Republic of Seychelles Country Statement By H.E. Mr. Ronald Jumeau Ambassador/Permanent Representative of the Republic of Seychelles to the United Nations At The High Level Segment of The Fourteenth Session of The Conference of The Parties to The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP14) serving as The Meeting of The Parties to The Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP4) More >>>
Out of the turmoil of the energy markets of the last 12 months and our evaluation of future influences on the sector has emerged a new underlying price assumption for the World Energy Outlook -- an oil price through 2030 which nudges twice the level in WEO -- 2007. The era of cheap oil is over. This alone should be enough to make policy makers sit up. But so should the results set out in this volume. On present trends, just to replace the oil reserves that will be exhausted and to meet the growth in demand, between now and 2030 we will need 64 million barrels a day of new oil production capacity, six times the size of Saudi Arabia’s capacity today. The big resources lie, increasingly, in a few countries, who share of the world’s market climbs Inexorably. The international oil companies have diminishing access to these reserves. Investment per barrel of oil produced has shot up. But big producers are becoming so wealthy that they’re losing the incentive to invest. Though the resources are there, the world will struggle to satisfy thirst for oil, even at today’s prices. Download the Foreword to the World Energy Outlook 2008 (3MB PDF Document)
Cayman's efforts to adapt to climate change will advance next week with a training workshop involving local multi-sector and regional climate change officials. The two-day (21-22 October) Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA) Training Workshop at the Grand Cayman Marriott Resort will see stakeholders from Cayman's public and private sector, and NGOs being trained to assess the potential impact of climate change on tourism and other sectors. The workshop has been organized by the Cayman Islands Department of Environment (DoE); the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC).
The Cayman Institute establishes working relationship with Many Strong Voices The Cayman Institute has established a working relationship with and will be discussing collaboration with the Many Strong Voices (MSV) initiative http://www.manystrongvoices.org/, following discussions between the Chairman of the Cayman Institute and Mr John Crump of Many Strong Voices. Nick Robson will be attending the MSV conference in January (?) 2009 The Many Strong Voices Programme brings together local, national and regional stakeholders in the Arctic and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to exchange knowledge about the climate change challenges facing them. Its aims in doing so are to support and build capacity among vulnerable regions and peoples to collaboratively devise strategic solutions to the challenges of climate change, and to raise the voices of peoples in the two regions such that they may be heard in international fora on climate change adaptation and mitigation. Many Strong Voices was launched at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 11) in Montréal in December 2005. The MSV programme is coordinated by UNEP/GRID-Arendal and the Center for International Climate and Environment Research – Oslo (CICERO). It supports a consortium of Indigenous Peoples Organizations, researchers, policy-makers, and community organizations in the Arctic and SIDS to collaboratively design solutions to the climate change challenges facing them. The MSV programme is by design an exercise in building creative partnerships. The programme is guided by an informal steering committee that meets electronically, via conference calls, and ad hoc at relevant international meetings and fora to develop MSV strategies and materials. Key partners include the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) based in Belmopan, Belize which hosted an initial MSV Stakeholders Workshop in May 2007; the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPEP); the Inuit Circumpolar Council; the Arctic Athabaskan Council; Aleut International Association; Organization of American States (Department of Sustainable Development); the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED); Climate Change & Energy Programme, Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD); Conservation Society of Ponipeh, Federated States of Micronesia; the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute (NZTRI); and the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (UNEP-GPA).
The next U.S. president should follow Massachusetts's lead. Thursday, August 07, 2008: In a whirlwind legislative session ending last Thursday, July 31, 2008, Massachusetts legislative leaders have launched the most comprehensive and forward-thinking set of clean-energy policies in the nation. They will allow the state to move rapidly toward a low-cost, secure, environmentally friendly state energy industry. Massachusetts's suite of policies creates the nation's first electric utility program to put efficiency first, accelerates the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard, and puts in place strong incentives and mandates for homegrown, non-food-based biofuels for transportation and home heating. It also opens the door for clean-energy development in Massachusetts's wind and ocean-power-rich shoreline, mandates steadily decreasing state greenhouse-gas emissions, and establishes the necessary innovation and training infrastructure for the state to use these policies as a catalyst to develop a world-leading clean-energy industry.
America is in a hole and it's getting deeper every day. We import 70% of our oil at a cost of $700 billion a year - four times the annual cost of the Iraq war. "I've been an oil man all my life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of. But if we create a new renewable energy network, we can break our addiction to foreign oil." On January 20, 2009, a new President gets sworn in. If we're organized, we can convince Congress to make major changes towards cleaner, cheaper and domestic energy resources. It's an addiction that threatens our economy, our environment and our national security. It touches every part of our daily lives and ties our hands as a nation and a people. The addiction has worsened for decades and now it's reached a point of crisis. In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil. Today it's nearly 70% and growing. As imports grow and world prices rise, the amount of money we send to foreign nations every year is soaring. At current oil prices, we will send $700 billion dollars out of the country this year alone — that's four times the annual cost of the Iraq war.
Jim Knapp, member of the Institute’s team will be attending the Business Roundtable: Opportunities in the Caribbean Renewable Sector Conference taking place in Nassau, Bahamas 23rd and July 24 2008. About the Event The Caribbean region is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and spends a large percentage of its foreign exchange earnings on imported oil and other hydrocarbons. Energy security is a key priority, as prices at the gas pump and the grocery store rise their effects reverberate throughout the economy. Achieving energy security increases stability, economic progress and environmental progress throughout the region.
On the following day, July 24, 2008, the private sector is invited to participate in the discussions during the Business Roundtable: Opportunities in the Caribbean Renewable Energy Sector. The synergy of these two events provides the possibility of gathering the main energy and agro-energy stakeholders of the Caribbean for a regional effort to promote the implementation of the CREBAP and to facilitate the expansion of sustainable energy development throughout the Caribbean.
28 EU overseas entities join forces for the first time to counter climate change - IUCN 11 July 2008 - For the first time the EU’s overseas entities have come together at a meeting in Reunion Island, calling for action on climate change impacts to help preserve nature, says IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) at the Reunion With mounting pressure on the environment and people’s livelihoods better management and research is needed to identify the threats posed by climate change, allowing for appropriate adaptation measures in EU overseas entities. “IUCN is fully aware of the exceptional importance of biodiversity in EU overseas entities when compared with continental Europe, and their particular vulnerability to climate change,” says IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefèvre. “Whether in Reunion, Greenland or Tahiti, biodiversity is one of the main assets for the well-being of the populations and the economic development of these territories.” Considering the high degree of plant, bird and animal species found nowhere other than within these entities, specific climate scenarios must be developed for each, supported by regional modelling which should build on EU-backed research programmes. EU overseas entities are facing up to not only the threat of climate change impacts but also other, often interrelated, environmental factors such as invasive alien species, illegal fishing, overexploitation of resources, pollution and habitat destruction. Now combined with climate change, these threats put at risk the economies and the unique cultures of the EU overseas entities. Taking into account the socio-economic consequences and risks of these threats, the EU must provide the finances to guarantee environmental security to residents, with regard to their security, health and well-being. “The representation of EU overseas entities in relevant international and regional fora must be improved,” adds Marton-Lefèvre. “And then we must improve access to global, EU and regional financing mechanisms.” Many of the EU overseas entities – like Reunion island itself - have ambitious and exciting plans for renewable energies. In the implementation of these plans it is crucial to take into account the potential impacts on biodiversity All concerned EU member states and the EU itself should realize that having such a network of 28 overseas entities spread across the world’s oceans provides a unique opportunity for environmental action in key parts of the world. “Much of what can be done to reduce the impacts of climate change on EU overseas entities can be scaled up for application in mainland Europe. What we need now from the EU is research, investment and action,” says Marton-Lefévre. “This meeting has been a wonderful opportunity for representatives from across the world to come together and move us one step forward to a workable solution to the ever-pressing problem of climate change and biodiversity loss.” For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:
Bangkok - July 13 2008 - At last week's Group of Eight (G8) summit on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, climate change battled heightened economic worries for top billing. With all the major polluters at the table on Wednesday at the so-called Major Leaders of the G8 nations earlier in the week reached a tentative agreement to halve emissions by 2050, but leaders of some of the developed nations present refused to sign off on it because of the enormous costs this would entail and because the responsibilities of the rich countries were not made clear. In particular, concrete commitments to achieve substantial reductions by 2020 were not included. As in the past, the prevailing view at this year's summit was that coming to grips with climate change would put severe strains on even the most robust economies, despite increasing evidence that successful strategies to minimise global warming can actually stimulate economic growth. More >>> American Occupation at the Pump: Is $250 a Barrel Oil on Its Way? June 13, 2008. - It's time to ask whether the U.S. military should have anything to do with American energy security. If you thought Think of Miller's sobering prediction as, at least in part, a result of the Bush administration's attempt to "secure" the Middle East and the oil-rich Caspian basin by force in two failing wars (and occupations). Now, imagine for a moment, what his price scenario might be if, as journalist Jim Lobe -- never one to leap from rumors to sensational conclusions -- recently suggested, forces in the Bush administration (and in Israel) in favor of launching an air campaign against Iran are gaining strength. Just the suggestion last week by Shaul Mofaz, an Israeli deputy prime minister, that an attack on Iran is "unavoidable" if that country doesn't halt its nuclear program -- "If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective." -- helped send the price of crude oil soaring. Imagine what an actual air attack might do. More >>>
Brac to build windmills next year Cayman Brac will begin installing windmills on The Bluff next year, seeking to erect as many as
California proposes a global-warming fee on businesses 9 February 2008 BAY AREA FIRMS WOULD BE CHARGED BASED ON EMISSIONS In the first such program in California, and perhaps the United States, Bay Area air pollution regulators are proposing to charge an annual fee to thousands of businesses based on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit.
After years of voluntary measures, the fees, proposed this week by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, set a precedent as the first time that businesses and government agencies would face financial consequences for contributing to global warming. If successful, the fees could be copied all over the state and country, perhaps ultimately at much higher prices.
SCIENTISTS leading global research into climate change have set out a stark vision of how the world will change if humanity fails to tackle surging greenhouse gas emissions.
The Picken's Plan to Stop America's Addiction to Foreign Oil
T. Boone Pickens
Against this background, two regional sustainable energy events will take place on July 23 and 24, 2008 at the Sheraton Cable Beach Resort in Nassau, the Bahamas. First, the GS/OAS, through its Department for Sustainable Development, the IADB, IICA and the Government of the United States are collaborating to convene the Caribbean Regional Sustainable Energy High Level Seminar on July 23, 2008.
Through these fora, the private sector is invited to listen to the proceedings of the Caribbean Regional Sustainable Energy High Level Seminar on July 23, 2008, and on July 24, 2008, have substantive discussions with Caribbean leaders with the objective of advancing the deployment of renewable energy technologies. Operators of renewable energy facilities, financial institutions, and other private sector stakeholders with an interest in deploying renewable energy technologies in the countries of The Bahamas; Dominica; Grenada; St. Lucia; St. Kitts & Nevis; Guyana; Barbados; Jamaica; Antigua & Barbuda; Belize; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; Haiti; Montserrat..
Conference on Climate Change and Biodiversity in EU Overseas Entities (7-11 July).
Brian Thomson, IUCN Global Communications, mob +41 79 721 8326, email brian.thomson@iucn.org Wiebke Herding, IUCN Regional Communications Officer, tel +32 485 424 661; email wiebke.herding@iucn.org
Economies Meeting, which in addition to the world's richest nations - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States - also featured India, China and eight more top contributors to greenhouse gases, this year's G8 summit delivered the kind of watered-down statement we have come to expect from these sorts of international conferences.
Changing Jet Streams May Alter Paths of Storms and Hurricanes
Institution determined that over a 23-year span from 1979 to 2001 the jet streams in both hemispheres have risen in altitude and shifted toward the poles. The jet stream in the northern hemisphere has also weakened. These changes fit the predictions of global warming models and have implications for the frequency and intensity of future storms, including hurricanes. Cristina Archer and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology tracked changes in the average position and strength of jet streams using records compiled by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, the National Centers for Environmental Protection, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The data included outputs from weather prediction models, conventional observations from weather balloons and surface instruments, and remote observations from satellites. The results are published in the April 18 Geophysical Research Letters.
things were bad, with a barrel of crude oil at $136 and the oil heartlands of our planet verging on chaos, don't be surprised, but you may still have something to look forward to. Alexei Miller, chairman of Russia's vast state-owned energy monopoly, Gazprom, just suggested that, within 18 months, that same barrel could be selling for a nifty $250. Put that in your tank and ... well, don't drive it. It will be far too valuable.
10 of the 199-foot towers, supplying between 30 percent and 40 percent of the island’s 3.3 megawatt electricity requirements. “We have definitely put this on the fasttrack, and are looking for installation in ’09,” said Jonathan Tibbetts, General Manager of Cayman Brac Power and Light. “We have earmarked a plot of land, and with the price of oil, well, we are at the point on the Brac where we need to forge ahead to get alternative energy,” he said. “We want something on the ground and running next year.” Mr Tibbetts said the “eggbeater” windmills employed as many as four thin “C-shaped” blades, between 80 feet and 90 feet long, mounted vertically and attached at the tower’s tip and base. Called a Darrieus wind turbine, after French aeronautical engineer Georges Darrieus, the machines are less expensive than conventional windmills, and move most of the stress of rotation into the aerofoils, which tend to bow outward with centrifugal force.
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grain prices have encouraged the ministry of agriculture to consider the scheme, according to the Beijing Morning newspaper.
coordinate the efforts of the United Nations system in addressing the global crisis arising from the surge in food prices.
threats. A report to the leaders by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the executive European Commission describes climate change as "a threat multiplier", which will exacerbate many existing tensions and heighten instability.
the supply of fish stocks will plummet as the world heats up,
The fee - 4.2 cents per metric ton of carbon dioxide - would affect everything from oil refineries to power plants, and landfills, factories and small businesses like restaurants and bakeries.
The largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the Bay Area, the Shell oil refinery in Martinez, would pay $186,475 a year for its 4.4 million annual metric tons of emissions. The largest emitter in Santa Clara County, the Hanson Permanente Cement Plant in Cupertino, would pay $44,507 a year for its 1.05 million tons.
Climate change "great threat to humanity"
January 21, 2008
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says climate change is fundamentally altering the global humanitarian agenda. 
In response, the Geneva-based agency is launching an appeal worth SFr 326 million ($292 million) for 2008 and 2009. Approximately 75 per cent of the budget will be dedicated to disaster preparedness and health care initiatives that are community-based. The Federation states global weather patterns are contributing to an increase in disasters, affecting water supplies, impacting global harvests, and contributing to the rise in incidence of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. "There is no doubt in my mind that climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity today," says Markku Niskala, the 186-nation organisation's secretary general. Much of the budget will be directed towards small island states, in delta regions and across Africa, where shifting patterns of weather, rainfall and temperature are expected to be most acute.
Antarctic ice sheet shrinking at faster rate
January 13, 2008 at 1:00 PM EST
One of the biggest worries about global warming has been its potential to affect the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet, a vast storehouse of frozen water that would inundate the world's coastal regions if it were to melt because of a warming 
climate. The southern continent contains enough ice to raise ocean levels by about 60 metres, a deluge that would put every major coastal city in the world deep under water and uproot hundreds of millions of people.
The huge implications posed by the health of the ice sheet have prompted major scientific interest into whether it is growing, shrinking, or stable, with no clear consensus among researchers about its overall trend.
But a new study released today, based on some of the most extensive measurements to date of the continent's ice mass, presents a worrisome development: Antarctica's ice sheet is shrinking, at a rate that increased dramatically from 1996 to 2006.
'Green fatigue' leads to fear of backlash over climate change
Dec 30, 2007
British people are now convinced about the dangers of global warming but are either baffled about how to stop it or are ignoring the issue.
Analysts say few people are taking action to deal with the threat of climate change, although over the past 12 months the vast majority have come to accept that it poses a real threat to the world. Opinion polls reveal much confusion among the public about what Britain should do to combat the problem.
Electric Cars such as the Zenn are an example of the type of technology that government and automobile manufacturers should be promoting.
A backlash is now a real threat, said Phil Downing, head of environmental research for Ipsos Mori. 'There's cynicism because on the one hand we're being told [the problem] is very serious and on the other hand we're building runways, mining Alaskan oil; there's a lot going on that appears to be heading in the opposite direction.'
Roll back global warming? 30 Dec 2007
Climate change can be reversed. The more important question is: By when? The cost of delay is a bigger worry than finding solutions to global warming. Much of what is required of countries as well as individuals does not demand rocket 
science or high-end technology. Most of the solutions for climate change reversal are already available, at least with rich countries today. The question is, are they willing to share their technologies to avoid disasters?
The Nobel Prize awarded jointly to Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was a symbolic thumbs-up to united action. However, the resistance of conservative elements within the American establishment to the Bali deal is not a good sign.
The greater the delay in the world working together on the issue, the higher the risks for the poor and more vulnerable. Consider this: a few millimetres’ rise in sea level may not put at risk much of Europe, and therefore may not be classified as imminent danger by the EU. But it can have a devastating impact on low-lying island countries around the world and coastal communities in India, Bangladesh and elsewhere. What matters, therefore, is the urgency with which countries specifically, and people in general, react to the looming crisis.
Japan to back targets for new climate deal: report Dec 30, 2007
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will accept numerical targets to cut global warming emissions in a new climate change pact, reversing its stance which came under 
fire at this month's U.N.-led talks over the deal, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
The Mainichi Shimbun said Japan plans to present a proposal to divide nations into not only developed and developing countries, but also into a third group, that would include China and India, and set targets for each group.
Japan will also set up a five-year, $10 billion "finance mechanism" to back up developing nations' efforts to tackle global warming with low-interest loans, the paper said. At talks in Bali this month, nations agreed on a two-year "roadmap" to adopt a new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, the main existing plan for combating global warming, beyond 2012.
On February 20, 2007, Australia announced it would phase out the sale of inefficient incandescent light bulbs by 2010, replacing them with highly efficient compact fluorescent bulbs that use one fourth as much electricity. If the rest of the world joins Australia in this simple step to sharply cut carbon emissions, the worldwide drop in electricity use would permit the closing of more than 270 coal-fired (500 megawatt) power plants. For the United States, this bulb switch would facilitate shutting down 80 coal-fired plants. The good news is that the world may be approaching a social tipping point in this shift to efficient light bulbs. On April 25, 2007, just two months after Australia’s announcement, the Canadian government announced it would phase out sales of incandescents by 2012. Mounting concerns about climate change are driving the bulb replacement movement. In mid-March, a U.S. coalition of environmental groups—including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Alliance to Save Energy, the American Coalition for an Energy-Efficient Economy, and the Earth Day Network—along with Philips Lighting launched an initiative to shift to the more-efficient bulbs in all of the country’s estimated 4 billion sockets by 2016. The United Nations Environment Programme says that major threats to the planet such as climate change, the rate of extinction of species, and the challenge of feeding a growing population are among the many that remain unresolved, and all of them put humanity at risk. The warning comes in UNEP's Global Environment Outlook: environment for development (GEO-4) report published 20 years after the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) produced its seminal report, Our Common Future.
Economic Costs of Climate Change ‘Will Affect Every American’ 18 October 2007 NEW YORK - Independent economists and environmentalists are warning of dire consequences for the U.S. economy if policy makers fail to take urgent action on climate change. The costs of climate change inaction is likely to be much higher than the required spending on cuts in carbon emissions, the report’s authors said, adding that the United States can expect to lose hundreds of billions of dollars in damage to its infrastructure, agriculture, and manufacturing sector if more isn’t done soon to slow climate change.
Tourism set to suffer from the climate change it generates: UN Davos, Switzerland (AFP) Oct 1, 2007 A booming worldwide tourism industry could prove its own worst enemy by contributing to the global warming that threatens some of the planet's most prized destinations, UN agencies warned Monday. If no measures are taken, tourism's impact on climate change is set to more than double in the next 30 years, according to advance data from a report by the UN tourism, environment and weather agencies. Today 24 September 2007, UN Dispatch and the UN Foundation is hosting a group of 12 bloggers at the UN, the first-ever event designed solely for bloggers, Welcome to web 2.0 UN! Read the live, play by play from some of the world’s most influential bloggers on our blog at UN Dispatch.org
“Climate change will effect every American economically in a significant and dramatic way,” said Matthias Ruth, director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Integrative Environmental Research. In a new study released this week, Ruth observed that further delays in tackling climate change would not only cause greater damage to the U.S. economy, but would also raise the future cost of dealing with natural disasters. The authors of the study, entitled “The U.S. Economic Impacts of Climate Change and the Costs of Inaction,” say their efforts to analyze the economic research done in the past and pull in other relevant data make the study the first of its kind.
enabling them to report on the United Nations. These bloggers and UN Dispatch will be live blogging the UN's High-Level Event on Climate Change. We will be linking here to their posts. Today, for the first time ever, bloggers reported live from the United Nations. Attending as guests of the UN Foundation and UN Dispatch, these leading online voices are covering the Secretary-General’s high-level meetings on climate change.
Ozone deal called boost to fighting climate change
OTTAWA (Reuters) - A deal by 191 nations to eliminate ozone-depleting substances 10 years ahead of schedule is a "pivotal moment" in the fight against global warming, Canadian Environment Minister John Baird said on Saturday.
Delegates at a U.N. conference in Montreal struck the deal late on Friday. The agreement will phase out production and use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) for developed countries to 2020 from 2030 and to 2030 from 2040 for developing nations. The United Nations also hailed the deal, saying it could cut billions of tones in greenhouse gas emissions. Washington says the faster phase-out of HCFCs will be twice as effective as the Kyoto protocol in fighting climate change. The United States walked away from the protocol in 2001 and Canada says it cannot meet its Kyoto targets.
This initiative should be adopted by all Small Island Developing States (SIDS), as their contribution to climate change mitigation. Ed. Read More
Desertification
Desertification is one symptom of a growing global water problem. There is no shortage of water, but it may not be where we need it nor in the form we need it in. It may also be contaminated, usually by illegal dumping of toxic waste or sewage. Those in island nations are all too aware of what a precious resource water is, we are surrounded by but cannot drink from the ocean. It is time that our governments start changing their building regulations to stipulate that all buildings are designed to collect and store rain water. It is unsustainable to let this expensive resource go to waste. As oil prices keep climbing water will get ever more prohibitively expensive. See Reading List for “When Rivers Run Dry” by Fred Pearce.