Events: Efficiency: Low-hanging Fruit of the Energy Challenge organized by ADB on 10 Jul 2013

Efficiency: Low-hanging Fruit of the Energy Challenge

Online, 14:00-15:00 Manila time/06:00- 07:00 GMT : 10 July 2013

As the lowest-cost energy resource of all, energy efficiency is crucial to developing a sustainable, affordable, and accessible energy system for all Asians. It is estimated that a 1%-4% investment in energy efficiency can meet as much as 25% of the projected increase in primary energy consumption in developing Asian countries, by 2030.

1. Can demand-side energy efficiency contribute to Asia's energy independence?
2. Why are large scale investments in energy efficiency not yet happening in Asia and the Pacific?
3. What is the Asian Development Bank doing to advance energy efficiency and demand-side interventions in the region?

Join ADB energy experts Anthony Jude and Aiming Zhou in a live online discussion.

When: 14:00-15:00 Manila time/06:00-07:00GMT on Wednesday, 10 July 2013.

Access the chat here or send your questions in advance here or through Facebook or Twitter.

Anthony J. Jude

Anthony J. Jude is a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Director General of ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department as well as Practice Leader of Energy. He has over 29 years of work experience in the energy sector as consultant, researcher and lecturer.

Aiming Zhou

Aiming Zhou is a Senior Energy Specialist in the Sustainable Infrastructure Division of ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department at Asian Development Bank. Prior to joining ADB, he worked in the USA and the People’s Republic of China.

For more information: http://www.adb.org/news/events/efficiency-low-hanging-fruit-energy-challenge

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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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Malaysian Updates: Apps available to check on air quality in Malaysia (25 Jun 2013)

Apps available to check on air quality in Malaysia

By Patrick Lee
The Star/Asia News Network
Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013

PETALING JAYA - Want to know how bad the haze is in your area on your smartphone?

A Malaysian-made Android application can help you decide whether or not to go outside or send your kids to school.

Entitled PSI Malaysia - Haze, the app compiles data from the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry website and provides mobile updates on Malaysia's Pollutant Standards Index (PSI).

Areas are clearly displayed along PSI levels: in Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange or Red, or according to their indicator stages.

Users can sort through different parts of Malaysia according to their respective PSI levels, states or even the nearest location to you.

They can also click on locations in the app for specific tips on how to handle the haze in these areas.

For example, the "Very Unhealthy" regions will tell you "to avoid all outdoor activity or to wear a mask if it's unavoidable".

The apps can be downloaded for free from Google's Play Store and is about 1MB in size.

At the moment, Apple devices do not have a Malaysia-specific air quality app yet.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment (DOE) will also be providing hourly Air Pollutant Index (API) readings.

The data will be made available ministry and DOE websites soon.

Another app named Asia Air Quality on Google Play Store allows Android users to flip through more than 2,000 locations throughout Asia.

The app, which is also free, can be installed as a widget on a smartphone's home screen, and sends updates for cities in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

Asia Air Quality also allows a user to see readings from a Google Maps point of view.

Source: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Haze/Story/A1Story20130625-432275.html

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New Books: The Role of Ecosystems in Disaster Risk Reduction edited by Fabrice G. Renaud, Karen Sudmeier-Rieux and Marisol Estrella (Jun 2013)

The Role of Ecosystems in Disaster Risk Reduction

Edited by Fabrice G. Renaud, Karen Sudmeier-Rieux and Marisol Estrella

PUBLICATION DATA:

ISBN-13: 978-92-808-1221-3

LANGUAGE:

English

PAGES:

440

PRICE:

US$40.00

PUBLISHER:

United Nations University Press

PUBLISHED:

June 2013

The increasing worldwide trend in disasters, which will be aggravated by global environmental
change (including climate change), urges us to implement new approaches to
hazard mitigation, as well as exposure and vulnerability reduction. We are, however, faced
with hard choices about hazard mitigation: should we continue to build dikes and walls
to protect ourselves against floods and coastal hazards – though we have seen the limits
of these – or should we consider alternative, ecosystem-based solutions? Ecosystem
management is a well-tested solution to sustainable development that is being revisited
because of its inherent “win–win” and “no-regrets” appeal to address rising disaster and
climate change issues. It is one of the few approaches that can impact all elements of the
disaster risk equation – mitigating hazards, reducing exposure, reducing vulnerabilities
and increasing the resilience of exposed communities. Yet, the uptake of ecosystem-based
approaches for disaster risk reduction (DRR) is slow despite some very good examples of
success stories. Reasons for this are multiple: ecosystem management is rarely considered
as part of the portfolio of DRR solutions because the environmental and disaster
management communities typically work independently from each other; its contribution
to DRR is highly undervalued compared to engineered solutions and thus not attributed
appropriate budget allocations; finally, there are poor science–policy interactions on
ecosystem-based DRR, which have led to unclear and sometimes contradictory scientific
information on the role of ecosystems in DRR.

The aim of this book is to provide an overview of knowledge and practice in the multidisciplinary
field of ecosystem management and DRR to encourage and further develop
dialogues between scientists, practitioners, policymakers and development planners.

About the Editors:

Fabrice G. Renaud is Head of Section at the United Nations University Institute for
Environment and Human Security, Germany. Karen Sudmeier-Rieux is a Researcher at the
Center for Research of the Terrestrial Environment, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
Marisol Estrella is the Programme Coordinator of the Disaster Risk Reduction Unit,
Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch, United Nations Environment Programme,
Switzerland.

Table of Contents:

Part I: Why do ecosystems matter in disaster risk reduction?
The relevance of ecosystems for disaster risk reduction, Fabrice G. Renaud, Karen Sudmeier-Rieux and Marisol Estrella
Ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR): An overview, Marisol Estrella and Nina Saalismaa

Part II: Ecosystems and coastal disaster risk reduction
Investigating the performance of coastal ecosystems for hazard mitigation, Sam S.L. Hettiarachchi, Saman P. Samarawickrama, Harindra J.S. Fernando, A. Harsha R. Ratnasooriya, N.A. Kithsiri Nandasena and Srimal Bandara
Bioshields: Mangrove ecosystems as resilient natural coastal defences, Carmen Lacambra, Daniel A. Friess, Tom Spencer and Iris Möller
Integrating the role of ecosystems in disaster risk and vulnerability assessments: Lessons from the Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Methodology Development Project (RiVAMP) in Negril, Jamaica,
Pascal Peduzzi, Adonis Velegrakis, Marisol Estrella and Bruno Chatenoux
Increasing the resilience of human and natural communities to coastal hazards: Supporting decisions in New York and Connecticut, Michael W. Beck, Ben Gilmer, Zach Ferdaña, George T.
Raber, Christine C. Shepard, Imen Meliane, Jeffrey D. Stone, Adam W. Whelchel, Mark Hoover and Sarah Newkirk
A coastal adaptation strategy for the City of Cape Town: An ecosystem-based management approach towards risk reduction, Darryl Colenbrander, Penny Price, Gregg Oelofse and Sakhile Tsotsobe
Lessons from local initiatives on ecosystem-based climate change work in Tonga, Stavros Mavrogenis and Ilan Kelman

Part III: Water resources management for disaster risk reduction
Good flood, bad flood: Maintaining dynamic river basins for community resilience, Pieter van Eijk, Chris Baker, Romana Gaspirc and Ritesh Kumar
Utilizing integrated water resources management approaches to support disaster risk reduction, James Dalton, Radhika Murti and Alvin Chandra
The matter is not if, but when and where: The role of capacity development in disaster risk reduction aiming for a sustainable water supply and sanitation, Madeleine Fogde, Luis Macario and Kirsten Carey

Part IV: Sustainable land management for disaster risk reduction
12 The role of vegetation cover change in landslide hazard and risk, Maria Papathoma-Koehle and Thomas Glade
Protection forests: A key factor in integrated risk management in the Alps,André Wehrli and Luuk Dorren
Forest cover and landslide trends: A case study from Dolakha District in central-eastern Nepal, 1992–2009, Stéphanie Jaquet, Karen Sudmeier-Rieux, Marc-Henri Derron and Michel Jaboyedoff

Part V: Policy, planning and future perspectives
Reducing vulnerability: The role of protected areas in mitigating natural disasters, Nigel Dudley, Kathy MacKinnon and Sue Stolton
Urban disaster risk reduction and ecosystem services, Lorenzo Guadagno, Yaella Depietri and Urbano Fra Paleo
Applying environmental impact assessments and strategic environmental assessments in disaster management, Anil Kumar Gupta and Sreeja S. Nair
Opportunities, challenges and future perspectives for ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction, Marisol Estrella, Fabrice G. Renaud and Karen Sudmeier-Rieux

For more information: 

http://unu.edu/publications/books/the-role-of-ecosystems-in-disaster-risk-reduction.html#overview

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Events: Future of Wetlands and the Role of the Ramsar Convention organized by UNU on 4 Jul 2013

Future of Wetlands and the Role of the Ramsar Convention

DATE / TIME : July 4, 2013    14:00 - 17:00

LOCATION : Tokyo

Twenty years have passed since the fifth Conference of the Parties (COP5) of the Ramsar Convention (Ramsar Kushiro Conference) was held in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan. The Kushiro Conference contributed a lot to raising public awareness, development of the citizens movement, and public participation in nature conservation, especially on wetlands in Japan.

This commemorative symposium of the 20th anniversary of the Ramsar COP5 in Kushiro — “Ramsar Kushiro Conference + 20: Future of Wetlands and the Role of the Ramsar Convention” — aims to review the progress of wetland conservation during the past 20 years, and to discuss the conservation and wise use of wetlands in the future, and the further role of the Ramsar Convention.

Simultaneous English-Japanese interpretation will be provided.

The symposium will feature presentations and a panel discussion. Participants will include:

• Daniel Navid, former Secretary-General of the Ramsar Secretariat;
• Lawrence Mason, Vice-Chair of the Kushiro Conference; 
• Keiji Nakashima, Director, Wildlife Division, Ministry of the Environment of Japan; 
• Makoto Suzuki, representative of the Kushiro City Government; 
• Koji Oohata, representative of the Wild Bird Society of Japan; 
• Satoshi Kobayashi, Professor, Kushiro Public University; and 
• Yoshihiro Natori (coordinator), representative of Wetlands International Japan (WIJ).

To register for this symposium, or for more information, please visit the WIJ website.

This symposium is being co-organized by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace, Global Environment Outreach Centre, Ramsar Center Japan and Wetlands International Japan.

Location

United Nations University
5-53-70 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925
Japan

For more information:

http://unu.edu/events/upcoming/future-of-wetlands-and-ramsar-convention.html#overview

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Publications: Turn Down the Heat : Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience by World Bank (19 Jun 2013)

Turn Down the Heat : Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience

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Citation:

“Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics. 2013. Turn Down the Heat : Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience. © Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/14000 License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.”

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14000

Date: 2013-06-19

Author(s): Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics

Abstract:

A Report for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Analytics. This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia. Building on the 2012 report, Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided, this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day, 2°C and 4°C warming on agricultural production, water resources, and coastal vulnerability. It finds many significant climate and development impacts are already being felt in some regions, and that as warming increases from present day (0.8°C) to 2°C and 4°C, multiple threats of increasing extreme heat waves, sea-level rise, more severe storms, droughts and floods are expected to have further severe negative implications for the poorest and most vulnerable. The report finds that agricultural yields will be affected across the three regions, with repercussions for food security, economic growth, and poverty reduction. In addition, urban areas have been identified as new clusters of vulnerability with urban dwellers, particularly the urban poor, facing significant vulnerability to climate change. In Sub-Saharan Africa, under 3°C global warming, savannas are projected to decrease from their current levels to approximately one-seventh of total land area and threaten pastoral livelihoods. Under 4°C warming, total hyper-arid and arid areas are projected to expand by 10 percent. In South East Asia, under 2°C warming, heat extremes that are virtually absent today would cover nearly 60-70 percent of total land area in northern-hemisphere summer, adversely impacting ecosystems. Under 4°C warming, rural populations would face mounting pressures from sea-level rise, increased tropical cyclone intensity, storm surges, saltwater intrusions, and loss of marine ecosystem services. In South Asia, the potential sudden onset of disturbances to the monsoon system and rising peak temperatures would put water and food resources at severe risk. Well before 2°C warming occurs, substantial reductions in the frequency of low snow years is projected to cause substantial reductions in dry season flow, threatening agriculture. Many of the worst climate impacts could still be avoided by holding warming below 2°C, but the window for action is closing rapidly. Urgent action is also needed to build resilience to a rapidly warming world that will pose significant risks to agriculture, water resources, coastal infrastructure, and human health.

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For more information: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/14000

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Publications: New maps highlight global conservation priorities (25 Jun 2013)

New maps highlight global conservation priorities

mongabay.com
June 25, 2013

What region of the world has the most imperiled mammals? Where are the most bird species found? And where are new amphibians being discovered? Indonesia and Malaysia is the answer to the first question; the Amazon, the second; and the Andes, the third. Anew studyin the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has used global data on 21,000 mammals, birds, and amphibians to create magnificent maps that highlight missing priorities for conservation.

"Identifying the most important areas for biodiversity is essential for directing conservation resources. We must know where individual species live, which ones are vulnerable, and where human actions threaten them," explains lead author Clinton Jenkins at North Carolina State University. "We have better data than in the past—and better analytical methods. Now we have married them for conservation purposes."

The result is a series of stunning maps at scales of 10 kilometers by 10 kilometers: 100 times finer than anything ever produced before. The scientists hope that the new maps can point conservationists and policy-makers to new areas for protection—before they are lost. The finer scale is especially important because, according to the paper, it is "comparable with regional decisions on where to place protected areas."

The scientists created a series of maps highlighting different themes, including total diversity within each taxonomic group (mammals, birds, amphibians), threatened species, species dependent on small-ranges (i.e. particularly vulnerable to extinction), and newly discovered species.


Selected priority ecoregions based on small-ranged vertebrates. Maps courtesy of Jenkins et al.Click to enlarge.

The maps found that when combining all the vertebrate species, the most biodiverse areas were the Amazon, southeastern Brazil, and Central Africa. While these regions cover only about 7.2 percent of land area, they contain around half of the world's species.

Looking at diversity of each taxonomic group, the research found that "for birds and mammals, these areas are nearly identical: the moist forests of the Amazon, Brazilian Atlantic Forest, Congo, Eastern Arc in Africa, and the Southeast Asian mainland and islands house the greatest numbers of bird and mammal species. The pattern for amphibians is similar, but amphibians have exceptional diversity in the Neotropics."

Birds and mammals living in small-ranges were located primarily in the Andes, Madagascar, and Southeast Asian islands. Since most amphibians are small-ranged species already, few hotspots were located. However, 93 percent of the world's small-ranged mammals, birds, and amphibians are found in just 8.3 percent of the land area. Some if these areas—such as Papua New Guinea, the eastern coast of Australia, the west Coast of North America, and smatterings of China—are not included in current ecological hotspots designation crafted by Norman Meyers in 1988. The paper concludes that the best way to protect the world's biodiversity is to focus on these highly-diverse small-ranged species hotspots.

In fact, many of the most important sites are currently without protection. According to the paper, currently only one third of the biodiversity centers are protected, and just 11 percent are under strict protection.

"There is a growing worry that we are running out of time to expand the global network of protected areas. Our results can guide this expansion," says co-author Lucas Joppa with Microsoft Research.

Global maps of species richness for different categories of species. The top row shows the richness of all species in the taxon. For birds, we used breeding ranges only. The middle row shows the richness of threatened species (vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered in the IUCN Red List). The bottom row shows the richness of species whose geographic ranges are smaller than the median range size for that taxon. Maps use a 10 × 10 km grid and the Eckert IV equal-area projection. Maps courtesy of Jenkins et al.Click to enlarge.

CITATION: Clinton N. Jenkins, Stuart L. Pimm, and Lucas N. Joppa.Global patterns of terrestrial vertebrate diversity and conservation. PNAS. 2013.

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0625-hance-maps-biodiversity.html

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