2011 UNEP – United Nations Environment Programme Survey on Emerging Issues

The aim of this survey is to score and rank emerging issues that have been determined from two unique UNEP processes:

The UNEP Foresight Process:
A process aimed at informing the UN system and the greater policy community about the global environmental issues that need attention over the “next one to three years” and to provide input into the “emerging issues theme” of the Rio+20 Conference.

The Global Environment Outlook 5 (GEO-5):
UNEP’s flagship assessment that reports on the state, trends and outlook of the global environment. GEO-5 will analyze policy options that help speed-up realization of internationally agreed goals. It will also consider global responses necessary for sustainable development. The GEO-5 report will provide input on the themes of Rio+20 Conference. It will be published in May 2012 and its Summary for Policy Makers will be available by the end of February 2012.

To take parte go here: http://bit.ly/ppkLNp

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Wangari Maathai: ‘My heart is in the land and women I came from’

John Vidal, who met the Kenyan activist, recalls the person who turned planting trees into a worldwide symbol of hope.

Wangari Maathai became a powerful voice for African women. Photograph: Charley Gallay/Getty Images for NAACP

When Wangari Maathai first came to Britain in 1988 as an almost unknown Kenyan social activist, all we knew about her was that she was a middle-aged scientist who had been beaten up by her country’s government for opposing the development of a Nairobi park and that she was working with a group of women planting trees.

She gave a short talk to a few human rights and environmental groups and within half an hour had probably changed the agenda for a generation of activists who, until then, had barely considered poverty in Africa to be part of the global debate.

Her fierce denunciation of the rich north that day was shocking. “The top of the pyramid is blinded by insatiable appetites backed by scientific knowledge, industrial advancement, the need to acquire, accumulate and over-consume. The rights of those at the bottom are violated every day by those at the top,” she said.

Her disdain for the economics promoted by Britain, the World Bank, and the west was huge: “The economic and political systems are designed to create more numbers, population pressures show no sign of waning, deforestation and desertification continue. The people at the top of the pyramid do not understand the limits to growth and they do not appreciate that they jeopardise the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Her solution, to work with the poorest and most vulnerable women to repair their own degraded environments and empower themselves, proved inspirational. Planting trees became a worldwide symbol of hope and community regeneration. The Green Belt Movement, which she started, evolved into one of the first truly worldwide, grassroots self-help organisations. Over the next 20 years, more than 3bn trees were planted by women around the world as a direct result of her work.

Her anger with the west and her disappointment with a succession of Kenyan governments never abated. But after she unexpectedly won the Nobel peace prize in 2004, she became a powerful voice of African women. From being dismissed by governments as a dissident, she was embraced by them as they turned to the environment as a fig leaf for their other destructive policies.

I planted trees with her, met her family and went to her village in Ihithe, near Nyeri in the foothills of the Aberdare mountains. She hated the way the land all around had been taken over by tea plantations growing for export, when it could be far better used by families to feed themselves. She was weary of ping-ponging around the world to give inspirational talks to presidents and parliaments.

She knew she was in danger of being captured by the very elites she had worked so hard to overthrow but, she said, there was no other way to effect change. “My heart is in the land and women I came from,” she said when I last met her.

Author: John Vidal
Source: The Guardian
Original: http://bit.ly/n5o6Bh

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Could one third of the world’s electricity be powered by wind?

Wind is the movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure. In fact, wind exists because the sun unevenly heats the surface of the Earth. As hot air rises, cooler air moves in to fill the void. As long as the sun shines, the wind will blow. And as long as the wind blows, people will harness it to power their lives.

Ancient mariners used sails to capture the wind and explore the world. Farmers once used windmills to grind their grains and pump water. Today, more and more people are using wind turbines to wring electricity from the breeze. Over the past decade, wind turbine use has increased at more than 25 percent a year. Still, it only provides a small fraction of the world’s energy.

Most wind energy comes from turbines that can be as tall as a 20-story building and have three 200-foot-long (60-meter-long) blades. These contraptions look like giant airplane propellers on a stick. The wind spins the blades, which turn a shaft connected to a generator that produces electricity. Other turbines work the same way, but the turbine is on a vertical axis and the blades look like a giant egg beater.

The biggest wind turbines generate enough electricity to supply about 600 U.S. homes. Wind farms have tens and sometimes hundreds of these turbines lined up together in particularly windy spots, like along a ridge. Smaller turbines erected in a backyard can produce enough electricity for a single home or small business.

Wind is a clean source of renewable energy that produces no air or water pollution. And since the wind is free, operational costs are nearly zero once a turbine is erected. Mass production and technology advances are making turbines cheaper, and many governments offer tax incentives to spur wind-energy development.

Some people think wind turbines are ugly and complain about the noise the machines make. The slowly rotating blades can also kill birds and bats, but not nearly as many as cars, power lines, and high-rise buildings do. The wind is also variable: If it’s not blowing, there’s no electricity generated.

Nevertheless, the wind energy industry is booming. Globally, generation more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2006. At the end of last year, global capacity was more than 70,000 megawatts. In the energy-hungry United States, a single megawatt is enough electricity to power about 250 homes. Germany has the most installed wind energy capacity, followed by Spain, the United States, India, and Denmark. Development is also fast growing in France and China.

Industry experts predict that if this pace of growth continues, by 2050 the answer to one third of the world’s electricity needs will be found blowing in the wind.

Source: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Original: http://on.natgeo.com/ogsdO5

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Os bônus para renováveis nos 5 maiores produtores

São Paulo – Um estudo elaborado pela consultoria americana KPMG comparou as políticas de incentivo para produção de energia renovável em 15 países no mundo. O objetivo foi levantar detalhes sobre os tipos de incentivos implantados em cada um dos países pesquisados.

A seguir, você confere as opções de estímulo adotadas nos 5 maiores produtores de energia renovável, que ao contribuírem para uma matriz energética mais limpa, ajudam a reduzir as emissões de gases efeito estufa. São eles: China, Estados Unidos, Alemanha, Espanha e Brasil.

Foram avaliados mecanismos de estímulo à produção de energia limpa, como o Feed-in tariff, subsídios de capital e descontos, redução de impostos ou taxas sobre a comercialização de energia; investimento público, empréstimos e financiamentos, entre outras medidas.

China

Líder número um nos setores do mercado de energias renováveis, a China produziu, em 2009, 40% dos equipamentos de energia solar fotovoltaica do mundo (PV) de abastecimento, 30 % das turbinas de vento e 77% dos coletores de energia solar para aquecimento de água. Naquele mesmo ano, o gigante asiático adicionou 37 GW de capacidade de energia renovável, mais que qualquer outro país no mundo, para chegar a 226 GW de capacidade renovável total.

O apoio do governo chinês para as energias renováveis inclui redução do imposto de renda corporativo, reduções significativas nos impostos incidentes sobre valor agregado, outros incentivos fiscais, tarifas feed-in (tarifas subsidiadas para renováveis) e os subsídios aos operadores de projetos de energia renovável para compensar os seus custos.

Estados Unidos

Os EUA são o segundo maior produtor de energia gerada a partir de fontes renováveis, incluindo o etanol de milho, biomassa e geotérmica. Em 2009, o país perdia apenas para a China em capacidade de geração eólica, Para adições de energia eólica, os Estados Unidos estavam perdendo apenas para China em 2009, com 10 GW instalados naquele ano.

O apoio do governo para as energias renováveis inclui programas de subvenção, créditos fiscais para produção e investimentos. Além disso, o país introduziu um programa especial, o Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), que obriga empresas de geração e fornecimento elétrico a ter uma fração específica de sua energia vinda de fontes renováveis. Embora não haja uma legislação federal em vigor sobre o assunto, atualmente 29 estados americanos já adotam o programa de RPS.

Alemanha

Em 2009, a Alemanha foi o líder em investimento em capacidade nova de geração solar fotovoltaica, com a introdução de 3,8 GW – mais de metade do investimento do mercado global de eólica naquele ano. O país também liderou o processo de conexão dos sistemas solares fotovoltaicos às rede elétrica.

Além disso, tem implementado uma série de políticas de incentivo, como a Lei Aquecimento Renovável, que exige que pelo menos 20% da energia para sistemas de aquecimento de novos edifícios residenciais devem vir de fontes renováveis.

Tarifas feed-in estão disponíveis para energia eólica, solar, biomassa, geotérmica e para geração hidrelétrica. Os investimentos em energia limpa garante não só a redução das emissões de gases nocivos ao planeta como a geração de novos postos de trabalho. Na última década, cerca de 300 mil vagas foram criadas no agitado mercado de energias renováveis do país.

Espanha

Em 2009, a Espanha foi líder de novas instalações de sistemas de energia eólica no mercado europeu e, ao longo dos últimos anos, tem conduzido boa parte do crescimento nesta área. De março de 2009 a março de 2010, o país acrescentou 220 MW de novas centrais eólicas à uma matriz em operação de 231 MW.

Uma série de incentivos fiscais estão disponíveis para promover a sustentabilidade. Os bônus para renováveis incluem isenção de impostos e subsídios fiscais para exploração e projetos que empregam energia eólica e solar. De acordo com o Instituto para Diversificação da Energia (IDEA), em 2020, cerca de 42,3% do total da geração de eletricidade espanhola virá de fontes renováveis.

Brasil

Brasil é considerado o quinto maior produtor em renováveis (incluindo hidrelétrica) e o sexto maior investidor do mundo. Segundo o relatório da KPMG, o país tem a vantagem de ser líder na geração de etanol de cana. Tem também mais de 4,8 GW de usinas de biomassa para cogeração de energia no processo de produção do açúcar. O estudo da KPMG identificou os seguintes estímulos ao setor de renováveis no país: subsídio de capital e concessão de descontos; investimentos públicos, empréstimos e financiamentos; e licitações públicas.

Além de possuir uma matriz energética fortemente baseada em geração hidroelétrica, o país adota diversos programas de utilização de combustíveis renováveis que vêm sendo desenvolvidos e se intensificando nos últimos três anos, destaca o relatório. Outro ponto alto é a aprovação recente pela Comissão de Serviços de Infraestrutura (CI) de um projeto de lei federal (o PLS 311/09) que estabelece um regime especial de tributação para incentivar o desenvolvimento e produção de energia elétrica a partir de fontes alternativas (Reinfa). A lei, em tramitação no Senado Federal, prevê diversos benefícios fiscais como a isenção do PIS e do COFINS, e de impostos de importação e IPI para empresas que operam sob o regime.

Autor: Vanessa Barbosa
Fonte: Exame.com
Original: http://bit.ly/o2qJ16

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Angela Cropper, Special Advisor to the Executive Director of UNEP, on the importance of Rio+20

Angela Cropper
Former Deputy Executive Director, now Special Advisor to the Executive Director, UNEP

Next year’s Rio+20 Conference is a golden opportunity for political leadership, given the dire, urgent and complex economic, social and environmental issues that confront the world. The requirement for such leadership and commitment on macro sustainable development issues is more pressing than the need for long lists of sectoral ‘to dos’, which mostly already exist on paper as outcomes of global summits and sectoral processes.

We know what needs to be done. We need, however, to examine why implementation lags so far behind such resolutions of mind and what would enable this Conference to elevate its ambition and make good use of the opportunity before it. How might it remove some of the impediments to sustainable development? What kind of outcomes would position the world to deal with some of the urgent, if complex, problems it faces?

Here are ten ideas for ambitious approaches which need political direction and subsequent commitment:

1. Shape the approach to economic growth to serve social objectives and recognize environmental limits and imperatives.
The Conference will meet at a propitious moment, as the world now much better understands the issues of sustainable development and how the economy, the environment and human well-being are inter-related and mutually supportive. But this understanding is not put into practice: environmental imperatives and human well-being objectives are invariably traded off as optional and secondary to economic growth. This impedes sustainable development which unifies economic, social and environmental objectives — as opposed to adding on environmental and social considerations only where the economic bottom line remains unaffected.

The Conference could set this relationship properly on its feet, putting economic growth at the service of the social objectives which governments have long enunciated over time and recognising and respecting resource and environmental constraints. This will require qualitatively different attention to decisions about policy, investment, and other development interventions, so that environmental and human wellbeing outcomes are not sacrificed in the preoccupation with, and pursuit of, economic growth.

2. Make a commitment to reduce inequity, domestically and globally.
The Conference could draw attention to how the present economic approach generates persistent poverty and increasing inequity, recognizing that the peripheral means by which the world tries to alleviate them do not allow it to catch up. It could commit itself to reducing that equity gap consciously and urgently both within and among countries, and put in place arrangements to keep the process under global and national scrutiny. Without achieving this for the present generation we can hardly expect to meet the concern for equity between generations.

3. Require more appropriate measures of development to be formulated and applied
It is well established that relying on Gross Domestic Product as the measure of development is misleading, especially given the goal of sustainable development, yet we persist in its use. The Conference could call for urgent and accelerated work, in a specified time frame, towards a new set of measurements and indicators that reflect the three dimensions of sustainable development as equally important. National Income Accounting Systems will also need to reflect the same characteristics.

4. Require corporate reporting on integrated sustainability parameters.
It is important to understand how economic activities affect national economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. Much available technical guidance is available on how such sustainability reporting can be done, and some countries have already moved to require this important measure of accountability by law. The Conference could conclude that such national reporting should be made mandatory, to permit oversight of corporate practice and to guide enabling policies and institutional arrangements. This would contribute to measuring national progress and, if universally applied, would not affect competitiveness.

5. Commit to enhanced investment and arrangements for public involvement.
Moving towards sustainable development cannot be done by governments alone: they must guide and enable societies along that pathway. Societies must understand the nature of the changes required and be prepared to support them. National — as opposed to government — ownership of the approaches and measures to be taken needs to be cultivated and secured. This requires educational programmes that build understanding and could lead to changes in values and behaviour; access to information that enables and empowers citizens to make choices and inputs; and mechanisms for public involvement and consultation that are part of national governance arrangements.

6. Make an affirmative intervention on the economic interests of youth.
Youth unemployment — and the tensions to which it leads — is a global phenomenon. The Conference could decide to establish a global programme for training and employing young people to equip them with the skills and opportunities to share more equitably in the development process. This could be especially useful if linked to the nature and range of skills required to ‘green’ economies.

7. Agree to take action to restore the world’s marine commons.
The science on the degradation of the marine commons is unambiguous; the policy actions required are clear; but political decision-making lags behind. Effective action is invariably sacrificed to national interests and practices while, globally, there is a laissez-faire approach, even though the issue is vital to global environmental sustainability and many livelihoods. With present practice and approaches, the assets of the marine commons will continue to degrade, perhaps irretrievably, in spite of the many polices, programmes and instruments in place from national to global levels. These urgently need to be unified and gaps filled, including by paying attention to ocean areas not covered by present governance arrangements. The Conference could declare its commitment to the systemic action required to address this need and require that it be served through all the related global processes.

8. Commit to transforming land management and food production and consumption systems to ensure national and global food security.
This is essential for many reasons: avoiding a new wave of converting forests and wetlands in response to the pressures for world food security; ensuring that existing agricultural land is used sustainably; addressing the multiple pressures that lead to processes of land degradation and desertification; and addressing the needs of the estimated two billion people who subsist in threatened ecological systems and are at the bottom of the human well-being ladder. The Conference could commit to increased investment in alleviating such processes and to the national policies and actions required.

9. Help Least Developed Countries onto a ‘fast runway’ for Sustainable Development.
The Conference could take global leadership on behalf of the world’s 48 most disadvantaged countries, and set the stage for a transformative moment in the Global Partnership for Development. It could decide on global affirmative action to help them overcome impediments over domestic investible resources, access to modern technologies on affordable terms, and technical capacity for designing accelerated economic transformation and the institutional framework of policies, legislation, regulation, fiscal measures that will be required. This would also include establishing and harmonizing a public/private investment and financing platform.

10. Commit to an energy compact to expand access, efficiency, and investment in renewables.
The Conference could catalyze a new global energy mix by relating energy demand (access, saving and efficiency) and supply (including incentive policies, subsidies, investments and the deployment of renewable energy sources). This could be an important lever for simultaneously addressing economic, social and environmental aspirations in the context of climate change targets and sustainable development.

Source: UNEP
Original: http://bit.ly/qcW6qY

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