Maldives aims to become first carbon-neutral country

The Maldives – the island nation threatened by rising sea level as a result of global warming – is attempting to become the world's first carbon-neutral country.

The Independent has learnt that tomorrow President Mohammed Nasheed will reveal details of a plan to achieve full carbon neutrality within 10 years. In doing so, his country of islands in the Indian Ocean, will join a small group of nations racing to be first in what environmentalists have described as "the Carbon World Cup".

Five other countries – Costa Rica, Iceland, Norway, New Zealand and Monaco – have signed up to a UN-backed plan to become zero net emitters but none intend to achieve carbon neutrality as quickly as the Maldives, a nation of island atolls which is highly vulnerable to rising sea levels.

Earlier this week, Ahmed Shafeeq Ibrahim Moosa was appointed the country's new envoy for science and technology and is investigating ways to make the country carbon neutral. Mr Moosa, a former political activist and journalist, was appointed with a new Agricultural Minister, one of whose tasks is to reduce food imports.

Mr Moosa said: "Ten years – that's the target. We're going to be looking at solar, wind and waves and working out the best system for us. There will have to be a lot of education. People need to know everyone can do their bit. The Maldives is a small country with only 300,000 people. It will be achievable."

Local environmentalists welcomed the plan. Ali Rilwan, founder of Bluepeace, noted individual resorts were aiming at carbon neutrality, using solar panels to generate electricity and sea water for air-conditioning. "This is the sort of thing international donors are very interested in," he said.

The country's first democratically elected president, Mr Nasheed has made the environment a priority. Confronted by rising sea levels that threaten to swamp many of the 1,200 atolls that make up the Maldives, he announced plans for a fund to buy an alternative homeland, perhaps in India or Sri Lanka. The country has spent £30m on a three-metre-high flood defence wall around the capital, Male, but 80 per cent of the islands are just one metre above sea level or less.

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Maldives bribed to recognize Kosovo?

The Maldivian parliament has launched an investigation into allegations that this country's government had recognized Kosovo in exchange for a USD 2mn bribe.

Parliament's national security committee that will investigate these claims will include the speaker and several MPs.

The Maldives foreign ministry officials will be interviewed, and official documents examined, Maldive's Minivan News reported today.

According to the media in this predominantly Muslim island nation in the Indian Ocean, which recognized Kosovo Albanians' unilateral independence declaration last month, the government officials, including foreign minister Ahmed Shaheed, had accepted a bribe from Behgjet Pacolli, who heads a Kosovo Albanian opposition party.

The price tag on the recognition was allegedly USD 2mn.

Pacolli was in Egypt last week, where a conference of the Arab League was held, "to lobby for independence", says Tanjug news agency.

He told Priština-based Albanian language daily Express that "three countries should recognize Kosovo by the end of March, one of them being Qatar".

Source: www.b92.net

UN support sought for WOC

Indonesia is suggesting the United Nations adopt the World Ocean Conference as its new international agenda for discussing ocean protection and climate change.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi is seeking support from Indonesian lawmakers to ‘lobby’ the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to become an ‘umbrella’ for future talks on marine conservation.

“We hope the WOC in Manado will be the first Conference of Parties (COP), a new agenda for regularly discussing ocean development that could be placed under the UNEP program,” Freddy told the House of Representatives’ Commission I for foreign affairs and security in Jakarta on Thursday.

Indonesia will host the first WOC in Manado, North Sulawesi, on May 11-15. Around 10,000 delegates from 121 countries and some UN bodies such as UNEP, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been invited.

The meeting, to be attended by ministers overseeing maritime and environmental affairs, will conclude with the signing of a non-binding Manado Ocean Declaration.

Senior officials from 43 countries began a two-day meeting in Jakarta on Thursday to drawn up a draft for the declaration.

Freddy said the declaration would detail the impacts of climate change on oceans, the role of oceans in regulating global climate change and opportunities for regional and international cooperation.

Maritime activities are currently regulated under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which came into effect in 1982.

Around 135 countries, including Indonesia, have ratified the UNCLOS, which outlines ground-rules on maritime activities.

The UNCLOS, however, does not address the method of managing maritime resources in circumstances of global climate change.

The oceans cover almost two thirds of the earth surface, with million of people living near and relying on the sea for food and income.

Experts predict the oceans are capable of storing about 50 times the carbon dioxide emissions currently released into the atmosphere.

Global warming could cause ocean acidification, temperature and sea level rise and flood entire small island states, such as the Maldives.

Indonesia has about 5.8 million hectares of ocean that could absorb up to 40 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

The maritime minister also unveiled an initiative for the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) to legislators, claiming it was the world’s first initiative to protect coral from the severe impact of climate change.

The heads of states of six countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste – will officially launch the CTI at the sidelines of the WOC. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has confirmed his intention to witness the launch, while United States Secretary Hillary Clinton is also scheduled to attend.

Minister Freddy said preparations for the WOC were about 90 percent complete, though some obervers, including lawmaker Joko Susilo, have warned the government about ignoring pressing issues that require quick organization.

Source: thejakartapost.com

South Asia urged to push lenders for payment relief

South Asia should push international lenders for a year's halt on payments and create a network of currency swaps to help weather the global crisis, Sri Lanka's president told a regional bloc on Friday.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who chairs the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), also urged a meeting of its foreign ministers to boost efforts to counter terrorism in a region beset by unrest and poverty.

"The instability caused by this crisis can be considered quite similar to the threat caused by terrorism to our societies and our region," he said.

SAARC represents roughly a fifth of the world's population, but has rarely risen above squabbles over a free trade agreement and has been hobbled by regional rivalries, particularly those between India and Pakistan.

Neither nation sent their foreign ministers to the two-day meeting. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal round out the rest of the group formed 23 years ago to boost economic cooperation.

Rajapaksa said the bloc should push multilateral and interational lenders for standstill arrangements on debts for at least a year "so that developmental initiatives ... will not have to be abruptly stopped".

"Such arrangements could also be flexible enough so that at the end of one year, these could be reviewed and extended if the global financial crisis would still exist," Rajapaksa said.

That issue is close to home for the Indian Ocean island nation, which saw its rupee currency hit an all-time low on Friday amid low foreign exchange reserves that prompted Fitch to cut its outlook to negative. [ID:nHKG210950]

To help bolster reserves, Sri Lanka has already entered into a currency swap deal worth $200 million with one country it will not name, and the central bank says it is in advanced discussions with two other nations.

Rajapaksa said a similar regional iniative would be a tonic to soothe the trickle-down effects of the crisis, as the ASEAN bloc has successfully implemented.

"I am reminded of the success in our adjacent region, East Asia, which during the East Asian financial crisis, created a network of bilateral swap arrangements and has now created a reserve fund to address liquidity problems," Rajapaksa said.

Full economic cooperation has long eluded SAARC, despite signing a free trade deal in 2006 that has yet to show any real benefits.

Intra-SAARC trade is just over 5 percent of South Asia's total trade, compared to 26 percent seen among ASEAN countries and 55 percent among EU members.

Sri Lanka is halfway through its one-year chairmanship, after an August summit in Colombo at which leaders signed a pact to combat terrorism and to create a food bank to fight hunger amid then-rising food prices.

Source: alertnet.org

Crisis won’t deter spending on higher education

Countries in South, South-West and Central Asia have decided to increase public spending on higher education notwithstanding the global financial crisis. This resolve to ensure that it does not suffer for want of funds was made at the conclusion of the two-day, sub-regional conference of South, South-West and Central Asia on Higher Education here on Thursday.

Adopting the resolution at the preparatory meeting of the region for the World Conference on Higher Education — slated for June in Paris — members said there was need to explore alternatives to augment available resources. They decided to encourage all stakeholders in local communities to participate in resource mobilisation.

Also, they favour expansion of higher education through national and regional funding. Though expansion of higher education in the region has been largely met through an expansion of the public system, the participating countries said possibilities of expanding private initiatives — consistent with public objectives — must be explored. Stating that public support was essential in those states where other actors might not be available,declaration placed on record the fact that contributions from philanthropic initiatives supplemented the expansion of higher education.

New approach

The Delhi Declaration also acknowledges the role of private initiatives in meeting the rapidly growing need for higher education, particularly technical and professional courses. However, the participating nations were of the view that private institutions should be inclusive in their approach to access. Also, the signatories urged private providers to balance disciplines for a well-rounded development of human resource in the region in keeping with the national regulatory framework.

The Declaration called for increasing enrolment in higher education in the region for participation in the global economy. It also recognised the need to increase enrolment to specially prepare quality faculty for all levels of education.

The Declaration said there was need to establish regulatory frameworks to ensure optimum benefits of cross-border educational opportunities and promote mutual collaboration and equal partnerships.

The two-day meeting was organised by the UNESCO in collaboration with Union Human Resource Development Ministry and drew participation from 14 countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan. It was the fourth in the series of six regional conferences being organised in the run-up to the World Conference.

Source: thehindu.com