Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned that action is needed to conserve Pacific mangroves. As a result of climate change and other stresses, some Pacific islands could see half their mangroves lost by the end of the century. The link between the mangrove wetlands and other coastal ecosystems and their contribution to near-shore fisheries production make it "critical for Pacific Island governments and local communities to act now to ensure the sustainable provision of mangrove ecosystem services," says Kitty Simonds of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

According to Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, "there are many compelling reasons for fighting climate change. The threats to mangroves in the Pacific, and by inference across other low-lying parts of the tropics, underline yet another reason to act" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But," he continued, "there is also an urgent need to help vulnerable communities adapt to the sea level rise which is already underway." Vainuupo Jungblut at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme reckons that "the challenge for the region is to implement appropriate and affordable adaptation measures with limited resources."

More information

• Independent Online
• Fiji Times
• Press release, UNEP

• Pacific Island Mangroves in a Changing Climate and Rising Seas, UNEP

Leading scientists and policy experts have signed a declaration calling for a new international coordinating mechanism to advise governments on protecting biodiversity. They argue that the gap between biodiversity science and public policy must be closed as a matter of urgency and that the global scientific community should be more strongly organized and integrated. Bob Watson, chief scientist at the World Bank, reckons that biodiversity needs the equivalent of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "It is a wonderful example of academics working with politicians," he said. The Convention on Biological Diversity does not have the "structural means to mobilize the expertise of a large scientific community that spans a wide range of disciplines," according to the declaration.

Last year, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment warned that the present rate of species loss may be one thousand times faster than at any time in history. "It is the bits of biodiversity acting together that creates the ecological goods and services that we depend on for life," according to Georgina Mace at the Institute of Zoology in London, United Kingdom. "For the sake of the planet," Watson concludes, "the biodiversity science community has to create a way to get organized, to coordinate its work across disciplines, and together with one clear voice advise governments on steps to halt the potentially catastrophic loss of species already occurring." The Consultative Process Towards an International Mechanism of Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity (IMOSEB) has been established to produce recommendations for such a process.

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Background

• IPS
• BBC
• Reuters
• CORDIS

• Press release and Declaration, IMOSEB

The annual Group of Eight (G8) Summit took place in St Petersburg, Russia, July 15-17th 2006. The G8 leaders approved a statement that recognized a split within the group on nuclear energy and climate change as "G8 members pursue different ways to achieve energy security and the goals of climate protection." The statement said that those who favour the nuclear response, six of the eight members, see it as a key to energy security and slowing global warming.

Environmental groups were not happy with the endorsement, albeit qualified, of the nuclear option. "Spreading nuclear reactors around the planet will pave the way for new terrorist threats and new potential nuclear armed states," warned the GRACE Policy Institute. Alice Slater of the GRACE Policy Institute said that it was time to focus on the green renewable sources of energy. "People don't get told the story that these things are possible, that the sun, water and wind can work," she said. Graham Saul at Oil Change International took issue with the G8 prediction of a massive increase in demand for fossil fuels: "The G8 can't fight climate change and subsidize an expansion of fossil fuels at the same time. This is a complete contradiction and a dramatic failure of leadership on the part of the G8."

More information

• Reuters
• Reuters
• Energy Business Review

• ENS
• Cattle Network
• G8 Statement on Global Energy Security