RMI President Speaks to UN

Click here to listen to RMI President Litokwa Tomeing address the UN General Assembly about the effect of Climate Change on the islands of the Marshalls:

http://www.un.org/ga/64/generaldebate/MH.shtml

Pacific Island Leaders Plea for UN Climate Action

Island Nations in the Pacific are Reaching Out to the Countries of the World, Requesting That We All Do Our Part to Help Save Their Lands.

Many spoke at the UN yesterday:

President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands Litokwa Tomeing
Prime Minister of Vanuatu Edward Natapei
Deputy Prime Minister of Solomon Islands Fred Fono
Tonga's Prime Minister Doctor Fred Sevele
President Marcus Stephen of Nauru
President Johnson Toribiong of Palau
Fiji's interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama
Emmanuel Mori, the President of the Federated States of Micronesia
Kiribati President, Anote Tong

Worldchanging: Bright Green: Momentum Grows to Limit Climate-Warming Chemicals

FSM, leading the way...

Worldchanging: Bright Green: Momentum Grows to Limit Climate-Warming Chemicals

Ben Block, 21 Sep 09

The United States, Canada, and Mexico issued a joint proposal last week to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the short term by phasing out a chemical previously favored in efforts to heal the ozone layer.

When world leaders reached an agreement in 1987 to shrink the ozone hole growing in the atmosphere above Antarctica, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) were chosen as a cost-effective replacement for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting substances found in refrigerators, foams, and flame retardants.

HFCs have since been identified as greenhouse gases with global warming potentials as much as 11,700 times greater than carbon dioxide. Short-term emissions reduction targets could quickly be met, however, if vehicle air-conditioning units and other HFC-emitting technologies were required to become more efficient or to use alternative chemicals.

The three North American countries are proposing that all countries reduce their HFC consumption and production, noting that industrialized nations would need to lead the effort.

"Phasing down consumption and production of HFCs will send an important signal about the need for alternatives that pose no problem either for the ozone layer or for the climate system," a U.S. State Department statement said.

The proposal is identical to a suggestion that the island nations of Mauritius and the Federal States of Micronesia have submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The two countries propose that the Montreal Protocol, the international agreement developed to limit ozone depleting substances, be expanded to limit HFCs.

"With the joint proposal by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, we now have the muscle to move the Montreal Protocol amendment," said Yosiwo George, the Micronesian ambassador to the United States, in a prepared statement.

The two proposals could generate policy changes as early as November, when governments meet in Port Ghalib, Egypt, to negotiate future requirements of the Montreal Protocol. Leaders will convene again in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December to form a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which limits greenhouse gas emissions.

As demand for air conditioning and refrigeration increases globally and as countries accelerate their efforts to phase out ozone-depleting substances, producers of cooling equipment will turn increasingly to HFCs unless suitable alternatives can be identified.

Scientists from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated earlier this year that by 2050, HFCs could contribute as much as 12 percent of the warming effect of greenhouse gas emissions. HFCs currently contribute less than 1 percent to climate change.

The ozone layer limits harmful solar radiation from entering the lower atmosphere serving as a crucial safety net for life on Earth. Scientists discovered in the early 1980s that industrial chemicals, mainly CFC refrigerants and solvents, were being released into the atmosphere where they triggered a chemical reaction that consumed ozone, weakening the protective ozone layer.

The Montreal Protocol is considered one of the most successful multilateral environmental agreements to date. By December, it will have effectively retired nearly 100 ozone-depleting substances. The Antarctic ozone hole, which currently spans some 24 million square kilometers, is expected to be smaller in 2009 than last year, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

The Montreal Protocol also recently became the first environmental agreement to receive worldwide participation. Timor-Leste became the final signatory when Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão announced on Wednesday that his country would ratify the protocol.

Several world leaders greeted Timo-Leste's participation, which occurred on the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, as a positive sign for reducing ozone-depleting substances and HFCs.

"I very much welcome the news that the Montreal Protocol has finally achieved the universal recognition it deserves," said European Union Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, in a statement.

"The progress the protocol has achieved in protecting both the ozone layer and the global climate shows that worldwide consensus on exceptionally important environmental issues is achievable."

Ben Block is a staff writer with the Worldwatch Institute. He can be reached at bblock@worldwatch.org.

This article is a product of Eye on Earth, Worldwatch Institute's online news service.


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Getting HFCs out of the Montreal Protocol

North America backs plan to cut greenhouse gases

By JOHN HEILPRIN (AP) – 14 hours ago

UNITED NATIONS — Small island nations gained North America's powerful backing Tuesday for a plan to convert the U.N. ozone treaty into a tool for phasing out some of the globe's most powerful climate-warming gases.

The Obama administration announced the United States, Canada and Mexico now support using the treaty to require cuts in powerful greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. The treaty, called the Montreal Protocol, was signed by 195 nations to fix the globe's ozone layer.

In its current version, the treaty encourages using HFCs in refrigerators and air conditioners to replace ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which have now been virtually eliminated.

But in April, Micronesia and Mauritius proposed formally amending the treaty to phase out use of the coolants. They argued that other chemicals would be better for the climate while still helping the ozone layer.

The U.S. State Department called that plan Thursday "a significant down payment" on efforts to reach a new global climate pact in Copenhagen, Denmark in December. President Barack Obama is attending a U.N. climate summit next week to build momentum.

"Once adopted, the proposal would make great strides to achieve President Obama's call to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 as well as contribute to multilateral efforts to reduce global emissions 50 percent by 2050," the State Department said.

The U.S. said the proposal "calls on all countries to take action to reduce their consumption and production of HFCs, although developed countries would take the lead in this effort, as they have consistently under the Montreal Protocol."

Nations will consider whether to alter the Montreal Protocol at a meeting in Egypt in November.

Though HFCs account for only about 2 percent of the globe's climate-warming gases, their share is expected to grow by up to a third of all greenhouse gases by mid-century — mainly because of their promotion under the ozone treaty.

A global fund affiliated with the treaty has invested billions in creating new markets for HFCs and other chemicals that do not harm the protective ozone layer above the earth.

But Micronesia has called that promotion "irresponsible," since HFCs, like CFCs, are powerful climate-warming chemicals — up to 10,000 times more so than carbon dioxide — other climate and ozone-friendly alternatives are available for use.

The Associated Press first reported in early May that the Obama administration considered HFCs "a very significant threat" to climate change and probably would seek to use the ozone treaty to dramatically reduce HFCs, but not phase them out entirely.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry applauded the Obama administration Tuesday and described the decision as a sign of things to come from the U.S.

"Anyone who doubted the intentions of the new administration should pay close attention to this announcement and to those of us in the Senate who urged this ambitious action under the Montreal Protocol," Kerry said. The proposal, he said, "sends another clear signal to the global community that the United States will not remain on the sidelines and will lead efforts to achieve a strong agreement in Copenhagen.'"'

It is uncertain whether the Senate will pass climate legislation in time for the Copenhagen climate talks, but Kerry said the ozone treaty was another appropriate tool for tackling the urgency of planetary overheating.

In April, Kerry and another leading Democrat, Senate Environment Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer wrote Obama calling for using the ozone treaty to phase down HFCs by 85 percent by 2030.

"The growth projections of HFCs alone better be a wakeup call to anyone still left in Congress who doubts the urgent need to address climate change," Kerry said. "If allowed to grow, this extremely potent greenhouse gas could counteract global efforts to reduce carbon dioxide."

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Experts discuss enhancing coral resilience

Coral reef managers and scientists from across Micronesia are gathered in Guam this week to learn about building resilience into reef management and the tools available for addressing the impacts of climate change. Corals are vulnerable to climate change impacts, such as increases in temperature and ocean acidification.

During the 1997-98 El Nino event, reefs in Palau, the Great Barrier Reef, and other locations experienced wide scale coral bleaching due to increased water temperatures. In some of these places, the reefs have started to recover, but other reefs have not. The participants in the Reef Resilience and Climate Change Workshop are meeting to discuss the factors that helped reefs recover and incorporate those into coral reef management.

Managers will learn how to use tools to predict coral bleaching events developed by NOAA's Coral Reef Watch, discuss factors that helped reefs recover during past bleaching events, learn about ecological and socioeconomic monitoring, and develop strategies for reef management that will help the region's reefs be more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Reef managers around the world are engaged in activities to help coral reefs survive climate change. This workshop will also help integrate managers from this region into a network of global practitioners working to incorporate resilience at their sites.

The Guam Reef Resilience and Climate Change Workshop is part of a series of resilience and climate change workshops that haves been running for the past five years and is sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Government of Guam, The Nature Conservancy, the University of Guam Marine Laboratory and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. (PR)

Islanders live in daily fear of weather - The National Newspaper

Islanders live in ‘daily fear’ of weather

Phil Mercer, Foreign Correspondent

• Last Updated: August 08. 2009 8:16PM UAE / August 8. 2009 4:16PM GMT

CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA // Fearing the destruction of their land and culture, small island nations in the South Pacific have pleaded with developed countries to slash their carbon emissions to stave off the worst effects of climate change.

At a regional summit in the Queensland city of Cairns, delegates have called on Australia and New Zealand to almost halve the amount of greenhouse gases they emit by 2020.

Tuvalu, a tiny island north of Fiji with a population of just 12,000, has found itself on the front line of potentially catastrophic environmental upheaval that residents firmly believe is the result of man-made pollution.

“We are witnessing the gradual death of our identity as a people,” said Tafue Lusama, the chairman of the Tuvalu Climate Action Network. “Tuvalu will be the first country to face the impacts of climate change and my concerns are that we have been ignored for far too long by the industrialised countries and the international community,” he said during a visit to Cairns

Tuvaluans are at the mercy of an ecological cocktail of rising sea levels, warmer temperatures and increasingly unpredictable weather events.

“It is very frightening. We literally see the impacts daily. We are living in it and every day we see the islands being eroded by the sea during high tide. We are losing our lands. We’ve already lost our underground water supply because it has been contaminated by salt water,” Mr Lusama said.

“Every time I look at my children and imagine any time anything can happen; a storm surge will just come in suddenly and I won’t be able to protect my family.”

Islanders worry about the fragile health of the coral reefs that protect their homes from large ocean waves and as the earth warms there are growing concerns that the delicate ecosystems will be destroyed, leaving low-lying areas open to inundation.

“If the temperature of the sea increases our coral bleaches and dies. These corals are the houses for the fish. So, our fish stocks either move well into the ocean or they just simply die,” Mr Lusama said.

Although climate change is widely blamed for such disruption, experts have stressed that other factors could also be at work, including El Nino weather patterns and seismic activity as well as deforestation and the removal of sand for building work.

A sense of panic has spread across the vast South Pacific Ocean. In the Federated States of Micronesia, which sits between Hawaii and the Philippines, the effects of a shifting climate have been blamed for forcing islanders from their homes.

“The people who live on those low-lying atolls have experienced extreme weather events such as storm surges, king tides and typhoons in the last five or six years,” said Marstella Jack, a lawyer and former attorney general of the Federated States of Micronesia.

“The water washes over the land, seeps into our soil, intrudes into our vegetation and also our fresh water supplies. It fundamentally affects our daily life. King tides are destroying the outer islands. The next 10 to 20 years are critical for the survival of those very small atolls. People are already starting to leave.”

Increasingly the displaced are compelled to move to other overcrowded parts of the archipelago or take the monumental step of seeking a fresh start in the United States.

“I see the injustice in all of this. We’re victimised by factors beyond our control. I think that governments need to start looking at options that are available to do something about this,” said Mrs Jack, who also took a swipe at Canberra’s response to the climate emergency. “Australia is taking a very weak attitude towards carbon reduction.”

Officials meeting in Cairns at the Pacific Islands Forum, the region’s pre-eminent political body, have urged Australia and New Zealand to take a bolder approach to greenhouse gas pollution and also help vulnerable communities adapt to environmental turmoil.

Scientists have predicted that the sea that surrounds the Pacific islands will rise by about half a metre by the end of the century. Given that half of the islands’ population lives within 1.5km of the coast, such gloomy calculations could affect the lives of millions of people.

Edward Natapei, the prime minister of Vanuatu, said his corner of the South Pacific was already under siege. “Vanuatu is located on what they call the ring of fire, where we have cyclones, earthquakes, volcanic eruption and tsunamis. About two years ago we had to relocate an entire village in the northern part of the country further inland because the original site went underwater,” he said.

While the Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has promised “maximum action” to address these ecological challenges, islanders believe that their culture and identity are at serious risk of extinction.

“I would invite climate change deniers to come to live in Tuvalu and experience the reality of what is happening and see if they feel the fear we face every day,” Mr Lusama said.

pmercer@thenational.ae

Click to see original article:

Islanders live in daily fear of weather - The National Newspaper

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Pacific islanders speak out about climate change

Wednesday, 5 August 2009, 1:29 pm
Press Release: Oxfam

Voices of the Vulnerable: Pacific islanders speak out about climate change

Communities in the Pacific islands are among the world’s most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. On Saturday August 8, people from Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Federated States of Micronesia will tell New Zealanders that tackling climate change is not just a matter of taking care of the environment, but of saving the lives of people who played almost no part in causing the problem.

This weekend Te Papa hosts Voices of the Vulnerable, a challenging discussion in which Pacific islanders speak out about climate change as it is affecting them today. The panel, chaired by Dr Claudia Orange, will include speakers from Kiribati; Tuvalu; and the Federated States of Micronesia as well as climate change scientist Jim Salinger and New Zealand-based development experts.

Panellist, Ms. Pelenise Alofa Pilitati of Kiribati said, “The future of Kiribati is in our hands. We want our children to love their country and love to serve their people. But what is the future of our children when our country is being threatened by global warming?”

New Zealand’s greenhouse gas pollution per capita is fourth highest in the developed world. Rich industrialised countries are overwhelmingly responsible for the climate crisis, contributing around three quarters of the world’s greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In contrast 100 countries, with a total population of around 1 billion people, are responsible for just 3 per cent of global emissions. The great injustice is that it is the poorest people who suffer most from the effects of climate change.

“There is still time to avert the worst impacts of runaway climate change, but it’s going to take a tremendous effort. The New Zealand government is hinting at an emissions reduction target of 15 per cent by 2020, which would sound the death knell for our Pacific Island neighbours, whose histories and cultures could end up as artefacts in museums,” said Susi Newborn, Oxfam New Zealand’s Climate Change Campaign Coordinator.

“The recent public consultations heard a unanimous call across the country for a 40 per cent reduction. How can the government justify turning a blind eye to the needs of our Pacific region and a deaf ear to what the average Kiwi wants them to do about climate change?” Newborn added.

Ms. Pilatati summed up her passion for preserving her homeland: “Some of my friends have migrated to Australia and New Zealand looking for greener pastures, but I refuse to migrate. I choose to return to Kiribati and to stay in the Pacific so that I could help my people. And if helping my people means speaking to all the leaders of the Pacific, then I count that my privilege. If it means talking to the whole world, I will gladly do it. If I have to shout it, I will shout the loudest.”

Climate change a present threat to Pacific nations

Stewart Shuker, Brisbane, & Sue Bolton, Me

2 August 2009


Speakers from Micronesia, Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Torres Strait Islands described how climate change affects their everyday lives at meetings of 180 people in Brisbane on July 28 and 170 people in Melbourne on July 30

Climate change has meant tidal surges now breach high sea walls, coast lines are being steadily washed away and staple crops and underground water sources are lost to rising sea levels. Diseases such as Dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis have returned to many Pacific islands.

Pelenise Alofa Pilitati from Kiribati said her people might be displaced by rising sea levels. “This is the last night you can help your brothers, now, right now, today. What will you do for your brother, for your Pacific family?” she asked. Pilitati said Pacific Islanders did not want relocation; they wanted the global warming problem fixed.

Pilitati comes from the Barnaba Island in Kiribati. The Barnaban people have been relocated twice before — once by the Japanese during World War II, and a second time by the Australian and New Zealand governments, which wanted the island for phosphate mining.

In the second relocation, all Barnaban people were relocated to Fiji. Still today, the Barnaban people want to return.

At the Melbourne meeting, Reverend Tafue Lusama from the Tuvalu Climate Action Network showed a slide of a community hall which was originally built on dry land. Now it is half underwater at high tide. People must plan festivals to coincide with low tide or paddle to the community hall.

Marstella Jack, the former attorney-general of Micronesia, said a recent tidal surge wiped out Micronesia’s entire food and cash crops. Many Pacific Islanders don’t have a regular income so they rely on what they grow. Many islands did not receive emergency food supplies for three months.

“Why did we come here? It is human nature to turn to your neighbours for help”, said Jack. “Present funding ends up in the pockets of consultants. We need funding for sea walls, for adaptation. We need funding that ends up in our communities.”

The speakers made an impassioned plea for the world’s governments, including Australia, to set binding emissions reduction targets, with a minimum 40% cut in CO2 emissions by 2020.

In Brisbane, Greenpeace’s Trish Harrup said: “Shareholder profits are being placed above Pacific Nation survival, and it is not good enough, not good enough from a nation that thought it was voting for real change in climate policy. All it will take for entire Pacific Nations to disappear is for good people to do nothing.”

The meeting was part of a speaking tour, titled Voices from the Frontline: Climate change and the Pacific, co-organised by Oxfam and Greenpeace.

From: Australian News, Green Left Weekly issue #805 5 August 2009.

Friday Reminder

I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.

- Mother Teresa

www.sojo.net

Rainbow Warriors & Presidents

Here are a couple of articles about people - both in government and out - working to save the islands in the Pacific from submersion:

Political inaction threatens Paradise | Greenpeace International

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The Eneko Communiqué Contents from the 9^th Micronesian Presidents' Summit

http://www.fsmgov.org/press/pr072109.htm

My second home will be gone unless...

Micronesian states appeal for help on rising sea levels

(AFP)

MAJURO — Leaders of Micronesian states have appealed for international help to avoid being wiped out by rising sea levels.

"We will all be drowning in our own backyards if leaders of developed nations do not take swift action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Federated States of Micronesia President Emanuel Mori said.

He was speaking at a meeting of presidents and governors from United States-affiliated islands in the north Pacific at a summit held in the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro that ends Friday.

Although the summit had a broad agenda -- including tourism, health, energy and telecommunications -- the pressing issue of climate change and its potentially devastating impact took centre stage.

The mood reflected the recent World Ocean Conference in Indonesia where island countries expressed fears that entire nations could be wiped off the map.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in 2007 that up to 150 million people could be displaced by the effects of climate change by 2050.

Those effects include sea level rises of as much as 59 centimetres (23 inches).

Mori urged summit leaders to back the Micronesia Challenge, a regional conservation program, as a first step towards continued survival.

"How do we explain to the world (we need action) if we don't protect our oceans and lands" (through the Micronesia Challenge), he said.

The summit involves leaders from the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

Character List

To begin, these are the animals you'll learn about here:

Buford - Buff Orpington Hen - lays brown eggs
Clifford - Australorp Hen #1 - lays brown eggs
Ghost Marley - Australorp Hen #2 - lays brown eggs
Greenhouse - Barred Rock Hen - lays brown eggs
Wy-Girl - Ameraucana Hen - lays pale green eggs

Likatu "Pretty Girl" in Marshallese - female Boxer/Lab
Rocky Canon - male Boxer/Lab

bees....coming soon.