Issue: 16
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) issues global human development reports under various themes every year, and national human development reports every two or three years. This year the theme of Turkey’s national report is “Youth”.
Writing of the report by young people may seem unconventionally misplaced at first glance. But in fact it is just appropriate, because nobody can be a better “expert” in writing about the ideals, ambitions and problems of young people, than themselves. Therefore, this year UNDP has extended the microphone and the pen to the youth of Turkey. During the project that will continue until the end of the year, students, newly-graduates and other youngsters will have the chance to voice their priority issues and concerns within the context of the National Human Development Report, as well as seizing the opportunity to develop their future prospects and options .
The preparation work of the national report started on 1 January 2007, following the approvals of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Planning Organisation. The first few months were spent in setting up the core team, again consisting of young volunteers. Currently there is a small army of volunteers , including five amateur authors, one web editor, one sociologist, one statistician, one youth expert and more than 30 students who will help in the construction of a website. The whole preparation process is being filmed for later release as a documentary.
In the forthcoming months, a public opinion poll will be conducted among 4000 to 5000 young people. The survey aims to reveal the opportunities and ambitions of young people and how well they can actually realize these. Moreover, focus group meetings will be held with youngsters, their families, NGOs and public institutions all around Turkey. A number of these meetings have already been conducted in Ankara.
Many NGOs working on youth issues in Ankara have played an important role in shaping this project. The study fields of the project, such as which issues should be tackled, what methods to be employed were all decided in the meetings among UNDP and NGOs during the summer months.
The attention and support given to the project by the representatives of more than 30 public establishments, who were invited to the preparation meetings, show the existence of a strong public demand for more work to be done in this area . All organisations and institutions were of one mind that a new vision, new plans, new policies and above all else, better coordination were needed for “young Turkey”.
The young team of the National Report Project is currently conducting talks with public organisations to learn about their policies, programmes and future plans. Most of these organisations not only carefully prepared to give information to assist the project, they also set up teams to support the writing of the report.
All this information and sources gathered will be collected at the youth web portal as of April, to interactivate the process and to contribute to the composition of the Report. The youth portal can be reached via UNDP Turkey’s website (www.undp.org.tr). UNDP gets technical support from the Youth Services Centre in Ankara and financial support from the British Council, for the construction of this portal which will disseminate information on human development issues, as well as on youth policies, programmes and projects. This portal is planned to continue to operate even after the release of the National Human Development Report with the support of the British Council even after the release of the Report. Thanks to the special design of the website, the portal will also serve blind people.
The support extended to the preparation of the report is not limited to the above.
Academics working on youth issues who attended the preparation workshop in March expressed their willingness to share their various studies and opinions that can contribute to the preparation of the report, and to give their full support.
Similarly, representatives of the private sector, who were present at the meeting, promised their contributions to the Report. The private sector companies expressed their committment to support the organisation of the annual ‘Information Fair’, planned to be held during the presentation date of the Report and which will exhibit the best examples of youth projects.
The young team of the National Human Development Report Project spent the first week of March 2007, receiving intensive trainings regarding human development. Even more significantly, the trainings were given by the British academician Sir Richard Jolly, one of the leading experts who brought forward the human development concept as an alternative development model at the end of the 1970s.
New Horizons,interviewed Sir Richard Jolly during his visit in Ankara, made possible with the support of British Council. Sir Jolly elaborated to us on the human development concept and how the human development reports were first initiated.
Richard Jolly (R.J.): UNDP writes these human development reports every year. The start of these reports has been a very important initiative leaving its mark on the past 20 years. Matters such as gender discrimination, womens’ issues, issues of consumption and human rights are dealt with perfectly in the human development reports. More importantly, these reports have spurred a lot of countries (over 130 countries) to produce their own national human development reports, like this one that takes place here in Turkey. Although Turkey has so far produced 6 national human development reports, this year’s report aims to bring a new approach to the inadequacies of the conventional economic development. At this point, I have to mention a very important detail regarding the human development reports: One of the first meetings held on human development was organised by Üner Kırdar in Istanbul in 1987. I was there and perhaps another 60-80 people were there including Mahbub Ul-Haq who founded the human development report in UNDP three years later. That meeting was one of the first meetings in which participants from America, Europe and developing countries debated human development and brought a new approach to the problems that are faced in today’s world.
UNDP Turkey: Why were these reports needed? What was their point of departure?
R.J.: I believe there are various reasons, but it’s a good question. First of all, the human development reports started in 1990, even though the first steps were taken in the 1980s. If you remember, the 1980s were desperate years of economic problems in Africa, Latin America and even in many industrialised countries. But in the 1990s there was also a growing awareness of environmental problems. On the other hand, the lack of adequate democracy was also continuing in Latin America. In other words, there was an awareness that the neo-liberal Thatcher and Reagen economies did not mean democracy any more. In Chile, Pinoche who came to power in 1973 following a coup d’Etat, was still in power until the 1980s. On the other hand, Thatcher had called the troops in because of a minor striking. Looking at these examples, the conventional understanding that human rights went along with economic development was not true. There were also environmental issues, and although the Summit Meeting was held in 1992, awareness of environmental problems dated back to the 1970s. On account of these, a thought that the existing orthodoxy in economy was inadequate, had started to establish. This is why a new approach was needed. What is interesting though, was the creation of the human development report: the Report was the joint idea of Mahbub Ul-Haq, Pakistan’s Minister of Finance, who knew some of the worst features of Pakistan, Amartya Sen the Nobel prize winning economist and philosopher, and interestingly Bill Draper the right-wing Republican head of the UNDP but who believed in the team and was a friend of Mahbub Ul-Haq. The report was born with all the right elements coming together at the right time.
UNDP Turkey: What changed in the world with the start of these human development reports? What results did these reports bring about? Have you noticed any change of approach caused by them, in the politics of any country?
R.J.: Yes, I think there are examples of it. But what was new was to present a coherent framework, instead of the neo-liberal economy that gave a philosophical point of view. According to this new approach, the aim was to increase opportunies and strenghten human capabilities. On the other hand, there were elements that were suppressed or were not included in the liberal foundations of that era. These were not only political or civil rights, but human rights in the whole world, including economic and social rights. And the human development approach envisaged not only a democracy that gave voting rights, but a comprehensive democracy that included the repressed groups of society as well. You may ask how this vision gained power... They spread as ideas and the national human development reports were accepted with these new elements without question. For example, the idea of human rights approach to development is now a mainstream in a lot of countries around the world. Another example would be moderating the extremes of inequality which is getting more attention, as initiatives are taken to this effect in certain countries. When compared to 20 -30 years before, countries such as Korea, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Tunisia are gaining more attention for having a more dynamic economy, by combining economy with re-distribution. As a result, even though these ideas are not being implemented all around the world, they are certainly gaining attention.
UNDP Turkey: When were you first involved in the Human Development Reports?
R.J.: I have had 14 years of experience in UNICEF. Before I started working for UNICEF, I was an academic. I mostly did UNICEF’s analytical work and I certainly took on the wicked ideology as I saw it of the World Bank (until 1989s), until UNICEF announced that child mortality was increasing and education standards were decreasing in countries of Africa and Latin America. Who could claim at that time that the World Bank was helping development by ameliorating the economy? As Mahbub later said “they were imbalancing the lives of people”. But when I joined the human development reports in 1995, I was very concerned, precisely about establishing a realistic strategy, and so I always tried in the reports for which I was responsible, to make sure they included positive examples of everything that we were arguing that ought to happen. So instead of saying this “ought to happen”, we’d say this has been done in the last 3 years in Kenya or in Costa Rica, or in whatever country, and often they were not nice countries... Mostly we could find good things that happened either in countries that were extremely poor or rather unequal or whatever! So I thought it was a very realistic strategy to preach and promote.
UNDP Turkey: In how many global human development reports were you directly involved?
R.J.: I was responsible for five global human development reports. The one in 1996 which was on economic growth and human development, the one in 1997 which was on poverty and human development, not just income poverty but human poverty, a deprivation. The one in 1998 which was on the craziness of consumption and the inequalities in consumption. The report in 1999 was on globalization and the one I like… Perhaps the most important one during my time was the 2001 on human rights and human development.
UNDP Turkey: You have written other books as well, right? Will you please talk about them?
R.J.: Well, first thing I wrote was my own thesis as a graduate student. It was on accelerating education in Africa and planning education for African development. Later on, in 1978 I wrote a paper on disarmament and world development. When I was working in UNICEF, three of my friends, myself and Professor Francis Stewart wrote two volumes on ‘A Human Development’ but later on I realised that what was more important was a development paralled to human development rather than ‘a human development’, which is why we decided to come back together, but by then I had moved on to the Human Development Report Office. We started working on this issue with a colleague of mine at UNICEF, and although he did most of the work, I wrote an opening chapter. In the following years we started to write the history of the United Nations. So far, we have managed to complete 9 volumes; but 6 more volumes will be added in the next two years.
UNDP Turkey: You have a ‘Sir’ title in front of your name. Is this title linked to your work in human development studies?
R.J.: You never quite know!.. but there was a citation that goes along with it! And it was for my “services for the United Nations”. One of the reasons why I was quite pleased with it, was because in the early days, the British government never recognised UN service for any national recognition. More importantly, Britain never followed the UN rules before. According to the UN rules, no one whose an UN staff member should ever receive a national recognition, because as staff members, we’re all working as international citizens and should not therefore be exposed to any favour. But this time Britain abided with the rules, and waited for me to retire from UNDP and quietly asked me if I would accept such a title if it was to be offered to me. I was rewarded with the ‘Sir’ title by the Queen in early 2001.
UNDP Turkey: Sir, what was it that brought you to Turkey?
R.J.: The team at the UNDP here in Turkey invited me under the leadership of Aygen Aytaç. First of all, I have to say this is a wonderful team. This team will write the national human development report on youth for Turkey and I find this very exciting. The method that will be used in Turkey has not been tried a lot before in many other countries. And in the four or five countries that it has been tried, they’ve been, as they say in school, a “good effort” but not satisfactory! Whereas I had the chance of spending a week with the team in Turkey, and I think their plans are very exciting! We’ve had interviews with academics, government poeple, non-government people, and there’s been a lot of interest already expressed in seeing this report: a lot of good ideas, a lot of willingness to contribute. I think in the next two weeks or so, the team will start having interviews with the youth in Turkey. They will try to learn their views, their ambitions, their frustrations, their problems and their hopes. I think this report will be very interesting. The youth in Turkey will be this country’s future, especially as a larger group of Turkey’s population consists of youth. This is not the situation in many other countries. Young people, say 15 to 25 years of age, will be alive and many of them still active in 2050 which is why, if a report is going to be written on youth, their needs and opportunities and their future in the long term should be taken into consideration. What will Turkey’s situation be in 40-50 years? Where would we like to see Turkey? What kind of preparations should today’s youth have in order to build the future Turkey? It’s almost like the saying of Atatürk in 1923: modernising Turkey for the world of 1950, 1960, 1970? And perhaps he did have that vision of the future, but we need to have opportunities for young people in Turkey today to gain that vision. To gain the professional skills in order to have leadership qualities and to make them feel responsible for other poeple in Turkey.
UNDP Turkey: Do you think this report can achieve that?
R.J.: I think the report can achieve it. They’ve got a great team, and they’ve just about got enough time. The report is going to be launched in November 24th- 25th of 2007, so they’ll have to work incredibly hard. They are not just working on an ivory tower; there’s going to be a website, and there’s going to be continual interaction from people. There’s going to be meetings with not just mainstream university youth but with street children, and women. One of the interesting groups, to my mind, are women who’ve already got married, may already have children but still be in their late teens or early twenties who have somehow been marginalised from society. What would these people like to be if they were given second chances? All of these will be taken into consideration. The actions that need to be taken for a second chance will be discussed.
UNDP Turkey: Obviously this report will be different from any other youth report. In this, young people will be viewed in a human development perspective. So if you were to describe human development in one sentence, what would it be?
R.J.: Well one sentence: It’s putting people at the centre of all policies and actions in a country, providing opportunities that will allow people to live as they wish, and to realise their projects.
In order to improve Eastern Anatolia’s economy “Tourism Development in Eastern Anatolia” project will be implemented over the next two years with the cooperation of UNDP, Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Efes Pilsen Beer Group as the private sector partner.
The project was launched on 30th March 2007 in Istanbul with a press conference in which UNDP Resident Representative Mahmood Ayub stressed the importance of private sector partnerships. “The UNDP-Efes Pilsen partnership illustrates just one of the many ways the private sector can be involved in finding solutions to development issues. Partnership with the private sector is essential as a lot of the skills and human capacity needed to solve development problems actually sit in the private sector and in private enterprises. Without the private sector involved, we cannot hope to solve these problems” said Ayub. Efes Pilsen Group will be giving financial aid for the duration of the project. On the other hand, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism plays a key role in increasing the success of the project by integrating the results into national policies.
The project is aimed at reducing regional disparities through support to alternative income other than agriculture in the Çoruh Valley. In this context, tourism development councils will be established for participatory planning and implementation as well as the support received from tourism development offices in İspir and Uzundere districts. Through the support of these offices, tourism will become an alternate income for the region by opening new business opportunities and local initiatives. The project will help to balance the disparities that arise from socio-economic conditions, lower GDP and outmigration.
Through this project Çoruh will attract local and foreign tourists thanks to its rich cultural, wildlife and landscape value. Kaçkar Mountains in the region, for example, provide great opportunities for canoeing, rafting and trekking, as well as offering an authentic environment for attractions, such as bird watching. However, there is much to be done. Although the local community is very welcoming, they need to be trained in the tourism sector. The current accomodation facilities will need to be transformed so that they are convenienent for tourists. By the end of the project, Çoruh’s well-preserved biodiversity including rich flora and fauna as well as its fortresses, churches and mosques will receive much attention.
In the context of “Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries” (TCDC), a protocol was signed at the General Directorate of Disaster Affairs, by General Director Mustafa Taymaz and the respective directors of Tajikistan Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Institute, Kyrghyztan National Sciences Academy Seismology Institute, Ukranian National Sciences Academy Geophysics Research Institute and Kazakh Ministry of Education and Science Seismology Institute, as well as National Nuclear Centre Geophysics Research Institute.
The main aims of the centre are preparing preliminary assessment for early prevention and alleviation of negative effects of natural disasters in collaboration with Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, and identifying the comparative advantages and the experiences of the countries on disaster scenarios, seismic risk, geographical information system and early warning systems of the participating countries.
Regarding the project, UNDP Resident Representative Mahmood Ayub stated that the project carried out under UNDP’s programme with the State Planning Organization for Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries was shaped after a long technical evaluation period. General Director for Disaster Affairs Mustafa Taymaz added that Turkey has learnt its lesson from the previous earthquakes and that it was now time for precautions.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, UNDP Representative Mahmood Ayub stressed the importance of working in partnerships that will bring mutual benefit and said “certain problems require action and collaboration that extends beyond national boundaries”, which is why “UNDP globally advocates for regional and international cooperation to identify developmental problems across borders and to arrive at solutions”.
The groundwork of the project had started in 2005. Five roundtable meetings were held with the CIS countries and Turkey in 2006 to share information and plan further activities. Through this project, CIS countries and Turkey will be able to share their knowledge and respective experiences on disasters, as well as laying the foundation for future studies. The countries will also work together to form a common action plan and draft regional projects on early disaster prevention.
[BAGLANTILAR]
The project on Turkey’s adaptation to Climate Change, implemented by the Turkish government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with a budget of US$ 420,000 extended by the Global Environment Fund (GEF), has now been completed. The Country Report was presented to the media by the Turkish Minister of Environment and Forestry Osman Pepe and UNDP Turkey Resident Coordinator Mahmood Ayub.
The survey, which was a pioneering study in this field, shows how Turkey is affected by climate change, especially in the form of water resource shortages and draught, and in agricultural and health sectors. The project includes Turkey’s future projections and analysis on greenhouse gas emissions and the energy sector. In the scope of the project, the possible impacts of climate change were analysed and an inventory of the greenhouse gas emissions was prepared. The study also includes projected emission calculations until the year 2020. While alternative energy scenarios were evaluated in the context of the project, preventive measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were also researched; and public awareness raising campaigns were conducted.
This report is the first National Communication on Climate Change that Turkey needs to prepare regularly, as a party of the UNFCCC she signed in 2004.
Ministries of Energy, Transportation, Agriculture and Health, as well as the State Planning Organization participated in the workshops that the Ministry of Environment and UNDP jointly coordinated. More than 20 research institutes, 100 researchers and experts contributed to the preparation of the report.
Initial National Communication on Climate Change, which demonstrates the steps Turkey has taken for the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, also specifies the measures that must be employed in the near future.
During the preparation of the FNC, several scenario studies were conducted in order to understand the abnormal trends in Turkey’s climate. The reveals of the studies call for urgent action against climate change as a increasingly dangerous problem. The FNC Report makes vulnerability assessments, gives current conditions and future projections, and discusses adaptation measures; mainly on temperature and precipitation trends, sea-level rise, impacts at socio-economic levels, water resources, agriculture, marine-terrestrial-freshwater ecosystems, wetlands and biodiversity, health, and land degredation.
Here are some highlights from the FNC Report:
Temperature and precipitation
Trend analysis applied to seasonally averaged annual temperatures between 1951 and 2004 in Turkey shows that the most prominent feature is the widespread increase in summer temperatures. Summer temperatures increase mostly in the western and south-western parts of the country. Temperature increase as a result of urbanisation is most notable in summer in Mediterranean cities, when the region comes under the influence of high pressure systems. The maximum temperatures for the winter season exhibit significant decreasing trends in the coastal areas of the Black Sea region and a widespread decreasing tendency in the central Anatolian region. In general, minimum temperatures depict similar distributions in both winter and summer. Winter minimums show significant decreases only in the northern and southern coastal regions. Summer minimums exhibit significant increasing trends at almost all stations that are observed during the relevant period of the study.
Coherent areas of significant change in precipitation can be seen in both winter and fall seasons. Winter precipitation in the western provinces of Turkey has decreased significantly in the last five decades. Fall precipitation, on the other hand, has increased at the stations that lie mostly in the northern parts of Central Anatolia. In general, precipitation decreases along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts and increases along the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Central Anatolia shows little or no change in precipitation. The most severe reductions will be observed on the south western Coast; in contrast, the Caucasian coastal region is expected to receive substantially more precipitation. These observations are valid both for winter and spring totals. In summer there will not be much change in the amount of precipitation over Turkey. A slight total precipitation increase is expected in the fall season for Turkey as a whole. It is worth mentioning that precipitation in the fall will increase more in the Euphrates-Tigris basin.
Sea level rise and coastal implications
Global sea-level rise for the last century has been estimated between 10 and 20 cm. For the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, the sea-level rise is around 12cm in the last century. Although coastal cities cover less than 5% of the total surface area of Turkey, over 30 million people live in coastal areas. The main impacts of sea-level rise will be erosion, flooding, inundation of coastal lowlands and saltwater intrusion.
The local (relative) sea-level rise of an average of 4-8 mm/year (detected by four mareographic stations) may be a threat to fertile land in settled areas, as well as engineering structures in coastal areas, including roads. It is recommended that the detected relative level trends be taken into consideration in preparing coastal plans and engineering works in Turkey, so as to minimise future risks against human life and the economy of the country.
In comparison with other countries lying on low sea level corridors, Turkey does not appear especially vulnerable to sea-level rise. However, Accelerated Sea Level Rise (ASLR) needs to be taken into account. Turkey, being a coastal country, has recognised the increasing number of problems in coastal zones and many precautions have been taken by several governmental institutions and agencies. For example, most of the protection areas declared by the Turkish government are located in the coastal zones such as Fethiye-Göcek, Gökova, Patara, Kekova, Foca, Datca-Bozburun, and Belek. The Ministry of Environment is planning to establish a Coastal Zone Department for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the Authority for the Protection of Special Areas (APSA) is declaring new areas as protection areas and developing special environmental programmes.
Impacts at socio-economic levels
Uncontrolled growth and development pressure have been the main causes of coastal and near-shore degradation and environmental problems in the Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara Seas. Water demand is met mostly from groundwater reserves. Over-exploitation leads to saltwater intrusion and a decrease in the water resources for other uses such as agriculture. While human use is the major problem, sea-level rise is a background change that has exacerbated the problems, and this will be a more serious issue through the 21st Century.
Istanbul is Turkey’s largest coastal city. In terms of industrial infrastructure and other economic features, it is the leading city and the largest contributor to Turkey’s GDP. One of the major climate-induced impacts on Istanbul is probably saltwater intrusion. Two big lagoons (Büyükçekmece and Küçükçekmece) and the Haliç estuary that separate Istanbul’s old town from the business district, are vulnerable to possible ASLR, particularly in terms of salinisation, as well as the freshwater supply of Istanbul --Terkos lake, located near the coastline of the Black Sea. ‘Flagship’ cultural and historical sites along the Bosphorus in Istanbul will definitely be affected by the projected rise in sea level.
The preliminary assessment of vulnerability analysis for coastal erosion along Turkish shorelines yields about 6% of its Gross National Product (GNP) for capital loss, and about 10% of its GNP for protection/adaptation costs of the country.
Water resources
To investigate the likely consequences of possible global climate change on watershed scale, the Gediz and the Büyük Menderes River Basins were used as test cases in the modelling studies carried out by Dokuz Eylül University.
Gediz River Basin, near the city of Izmir, is the second largest in the Aegean region and has a total drainage area of about 18,000 km2. The most significant feature of the Gediz Basin is water scarcity, which is due basically to competition for water among various uses, mainly irrigation versus the domestic and fast growing industrial demand in the coastal zone, and environmental pollution despite of the fact that the basin experiences drought from time to time. Current analysis of the hydrological budget of the basin indicate that the overall supply of water for various uses is approximately equal to the overall demand. In other words, there is no reserve for further water allocation in Gediz.
The second case considered was the Büyük Menderes, which is the longest river in the Aegean region. It meanders for 584 km through western Turkey before reaching the Aegean Sea in the form of a large delta. The Büyük Menderes Delta is an important wetland like the Gediz Delta. Büyük Menderes has a total drainage area of 24,976 km2, and the annual runoff is in the order of 3km3, which accounts for 1.6% of Turkey’s water potential. The basin has been turned into extensive water resource systems, including 13 dams and a large number of irrigation schemes. The total irrigated agricultural area in the basin is more than 88,000 ha. Büyük Menderes Basin is the main cotton producer of Turkey. Three major cities of the Aegean Turkey, namely Aydın, Muğla and Denizli, account for a population of more than 2.5 million. The region is rich not only in terms of agriculture, but also in industry, the major ones being textiles and tourism. These activities demand significant competition for water.
Simulation results of the water budget model, based on the prescribed climate change scenarios, show that nearly 20% of surface water will be reduced by the year 2030. The decreasing surface water potential of the basins will cause serious water stress problems among water users, mainly agricultural, domestic and industrial water users. Thus, while crops will demand more water than usual, the climate-induced reduction in rainfall values creates an additional impact.
Effective land use management programmes, promoting technological change in water transport and distribution systems in irrigation and settlement areas, and rationalising water demand management efforts between water users, should be considered as the adaptation instruments for coping with vulnerability to the expected future climate change.
Agriculture
In order to analyse the relationship between climate and agricultural systems, the research project selected case study areas in arid and semi-arid areas on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, including the Seyhan River Basin.
Preliminary outcomes underline that the average temperature will increase by 2.30C in the southern part of Turkey by 2070; and annual precipitation will decrease from 470mm to 360mm.
Available water resources of Seyhan River basin are relatively stable. Since the 1990s, there has been no serious drought with drying up of reservoirs, while in the future some drought may result from a reduction in runoff discharge caused by climate change. However, the increase of CO2 concentration, temperature and water stress with climate change may affect production of major crops in the basin, including wheat in rain-fed condition and maize in irrigated land. Estimates show a future reduction of cereal production in the Adana region and in rain-fed region with changes in temperature and rainfall due to global warming.
The predicted water demand increase due to climate change could be managed by improvement of irrigation efficiency, even with the present facilities. Some of the identified adaptation measures in respect to the predicted findings from the impact studies comprise the following:
According to a report released by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world faces an average temperature rise of around 3°C this century, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at their current pace and are allowed to double from their pre-industrial level.
“The findings, which governments have agreed upon, leave no doubt as to the dangers mankind is facing and must be acted upon without delay. Any notion that we do not know enough to move decisively against climate change has been clearly dispelled,” Mr. de Boer said.
The new report says that warming during the last 100 years was 0.74 °C, with most of the warming occurring during the past 50 years. The warming per decade for the next 20 years is projected to be 0.2 °C per decade.
“It is politically significant that all the governments have agreed to the conclusions of the scientists, making this assessment a solid foundation for sound decision making,” Mr. de Boer said.
The United Nations’ top climate change official called on governments to provide the necessary leadership and to move negotiations under the auspices of the UN forward.
“The world urgently needs new international agreement on stronger emission caps for industrialized countries, incentives for developing countries to limit their emissions, and support for robust adaptation measures,” he said.
According to the Stern review issued last year by the UK government, an average temperature rise of 3°C would translate into severe water shortages and lower crop yields around the world, with climate change already causing setbacks to economic and social progress in developing countries.
An assessment by the IPCC of the impacts of climate change will be released in early April.
The UNFCCC Executive Secretary called for a step change in negotiations and warned against resignation in the face of the problem.
“The good news is that the worst predictions of the IPCC are based on scenarios which do not take into account action to combat climate change now or in the future. Both the policies and technologies to prevent such consequences are available and putting them in place is precisely what the Climate Convention and the Kyoto Protocol are designed to do.”
Mr. de Boer called on countries to overcome their inhibitions to acting against climate change on economic grounds.
“The Stern Review not only points to effects of unabated climate change such as premature deaths due to rising temperatures. It clearly shows us that the economic costs of inaction – for example, permanent displacement of millions of people – will be much higher than the cost of action,” he said.
The IPCC will complete its assessments of the impacts of climate change and of available preventive measures within the next four months and inform of the findings at the next UNFCCC talks and negotiations scheduled for May 2007 in Bonn.
A synthesis of all three reports will be presented approximately one month before this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference in December.
The UNFCCC Executive Secretary said he believed it was possible to build on the success of the Kyoto Protocol in using market-based approaches to reduce the cost of action on climate change.
The Kyoto Protocol presently requires 35 industrialized countries and the European Community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5% below 1990 levels in its first commitment period between 2008 and 2012.
“Any future agreement, which will require global participation, should recognize that industrialized countries need to continue to take the lead in reducing emissions and be prepared to undertake emission reductions on the order of 60 to 80% by 2050,” said Mr. de Boer.
“This is the target that must be achieved in order to stabilize concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level which prevents the worst consequences,” he added.
The burning of fossil fuels, the unsustainable destruction of carbon-rich forests, and the use of heat-trapping aerosols are the main culprits behind the climate change phenomenon that could lead to unprecedented climatic changes in the coming decades. The expected repercussions of climate change – including rising sea waters, more frequent and intense storms, the extinction of species, and crop failures – will affect every nation on earth.
The IPCC Report describes an accelerating transition to a warmer world marked by more extreme temperatures including heat waves, new wind patterns, worsening drought in some regions, heavier precipitation in others, melting glaciers and Arctic ice and rising global average sea levels. For the first time, the report provides evidence that the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland are slowly losing mass and contributing to sea level rise.
The report also concludes that:
In Winter, by maximizing solar heating while deflecting winds away from your home; and in Summer by maximizing shading while funneling breezes toward your home.
The average driver could save 16,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $3,750 per year driving a hybrid.
Getting a few extra miles per gallon makes a big difference. Save thousands of lbs. of carbon dioxide and a lot of money per year.
Own a big vehicle? Carpooling with friends and co-workers saves fuel. Save 790 lbs. of carbon dioxide and hundreds of dollars per year.
Keep the tires on your car adequately inflated. Save 250 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $840 per year.
Check your car's air filter monthly. Save 800 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $130 per year.
Buy products with less packaging and recycle paper, plastic and glass. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.
Composting helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the number of trips trucks must make to the landfill as well as the amount of methane released by our landfills.
Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled paper. Save 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.
Less packaging could reduce your garbage by about 10%. Save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide and $1,000 per year.
Even when electronic devices are turned off, they use energy. Save over 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $150 per year.
Trees provide a microclimate and sustained moisture for you. Trees suck up carbon dioxide and make clean air for us to breath. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.
(Source: www.stopglobalwarming.org)
Live Earth concerts to support to the fight against global warming
Environmentalists, under the leadership of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, will organise worldwide concerts on 7 July 2007 to support the fight against global warming. The forthcoming events, even more ambitious than the 1985 Live Aid and 2005 Live 8 concerts, aim to reach 2 billion people around the world. Different from Live Aid and Live 8 that were organised as aid programmes for Africa, this year’s Live Earth concerts do not intend to raise funds, but to cause a change in the current system by encouraging people to take action in the combat against Climate Change. Many famous musicians, including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Eyed Peas, Sheryl Crow, Bon Jovi and Snoop Dogg have already announced their participation in the event. Live Earth concerts will take place in Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg and London, as well as in one city in Brazil, Japan and USA, to be designated later.
Photo: Engin Güneysu
The partnership aims to facilitate dialogue with the business community for localizing Turkey’s MDGs and for achieving economic, social and democratic development objectives of the Government of Turkey.
UN Resident Representaive Mahmood Ayub said, "Businesses are increasingly involved in the achievement of MDGs and TOBB is an important example of this worldwide trend. Through this initiative, TOBB confirms the commitment of the business community in Turkey to the achievement of clearly defined developmental targets in poverty, in health, in education and in environment".
TOBB Chairman Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu highlighted that “the private sector had to become an actor that defines economic policies in commercial and economic development in a world where economic development is based on the private sector”.
The agreement aims to promote local chambers and commodity exchanges and their membership in Local Agenda 21 cities to establish “best practices” of partnerships with local governance actors for achieving Turkey’s development and MDG targets by localizing the MDGs through the LA-21 governance network. TOBB plays a critical role in demonstrating the potential of the private sector in supporting MDGs and the LA-21 processes at the local level through its vast national and local representative network of 364 chambers and commodity exchanges throughout the country.
As Hisarcıklıoğlu stated “the large representative network that our local chambers and commodity exchanges dispersed to 81 cities and 157 towns, forms a key position and role. In addition to actively taking part in the projects, our union will support projects chosen by our chambers and commodity exchanges in context to localizing the MDGs.
Since 1997, UNDP-Turkey has been cooperating with its national counterparts in the area of local governance through the Local Agenda 21 Program, coordinated by the United Cities and Local Governments, Middle East and West Asia (formerly IULA-EMME – International Union of Local Authorities). The overall objective of the Program is to strengthen local governance by ensuring that civil society participates in decision-making and influences local investments. The LA-21 Program, encompassing over 60 cities, reflects a decentralized and enabling approach, based upon networking and collaboration among equal partners.
Short for the International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics, iKNOW Politics is the first online space specifically designed to make governance work better for women and to advance the role and number of women in political and public life.
“Women gain experience from being able to network with each other. ‘iKNOW Politics’ will give them that chance. By joining elected women leaders with aspiring young politicians, and political candidates with professional lobbyists, iKnow Politics will equip women across borders, generations, faiths and opinions to address the acute under-representation of women in public life and to enter the political fray,” said UNDP’s Director for Democratic Governance Pippa Norris in advance of the launch.
Designed by women in politics and drawing on a database of over 100 experts on women in politics, iKNOW Politics allows users to access an online library of more than 400 reports and training materials in English, French and Spanish from leading international agencies, research institutions, academia and civil society groups. It provides a virtual forum where women can exchange ideas and advice, along with an array of resources on election campaigns, political parties, parliaments, lobbying, budgets, legislation and post-conflict and transitional participation. The site is also being developed in Arabic.
Speaking at the launch in New York, Geraldine Ferraro, who earned her place in history as the first woman vice-presidential candidate on a national party ticket in the United States, described the initiative as a pragmatic strategy that would bring the disconnected into the fold. She encouraged all present to “use the network to tell others how you have achieved success and to support your own political ambition.”
“I know the difficulties of being a woman in politics,” she said. “When I ran for vice-president in 1984, I let women around the United States know that there are no limits to what we can do. This is made even truer for women around the world by iKnow Politics.”
Liberian President Madame Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first democratically elected woman president in Africa, put her support behind the initiative: “While the winds of change have begun to blow, women remain on the fringes of political power. That is why the creation of iKNOW Politics, the premier network for women in politics, will provide women with the tools necessary to participate meaningfully in every facet of political life,” she said.
The need for this resource is clear. Though the number of women in politics has grown in recent years, they are still under-represented and face innumerable obstacles to full participation. In 2006, less than 17 percent of parliamentarians were women, according to IPU, and elected women head only 13 of the world’s 194 states and governments, as reported by the Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership.
This initiative was founded in partnership by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
In the match that took place in Stade Vélodrome and refereed by Italian Pierluigi Collina for the 4th consecutive time, Zidane’s team beat Ronaldo’s team 6-2. The successful goals for Zidane’s team were recorded by Ronny (KK), Sichi, Portillo (2), Al Jaber and French comedian of Moroccan origin Jamel Debbouze. Scorers for Ronaldo’s team were Gerald and Sonny Anderson though there were many other names from the international arena as well such as Julio Baptista from Arsenal, Ricardo Silva from Boavista, Rivaldo from Olympiakos, Robinho from Real Madrid, Hakan Şükür from Galatasaray, Turkey and even the seven times Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher who was listed in Ronaldo’s team.
As before, all proceeds from ticket sales will go to projects selected by UNDP in Asia, Africa and Latin America to build health centres and schools. In previous years, Haiti, Congo, Sri Lanka, Comoros, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Namibia, Colombia, Brazil, Bhutan, Cuba and Vietnam were the countries that had benefited from the proceeds of the “matches against poverty”.
Regarding the match Ronaldo stated that it was really encouraging to see such a response from the public and that he wanted to continue to help raise awareness and overcome poverty. Similarly Zinedine Zidane who played international football for the first time after the 2006 World Cup stated that although he had retired from professional football, he is determined to continue playing for such a good cause. UN Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of UNDP Ad Melkert said “Through the ‘Match Against Poverty’ millions of fans witness their heroes in soccer become heroes in the fight against extreme poverty. This message is so important because only in partnership with governments, the private sector, civil society and individuals like Ronaldo, Zidane and Drogba will we be able to truly overcome poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”
This year's theme highlights the increasing significance of water scarcity worldwide and the need for increased integration and cooperation to ensure sustainable, efficient and equitable management of scarce water resources, both at international and local levels. This year, FAO acted as coordinator, on behalf of all the UN Agencies and Programmes members of UN-Water for the celebration of World Water Day 2007.
UNDP Administrator Kemal Derviş’s Water Day message
“As we stand at the mid-point toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals, which include a specific target on halving the number of people without sustainable access to safe water, the world still faces serious challenges in water supply and sanitation. Today, over 900 million more people need to gain access to an improved water source by 2015, and over 1.3 billion people need access to improved sanitation, if the specific targets are to be met.
The theme of this year’s World Water Day, “Coping with Water Scarcity,” draws attention to this reality, and the fact that chronic water stress affects nearly 800 million people worldwide and threatens the collapse of ecological systems, intensifying competition for water and heightening cross-border tensions. While the world is not running out of water in an absolute sense, water insecurity still poses a real threat to human development in many places and for a large proportion of the world’s people. About 700 million people in 43 countries live below the water-stress threshold of 1,700 cubic metres per person per year. In 20 years, 3 billion people will live in countries under that threshold. The growing thirst for water from expanding cities, industry, agriculture, and energy demands puts the already fragile food and livelihood security of the poor even more at risk. The 2006 Human Development Report called for access to a safe and affordable water supply to be recognized as a human right, and for a Global Action Plan to respond to the water crisis. On this World Water Day, we reiterate that call, remembering also that failure to adequately tackle this challenge will affect our ability to meet all the MDGs.
Perversely, we live in a world where the less you earn, the more you pay for water. The poorest households in many developing countries can spend as much as 10% of their income on water, while in the developed world spending more than 3% of earnings on water is seen as economic hardship. Indeed, the challenges of the water crisis are largely driven by fundamental inequalities. As highlighted in last year’s Human Development Report, scarcity of water is not purely a physical or environmental deficit—it often reflects a lack of financial and political power. The poor don’t get enough clean water for the same reasons they don’t get a chance to vote, or to live free of disease, or to escape the dangers of disaster and conflict, or to empower themselves economically: Too often, little or no money means little or no voice, and little or no opportunity. Confronting the world water crisis is an essential step in confronting poverty, and supporting broader human development.
Climate change threatens to further undermine the livelihoods of poor people. Water availability will be more unpredictable, with increasing prevalence of droughts, floods and variability of rainfall patterns - yet another challenge that afflicts the poor disproportionately. The poorest people bear almost no responsibility for climate change, yet in many cases they are suffering the worst of its immediate effects. Agricultural productivity is likely to suffer in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Rising sea levels will increase the risk of saline water intrusion into the drinking supplies of low-lying countries such as Bangladesh. Developing effective and affordable adaptation strategies to reduce and manage risk and vulnerability has to become a major focus in national water-management policies, and international aid.
The water crisis may seem daunting, but concrete steps can be taken to address the emergency. World Water Day is, therefore, an important opportunity to both re-energize the debate on this crucial issue and to catalyze action. The challenge to G8 and other donors is to take to heart the water needs of the poor, and follow the recent example of the United Kingdom, which has pledged to double support for water and sanitation in Africa by next year and to double that figure again to £200 million by 2011.The global investment needed to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving the world’s population without access to clean water is equivalent to a month’s spending on bottled mineral water in Europe and the US. Achieving that MDG delivers $38 billion in additional economic benefits to the developing world. These are numbers I hope the G8 will consider very carefully in June at their Summit.
By strengthening management of water resources, by investing and planning now to confront current and future water problems, and by empowering countries and communities to take more control over their future water situations, we can help to trigger the next leap forward in human development. The solutions are not primarily hydrological and technical; power, politics and governance at all levels play a much bigger part. Collectively, we have the means to address the global water crisis; what we need now is commitment, collective political will and an adequate policy response to these challenges.”
[BAGLANTILAR]