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World EnvironmEnt day, 5 JunE

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GrEEn GroWth

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Solar rEvolution

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2/362 OUR PLANET PRACTICAL ACTION

JUAN RAFAEL ELVIRA QUESADA : Building the bridge

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JEAN-LOUIS BORLOO : Green growth

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ANNA LEHMANN : Money can grow on treesrb hw, wth pt t t mmt Grmt t mt rt,

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OurPlanet, the magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

PO Box 30552 Nairobi, Kenya | Tel: (254 20)7621 234Fax: (254 20)7623 927 | e-mail: [email protected]

To view current and past issues of this publication online, please visit www.unep.

org/ourplanet

ISSN 101 - 7394

Director of Publication: Satinder Bindra | Editor: Geoffrey Lean

Coordinator: Naomi Poulton | Assistant Coordinator: Anne-France WhiteSpecial Contributor: Nick Nuttall | Editorial Assistant : Wambui Munge

Distribution Manager: Manyahleshal Kebede | Design: Amina DaraniProduced by: UNEP Division of Communications and Public InformationPrinted by: Progress Press | Distributed by: SMI Books

The contents of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of

UNEP or the editors, nor are they an official record. The designations employed

and the presentation do not imply the expressions of any opinion whatsoever on

the part of UNEP concerning the legal status of any country, territory or city or its

authority or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

* All dollar ($) amounts refer to US dollars.Cover Photo: Gallo Images/Getty Images



DIPAL CHANDRA BARUA : Green Light

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LI YAN : Low-carbon China

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SHAI AGASSI : Driving away oil addiction

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SHAKIRA : Doing it for the kids

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ALSO

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UNEP promotes

environmentally sound practices

globally and in its own activities.

This magazine is printed on 100% recycled

paper, using vegetable -based inks and other

eco-friendly practices. Our distribution policy

aims to reduce UNEPs carbon footprint.


4/36

The Natural Fix? The role o ecosystems inclimate mitigation

The rapid response assessment on biosequestration

provides a synthesis o the current state oknowledge regarding the role o biological systems,including natural ecosystems, agri-ecosystems,

and bio-engineered systems, in sequestering carbon. Potential policies toincrease biosequestration are examined taking into consideration the social,economic and environmental aspects involved, as well as potential trade-os.The assessment also looks at the impacts o climate change on the capacity osystems to absorb carbon.

The Environmental Food Crisis: The Environments Role in

Averting Future Food CrisesA new rapid response assessment report releasedby UNEP cautions that unless action is taken,nearly twenty-ve percent o the worlds oodproduction may be lost due to environmentaldegradation by 2050. Prepared by the RapidResponse Assessment Team at UNEP/GRID-Arendaland UNEP-WCMC, the report provides the rst summary by the UN o howclimate change, water stress, invasive pests and land degradation may impactworld ood security, ood prices and lie on the planet and how we may be ableto eed the world in a more sustainable manner. The report calls or intelligentand creative approaches to recycling ood wastes and sh discards.

World Water Development Report 3:Bridging Divides or Water

(Earthscan, 2008)The United Nations World Water Development report,launched at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbulin March 2009, shows that urgent action is neededi we are to avoid a global water crisis. Written and

coordinated by the 26 UN agencies and entities which make up UN-Water, thereport provides a comprehensive analysis o the state o the worlds reshwaterresources. It also, or the rst time, shows how changes in water demand andsupply are aected by and aect other global dynamics.

Careers in Renewable Energy:

Get a Green Energy Job

Gregory McNamee (PixyJack Press, 2008)This book contains a wealth o inormation

and resources or anyone searching or a job inthe ast-growing eld o renewable energy. Readers can discover how green

energy can be a part o their proessional uture. It highlights, a slew o jobsectors including solar and wind energy, biouels, hydrogen energy and uelcells, geothermal energy, hydro energy, green building, climate study, energymanagement and eciency, and much more.

A Roadmap or a Secure, Low-CarbonEconomy: Balancing Energy Security and

Climate Change

Sarah Landislaw, Kathryn Zyla, Jonathan Pershing,Frank Verrastro, Jenna Goodward, David Pumphrey,Britt Childs Staley (World Resources Institute, 2009)

This report, released by the Center or Strategic &International Studies (CSIS) Energy and National

Security Program and the World Resources Institute, identies a set o policiesto address energy security and climate change simultaneously. Furthermore,the roadmap creates a three-part ramework or thinking about thetransition to a secure, low-carbon economy.

Gorillas: The Gentle Giants

Martin Harvey, Letitia Farris-Toussaint(Evans Mitchell Publications, 2009)This 132 page book eatures a combination oinormative text and striking images designedto take us through the history, eatures andhabits o gorillas. The reader gets a senseo the ascinating creatures amily lie, theirenvironments and the problems they ace in the uture. The author, Letitia

Farris-Toussaint, discusses gorillas ght or survival as they are aced withproblems o poaching, disease, deorestation, and the eect o armed conict.The act that these majestic creatures are one o mans closest relatives(second only to Chimpanzees) becomes abundantly clear by looking at theirexpressions and gestures caught in Martin Harveys photographs. The launch othis book supported the survival o gorilla populations and marked the Year othe Gorilla (YoG) 2009.

Biouels and Rural Poverty

Joy Clancy, Jon Lovett (Earthscan, 2009)

The role o biouels in poverty reduction istypically explored rom an energy security orclimate change perspective. This book on theother hand explores the potential consequenceso large-scale production o transport uelsubstitutes on rural areas, principally indeveloping countries but also in some poor rural areas o developed countries.Three key concerns are examined with a North-South perspective: ecologicalissues (related to land use and biodiversity), pro-poor policies (related to oodand land security, gender and income generation) and equity o benets withinthe global value chain. Questions raised in the book include whether or not

biouels can be pro-poor, and i smallholder armers can be equitably integratedin the biouels global supply chain.

books

4 OUR PLANET PRACTICAL ACTION



reflections

World Environment Day (WED) is your day anoccasion for the public to demonstrate, by practicaland inspiring grass roots action that positiveenvironmental change is alive and kicking invillages, towns and cites across the globe. It alsoneeds to be a Day for transformational thinkingand intellectual debate, which is why UNEPcommissioned a study on biosequestration an

inelegant word perhaps but one with extremelyelegant and far-reaching implications.

Carbon capture and storage is an increasinglypopular solution to the climate changechallenge. The idea is that carbon emissionsfrom power stations and other sources can becaptured, consigned to underground storesin the earths geology, and contained withinthem. By some estimates it could contribute15 to over 50 per cent of the global effort tostabilize emissions of greenhouse gases at 450 to750 parts per million.

Not everyone is convinced, however. Someexperts are concerned that the technology is nottried and tested and that the CO2, instead of beinglocked away, could suddenly bubble back intothe atmosphere.

Yet there is another form of carbon capture and

storage that has been perfected over hundreds ofmillions of years. Forests naturally remove carbon,

locking it away in tree trunks and branches, and returning itto soils when leaves are shed. But instead of maintaining andenhancing natures own solution, the world is destroying it.Indeed some 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions comefrom clearing and burning forests.

Paying tropical forested countries to manage forests couldreverse this and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation andForest Degradation (REDD) must be a key component of sealingthe deal at Decembers crucial UN climate convention meetingin Copenhagen. By one estimate, Indonesia alone could getcompensation of $1 billion a year by reducing its deforestationrate to one million hectares annually.

UNEPs World Conservation Monitoring Centre estimates thatsome 15 per cent of carbon is locked away in trees and forestsin the worlds National Parks and protected areas. Boostinginvestment in these could not just increase carbon capture

and storage but trigger a wide range of other benets, fromsoil and water stabilization and reduced biodiversity loss toimproved tourism revenues and new jobs. Mexico the globalhost of WED 2009, which has Latin Americas second largestclosed-canopy forest is among those in the forefront of theREDD debate.

Other natural systems from peatlands and wetlands tograsses, soils and shrubs also have the ability either to releaseor to absorb carbon. The seas and oceans are cycling up to40 per cent of CO2 emissions for free.

Over the past 10,000 years, farming has domesticated andpromoted single season annually cropped cereal, oil andleguminous plants. But experts suggest that moving back tothe future to perennials, multi-year crops with deep roots,will boost soil fertility and stability 50 fold and may prove moreresilient in a climate changed world. They are also 50 per centbetter at carbon capture and storage than their annual cousins.And because they do not need to be planted every year, thereis less need to use energy-burning farm machinery, pesticidesand fertilizers.

Carbon capture and storage may seem a simple and straightforward technological x, but does it make our economiesmore resource and more fuel efcient, or simply perpetuate adependency on fossil fuels and energy insecurity. What if thehundreds of billions of dollars now being invested in it werepartly diverted into its biological counterpart. This well proven,natural system could well provide, as they say, a bigger bangfor our buck, which not only removes carbon dioxide butaddresses wider sustainability challenges including a true

Green Revolution and the poverty-related UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals.

ACHIM STEINER

un ur-srtry-Gr ext drtr, uneP



Mexico is no stranger to hosting theUNs premier outreach event on theenvironment World EnvironmentDay (WED). The country lasthosted it in 1990, and late lastyear won a ercely competitivebid to become only the secondcountry after China to do so twice.

The theme of this years WorldEnvironment Day is `Your PlanetNeeds You Unite to CombatClimate Change. As part of itsresponsibilities, the Mexican

government will stage festivitiesover ve days in various parts

of the country. The celebrationswill provide an opportunity forthe government to demonstratehow its payments to hundredsof thousands of poor people forprotecting forests not only helps inthe ght against climate change,but can also alleviate poverty.

This year the internationalcommunity will also bewatching the event closely,because WED takes placejust months before what it is

hoped will be a meaningfuldeal for reducing greenhouse

Building

the bridge

...weneedthisplanetb

ecause

wedonothaveanywhereelsetolive.

JUAN RAFAEL ELVIRA QUESADA

Mxsrtry ermt ntr

Rr pk wth str Br



gas emissions in Copenhagen,Denmark, in December.

As one of its planned activitiesfor WED, Mexico has pledgedto act as a bridge betweenthe North and South to helpseal a deal in Copenhagen.To nd out more about Mexicosenvironmental ambitions andWED plans, UNEPs director ofcommunications Satinder Bindrasat down for a freewheelingdiscussion with Mexicos Secretary

of State for the Environment,Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada.

Here are some excerpts:

Mr Secretary, why did Mexico decide

to host the World Environment

Day festivities and what does this

really mean for the country?

We needed to push environmentaltopics on to the national agenda,and we think it is a very goodopportunity for Mexico to showhow we can work together allthe countries to make a call toeverybody to create awarenessof the need to work on theenvironment. I think it is veryimportant for Mexico, for CentralAmerica and for all the world.

You talked about reaching the

region around Mexico, and also the

world: so can you give us a avour

of what has been planned for 5th

June and the days surrounding it?

We are including all of society asa whole young people, students,children, businessmen and NGOs in the celebrations. The point is

to showcase ve different places Lakes, Rivers, Beaches, Forestsand these kinds of ecosystems all in different parts of Mexico.We have to show how we aregoing to protect these places.

For World Environment Day wewill invite people to do somethingrelated to cultural activities,academic and scientic activities,activities in general for all ofsociety, so that everybody canbe part not only of the problembut also of the solution.

What is the message you want

to send to the rest of the world

during these celebrations?

We think that we can tackle a big

problem called climate change byreducing poverty and by protecting

the forests in Mexico. This solutioncould be part of the world solutionin many of the continents, likeAfrica, Asia, Latin America. Whatwe want to show is that everybodycan work towards climate change,and we can work towards reducingpoverty and we can also worktowards saving the forests.

You talked about combating climate

change, but what about reducing

emissions? Is that going to come

up in all the discussions and

seminars during these celebrations?

Yes, we want to show the worldour special program for climate

change. The president wantsto show the world what we aredoing to mitigate or cope withClimate Change. Mexico canreach a voluntary goal [to reduceemissions] and can work with therest of the world because everyonein the world can do somethingagainst climate change. You arepart of this planet and your planetneeds you. To put it another way,

we need this planet because we donot have anywhere else to live.

Mr Secretary, in December this

year there will be a very important

meeting in Copenhagen to try

to reduce growing emissions.

Can WED 2009 do anything

to convince the countries of the

world that an agreement there

is critical for the planet?

Yes of course we want to buildthe bridge for many countries togo to Copenhagen and reach theagreement. It does not dependon where you are and what isyour classication, it dependson how you can invite everyonein the world to work and help toget a good agreement, a world

agreement to really protect theenvironment and the planet.


8/36

GREENGROWTH

While the world awaits its December date with destinyin Copenhagen, France intends to show that sustainabledevelopment is both possible and a source of well-being, competitiveness, growth and employment. Twoyears ago, spurred on by President Nicolas Sarkozy, theFrench Government launched a wide ranging concertedapproach known as the Grenelle Environnement,a round table bringing together all sustainabledevelopment stakeholders, including the State, localauthorities, non-governmental organizations, trade

unions and businesses. After several months of activitiesand negotiations, it produced a sectoral sustainabledevelopment strategy for the next 1015 years. Thisaims to lay the foundations for a new growth model -green growth, based on efciency and effectiveness,carbon and energy savings and quality of life.

The Grenelle Environnement has a series of goals thatcan be quantied and evaluated. They include cuttinggreenhouse gas emissions fourfold between 1990 and

JEAN-LOUIS BORLOO

Mtr ermt, ergy, stbdpmt l Mgmt r

Againstthe backdropof the global

credit crisis andeconomic change, the

Grenelle Environnementwill cause investment

of some 400 billion eurosand createmore than

550,000 jobsin France.



9/36

2050, reducing the energy consumption ofexisting developed land by 38 per cent, cuttingcarbon dioxide emissions from transport by20 per cent by 2020 and increasing the shareof renewable energy used to 23 per cent by2020. It is based on six major elds of work,three of which are directly related to efforts tocombat climate change: buildings, transport

and renewable energies.

Buildings are responsible for more than onequarter of our greenhouse gas emissions, so thestrategy provides for the general introductionof a low consumption standard (50 kWh/m2/year) for new buildings from 2012.By 2020 positive energy buildings thosethat produce more than energy than theyconsume will be widely introduced. There willalso be a thoroughgoing thermal rehabilitationprogramme aimed at renovating some400,000 homes per year. French tax policy hasbeen amended to encourage people to nancesuch schemes, or buy particularly energy-efcient homes, with the introduction of aninterest free eco loan.

As for transport, the Grenelle Environnementsgoal is to provide a credible and sustainablealternative to road travel. This is not a question

of imposing bans or restrictions, but of givingpeople the freedom to choose how they wish tomove around. So it provides for constructingan additional 2,000 kilometres of high speedtrain lines, 1,500 kilometres of new publictransport routes in towns and cities, threemarine highways and two rolling roads (whichcarry lorries by rail) to encourage a modal shiftin goods.

We have also tested the idea of a green price,

as a result of the success of our green bonusscheme. A tax on the most polluting vehiclesmeans that cleaner ones are subsidized andcheaper.The aim is to entice consumers intobuying the ones with the lowest carbon and fuelconsumption and to encourage manufacturersto offer ever more energy efcient products.Just one year on the French automotive marketis changing shape. Sales of vehicles emittingno more than 130 grams of carbon dioxide perkilometre have risen by half, while those ofones emitting more than 160 grams have fallen

by 40 per cent. The average emissions of newvehicles sold in France have fallen by 9 gramsof carbon dioxide per kilometre in a singleyear, six times the previous rate of progress,

France also wants to encourage its automobilemanufacturers to market vehicles that emitlittle pollution as swiftly as possible, given

that these are universally accepted to be thefuture. The Government will therefore investsome 400 million euros over three years inresearching them. And from this year, in itsquest to set a good example, it will undertakea thoroughgoing review of its eet with a viewto replacing any vehicles over 10 years old withmore energy efcient ones.

The Grenelle Environnement also marks agenuine watershed in the use of renewableenergies. Last November, I outlined asignicant renewable energy developmentplan to exploit our potential to the full. Over12 years it will double our annual production ofrenewables increasing our geothermal energycapacities sixfold , our wind energy tenfold ,and our photovoltaic solar energy 400 timesover. We are also going to launch major energyinfrastructure projects: renewing contracts forthe 400 largest French dams, constructing

at least one solar power station per region by2011 and launching a major call for tendersto produce electricity from biomass, creatingintegrated power of 250 MW, equivalent to onefourth of the output of a large nuclear powerplant. And we will spend 1 billion euros overthe next two years on developing renewableheat with the goal of equipping some 2 millionhomes with heat pumps by 2020.

Against the backdrop of the global credit

crisis and economic change, the GrenelleEnvironnement will cause investment ofsome 400 billion euros and create more than550,000 jobs in France. The strategy is foundedon three certainties. First, that our currentgrowth model is not viable in the long term.Second, that an economy that consumes lessenergy is an economy that spends less moneyand is therefore more competitive. Third andlast, that carbon neutrality, energy efciencyand quality of life are the three key competitiveadvantages in tomorrows economic battle.

9OUR PLANET PRACTICAL ACTION


10/36

Tunza Youth ConferenceThe Tunza International Children and Youth Conerence in Daejeon (Korea) in August will gather one thousand children and youth toshare their views and concerns on climate change and develop a statement which will be presented to the December 2009 climatechange meeting in Copenhagen. UNEP is co-organizing the conerence with the UNEP National Committee o Korea, in partnershipwith UNICEF and other key UN partners. The 800 children and 200 youth will discuss topics ranging rom global warming tobiodiversity, green jobs and sustainable liestyles. A Global Town Hall meeting on 20 August will connect the conerence viawebcasting to virtual participants around the world, including high prole UN ocials and political and business leaders.

www.unep.org/tunza/

HomeHome is a new eature-length lm by world-renowned French photographer YannArthus-Bertrand which will be released or ree around the world on 5 June or WorldEnvironment Day. Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes viewers on a unique journey all around

the planet to contemplate and understand its workings and show us that the marks we leave behindare having a negative impact on its well being. The lm is a travel notebook showing only landscapescaptured rom above. In this sense Home calls or a new awareness, because as we observe ourselves

rom the air, we see our world in a whole new light. This step back gives us pause to consider ourinteraction with the environment. The movie is a non-prot initiative, and income generated rom itsviewing will be transerred to Arthus-Bertrands association, GoodPlanet, which ghts or the protectiono the environment. The shooting o the lm was carbon neutral and the carbon emissions that wereproduced during lming were oset by the support o environment-riendly projects.

www.home-2009.com/

International Day for Biological DiversityInvasive alien species are one o the greatest threats to biodiversity. Since the 17th century, they have contributed to nearly 40 per cent o all animal

extinctions or which the cause is known. This was the ocus o this years International Day or Biological Diversity on 22 May. The Day aims to raise public awarenessand devise practical steps to tackle the problem. Meanwhile, time is running out to achieve the 2010 goal to signicantly reduce the current rate o biodiversity loss

at the global, regional and national level, as agreed in 2002 by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

www.cbd.int/ibd/2009

World Migratory Bird Day, which started in2006, is a global awareness-raising campaignhighlighting the need or the protection omigratory birds and their habitats. This yearstheme is Barriers to Migration - highlightingthe many man-made obstacles birds ace during their migration. On 9-10 May, people around theworld took action and organized public events such as bird estivals, education programmes andbirdwatching excursions. The Days activities take place in many dierent countries and places,and are all linked through the global theme. Anyone interested in organizing an event to markWorld Migratory Bird Day can do so and is encouraged to register their planned activity on thecampaign website.

www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/2009/index.php

World Migratory Birds Day

From 14 to 18 June, over 700 local and national government leaders as wellas leaders rom the UN, NGOs, academia and the business community will come

together in Edmonton, Canada or the ICLEI World Congress 2009. The Congress, held under thetheme Connecting leaders, will explore the achievements o the most advanced cities andtowns, and debate what can be done to advance local action or sustainability.www.iclei.org/index.php?id=7756

ICLEI World Congress 2009

Green Star Awards

The Green Star Awards are a joint initiativebetween the UN Oce or the Coordinationo Humanitarian Aairs, the UN EnvironmentProgramme and Green Cross International torecognize those who have made remarkableeorts to prevent, prepare or, and respond

to environmental disasters around theworld. The awards, given every two years,aim to raise the prole o environmentalemergencies and disasters and underline theconnection between environmental impacts onatural disasters, technological accidents andcomplex emergencies, and their consequencesor aected populations and providers ohumanitarian assistance.

Among the inaugural winners o the GreenStar Awards announced in May were: theSpiez Laboratory in Switzerland; the Centeror Scientic Support in Disaster Situations(CENACID) in Brazil; the governments o Swedenand The Netherlands; and an environmentalresponse specialist, Michael Cowing, o UNEP.

www.unep.org/greenstar/

Green Star

events

awardsand



11/36

Environmental stability is an essential human needand right. It ows from our commitment to ensuring

a sustainable quality of life and human dignity,emphasising our connectedness with all living beings,and our responsibility to our only planet, the Earth.

Yet, as Dennis Meadows tells us in hisThirty Years Updateof Limits to Growth, humanity is now overburdeningthe carrying capacity of Mother Earth by a factor of1.2. Furthermore 85 per cent of the consumptionand depletion of natural capital is caused by the richminority, 20 per cent of the world population.

At the same time, as the EastWest Institute and theInternational Task Force on Preventive Diplomacyremind us: The Foreign Policy 2007 Failed State Indexreports that weak and failing states are often boththe result of conict and the cause of fresh conict ...breeding grounds for terrorism, organised crime,weapons proliferation, humanitarian emergencies,environmental degradation and political extremism.At the same time, new threats, such as competitionover land and water resources arising from population

pressures and aggravated by climate change,have emerged.

HRH PRINCE EL HASSAN BIN TALAL OF JORDAN

th r th Hhmt a R agy Prt emrt Rg r P, wPrt th cb Rm 1999 t 2007

solar

revolution

The harmful impact of climate extremeson human livelihoods,

combined with heightened competitionfor scarce resources,

has triggered disputes over territory,food and water supplies

and over social and cultural traditions.



12/36

Pessimists further assert that even if the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals were met the world in 2015 wouldstill have 900 million peoplewho have to walk more thana mile a day to get drinkingwater and 1.6 billion with no

sanitation facilities while in2020, more than two billionpeople would still live inurban slums.

How can we accept a situation where 20 per cent ofthe worlds population produces 85 per cent of itsenvironmental degradation? As the capacity of thenatural world to absorb carbon dioxide diminishes,the problems created by growing energy use can onlyincrease exponentially. We have no choice but toconcentrate our abilities on alleviating the suffering ofhumanity and the environment.

Total worldwide energy use is now 8 billion tons of oil-equivalent per year. This might increase to 40 billiontons by the year 2060. Thereafter, known deposits wouldonly be adequate for the next 80-100 years dependingon the speed at which consumerist developmentsteams ahead.

The harmful impact of climate extremes on humanlivelihoods, combined with heightened competitionfor scarce resources, has triggered disputes overterritory, food and water supplies and over social andcultural traditions. My region, West Asia-North Africa(WANA), is overwhelmed with conicts and disputes,and no political mechanisms for conict resolution orprevention exist. The area in which these disputes takeplace covers the northwest corner of Africa, southeastto the Congo and the Sudan, the Arabian Sea and thennorth to the top of the energy ellipse that contains

70 per cent of the worlds oil and 40 per cent of its gas.

Supra-national cooperation in joint water and energyprojects could create renewable energy to power theworlds growing population and provide fresh waterfrom desalination without harming the environment.The DESERTEC concept examines creating secure,clean, and affordable power from the largest but least-tapped source of energy on earth, solar radiation indeserts. It could be put into service for energy, waterand climate security for Europe and the WANA regionthrough pursuing solar cooperation between the

worlds technology belt andits sun belt to ght climatechange, energy shortage andwater scarcity.

Using solar energy or anyother form of renewableenergy should be achieved

in an environmentallycompatible way. Here thedeserts of the earth can playa key role. Day by day theyreceive about 700 times more

energy from the sun than humankind consumes byburning fossil fuels. They have the best conditions forsolar radiation and would experience the least impactfrom deploying collectors to harness it. Here cleanpower can be sustainably produced by solar thermalpower plants at any volume of conceivable demand.It can then be transmitted by high voltage directcurrent lines to more than 90 per cent of the worldspopulation. This gives our deserts a new role. Togetherwith the many other forms of accessible renewableenergy, they would enable us to replace fossil fuelsand so end the ongoing destruction of our naturalliving conditions.

Solar power from deserts through cooperationbetween the sun and technological belts will be

cheaper than power produced from fossil fuels,especially if these are charged with their unpaidenvironmental costs. It can provide sufcientsustainable electricity to meet the demand of fastgrowing populations in the WANA region, and deliverenergy for the sea water desalination required to avoida fresh-water crisis. It can stimulate industrialisationand economic development by becoming a long-termexport product, and promote energy andwater security.

Signicantly, projects like DESERTEC can also opena new chapter in relations between the people of theEuropean Union and WANA. Their governmentsmust establish adequate political, legal and nancialframeworks to enable new forms of cooperation andinvestment. Constructing new concentrating solarthermal power plants has already begun already in Spainand in the USA. In the WANA region, initial projectsare being developed in Algeria, Egypt and Moroccoand are planned in Jordan, Libya, Tunisia, and UnitedArab Emirates. Algeria and Morocco have alreadybrought in feed-in tariffs for clean power.

Solar power from deserts throughcooperation between the sun

and technological belts will be cheaper than power producedfrom fossil fuels, especially if these

are charged with their unpaidenvironmental costs.



13/36

Providing people with practicalmeans of combating climate changeshould be associated with givingthem hope for a better future. Thiscan be done worldwide by achievingfundamental human rights andempowering the silent majority thepoor and the vulnerable. Their well-

being and rights and the carryingcapacity of our planet must begiven particular attention througha focus on human security, to avoidstalling and reversing the turningwheel of human development.Collective efforts engaging states,enterprises, civil society groupsand individuals are essential indeveloping a common global actionplan to ensure world stability.

The worlds consumers andproducers of prosperity are the samepeople. They are at the receiving endof the effects of historic greenhousegas emissions, which are hurtingthe rich a little and the poor a lot!The early developed world theUSA, Canada, Europe and Japan has an average per capita GNP of

$34,000 a year: in the remaining,later developing world it is$2,200. Such a prosperity gap isa time bomb, but might providea way forward. Would it not be astrategy for human security andglobal developmental justice ifthe early developed world spenta small fraction of its tremendousincome advantage to establish aninexhaustible and sufcient energy

source for everyone based onrenewables? Just one thousandthof this income advantage, over$30,000 billion a year, would bemore than sufcient to launch theDESERTEC Concept in the mostsuitable desert regions around theworld, within one or two decades thus overcoming global energyinequity and social injustice andending the increasing impetus ofclimate change.

numbers3.6 millionCost in US$ or osetting all

the greenhouse gasemissions (estimatedat 300,000 tonnes),which will be produced

by the Vancouver 2010Games, including thoserom airplanes bringingthousands o athletes andspectators to the westernCanadian city Vancouver Organizing

Committee

501Number o UN-backed clean

energy projects in Chinaas part o the CleanDevelopment Mechanism,as o 31 March 2009.China has the highestnumber o such projects,ollowed by India (with411) and Brazil (with156). Globally, the UnitedNations has approved

1,539 pojects around theworld Reuters

267Worth in billions o pounds

o the so called eco-barons tycoonswho have made eitherserious investments ingreen technology and

businesses or hetynancial commitments toenvironmental causes Business Times Online

11Amount in billions o dollars

being set aside or smartgrid investments underPresident Obamas

stimulus package NY Times, Green Inc.

8Percentage by which airlines

will reduce their carbonemissions this year. About6 per cent o the orecastcarbon cut will come as

a result o carriers yingewer planes in 2009,and a urther 1.8 per centreects steps to improveenergy efciency International Air

Transport Association

(IATA)

40Percentage o the worlds

electricity that renewableenergy technologies suchas wind and solar powercould supply by 2050 Helsinki University of

Technology

51.4Billions o dollars in worldwide

revenue created by windpower in 2008 Business Green

50Investment in billion o pounds

needed to make Saharanthermal solar poweran attractive and viableprospect or privateinvestors International Institute

for Applied Systems

Analysis

4,000Number o cities around the

world that switched otheir lights or Earth Hour

- a global call to action onclimate change WWF



14/36

LEARNINGfor Life14 OUR PLANET PRACTICAL ACTION


15/36


16/36

sustainable educational spacesthrough re-adapting buildings(school and university) andmanagement, and through teachereducation and inserting thesubject of climate change into thecurricula and teaching material.

But how to incorporate all ofthis in formal education insidethe classroom? How could wecreate a school community witha responsible and committedattitude towards local and globalsocio- environmental issues?

According to the 2001 SchoolCensus undertaken by the AnisioTeixeira National Institute ofEducational Studies and Research,only 61 per centof the secondaryschools declared tohave implementedenvironmentaleducation schemes.In the 2005 census,environmentaleducation was

almost universal,as declared in97 per cent of schools.The Children and Youth Conferencecould be seen almost as apedagogical pretext to includeand update the debate so urgentlyneeded in society, from a criticaland participative environmentaleducation perspective.

The third National Conferenceincorporated the topic GlobalEnvironmental Changes: think + act

in the school and in the community.Quality didactic material wasdistributed to all secondary teachingnetworks in the country (58,000schools) with the objectivesof: contributing to improvingschool performance based on theresults of the Basic EducationDevelopment Index; encouraging

the inclusion of sustainabilityand the socio-environmentalchallenge in the schoolPolitical-Pedagogical Plan; andstrengthening the role of the schoolin constructing public educationand environmental policies.

The material provides tools fortraversing environmental issues andinterdisciplinarity in the classroom,while respecting the complexityof the subject and not over-simplifying. Socio-environmentalchanges beyond climate changeare treated systematically andintegrated into the sciences,history, geography and languages.

The topics involve the four elements

earth, water, re and air withthe contemporary problemsaffecting people and naturalsystems throughout the planet.Each topic includes debateon sustainable actions formitigative, adaptive, preventive,and transformative measures.The material proposes changes

to the world-view, that rescuevalues that improve quality oflife, and that rethink humanresponsibilities for the presentand future of life on earth.

Far from being just an event, theConference offers continuity, sinceit is part of a larger programme,which encompasses continuouseducation of teachers and thecreation of school Commissions of

the Environment and Life Quality.Each commission promotes Agenda21 projects through interactionbetween the school and thecommunity, so as to integrateenvironmental education in theteaching system. Throughoutthe country, Youth Collectives

and the Youth Network for theEnvironment and Sustainabilityare partners in facilitation,mobilization and training basedon the principles: youth educatesyouth, youth chooses youth and onegeneration learns from the other.We passionately full our MagnaCarta, the Federal Constitution of1988, which explicates the rightsof present and future generationsto quality education and to ahealthy and ecologically balancedenvironment. This can be achievedwith bold and modern policies, thedemocratic participation of society,the integration of school disciplineswith traditional knowledge, andschool communities that considerall aspects of the quality of life

environmental, economic, political,social, cultural and ethical.

The 3rd National Conferencereceived 70 international Observersfrom 43 countries, in preparationfor the International Children andYouth Conference Lets Take Careof the Planet which will be held inBrasilia from June 5 10 of 2010.The International Conference has

been incorporated into UNESCOsDecade of Education for SustainableDevelopment, and will help tofuther the debate on UNDPsEight Goals of the Millennium.We also reafrm values and actionsproposed by civil society, suchas the Treaty on EnvironmentalEducation for Sustainable Societiesand Global Responsibility, the EarthCharter, the Agenda 21 and theCharter of Human Responsibilities.

Throughout the country, Youth Collectivesand the Youth Network for the Environment

and Sustainability are partners infacilitation, mobilization and training

based on the principles: youth educatesyouth, youth chooses youth and one

generation learns from the other.



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A greener apple

Dubbed the worlds most energy-ecient desktop computer, Apples Mac mini has been designed to make the tiniestenvironmental impact possible. Specically, energy-ecient hardware components in the computer dynamically adjustpower consumption to reduce the energy used overall. Apple has also worked hard to eliminate many o the toxins thatare a common part o computer manuacturing. For instance, the new machine is BFR-ree and its internal cables are PVC-ree. Finally, the volume o the Mac mini shipping box is 60 per cent smaller than previous models, allowing more boxesto be shipped at one time, which means ewer boats and planes are used, resulting in less CO2 emissions.

www.apple.com/macmini/environment.html

Garbage-powered garbage truck

An electric reuse collection van powered by therubbish it collects has been put into action byKirklees Council in Yorkshire, in what council leaders

believe to be a world rst. The battery-poweredelectric van, supplied by Smith Electric Vehicles, willbe used to empty 25 newly-installed split litter andrecycling bins around Hudderseld town centre. The

waste that cannot be recycled will then be taken to a local Energy rom Waste (EW) plant, which combustsit to generate electricity that will in part be used to recharge the vans battery.

www2.kirklees.gov.uk/.../ullstory.aspx?id=577

products

Recyclable cars

Saety has always been the rst thing that springsto mind when the automotive conversation turnsto Volvo. However the announcement that all newVolvos are 85 per cent recyclable and 95 per centrecoverable is set to make the Swedish automakerssynonymous with eco-riendliness. Volvo is designingits cars with an eye to using recycled non-petroleumderived parts, and making them easier to recycle

when their useul lie is over. Volvo cars now come equipped with dashboards and ceilings made o ax andcellulose rather than petroleum-based polymers, as well as car seats manuactured rom natural ber andsoya-based oam llings.

www.volvocanada.com/Experience/CleanAllItsLie.aspx?lng=2

Solar Drier

As a land-locked country with poor transportinrastructure, no glass manuacture or canning

acilities, Ugandan armers were requently letwith resh agricultural produce going to waste orlack o markets. Adam Brett and Angello Ndyagumahave turned this excess ruit into a protableexport business by designing aordable, easy-to-

build solar driers made rom rames, locally available mosquito meshing and long lasting plastic (the onlyimported material). Now their Ugandan company, Fruits o the Nile produces and exports about 120 tonnesper year o high-quality dried banana and pineapple rom its actory in Njeru. The resh ruit is prepared anddried in simple solar driers that serve 120 producer groups in rural areas.

www.moods.co.uk/partners/on.htm

Swept away

Quiet, eective and eco-riendly the Ultra Si lencerGreen Vacuum cleaner delivers on all three counts.This new gadget rom Electrolux is made up o 55per cent recycled plastic, a process that saves twolitres o crude oil and 80 litres o water per vacuumcleaner. Better yet, this energy ecient vacuumcleaner uses 33 per cent less energy during usethan other equivalent cleaners. And the cherry onthe cake : the vacuum cleaner is also the quietestmodel on the market.

www.appliancist.com/green_appliances/electrolux-ultrasilencer-green-vacuum-cleaner.html

Vintage Furniture with a Modern Twist

Livin Pops philosophy is to make old new, and theiraesthetics are inspired by the 1950s and 1960s. Thebrand is run by Lucila Nissen and Soa Moreno, twoBrazilian designers who sell their urniture throughtheir website. For those outside Buenos Aires, theirpieces oer great ideas to rejuvenate old bits andpieces you may have ound at the ea market.

www.livinpop.com.ar/




1. PLASTIKIAround the World

in a Soda Bottle Catamaran

In May, David de Rothschild and a handpicked crew o experts will set sail 8,000 milesacross the Pacic Ocean in a boat made out o recycled consumer plastic bottles. ThePlastikis mission is to capture the imagination o the global media and bring peoplearound the world to rethink our human impact on the natural world and oceans. Thevoyage will sail through a number o exciting, challenging and environmentally sensitiveregions, including the ominously named Eastern Garbage Patch, an area six times the sizeo England where plastic outweighs plankton by 6 to 1 essentially the worlds largestwaste dump.

Supported by Adventure Ecologys network o global supporters and institutions, thePlastiki aims to use the expedition to heighten worldwide consciousness o the extremechallenges that our oceans and their inhabitants ace due to excessive human debris,overshing and a rapidly changing climate. Developed and built in association with world-

leading institutions, engineers, designers, marine architects and sustainability experts,the 60-oot Plastiki catamaran exemplies groundbreaking thinking and sustainabledesign solutions at every level.www.adventureecology.com/theplastiki

2. CAPE COURIERSA Courier Company Cuts its Footprint

Recognizing the critical role that the transport industry plays in global warming, Delia

Claasen, the ounder o South Arican delivery company Cape Couriers, decided it was timeto put a cap on her companys carbon dioxide emissions. Currently, Cape Couriers employsan external consultant to measure the companys carbon ootprint and Claasen and heremployees are all striving to reduce their electricity, waste, vehicle and air travel impactswherever possible.

Beyond this, Cape Couriers have commissioned Food & Trees or Arica, the 2007 UNEPSasakawa Award winner, to help them voluntarily oset these emissions. Throughthe National Tree Distribution Programme, FTFA receives numerous applications romdisadvantaged schools and communities in barren, dusty environments which need treesto address environmental and sustainable development issues.

In order to oset a years emissions, Cape Couriers is now in the process o donating morethan 2,300 trees to schools and community projects around South Arica.www.capecouriers.co.za/

3. CLEAN UP THE WORLDMobilizing Communities to Think Global, Act Local

Communities uniting to combat climate change is the proactive theme o this years CleanUp the World Campaign, a worldwide drive to clean up the environment. The initiative,

practical action

1

3

2



which rst started in 1989 with the Sydney Harbour Clean Up, is now a global campaignthat inspires communities around the world to clean up, x up and conserve theirlocal environment.

With this years campaign, Clean Up the World ounder Ian Kiernan made a special call orcommunities to join together and play a part in helping create a better environment or theuture. Unity is o great importance when it comes to addressing the causes o climatechange.I think we all no matter where we live have a responsibility to protect our

planet and theres no better time to start than now, said Kiernan.www.cleanup.com.au/au/

4. VELIBFree Bikes in Paris

In a bid to encourage people to give up the motor in avour o pedal power, the city oParis has launched a ree bicycle scheme called Velib getting hundreds o Parisians to

switch rom our wheels to two, especially or short distances.The system oers more than 10,000 bikes, allowing riders to pick up and drop o bicyclesthroughout the city at 750 locations. The bike does not have to be returned to the samepick-up point: you can take a bike rom a rack near the Eiel Tower, cycle to the Pantheonand leave it in the nearest Velib stand there.To access the bikes, riders can select a one-day card or 1 euro, a weekly card or 5 eurosor an annual card or 29 euros giving Parisians a real incentive to stick with the schemeor the long haul.

Paris is just one o a growing wave o cities oering ree cycle schemes. Copenhagen,Montreal, Helsinki and Barcelona are some o the others, and more cities are consideringsimilar systems.www.velib.paris.r/

5. BIOGAS IN KENYAMerus sustainable prison

In prisons worldwide, sewage disposal rom a large number o inmates is oten a major

health hazard or both the prison and the surrounding area. Meru GK prison in Kenya hasound a sustainable solution, treating its sewage and turning it into uel.A 130 cubic-metre xed dome digester built by the German development agency GTZand unded by the EU is ed human waste, which it uses to produce between 50 and90 per cent o the energy needed to cook or approximately 1,000 inmates. The system

is expected to provide the prison with cost savings o $36,000 annually, all the while reducing the pressure on local wood supplies. And ater thetreatment, the bio-efuent is used as ertiliser or crop production.

In this case, the project pays or itsel over time, and also allows or a drought-stricken region to make optimum use o the little water that is available.According to the projects Planning and Monitoring Adviser, Johannes Odhiambo, the biodigester is an excellent way to put human waste to productive

use, while also protecting the environment.http://www.gtz.de/en/themen/umwelt-inrastruktur/wasser/8524.htm

5

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3



Tropical deforestationaccounts for 15 to 20 per cent

of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) worldwide.

ANNA LEHMANN

H Py Rgtry ar tstm crb cpt

hr th rtry l u Wrkg Grp th crb Mrkt itr at

Forests have permanentlystabilised and sequesteredcarbon since the beginningof life on the planet. They

now contain around 60 percent of the carbon storedin terrestrial ecosystems.Releasing this could disastrouslyaccelerate climate change.Yet enhancing forests carbonstorage over the long termcould permanently reduce theconcentration of the greenhousegas in the atmosphere.

Tropical deforestationaccounts for 15 to 20 per centof anthropogenic emissionsof greenhouse gases (GHG)worldwide, but is not yetaddressed under the KyotoProtocol. Afforestation andreforestation are eligibleproject options under its CleanDevelopment Mechanism

(CDM), but the project

registration process is socomplex that forestry providesonly two of the 1,511 projectsso far registered. So it is fair to

say that the Protocol has failedto integrate land use, the thirdlargest source of CO2 afterenergy supply and industry.This in turn has led to a failurein integrating Africa into globalcarbon markets, since mostof the continents GHG comefrom land use. This is now beingrecognized by the internationalcommunity. The United NationsClimate Change Conference inBali in December 2007 kickedoff a hot debate on how toprovide the right incentives togovernments and communitiesto protect and enhance forests.

The main reason for the lack ofintegration of carbon creditsproduced by CDM Afforestation/

Reforestation (A/R) projects is

So it is fairto say that the Protocol

has failed to integrate land use,the third largest source of CO

2after

energy supply and industry.



their temporary nature. ForestryCDM credits are only valid for 5 20years, and then must be replaced, sothey are not fungible (exchangeable)

with credits produced by projectsthat reduce emissions from fossilfuel use. Traders and compliancebuyers lack understanding of howto use them, so their prices areheavily discounted. And industrycovered under the traded sector ofthe European Emissions TradingScheme (EU ETS) is not allowedto purchase forestry credits forits own compliance, so as to avoidconfusion in emission inventories.The EU ETS is still the largestofftaker for CDM credits, and thusthere is no demand for A/R projects.All this means that the projectsgain very little nancial incentivefrom the CDM, and thus areeconomically unviable and attractlittle investment. The forestryprojects that still manage to survive

economically, and make their way

through the methodology jungle,apply for validation and registrationin the voluntary carbon offsetspace. To put it simply: withoutfungibility of credits there is nodemand, and without demand thereis no private sector investment.

Private nance is urgently neededto tackle global deforestation.The Eliasch Report for the UKPrime Minister stresses that onlythe combined efforts of publicand private funds can provide the

necessary short, medium and

long-term funding needed to halvedeforestation by 2020. It estimatesthat $7 billion per year can, andmust, come from carbon markets,

leaving a funding gap of $ 11-19billion that would need to come froma mix of public and private sources.

Deforestation is driven onthree different levels:

local(encroachment, illegal logging etc.);

national

(infrastructure works, urbanexpansion etc.); and

international(impacts of agricultural policies,logging bans etc of large countries).

Thus, a combined effortat project, national andinternational level is needed.

At project level, the VoluntaryCarbon Standard has been at

...withoutfungibility

of credits there is no demand,

andwithoutdemandthere is

no private sector investment.



the forefront ofdeveloping forestrycarbon standards forvoluntary projects:it has developed arobust system forissuing permanentforestry credits,

which works indeveloping countriesProject developershave to identifykey risks to thepermanence of theproject which arethan categorizedand assigned alevel of magnitude,gauging the level of the threatand its potential impact. Theproject has to set aside a bufferof 10 to 60 per cent of its area,depending on its risk category.

At national level, land use planningis needed as a rst step. Providinglong-term regulatory certainty isessential if investors are to deploycapital. National level land use

planning will require capacitybuilding to enable governments totake informed decisions on theireconomically and ecologicallyoptimal forest cover. Too littleforest cover will lead to increaseddroughts, oods, salinisation, anddrinking water scarcity, which willdrive poverty. Too much forest

cover, on the other hand, limitsland for agricultural productionand reduces foreign currencyincome (if agricultural commoditiesare exported) or threatenslocal livelihoods (in the case of

subsistence farming) Optimalforest cover balances out differentland use purposes, resulting inoptimal social, environmental andeconomic benets, but arriving atit is a long process . A high levelof subsidiarity in decision makingduring the land use planningprocess is essential if there is to be abalanced outcome between nationaland regional level priorities. At the

same time, emission inventoriesfor land use needs to be set up,nationally and regionally, a longterm activity that will requiresubstantial public investment incapacity building and technologytransfer between now and 2020.

Once optimal local, regional andnational forest cover is dened,a country should be ready to takeon a rm emission reductiontarget, together with liabilitiesfor assuring the permanence ofsequestered carbon. Countriesshould hold buffers according torisks identied nationally andinternationally. And while land useplanning and inventories are beingdeveloped, countries should take onvoluntary commitments to afforest,

reduce deforestation and enhancesustainable forest management.

Privately funded project activitiesneed to happen in parallel to workat national level, so as urgentlyto address local level driversand introduce tree planting andmanagement systems with long-

term viability that give farmersand communities incentivesto protect these carbon stocks.This can be achieved throughsensitizing and educating them,ensuring participatory planningand designing tree planting systemsthat bring long-term benets.

With buffers being held at bothproject and national levelsforestry credits can and needto be considered permanent.Commercial insurance productspayable in cash are not a realisticoption in the short and mediumterm to secure forest carbon indeveloping countries. However,the double buffer approach in awell governed system will providesufcient liability during the

transition phase towards nationaland sub-national inventories.

...forestry creditscan and need to be

considered permanent.

Optimal forest cover balancesout different land usepurposes, resulting in optimal

social, environmental andeconomic benefits...

ImageSource/Corbis



We should not argue who is more responsible,

who is less responsible, who should do more

Climate change is a common,

shared responsibility.

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon at Delhi Summit

on Sustainable Development on 5 February 2009

verbatim

Now the United States and all

other countries have to get concrete

about how to deal with the climate

challenge until 2020. This will be

the litmus test o the commitment.

But as Todd Stern said in his

speech: The US is glad to be back in

the negotiations. For my part I can

assure you the delight is mutual.

Danish Climate and Energy Minister

Connie Hedegaard

We should keep a close watch on the

development o cutting-edge (new

energy) technologies the world over

and invest more to improve research

and development capabilities.

Zhang Guobao, head o the Chinese National

Energy Administration

Climate change is not onlyan environmental issue,

but clearly a development

issue with a direct bearing

on poverty reduction, ood

security, economic growth,

health, human rights,

governance and equity.

Kenyan Vice-President Kalonzo

Musyoka speaking at the East

Arican Health and Scientifc

Conerence in March 2009

We want to show children

what small steps, such

as conserving power by

switching of the lights and

ans, can do,

Nobel Prize Winner Rajendra

Pachauri, the Chairman othe Intergovernmental Panel

discussing his campaign to

turn Mumbai students into

green warriors

North Arica could supply Europe all the energy it needsthe sun is verystrong there and its very reliable.

Dr Anthony Patt, International Institute or Applied Systems Analysis commenting on

the possibility that solar panels in the Sahara could power all o EuropeAll countries must work together to combat climate

change. In the Seychelles, our 116 islands are on

the ront line. We can lose our beaches, our tourism,

our land and our way o lie, i something is notdone quickly.

Marie-Antoinette Alexis, Mayor o Victoria, Seychelles at a

Mayors meeting on climate change at UN-HABITAT on 26

February 2009

We are aware that climate change will have a severe impact on uture generations. To keep

this world liveable, it is extremely important that we start using green energy sources likesolar energy, wind energy, biomass etc and stop wastage o water and electricity.

Indian students rom Lok Sabha province in a letter to political parties and top leaders on March 6

US Climate Change Envoy Todd Stern, addressing the 2,600 delegates at

the March-April climate change talks in Bonn

The science is clear, the threat is real, the acts on the

ground are outstripping the worst-case scenarios. The cost

o inaction or inadequate action are unacceptable. America

itsel cannot provide the solution, but there is no solutionwithout America.



GreenLightGreenLight

DIPAL CHANDRA BARUA

Th rrt wr th Zy trergy Prz, g Mgg drtr Grm shkt, dpty Mgg

drtr th Grm Bk

Some say that renewable

technologies are too expensiveand high tech for rural peoplein developing countries. That isa myth. Renewable energy isa viable option for them, andthey can be reached througha market-based model.

Access to efcient energy is one ofthe major obstacles to their socialand economic development. Morethan 80 per cent of them dependon primitive energy sources,which limit their opportunities,endanger their health thoughindoor pollution, and createenvironmental hazards. I havelong felt a moral responsibilityto create alternatives for them.Grameen Shakti which I foundedand serve as Managing Director

has already installed more than200,000 Solar Home Systems

(SHS) in Bangladesh. It hasshown that solar energyapplications can be scaled upmassively and rapidly to provideaffordable and climate-friendlyenergy for rural people.We started in 1996, installinga few hundred systems a year,

now we are doing over 8,000a month. We had a target of amillion systems by 2015, we nowexpect to pass that in 2010.I now dream of empowering75 million people throughrenewable energy technologiesin just six years. We have set ourown Millennium DevelopmentGoal reaching half the peopleof the country by 2015.

Bangladesh is rich in sunshine soour rst initiative was to popularizesolar photovoltaic technology.By owning a SHS, a rural family canenjoy bright lights, televisions andradios and power their mobilephones. The upfront expense ishigh, but once this is paid off, thereare no additional costs or ever-

increasing electricity bills. It makesa huge difference to the quality oflife, and to income generation.More than 6,000 biogas plants and30,000 improved cooking stoveshave also been installed. Biogastechnology is very appropriate forrural areas because it converts

cow dung or poultrydroppings into cookinggas, light, and slurry, a

good organic fertilizer.

Larger biogas plantscan also produceelectricity. The stovesprotect mothers andchildren from indoor airpollution, a major killerin developing countries.

There were hugechallenges to SHS,



the rst was to build a ruralnetwork. We worked with localand international engineeringinstitutions to recruit and trainengineers who are deployedall over Bangladesh. We alsotrained local technicians andusers, providing jobs, communitysupport and efcient low-costaftersales service. We initiatedscholarship programs forschoolchildren, taught them aboutrenewable energy technologiesand trained rural housewives onhow to take care of their SHSs.

The second challenge was todevelop a suitable nancial and

technical package for rural people.Drawing on the Grameen Banksexperience, we introduced aninstallment-based payment, whichreduced the upfront cost of a SHS,making it as cheap as kerosene.Our engineers make monthlyvisits to check on the systems fortwo to three years and offer theirservices for a small fee thereafter.

The systems soon came to sellthemselves as villagers becameaware of their multiple benets.Increased sales and local productionreduced costs, enabling GrameenShakti to achieve economies ofscale and break even in 2002.

We have also successfully laid thefoundation for expanding biogasand improved cooking stoveprogrammes. We focused on strictquality control in constructingbiogas plants, together with onsitetechnical assistance and free aftersales service and trained localmasons and the plants owners creating a huge demand.And we trained over a thousandlocal technicians to make andrepair improved stoves, setting up

36 rural manufacturing units, ourstaff maintains quality control.

Thousands of happy clients are ourgreatest promoters and Shakti isbecoming a household name in ruralBangladesh. More than two millionrural people have beneted fromour programmes. Solar electric lightenables children to study longer andbetter and improves health facilitieswhile solar-powered mobile phoneshave made communication easier.SHSs are helping small ruralbusinesses to stay open late at night,increasing their income, while rural

shops are installing solar-poweredmobile phones and televisionsto attract more customers.

Biogas technology is paving theway to a green economy and

transforming waste into wealth.It is helping rural farmers with fewlivestock to reduce their fuel costs,enjoy bright light and produceorganic fertilizers. Larger sizedbiogas plant owners are makingextra income through givingconnections to neighbours, andmany are also producing electricity.

Besides being one of the cheapestways of protect women and childrenagainst indoor air pollution,improved stoves reduce wooduse by about 50 per cent, savingboth time and money. They helprural families to increase savingsand capital, protect their healthand save the environment at thesame time. No wonder interestis growing we are now making

twice as many as last year.We are creating skilled jobs for

women, right in their villages.And we are training more and morelocal young people as solar andstove technicians and biogas plantmasons. We plan to create 100,000green jobs by 2015 and developentrepreneurs who will promoteand install renewable energytechnologies, while we providenancial and technical support.

I want to transform Bangladeshand make it a positive example

of what a developing country cando in response to the threat ofclimate change, through applyingrenewable energy technologies and to create a green economyfor millions of Bangladeshis

who will be affected by globalwarming in the next decade.

We have a successful model inplace. It is replacing kerosene,reducing the felling of trees,boosting agriculture, andlivestock, promoting organicfertilizers and creating green jobsand income. The SHSs we haveinstalled are already reducingBangladeshs carbon emissions by100,000 tons a year.

My personal MillenniumDevelopment Goals includeinstalling 7.5 million SHSs andconstructing two million biogasplants as well as creating those100, 000 green jobs. Evenachieving only half of these

goals would be a source ofhope all over the world.



peopleERIK SOLHEIMPolicy Leadership

With two cabinet posts under his stewardship,Norways Minister o Environment and Ministero Development Erik Solheim is putting theenvironment at the oreront o European politics.As a strong advocate o the integral relationshipbetween environment and development, he hasbeen a key supporter o environmental actionsat national and global levels throughout hispolitical career. Solheim spearheaded the earlyimplementation o REDD Reducing Emissions romDeorestation and Degradation with a grant o

US$ 500 million annually. He also paved the wayor Norways membership in UNEPs Climate NeutralNetwork, catalyzing his countrys action towards alow carbon society.

KEVIN CONRADPolicy Leadership

We seek your leadership, but i or some reason you are not willing to lead,leave it to the rest o us. Please get out o the way. Kevin Conrads words tothe United States delegation which was one o the key hold-outs on plans or

a post-2012 treaty are widely remembered as a key pivotal moment o the2007 Bali climate change talks. Signicantly, the resulting Bali Action Plan wasthe rst time the role o tropical orests and deorestation in tackling globalwarming was ocially recognized. Now as Executive Director o the Coalition oRainorest Nations, Conrad is campaigning to better align market incentives withthe sustainable use and management o tropical orests. Things are starting tomove the UN recently established the UN-REDD programme, which aims to helpdeveloping nations ght deorestation and receive unds through the sale otradable carbon credits. Meanwhile, Norway is now putting serious money intoghting deorestation, pledging $1 billion or Brazils Amazon protection undthrough 2015. These are just some o the initiatives that are currently mobilizingsome o the largest sums in history to support rainorest conservation. Conrad,

who is rom Papua New Guinea, continues to campaign tirelessly to nd ways orthe international community to provide incentives or conserving rainorests.

JANINE BENYUSScience and Innovation

Janine Benyus, a pioneer and champion o thebiomimicry movement, is at the helm o the eco-designrevolution. Her 1997 book Biomimicry: InnovationInspired by Nature inverts the way we all think aboutdesign, advocating that we draw design inspirationsrom natures wisdom and adopt natures processesto solve some o our challenges. As the President othe Biomimicry Institute in Montana, Benyus has beenconsulting with sustainable business, academic andgovernment leaders on what we can learn rom naturesgenius. The key idea is to draw inspiration rom naturesclever designs and treat nature as model and mentor,

cherished as a teacher not as a mine to be strippedo its resources.

RON GONENEntrepreneurial Vision

Recycling mogul Ron Gonen saw opportunity in a very unusual place trash. The environmental entrepreneurs brainchild, RecycleBank,is an environmental rewards and loyalty company that helpspeople turn their recyclable garbage into cash. Under RecycleBanksscheme, amilies that recycle earn points which they can redeem oressentials at over 1,400 local and national retailers. Since its launchin 2004, the initiative has been an unqualied success, expandinginto 18 states across the US. Increase in recycling rates to ashigh as 90 per cent have been recorded in some neighborhoods.And RecycleBank has been very well received by the privatesector Gonens company attracted a $2 million investment rom

Coca-Cola as part o the beverage giants eort to promote recycling.In Gonens own words, The core o RecycleBank is the ability totarget and market to a captive audience that eels good about whatthey are doing.

2009 UNEP Champions of the Earth



YANN ARTHUS-BERTRANDInspiration and Action

Through his breathtaking aerial photographs rom the remotest parts o the globe, French photographerYann Arthus-Bertrand has helped people around the world see our planet in a new light beautiul,ragile, threatened. His iconic books have moved millions and a public art exhibition the Earth FromAbove, which premiered in Paris in 2000 to unprecedented success, went on to travel to cities aroundthe world. By 2008, over 130 million people on every continent had visited the exhibit. The images area stark call to action, combining vivid images o the beauty and vulnerability o our planet with detailedcaptions describing the environmental pressures it is under. In 2005, Arthus-Bertrand ormed GoodPlanet.org, an environmental organization whose objective is to educate about sustainable development andurge individuals across every culture and background to think about the uture o all o our planetsinhabitants. Through GoodPlanet.org, Arthus-Bertrand worked with the French Ministries o Education andEnvironment to produce 22 educational posters on sustainable development eaturing his aerial photos.

The posters were given out or ree to every school in France. Arthus-Bertrand is now preparing a eature-length lm about our planet which will be distributed around the globe on World Environment Day.

TENA KEBENANext-Generation Champions

The Next-Generation Champions category was createdto celebrate the new generation o dynamic, passionateindividuals and organizations around the world who

are making a real dierence or the environment. Therecould be ew more inspiring examples o this than TenaKebena, an organization in Ethiopia that brings togetheraround 80 children and youth, many o whom havebeen orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The groupcleans up and rehabilitates garbage dumpsites aroundthe city o Addis Ababa through reorestation, turningmountains o trash into hills green with trees, herbs andowers. The sites are also used or urban agriculture on what used to be a waste pile, the young gardenersare churning out lush rows o vegetables throughorganic methods and waste water collection. And in this

beautiully sustainable cycle, agricultural produce andherbal medicines grown rom the urban arm are soldto provide unding or the project and or the childrenslearning activities.

TULSI TANTIEntrepreneurial Vision

Tulsi Tanti is the Chairman and Managing Director o SuzlonEnergy, the th largest wind turbine manuacturer inthe world and the largest in Asia. Widely reerred toas Indias Wind Man, Tanti is credited or advocating toellow industrialists, the environmental and economicadvantages o staying o the power grid. The company

was a true precursor, exploring wind energy in the late1990s as an alternative to costly and erratic electricitysupply to its textile business. Realizing that wind wasnot just the answer to Suzlons energy needs but couldalso uel the growth o other industries, the companysold o its textile manuacturing and entered therelatively new eld o wind-turbine generators. Withthe price o oil recently hitting an unprecedented high,Tanti believes that wind is the energy o the uture andSuzlon intends to help launch this industry into themainstream. Yes, green business is good business,says Tanti. But its not just about making money.

Its about being responsible. Suzlons main actory,in the southeastern Indian city o Pondicherry, runsexclusively on wind power and collects rainwater totend to its grounds.


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LOW-CARBON

CHINA

Chinas leaders do not merelysee climate change as a problemwith nature, but as a developmentissue. Tackling climate changeinvolves many aspects of economicdevelopment and will needto be addressed by a numberof government ministries.

The Chinese public believes thatclimate change will bring warmer

summers and worse naturaldisasters. In a recent Greenpeacecommissioned survey in 10 Chinesecities, global warming was pickedas the second biggest threat to

the world after air and waterpollution. Theyounger therespondents, themore concernedthey were aboutglobal warming.Chinas growthover the pastcouple of decades

has been drivenby the expansion

of manufacturing and large scaleurbanisation. This has boosted thenumber of power plants which emitmore and more carbon dioxide andhealth-damaging air pollutants.

From drought-hit wheat farmlandsin the north to melting glaciers on

the Tibetan Plateau and villageseroded by sea water on the eastern

There are two famous, but curiouslycontradictory, Chinese sayings about the

relationship between people and the naturalworld: tian ren he yi and ren ding sheng

tian - nature and man are one and mancan conquer nature. Together, they mayprovide an insight into how China will

grapple with climate change.

coast, China is already feelingthe effects of climate change. Ithas become crystal clear bothto political leaders and to thepublic that current energy- and

resource-intensive developmentis unsustainable. And the scaryfact that a new coal thermal plantis connected to the grid every twoweeks has gravely damaged thecountrys image. It will not be easyto decouple skyrocketing carbonemissions growth with rapideconomic development, but it is thenations momentous task to pursuea green, low-carbon economy.

The magnitude of the challenge iswell known, but few realise thatChina has taken signicant stepstowards solving the problem. A plan,launched at the beginning of 2006,aims to reduce energy consumptionper unit of GDP by 20 per centfrom 2005 levels by 2010: by theend of 2008 half of this had been

achieved. Far reaching measuresinclude setting annual energy

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The currenteconomic crisis

provides an

unprecedentedopportunity

to make theseinvestments

in a way thatcreates jobs,

rebuilds criticalinfrastructure

and lays thefoundation

for a new greenenergy economy.

local governments top agenda:pursuing GDP growth oftenoutweighs energy saving andpollution reduction targets. Andclimate concerns may rank evenlower among big state ownedenterprises. Institutional andscal arrangements must beintegrated into the policy packageto ensure implementationat all government levels

Given enough condence, ambitionand immediate action, China canbecome a world leader in renewableenergy. Yet there is still a lackof understanding among senior

ofcials, of the signicant role itcould play and it still faces suchdifculties as an unfavourablepricing system and poor gridconnection. Nevertheless, the publicwants it and is willing to pay for it:survey respondents said they wouldpay an average 17 per cent more forcleaner energy like wind and solarpower, with younger people willingto pay the most. And 81 per cent of

those asked said that they wantedtheir country to adopt a globalrole at the climate negotiationsin Copenhagen this December.

China is now truly in the spotlight,but responsibility also rests onother major economies such asthe US. A Sino-US partnershipto tackle climate change is nowwidely considered to be key to thestrong international solution thatmust be agreed in Copenhagento avert climate disaster.

Chinas young generation myselfincluded back technologicalsolutions to climate changeand cementing the politicalresolution to put them in place.Maybe this is a positive way in

which to interpret the saying,man can conquer nature.

saving targets for the 1,000 biggestenergy-consuming companies,and closing down thousands of themost polluting small power plants.China is also vigorously pushing

renewable energy. By the endof last year it had exceeded itsgoal of having 10GW of installedwind power by 2010. Last year,on average, a wind turbine wasinstalled every two hours, and theindustry is the fourth largest, andamong the fastest growing, in theworld. China is also the biggestproducer of solar electricity cells andhas more solar water heating thanthe rest of the world put together.

The high prole energy-savingtarget marks a new era ingovernment taking environmentaland climate issues much moreseriously. It is mounting amajor drive to promote energy-efcient household appliances:this year it plans to subsidise

100 million energy-savingbulbs. Meanwhile, fuel taxes

and high vehicle fuel economystandards are making compactcars increasingly popular amongemerging middle-class families.

But much more needs to be done.China remains one of the worlds topcarbon dioxide emitters and, despitethese measures, its emissionsare growing at an alarming rate as are the rest of the worlds.Yet time is running out, and globalgreenhouse gas emissions mustpeak before 2015 and drop by atleast 80 per cent by mid-century.

This raises big questions for China.What should it be doing to achieve

a low-carbon economy? How canit move away from its heavy use ofcoal? Answers and fundamentalchanges are needed urgently.

A start has been made in thetwelth ve year plan and other newlegislation. A new draft EnergyLaw places strong emphasis onrethinking the energy structure andreducing greenhouse gas emissions,

demonstrating that greenerdevelopment is not just possible,but desirable. The determinationof top leaders will drive investmentinto energy efciency andrenewable energy. The currenteconomic crisis provides anunprecedented opportunity tomake these investments in away that creates jobs, rebuildscritical infrastructure and laysthe foundation for a new greenenergy economy. Measuresmust be put into place as soonas possible to make sure the fourtrillion RMB stimulus packageannounced last December will bespent in these sustainable ways.

Yet, in many places outsideBeijing, tackling climate change

and preventing environmentdegradation is still not on the




How do you make the worlda better place by 2020?.The question, posed to the groupof Young Global Leaders at theWorld Economic Forum in 2005,

spurred me to an entirely new lifedirection, focused on solving asingle problem: how do you run acountry without oil? I realised thatwe had to separate the cars we drivefrom the petrol that has had sucha negative impact on our economyand environment, and to usher in anew era of sustainable transport.

In the current economic climate,environmental interests can

appear to be at odds with economicones. This misalignment isno longer sustainable. We allknow the hazards of oil:its expensive; its politically

insecure; it wont last forever; andit creates vast amounts of harmfulgreenhouse gas emissions.Yet we continue to ll up our cars.

We are emotionally connected toour cars: we dont like to sharethem, and we like to drive themfast and far. Yet, while we wouldnot let our kids burn fuel in theirbedrooms, we collectively burn uptheir living room our planet.

SHAI AGASSI

th r h xt Bttr P

Driving away

oil addiction...its expensive; its politically insecure; it wont last forever; andit creates vast amounts of harmful greenhouse gas emissions.



The price of driving cars in our citiesis paid in deaths and respiratorydisease from smog. The priceof extracting and burning fossilfuels from deep in the ground is

a change to the Earths delicateatmosphere which regulates life.We may each be able to affordenough petrol for our cars, but wecannot afford to lose our only planet.

What if we take oil out of theequation? Sustainable transportcan help the Earth prosper onmany levels. By breaking theworlds oil addiction we can realignenvironmental and economic

interests and use peoples naturalmotivations and behaviour to help

our planetthrive.

In December,leaders fromaround theworld willmeet inCopenhagento discussand outlineplans for anambitious

strategy to eradicate the threatof global climate change.

Transport innovation must playa critical role. According to theInternational Energy Agency,transport accounts for nearly aquarter of the worlds carbonemissions. Electric vehicles (EVs)present the opportunity not just tominimise, but to eliminate, thesecompletely from personal transport.Transport as a sustainable service with zero-emission vehiclespowered by renewable energy eliminates oil and carbon from theequation, allowing us to combatthe climate crisis without givingup our personal freedom.

Many solutions to transport,economic and environmentalproblems are piecemeal disconnected and short-term.The hybrid car, for example, isonly a stop-gap solution thatprolongs our oil addiction, whileonly slightly reducing its use.Rising oil prices and environmentaldegradation have shown that wemust change how we fuel transport.

Several technologies are jockeyingto replace the internal combustionengine. We have studied themall, and decided that the electricdrive train is the best. It willtransform our cars into vehiclesthat produce prosperity in harmonywith the environment and end oiladdiction. So the battery-poweredelectric vehicle is the centrepieceof the vision of Better Place, thecompany I launched in 2007.

The opportunity to move to electrictransportation is both global(evident throughout the world) andlocal (cars, regulations, drivingpatterns and energy usage vary) .So Better Place is rolling out itssolution on a market-by-market

basis, focusing initially on thosemost conducive to fast EV adoption.

Rising oilprices andenvironmentaldegradationhave shownthat we mustchange how we

fuel transport.



We work with all parts of thetransport ecosystem, includingautomakers, battery suppliers,governments, utilities, energycompanies and infrastructureproviders. Better Place buildsthe infrastructure network andservices that will enable individuals,businesses and governments

condently to adopt EVs anytime,anywhere. Since our inception,two years ago, Israel, Denmark,Australia, California, Hawaiiand Ontario have committed to

deployingelectric carnetworks.

Simply put,we buy

batteries andrenewableelectricityand sellmiles whiledevelopinginfrastructurethatmakes EVsconvenient,

affordable andappealing.

Better Place connects clean energysources, through the existingelectricity grid, with car batteries providing drivers with an alternativeto burning gasoline. Doing thison a scale that can move an entirecountry is to create a virtual oileld one that will never run dryand will not kill us in the process.

The infrastructure includeshundreds of thousands of chargespots per region, in private homes,workplaces and public places.These are supplemented by anetwork of battery switch stationsthat will allow drivers to swap adepleted battery for a full one,in less time than it takes to ll atank with petrol, thus removing

the main perceived EV constraintsof long battery recharge timeand limited driving range.

Better Place will own both the xedinfrastructure of this system andthe batteries (separating batteryownership from the car). By makingthe battery an extension of theinfrastructure, we can provide

consumers with greener andcheaper motoring, making being

green affordablefor everyone.Software willoptimise the use ofenergy, providingreassurance to thedriver, efciencies toutilities and overallcost effectiveness.

As we decrease ourdependency on oil,we create a carbon-free economy thatgenerates new jobs,levels the globalplaying eld, andcreates sustainable

and environmentallybenecial growthfor future generations. Weand our worldwide partners including auto makers, batterymanufacturers, energy companiesand governments- are makingrapid progress. Israel has

op 2009 05 your planet need you

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