Global News Post: Pacific

Asia-Pacific Cannot Afford to Grow without Addressing Environmental Concerns – UN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Asia-pacific’s share of world domestic material<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">consumption grew from under 25 percent in 1975<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">to over 53 per cent by 2005 Photo© UN News<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">UN News--- – Countries in the Asia-Pacific region must find ways to continue to grow economically and lift millions out of poverty while also responding to climate change and environmental concerns, according to a United Nations report released today, which stresses that new methods of production are needed to meet this goal.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The world’s common future will be hugely affected by the choices that are made in Asia and the Pacific on a low carbon growth path,” the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Ajay Chhibber, said in relation to the report. “The goal is clear: reduce poverty, increase prosperity, but leave a smaller carbon footprint.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">UNDP’s Asia-Pacific Human Development Report 2012 argues that policies and actions in the region will have a global impact as it is home to more than half of the world’s population and half of the planet’s megacities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, it stresses that countries in the region will need to change to change the way they manufacture goods, raise crops and livestock, and generate energy; shifting to greener, more resilient, lower-emission options that sustain the environment and offer employment opportunities for the poor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Countries of the developing Asia-Pacific are much less locked into the old, carbon-intensive ways of production and consumption. Asia-Pacific not only has the imperative, it also has the opportunity to manage development differently,” the report states.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To be able to shift to a greener economy, the report emphasizes that there must be a change in the region’s energy production industry and agricultural practices. Currently, around 85 per cent of the region’s primary energy comes from fossil fuels in the form of coal, natural gas and oil; and its accounts for 37 per cent of the world’s emissions from agricultural production, including through growing crops and raising livestock, land use changes and deforestation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Income disparity is also a key issue highlighted by the report. While there are more than 2.5 billion mobile phone subscriptions, half of the region’s population – 1.9 billion people – lacks basic services, such as access to flush toilets. It says that closing this gap will put pressure on the region’s natural resources, which will require implementation of sustainable measures.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Asia-Pacific Human Development Report 2012, which aims to reinvigorate the dialogue on climate change by bringing people’s concerns into the fore in the lead-up to the UN Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20), provides a series of recommendations for a lower-carbon development path.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 234.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">These recommendations include increasing the use of greener agriculture, supporting cleaner energy generation, and providing access to modern services such as electricity and cleaner cooking fuels to the rural poor. In addition, the report stresses that a greater awareness and education among citizens about sustainable measures can have a significant impact in innovation and the creation of sustainable jobs for youth.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Asia-Pacific Cannot Afford to Grow without Addressing Environmental Concerns – UN

Asia-pacific’s share of world domestic material consumption grew from under 25 percent in 1975 to over 53 per cent by 2005 Photo© UN Ne...

Japanese PM Orders Shutdown of Nuclear Plant

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has ordered a nuclear plant to cease operations because of its location near a major seismic fault line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Friday's announcement comes nearly two months after an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant northeast of Tokyo, causing a major nuclear crisis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kan says he ordered the reactors at the Hamaoka plant shutdown "out of concerns for public safety."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The Hamaoka plant, operated by Chubu Electric Power Company, is located about 200 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Government scientists say there is an 87 percent chance of an 8.0 magnitude earthquake striking the region within the next 30 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kan ordered the plant's operators to craft mid- and long-term quake safety measures for Hamaoka.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He says the government will take steps to ensure the shutdown of the Hamaoka plant does not cause a major shortage of electricity in the region.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Workers entered the number one reactor building at the crippled Fukushima plant on Thursday for the first time since an explosion that tore the roof off the building after the earthquake and tsunami.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Radiation has been leaking from the plant since the March 11 twin disasters damaged cooling systems at all six of the plant's reactors. Elevated radiation levels have been detected in the soil, sea water, fish and agricultural products for kilometers around the plant. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Japanese PM Orders Shutdown of Nuclear Plant

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has ordered a nuclear plant to cease operations because of its location near a major seismic fault line. ...