MICRO HYDRO LIGHTING REMOTE VILLAGES- NEPAL

Several micro hydro projects with total production of 2500KW, in Gorkha district, western Nepal have started to distribute electricity to the local villagers which has changed the daily lifestyles of the people. For instance Aarughat hydropower project (150 KW) has benefited 860 households while around 1,231 households have been benefited by other 16 hydropower project in several villages in the district.

March 18

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=71369

http://trn.gorkhapatraonline.com/index.php/2012-10-16-04-54-48/8484-micro-hydro-projects-produce-2500-kw-in-gorkha.html

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT CONSERVATION AREA- NEPAL

With the onset of dry season, huge loss of wildlife used to occur in Chitwan National Park, western Nepal due to haphazard forest fire. Thus, as a preventive measure, the park has started pre-fire campaign to protect wildlife. About 51 posts which were setup for the security have initiated the campaign in their respective cluster while about 1,000 Nepal Army personnel and about 200 employees have been appointed for the conservation of the area.

March 18

http://trn.gorkhapatraonline.com/index.php/nation/8375-pre-fire-campaign-to-protect-wildlife-from-fire.html

Myanmar’s SIX BILLION DOLLAR TIMBER CORRUPTION BLACK HOLE REVEALED BY OFFICIAL DATA

LONDON: New analysis of the Myanmar Government’s forestry and trade data points to a multi-billion dollar illegal logging and exports black hole – indicating widespread criminality and official corruption.

 

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) today released the new briefing Data Corruption: Exposing the true scale of logging in Myanmar, scrutinising official figures on log harvests and timber exports over the past 15 years.

 

The figures, from the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry, were published by Myanmar’s Eleven Media group earlier this month.

 

Shockingly, official export figures for 2000-13 account for only 28 per cent of all recorded international trade in Myanmar logs – suggesting that 72 per cent of log shipments were illicit.

 

Global buyers reported 22.8 million m³ of log imports from Myanmar, 16.4 million m³ more than claimed in official export statistics. If loaded into freight containers laid end to end, the unauthorised exports would stretch 2.3 times the length of Myanmar’s Irrawaddy River. These illegal exports were worth nearly US$6 billion – four times the combined 2013-14 education and health budgets for the entire country.

 

EIA also found official harvest volumes over the period constituted merely 53 per cent of reported imports of Myanmar logs, resulting in a 47 per cent illegal logging rate across the country for exports alone.

 

Faith Doherty, EIA Forest Campaign Leader, said: “The Government’s official data on forestry and timber exports reveals endemic illegal logging and timber smuggling – crimes only possible through institutional corruption on a huge scale.”

 

When discounting log transits across Myanmar’s land border with China, which Myanmar’s Government deem illegal, officially recorded export volumes were just 38 per cent of recorded imports, indicating that 62 per cent of log exports – about eight million m³ – were not authorised. Even excluding the country’s main illegal logging hotspots, illegal trade through Government-controlled areas resulted in 2.6 million m³ of logging in excess of authorised harvest volumes, generating in a 20 per cent illegal logging rate.

 

Doherty added: “EIA research shows that these crimes have been occurring throughout the country, including in areas fully under the control of the Myanmar Timber Enterprise. By proposing a log export ban from April 1, 2014, the Government of Myanmar is acknowledging that vast amounts of the country’s forests raw material in the form of logs have been looted and sold at less value than they are worth. The log export ban in itself is just not enough. More needs to be done.”

EIA has called on the Government of Myanmar to:

• vigorously enforce the log export ban effective from April 1, 2014;

• significantly increase transparency in the management of forest resources;

• stop favouring established cronies in forest resource allocation;

• ensure civil society involvement in the planned restructuring of the Forestry Ministry; 

• investigate and prosecute companies or Government officials involved in illegal logging and timber smuggling.

MESSAGE OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY BRAULIO FERREIRA DE SOUZA DIAS on the occasion of WORLD WATER DAY 22 March 2014

“Water and Energy”

Water and energy are closely linked and interdependent. Water supply requires energy and energy production requires water. About 8% of the global energy generation is used for pumping, treating and transporting water to consumers.

Less well-known, is that the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity is a key factor both for managing water use and energy production. We are glad that the world is paying more attention to the water-energy nexus.

Much of the historical discussion regarding biodiversity and water and energy has been negative, focusing, for example, on the impacts of hydropower dams on biodiversity. But there are important and more positive dimensions to the topic. The amount of water available, and its quality, is heavily influenced by ecosystem functions that are underpinned by biodiversity. Natural ecosystems are increasingly recognized as “natural water infrastructure” because of the way they can deliver water management services similar to those of built or physical infrastructure.

Examples include using the water storage abilities of wetlands to help regulate flows, using forested catchments to reduce erosion risks and improving vegetation. Natural infrastructure approaches also deliver significant collateral benefits, such as better landscapes for food security.

There are good examples of the role of this natural infrastructure in improving efficiency and sustainability at the water-energy nexus. For example, improved biodiversity management in the catchment of one of the world’s largest hydropower projects, the Itaipu Dam, located between Brazil and Paraguay, has increased the facility’s life expectancy several fold by reducing sedimentation in the reservoir. This also improved the surrounding area’s land productivity and biodiversity. In farming systems, restoring soil biodiversity and land cover to improve soil functions and water cycling is an important strategy to increase the sustainability of bio-energy crops.

The role of biodiversity in underpinning the carbon cycle is yet another important link with water and energy. For example, conserving or restoring carbon in forests, wetlands and soils plays an important role in mitigating green-house gas emissions from energy while simultaneously contributing to more
sustainable water resource management. These contributions from biodiversity and ecosystems are frequently overlooked when considering the water-energy nexus. The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011 – 2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, especially Target 14 (“By 2020, ecosystems that provide essential services, including services related to water, and contribute to health, livelihoods and well-being, are restored and safeguarded, taking into account the needs of women, indigenous and local communities and the poor and vulnerable”), was specifically developed to address these kinds of linkages and opportunities. Water and energy managers and users increasingly recognize that implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity is indeed relevant to them and their needs.

As the world community works to address the growing need for water and energy, and develops an integrated framework of Sustainable Development Goals, let us work together and ensure that water, biodiversity and energy are used sustainably, to help us build the future we want.

Images by Mike Leveille, 2014

MESSAGE OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY BRAULIO FERREIRA DE SOUZA DIAS on the occasion of INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FORESTS 21 March 2014

“Celebrating Forests for Sustainable Development”

Forests are central to sustainable development. Globally, forests cover one third of the land surface of the planet. They harbor exceptionally high levels of biodiversity which, in turn, provide a range of ecosystems services essential for prosperity. Forests provide vital ecosystem goods and services to people, including food, fodder, water, shelter, nutrient cycling and recreation. They also function as carbon storehouses.

Forests are central to the work of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). While recognizing the linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being, the Convention has highlighted that the values of forest ecosystems and biodiversity remains inadequately reflected in broader development policies designed to address the drivers of deforestation.

In 2010, the Parties to the Convention adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 to address the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss and provide incentives to protect the benefits provided by healthy and resilient ecosystems. The Strategic Plan includes 20 headline targets, known as the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, organized under five strategic goals. The Strategic plan sets out internationally agreed commitments on biodiversity and the means to achieve them. Five of the targets are particularly relevant for forests — by 2020, world governments have agreed to:

· At least halve the rate of deforestation and forest degradation (Target 5)

· Manage areas under forestry sustainably (Target 7)

· Protect at least 17% of land as part of improved protected area networks with connectivity across the landscape (Target 11)

· Safeguard ecosystems that provide essential services (Target 14)

· Restore at least 15% of degraded ecosystems, contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation and to combat desertification (Target 15).

These Targets support the extended CBD programme of work on forest biodiversity, adopted in 2002, and complement other internationally recognized political commitments on forests in Agenda 21, including the Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests and its global objectives. Parties to the Convention are developing national targets under the Strategic Plan as part of their updated national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs). Presently 179 (93%) Parties have developed NBSAPs in line with Article 6 of the Convention.

The CBD Secretariat has been privileged to work with the members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests to develop a range of studies on forest finance, climate change and forests, landscape approaches and links to the broader development agenda.

Bilateral activities have also been carried out with several partners, including the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Center for International Forestry Research, International Tropical Timber Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the Secretariats of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. One such collaborative effort has been to advance common agendas through two series of capacity-building workshops – in 2009 on biodiversity, forests and climate change (REDD+), and presently on ecosystem conservation and restoration in a landscape context.

This work has helped countries translate commitments into practical actions that address not only the conservation and sustainability of biodiversity but also contribute to poverty eradication, food security, decent employment, livelihoods and broader socio-economic objectives.

The importance of forests and biodiversity for sustainable development has been well-recognized by the global community. Following the eighth session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), held in February 2014, forests were included in the focus area on Ecosystems and Biodiversity, one of 19 focus areas for possible SDGs. The inclusion reflects the multiple important contributions forest ecosystems make to sustainable development.

As we celebrate the theme of this year's International Day of Forests, "Forests for Sustainable Development", I encourage countries to assess the status of their natural forest capital and the socio-economic contributions that forests provide to society at large. More than 1.6 billion people worldwide depend on forests for food, medicines and fuel, as well as for their jobs and livelihoods. By measuring what we treasure we can find innovative ways to conserve, restore and better manage our forests and their resources for the benefit of present and future generations. This is truly the future we want.

Images by Michael Leveille