I thought it useful to share some links to ongoing coverage of negotiations in Copenhagen. We are especially interested in green tech and clean fuels for the energy poor, of course, but REDD is also on our mind, so if you have any information you’d like to share, don’t hesitate to submit it! I’d also like to apologize in advance for the US-centric nature of these suggestions. I’ll be adding more international coverage later! Links: The NYT has several good blogs to turn to. Climate Change Conversations , Dot Earth (Enviro reporter Andy Revkin’s blog), and The Times Topic on Continue reading
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A sobering, graphic view of the world's energy poor in 2030 as seen by the IEA
In the spirit of the energy reconversion that half the world is about to undergo in the next decade or so, I thought it appropriate to post some of the sobering slides produced by the International Energy Agency which suggest a completely different perspective for the world’s energy poor. The takeaways are that (1) the number of people who will be denied electricity access and who will rely mostly on biomass to meet their energy needs will grow in the future and, (2) this great disparity will continue to be most evident between rural and urban zones. Per Capita Energy Continue reading
Stove project in Congo selling carbon credits on voluntary market
A December 3rd article in the Financial Times reports how a Mercy Corps-operated stove project in Goma (eastern Congo) is selling carbon offsets to western companies on the voluntary market. It is partially reproduced below but you can only read the complete article on the FT site. Among the more interesting facts reported are: * Projects like these are attractive to private investors in the the voluntary carbon market (as opposed to CDM) because the provide a social benefit as well as an environmental one. More bang for your buck, so to speak. * A project on this scale does Continue reading
REDD as a Human Rights Disaster: Fact or fiction?
From IPS news came this item in the context of Copenhagen. The thesis is that REDD — Reduced Emissions through avoided Deforestation and Degradation, the proposed mechanism by which developing nations will be compensated for protecting and restoring their forests under a global greenhouse gas reduction agreement — would encourage countries to cordon off their forests, and therefore restrict access to the indigenous and rural inhabitants that depend on the forests for their survival and their identity. How real is this scenario? We thought it worthwhile to examine the piece in detail and see how much water this theory holds. Continue reading
On Environmental Brink, Haiti Scrambles for a Lifeline
“With any reforestation campaign, you have to find first a solution for energy.” — Antonio Perera, Program Manager, UNEP, Haiti The satellite image compares forest cover along the Haiti-Dominican Republic Border. A recent New York Times article explains what happens when a country’s energy-poor population exhausts its last remaining fuelwood resources. The country is Haiti and the picture painted is not pretty. With much of its forest cover gone, the poorest (and oldest) developing country in the Western Hemisphere’s stands now on the brink of environmental catastrophe. The story, reported by Nathaniel Gronewold of Greenwire, the web-based environmental policy and Continue reading