World Water Week closed on Friday in Stockholm, Sweden, with participants concluding that water must be recognised as the enabler of successful implementation of the entire 2030 Agenda as well as the Paris Climate Agreement.
Karin Lexén, Director of World Water Week at Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)
“Water – the lifeline of our planet – will be needed to achieve nearly every Sustainable Development Goal, and to face the challenges that climate change presents,” said Karin Lexén, Director of World Water Week at Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
World Water Week 2016, themed “Water for Sustainable Growth”, welcomed 3,100 participants from over 120 countries. Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including the goal on water (Goal 6) was one of the key issues discussed by high-level policy makers, development and water professionals, researchers, civil society and private sector representatives.
Throughout the Week, there was a focus on implementation and action, particularly on local and city level, marking a transition from the global discussions and negotiations that led to the adoption of the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015.
“In order to achieve the SDGs; city and local leaderships are crucial; that is where we will find the drive. It is also important that civil society, businesses and social entrepreneurs are engaged, to learn from each other to create smart, viable and sustainable partnerships. Water is too important to keep inside the water community – water is a central part of the entire society,” said SIWI’s Executive Director Torgny Holmgren.
This was underlined by Sweden’s Environment Minister Karolina Skog: “Water is a shared resource and a shared responsibility. The private sector has an important part to play. It has the competence, the technology and the ability to invest. Responsible water usage is an economical advantage and will pay off both for sustainable business models and for new innovations.”
This year, World Water Week offered an opportunity for key actors to meet and take stock of progress towards the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement, from a water perspective. The Week will provide an annual update, tracking water in the global development agreements until 2030.
The Week also welcomed representatives of the High Level Panel on Water, which was established earlier this year by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Kim, with the aim of furthering the water-related SDGs. The Panel representatives used the Week to get input from the wider water and development community.
“We must continue to focus on water as a carrier to achieve the 2030 Agenda, and to push for better integration of water into the global climate agenda,” said Karin Lexén.
Abdeladim Lhafi, High Commissioner for the upcoming COP22 (the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the Climate Convention) and High Commissioner for Water, Forestry and Fight Against Desertification in Morocco, told the Closing session that COP21 in Paris was “a historical turning point, a diplomatic success, it was a COP of decisions. COP22 will be the conference of implementation.”
“Climate change is the challenge of our generation. There is a great need to identify risks and vulnerabilities. Preventive measures are much more cost-efficient than re-active ones. Smart water proofed climate investments will give payback in several ways,” said Swedish Environment Minister Karolina Skog.
During the Week, climate was also discussed in relation to alleviating hunger in sub-Saharan Africa. Professor Malin Falkenmark, SIWI, called Africa’s climate its “Achille’s Heel”, and said that rainwater harvesting and other green water management methods are necessary to alleviate hunger in sub-Saharan Africa and meeting the SDGs. Together with other water and climate experts, she called for a Green Water Initiative in Africa.
Two prizes were awarded during World Water Week. On Tuesday 30 August, the Stockholm Junior Water Prize was awarded to a student trio from Thailand by H.R.H. Prince Carl Philip of Sweden. On Wednesday 31 August, the Stockholm Water Prize was awarded to Professor Joan B. Rose, USA, for her tireless contributions to global public health. The prize was presented to Professor Rose by H.M. Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden.
World Water Week 2016 was the 26th edition. The 2017 World Water Week, to be held from 27 August to 1 September in Stockholm, will focus on water and waste under the theme “Water and waste – reduce and reuse.”
Sept. 1 marks the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and Pope utilised the occasion to call on faithful to save planet from ‘debris, desolation and filth’
Pope Francis. Photo credit: dailytimes.com.ng
Pope Francis called on Thursday for concerted action against environmental degradation and climate change, renewing a fierce attack on consumerism and financial greed which, he said, were threatening the planet.
A year after publishing the first papal document dedicated to the environment, the pope urged Christians to make the defense of nature a core part of their faith, adding it to the seven “works of mercy” they are meant to perform.
“God gave us a bountiful garden, but we have turned it into a polluted wasteland of debris, desolation and filth,” Francis said in a document released to coincide with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.
Born in Argentina, Francis is the first pope from a developing nation and has placed environmental causes at the heart of his papacy, denouncing what he sees as a throwaway consumer culture and rampant, market-driven economies.
“Economics and politics, society and culture cannot be dominated by thinking only of the short term and immediate financial or electoral gains,” Francis said, suggesting more ambitious action might be needed to curb climate change.
World leaders agreed in Paris last December to commit to limiting greenhouse-gas emissions in an effort to stabilise rising temperatures, while the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said in July the earth was warming faster than expected and on track for its hottest year ever.
Francis welcomed the Paris accord, but urged voters everywhere to make sure their governments did not backtrack.
“It is up to citizens to insist that this happen, and indeed to advocate for even more ambitious goals,” he said.
He asked the world’s one billion Roman Catholic to embrace a green agenda, saying defense of the environment should be added to the works of mercy, which provide believers with guiding principles and duties that they are meant to follow.
These include taking care of the hungry and sick, and teaching the ignorant. Six were spelled out in the New Testament; the seventh – burying the dead – was added in the Middle Ages.
“May the works of mercy also include care for our common home,” Francis said, adding that simple, daily gestures which broke with “the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness” would make a difference.
Even recycling rubbish, switching off lights and using a car pool or public transport would help, he said. “We must not think that these efforts are too small to improve our world.”
Bishop Brian Farrell, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said the pope’s words did not represent new Church rules, but thought his suggestions would be assimilated by congregations around the world.
“It is obviously a rare thing to add to the acts of mercy, but things change. This shows the movement of the church through time. We need new calls for responsibility,” he told Reuters.
By Crispian Balmer; Editing by Jon Boyle and John Stonestreet (Reuters)
The critically endangered western gray whale population that feeds in Russia’s Far East waters is slowly showing signs of recovery, but their numbers and range are still at risk from industry activity in the region, according to a new report released on Saturday at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, Hawai’i.
A dead gray whale that got stranded in Samish Bay in 2010. Photo credit: Cascadia Research Collective
The joint report by IUCN-International Union for Conservation for Nature, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) examines the influence of an IUCN-led independent panel of scientists, which has been advising Sakhalin Energy – one of the largest companies operating in the area – as part of an innovative loan deal. Over the last 12 years, Sakhalin Energy has made important efforts to limit the impact of its operations on whales and the fragile environment. During this period, the western gray whale population has grown 3-4% annually, from an estimated 115 animals in 2004 to 174 in 2015.
The western gray whale population is currently listed at Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
“What started 12 years ago as a response to a growing conflict between environmentalists and the oil and gas industry over one critically endangered whale population has resulted in multiple benefits for conservation and business,” says IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. “IUCN has shown that independent scientific panels are an effective mechanism to arrive at evidence-based and robust solutions to some of today’s pressing environment and development challenges.”
However, the report also warns that further cooperation and involvement of all companies and industries in the region – including oil and gas operators and fisheries – are crucial to ensure best practices and the long-term protection of the animals.
“The annual increase of Sakhalin whales is encouraging but their recovery in the long-term will depend on more companies in the region joining this effort,” said Doug Nowacek, a well-known specialist in whale behaviour and a WGWAP panellist. “Sakhalin Energy has demonstrated that it is possible for companies to mitigate their impacts and still operate effectively. But other companies in Sakhalin need to take similar measures to address the problem of cumulative impacts of industry on the marine environment.”
The report, titled “Stories of Influence”, explores how the panel generated benefits for business and conservation. It is based on interviews with more than 20 experts and stakeholders engaged in the process. Over the past 12 years, the panel issued more than 539 recommendations to Sakhalin Energy and other parties, 90% of which have been implemented or superseded by subsequent advice. The process has included financial lenders and government officials as well as NGOs, serving as observers.
Among the achievements is a decision by Sakhalin Energy to alter the route of its pipeline to minimise the disruption and impact on the whales’ feeding grounds. The panel has advocated innovative scientific research, including a satellite-tagging programme that has documented the longest one-way migration of any mammal – a 10,880km journey from Sakhalin to its wintering calving grounds in Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. In addition, the panel’s work has also led to the development of one of the most comprehensive company Monitoring and Mitigation Plans for seismic surveys, which now serves as the industry’s global guide.
IUCN first established what is now known as WGWAP in 2004 in response to a growing concern over Sakhalin Energy’s plans for expansion in the Sea of Okhotsk and the impact this could have on the critically endangered whales found off Sakhalin Island. An outcry from NGOs opposing those plans eventually persuaded lenders to tie a number of mitigating conditions to the loan agreement. These included a requirement for Sakhalin Energy to finance an independent panel managed by IUCN to provide recommendations on their operations.
“The Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel has reduced the impact of this oil and gas operation on one of the world’s most threatened whales, a legacy the lenders to this project can be proud of,” says Wendy Elliott, Deputy Global Wildlife Leader, WWF International. “We encourage other financial institutions to replicate this success by including similarly stringent conditions when granting loans to projects with potentially damaging impacts on threatened wildlife and their habitats.”
Sakhalin Energy recognises that integrating science into the company’s management and policies has had a positive impact on its operations, and this is now reflected in the company’s vision.
During the report’s launch, IUCN confirmed it intends to sign another five-year agreement with Sakhalin Energy to continue this work. Under the new agreement covering 2017-2021, WGWAP will continue to provide independent scientific advice to the company. Also, the panel has recently established a working group to explore how similar lending conditions to enhance conservation measures can be mainstreamed going forward.
Throughout the IUCN Congress from 1-10 September, a number of events will explore the management of oil and gas impacts on the marine environment, as well as examine the effectiveness of Independent Scientific Advisory Panels, such as WGWAP, for resolving environmental conflicts on behalf of governments and business. In addition, building on the WGWAP experience, IUCN has released a new guide developed to help industry design and carry out effective and responsible geophysical surveys.
International group of scientists, conservationists and leading environmental advocates have rejected potentially dangerous genetic engineering tool
Dr. Angelika Hilbeck, President of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER)
As thousands of government representatives and conservationists convene in Oahu, Hawai’i this week for the 2016 World Conservation Congress, international conservation and environmental leaders are sounding the alarm about the use of gene drives – a controversial new synthetic biology technology intended to intentionally cause species to become extinct.
In a digital vote released August 26 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), scientists and government representatives voted overwhelmingly for IUCN and its commissions to adopt a de facto moratorium on support or endorsement of research into gene drives for conservation or other purposes. News of the vote comes as an important open letter is published on the topic.
Scientists and environmental experts and organisations from around the globe have advocated for a halt to proposals for the use of gene drive technologies in conservation. Announced on Thursday, a long list of environmental leaders, including Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, genetics professor and broadcaster Dr. David Suzuki, Dr. Fritjof Capra, entomologist Dr. Angelika Hilbeck, Indian environmental activist Dr. Vandana Shiva, environmental justice advocate Nnimmo Bassey and organic pioneer and biologist Nell Newman, have lent their support to an open letter, “A Call for Conservation with a Conscience: No Place for Gene Drives in Conservation.”
The letter states, in part: “Gene drives, which have not been tested for unintended consequences, nor fully evaluated for ethical and social impacts, should not be promoted as conservation tools.”
“Gene drives are basically a technology that aims for a targeted species to go extinct,” explains ecologist and entomologist Dr. Angelika Hilbeck, President of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER). “While this may appear to some conservationist professionals to be a ‘good’ thing and a ‘silver bullet’ to handle complicated problems, there are high risks of unintended consequences that could be worse than the problems they are trying to fix.”
Both the leading developers of the technology and also those concerned about gene drives will be attending this week’s congress and holding events to raise awareness, hype promises or highlight the potential hazards of gene drives. One near-term gene drive proposal, promoted by U.S.-based non-governmental organisation Island Conservation, intends to release gene drive mice on islands to eradicate them. Another led by the University of Hawai’i would develop gene drive mosquitoes for use in Hawaii to combat avian malaria which affects honeycreeper birds. The debate around gene drives is likely to resurface later this year at the negotiations of the United Nations Biodiversity Convention in Cancun, Mexico in December.
“Gene drives, also known as ‘mutagenic chain reactions,’ aims to alter DNA so an organism always passes down a desired trait, hoping to change over time the genetic makeup of an entire species,” explains Dr Vandana Shiva of Navdanya. “This technology would give biotech developers an unprecedented ability to directly intervene in evolution, to dramatically modify ecosystems, or even crash a targeted species to extinction.”
“To lose sight of the problem of biodiversity loss in favor of false solutions and short-term techno-fixes such as gene drives is a dangerous path,” said Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth. “There are real community-based conservation efforts that are truly sustainable and should be scaled up and supported. We are very concerned gene drives will drive forward destructive agricultural practices or be used for military purposes – speculative conservation claims are at best an unfounded diversion or smokescreen.”
Signatories of the letter, which include indigenous organisations and legal experts, raised legal and moral questions, citing an “ethical threshold that must not be crossed without great restraint.”
“From military testing to GMO crops, and now gene drives, Hawai’i should not be treated as a test zone for risky and experimental technologies,” said Walter Ritte, Native Hawaiian activist and hunter. “What happens in Hawai’i must be discussed with residents, not decided from a lab on the other side of the continent. Hawaiians should decide what is best for Hawai’i.”
Some of the signing organisations will be holding a Knowledge Café event as part of the IUCN World Conservation Congress at 8:30 am (HST) on Monday, September 5.
In response to upcoming proposals to release gene drive organisms in Hawaii, the local organisation Hawai’i SEED will be hosting an educational session on gene drives in the evening on Tuesday, September 6.
On Wednesday, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Patricia Espinosa, addressed the second Climate Change Summit of the Americas, which ended on Thursday. The summit gathered regional, state and provincial officials to discuss the next steps for the implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and to and analyse new opportunities to drive the low carbon economy.
Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Patricia Espinosa, addressing the second Climate Change Summit of the Americas
Ms. Espinosa said that the collaboration of cities and states to plan for climate change, to put policy in place and to deliver the benefits of sustainable development to their communities brought confidence to the multilateral climate talks under the auspices of the United Nations.
In Paris last year, cities and states played an important support role in securing the ambitious universal climate agreement. The UN’s top climate change official said that, looking forward to the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech in November, the same support embodied by commitment and action on the ground can help national governments write the rules that will make the agreement work.
Here is her full speech:
As we approach COP 22 in Marrakech, three certainties have come into sharp focus. These certainties must guide our conversation regarding how we take forward the agreements reached last year – the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals and, of course, the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
First, we are certain that there is only one possible global development plan and it is sustainable. All action to address climate change is an essential, inseparable and integrated part of that global development plan. Climate action that incentivises the shift to this new development path, whether it is clean energy, energy efficiency, adaptation or education, is the foundation for the future well-being of all people.
Rapidly reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change and building resilient societies to cope with climate impacts protects lives and livelihoods, improves public health, creates new industries and sustainable farming, cuts costs for governments, business and citizens and raises stable investment returns.
Second, it is certain that it is the responsibility of national governments to incentivise the shift onto this new development path. The Paris Agreement, reached by countries under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, sets a clear path to keep the world within safe temperature limits and opens the way to respond more boldly than ever to the climate challenge.
In Paris, the world made a historic leap towards a sustainable future where humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions are removed as an existential threat to civilisation. After Paris, no politician or citizen, no business manager or investor can doubt that the transition to a low-carbon society and economy, resilient to the impacts of climate change, is the determination of the community of nations.
The third certainty – and the one that is perhaps the most germane to our discourse today – is that national governments simply cannot by themselves reduce of emissions at the unprecedented rates needed to achieve key milestones made under the Paris Agreement.
Subnational governments – cities, states, provinces and the partnerships that exist among these groups – need to align local action with the Paris Agreement. Business, academic and civil society communities need to be active in the shift to a new kind of development. Without local action – in the Americas and in every region on every continent of the planet – we will not accomplish our global goals.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have the certainty to understand what it will take to accomplish our global goals – a steep decline in greenhouse gas emissions and building up of resilience. And we have the certainty to understand what is at stake – a future where growth is sustained over generations.
However, there still remains a lack of certainty regarding the next steps each group should take. Today, I would like to share my own vision of the crucial next steps for national governments, for subnational governments and for the private sector.
For national governments, the next steps should include ratification and rules. We are hopeful that those who committed to ratify the Paris Agreement this year do so and the Agreement enters into force early. There is no better way to demonstrate that governments understand and accept the responsibility agreed in Paris. There is no better path to the necessary policy solutions than a legally-binding commitment to each country’s nationally determined contribution.
With early entry into force a very real possibility, finalising the rulebook that determines how the Paris Agreement will work is crucial. The upcoming UN Climate Change conference in Marrakech is the opportunity to further clarify the rules. These rules will spell out how support is provided to the developing world, how adaptation is elevated and how we will measure, report and verify both emission reductions and our progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement.
For governments at the state and local levels, the next steps are to align with the national goals in your country’s contribution to the Paris Agreement. Immediate action can bring your local growth in line with global goals. As governments discuss the rules, they need to know that their commitments on climate are possible in the policies and practices of the cities and states that power their country’s growth. Partnerships between nations are more easily built on a foundation of regional partnerships.
We should build those partnerships across regions and among cities. We should build cleaner power generation systems that tap the cost free fuels of wind and solar energy. We should invest in resilient infrastructure at the community level, knowing that the benefits outweigh any minimal extra upfront costs. We should invest in efficient and low-emission transportation, agriculture and industry. We should sustainably manage land, water and waste to ensure access and adequate supply for all.
Cities and states and regions – those who serve local communities – have an increasing number of resources to accomplish these transformative actions. And you are often working hand in hand with businesses large and small. These actions open opportunity in new and growing markets, where competitiveness and prosperity are often found on the path to sustainability and lower emissions.
For the private sector – business and investors – the next step should be to determine how to accelerate this transformation and capitalise on this opportunity. In this transformation of the economy, there is a resistance to change by some, yes, but there is also at the same time opportunity for many, many more.
When more businesses evaluate their business plans for carbon footprint, resilience to impacts and sustainability of supply, more businesses will see these opportunities. When more investors analyse their portfolios, stress test their assets and look at financial products like green bonds and solar PPEs, more will see the value of climate responsible investment.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have the certainty needed to act. I believe the climate change Summit of the Americas is where any uncertainty regarding your own next steps can be resolved.
Ontario has signed a joint declaration with Québec and Mexico, committing to working together to fight climate change.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne (third from left), in Guadalajara, Mexico at the 2016 Climate Summit of the Americas, met with Ontario Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Glen Murray (left), Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico Rafael Pacchiano Alamán (second from left) and Québec Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Fight against Climate Change David Heurtel (right) before they signed a new joint agreement committing Ontario, Québec and Mexico to working together to fight climate change and advance carbon markets.
Ontario signed the agreement on Wednesday during Premier Kathleen Wynne’s mission to Mexico. The agreement will drive progress on the common commitment to pricing carbon.
The trilateral declaration establishes the foundation for sharing information and expertise on carbon markets and opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas pollution while driving innovation and supporting strong economic growth. International climate change agreements support the 2015 Paris Agreement signed at COP21 and help achieve regional, national and international greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Mexico recently announced that it will pilot a new carbon market starting in fall 2016. Ontario intends to link its cap and trade program to Québec and California’s under the Western Climate Initiative, North America’s largest carbon market. Ontario’s cap and trade program will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reward innovative companies and create more opportunities for investment and job creation, in particular in Ontario’s leading cleantech sector.
Fighting climate change is part of the government’s economic plan to build Ontario up and deliver on its number-one priority to grow the economy and create jobs. The four-part plan includes helping more people get and create the jobs of the future by expanding access to high-quality college and university education. The plan is making the largest infrastructure investment in hospitals, schools, roads, bridges and transit in Ontario’s history and is investing in a low-carbon economy driven by innovative, high-growth, export-oriented businesses. The plan is also helping working Ontarians achieve a more secure retirement.
Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, said: “To effectively fight climate change, we must work together on a global scale. Mexico, Ontario and Québec are driving real progress on reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions. This milestone declaration will boost cooperation between our three regions and drive the reduction of carbon emissions across North America. I look forward to working together on common goals including advancing carbon markets and cap and trade programs across North America.”
Glen R. Murray, Ontario Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, stated: “Today, Ontario, Québec and Mexico took a major step forward together to change our world for the better. This new agreement reinforces cap and trade’s vital role in fighting climate change. Like Mexico, regions around the world are recognizing that adopting a market-based approach to pricing carbon is a proven way to reduce greenhouse gas pollution while encouraging a stronger, more sustainable economy. Our province is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with other leaders committed to ensuring our future generations inherit a healthier planet.”
Facts
Ontario, Québec and the Mexican states Baja California and Jalisco were among the 23 signatories to the Climate Action Statement, signed at the first Climate Summit of the Americas in Toronto on July 9, 2015.
Ontario’s action to eliminate coal-fired electricity is the single-largest climate change initiative in North America to date. Ontario is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 15 per cent below 1990 levels in 2020, 37 per cent below in 2030 and 80 per cent below in 2050.
Ontario’s cap and trade programme, which is intended to link to Québec and California’s in 2018, came into effect on July 1, 2016, with the first compliance period beginning on January 1, 2017.
Ontario’s Climate Change Mitigation and Low-carbon Economy Act, passed in May 2016, establishes the foundation for the province’s cap and trade program, which will begin in January 2017. The Act ensures the government invests the proceeds from cap and trade back into actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, creating jobs and helping people and businesses shift to a low-carbon economy.
India and the United States have reiterated their commitment to swiftly implement the Paris Climate Change Agreement and to boost solar energy and other low carbon technologies.
External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj with U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, during the second India-U.S. Strategic and Commercial Dialogue in New Delhi on 31 August, where both countries reiterated their commitment to implement the climate pact
During the second India-U.S. Strategic and Commercial Dialogue in New Delhi on 31 August, External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry of India Nirmala Sitharaman co-chaired a dialogue with U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.
Following the meeting, the two countries issued a joint statement. Here is an excerpt relating to climate change and energy:
“In light of the commitment by Prime Minister Modi and President Obama to strengthen and expand the highly successful U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Deployment (PACE-D), and underscoring the vital importance of expanding access to public and private financing for clean energy development in order to enhance energy access and sustainable development, the Sides welcomed the progress on clean energy initiatives announced during the recent Summit.
The Sides recognised their collective efforts to advance the U.S.-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) initiative, the U.S.-India Clean Energy Hub, the expansion of USAID programme for Utility-level support and the U.S.-India Catalytic Solar Finance Programme, which will collectively mobilize public and private capital towards clean energy solutions.
Recognising the advanced progress of the U.S.-India Clean Energy Finance Task Force (Task Force), the Sides announced their intent to expand the Task Force’s work to include new clean energy finance initiatives for joint collaboration.
Recognising the U.S.-India Joint Clean Energy R&D Centre initiatives for technological innovation in clean energy, the two sides appreciated the expansion of the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research (PACE-R) through a fourth track on smart grid and energy storage technologies. The Sides noted the progress under the “Greening the Grid” initiative and collaboration for training of Indian professionals in the area of large scale integration of renewable energy into the Indian grid. Both governments reiterated their commitment to doubling their Clean Energy R&D Investment towards fulfillment of the objectives of Mission Innovation, resolved to increased cooperation between national labs, and announced the creation of the PACE Fellowship.
The United States affirmed its support for pursuing its membership of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), recognising the critical role it can play in the development and deployment of solar power.
The Sides also recognised the continued significance of efficient power generation technologies to address the challenges of climate change.
The Sides reaffirmed their commitment to combat climate change and its effects. They reiterated their resolve to work together and with others to promote full implementation of the Paris Agreement to address the urgent threats posed by climate change.
India and the United States recognise the urgency of climate change and share the goal of enabling entry into force of the Paris Agreement as early as possible. The United States re-stated that it will join the Paris Agreement as soon as possible this year.
India has similarly begun its processes to work towards this shared objective. The Sides reiterated their commitment to pursue low greenhouse gas emission development strategies in the pre-2020 period and to develop long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies.
The United States also remains committed, with other developed countries, to the goal of jointly mobilising $100 billion per year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation and adaptation action.”
It’s easy to kill an elephant, as hunters and ivory poachers have shown for quite some time. Creating one, however, is an entirely different story.
Poaching: Forest elephants are threatened with extinction
Among the forest elephants in Central Africa, females don’t typically breed until they’re 23 years old – “a markedly late age of maturity relative to other mammals,” notes Andrea Turkalo, a scientist for the Wildlife Conservation Society. Two years’ elapse from conception to birth. And a new calf comes along just once every five or six years.
Given their low birthrate and poachers’ massive killing of herds from 2002 to 2011, a new study’s description of that decade as “a lost century” doesn’t seem much like hyperbole. Commissioned by the conservation organisation, the study concludes that it will take forest elephants 90 years for their numbers to recover.
That’s a daunting projection, but the study doesn’t go so far as to say forest elephants are threatened with extinction. Loxodonta cyclotis lives in scattered groups; some populations are doing marginally well, others not so much. “I would not feel confident in saying the species will be extinct based on what we know currently,” said George Wittemyer, a professor of wildlife conservation at Colorado State University, who wrote the study with Turkalo. “Rather, it looks like we are at risk of losing important populations within the next decade if things do not change.”
The purpose of the study, published on Wednesday in the Journal of Applied Ecology, was “to fill in the massive lack of understanding of the basic biology of forest elephants,” Wittemyer said. They are among the largest animals to walk the Earth, but their numbers and biology are still largely unknown to science. The researchers analysed 80 surveys carried out between 2002 and 2011 throughout the Central African forest block in Gabon, Cameroon, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The work was funded by a long list of conservation groups, including the Jane Goodall Institute, and federal agencies, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The analysis yielded several disturbing findings. In the study years, the known populations of forest elephants declined by 62 percent. As a result, the giants are disappearing from their range. The remaining populations are only 10 percent of what their habitat could support because of killings by poachers hoping to cash in on China’s ivory black market. Development also is expanding into these areas and people occasionally kill forest elephants for meat.
The huge losses not only threaten forest elephants’ long-term survival but the health of the forest. Forest elephants are prolific fruit eaters, and their snacking spreads seeds far and wide. Their migration tramples the ground and opens paths, allowing seeds to take root and grow the forest. Failing to protect the elephants is akin to failing to protect forests that are crucial to absorbing carbon gases in a warming world, the researchers say.
A second purpose of the study was thinly veiled: activism. The Wildlife Conservation Society and the other funding groups are out to save elephants in both the forest and savanna, and the study is a message to international policymakers to get even tougher on the now-banned ivory trade. It’s also a message to the Chinese government to do more to reverse that country’s cultural yearning for ivory.
Wittemyer said historical data on forest elephants isn’t very accurate, but the survey analysis showed that their mortality has accelerated because of the ivory trade.
“This paper is really targeting policy around the ivory trade and awareness around the impact of the ivory trade on the species in the hopes that actions can reduce the economic incentives for poaching,” Wittemyer said. “We hope this paper will influence consuming nations … to change their behavior and to set in place policies that discourage ivory consumption.”
Beyond the arguments over medical benefits, cash crops, and cross-border “drug wars”, Montgomery Simus explains in The Source how the global footprint of cannabis trafficking is rapidly diversifying, complicating the lives of water, carbon and energy managers
Indoor cannabis cultivation uses six times as much energy as the pharmaceutical industry and generates 15 million tons of carbon, equivalent to the emissions from 3 million cars. Photo credit: Jessica Hyde / Dreamstime.com
On the desert edge of Las Vegas, Nevada, an organic farmer harnesses ample sun and soil – and water siphoned from the distant Colorado River – to offer his customers year-round access to local produce. They may come for fresh asparagus, eggplant or sweet peppers. But what they come running back for, he concedes, is his locally grown aromatic flowering herb: Cannabis sativa, otherwise known as marijuana.
His cash crop is facing competition, across the western US and abroad. The cultural fears and political bans that once forced cannabis growers quite literally into the closet are giving way to acceptance. Increasingly, marijuana is becoming just another taxable substance, like tobacco or beer.
Officials who haven’t legalised both its consumption and production often simply look the other way. Based on price signals from Europe and North Africa to the Americas and Oceania, import substitution in the cannabis market has been noticed in almost every developed country. Ted Leggett, an analyst at UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), warns: “Cannabis is the dominant illicit drug in every region of the world, and its use is growing almost everywhere.”
In the US, the industry has exploded, with recent sales up 74 percent, to $2.7 billion following liberalisation, according to ArcView Group. As markets open up, business plans proliferate. Even Microsoft now helps track legalised marijuana “from seed to sale”.
Yet amidst all this growth arises a new fear: the impact of global trafficking on local water.
“Cannabis is a very much a weed that can grow in tough environments around the world and it can tolerate stresses much better than produce like broccoli,” says the Nevada grower, who asked not to be named as his license is up for renewal. “There may be windows of opportunity not to water as extensively as usual if we go back to a more organic approach to cultivation.”
Water goes up in smoke
Perhaps. But there’s little indication that water security has crossed growers’ minds. Indigenous to the rainy river valleys of Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, marijuana is now grown worldwide in nearly every ecosystem and climate – even those, like Nevada, that lack rain. As reported by 420Intel, global patterns of cannabis cultivation have atomised from highly concentrated production in a few developing countries to decentralised production in almost every country, including those already suffering from depleted aquifers and desiccated river beds.
This complicates life for water professionals. Marijuana, it turns out, is one thirsty plant. While there is no universally accepted figure due to differences in species and cultivation methods, one recent peer-reviewed study estimates that a marijuana plant requires 22 litres of water a day – the same amount of water needed to sustain a head of broccoli for an entire growing season.
Sound mild? It adds up to a heavy footprint. In Northern California’s famed “Emerald Triangle” with an average outdoor marijuana planting density of 130,000 plants per square kilometre, that adds up to 430,000 cubic metres of water per square kilometre. That makes cannabis plants twice as thirsty as grape vines, on a par with almonds, and less than corn, potatoes or alfalfa.
Excessive water use in marijuana production may have become a more controversial and a volatile issue than the cultivation of the plant itself. Today, California Department of Fish and Wildlife helicopters circle high over steep timberland in Humboldt County’s coastal mountains, prowling for potential water diversions and environmental damage caused by the lucrative cash crop.
But excessive water demand isn’t the only vice of cannabis growers. Many degrade land and build dams which speeds erosion and clogs streams. Neighbours and downstream anglers complain of overuse of fertilisers and pesticides which pollute salmon habitat, as well as complaining about the “discarding of trash and haphazard management of human waste”. The US Forest Service estimates that it costs up to $15,000 per acre to clean up polluted watersheds from illegal marijuana growing operations.
Comparing crops
Water professionals and marijuana growers alike find it unfair to look at raw resource use and polluted runoff in isolation. All life requires water, and no use can be judged in a vacuum. As cannabis becomes legal, advocates argue that it’s better to compare productivity, measured by retail units (it takes seven litres to produce an eighth of a pound of cannabis) per cubic metre compared with say, almonds (400 litres per can), wine (1,300 litres per bottle), avocados (300 litres per pound) or a quarter pound of beef (1,500 litres).
There’s also the economic argument for maximising revenues per drop. Marijuana is a cash crop like no other – if you have the water to grow it. A report by the University of Denver’s Water Law Review gives a detailed economic breakdown of growing marijuana vs. growing potatoes on the same amount of land. All of the cost is built into water and the return for cultivating marijuana is much higher, says Nicholas Rising. “Growers can expect a return of about $0.22 to $6.67 per gallon of water “invested” in each plant of marijuana grown outdoors (assuming an eighth of marijuana harvested per plant). Compare those figures with the return of about $0.02 to $0.03 per gallon of water to grow one square foot, yielding about eleven to fourteen ounces, of potatoes.”
Complicating matters, cannabis puts pressure on another water resource: electricity. Indoor growers make huge energy demands on the grid. One study estimates that it takes as much energy to produce 18 pints of beer as it does just one marijuana joint.
Xcel Energy, which serves most of urban Colorado, annually sells some 300 gigawatt hours of electricity to cannabis growers alone, or enough to power some 35,000 homes. The US marijuana growing industry may soak up at least 1 percent of the country’s electricity and, if all states legalised cannabis, the industry could buy as much as $11 billion per year in electricity.
More research needed
Despite all the potential profit and peril, the water-energy impact of marijuana cultivation remains little understood. Energy and environmental systems analyst, Evan Mills, published a paper quantifying the carbon footprint of cannabis. It turned out to be huge. Among his findings: indoor cannabis cultivation uses six times as much energy as the pharmaceutical industry and generates 15 million tonnes of carbon, equivalent to emissions from three million cars.
Yet Mills focused only on indoor cultivation, where excessive waste comes from illicit activity. Covert growers, for example, use diesel generators to avoid suspicious electric bills, and install extremely bright and energy intensive UV lighting. Moving out into the sunlight will reduce the energy and carbon footprint.
But these traditional energy measures don’t include the power related to the water consumed in the growing process or the energy required to lift / move the water to where the plants are located.
“The embedded energy in the water used for illegal operations will also most likely decrease as pot cultivation is legalised and moves outdoors,” says Dr Zach Burt, a water expert in California. “Transporting and treating water increases both the embedded energy and the per-unit cost of water, so it is likely that both will decrease under legalisation. By legitimising the trade, the cannabis energy and carbon footprint is likely to decline.”
The price of energy is a constraint on water and lighting. And the Northwest Power and Conservation Council found that huge savings could be realised if farmers switched to efficient greenhouses and to LED lighting, and their yields would increase. But not everyone agrees, and the old traditional ways die hard.
According to energy efficiency consultant, John Morris, one cannabis grower in the West is converting a 90,000-square-foot warehouse. Despite installing energy efficient lighting and $2 million in rooftop solar panels, he still expects to pay around $1 million a month for electricity.
The grower in Las Vegas maintains that potency of outdoor plants is far lower than marijuana cultivated indoors. “While there are significant benefits to growing plants and produce in receptive natural settings like northern California and Oregon, there are bigger benefits in growing produce locally and avoiding the energy costs in transportation & distribution,” says Morris.
In short, it all comes back to the customer. At farmers’ markets, people like to know how and where and by whom their food is grown. The same “locavore” impulse drives buying decisions over how a drug of choice is cultivated. After legalisation, sustainable certification may not be far behind.
The World Bank and the International Water Association (IWA) on Thursday in Stockholm, Sweden at World Water Week declared their intentions to establish a global partnership to help countries, especially the poorest, improve water management.
High level of non-revenue water reflect huge volumes of water being lost through leaks, not being invoiced to customers, or both
The agreement essentially focuses on water that is pumped but then lost or unaccounted for, called non-revenue water (NRW).
In developing countries, roughly 45 million cubic meters of water are lost daily with an economic value of over $3 billion per year. Saving half of those losses would provide enough water to serve at least 90 million people, according to researchers.
They add that high levels of NRW reflect huge volumes of water being lost through leaks, not being invoiced to customers, or both. Reducing NRW can significantly improve the performance of public water utilities in developing countries.
The two international organisations have thus set out to collaborate on a joint programme that aims to capture good practices in the use of performance based contracts (PBCs) to reduce NRW, raise awareness on the issue of NRW, simplify and streamline the preparation of such contracts, and support their implementation in developing countries in the next few years. Furthermore, the partnership will build the market of suppliers at the local level.
The Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) has co-developed the initiative.
