in urban communities, health care centers for elderly people and 'sunshine stations' to popularize family planning knowledge among people at child-bearing age," said the executive chairwoman of the association.

The NG0 has been offering emergency aid, volunteer service and counseling to the public since it was founded in 1980.

All the funding would be spent in projects to step up education and services on family planning and reproductive health. About 13 million yuan was injected last year to the Happiness Project that helps poor mothers in the northwestern provinces of Shaanxi and Qinghai and autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Ningxia.

Another 80 million yuan was invested in western Gansu Province to provide small loans and technological training for 127,700 families that have followed the family planning policy.

In the central Jiangxi Province, 460,000 such families received life insurance from the government. The provincial government also earmarked more than 10 million yuan to help the association expand pension coverage for rural families with two daughters and no sons.

By the end of 2007, the association had helped to promote family planning across the country by expanding the birth control education to 70% of rural and 85% of urban areas.

Its efforts were in line with the tough acts by the government to curb violation of family planning laws. rw

Fuel Protests Erupt in Asia as Oil Hits $139 a Barrel. June 11, 2008 Washington Post
Protests over fuel prices erupted in Asia as truckers in Hong Kong and demonstrators in India and Nepal added their voices. As oil hit $139 a barrel, businesses said they can no longer cope with pump prices. Two protesters were killed, one in Spain and one in Portugal, as they attempted to block traffic.

Truckers in South Korea voted to strike, and Malaysian Prime Minister pledged about $306 million to maintain support among provincial lawmakers angry over the fuel costs.

Several hundred trucks and buses in Hong Kong snarled traffic. Drivers were demanding reductions in fuel taxes. The protests in India and Nepal were smaller but reflected spreading anger over prices.

Fuel taxes are the issue for truckers in Europe, because they account for a large portion of the retail price of fuel. "We're doing this for our industry and our customers," said an organizer of a go-slow protest in Scotland.

Protests began to hit home as Spanish media reported that gas stations in some areas had run out of fuel and some markets were reporting shortages of fresh produce.

Traffic jams formed at a crossing on the French border, where Spanish drivers refused to let foreign trucks enter. The Spanish Interior Ministry announced that the first fatality was a protester struck by a van at a picket line in Granada. The van's driver, accelerated when protesters started throwing rocks at him as he tried to drive past.

The second death was a protester in Portugal who was run over as he tried to signal for a truck to stop.

In Britain, Prime Minister Brown cautioned the public against panic buying of gas and diesel ahead of a threatened strike by 500 oil tanker drivers. Officials worry that the strike, could create fuel shortages at the pump. rw

Africa: Women, Water and Sanitation - Going the Extra Mile. June 12, 2008 Africa News Service
At The African Union Summit leaders will be discussing Meeting the MDGs on Water and Sanitation. Will they take into consideration women's concerns, and remind them that women amount to almost more than half of the population in Africa? MDG's goal 7 calls on governments to ensure environmental sustainability. The goal is to reduce the proportion of the people without access to safe drinking water. Many countries have used the MDG's as a standard for their policy and planning processes. Goal 3 calls on governments to promote gender equality and empower including in decision making and policy formation.

States are required to ensure that women have access to clean drinking water and advocates for women's control over productive resources and in decision-making, implementation and evaluation of policies and programmes.

There are various uses of water. Women in Africa will walk 10-15 kilometers to get water and carry up to 15 litres per trip, yet their role in water and sanitation is overlooked. This should be the basis upon which women should be fully involved in public decision making with regard to water resources.
In lower income rural areas, women have to use lower quality water which makes the household susceptible to waterborne diseases. The unavailability of clean water then becomes burdensome reducing the quality of life.

Women have no rights to land for varying reasons yet they are the majority of the world's agricultural producers. They are the least title holders among the property holders in the world. Legislative provisions may be gender neutral but most land is registered in the name of the eldest male of a household. This excludes women from and predicates the rights to use land to the male title holder.

There is little incentive for women to make environmentally sound decisions and their lack of access to credit hampers them from buying technologies that would be less damaging to natural resources. These factors may lead to declining productivity and increased environmental degradation. Women are increasingly becoming heads of households partly due to the numerous conflicts in Africa, HIV/AIDS and other existing social problems. They are then solely responsible for providing for their families, yet they do not have the legal access to water and land. Women and girls face the threat of becoming economically unstable and dependant on their male relatives or husbands.

The absence of clean water increases the impact of HIV/AIDS. Bad hygienic conditions affect people living with HIV and they need more water for better health and general hygiene. The proximity of sanitary facilities to the household increases security and privacy for women. It also reduces health and digestive system problems that arise when women have to wait until nighttime to relieve themselves. Separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys in schools boost the school attendance of girls and ensure a safe and healthier learning environment.

Poor sanitation heightens the conditions women face during menstruation because it is difficult to concentrate knowing there is no proper sanitary facilities to use. In Rwanda secondary school girls have proposed an increase in tuition fees so that schools can provide sanitary towels.

Lack of adequate sanitation and clean water makes women susceptible to infections that affect their sexual and reproductive health. States must ensure that when discussing about water and sanitation they take into consideration how the lack of these impact women and the society at large.

There is a need to break the social barriers restricting the participation of women in community forums that influence water policies. Some of the basic rights are intertwined, for example the rights to water and land, and a practical approach needs to be established.

During conflict, sanitation facilities in camps are generally poor and women rely on foreign aid to cater for their needs. There is a need for women to be integrated in the process of peace building and natural resource management.

The African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women and the United Nations MDGs have given standards that ensure the right to water and proper sanitation is assured to all citizens and most importantly to women. African leaders can no longer afford to ignore the voice of women. rw

Coca-Cola's Big Fizzle. July 10, 2008 Time Magazine
Coca-Cola CEO pledged in Beijing that every drop of water his company uses would be returned to the earth or compensated for through conservation and recycling programs. It takes about 2.5 liters of water to produce just one liter of its products. In 2006 Coca-Cola used 80 billion gallons of water. Some 40% went into drinks. The other 60% was consumed by the firm's supply chain and in the production of ingredients.

It's essential that Coca-Cola addresses water issues as part of its corporate social responsibility. Population growth and climate change mean that water is no longer available in limitless quantities. Coke last year announced it would spend $20 million over five years to help the WWF preserve seven of the world's major rivers.

But Coke is trying to protect its brand and ensure the availability of a crucial ingredient. By 2025, two-thirds of the global population will face water shortages. Businesses that don't address shortages run the risk of plant closures, water rationing and sullied reputations.

In 2006, when a New Delhi research group found high levels of pesticides in locally produced soft drinks, several Indian states banned their sale.
Last December, Coke spent $10 million to establish the Coca-Cola India Foundation, which has installed 320 rainwater harvesting structures in 17 Indian states, and plans to provide clean drinking water to 1,000 schools by 2010.

The company is likewise trying to avoid incurring public wrath in China. In the first quarter of this year, Coke's sales there rose by 20% compared with the same period last year; sales growth in North America was flat in the quarter. But in the future, double-digit increases could be constrained by China's environmental problems. China is home to roughly 20% of the world's population, but only about 7% of the world's water. That means there are some 300 million people living in water-scarce areas ' and increasingly, citizens and officials are becoming more militant about protecting the resource. That kind of pressure is one of the reasons why Coke has partnered with local NGOs to promote environmental education, rainwater harvesting and river conservation in China ' and why the company's Chinese bottling plants are on the cutting edge of the company's conservation and recycling efforts. Between 2004 and 2007, Coke's 37 bottling plants in China reduced water usage by 27%.

At Coca-Cola's biggest bottling plant in China, wastewater is shunted to a separate building behind the factory where it is treated so it can be used for secondary uses. Leaking pipes have been fixed to save water, and a dry lubricant is used to keep conveyer belts running smoothly with less water.

The company has yet to silence its critics. A left-leaning think tank in Ottawa faults the firm for not setting a target date for its water-neutrality goal, and for not establishing water-efficiency requirements for its agricultural suppliers. rw
Karen Gaia says: To be truly sustainable, you don't use scarce water to make a non-nutritious drink.

Green Economics: Turning Mainstream Thinking on Its Head. February 15, 2008 Worldwatch Institute
Ideas about how the world works that don't accord with reality can be unhelpful. Economics is based on ideas that made a lot of sense at some point but have outlived their time. These ideas�such as the reliance on GDP as the index of well-being, dominate economic matters. But theoreticians and researchers have suggested reforms that would make economics more sustainable.

The economy resides totally inside the global ecosystem that gives the economy a place to operate, supplies raw materials, and supports it with critical services.

Since Adam Smith's time, the number of people in the world has exploded from about 1 billion to nearly 7 billion. And in the last 200 years, Gross World Product has risen by nearly a factor of 60. The ecosystem has suffered, hence climate change, species extinctions, dwindling forests, water shortages, etc.

Last year, more than 90 major corporations called on governments to set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Every year we dig up and process more than half a trillion tons of raw materials and more than 99% is waste. Make the economy better at satisfying human needs, not simply bigger.

The global economy cannot grow forever. The share of Americans who say they're very happy has dropped over the last 30 years. There appears to be a correlation between rising consumption and the erosion of the things that make people happy. A lot of people are rejecting the competition and get-ahead mentality of consumerism. They're pursuing voluntary simplicity all over the globe. Make prices tell the ecological truth. Markets fail when prices don't reflect actual costs. Fortunately, governments and business are beginning to experiment with carbon markets, water pricing mechanisms, and conservation banking. In the US, the pollination performed by honeybees is worth about $19 billion per year.

We should adopt precautionary principle, as "first, do no harm" and "look before you leap," but applied to public policy toward new products (like chemicals) and technologies that could pose serious risk. The Maastricht Treaty that created the European Union in 1991 puts the principle at the center of its environmental policy, and San Francisco made precaution official policy in 2003.

We should improve on commons management. People generally believe that there are only two workable regimes for managing resources: private property or government control. But commons management taps the strong human impulse toward cooperation and the common good. Commons management has proven itself over centuries of experience�there are collectively managed irrigation systems in Spain that were begun in the 15th century, for instance, and other commonly managed forests and pastures in Switzerland, Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia that are centuries old.

Economic systems ought to be gender-blind but they're not. Most poor people are women, and most women are poor. A few governments in industrial countries are trying to develop policies that take unpaid work into account. The microfinance movement appears to have given millions of women a valuable economic boost. rw


July 19, 2008	Cairo Market ... Jane Derry