Planet Earth now has a timeline. Friend request sent.

What would Planet Earth post about humans on its profile? The Earth fast forwards through a virtual relationship with humans — but soon starts to ask itself whether it wants to be friends with a species that exploits its national resources.

The conclusion is reassuring: yes, it does, because humans are making every effort to preserve the planet. Science and research are an important part of these efforts.

What do you think about it?

Filed under: Development, Environment

3rd European Forum on Sustainable Development, Palencia, Spain 29th March-1st April 2011

CTA – Brussels Office Weblog – 3rd European Forum on Sustainable Development.

The 3rd European Forum on Sustainable Development will be held in Palencia, Spain from 29th March-1st April 2011. This forum is an initiative by the European Commission and EU Presidency with the support of France, Germany, Ireland, the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development and CTA. Around 500 experts in rural development form all around the world will be attending. Areas in agricultural cooperation which will be discussed include cover governance, food security and social protection, land issues, Ecologically efficient agricultural systems for smallholder farmers, the role of the private sector and the civil society in rural development, rural financing…
In the framework of the Forum, CTA is preparing a side-event under the theme “ICTs Mobilizing Farmers” which will highlight the importance and potential of ICTs in rural communities and agricultural development, presenting testimonials of farmers, ICTs specialists and researchers. The aim is to exemplify the positive contribution of technology in the development of small agricultural clusters; increasing productivity, bringing up-to-date market information and even allowing easier access to finances.

If you wish to assist to the Forum and event, please contact lopes@cta.int

Filed under: Development, Environment, European Union, Rural Economies

Much «clean» growth possible in developing world with existing technology, right strategy and incentives, UNCTAD Report says

The stress of the global financial crisis — as well as concerns about climate change and food prices — should be used by developing countries to shift towards ”clean” growth, a new UNCTAD report recommends. It says such progress is possible and affordable with existing technology, based on the right strategy and incentives.

UNCTAD’s Trade and Environment Review TER 2009/2010 contends that while conventional wisdom holds that economic crises are times for belt-tightening and cost-cutting, the opposite is true in the current case. The urgency of the crisis gives governments of the world’s poorer nations the chance to re-direct resources to economic growth that is more economically efficient, better for the environment, more socially equitable, and more promising over the long term.

Because so little has been done in such nations, the TER notes, huge gains can be realized in improving energy efficiency, enhancing sustainable agricultural methods, and stimulating the use of rural, ”off-grid” renewable energy. If approached intelligently, such improvements should yield savings that pay for themselves or even generate quick profits. In addition, shifting to ”clean” growth should create jobs, the report says. But to make this progress happen, governments must eliminate market barriers and policies that prevent the flow of capital into these promising sectors.

The study maintains that large improvements in energy efficiency can be achieved in many low-income and least developed countries ”at negative net cost.” For example, efficient building technologies may be applied using local materials, in many cases reducing heating and related costs. Similar opportunities exist in sustainable agriculture, opened up by alternative production methods, developments in technology, and changing consumer preferences, the report says. http://tinyurl.com/y8zakry

Filed under: Development, Environment

Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen: AGEG experts involved

AGEG experts engaged in meetings on forest and climate protection in preparation of UNFCCC COP-15 Climate Conference, Copenhagen.

In two events, organised by BCC – Business Communications Consulting GmbH with participation of representatives from policy, government, development agencies, business, science and civil society, especially the concept of reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries (REDD), its inclusion into a post-Kyoto climate protection regime, and issues of financing and practical implementation were discussed.

For reports on these two events please follow the links below:

BCC Letzte Ausfahrt Kopenhagen

BCC Kein Klimaschutz ohne Wald

Filed under: Development, Economy, Environment, News, climate ageg cop15 conference environment

AGEG Expert facilitates working sessions at UN meeting

UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) in Guilin, China

Country-Led Initiative in Support of the UN Forum on Forests: Forests for People – The Role of National Forest Programmes and the Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests

The Country-Led Initiative (CLI) in support of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) met from 17 to 20 November 2009 in Guilin, China, focusing on forests for people and the role of national forest programmes (NFPs) and the Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests (NLBI). One hundred and fifty participants representing governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations gathered to share experiences and lessons learned in the use of NFPs to achieve sustainable forest management (SFM) and as a means to implement the NLBI. The meeting was organized by the Government of China in collaboration with Austria, Finland, Germany, and the United States of America. The Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the NFP Facility, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) provided technical support.
More: http://www.ageg.de/news/country-led_initiative_in_support_of_the_un_forum_on_forests/

Filed under: Development, Environment, News, forests chna un workshop ageg

UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

Over a decade ago, most countries joined an international treaty — the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — to begin to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. More recently, a number of nations approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures. The Kyoto Protocol is an international and legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide entered into force on 16 February 2005.

The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the climate change process, particularly the COP (Conference of the Parties), the subsidiary bodies and their Bureau. To help countries meet their emission targets, and to encourage the private sector and developing countries to contribute to emission reduction efforts, negotiators of the Protocol included three market-based mechanisms – Emissions Trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation.

Related Weblinks:
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC: http://www.unfccc.int
Denmark’s COP15 website: http://en.cop15.dk
General press info: http://www.pressinfo.cop15.dk
COP15 calendar: http://www.calendar.cop15.dk
Official Tweets: http://twitter.com/cop15

Climate change in Google Earth: http://www.google.com/landing/cop15/
YouTube – Cop15′s Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Cop15
SID Forum Update: http://www.sidint.net/intl-agenda/climate-change/

TckTckTck | The World is Ready: http://tcktcktck.org
TckTckTck is the hub for stories on how hundreds of millions of people around the world are coming together to show world leaders we are ready for a new climate deal.

Interactive map and reporting system for the CDM

http://cdm.unfccc.int/Projects/MapApp
The CDM project map shows the location of CDM activities worldwide. Visitors can travel around the globe and learn about the location and many details of each project. In addition to this, a series of new graphs provide detailed breakdowns about the range, distribution of such projects that highlight national participation, project impacts and the status of project registration.

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Economy, Environment, Networks, News, Research

Survey on how to design a climate agreement

The Center for Global Development launched a survey on how to design a climate agreement that is environmentally effective, economically efficient, and fair. The 15 questions about climate policy in this survey present you with some of the same choices that climate negotiators are weighing, and that global leaders will tackle at Copenhagen and beyond. An important goal of the survey is to discover on which aspects of a climate agreement people from different backgrounds agree, and on which they disagree. The Center hopes to discover on which issues there is agreement among people who share a commitment to development but come from different backgrounds, and on which issues a consensus has yet to emerge. http://www.join.cgdev.org/site/R?i=loPmIQsFmx3x-L5kZS-Nuw

Filed under: Environment, Networks, News, Web 2.0

EU Development policy to focus on climate and democracy, says Mrs Carlsson

As president in office of the EU Council, the Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden, Gunilla Carlsson, presented to MEPs from the Committee on Development the presidency’s priorities for the second semester of 2009: development as part of the climate change agenda, democracy building as well as policy coherence and effectiveness. Helping to ensure that developing countries can effectively fight poverty in all its forms and meet the challenges that follow in the wake of the global economic crisis and climate change are the main priorities the Swedish presidency in the field of development. Replying to some questions of MEPs about the sometimes incoherent EU approach, the Swedish minister encouraged the European Parliament to make full use of its scrutinising powers (budgetary and co-decision procedures) in order to ensure that the EU makes the development cooperation more effective and ensures that different EU policy areas and actors work together more coherently. http://www.europarl.europa.eu

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Environment, European Union, OECD

Rising Food Prices hit the Poor, shake Development Agendas

With food and other commodity prices skyrocketing in recent months, energy and climate change have been all over the news.

Prices for rice, the staple food for about half of the world’s 6 billion people, have soared to record highs, with key benchmarks touching $1000-per-tonne earlier this month, more than double the rate at the start of the year. Prices for a wide range of foods have risen sharply since the end of 2006, affecting commodities from corn, cereals, and soybeans to dairy products, meat, and edible oils.

The high prices have spurred food riots in countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti, Mauritania, Mexico, Senegal, and Yemen. In Egypt, where anger over food prices has caused political unrest in the past, the army has been ordered to bake cheap bread for the hungry. Anxious importing countries such as the Philippines and Bangladesh have been unable to buy the amount of rice they wanted to boost their dwindling inventories, as trading companies wait to see if prices will rise even higher.

The rise in basic commodity prices has been driven by a wide range of factors. Farm commodity prices are famously cyclical. Part of this is because it takes an entire growing season for supply to catch up with increased demand. The building up and drawing down of global stockpiles also affects prices. High oil prices have pushed up the cost of fertilizer and transportation, further boosting costs.

The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, has been scathing about the effects of turning massive quantities of agricultural commodities into biofuel, calling it a ”crime against humanity” that is causing people to go hungry by raising the price of staples.

Unlike biofuel-related demand for food crops, which is directly policy-driven, demand growth resulting from population and income growth cannot be avoided. But even the supply of agricultural commodities faces uncertainty over the medium- and long-term, as urbanisation and industrialisation affect land and water use. Also significant are the likely effects of climate change on rainfall and other weather patterns. Some see the decade-long drought in Australia as a sign of things to come.

Josette Sheeran, who heads the UN’s World Food Programme, described how the food crisis was affecting people at different socioeconomic levels across the developing world. ”For the middle classes, it means cutting out medical care,” she said, according to a report in The Economist. ”For those on $2 a day, it means cutting out meat and taking the children out of school. For those on $1 a day, it means cutting out meat and vegetables and eating only cereals. And for those on 50 cents a day, it means total disaster.”

The WFP has called the rising food prices a ”silent tsunami” that has pushed millions of people into the ”urgent hunger category” in the past six months. The World Bank estimates that the growth in food prices could push 100 million people further into poverty.

Poor people in developing countries are especially exposed to commodity price fluctuations: not only do they spend over half of their incomes on food, they eat basic commodities or semi-processed foods, such as milled rice, or corn meal. In contrast, basic commodities account for a relatively small proportion of the cost of more processed foods. For instance, at a bakery in Geneva, wheat flour might account for only a fifth of the cost of a loaf of bread, with labour costs making up a substantially higher share of the price customers pay.

For over six years, negotiators from governments around the world have been haggling over cuts to farm subsidies and barriers to agricultural trade in talks at the WTO. Competitive exporters seeking greater liberalisation have met stiff opposition from countries determined to protect their farm sectors from the full force of international competition. The wrangling continues, as WTO Members push for a deal in the troubled Doha Round of global trade talks.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick and others have suggested that a Doha Round deal on cutting farm subsidies and tariffs could play a role in addressing the food crisis. ”The poor need lower food prices now,” Zoellick recently told a Washington audience. ”But the world’s agricultural trading system is stuck in the past. If ever there is a time to cut distorting agricultural subsidies and open markets for food imports, it must be now. If not now, when?”

”Wait a second,” responded Harvard University professor Dani Rodrik on his blog (http://rodrik.typepad.com/). ”Wouldn’t the removal of these distorting policies raise world prices in agriculture even further? And in fact aren’t these price effects the main channel through which agricultural trade liberalisation in the North is supposed to benefit the South?” Rodrik pointed to World Bank data suggesting that the removal of trade restrictions would raise the price of wheat, rice, and other grains.

Indeed, part of the reason for launching the Doha Round negotiations was to address rich country farm policies that had been depressing the prices received by poor farmers in the developing world. But if low prices were so bad, how come high prices are bad too?

There is a reason for the apparent contradiction, explained Per Pinstrup-Andersen, a professor of food, nutrition, and public policy at Cornell University and the University of Copenhagen. Years of low farm prices caused by reasons external to poor farmers in developing countries – notably, rich country farm subsidies – meant there was no incentive for developing country governments or the private sector to invest in agricultural production, and to build roads and the other rural infrastructure necessary to support it. Low productivity and low farm prices meant that farmers often looked for other sources of income, and became net buyers of food. Now, with prices rising, ”they get caught in the middle.”

”We need to get rid of the trade-distorting subsidies in OECD [industrialised] countries,” the World Food Prize laureate said, adding that the time was ripe for doing so since farmers did not need them now, and production levels were currently being determined by the high market prices. Reducing import restrictions in the EU and other developed nations would also help create clear incentives for developing country agriculture.

Since the 1980s, government spending on agricultural research in developing countries has declined. Instead of research, the bulk of public farm spending has often been used to purchase social peace or electoral support by ensuring low prices for food or agricultural inputs like seeds and fertiliser. The Economist last week cited World Bank data suggesting that over the two decades since 1980, developing country crop yields grew by steadily declining rates.

Continued high prices could help many developing country farmers who are net buyers of food to become net sellers, Pinstrup-Andersen said. They could ultimately even drive up wages for landless labour, and boost demand for rural goods and services that would generate employment. To help this happen, however, there would need to be greater investment in farmers’ associations and rural infrastructure, and better price transmission mechanisms to ensure farmers actually feel the higher prices in their own pockets.

”One of my concerns is that governments are going to introduce the wrong policies” in response to high prices, he said. Price controls and export taxes, he warned, could discourage the necessary additional investment in agricultural production.

For global farm policy to result in reasonable food prices and reasonable farm incomes, ”the only solution is to produce more with less.” This includes less use of natural resources, he emphasised. Therefore, not only do governments need to create an appropriate facilitating environment for farmers, consumers need to pay for the land, air, and water costs of agricultural production in the price that they pay for food. Unless these costs are ”endogenised” in food prices, ”we’re just going to borrow from our grandchildren to get our food prices down. Not a good thing.”

As for the low-income food importing countries that are most vulnerable to further increases, Pinstrup-Andersen said that they should be given grants of the foreign exchange that they require to import the food they need at the going international rate. Unlike in-kind food aid, ”this would send a signal to governments and farmers to make the investments they need.”

He described the argument that low food prices are good for poor food importing countries as a ”short-term, static argument.” Most African countries are net importers of food. A ”longer-term, dynamic view” would suggest that a lot of these countries could produce more food ”if the conditions were right.” After the last wave of high oil and food prices in 1973-74 – when food prices were almost double what they are today, adjusted for inflation – public investment in rural infrastructure and private investment in farming went up, as did agricultural productivity, he noted.

Even with high prices, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy cautions that few of the benefits may accrue to farmers in poor countries, because of the ”the incredible market power” held by the handful of transnational corporations that dominate international agricultural production value chains. It has called for multilateral monitoring of how these ”highly untransparent” value chains operate, to better assess where profits are distributed along them.

The Minneapolis-based think tank, which is sceptical about the potential positive effects of a Doha accord on food markets, supports intergovernmental efforts to stabilise commodity prices. Although government attempts to control commodity prices have had a spotty record of success in the past, Carin Smaller, with the institute’s Geneva office, said that the predictability arising from more stable prices was necessary ”both for poor consumers, who spend 50 percent and more of their resources on food, and for small producers, who have to take risks to get the credit to plant and who, in many cases, are poor consumers themselves.”

Food prices are now firmly on the international policymaking agenda, featuring prominently at the ongoing UN Conference on Trade and Development meeting in Ghana. The World Bank has called for a ‘new deal’ on food, and has appealed for $500 million in emergency support for the World Food Programme. The Group of Eight leading industrialised nations are also set to address the issue at their annual summit in July.

Despite growing alarm about the cost and availability of food, high prices were hardly the only cause of hunger in the world, or even the most important, noted Pinstrup-Andersen. ”860 million people could not get access to food when prices were low” five years ago, he said. However, unlike the urban protestors making news headlines today, most of them live in rural areas. ”We should have been demonstrating five years ago.”

Source: BRIDGES – ICTSD Weekly Trade News Digest: http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/08-04-23/story1.htm
FAO Report: Crop Prospects and Food Situation: http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/

FAO’s Initiative on Soaring Food Prices: http://www.fao.org/newsroom/common/ecg/1000826/en/ISFP.pdf
Spring Meetings: Development Committee Communiqué: http://tinyurl.com/5ura9v
dgCommunities Highlight: http://topics.developmentgateway.org/trade/highlights/default/showMore.do

Filed under: Africa, Development, Environment, Rural Economies, Trade, WTO

UNEP calls for end to barriers on fast-growing green economy

A global ”green economy” is now emerging but governments must move fast to scrap the many barriers and fossil-fuel subsidies that hamper it, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said. Presenting an annual report, Year Book 2008, the Nairobi-based agency said investment in environmentally-friendly projects was rising fast and more and more corporations were driving to save energy, thus helping to combat carbon emissions. Power companies in North America, international car manufacturers, metals and mining companies are praised for making inroads into their greenhouse-gas pollution. But oil, gas and chemicals are among the industries doing little or nothing to cut their contribution to the greenhouse-gas problem, the agency said, presenting the report at a conference in Monaco gathering environment ministers and the UNEP governing council. http://tinyurl.com/38nqx3

Filed under: Environment, Research, Technology