Number of questions: [10]
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Posted on 26/04/2007 20:17:29 |
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As countries change political leaders, do you feel you have been able to continue making positive progress towards Global Environmental change? Which countries have the best practice regarding global change and how have they continued to move in a positive direction?
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Marge Nelson (from United States of America)
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There is no one 'model' country with steller performance. However, there are plentiful examples such as Wind farms in Denmark, Solar roof tops in Japan, Paper recycling miils in Germany, steel recycling mills in US, drip irrigation systems in Israel, reforested mountains in South Korea, bicycling networks in Netherlands. Iceland is developing a hydrogen economy, Costa Rica is shifting to renewable energy by 2025, Norway is striving to be carbon neutral by 2050, US States are taking steps to reduce carbon dioxide production and promote renewable energy and energy efficiency products. Denmark has banned construction of coal-fired power plants, India has introduced CNG in Delhi and many more
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Posted on 26/04/2007 17:00:02 |
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Sense it is a proven scientific fact that manmade co2 drives the climate on the planet or is atleast the main contributor. My question is what repeatable scientific experiment can be set up that proves man made co2 is to blame for our slight warming trend and not something that is occuring naturally?
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STUART MACLEOD (from Canada)
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You may consider reading the summary of the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on the Climate Change (IPCC) www.ipcc.ch which provides the latest scientific information on this subject.
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Posted on 26/04/2007 13:05:37 |
Is economic intergration through trade and investment a threat to the enviroment? also does trade undermine the regulatory effects of govenments to control pollution and reduce depletion?
Thanks for your view
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Zabrina Plenderleith (from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
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There are both positive and negative sides of trade and investments on environment. Some of the positive impacts on the environment are:
• Global trade enables a country to import environment-friendly technologies. This reduces global pollution.
• The pressure from importing countries (having higher environmental standards) may force the exporting country to use more environment-friendly processes. Trade and international exposure make consumers aware of better environment standards abroad, which forces the regulators in the developing countries to go for higher standards.
• To the extent global trade and investment is spreading industries all over the globe, it is reducing concentration of pollution in specific pockets.
• If globalization, supported by proper complementary policies and institutions helps countries to have a higher growth rate and lift more people above the poverty line (as in China and even India to some extent), it may indirectly protect environment and promote sustainable growth. Poverty is a big polluter. With more purchasing power for such people, better connectivity and greater access to modern facilities which globalisation may bring about, the pollution level is likely to go down. However, the arguments depend upon corporate social responsibility, managerial knowledge of environmental sustainability, and a level of ignorance in the developing community.
Critics point to many channels through which trade and investment may adversely affect the environment. These negative impacts include:
• Greater trade opportunities could mean more exploitation and export of oil, timber and such other non-renewable resources. This leads to pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, floods and ecological imbalances of different types, the implications of which we may not even fully understand today. Sometimes trade involves dumping of nuclear wastes in developing countries.
• More trade also means that goods travel a longer distance. Transportation of goods adds to pollution through burning of fuels and emission of toxic gases, contributing to global warming and health hazards. In addition, the process uses up scarce resources like coal and oil.
• International trade is encouraging the production and consumption of genetically modified (GM) foods throughout the world whose cumulative ill effects may manifest many years or even generations later.
• The global spread of western-style consumerism is creating a culture of mindless consumption, wastage and excessive exploitation of earth’s resources by the current generation, depriving the future generations.
• Local production is being geared to world majority demand pattern. As a result, small minority demands (like those of tribals), and hence bio-diversity are being sacrificed.
• It is argued that some countries are deliberately lowering environment standards in order to attract direct foreign investment and jobs.
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Posted on 26/04/2007 12:54:44 |
Does this site even work?
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test1 same (from Slovenia)
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yes, www.unep.org/experts is working
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Posted on 26/04/2007 12:44:05 |
Hello,
My question is a simple one. Is it possible that water flow (fresh - non salty water) from Grenland (melting ice transforming into ruuning water) can make such a difference on the worlds water pump as ilustrated in Al Gore`s movie?
I know this may not be your field of expertise but thank you anyway.
Good day.
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dejan harapin (from Slovenia)
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Flooding of coastal areas due to sea level rise may contaiminate ground water affecting water pumps in such areas. So it will depend upon where people live. About 40% of the world's population live within the 100 km of the coastal lne.
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Posted on 26/04/2007 11:37:14 |
Hi Professor Singh. I read for Sustainable Environmental development, dealing with issues such as water resources management, biodiversity conservation, wastes management. I am wondering whether there are potential opportunities at the UNEP to practise the skills i developed. As i am no longer at University, i will not definitely qualify for an internship. Are there other possibilities of me managing international environmental issues through the UNEP?
Yours truly, Marie.
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Marie (from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
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Dear Marie : Thanks for your interest in environment issues. You may visit www.unep.org to get further details of internship opportunities within UNEP.
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Posted on 26/04/2007 10:19:26 |
Hi
Can you tell me how England and India will be affected by climate change. I am looking for information on areas that woudl most probably affected by rise in Sea Level and be constantly flooded.
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Bhadresh Makwana (from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
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Thanks for your questions. You are right as coastal areas of the world will be the hardest hit by the sea level rise. Precise impact on local areas will depends upon such factors like magnitude of the sea level rise, rainfall pattern and topographic characteristics of the region. The recent report of the Intergovrnmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) (www.ipcc.ch) , summary available now but the full report will be published later during the year, provides the most comprehensive information about vulnerable areas.
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Posted on 26/04/2007 06:30:47 |
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What strategies do you propose for educating policy-makers in your area of specialization?
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Centre for Environment Education (from India)
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We need to produce more simple and easy to understand educational materials providing evidence based research and actions required targetted to policy makers. One good template is the recent book "An inconvenient truth" by Al Gore, which uses a lot of graphics and tells the story of global warming. Similarly UNEP has published "One planet many people:Atlas of our changing environment" to raise public awarness about environmental changes taking place around the world. The key is to provide right information in a right format to right people.
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Posted on 26/04/2007 04:27:03 |
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What India is doing to control the emission of green house gases? Any new regulations? What is the positive contribution of India in the context of Global warming?
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Charuvila Aravindakumar (from India)
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Thank you for your question. This is a rather complex issue and a wide veriety of measures are needed to combat global warmimg. India has one of the lowest per capita energy consumption in the world. India has taken a major step forward in introducing CNG is New Delhi. The Indian government has has been promoting use of solar and wind energy since decades. You can get more details of specific actions being taken by the Indian government on the web site of the Ministry of Environment&Forests, Government of India.
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Posted on 26/04/2007 02:38:39 |
By lookin to earth by sattelite, I was very impressed by the extent of deforesting on the land i live on, and I imagine its something like similar all around the world.
Is there a global plan to recover land protection in percentiles to each country, or
this is considered a match of each country, without any interference of UNO. Is there any possibilitie of a global commitment on that?
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luis Antônio Medeiros (from Brazil)
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Dear Luis
Thanks for raising this question. Large deforestation is one of major environmental issues of our time. There are a number of organisations such as theFood and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, NGOs and others who are working in partnership with national governments for the protection of forests. Over 12% of the land area has been designated as the protected area by various governments.At the global level currently the United Nations Forum on Forests is engaged in following Global Objectives:
- Reverse the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest management (SFM), including protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation, and increase efforts to prevent forest degradation;
- Enhance forest-based economic, social and environmental benefits, including by improving the livelihoods of forest-dependent people;
- Increase significantly the area of sustainably managed forests, including protected forests, and increase the proportion of forest products derived from sustainably managed forests; and
- Reverse the decline in official development assistance for sustainable forest management and mobilize significantly-increased new and additional financial resources from all sources for the implementation of SFM.
The Brazillian government has a major program for monitoring deforestation in Amazonia using satellite data and results show that the rate of deforestation has slowed down in recent years compared to previous years.
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