Thursday, August 1, 2013

Events: First International Conference on Global Food Security 29 Sep - 2 Oct 2013



Event


First International Conference on Global Food Security


The First International Conference on Global Food Security aims to explore the economic, social, biophysical, technological and institutional drivers of current and future global food security. The topics list includes, inter alia: enabling trade and market policies for local and global food security; sustainable intensification of food production systems; novel ways of feeding 9 billion; land sparing, land sharing and trade-offs; agricultural production as feedstock for renewables; lost harvest and wasted food; nutritional security; and labelling, certifying and striving for quality and sustainability of food production. 


dates: 29 September - 2 October 2013   
location: Noordwijk, Netherlands   

Events: International Symposium on Sustainable Cities: Empowering Local Governments through Capacity Building organized by UNOSD on 26-28 Sep 2013


Event


International Symposium on Sustainable Cities: Empowering Local Governments through Capacity Building


The UN Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD) will host this international symposium to strengthen dissemination and sharing of good practices and lessons learned on fostering sustainable cities, in recognition of the role of cities in protecting the environment, improving disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience and reducing poverty. The symposium aims to identify strategies to strengthen local government institutional and technical capacity to address poverty reduction and slum upgrading, urban development, urban economic growth, urban transport and water and sanitation. The symposium also aims to identify areas for further capacity building and knowledge sharing and to identify innovative financing models to support urban infrastructure. The event will bring together representatives of governments, including and local government and planning officials, UN agencies, multilateral and regional development banks, the private sector and civil society in plenary sessions, working group sessions and panel discussions. The symposium is planned to overlap with the ‘Incheon Sister and Friendly Cities Conference,' which will be held in Incheon on 28 September 2013, and include mayors from cities around the world. The two events will have a joint closing session that will discuss advancing and implementing the sustainable urbanization agenda.


dates: 26-28 September 2013   
venue: Convention Center, SongdoDong   
location: Incheon, Republic of Korea   

For more information: 

Events: GREENHOUSE 2013: The Science of Climate Change organized by Australian and New Zealand on 8-11 Oct 2013

GreenHouseLogo


Adelaide Convention Centre

Tuesday 8th – Friday 11th October, 2013


GREENHOUSE 2013: A joint Australian - New Zealand event
The latest in climate change science, communication and policy from leading presenters from Australia and around the world.
GREENHOUSE 2013 will feature briefings on the contents of the IPCC 5th Assessment Report. The Working Group 1 (science) Summary for Policymakers will be released shortly before our conference.
TOPICS WILL INCLUDE:
  • Atmosphere, oceans, biosphere and the land
  • Climate modelling and projections
  • Climate variability and extreme events
  • Impacts, adaptation and mitigation
  • Communication and policy
GREENHOUSE 2013 is designed for researchers, representatives from all tiers of government, industry and NGOs.

The conference will feature a dedicated stream for representatives from Australian Natural Resource Management regions.

GREENHOUSE 2013 follows the successful GREENHOUSE 2011 conference in Cairns, GREENHOUSE 2009 in Perth, GREENHOUSE 2007 in Sydney, and GREENHOUSE 2005 in Melbourne. More information about previous conferences is available here.

For more information: http://www.greenhouse2013.com/

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Events: “Challenges and Solutions to Plastic Recycling in Hong Kong” organized by FoE (HK) on 25 Jul 2013

Friends of the Earth (HK) 香港地球之友 - Hong Kong, Hong Kong

活動名稱:塑膠回收討論會
開始日期:2013/07/25開始時間:18:30
結束日期:2013/07/25結束時間:20:00
地點:Friends of the Earth (HK) Office


近日,有關廢物棄罝之問題在社會引起激烈討論,有見及此,地球之友將
於2013年7月25日下午6時30分於本會會址就有關塑膠回收及廢物議題進行討論。

當日討論議程如下:
6:30 pm    背景簡介
6:45 pm    塑膠回收所面對的挑戰 (講者:楠豐國際有限公司林贇睿小姐)
7:30 pm    討論/問答環節
8:00 pm    討論會結束
(**討論會將以英語進行)


地址:香港北角屈臣道2號海景大廈A座13樓1301-02室

有與趣參加的朋友請電郵至foehk@foe.org.hk留位;名額有限,先到先得。


是次活動主要是提供一個平台予地球之友的會員、員工及其他有興趣人仕進行討論,並了解更多有關廢物管理相關的議題;活動講者所提供的資料並不代表香港地球之友的立場。請自備水杯或水瓶以享用我們提供的熱茶或熱水。


香港地球之友

*有關討論會及講者的詳細資料,請參閱電郵下半部份 (只有英文)


Come and hear Ms Stephanie Lam share her personal thoughts on the topic of “Challenges and Solutions to Plastic Recycling in Hong Kong”. 

One of the most controversial topics in Hong Kong today is WASTE DISPOSAL.  Spending $HK35m on a study by people that have not found a solution in the past 20 years is not a solution.  Throwing money at a problem does not achieve anything other than creating another report, which will join the dusty archives of previous reports.  This problem cannot be resolved by people with limited experience in this industry.  Do you know how other major countries deal with the problem of waste disposal and in particular the scrap plastic waste disposal?  A major part of the solution is recycling, via technology, marketing, logistics, management and common sense.  Can it be done?,  100% Yes!  Can we come up with a solution for HK? 

Stephanie Lam, BBA, HKU (Accounting & Finance) is the Managing Director of the global broking trading house for plastic recyclables, UNM International Ltd.  To ensure success Stephanie inspects all suppliers and customer operations personally, prior to entering into business transactions and has inspected more than 100 of these operations around the world.  It often includes walking among piles of smelly plastic scrap, but knowing that the product can be recycled and made into a renewable product and not discarded into landfill or incinerated to add more carbon into the atmosphere, Stephanie finds it rewarding and fulfilling.  She has thus dedicated her business career to achieve waste reduction..

South Korean Updates: Seoul to raise minimum fuel efficiency standard for cars from 2020 (15 Jul 2013)


Seoul to raise minimum fuel efficiency standard for cars from 2020

July 15, 2013
Yonhap News Agency

SEOUL, July 15 (Yonhap) -- The government is moving to further toughen minimum fuel efficiency standards for automobiles, officials said Monday, in an effort to cut down the country's energy consumption and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

According to officials from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the government is moving to raise the minimum fuel efficiency requirement of passenger cars to 20 kilometers per liter (km/l) from 2020.

Currently, the country has no minimum requirements, though it is set to begin enforcing a 17 km/l requirement from 2015. Automakers that fail to meet the minimum requirement can be subject to a fine, the ministry has said.

The move to further toughen the country's minimum fuel efficiency standards follows similar plans by most advanced nations.

The United States is moving to only allow sales of vehicles that meet the minimum fuel efficiency of 56.2 miles per gallon, or 23.9 km/l, from 2025, with Japan also set to introduce a 20.3 km/l requirement from 2020, according to ministry officials, who requested anonymity.

"The proposed minimum requirement was set after considering the global trend and the country's development capacity," the officials said.

The government apparently believes tougher minimum fuel efficiency standards will lead to the development of hybrid or clean-energy cars, such as electric and fuel cell vehicles.

South Korea is currently working to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from its business-as-usual level in 2020.

(END)

Source: 
http://www.keei.re.kr/main.nsf/index_en.html?open&p=%2Fweb_keei%2Fen_news.nsf%2Fxmlmain%2F9D91FB09658C410A49257BA9002B0E5F&s=%3FOpenDocument%26menucode%3DES90

South Korean Updates: Seoul to ban production, imports of incandescent lighting from next year (16 Jul 2013)



Seoul to ban production, imports of incandescent lighting from next year

July 16, 2013
Yonhap News Agency

SEJONG, July 16 (Yonhap) -- Thomas Edison's greatest invention, incandescent lighting, will begin to die out, at least in South Korea, following a production ban set to be implemented next year, the government said Tuesday.

Starting from Jan. 1, 2014, imports of incandescent light bulbs, which have been labeled low-efficient, will also be banned permanently, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The move is part of a decision made in 2008 to phase out incandescent light bulbs, which consume as much as six times more energy than highly efficient light-emitting diode (LED) light bulbs.

Using an incandescent light bulb may cost up to 15,863 won (US$14.14) per year in electricity bills and purchase costs. The amount drops by up to 82.3 percent to 2,813 won a year when using an LED light bulb instead, the ministry said in a press release.

There are currently about 30 million incandescent light bulbs still in use in the country. Replacing all of them with more energy-efficient light bulbs will help save more than 1,800 gigawatts of electricity in a year, enough for use by up to 650,000 households for the same period, according to the ministry.

The government has already replaced 99 percent of all incandescent light bulbs in some 8,000 public buildings.

Currently, there is only one local manufacturer of incandescent light bulbs with most of its supplies imported from overseas, principally from China, the ministry said.

"The government will continue to expand the supply of high efficiency light bulbs, such as LED lamps, to minimize public inconvenience and its impact on the market," it said.

bdk@yna.co.kr 

(END)

Source: 

Vietnamese Updates: National Assessment Report on Coastal Erosion completes (18 Jul 2013)


National Assessment Report on Coastal Erosion completes Thứ năm, ngày 18 tháng 07 năm 2013 cập nhật lúc 23:37

Vietnam is one of the frequent disaster- affectedcountries. Coastal erosion is a constant threat toVietnam and is getting more serious as a consequence of storms and rising sea levels caused by climate change.  A series of projects and programs have been implemented to deal with coastal erosion. On July 17,at a consultation workshop on National Assessment Report on Coastal Erosion in Vietnam, Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) said that the building and completion of the Report will helpCOBSEA get information to build a regional project to cope with the challenges of climate change andcoastal erosion.
Coastal erosion


At the workshop, Dr. Vu Tuan , Deputy Director of the Vietnam Administration of Seas and Islands and Mr. Le Van Cong, senior consultant on coastal erosion said that , coastal erosion in Vietnam are increasingly complicated and serious and occurs throughout the coastal areas. Specifically, in the North, from Quang Ninh to Ninh Binh there are five places which have been eroded continuously since 1930 to now in Cat Hai, Bang La (Hai Phong), Thuy Xuan (Thai Binh), Xuan Thuy and Hai Hau (Nam Dinh). In particular, Cat Hai and Hai Hau are severely eroded.

In the central region (from Thanh Hoa to Binh Thuan), coastal erosion occurs in almost all types of shore structure such as sand, gravel,mud, etc. However, the most serious one is sand shore structure (accounting for 94% of the coastal erosion). Especially, there are 121 areas of coastline having dams, embankments, trees but the erosion still occurs.

In the South (from Ba Ria - Vung Tau to Kien Giang), since 1960, coastal erosion have taken place popularly and gradually. It can be easily seen in Can Gio (Ho Chi Minh City), Dong Hai (Tra Vinh) and some districts of Ca Mau province. Coastal erosion has threatened thepeople’s life, broken dykes, caused flooding and saltwater intrusion and seriously affected to food security and socio-economic development.

Coastal erosion management policies
Not only did it occur in Vietnam, coastal erosion is a common phenomenon in most East Asian countries. The workshop "Evaluation ofcoastal erosion in Vietnam" has figured out solutions for Vietnam and other countries to adapt and minimize damages caused by coastal erosion and natural. In addition, we need enhance people’s awareness about the consequences of coastal erosion and natural disastersso that people are aware of conducting Dyke Law, Law on Environmental Protection, Law on Forest Protection and Development and Law on Water Resources. Besides, it is necessary to establish monitoring networks to control erosion on the basis of coordination amongcentral scientific agencies and the local technical ones. Moreover, legal framework, planning of coastal protection against exploitation ofcoastal resources should be strengthened.

Mr. Reynaldo Molina, Secretariat Board of Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) said, COBSEA is building projects to strengthen the capacity of member states of Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand to restore and manage coastal erosion and protect coastal ecosystems. The workshop provided information for COBSEA to build a joint project ofsustainable development, social security and ecological security in Vietnam in particular and the South China Sea in general.

K.Linh