Events: APEC Climate Symposium 2013 organized by APEC Climate Center in Jakarta, Indonesia from 11-13 Nov 2013

APEC Climate Symposium 2013

The APEC Climate Symposium (APCS) is an annual event, held since 2005, that brings together around 100 scientists, representatives of National Hydrological and Meteorological Services, academics, policy-makers and students from around the world to discuss emerging issues in climate prediction and its applications. This year’s APEC Climate Symposium will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from November 11 -– 13. The theme of the 2013 symposium is “Regional Cooperation on Drought Prediction Science to Support Disaster Preparedness and Management”.

This international symposium will explore the importance of advance climate information for supporting drought preparedness and disaster management. This event will be the first of its kind to specifically examine drought in the Asia-Pacific region. Over three days, the event will examine topics such as the latest innovative techniques in drought and seasonal climate prediction, the development of Early Warning Systems (EWS), drought response and risk management planning, regional cooperation on drought response, and information transfer and communication networks. The event will bring scientists and researchers together with representatives from government agencies, NGOs, and the private sector in order to foster a collaborative dialogue on drought prediction and management.

More information may be found in the First Announcement.

First Announcement  

For more information: http://www.apcc21.org/eng/acts/prosym/ann/japcc020101.jsp

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Publications: WorldFish Provides Economic Analysis of Adaptation in South-East Asia by WorldFish (18 Jul 2013)

WorldFish Provides Economic Analysis of Adaptation in South-East Asia

July 2013: WorldFish has released a publication that documents the cross-country economic impacts of three climate hazards, namely typhoons, coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion, as well as the costs of adaptation options and autonomous household responses in three Asian countries.

The report, titled 'Economic Analysis of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Selected Coastal Areas in Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam,' uses a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to document the confluence of risks affecting households. The study finds ecosystem-based approaches for reducing vulnerability to be more effective than hard infrastructure investments. It also stresses that planned adaptation efforts and external assistance reduce the amount of autonomous adaptation undertaken by private actors.

WorldFish is a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). [Publication: Economic Analysis of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Selected Coastal Areas in Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam]

For more information: 
http://climate-l.iisd.org/news/worldfish-provides-economic-analysis-of-adaptation-in-south-east-asia/209184/

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Indonesian Updates: Billions lost to corruption in Indonesia’s forest sector, says report by Diana Parker, Mongabay-Indonesia correspondent (17 Jul 2013)

Billions lost to corruption in Indonesia’s forest sector, says report

Diana Parker, Mongabay-Indonesia correspondent

July 17, 2013



Corruption and mismanagement in Indonesia’s forest sector have cost the government billions of dollars in losses in recent years, including over $7 billion in losses from 2007-2011, Human Rights Watch said in a report released yesterday. The report also blasted the country’s “green growth” strategy, saying that despite recent reforms, Indonesia’s forestry policies as they are implemented today continue to allow widespread forest clearing and threaten the rights and livelihoods of forest-dependent communities.

“The Indonesian government has been selling the expansion of its forestry sector as an example of sustainable ‘green growth’ and an antidote to climate change and poverty, but the evidence suggests otherwise,” Joe Saunders, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch, said in a release to the media.

“Funds that could be used to improve public welfare are being siphoned off to enrich a handful of people or needlessly lost through mismanagement. And the regional smog crisis suggests the environment and rural livelihoods are the victims, not the beneficiaries, of the government’s forest policies.”

Mismanagement in Indonesia’s forestry sector has serious consequences for human rights and the environment, noted Human Rights Watch in the 61-page report, “The Dark Side of Green Growth: Human Rights Impacts of Weak Governance in Indonesia’s Forestry Sector.” Indonesia is one of the world’s top carbon emitters, largely due to the clearing of forests for agriculture, and increased pressure on land for the expansion of oil palm and pulp plantations has caused violent conflicts to erupt between companies and local communities who believe they have not been adequately compensated for their land.



New oil palm plantation established on peatland outside Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan.


Loss of livelihood and agrarian conflicts

The report documents three of high-profile conflicts in Lampung province on the island of Sumatra in 2010 and 2011 in which a number of local residents and security personnel were killed. And with thousands of agrarian conflicts reported each year – the president received reports of 8,495 conflicts in 2012 alone – these cases are just the tip of the iceberg, the international rights watchdog said.

According to the report, companies are often not held accountable for failing to honor compensation agreements with communities. At the same time, residents can be harshly punished, often by police and military personnel who have been paid by the company, for reclaiming disputed land or “poaching” palm fruits or timber from land they feel they have not been properly paid for.

The Indonesian government has contributed to escalating conflicts, Human Rights Watch said, by failing to hold companies accountable for violating compensation agreements and by failing to comply with its own regulations for issuing concessions on land claimed by communities.

Under Indonesia’s current forest management system, the government often grants concessions for logging or plantation development without first guaranteeing buy in from local communities. This opens the door for land grabs, and the report documents cases in which local communities felt they did not receive proper compensated for land they lost. The report indicates that Indonesia’s forest communities, among the country’s poorest groups, have been the most harmed under this system.

“This has been an ongoing problem, but it does appear that things are getting worse because of the increasing pressure to convert land for pulp and oil palm concessions,” Arvind Ganesan, business and human rights director for Human Rights Watch, told Mongabay-Indonesia in an email. “This demand comes [from] the government’s own ‘green growth’ targets, as well as global demand for paper and biofuel.”

“[Plantation] concessions represent a more serious impact on forest-related livelihoods than the logging concessions that were prominent during the 1970s-1990s plywood and veneer boom, as the land is permanently converted to other uses,” Ganesan added.



Peat forest in Borneo


Loss of state revenue

From 2007 to 2011, illegal logging and forest sector mismanagement led to $7 billion in losses to the Indonesian government, the report, an update to the 2009 Human Rights Watch report, “Wild Money,” found. Those funds, the rights group said, could have been spent to provide important services so some of Indonesia’s poorest and most vulnerable communities.

Losses have also been increasing in recent years, despite attempts to reform the sector, with 2011 losses totaling over $2 billion, or more than the country’s entire health budget for that year.

Many people in rural areas in Indonesia still lack access to doctors and adequate health care. The report contends that by allowing large-scale losses of revenue from corruption in the forestry sector, the government is missing an opportunity to provide critical services to those communities and is instead allowing funds to be diverted into the pockets of a few wealthy individuals.



Illegal logging in Borneo


Inadequate reforms?

The report points to three key reforms that have recently come into force – a system to certify timber legality, a moratorium on plantation expansion in forests and peatlands, and Indonesia’s new freedom of information law. “Each are important steps to address the problem,” Ganesan told Mongabay-Indonesia. “But they do not go far enough and what they do cover hasn’t been effectively implemented.”

The timber legality certification system, or SVLK, was put in place in part as a response to requirements in the United States and the European Union that prohibit importing of illegally obtained timber. The system tracks the chain of custody of Indonesian timber, auditing companies to ensure that timber is acquired in accordance with Indonesian law. However, the report explained, these audits do not look into whether timber was harvested on land claimed by communities, whether local communities were consulted or gave their free, prior and informed consent, or whether communities were compensated by companies for their lost access to forests.

In its report, Human Rights Watch called Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s decision in May to renew a two-year moratorium on the issuing of new concessions in primary forests and peatlands a “bold, positive step.” However, the group also pointed out a number of serious loopholes. The moratorium is only for new licenses, so concessions issued before the policy was put in place in 2011 are exempt. As a presidential decree, there are also no legal sanctions for violating the policy. And the moratorium is temporary, meant to allow time to reform the country’s forestry sector. In the report, Human Rights Watch calls on the Indonesian government to define what specific reforms must take place before the moratorium can be lifted.



PSDH = Timber Royalty Fee, DR = Reforestation Fee. Data source: Indonesian Pulp and Paper Association. Annual reports from International Tropical Timber Organization, and Indonesian Ministry of Forestry. Courtesy of HRW.


Indonesia’s Freedom of Information Law, which entered into force in 2010, is another positive step toward forest-sector reform that Human Rights Watch acknowledged in its report, although the group contends that its implementation still falls short.

“The Freedom of Information Act is still not fully implemented and often sporadically enforced, even when the courts order disclosure of information,” Ganesan told Mongabay-Indonesia. He further explained that the lack of available forestry information “cripples oversight of the sector and provides avenues for corruption.”

The report also addressed Indonesia’s recent Constitutional Court ruling, which said the government’s practice of granting concessions on customary land was unconstitutional. This ruling could offer some hope for forest communities, Human Rights Watch said. However, the report also warned that the mapping and registration of customary lands necessary to implement this ruling was a “minefield of opportunities for continued corruption and disenfranchisement that could lead to increased conflicts.”



Illegal sawmill in Borneo


‘Not inherently bad’

While the report challenges Indonesia’s “green growth” objectives – claiming that growth in the forest sector as it is occurring today is causing deforestation and carries severe human rights consequences – the group also stressed that better management in the sector could lead to more sustainable and rights-respecting growth.

“Oil palm and pulp plantations are not inherently bad for the environment and human rights, it is the way that these sectors have been implemented,” Ganesan told Mongabay-Indonesia. The lagging progress on forest-sector reforms, he explained, has not kept pace with the increasing pressure to expand concessions due to global demand for these products and the government’s own growth plans. “[The problem] is more about developing oil palm and pulp in an unsustainable manner and without due regard for human rights.”

The solution? For plantation expansion, Ganesan said, concessions should be established on degraded lands, rather than logging natural forests, which is happening under the current system. To avoid conflicts with communities, obtaining free, prior and informed consent is key, and plantation operators should have agreements with communities so that concessions are managed in ways that benefit local residents and give residents access to credible grievance mechanisms.

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0717-hrw-dark-side-of-green-growth.html

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Indonesian Updates: Illegal palm oil from an Indonesian national park used by Asian Agri, Wilmar, WWF report says By Diana Parker, Mongabay-Indonesia correspondent (5 Jul 2013)

Illegal palm oil from an Indonesian national park used by Asian Agri, Wilmar, WWF report says

By Diana Parker, Mongabay-Indonesia correspondent
July 05, 2013

Illegal palm oil expansion inside Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park is threatening protected forests and the reputation of two companies who claim to be sources of sustainably-produced palm oil, says a new WWF-Indonesia report.

In its June 26 report, “Palming Off a National Park,” WWF-Indonesia found that over 52,000 hectares of natural forests in the area have already been illegally converted into palm oil plantations. And fruits from the illegal plantations have made their way into the supply chains of at least two global companies – Asian Agri and Wilmar.

WWF-Indonesia urged all parties to take immediate action to stop the encroachment, including through implementation of what it called a “win-win solution” – a voluntary relocation program for smallholders already operating illegally inside the park, which was recently proposed by the local government of Pelalawan district and the Ministry of Forestry.

The report documented encroachment inside the Tesso Nilo forest complex, a 167,618-hectare area in Indonesia’s Riau province that includes the national park and two logging concessions – areas zoned for timber exploitation but not for plantation development. Up until 2012, over 52,000 hectares of natural forest in the Tesso Nilo forest complex had already been illegally converted to palm oil plantations, the report found, including over 15,000 ha inside the national park itself.



Tesso Nilo protected area in Sumatra. Map courtesy of Google Earth.


By examining the chain-of-custody of the illegally-produced palm oil fruits – tracking fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) through the supply chain from the smallholder farmers to the processors – WWF found that Asian Agri and Wilmar, both members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), had allowed fruits from illegal plantations inside the national park to enter their supply chain. Both companies have since responded to the situation and said they are no longer purchasing fruits from suppliers inside the national park.

“WWF welcomes immediate responses taken by Asian Agri and Wilmar in the area. As dutiful members of RSPO they are obliged to make improvements to tackle this problem,” said Irwan Gunawan, deputy director for WWF-Indonesia’s market transformation initiative.

However, Irwan added, this is not an isolated problem. By looking at just 10 of the 50 mills surrounding the Tesso Nilo forest complex, WWF was able to find evidence that two global companies were using illegally-grown FFBs, indicating that palm oil exported from Indonesia to the global market has likely been contaminated with fruits grown illegally and linked to tropical forest destruction. WWF called on companies to develop more transparent supply chains, track fruits from smallholder plantations to their mills and conduct internal verification to ensure that they are not using fruits from illegal palm oil plantations.

“This problem is not restricted to these companies or the Tesso Nilo area alone,” Irwan said. “Responsible palm oil companies should implement such procedures throughout their whole operations.”


Tesso Nilo forest complex encroachment in Sumatra. Map courtesy of WWF. Click to enlarge.


WWF also encouraged the Indonesian government to immediately take steps to end encroachment in Tesso Nilo. In February 2013, after WWF shared a draft of the report with Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry, the ministry announced that it would provide financial support to tackle the encroachment problem, including to help voluntarily relocate encroachers to land outside the Tesso Nilo forest complex. The local government of Pelalawan district has also made similar commitments, pledging funds to relocate people residing inside the national park. And while most encroachers in Tesso Nilo are migrants from other provinces, for those smallholders with “adat” or customary rights to the land inside the forest complex, WWF said it will work with these communities to ensure existing plantations are managed sustainably and will advocate for their legal land rights.

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0705-tesso-nilo-palm-encroachment.html

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Publications: Using Data Tools to Optimize Indonesia’s Land Resources: An Overview of Natural Capital Assessment by CPI (27 Jun 2013)

Using Data Tools to Optimize Indonesia’s Land Resources: An Overview of Natural Capital Assessment

June 27, 2013

Using Data Tools to Optimize Indonesia’s Land Resources- An Overview of Natural Capital Assessment(1.04MB)
Penggunaan Data untuk Mengoptimalisasikan Sumber Daya Lahan Indonesia(1.04MB)

Land and land resources play a fundamental role delivering the economic growth targets of many emerging economies and have close links to issues such as job creation, poverty alleviation, food security, and climate change. Although land is a valuable asset that produces social, environmental, and economic benefits, economic benefits are the most readily recognized; social and environmental impacts are often unpriced and undervalued.

As demands on Indonesia’s land resources continue to increase in the coming years, improved capacity to value the benefits associated with land (called natural capital assessment) and to integrate this information into land allocation decisions could support efforts to achieve both development and environmental goals.

This brief distills the elements of natural capital assessment process, highlights a few cases of existing, related experience and tools from around the world; and situates the discussion in the context of Indonesia’s development goals and pressures.

For more information: 
http://climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/using-data-tools-to-optimize-indonesias-land-resources-an-overview-of-natural-capital-assessment/

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Publications: Addressing the encroachment problem in Tesso Nilo National Park by WWF on 26 Jun 2013

Addressing the encroachment problem in Tesso Nilo National Park

The expansion of palm oil plantations into Tesso Nilo National Park needs to be stopped immediately to improve the credibility of Indonesia’s palm oil industry.

Jakarta – Illegal encroachment by palm oil producers poses an immediate threat to Tesso Nilo National Park, according to “Palming Off a National Park” a new report launched by  WWF Indonesia today.  However, the situation could be mitigated through  a win-win solution proposed by the Minister of Forestry and Regent of Pelalawan, Sumatra, which offers  the farmers a voluntary relocation with nearby land provided by the government.

According to the report, up until 2012 over 52,000 hectares of natural forest in Tesso Nilo Forest Complex (made up of a national park and two neighboring logging concessions) has already been converted to palm oil plantations, with over 15,000 ha of the converted area located inside the national park. WWF urges all parties to work on constructive solutions in order to immediately stop further encroachment and help smallholders already illegally in the area to voluntarily relocate. Local government—especially the agency regulating plantation development—is expected to be more active in managing the allocation of palm oil plantation permits. WWF Indonesia is ready to cooperate with all relevant stakeholders—particularly with the indigenous communities of Tesso Nilo—by mapping the location of plantations and assisting plantation management to implement sustainable practices.

The WWF report also shows that up to the end of the first quarter of 2012, two global companies, Asian Agri and Wilmar were not adequately filtered their Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) supplies, with some of the fruits sourced from plantations located inside Tesso Nilo National park. As members of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) — under obligation to implement responsible management practices —both companies have since responded to the situation and ceased sourcing from suppliers located inside the park.

Irwan Gunawan, Deputy Director of WWF-Indonesia’s Market Transformation Initiative recognizes efforts made by the companies. “WWF welcomes immediate responses taken by Asian Agri and Wilmar in the area. As dutiful members of RSPO they are obliged to make improvements to tackle this problem.” WWF calls for both companies to develop and implement a robust and transparent chain of custody, tracking the FFB from smallholder plantations to their mills, as well as conducting internal verification to identify and stop any endorsement for illegal palm oil plantations.  

“This problem is not restricted to these companies or the Tesso Nilo area alone.  Responsible palm oil companies should implement such procedures throughout their whole operations.”

“Buyers of palm oil products should be rewarding the industry that ensures they source palm oil legally and from non-HCV (High Conservation Value) areas,” said Nazir Foead, WWF-Indonesia Conservation Director. “It is very crucial for Indonesia, as the largest palm oil exporting country in the world, to cultivate credible systems for sustainable palm oil production.” 

“WWF encourages the local authorities and the park management to verify land ownerships in order to  immediately develop viable solutions such as the relocation mechanism proposed by the government.”


For more info, please kindly contact:
Irwan Gunawan, Deputy Director Market Transformation Initiative, WWF-Indonesia

Email: igunawan@wwf.or.id, Mobile: +62 812 8748 535

Annisa Ruzuar, Communication Coordinator Market Transformation Initiative, WWF- Indonesia

Email: asruzuar@wwf.or.id, Mobile: +62 813 2004 4343

Desmarita Murni, Head of Communication and Campaign, WWF-Indonesia

Email: dmurni@wwf.or.id, Mobile: +62 811 793 458


Notes for Editors:

• The investigation report titled ”Palming off Tesso Nilo National Park”, can be accessed throughhttp://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_indonesia__25jun13__palming_off_a_national_park_final__2_.pd
• Tesso Nilo forest complex comprises of Tesso Nilo National Park, PT Hutani Sola Lestari and PT Siak Timber Raya logging concessions.
• Analysis from Landsat Satellite Images 2002 – on April 2011 shows an increase in encroachment areas inside the 167,618 hectare Tesso Nilo forest complex each year with peaks in 2006 with newly recorded encroachment area of 14,165 hectares, in 2008 with 14,704 ha, and the highest in 2009 with 16,305 ha. The worst encroached area in the Tesso Nilo forest complex is PT Siak Raya Timber logging concession with 84% of the concession area or 32,310 ha encroached, followed by Tesso Nilo National Park, reaching 43% or 35,416 ha. Encroachment in PT Hutani Sola Lestari logging concession reached 40% or 18,497 ha. 
• Oil palm plantations inside the Tesso Nilo forest complex are controlled and managed by individual owners or groups. The identification showed that 524 individuals dominate 72% (26,298 ha) of the total plantation areas (36,353 ha). Average plantation size per individual was 50 hectares, far above the typical size for a smallholder, suggesting availability of significant capital. The WWF investigation also identified 17 encroacher groups to have oil palm plantations in the Tesso Nilo forest complex. 

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  "Palming Off a National Park" Report

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For more information:

 http://www.wwf.or.id/en/news_facts/press_release/?28680/Addressing-the-encroachment-problem--in-Tesso-Nilo-National-Park

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Indonesian Updates: More Than 100 Elephants Died in Riau Since 2004: WWF (4 Jun 2013)

More Than 100 Elephants Died in Riau Since 2004: WWF

Posted on 04 June 2013 

Riau, Sumatra, June 4, 2013. WWF-Indonesia database shows that more than 100 sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) died in Riau, Province of Sumatra, since 2004. Meanwhile 15 elephants found dead in 2012 only.

 

This number keeps escalating. On May 31, 2013, WWF-Indonesia GPS collar installation team found two more elephants dead in Tesso Nilo area; a carcass of an adult male elephant was found in Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) concession area Ukui Sector which is overlapped with Tesso Nilo National Park area and the other wasa carcass of an adult female elephant found inside the boudary of Tesso Nilo National Park. The team estimated that they have died for three or four days before being found and suspected unnatural death was due to poisoning. 

 

Previously, on May 6, 2013, WWF-Indonesia monitoring team found a carcass of male elephant without tusks in RAPP concession Baserah Sector, Tesso Nilo area. A detergent plastic packaging was found inside its intestine which suspected contained poison. 

 

Although related institutions, including Natural Resource Conservation Agency of Riau Province and Pelalawan Region Farming Office, had deployed autopsy team to follow up WWF report on elephant deaths, real action is still yet to be conducted towards these incidents beyond just  securing tusks of the male elephant found in Ukui Sector. 

 

"Every finding of unnatural death of protected animal should be responded immediately action by the authority such as thorough investigations and when applicable prosecution. The unnatural death of every individual of key species like Sumatran elephant should be consideredas the loss of state’s assets, especially the Sumatran elephantthat is already in its critical condition due to human pressures and neglect,” said Sunarto, Species Expert of WWF-Indonesia. 

 

WWF-Indonesia urges Ministry of Forestry to enforce the law on elephant deaths in Riau as stated by Minister of Forestry, Zulkifli Hasan, several times, including during his visit to Tesso Nilo National Park on February 8, 2013. The Minister even stated to publish a competition and to give award for those who report on elephant killer. 

 

“The massiveamount of elephant deaths indicatesthat the government has not handle these cases seriously. Real actions are needed in the field in order to give detterent effect and to prevent elephant death in the future,” said Anwar Purwoto, Director of Forest, Freshwater and Terrestrial Species of WWF-Indonesia. 

 

In Sumatra, elephant condition is devastating. No less than 29 elephants died in Riau, Aceh and Lampung provinces in 2012. In Aceh alone, 14 elephant deaths were recorded in regions of Aceh Jaya, South Aceh, West Aceh, East Aceh, North Aceh and Bireuen. WWF-Indonesia recent study shows that in the last 25 years, sumatran elephants have lost 70% of their habitats as well as declining population for more than a half. Sumatran elephant population estimation in 2007 was 2400-2800 individuals. 

 

 

For further information, please contact:

Sunarto, WWF-Indonesia Elephant and Tiger Conservation Coordinator,
Email: sunarto@wwf.or.id, mobile: +628119950521.

Syamsidar, Communication Officer WWF Riau,
Email: syamsidar@wwf.or.id, mobile: +628126896095.
 

Diah Sulistiowati, Communication Coordinator FFS Program WWF-Indonesia,
Email: dsulistiowati@wwf.or.id, mobile: +628111004397.

 

 

Note for Editor: 
Related photos and maps may be downloaded via this link below by including copyright @WWF-Indonesia

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s2um1zjf97l5okw/Foto%26Peta.rar

 

About WWF-Indonesia

WWF-Indonesia is the largest natural conservation organization in Indonesia. It started its activity since 1962 and become an Indonesian foundation since 1998. Currently, WWF-Indonesia works in 28 regional offices with 400 staffs througout Indonesia. Since 2006, WWF-Indonesia has been supported by 54 thousands supporters from all over Indonesia. For further information, please visit www.wwf.or.id.

Source: 

http://www.wwf.or.id/en/news_facts/press_release/?28362/More-Than-100-Elephants-Died-in-Riau-Since-2004-WWF

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Indian Updates: Toxic waste sites detrimental to health in India: Research (5 May 2013)

Toxic waste sites detrimental to health in India: Research 

PTI | May 5, 2013, 04.55 PM IST


WASHINGTON: Toxic waste sites in India withelevated levels of lead and chromium are causing disease, disability and even death, leading to loss of healthy years of life among people, according to a new research.

The scale of the problem is comparable to that of other major public health issues such as malaria and outdoor air pollution, it added, also affectingthe unborn foetus.

The study titled 'The Burden of Disease from Toxic Waste Sites in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines in 2010,' which focuses on individuals living near 373 sites located in these three countries, was published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

"Lead and hexavalent chromium proved to be the most toxic chemicals," said the study leader,Kevin Chatham-Stephens, MD, Paediatric Environmental Health Fellow at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

"They have caused the majority of disease, disability and mortality among the individuals living near the sites," he added while presenting the findings today at the Paediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington DC.

Eight chemicals were collected at the toxic waste sites in 2010 and measured for pollutant levels in soil and water and compared with the 8,629,750 individuals at risk of exposure to calculate the loss of years of equivalent full health.

Researchers calculated healthy years of life lost due to ill-health, disability or early death, in disability-adjusted life years (DALY), a measure of overall disease burden used by the World Health Organisation.

One DALY represents the loss of one year of equivalent full health. In this study, the total number of lost years of full health or DALYs was 828,722.

In comparison, malaria in the same countries caused 725,000 lost years of full health, and outdoor air pollution caused 1.4 million lost years of full health in 2008.

"The number of DALYs estimated in our study potentially places toxic waste sites on par with other major public health issues such as malaria and outdoor air pollution," said Chatham-Stephens.

"This study highlights a major and previously under-recognised global health problem in lower and middle income countries," added Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, Dean for Global Health at the School and one of the study authors.

"If a woman is pregnant, the foetus may be exposed to these toxic chemicals," said Chatham-Stephens.

High exposure to lead can cause neurological, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular damage, while that to chromium ups the risk of developing lung cancer.


Source:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/Toxic-waste-sites-detrimental-to-health-in-India-Research/articleshow/19896251.cms

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Publication: Comparative Analysis of Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments: Lessons from Tunisia and Indonesia (20 Apr 2013)

IISD Publications Centre

Comparative Analysis of Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments: Lessons from Tunisia and Indonesia

» Anne Hammill, Livia Bizikova, Julie Karami-Dekens, Matthew McCandless, GIZ, 2013.Paper, 40 pages, copyright: GIZ

Vulnerability assessments (VAs) are central to shaping climate change adaptation decisions. They help to define the nature and extent of the threat that may harm a given human or ecological system, providing a basis for devising measures that will minimize or avoid this harm. Yet the wide variety of VA approaches can be confusing for practitioners, creating uncertainty about the "right" way to assess vulnerability.

In an effort to provide some guidance on designing and conducting VAs, this paper reviews and compares VAs undertaken in Indonesia and Tunisia to distill key approaches, components and lessons. It begins with a general overview of definitions, approaches and challenges with conducting VAs, and then proposes a framework for analyzing and comparing them. The framework looks at four components of VAs: (1) Framing: where do we come from? (2) Process of conducting the VAs: how does it work? (3) Inputs: what is needed? (4) Outputs: what does it tell us?

The framework is then applied to analyze the assessments carried out in Tunisia and Indonesia, from their respective framings of vulnerability to the outputs of the process. The report then concludes with observations on differences and similarities between the VAs, as well as lessons learned that can inform the design and execution of future assessments.

Paper

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• If you are having difficulty viewing a PDF or Flash Flip-page, please click here.

For more information: http://www.iisd.org/publications/pub.aspx?id=2781

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Indonesian Update: Improving community healthcare helps protect rainforests in Borneo (14 Mar 2013)

Improving community healthcare helps protect rainforests in Borneo
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
March 14, 2013


Providing high quality healthcare to communities around a rainforest park in Indonesian Borneo may be helping reduce chronic illegal logging, suggests a new assessment published by a conservation group.

The five-year impact assessment published by Indonesia-based Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) is based on surveys of nearly 1,500 households and 6,345 people living around Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan. The study compares key health, economic, and conservation indicators to a baseline survey taken in 2007, prior to the launch of the project.

The survey finds across-the-board improvements in health indicators, including declines in infant mortality and common disease symptoms, increases in the rate of child immunizations, and a fall in the number of children per mother. It also reports increased environmental awareness and concern about deforestation in Gunung Palung, especially among members of communities participating in ASRI's programs.

The approach, pioneered by ARSI and its U.S.-based affiliateHealth In Harmony, is based on a simple concept: giving communities what they need in order to avoid cutting down the national park's trees.

Illegal logging on the edge of Gunung Palung National Park. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Initial surveys around Gunung Palung indicated that paying for healthcare expenses was one of the most important factors in whether community members engaged in illegal logging. Communities around the park are poor but generally can meet their day-to-day needs through agriculture. However when a family is suddenly afflicted with a serious illness or injury, the fastest way to get cash is to go into into the forest and cut down trees. Lack of effective and low-cost healthcare is therefore an indirect driver of deforestation in the area.

Understanding this, ASRI and Health In Harmony devised a program that offers inexpensive high-quality healthcare to anyone who needs it. But as an incentive to reduce illegal logging, communities that sign an agreement not to log get vastly subsidized healthcare. To ensure non-compliant communities aren't priced out of cheap healthcare, ASRI offers alternative forms of payment that allow patients or their families to work on conservation-promoting projects, including an organic farm and seedling nursery, which is growing trees to be used in reforestation efforts. These non-cash forms of payments are paying surprising dividends: freed of costly chemical inputs, some farmers have seen a substantial boost in their incomes from organic vegetable farming.




Some of the results from the assessment.

The results are partly reflected in the new survey, which shows widespread support of forest conservation among project participants and a sharp decline in the number of active loggers. Ninety-eight percent of community members believe that the program has decreased logging, while ASRI patients are "significantly less worried about affording health care (57% vs 73%) and accessing health care (57% vs 70%) than non-patients," according to the group. Communities are also growing wealthier, suggesting that the decline in logging has not had a detrimental impact on incomes.

"Communities around Gunung Palung National Park are now healthier, wealthier, and the environment is better protected," said ASRI. "Win, Win, Win."

ASRI's report quoted a village headman highlighting the positive outcomes of the program to date.

“Five years ago there were more than 100 people in my village doing illegal logging, now there are less than 10," the report quoted local leader Pak Bastarin as saying during a speech to 300 villagers. "The effect I have seen of ASRI, is that loggers can become farmers without start up money because now they can make the fertilizer from the waste around them."

Rainforest in Gunung Palung National Park. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Health In Harmony founder Kinari Webb told mongabay.com that linking healthcare to conservation in poor areas is an effective model that could be applied beyond Borneo.

"In the area of Gunung Palung National Park, environmental destruction is strongly linked to poverty and poor health in local communities. Most people have little or no access to good healthcare or are unable to pay for treatment. Out of economic need, many communities participate directly in illegal logging or allow outsiders to log within the park near their villages. The destruction of the national park perpetuates the cycle that links poverty, poor health, and forest loss in the region by destroying an important watershed, resulting in floods, and likely by increasing rates of malaria and other illnesses," she told mongabay.com ina 2008 interview.

"We believe that healthcare incentives, as well as conservation-promoting work opportunities, provide an excellent, powerful means to break the cycle that links poverty, poor health, and environmental destruction around Gunung Palung," she continued. "Health In Harmony's long-term goal is that the ASRI model be replicated in other areas where natural areas are under siege and local communities feel the negative effects of environmental destruction. Our vision is that planetary health will be improved and protected if the Alam Sehat Lestari model is employed around the world."


Health in Harmony founder Kinari Webb spoke at TEDx Jaksel in 2012.


Health In Harmony and ASRI are now planning to expand to an entirely different ecosystem and region: the coral reefs of Indonesia's West Papua, the western-most part of the island of New Guinea. The local needs however are the same: effective and affordable healthcare. Meeting this need could help preserve the region’s stunning marine biodiversity, including coral reefs, mangrove forests, and seagrass communities.
Read more at
http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0314-healthcare-and-rainforest-conservation.html#0Lpr7F2x79jLA0P7.99

For more information: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0314-healthcare-and-rainforest-conservation.html

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Indonesian Updates: Not Much Protection and No Commitment to Restoration in APP Forest Promises (3 Apr 2013)

Not Much Protection and No Commitment to Restoration in APP Forest Promises

Jakarta, Indonesia, April 3, 2013. The much-touted new deforestation policy of controversial paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) will save almost no forests in its main base of operations, Sumatra, Indonesia, a new report by NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest has concluded.

 

APP and Sinar Mas announced the policy in February as “An end to the clearing of natural forest across its entire supply chain in Indonesia, with immediate effect.” However, a new Eyes on the Forest (EoF) analysis that looks at all APP concessions – including those not covered by the moratorium - in Riau Province, Sumatra, found that the policy protects at most 5,000 hectares of natural forest. This compares to the deforestation of more than 2 million hectares caused by the operation of APP’s Sumatra pulp mills over the past three decades.

 

“We’re extremely disappointed. When APP published the policy, we thought it could be great news for Indonesia’s forests, biodiversity and citizens,” said Nazir Foead, Conservation Director of WWF-Indonesia. “However, after this new analysis for Sumatra, it appears that the company has announced a halt to deforestation only after completing nearly all the deforestation it could possible do.”

Among APP’s many natural forest wood sources are the concessions of its suppliers in Riau Province. They alone lost more than 680,000 hectares of natural forest between the start of the company’s Riau pulp mill in 1984 and 2012. Of that, 77% was lost in legally questionable ways, while an even larger proportion - 83% - consumed the habitat of critically endangered Sumatran tigers and elephants.

 

WWF called on APP and Sinar Mas to announce a forest restoration commitment.

 

“The company is asking for a grand amnesty, for the ‘past to be forgotten’, leaving our country to deal with devastated ecosystems, social conflicts, on-going greenhouse gas emissions and critically endangered species who lost their habitat,” says Aditya Bayunanda, GFTN and pulp & paper manager of WWF Indonesia. “That is not acceptable, Indonesian NGOs are calling on APP to restore selected peatlands and forests lost in protected, High Conservation Value areas and to mitigate the damage its operations caused to surrounding natural forests, peat soils, and wildlife.”

 

Eyes on the Forest also highlights that SMG/APP’s much advertised High Conservation Value assessments are to be conducted in concessions where planned clearing is complete and the remaining forests are already protected by law or APP’s previous commitments.

 

“Without a restoration commitment, these assessments have little meaning,” adds Bayunanda.

 

The report also shows that, despite previous company promises to exclusively pulp plantation fiber by 2004, 2007 and 2009, the company’s rate of deforestation remained constant between 1995 and 2011, apart from a short period in 2007-2009 when authorities were investigating alleged illegal logging by the industry, including APP wood suppliers. The rate slowed in 2012 – for the sole reason that there was very little natural forest left to cut.

 

“Our analysis points to one conclusion: APP once again seems to hope that it can fool people into imagining huge conservation benefits while overlooking past transgressions,” said Hariansyah Usman of WALHI Riau. “We don’t see the policy’s potential future conservation benefits balancing in any way the many unresolved issues stemming from APP’s deforestation legacy.”

 

“Eyes on the Forest highlighted that only full disclosure of all activities, including the status of all existing and planned wood supply bases and all mill expansion plans can prove whether this policy contains any real conservation benefits.”

 

Last week, NGOs in Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo, found continued logging of tropical forest taking place in the concessions of two APP wood suppliers, who are supposed to be bound by the February deforestation moratorium. 

 

A serious red flag to WWF is the fact that APP’s mills continue to accept and pulp natural forest timber, under the claim that it was felled before the moratorium started on 1 February 2013. WWF-Indonesia calls on APP to close this loophole since it could be used by suppliers to feed wood into the mills from new deforestation, in violation of the policy. WWF has proposed a May 5 deadline to end their mills’ acceptance of natural forest timber, allowing the company over 3 months to transport stockpiles of wood cleared before February.

 

“WWF recommends that paper buyers do not rush into doing business with APP," says Rod Taylor, Director of Forests at WWF International. “APP cannot be regarded as a responsible producer without redressing the harm caused by its past operations and removing any doubt that wood linked to forest clearing can enter its mills.”

 

EoF published analyses of the report on its interactive online map, based on Google Earth’s Maps Engine platform, allowing stakeholders to evaluate some of the aspects of APP’s new forest policy and monitor its implementation. EoF will update its database regularly as information from other provinces and new details about existing concessions becomes available.

 

 

 

Notes for editors:

 

The "Where are the trees" report published at:
http://www.eyesontheforest.or.id/attach/EoF%20(03Apr13)%20Where%20are%20the%20trees%20EN%20FINAL.pdf

High resolution cover image of the report:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83668676/EoF%20Report%20-%20Where%20are%20the%20trees%20(April%202013)/EoF_Where%20are%20the%20trees_April%202013_Cover.jpg

 

The analysis data is published as interactive maps on the Eyes on the Forest-Google Earth online Sumatra database at:
http://maps.eyeontheforest.or.idThe analysis found that 89% of natural forests remaining last year in SMG/APP suppliers’ concessions in Riau were protected by law and additional 8% by the company’s own previous commitments, thus leaving at most 5,000 hectares of natural forest receiving new protection under the policy.

Initial response of WWF-Indonesia to the announcement of APP’s policy on 5 February was published at:
http://bit.ly/12b1cjL

 

On 18 March, Greenomics published a report to show that APP's forest clearance moratorium was announced after their suppliers in Sumatra completed their planned deforestation:
http://bit.ly/12b1QxN
 

On 26 March, NGOs in Kalimantan published a report that APP’s suppliers continued logging and peat canal development activities after the company’s imposed moratorium:
http://bit.ly/12b1HKX

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

Aditya Bayunanda, WWF-Indonesia,
Mobile: +62 818 265 588, email: abayunanda@wwf.or.id

Diah R. Sulistiowati, WWF-Indonesia,
Mobile: +62 811 100 4396, email: dsulistiowati@wwf.or.id

Chris Chaplin, WWF-International,
Mobile: +86 139 117 474 72, email: cchaplin@wwf.sg

Webpage link: 

http://www.wwf.or.id/en/news_facts/press_release/?27800/Not-Much-Protection-and-No-Commitment-to-Restoration-in-APP-Forest-Promises

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