SavethePacificIslands

In the run up to the US elections on Tuesday, it’s useful to have a quick look at Obama and McCain’s energy policies. President Bush’s administration has been widely criticized for developing backwards, in terms of the US’ environmental protection measures and blocking Kyoto was but one of the many things that the world could have did without.

Both candidates vow to take the US into a greater leadership role on environmental issues. Supporting a cap-and-trade scheme to curb US greenhouse gas emissions is on both candidates lists, with Obama promising 80% less CO₂ by 2050 and McCain lagging behind with 60%. Energy efficiency is also an important issue. Americans will get tax credits if they purchase cleaner cars but only Obama plans to tighten vehicle efficiency standards. However it doesn’t seem that America will be making much progress in the renewable energy sector. Obama is aiming for national renewable energy production of 10% by 2012 which is lower than nearly all the EU countries, whicle McCain seems to be content in providing tax incentives.

The good news is that the US will most definitely improve on the energy policies of the Bush administration but experts warn that with the current financial and economic slump, the priorities of whoever may win, is likely to change, thus putting climate change and environmental issues on the back burner. US support for these issues is not yet a done deal and they still to need to make concrete promises learn that sometimes sacrifices are necessary for the greater good.

http://www.euractiv.com/en/opinion/
experts-eu-temper-hopes-us-climate-push/article-176788

Many in the Pacific may be forced to relocate as a result of climate change. This has been mentioned before but the urgency can never be over-reported. What we fear may soon be a reality. The tiny low lying island nations such as Tuvalu and Kiribati may soon be forced to face this dreadful fate. The Pacific Climate Change Roundtable (PCCR) Conference recently convened at the National University of Samoa, during which it was discussed that relocation was at present still on option. This is good news, as it means that there is still time for us to stop climate change.

Relocation is obviously a sensitive issue. Director of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Asterio Takesy was right to point out that “what people value as their culture is unthinkable for someone to leave behind.” We, especially in the developed world, should not sit back and label those in the Pacific as climate change refugees. There is still time and hope. The term climate change refugee should never be used to label anyone.

http://www.samoaobserver.ws/local/LNPages/1008/1508ln004.htm

Everyone must take responsibility for climate change and this can be particularly important in large international companies. These companies have the power and capability to both have major impact in the work they do and also by being trend setters and the role model of other companies. Here are two examples.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is the world’s largest professional services firm. They have over 140,000 employees working in 150 countries. PwC recently announced their corporate responsibilities commitments at the inaugural ServiceNation Summit. They were the main sponsor of the United Nations’ World Environment Day in 2008 and was recently appointed global advisor and report writer for the Carbon Disclosure Project. The project is the world’s largest investor collaboration on climate change, representing 385 institutional investors and 57 trillion US Dollars in assets. PwC are also working on a smaller front and have encouraged behavioral adjustments in employees in order to cut down on their resource use. Simple things like printing on both sides of paper to the use of more video conferencing instead of travel.

PwC Corporate Responsibility Site

BMW topped the sustainability list released by the 2008 Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. However this sustainability is only on their manufacturing process, BMW produced cars may not be quite so green! The Mini gets a very respectable 29 mpg but the M6 is a not-so-green 13 miles to the gallon. At least this is a good start…

http://www.sustainability-indexes.com/

Yet more from Darren in Majuro! View his blog here.

It was great to see that all the Pacific Islands Nations sent athletes to this years’ Olympic Games. Special congratulations go to the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu teams for their countries’ first appearance in the summer games! Also a mention for the best result for the Pacific Islands: Ele Opeloge narrowly missed out on a bronze medal for Samoa in the women’s weightlifting +75kg category. She was only one kilo short of third and finished with a personal best of a combined total of 269kg. Weightlifting proved to be the most popular amongst the Pacific Islanders with about a quarter of the total athletes competing in various categories with a total of 6 men and 3 women taking part. Islanders were also represented in various other sports from taekwondo to swimming to shooting. Here’s a quick summary of the countries and their teams.

Fiji: 6 athletes total, competing in athletics, judo, shooting, swimming and weightlifting.
Kiribati: 2 athletes total, competing in athletics and weightlifting.
Federated States of Micronesia: 5 athletes total, competing in athletics, swimming and weightlifting.
Marshall Islands: 5 athletes total, competing in athletics, swimming and taekwondo.
Nauru: 1 athlete competing in weightlifting.
Palau: 6 athletes total, competing in athletics, swimming and wrestling.
Papua New Guinea: 7 athletes total, competing in athletics, boxing, swimming, taekwondo and weightlifting.
Samoa: 6 athletes total, competing in archery, athletics, boxing, canoeing, swimming and weightlifting.
Solomon Islands: 4 athletes total, competing in athletics and weightlifting.
Tonga: 3 athletes total, competing in athletics and weightlifting.
Tuvalu: 3 athletes total, competing in athletics and weightlifting.
Vanuatu: 3 athletes total, competing in athletics and table tennis.

Congrats to all the athletes who competed and we look forward to seeing all the Pacific Islands at the 2012 London games!

A combination of a lack of time and laziness has ended and now I’m getting back in the flow of things and will resume regular posts on the Pacific Islands and climate change. With the recent ending to the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, my first post back will be about how the islands fared.

I’m also going to start another page so I can ramble about everyday going-ons. Please go to http://savethepacificislands.com/james.

Tuvalu’s 12,000 people and 26 square kilometers of paradise need the help of the global community. Rising sea levels are causing a multitude of problems for this island country found in the Pacific half way between Hawaii and Australia. We must not remain passive and need to make concrete commitments to mitigate the effects of climate change and save Tuvalu.

Tuvalu’s Ambassador to the United Nations Afelee Pita, has been extremely outspoken about climate change and his country since his arrival in 2006. He made a passionate speech to the United Nations Security Council, focusing on climate change and it’s security implications. Read the statement here.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/31/tuvalu.climate/

The sixteenth review session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, more commonly known as CSD-16, takes place at the United Nations Headquarters from the 5^th to the 16^th of May. CSD meets yearly and was established to ensure effective follow-up to the Earth Summit of 1992. The Pacific Islands have always had very active participation at CSD with many countries sending Ministers to New York. Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which all of the Pacific Islands are members of, have always been one of the focal points of CSD. The topics that are of particular interest to the Pacific this year include agriculture, rural development and land.

Please go here to visit the CSD-16 site.

Barack Obama has won the Democratic caucus in Guam by a nifty 7 votes. Hand counted ballots give Obama 2,264 votes to Hillary Clinton’s 2,257.

President Marcus Stephen gains a 6 seat majority in Nauru’s 18 member parliament after snap elections the past weekend. Stephen declared a state of emergency and dissolved parliament on April 18 as it ground to a halt due to a political impasse. They now have what Stephen calls a “strong workable majority”, which should bring stability to this once rich nation. Nauru has recently resumed exporting phosphates but the country is heavily reliant on fishing and vegetable farming.

http://news.theage.com.au/nauru-president-hopes-for-stability/
20080429-299x.html