The YLSF program offers young professionals an opportunity to participate in overseas internships in the Global South, with positions in Africa and Latin America. Interns are hosted by reputable international organizations such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), among others.

·       Application deadline: Friday, September 17, 2010

·       Interviews: End of September 2010

·       Start Date: Mid-October 2010

·       End Date: End of April 2011

In order to be considered for a position, candidates are required to fill out an online application form and submit the following documents:

·       Cover letter

·       Resume

·       Most recent transcripts

·       A copy of a research paper

·       Two reference letters.

IISD is committed to equal opportunity. To be eligible for the YLSF program, candidates must meet the following criteria:

·       Canadian citizen or permanent resident

·       Between 19 and 30 years of age

·       Graduate of a college or university program

·       Unemployed or underemployed

·       Have never participated in an internship program funded under the Canadian Government's Youth Employment Strategy (YES) program

·       Have no previous paid career-related international work experience

·       Have knowledge and understanding of international development issues and practices, as pertaining to the position being applied for, and

·       Available for a minimum of six months starting from mid-October (2010) through to the end of April (2011).

All those selected to participate will receive a stipend to cover basic living expenses.

Further information on the program, how to apply, and details on the positions available are posted at: http://slicinternational.iisd.org/

For more information please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier,
Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.  

South America has vast energy resources, both renewable and non-renewable. A net energy exporter, the region will play an important role in achieving global energy security over the next decades. Despite this, at present, the countries in the region are not able to guarantee adequate energy security for their domestic markets.

This report explores Brazil’s role in the quest for energy security in South America. So far, the regional energy trade has been organized around bilateral agreements to export countries’ energy surpluses to their neighbours when necessary. The infrastructure needed to support these trade agreements was put in place in the 1990s, but there have been few advances in regional regulation systems and the pricing mechanisms needed to support the energy trade. The risk of cuts in the energy flows imported from neighbouring countries emerged in the new political and energy context of the 2000s. The perception that energy security is a matter to be dealt with in the domestic context has gained favour among governments in the region, despite the fact that the economic cost of this approach is high. Brazil, due to its central geographical position, the size of its energy market and the availability of both renewable and non-renewable domestic energy resources, has a decisive role to play in the promotion of regional energy flows in order to provide regional energy security.

Key points:

• The risk of opportunistic behaviour in the regional energy trade increases the transaction costs of energy projects. Lower-cost solutions for energy supplies are ignored because of the perceived danger of supply cuts, and higher-cost solutions that eliminate such risks are adopted instead. Low-cost energy resources remain unexploited and infrastructure to facilitate the regional energy trade is lying idle.

• The liberalization of the South American energy markets opened an important window of opportunity for economic efficiency gains largely associated with the convergence between energy and fuel markets in the energy systems of the region. Energy integration is a necessary mechanism for exploring these opportunities, as large natural gas reserves are located in the region’s economies with lower levels of industrialization and urbanization.

• The regional diversities in hydrology and consumer behaviour offer good opportunities to explore the economic benefits of the cooperative use of power plants. The cost of electricity is reduced, the environment suffers lower impacts and the risk of power shortages diminishes. Unfortunately, however, energy integration faces political forces that do not recognize these economic benefits.

• Due to its abundance of fossil fuels and its leadership in renewable energy, Brazil is well placed to smooth the transition to a low-carbon economy. Its central geographical position and market size would allow it to extend these attributes to the rest of South America through regional energy integration.

• South America’s position in the global process of energy transition will be largely determined by its capacity to secure the region’s energy supplies and to offer safe energy supplies to energy-importing countries outside South America. Access to consumer markets in these countries will create a favourable economic environment for attracting investments to the region, thus adding value to its vast energy resources, whether renewable or non-renewable.

Key recommendations:

• In Brazil, in an attempt to contain the escalation in energy costs brought about by the search for energy security, the government has offered subsidies and is studying a proposal to renew hydropower plant concessions at prices much lower than their opportunity costs. These approaches will cause distortions in energy prices without solving the structural problem of energy supply security, and should therefore be abandoned.

• Energy integration offers the opportunity for all the countries in the region to improve their energy security and their access to the Brazilian market for energy resources that would otherwise remain idle, as well as the opportunity to participate in the articulation of a productive chain for the energy system of the twenty-first century that is being established in Brazil.

• The diversity of the energy situations and regulation regimes in the countries of the region requires integration to take place in stages. Access to neighbouring countries’ reserves in situations of energy supply insecurity should be the initial stage of the process. A treaty that provides the legal basis for contracts for the use of the Multilateral Energy Security Reserve (RMSE) can remove the risks associated with energy imports in these situations.

• The RMSE treaty should lay down the economic and technical conditions that will allow free access to the required infrastructure and reserves needed to overcome energy supply insecurity in any country in the region whenever necessary. Economic access to the energy resources of the RMSE (energy price) and the necessary transport logistics (tariffs for the use of networks) should be based on the long-term supply costs of the various domestic markets. Brazil’s active participation in the formulation of the RMSE treaty is essential for the achievement of South American energy security and successful energy integration. Its central geographical position, its market size, its oil resources and its leadership in the renewable energy field make it the best candidate to manage the coordination of the competitive, secure integration of the South American energy market.

• Energy integration faces significant obstacles, the greatest of which is the lack of a legal basis for private investment in the energy industry. The European Energy Charter sought to solve this problem by providing conditions and protection for private investments. This charter has not been accepted in South America, mostly because the dispute settlement system would be based outside the region. Since it is essential to have an institutional mechanism to settle regional disputes, the RMSE treaty needs to address this question.

While international trade is only one of many factors affecting food security, its importance for the ability of many countries to achieve their food security objectives is increasing due to the rapid growth of the global food trade. Trade and trade policies influence not only food availability at the global level, but also food production and food imports, including food aid, at the national level. Increasingly, world markets are becoming an important source of food for many developing countries. This is particularly true in countries where food production is constrained by natural and other factors.

This synthesis report draws on three regional policy reports prepared for the Trade Knowledge Network’s project on Food Security and Trade, which describe and analyze the policy responses adopted by countries and (less often) regional organizations to deal with the 2006–2008 food prices crisis. These policy responses are assessed in terms of their economic sustainability and their impacts on trade and regional integration.

Key points:

• Concerns over food security are not easily dealt with by a trade agenda oriented towards liberalizing trade and investment flows and reducing distortions caused by protectionist and subsidy-intensive policies.

• If policy-makers consider the origin of the risk of food insecurity to be associated with international phenomena such as the volatility of global markets, it is highly likely that—attentive to the mood swings of their national constituencies—they will adopt measures to curb these threats that will reduce the interaction (which occurs mainly through trade and investment flows) between the national economy and its external environment.

• The presence of extensive production subsidies in the world’s richer countries, the lack of mechanisms to reduce food vulnerability in least-developed countries, the sensitivity of agricultural prices to speculative activities in the world commodities exchanges and the feebleness of regional cooperation mechanisms in this area make agriculture a fertile policy arena for the dissemination of unilateral or bilateral initiatives that result in state management of international trade and investment flows.

Key recommendations:

• What is required in order to develop a method of dealing with the food security issue that is compatible with trade and investment liberalization objectives is a “new agricultural deal” at the global level that promotes fair trade rules, contributes to lower price volatility in the international market and facilitates more investment in agriculture.

• From the perspective of the reformulation of trade rules, the basic guiding principle should be that developing and developed countries should be treated differently according to their different needs.

• Reconciling trade and food security depends mainly on negotiations and agreements at the multilateral level, but the regional dimension of cooperation can play a role in reducing uncertainty and costs faced by developing countries in periods of crisis that challenge economic security in any of its dimensions (food, energy, etc.).

• The institutional strengthening of regional (or subregional) agreements through the setting of rules and the establishment of disciplines that foster cooperative behaviour among developing countries is a prerequisite for making these agreements more credible and ensuring that they play a more relevant role as a crisis management instrument.

The concept of food security has received considerable international attention since the World Food Summit organized by FAO in 1996, and even more so after the food crisis of 2007–2008. The food crisis in Latin America had three significant effects in public policy related to food security: a) most governments in the region gave new and stronger attention to policies that attempted to protect vulnerable social sectors from the negative effects of higher food prices; b) it generated, at national and regional levels, new attention on the concept of food security and other related, but different, concepts, especially food sovereignty; and c) at national levels in a number of countries, it resulted in legislative actions that saw new laws that explicitly include the concept of food security and provide the government with more instruments for public intervention on the matter. In a few cases, the laws also create complex institutional mechanisms for social consultation and participation.

This report describes and analyzes these three areas of public policy responses, traces some of the outcomes that resulted from those public interventions and makes some recommendations in relation to the need for a balanced approach that provides appropriate attention to long-term policies. Section 2 deals with the food crisis and the main policy responses. Section 3 describes the major elements of the conceptual discussion on food security, the legislative actions taken in a number of countries and identifies the main types of public interventions that focus on food insecurity and hunger alleviation. Finally, Section 4 presents some suggestions in regards to what may be the needed and/or most appropriate policies

Key Points:

• Policy responses in Latin America have not been country-specific. Most countries responded with a similar package of policies regardless of its agricultural natural resources endowment, trade situation in relation to its position as net food exporter or net food importer, or their importing capacity.

• Policy responses concentrated in short-term policies attempted to decrease the price of food. However, most countries, notably Brazil and Mexico, also implemented programs that provide direct transfers of income or food to poor people.

• Policy responses tended to increase trade barriers and consequently do not seem to have resulted in more regional trade.

• In spite of the very active intergovernmental discussions and declarations, there is little evidence that regional cooperation and mutual support has increased.

Key Recommendations

• The most likely scenario for food prices is that they will remain at a higher level than what they where before the food crisis and that they will tend to increase further once the global recession comes to an end. High food prices and their relationship to food insecurity remains a major policy issue that countries need to be prepared to respond to.

• A main challenge is to define a set of interventions that have an appropriate balance among cautious macroeconomic polices, effective compensatory social policies and programs, and a lasting and effective supply-side stimulus for agricultural production and diversification.

• One major element of these balanced policies is a properly thought-out commercial policy that provides an adequate balance between local production and imports in order to ensure the necessary food supply at a reasonable price.

• Compensatory social policies and programs address one—probably the most important—dimension of the problem. In order to be effective, they require detailed information on the social sectors to be protected and a substantive implementing capacity on the part of public institutions. Most of the countries in the region do not meet these conditions and should make a substantive effort in institutional strengthening.

• Latin America and a significant number of countries in the region, taken individually, are net food exporters. The food crisis is, among other things, an opportunity. Taking advantage of this opportunity requires long-term policies and substantial investments in innovation, natural resource development and conservation, and effective agrarian structures.

• Food security is a major world issue. Consequently, there is a need for a new “Agricultural Deal” at the global level that promotes fair trade rules, increases food aid, contributes to lower price volatility in the international market and facilitates more investment in agriculture.

Climate change science indicates that the South Africa has the “wrong” primary energy source—coal, which is a major source of carbon dioxide emissions. As such, there is an urgent need to diversify the country’s energy sources away from the current high dependence on coal to renewable sources of power. This paper examines the challenges that the country faces and their implications for Southern Africa.

Key Findings:

• South Africa will need to redefine its competitive advantage by moving away from energy-intensive sectors that rely on cheap but dirty electricity, and instead shift towards a new advantage centred on climate-friendly technologies and systems.

• South Africa needs to transform its institutional and regulatory environment to allow for the participation of clean electricity suppliers in a market currently dominated by coal and the national electricity utility.

• As pressure for transition to a low-carbon economy mounts, investment in low-carbon goods and services will continue to accelerate. Economies that are efficiently run and free from the volatility of the fossil fuel market are at a competitive advantage; consequently, companies and governments that are moving fastest towards a low-carbon economy will reap the rewards.

• While policy measures are in place to address energy and climate concerns in South Africa, they are undermined by policies in other areas of government. This lack of a coherent vision that includes all government departments results in fractured policies on energy and climate change.

• To develop an integrated vision for energy security, the South African government must address institutional issues, diversification, and also take into account the opportunities available in neighbouring countries.

Key Recommendations:

• The transition to a low-carbon economy in South Africa should be pursued concurrently with its other fossil fuel-based initiatives and not sequentially if the country is to secure its electricity supply and achieve the bold and exemplary commitment it made under the Copenhagen Accord.

• South Africa’s energy policies need to be tackled in a coordinated way, as they lie at the heart of major national and international foreign policy discussions on matters that affect the country’s and the wider region’s energy security.

• The push toward decarbonization will be one of the major drivers of global and national economic growth over the next decade and South Africa’s government and businesses need to stop viewing the transition to a low-carbon economy as a threat rather than an opportunity. If anything, as the most industrialized country in the region, the transition to a low-carbon society will provide a platform for the development of a clean-tech power generation industry and the creation of green jobs in South Africa.

This analysis looks for paths to progress in the WTO’s stalled negotiations on environmental goods and services—a set of talks that is frequently cited as trade policy's natural contribution to climate change objectives. It surveys the experience of a number of multilateral environmental agreements—The Rotterdam Convention (Prior Informed Consent or PIC), the Stockholm Convention (Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora—and ecolabels (looking at coffee, fisheries and the Energy Star label) for helpful lessons.

Focusing on environmental goods, the analysis begins by creating a taxonomy that allows different treatments for fundamentally different sorts of goods. Type I goods are those, like efficient washers, that are relatively green in their end use or disposal. Type III goods are those that are relatively environmentally friendly in their manner of production, like organic agricultural products. And Type II goods are those that are designed for environmental improvement or natural resource management, such as equipment to contain oil spills.

On the basis of the analysis, the paper makes six recommendations:

• Start from first principles (enunciate an environmental objective);

• Refer to standards created outside the WTO, where they exist (most relevant for Types I and II);

• Where standards do not exist, go slowly (elaborate criteria for “acceptable” standards that may be created in the future and look to non-standards-based lists for Type II goods);

• Build in flexibility (for example, so that countries can lodge limited reservations for specific goods);

• Base it on science (establish and use technical bodies); and

• Build in special and differential treatment.

Climate Change and Foreign Policy in Canada: Intersection and Influence, written by John Drexhage and Deborah Murphy of the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s climate change and energy program, argues that the Copenhagen Accord has the potential to develop a solid foundation and framework to help countries begin to respond effectively to climate change.  

The report looks at Canada’s past and present profile on climate change and its broader implications for bilateral relations with the United States, energy security, national security, development, and trade and investment.

The authors suggest the Canadian government work with the provinces and stakeholders to develop a climate and energy regulatory regime that would complement U.S. actions and legislation.  –more- 

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier,
Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

• Untold Billions: Fossil-fuel subsidies, their impacts and the path to reform: A Summary of Key Findings
• Effects of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform: A review of modelling and empirical studies
• The Politics of Fossil-Fuel Subsidies
• Strategies for Reforming Fossil-Fuel Subsidies: Practical lessons from Ghana, France and Senegal
• Gaining Traction: The importance of transparency in accelerating the reform of fossil-fuel subsidies
• Mapping the Characteristics of Producer Subsidies: A review of pilot country studies

For information about the GSI's other reports on fossil-fuel subsidies, click here.

Key Findings:

• Mozambique has substantial energy resources, ranging from fossil fuels (natural gas and coal) to renewables (solar, hydro, wind, geothermal and tidal sources of power). However, the exploitation of these resources for national use is limited because they are distributed unevenly around the country, and access remains extremely low.

• The government is facing three primary challenges, namely: increasing access to electricity, while at the same time mitigating adverse environmental, livelihood and health impacts of traditional biofuels; increasing the production and use of electricity; and promoting and prudently managing export-oriented energy projects.

• Tariffs and the fiscal regime of the country are crucial to determine the real cost of electricity and relevant to provide benefits for rural electrification and renewable energy exploitation.

• Mozambique has the second-largest generating capacity in the region after South Africa but the latter accounts for more than 82 per cent of generating capacity and over 85 per cent of peak demand, which encourages Eskom to buy Mozambican power at very low rates.

Key Recommendations:

• It is important that the government actively encourages private sector investment in renewable energy projects in Mozambique and creates clear incentives for investors, manufacturers and developers to utilize and promote renewable energies when making investments in the country.

• Renewable energy support should not be targeted exclusively at off-grid initiatives and poverty alleviation, but should also be encouraged in economically active sectors, including tourism, telecommunications and commercial enterprises, as well as among middle-class households.

Key Findings:

• Southern African countries are in a more or less permanent food security crisis, and policy formulation and responses are geared toward this reality on an ongoing basis. There is thus not a huge divergence between ongoing policies and responses and immediate reactionary responses to the food crisis.

• SADC countries intend to institute a strategic reserve of four grains, with livestock as a fifth product; however, it is noted that attempts to use strategic grain reserves to help stabilize grain prices have undermined market incentives for private traders to perform normal trading functions that could otherwise have satisfied governments’ food security objectives in most years.

• Rural households adjust better to agricultural price increases than urban households, because rural households can fall back on subsistence farming for consumption or even turn into net suppliers of agricultural products in a rising price market.

• The above indicates why not only access to food is important, but also having the domestic capability to produce food, if this is based on comparative advantage linked to natural endowment, which is an attribute of the African agricultural sector. This provides a solid basis for challenging proponents of continued subsidization of agricultural exports in developed countries.

• There is an inherent danger in inappropriate government trade policies. For example, taxes could aggravate price increases, encourage smuggling and impoverish local farmers; lower import tariffs could reduce government revenues; price controls could be counterproductive; and untargeted consumer subsidies could be extremely expensive for government budgets.

Key recommendations:

• It is crucial for engendering food security to prevent the global food crisis from weakening the region, and it is essential for SADC to seize the opportunity of making food security a tool that contributes to unlocking the agricultural potential of the region to produce enough food for its people, enhancing its commercial capacities to generate tradable surpluses and creating jobs for rural people.

• Policy measures available in the short run include providing safety nets and social protection to the most vulnerable consumers in both rural and urban areas and supporting the ability of smallholder farmers to increase short-term production.

• Improved trade policies can also yield important gains, using existing and emerging WTO rules.

Key findings:

• There is no doubt that the Mekong subregion is vulnerable to climate variability and change. Although national plans of actions and platforms have been created to respond to the challenge of climate-related hazards, many countries still regard trade liberalization as an important means to attain sustained economic growth.

• Increasingly, the national plans of actions of countries in the subregion have provided for trade-related mechanisms aimed at addressing climate change challenges, such as the access to support through the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism, the establishment of market mechanisms to promote the use of alternative energy sources and so on. Despite this, it remains unclear whether such national plans of action can be attributed to ASEAN intervention.

• A clearer mitigation action facilitated by ASEAN is the power generation projects in the Mekong subregion for the building of dams to supply hydroelectric power. Although this constitutes a low-carbon initiative and will provide a renewable energy source, the impact of these dams on natural resources will result in a loss of natural capital that cannot be substituted.

• Some of the ASEAN-facilitated free trade agreements with its dialogue partners, such as the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, have paved the way for mining industry development. While this may be considered as an alternative to climate-threatened agricultural production and other industries dependent on primary resources and therefore can be seen as an adaptation option, the cost in loss of natural capital is far too high for countries that have relied on natural resources for their major industries and as the backbone of their peoples’ livelihoods.

Based on these findings, the policy recommendations of this policy report are as follows:

• Climate change-related issues and/or concerns should be mainstreamed in ASEAN’s institutional frameworks for economic cooperation.

• Existing and proposed trading mechanisms and the resulting projects and programs should be subjected to climate risk assessments.

• Climate strategies should be integrated into trade-related measures as possible instruments for mitigation efforts.

• Alternative models of regional integration and economic polygons to address climate change concerns should be developed.

Key Findings:

• Energy security is hindered because energy planning and service provision has been limited to nation states and is the preserve of monopolist state-owned enterprises. This approach is sub-optimal because, while national authorities only plan for their geographical area, energy sources do not respect these boundaries, which underscores the importance of regional energy integration.

• South Africa, on account of the size and carbon intensity of its economy and the tension between expanding access to electricity to meet social and economic imperatives and sustainable development, is an anchor country in the region.

• There is already significant electricity trade taking place amongst countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) via the South African Power Pool (SAPP).

• There is the need for the region to diversify its energy sources and incorporate other energy types to include renewable energy.

• The region lacks adequate policies that would accelerate the demonstration, development and deployment of low-emission energy technologies.

Key Recommendations:

• Despite concerns about whether the political commitment exists to drive forward the program of the regional power pool, SAPP offers the region the best avenue to energy security. But the road is still long, hence solid and sustained political commitment to and support for the objectives of the regional power pool will be required.

• There is a need for clear and transparent regulatory frameworks that will remove obstacles for investors and suppliers of electricity sourced from renewable energy.

The analysis of the Argentine case on energy security—carried out by Fundación Bariloche for CINDES-TKN—shows that, far from producing the desired results, such mechanisms brought about an energy matrix highly dependent on non-renewable natural resources and led to their rapid depletion. The strategies implemented by the main private investors were not at all appropriate to achieve a larger diversification of the energy matrix or to expand the necessary supply in order to secure its reliable continuity in the gas, oil and electricity sectors.

Argentina is, then, highly dependent on natural gas, lacking private investment and with increasing subsidies and public investment expenses meant to achieve a long-overdue diversification of the energy matrix. Although actions have been taken to increase investment in renewable fuels, hydroelectric and nuclear power, financial obstacles and the necessary adjustments on price policies seem to be the main difficulties to overcome in the short, mid and long term.

From the point of view of the impact that such policies have on greenhouse gas emissions, it should be noted that Argentina, which had achieved a relatively clean matrix thanks to the hydro-thermal mix with gas, is now undergoing a reversal of this trend as a consequence of the larger use of liquid fuels. This trend will surely be channelled towards a lower level of emission if the supply of renewable fuels, hydroelectric and nuclear power can be increased, and if a larger gas supply can be achieved. Brazil may have a key role in attracting investment in hydroelectricity and carrying out agreements between Argentina and Bolivia that could improve the supply situation in the mid and long term.

Key points:

• Reforms meant to secure private investment mechanisms in order to expand energy supply must include local reinvestment clauses or else guarantee such expansion by means of contracts.

• The supply of different fuels must not be regarded as if they were homogeneous products, likely to be substituted. That is why it is necessary for the public sector to have an active role in the design and enforcement of energy policies, establishing quotas for fuels and, if possible, to have companies with prevailing public capital.

• The Argentine case is paradigmatic of the problems caused by relying completely on private sources and foreign capital for strategic investment decisions and by not having public companies to regulate the market and energy supply.

Key recommendations:

• Argentina must currently recover its decision capacity to reorient and increase energy supply in a sustainable way. Renewable and hydroelectric fuel tenders—however appropriate—are only a limited part of that solution.

• Given the high dependence on natural gas—an irreversible fact—Argentina must obtain foreign supply in better conditions than simply the future contribution of LNG. The potential supply of Bolivian gas must then be reactivated, since it may be convenient not only for Argentina and Bolivia, but also for Brazil.

• Larger hydroelectric potential also depends on agreements with Brazil.

• Since the current price policy is not appropriate, it must be reformulated to make supply expansion feasible, but ensure that new, higher prices are devoted to investment.

• A gradual readjustment of prices and tariffs is needed in order to ensure governability and to prevent further disturbances that might affect public and private actors alike.

The case study is one of six produced by the Canadian Coalition on Climate Change and Development, along with an accompanying synopsis of lessons learned, as part of its “Climate Change Adaptation: Lessons from Canadian NGOs” initiative. Drawing directly from the experience of Canadian NGOs and their partners in the global south, the case studies highlight climate change impacts and how local communities are reducing their vulnerability to changing conditions. Financial support for this initiative was provided by the International Development Research Centre.

The Kenya case study profiles one of three pilots being implemented as part of the regional project, “Integrating Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change into Sustainable Development Policy Planning and Implementation in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACCESA).” This project is being implemented by the International Institute for Sustainable Development on behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme. Funding for this project has been provided by the Global Environment Facility and the governments of the Netherlands and Norway, and supported by in-kind contributions from the Government of Germany and Kenya. Further information is available here.

For example, ICTs can support the development of the green economy through such things as improved energy efficiency and the increased use of virtual products and service. Smart systems are already transforming transportation infrastructure, buildings maintenance and production, and can also be used to improve monitoring of the environment and management of natural resources.

Changes in the underlying global governance structures can also assist sustainability goals through changes in consumer behaviour, attitudes and values, as well as opportunities for economic and social innovation and entrepreneurship.

“Just as sustainable development policy-makers have begun to focus on the role of innovation, market mechanisms, and social entrepreneurship in the achievement of environmental and other objectives, the ICT sector and ICT policy-makers have begun to recognize the opportunities emerging from the critical role ICTs can play as a key enabling technology supporting green growth and the development of the green economy,” the report says.

It suggests Canada take a leading role in the promotion of “green ICTs” as the ICT sector needs to “clean up its own act”. The ICT sector currently generates around 2-3 per cent of global CO₂ emissions — an amount larger than the emissions of the airline industry and roughly equivalent to those of Canada, according to the report. 

“Canada’s digital economy strategy should be framed in the context of the major economic, social and environmental challenges facing Canada and all other countries in a world where opportunities for sustainable prosperity and threats to human well-being are increasingly complex, interconnected, and global in scope.

“To do this, we need to seize opportunities and overcome barriers,” it says, adding that it will be necessary to develop an action plan that maximizes the linkages between the digital economy and the green economy.

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier,
Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

Mitchell is the first book author to receive the Grantham Prize and the first Canadian entrant to win the US$75,000 prize, announced today by the Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting. The prize is awarded annually to nonfiction work produced in the United States or Canada during the previous calendar year in all media.

“IISD is very proud of Alanna Mitchell’s tremendous achievement and the valuable contribution she has made to further our understanding of the oceans’ vulnerability to climate change and environmental degradation,” said Franz Tattenbach, IISD president and CEO. 

Philip Meyer, chairman of the Grantham Prize Jury said, “Reading Alanna Mitchell convinces you that the ocean is at least as important as the atmosphere when we worry about climate change. You cannot put this book down without understanding that, for life on earth to continue as it is, the ocean from which we evolved must remain healthy.”

Sunshine Menezes, executive director of Metcalf Institute and Grantham Prize administrator said, “Sea Sick clearly and eloquently explains the specific dangers facing global marine ecosystems. Mitchell faced her own demons to craft a story that showcases marine science and scientists in a balanced, accurate, and poetic fashion.”

Published in Canada by McClelland & Stewart, Sea Sick was released in the United States by University of Chicago Press (October 2009). Sea Sick examines the current state of the world’s oceans—describing an urgent yet little understood ecological crisis. Mitchell penned the 2010 Grantham Prize winner Sea Sick while joining the research teams of leading scientists in nine of the global oceans’ hotspots to see firsthand what is really happening in the world’s oceans. -ends-

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier, Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

Membership in Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform continues to grow

“As chair of the G20 summit, Canada not only sets the agenda, but also has the opportunity to showcase its commitment to clean energy” said IISD CEO and president Franz Tattenbach. “Canada’s promotion of fossil fuel subsidy reform at the G20 level can greatly assist the international movement towards cleaner energy and make a significant reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.”

G20 leaders issued a statement last year recognizing that fossil-fuel subsidies “encourage wasteful consumption, distort markets, impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to deal with climate change.”

"By including climate change in the G8 / G20 meetings, Canada is taking a step in the right direction to ensure that next major climate change conference in Mexico later this year yields good results,” said John Drexhage, director of IISD’s climate change and energy program.

IISD’s Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) is undertaking a detailed study of Canadian fossil fuel subsidies provided by the federal government and three key provincial governments: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador. Initial findings show that the oil industry currently benefits from more than 40 different subsidy programmes, mostly in the form of preferential tax treatment and investment incentives for exploration and drilling. The results of the study are due to be published in October 2010.

‘Friends’ update

Membership in the newly-formed Friends of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform spearheaded by New Zealand is growing with Norway, Switzerland and Sweden joining this week. The informal group of developed and developing non-G20 countries is committed to working with the G20 as it tackles a politically and economically complex initiative for reform.

-ends-

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier, Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303 or GSI research officer Kerryn Lang, Phone: +41 (22) 917 8920.

This follows a GSI meeting in Paris last week, where New Zealand announced it will spearhead a campaign of support for reform with the establishment of the Friends of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform. The informal group’s membership is expected to comprise a small number of interested, credible and committed developed and developing non-G20 countries.

The Friends are committed to working with the G20 as it tackles a politically and economically complex initiative for reform that offers an effective means to address climate change mitigation and develop trade and environment policies for sustainable development.

“Despite the clear economic and environmental benefits, as well as the urgent need for governments to reduce debt, there have been very few signs of progress of fossil-fuel subsidy reform,” said Mark Halle, IISD director of trade and investment.

“The new Friends group comes at a crucial time when more political leadership is needed to champion the reform process” said Halle.

GSI has recently issued a comprehensive, five-part assessment of fossil-fuel subsides and estimates governments are spending about US$500 billion a year on policies that undermine sustainable development. Untold Billions: Fossil-fuel subsidies, their impacts and the path to reform provides necessary research and analysis to support the commitment by the G20 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to phase out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies.

“Fossil-fuel subsidy reform offers real opportunities for G20 countries to advance more global economic and climate change agendas, while reducing expenditures at home,” Halle said. “The establishment of the Friends demonstrates the high-level interest and discussions on this important issue. It is important not to lose the momentum at this critical time.”

-ends-

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier, Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303 or GSI senior economist Peter Wooders +41 (76)-430-5026 or GSI research officer Kerryn Lang, Phone: +41-(76)-477-6659.

IISD chair Dan Gagnier said there are three areas in which IISD has made tremendous contributions since it started life 20 years ago. “One is the institute’s ability to sort out the myth from the reality,” he said, referring to such achievements as the institute’s ground-breaking work in trade and the environment, including the effects of subsidies.

“Over the course of IISD history, the institute also established its credibility in the earth sciences,” he said, referring to its work across a wide range of sectors. “IISD is also a pioneer in developing new methodologies and measurement criteria to help policy makers better understand the impacts of specific actions, internationally.”

The board will officially welcome IISD’s new president and CEO Franz Tattenbach and honour David Runnalls who is retiring, at a gala dinner this evening.

The board has named Runnalls a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute. It has also elected three new members to the board, replacing Gordon McBean and John Forgách who retire after six years.

Stephanie Cairns is welcomed back to the board after she stepped down last year to lead the successful search for the new CEO and president.

Other new board members are:

·       Hugo Delorme, director, government relations at Montreal-based NATIONAL Public Relations. Delorme is actively involved in a variety of social, political and business organizations.

·       Carlos A. Nobre, PhD meteorology, senior scientist, Center for Earth System Science (CCST) - National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Brazil

“We are honoured to welcome these outstanding new members to the board,” said Gagnier.

With the addition of these new directors, there are now 21 members of the board, representing nine countries. IISD's board of directors meets twice a year.

For more information, please contact Nona Pelletier, IISD media and communications officer, phone: +1 (204) 958-7740 or cell: +1 (204) 962-1303.

GENEVA—April 21, 2010—The International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Geneva-based Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) has issued a five-part series of reports into how nations might remove fossil-fuel subsidies, on the eve of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Washington this week.

GSI’s Untold Billions: Fossil-fuel subsidies, their impacts and the path to reform provides necessary research and analysis to support the commitment by the G20 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to phase out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies.

“This will be easier said than done. Subsidies are notoriously difficult to remove.” said David Runnalls, president of IISD. “The issue of fossil-fuel subsidies drives right to the heart of climate change and sustainable development and must be addressed urgently. The G20 should be commended for their early leadership but they can’t afford to let that leadership lag.”

In recent decades, many countries have attempted to remove government support for the production or consumption of fossil fuels, with varying degrees of success.

Jose Maria Figueres, chairman of the Carbon War Room and former President of Costa Rica, has seen some success after his government introduced a carbon tax and law to remove fossil fuels in 1995.

“That tax funded farmers to protect and develop forests on private land, raising their income levels,” Figueres said in a foreword to GSI’s summary of key findings. “Removing fossil-fuel subsidies will enhance the market for new energy solutions by making them more competitive, spurring innovation and development.”

UN Under-Secretary General and United National Environmental Program executive director Achim Steiner also contributed to the report as part of an ongoing collaboration with GSI. In the foreword he said: “Reforming fossil-fuels subsidies—in particular, those that are the most inefficient and environmentally damaging—offers one way of realizing a more sustainable, green economic future that includes quick wins on climate change, a small but not insignificant boost to global and national GDP, and reduced dependence on a finite resource.”

GSI estimates subsidies to fossil fuels account for roughly US$500 billion per year. This figure includes subsidies to lower the prices of petroleum products, kerosene or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), typically in developing countries, as well as subsidies to the oil, gas or coal industries, provided by many governments in both developing and developed countries. 

Summary report: http://www.globalsubsidies.org/files/assets/synthesis_ffs.pdf

• The effects of fossil-fuel subsidy reform – Eliminating fossil-fuel subsidies will have significant economic advantages in terms of increased GDP, alongside major environmental benefits, namely reduced greenhouse gas emissions. A recent study by the OECD foresees that removing subsidies in 20 developing and emerging countries could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 13 per cent by 2050.
• The politics of fossil-fuel subsidies – Subsidy reformers must begin the reform process with an appreciation of the powerful interest groups determined to perpetuate subsidies as well as the political motives that maintain these subsidies in order to design strategies that inoculate policy reforms against such opposition.
• Strategies for reforming fossil-fuel subsidies – Not all previous attempts to reform fossil-fuel subsidies have been successful. In order to implement lasting change, subsidy reformers need well-designed reform strategies that also include supporting policies to reduce the negative impacts of reform on affected stakeholders.
• The need for transparency – Collaborative efforts by national governments and international organizations are needed in order to forge comprehensive fossil-fuel subsidy reform plans over several years and provide a sound information base for assessing their impacts, negotiating commitments to implement them, and monitoring progress of their phase-out.
• Mapping the characteristics of fossil-fuel subsidies – Investigating the scope and magnitude of subsidies provided for the production of fossil fuels will take time and detailed, country-level and fuel-specific analyses. Surveys of available data in the United States, China and Germany help to establish where crucial information deficits exist, and highlight current trends in data availability, along with emerging issues that are likely to become prominent in the future.

IEA is a process of gathering and analyzing information on the key interactions between the natural environment and human society that can be useful for policy-making and future planning. The multi-dimensional Training Package, developed by the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, is designed to build capacity at a national and regional level for Integrated Environmental Assessment to become an integral part of policy-making. It represents an important step towards meeting one of UNEP’s core strategic objectives to help build country-level capacity.

The launch introduced the audience to the new and improved products of the training package which include a training manual, a community platform, interactive e-learning modules and a trainers data base. The training manual is available in the six official UN languages of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian. The Community Platform promotes information-sharing and networking among IEA practitioners at a global, regional and national level. The e-learning modules offer interactive online training designed for learners through the internet. The trainers database provides access to an international network of experts who are qualified to deliver IEA training.

Welcoming the IEA Training Package, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said that “the ability to monitor and assess changing environmental trends and their interactions with human development is at the heart of building environmental considerations into decision-making. The pioneering of the IEA process through UNEP’s GEO Report represents a model that can be replicated at a national and regional level.”

Dr László Pintér, Director of Measurement and Assessment at IISD said “I hope the training package will be used extensively around the world and contribute to the development of many regional and national IEAs that directly improve decision-making. IISD is committed to contributing to the achievement of urgent environmental sustainability goals through better environmental information and assessment.”

UNEP’s Fifth Global Environmental Outlook Report will be published in 2012.

Notes

To access the IEA Training Package and materials visit http://www.unep.org/ieacp

For more information on UNEP’s GEO Report visit http://www.unep.org/GEO/

For further information, please contact:

Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson/Head of Media, Nairobi, + 254-20-7623084 or +41 795965737, nick.nuttall@unep.org

Nona Pelletier, Media and Communications Officer, International Institute for Sustainable Development, +1-(204) 958-7740 or +1-(204) 962-1303, npelletier@iisd.ca

VANCOUVER—March 24, 2010—The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, an online tool developed to support the global community of social and environmental entrepreneurs, is being launched this week at the Globe 2010 conference on the environment in Vancouver.

The Toolkit is a joint initiative of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation and the SEED Initiative.

It provides a collaborative online meeting place for entrepreneurs to share their experiences and learn from each other. Based on the popular Wiki model, contributors can create content, enrich contributions from others, and essentially create an online community.

The Toolkit was created in recognition of the many innovative and elegant projects launched by entrepreneurs, which are creating positive social and environmental impacts in their communities. Some of the most inspiring projects are the work of small groups of people in developing countries, which use an approach that is light on resources and heavy on creativity.

Heather Creech, IISD director of Global Connectivity said: “There are projects underway around the world that are creating prosperity and improving lives in communities. The goal with the Toolkit is to create a peer-to-peer resource that connects these entrepreneurs and allows them to share their experiences.”

The site’s content is growing daily and contributions are encouraged in all languages.

“The partners’ vision is to create a comprehensive, self-sustaining information resource for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs,” Creech said.

Globe 2010 was chosen as the Toolkit’s launch pad as it is one of the world’s most well known and respected forums for the business and environmental communities.

A workshop on the Toolkit will be held at 12 noon, Thursday, March 25, in the Sechelt Room at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel.

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303 or Stephan Barg at the conference: +1-(204)-951-0090. 

Visit the Entrepreneur’s Toolkit at: www.entrepreneurstoolkit.org.

The problem of excessive phosphorus loading is affecting water bodies in all parts of the world, including Lake Winnipeg, which is the tenth largest lake in the world by surface area, and among the most heavily loaded with phosphorus of the world’s great lakes.

Essential to plant growth and all life, phosphorus is mined from rock phosphate deposits and synthesized into chemical fertilizers for food production. While it is essential to food production, Lake Winnipeg and many other water bodies are suffering from algal blooms, feeding off phosphorus from wastewater and agricultural runoff. 

“Phosphorous is an indispensible resource that has been mismanaged to the point that we are jeopardizing our long term food and water security. We need not look any further than Lake Winnipeg to see the consequences of that,” said IISD’s Vivek Voora, co-author of Peak Phosphorus: Opportunity in the Making—Why the Phosphorus Challenge Presents a New Paradigm for Food Security and Water Quality in the Lake Winnipeg Basin.

While our total global phosphorus reserves remain unknown, statistics on deposits found in recent decades indicate that more phosphate is being extracted than discovered. 

Although dwindling rock phosphate reserves may challenge our industrial model of agriculture, it will also stimulate innovation and create new economic opportunities for capturing and recycling phosphorus back onto agricultural lands.

“Closing the loop on our food systems and moving toward phosphorus independence is crucial to maintain long-term global food and water security,” Henry David (Hank) Venema, director of IISD's Sustainable Natural Resources Management program and Water Innovation Centre in Winnipeg.

Agricultural practices that improve plant nutrient uptake can lower fertilizer requirements and runoff. Phosphorus recovery from wastewater, manure, human and food waste can lower mineral fertilizer dependence. For instance, implementing phosphorus recovery technologies in wastewater treatment plants could help recover this precious nutrient.

Phosphorus management and self-sufficiency will be prominent among the solutions strategies discussed at the Lake Winnipeg Basin Summit hosted by IISD’s Water Innovation Centre in Winnipeg, November 2010. The phosphorus management solutions developed at the summit will provide insights for addressing food security and water issues worldwide.

–ends-

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier Phone: +1-(204)- 958-7797, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303 or for additional comment contact Vivek Voora +1-(204)-958-7706 or Henry David (Hank) Venema Phone: +1-(204)-958-7706

Interest in accountability through measurement has been growing steadily, with government, business and community members in CSIN rising to 1,200 today, from just 350 members two years ago.

“We have seen interest rise with an increasing need to demonstrate accountability and progress towards sustainability goals,” said CSIN coordinator Christa Rust. “Indicators are being used at every level of government, business and community to better inform decision-making and strategic management.”

László Pintér, IISD director of measurement and assessment, said Canada’s interest in these developments is part of a global movement.

“Demand for increased accountability and tools that measure real progress is being driven by unprecedented and concurrent crises to climate, food, health, energy and the economy and the need to respond to even greater challenges ahead,” he said.

The 2nd National CSIN Conference follows OECD’s Charting Progress, Building Visions, Improving Life World Forum, held in South Korea in October 2009, which featured the launch of IISD’s BellagioSTAMP, a set of guiding principles to measure and assess progress towards sustainability.

The gala dinner, featuring a keynote address by Roy Romanow, chair of the Canadian Institute of Wellbeing, has already sold out, with leaders of some of Canada’s largest businesses and institutions expected to attend.

The media desk will open in Spadina Foyer of the Marriott Courtyard at 7:30 a.m., March 2. Registration is available online.

About CSIN

The Canadian Sustainable Indicators Network (CSIN) is housed with IISD’s Measurement and Assessment program in Winnipeg. CSIN connects the institute with international, national, provincial, regional and local communities.

For more information, please contact:
IISD media officer, Nona Pelletier: Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303 or
Sue Barkman at the conference: Phone: Cell: +1-(204)-795-5898 

CSIN is a one-of-a-kind Canadian network of 1,200 members with a mission to foster development of sustainability indicators and the effective use of these indicators in decision-making. The network is part of the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s measurement and assessment program.

Roy Romanow, chair of the Canadian Institute of Wellbeing, will be the keynote speaker at the gala dinner on March 3, talking about the importance of measuring what matters most to Canadians.

“Accountability and sustainability cannot be achieved with accurate measurements of our successes and failures,” said László Pintér, IISD director of measurement and assessment.

The 2nd National CSIN Conference follows OECD’s Charting Progress, Building Visions, Improving Life World Forum, held in South Korea in October 2009, which featured the launch of IISD’s BellagioSTAMP, a set of guiding principles to measure and assess progress towards sustainability.

The CSIN conference features presentations by renowned experts including:

• Scott Vaughan, Canada's Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
• Johanne Gélinas, Partner and Leader of Deloitte Canada's Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Group
• Enrico Giovannini, President of the Italian National Statistics Institute (ISTAT)
• Hazel Henderson, founder of Ethical Markets Media - author, futurist and syndicated columnist 

The conference offers several optional workshops as well as plenary sessions. Themes include:

• Strengthening Sustainable Development Governance through Measurement
• Getting the Message Across – Innovation in the Visualization of Indicators
• From Information to Influence–Incorporating Indicators into Decision-Making
• Experiences and Best Practices
• The Business of Sustainability Indicators.

The media desk will open in Spadina Foyer of the Marriott Courtyard at 7:30 a.m., March 2. Registration is available online.

About CSIN

The Canadian Sustainable Indicators Network (CSIN) is housed with IISD’s Measurement and Assessment program in Winnipeg. CSIN connects the institute with international, national, provincial, regional and local communities.

For more information, please contact:
IISD media officer, Nona Pelletier: Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303 or
Sue Barkman at the conference: Phone: +1-(204)-958-7738, Cell: +1-(204)-795-5898

WINNIPEG—February 2, 2010—Franz Tattenbach is to become the fourth president and CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a Canadian-based international public policy research institute.

Tattenbach replaces David Runnalls who will retire in June 2010 after 10 years of successful tenure.

Tattenbach–an economist and specialist in sustainable development, conservation and peace science–is well known within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) where, as climate change ambassador and lead negotiator for Costa Rica, he became one of the architects and creators of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

The G77 and China nominated Tattenbach to the first CDM Executive Board, where he represented the non-Annex I countries and also served as vice chair.

Tattenbach emerged as the unanimous choice of the IISD board following a rigorous six-month international search.

For more information, please contact IISD Media Officer, Nona Pelletier: Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

Climate change threatens to increase the magnitude and frequency of major weather events and exacerbate the intensity of droughts and floods. Lake Winnipeg is particularly vulnerable—already facing a multitude of environmental challenges.

The Manitoba Challenge: Integrated Water and Land Management for Climate Adaptation, a study by IISD’s Water Innovation Centre (WIC) presents the case for technological and institutional innovation for effective ecological watershed management, which looks not just at water issues, but at land issues as well.

“It is critical that water and land issues are managed together,” said report author and WIC director, Henry David (Hank) Venema. “By integrating water and land management we can greatly improve the conservation of water resources, and improve the management and health of Lake Winnipeg at the same time.”

Key elements of this innovation agenda include governance reform at the water-land interface, re-purposing existing resources, and designing new economic instruments to support watershed management—including ecological goods and services programs in the agricultural sector.

The report is being released today as part of Manitoba’s initiative to collaborate and share information with water experts at the second Manitoba - Israel Water Experts Symposium this week, led by Manitoba Water Stewardship Minister the Honourable Christine Melnick, where Venema is presenting the recent work of the Institute on climate change adaptation.

 -ends-

For more information, please contact Henry David (Hank) Venema Phone: +1-(204)-899-0104 or IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

As part of an ongoing joint project, the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Pembina Institute will host an official side event on December 16, 2009, entitled Clean Energy and Climate Change Action in North America: A Coordinated Approach.

The event will be chaired by David Runnalls, president and CEO of IISD, and Clare Demerse, associate director, Climate Change at the Pembina Institute. The panel features high level North American government leaders, including:

• Jean Charest, Premier of Quebec
• Greg Selinger, Premier of Manitoba
• Nancy Skinner, California Assemblymember
• Shalini Vajjhala, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of International Affairs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Gabriel Quadri, Senior Environment Advisor to Mayor Ebrard of Mexico City

The panel members will provide their perspective on how a coordinated, collaborative North American approach to climate change and clean energy can assist Canada, Mexico and the United States in achieving deep emission reductions and meeting the goals of the UN climate convention. Each panel member is invited to give their remarks for 10 minutes, followed by 30-35 minutes of discussion.

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier
Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

More information about the debate:
The Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs Per Stig Møller has invited a panel of world leaders for a debate on the impact of climate change on international security. In addition to the Danish Foreign Minister the panel will include:

• NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
• EU Presidency, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt
• African Union Commission Chairperson Dr. Jean Ping
• The moderator will be Steffen Kretz, Senior International Editor and anchor with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR).

Practical information:
Time and date: December 15, 2009 1.30-3pm. Doors open at 12.30 and close at 1.15 P.M. CET, to ensure a prompt start to the debate. Venue: DR-Byen’s Concert House, Studie 2, Emil Holms Kanal 20, 0999 Copenhagen C.
Nearest metro: DR-Byen (two stops from the Bella Center).

Members of the press wishing to bring cameras and other equipment to the event must have COP15 accreditation and must arrive at the event no later than 12.30 P.M. CET. A specific press card will not be issued for this event, but COP15 accreditation card must be carried visually.

*All members of the press must register by sending an email to prs@um.dk with name and media by December 14, 12 P.M. CET.

Contact persons for the Danish Government’s event:
For the press in general: Ms. Janina Graae jangra@um.dk / M:+45 4083 8937
For general information: Ms. Catherine Lorenzen catlor@um.dk / D:+45 3392 1855 / M:+45 5087 6545

Reforming fossil fuel subsidies would save governments billions of dollars while also significantly reducing greenhouse emissions and incentivizing cleaner forms of energy and energy efficiency. Though long overdue, this potentially transformative issue suddenly reached international consensus with the announcement by G-20 leaders, meeting in Pittsburgh on 24-25 September 2009, that they intended to phase out subsidies to fossil fuels over the medium term.

The challenge lies in implementation. The event will bring together speakers and observers from a range of G-20 governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as the private sector, to focus on how the political commitment to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies can be translated into effective reform. Moderated by IISD's Mark Halle, the event will build upon analysis and insight gained through IISD's Global Subsidies Initiative's work on fossil-fuel subsidies.

15:00     Opening remarks by Mark Halle (moderator), Executive Director, IISD-Europe: The building blocks of fossil-fuel subsidies reform

15:20     The perspective of Finance Ministries in fossil-fuel subsidies reform, Per Callesen Deputy Permanent Secretary, Danish Ministry of Finance

15:30     National approaches to developing and implementing strategies for reforming fossil-fuel subsidies, William A. Pizer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Energy, U.S. Department of the Treasury

15:40     National approaches to developing and implementing strategies for reforming fossil-fuel subsidies, Andrew Dobbie, Department of Energy and Climate Change, United Kingdom

15:50     Overcoming challenges: the political challenges of energy reform and protecting the poor, former President of Costa Rica, José Maria Figueres Olsen, Founder of the Global Observatory

16:00     The role of international organizations in supporting reform efforts, Helen Mountford, Acting Deputy Director, Environment Directorate, OECD

16:10     The role of international organizations in supporting reform efforts, Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency

16:20-17:00         Questions and discussion

(Please see more about the Global Subsidies Initiative, IISD at COP15 and related commentaries) http://www.iisd.org/climate/unfccc/cop.aspx.)

*Participants will need to have previously registered or have COP15 badges for entry.

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier
Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.
(For local calls during COP15 in Copenhagen, please phone 53 97 61 23 until December 18, 2009)

IISD Side Event: Trade and Investment: Fostering or Frustrating Climate Objectives?

Monday, December 14, 2009, 09:00-13:00 CET (GMT +1)
*Crowne Plaza Hotel, IETA room Mount Everest 3, Orestads Blvd 114-118
(One Metro stop from the Bella Centre at Orestad)
UNFCCC COP15, Copenhagen

IISD has been working intensively on trade and climate change issues since it helped organize the Trade Ministers’ meeting in Bali at COP13. A suite of research has led to our round-up event in Copenhagen: a mini-symposium focused on four key issue areas.

09:00 Liberalization of low-carbon goods: The promise and the pitfalls
Mahesh Sugathan (ICTSD): Liberalization of trade in environmental goods and services: The devil in the details
Peter Wooders (IISD): Estimating the GHG mitigation potential of liberalization

10:00 Border carbon adjustment: Trade measures in pursuit of climate objectives
Susanne Dröge (German Institute for International and Security Affairs): Tackling leakage in a world of unequal carbon prices
Jake Werksman (WRI): Challenges of fair and effective BCA
Aaron Cosbey (IISD): WTO legal issues; principles of good practice

11:00 Investment, technology transfer and climate change
Karsten Neuhoff (Climate Policy Initiative): International support for domestic policies in developing countries
Peter Wooders (IISD): Case study: wind power in Egypt
Smita Nakhooda (WRI): Investing in a sustainable future: MDB support for energy policy

12:00 Intellectual property rights and climate change
Bernice Lee (Chatham House): Who owns our low carbon future? IP and energy technology
Ahmet Abdul Latif (ICTSD): IPRs and dissemination of clean technology 

(Please see more about IISD at COP15 and related commentaries) http://www.iisd.org/climate/unfccc/cop.aspx.)

*Participants will need to have previously registered or have COP15 badges for entry.

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier
Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.
(For local calls during COP15 in Copenhagen, please phone 53 97 61 23 until December 18, 2009)

IISD is kicking off the second week of the international climate change conference in Copenhagen with three separate side events, on Monday, to build momentum for low carbon development strategies, fossil-fuel subsidy reform and action on trade and climate change.

“Climate change is an urgent issue. It isn’t just an environmental issue anymore. It is also the economic and social issue of our time and the outside world is becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress displayed in the conference centre,” Runnalls said.

“While governments talk about the need to expand trade to help emerge from the economic crisis, much of the action at the legislative level seems designed to protect domestic industry, thereby threatening the integrity of the trading system,” Runnalls said, adding that the world can’t afford to continue on this path.

“IISD has ideas for using trade to promote low carbon development and investment in renewable energy technologies. And while governments complain that their fiscal situations are too stretched to accommodate funding for clean energy research and for assisting developing countries with adaptation to climate change, they continue to pour subsidies into the fossil fuels, which are responsible for the climate problem in the first place.

“Our Global Subsidies Initiative is aimed at identifying the sources and extent of such subsidies so that they can be turned to more sensible solutions.”

IISD’s side events will feature its senior directors and advisors including John Drexhage, Mark Halle, Peter Wooders and Aaron Cosbey, as well as other members of IISD’s climate change and energy team, and other panelists attending the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Fifth Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP 15 and COP/MOP 5).

Tomorrow’s side events are designed to advance action on climate change through policy research, development and implementation on the following key issues:

• Moving to a Low Carbon Development Pathway
• Phasing out Fossil-Fuel Subsidies: Moving from rhetoric to reform
• Trade and Investment: Fostering or Frustrating Climate Objectives?

For more information about the Institute’s work at the conference, please see IISD at COP15, as well as related commentaries and its Climate Change and Energy program.

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier
Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.
(For local calls during COP15 in Copenhagen, please phone 53 97 61 23 until December 18, 2009)

This session will assess the challenges and opportunities to support the transition of developing countries to a low carbon development pathway, by mobilizing private sector investment for emerging market-based mechanisms.

There is positive momentum towards the establishment of national appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) and sector-based approaches to greenhouse gas reductions, at the international level. While this creates new opportunities, the degree to which any international agreement will be able to meet its climate change and sustainable development objectives will depend on its translation to real action at the national and sub-national level.

Private sector investment will also play a critical role in this process.

(Please see more about IISD at COP15 and related commentaries http://www.iisd.org/climate/unfccc/cop.aspx.)

Moderated by John Drexhage, IISD

• Kim Chan-Woo, Director General , Ministry of Environment, South Korea
• Erik Haites, Margaree Consultants, Canada
• Samuel Nnah, Centre for Environment and Development, Cameroon
• Syamsidar Thamrin, Deputy Director Climate Change, Environment Directorate, National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Indonesia
• Suzanna Kahn Ribeiro, Professor, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Each participant will be invited to give 10 minutes of remarks, followed by a facilitated discussion.  

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier 
Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.
(For local calls during COP15 in Copenhagen, please phone 53 97 61 23 until December 18, 2009)

REDD and Development: Ensuring the Integrity of Greenhouse Gas Reductions and Development Benefits

Friday, December 11, 2009, 3:30-5:00 P.M. CET (GMT+1)
Koncerthuset (The Concert House), DR Byen (Two Metro stops from the Bella Centre)
UNFCCC COP15, Copenhagen

Agreement on an international framework to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD) is expected to be one of the main outcomes of the Copenhagen climate talks. IISD reports on its REDD capacity building workshops, held in Nairobi and Hanoi in November 2009. IISD delivered the workshops in cooperation with the Alternatives to Slash and Burn Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins, World Agroforestry Centre (ASB-ICRAF), with the support of the Government of Norway. (see IISD’s work on land-use management).

In many poor countries, the delivery of development benefits will depend on the inclusion of emissions from agriculture and other land uses. One of the key questions is therefore how the scope of REDD can be expanded to include emissions from such land uses. Panelists will discuss how REDD should be structured to ensure there will be development benefits, without jeopardizing the integrity of greenhouse gas reductions.

The panel is organized jointly by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), in collaboration with the ASB-ICRAF and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

Moderated by IISD's John Drexhage. Speakers:

• Dr. Dennis Garrity, Director General, ICRAF
• Ms. Maryanne Grieg-Gran, Programme Director, Environmental Economics, IIED
• Ms. Pham Minh Thoa, Deputy Director General, Department of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development , Vietnam
• Dr. George Wamukoya, Climate Advisor, Common Market for East and Southern Africa

 Speakers will address, among other issues:

• Requirements for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of REDD that ensure the integrity of greenhouse gas emissions while encouraging developing country participation and guaranteeing development benefits
• Options to include agriculture in REDD
• Coherence between REDD and agricultural development and linkages with adaptation strategies
• The potential of Agroforestry as high carbon land use
• Country and regional perspectives from Vietnam and Africa  

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier
Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.
(For local calls during COP15 in Copenhagen, please phone 53 976 123 until December 18, 2009)

As part of the celebrations, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani signed a new economic agreement with Germany at an event this week to replace the first bilateral investment treaty signed 50 years ago, in 1959. Since then, there have been over 2,700 such treaties, signed by at least 179 countries.

“The celebrations fail to focus on the implications of these treaties for developing countries, which are based on a format designed to protect the interests of foreign investors and nothing else,” said Bernasconi-Osterwalder, senior international lawyer and head of IISD’s investment program.

Over 77 countries, the majority of whom are developing states, have faced the consequences of arbitrations launched by investors under such treaties. These agreements are unique in the world of treaties, as they allow private investors to bring a claim directly against states to challenge a wide range of governmental action, including domestic regulation. 

“Pakistan may be expecting increased investments and other benefits from the new treaty, but in reality the German-Pakistan treaty is only about Pakistan providing guarantees and assurances to the German investors in Pakistan, not the other way around,” she said.

“The diplomatic protocol associated with these agreements, which have often been described as 'photo opportunities,' continues to exert pressure on states to conclude such agreements, despite the growing threat of investor-state claims, ” she said.

She added that Germany's own conduct has recently been challenged by a Swedish investor under the Energy Charter Treaty, which may have implications with respect to placing boundaries on the government’s ability to implement environmental and social policies.

“There are stark realities that underlie the complexity of these treaties. What we need now is greater transparency, predictability, and new thinking.  We need to remove the layers of complexity that undermine the social, economic and environmental aspirations of the developing countries that enter into these agreements.”

For additional comment, please contact Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder by email: nbernasconi@iisd.org.

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier
Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

“By acknowledging uncertainty, we can design policies that help adapt to future stresses more effectively,” he said.

Creating Adaptive Policies: A guide for policy –making in an uncertain world, was written to help policy-makers make policies that help people weather a perfect storm of global crises—especially in the context of climate change and other pressing social, environmental and economic issues.

The guidebook is the culmination of four years of research undertaken by the Canadian-based International Institute for Sustainable Development and India’s The Energy and Resources Institute. It was edited by IISD’s Darren Swanson and Teri’s Suruchi Bhadwal.

“The guidebook helps us develop adaptive policies that perform effectively under dynamic and uncertain conditions,” said IISD president and CEO David Runnalls. “Far from serving the public good, non-adaptive policies may actually get in the way.”

Stephen McGurk, director of Canada’s International Development Research Centre’s regional office in South Asia and China, which provided financial support and advice for the project, said a diversity of policy tools are needed to address uncertain conditions. “Decentralized policy applications can enable innovation compared with catch-all national level policies that are not informed by local conditions."

The book describes seven tools to craft more adaptive policies that match the complexity of sustainable development.  It also includes a number of specific case examples that may resonate most closely with policy-makers working in agriculture and water resource management sectors, and for policy-makers dealing with climate change issues, though the tools are relevant to any complex policy issue.

As nongovernmental organizations, IISD and TERI have over 50 years of collective operational experience in sustainable development research and practice.

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

Aaron Cosbey is an associate and senior advisor with the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development, and the author of A Sustainable Development Roadmap for the WTO.

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

"BellagioSTAMP enables true accountability in governance and management for sustainable development, by addressing the totality of the assessment process," said László Pintér, director of the Measurement and Assessment program at IISD, one of the main architects of BellagioSTAMP.

The need for a new system of measurement and assessment is driven by unprecedented and concurrent crises to climate, food, health, energy and the economy and the need to respond to even greater challenges ahead.

"Despite the high and growing costs of unsustainable development, our ability to identify and measure risks and capitalize on opportunities is weak," Pintér said.

BellagioSTAMP can be used to review the adequacy of existing measurement and assessment practices or to guide the development of new initiatives. The principles offer flexibility in the choice of design of indicators, and how they are interpreted, communicated and used.

"BellagioSTAMP’s power is its simplicity and ability to capture and distill complex concepts and issues."

For more information, please contact László Pintér, Ph.D., director IISD Measurement and Assessment, lpinter@iisd.ca, or IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

About BellagioSTAMP (SusTainability Assessment and Measurement Principles)

A first set of Bellagio Principles for assessing progress toward sustainability was published in 1996 and was subsequently used by local and international organizations in sustainability assessments. Though successful, new assessment methods and sustainability challenges overtook the original principles. As with the original set, BellagioSTAMP has been established by a group of international experts meeting in Bellagio, Italy, organized by IISD and the OECD’s Measuring the Progress of Societies initiative.

About the Conference

Third OECD World Forum on "Statistics, Knowledge and Policy" Charting Progress, Building Visions, Improving Life (PDF - 485 kb) focuses on three questions: What does progress mean for our societies?; What are the new paradigms to measure progress?; and How can there be better policies within these new paradigms to foster the progress of our societies?

About IISD

The International Institute for Sustainable Development contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy, climate change and energy, measurement and assessment, and natural resources management, and the enabling role of communication technologies in these areas. We report on international negotiations and disseminate knowledge gained through collaborative projects, resulting in more rigorous research, capacity building in developing countries, better networks spanning the North and the South, and better global connections among researchers, practitioners, citizens and policy-makers.

Accessing water for the common good is the theme of next week's annual meeting, which brings together experts, practitioners, decision makers and leaders from around the world to exchange ideas and foster new thinking to address the planet's most urgent water-related issues.

This year's meeting will have a special focus on transboundary water issues, which can become a source of conflict, particularly in areas experiencing water stress. But transboundary issues can also be a catalyst for build peace building, according to Henry David (Hank) Venema, Director of IISD's Sustainable Natural Resources Management program and Water Innovation Centre, based within North America's Red River Basin.

“We have found that multiple jurisdictions within a transboundary basin can find common ground in dialogue about the environment. There is a greater degree of cooperation when people understand that the ecosystem services of a watershed have considerable value, beyond applications for navigation or water supply,” Venema said.

“There are many examples of transboundary organizations around the world that have succeeded in diffusing tensions by working for the common good.”

Venema said IISD's newly established Water Innovation Centre is developing policies and processes to support the work of transboundary organizations, particularly in North America's vast Lake Winnipeg Watershed, which is nearly one million square kilometres, and home to more than 5.5 million people, in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta, as well as the U.S. states of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana.

Lake Winnipeg is the tenth largest freshwater lake in the world, and also one of the most eutrophic, fed by the nutrient-rich waters of the Winnipeg, Saskatchewan, and Red rivers. Compared with other great lakes in the world, particularly the North American Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg has received surprisingly little scientific attention until the past decade.

“We have a lot to learn, but our work will help us develop policies and processes to improve the management of other transboundary river basins,” he said.

WINNIPEG—July 13, 2009—Commentary on the unprecedented pace of change over the past year or so is the theme of Sustaining Excellence—the 2008/09 annual report of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, for the year ended March 31, 2009.

The report features commentary from leaders for sustainable development, including an essay on the Green Economy by Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary general and UNEP executive director.

"The Green Economy Initiative is . . . a real and tangible opportunity to achieve the transformative and comprehensive change that will allow six to nine billion people to live together prosperously, productively and peacefully in years to come," Steiner says.

IISD's trade and investment director Mark Halle writes about government accountability in What Happens Between Promise and Delivery?

"It has become a priority for those of us fighting for sustainable development to turn our attention to designing accountability mechanisms that work," Halle says, adding that it is necessary to review what has worked well in the past, as incentives to achieve compliance and delivery on promises.

Halle also offers a review of IISD's trade and investment program, and makes the following observation: "Each of our program's three pillars—trade, investment and subsidies—is not only central to the current predicament, but central to getting out of it."

IISD's director of climate change and energy John Drexhage offers a forecast on the prospects of an international agreement on climate change at the high level conference to be held in Copenhagen later this year.

"Let me say this at the outset: if an agreement is reached at Copenhagen, it will almost certainly not be in the form of a comprehensive agreement. . . That much became clear in the aftermath of the negotiations held in Bonn early June."

These are just some of the topics covered in this review of the institute's most recent work, which includes a photo essay on promoting conflict-sensitive conservation in Africa, as well as highlights from IISD's six programs: Trade and Investment; Sustainable Natural Resources Management; Measurement and Assessment; Climate Change and Energy; Global Connectivity; and Reporting Services.

The report is available in French (PDF - 3 mb) and English (PDF - 3 mb).

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

Canada Treasury Board President Vic Toews announced the release of funding by Environment Canada for 14 projects under the Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiatives involving two projects managed by IISD's new Water Innovation Centre (WIC), headed up by Henry David (Hank) Venema.

Lake Winnipeg is fed by a vast water basin covering 960,000 square kilometres extending over four provinces and four U.S. states. The problems facing the lake are the result of excessive phosphorus and nitrogen from agricultural, municipal and natural sources ending up in the lake. More than half of these nutrients originate outside Manitoba's borders.

"The problems with Lake Winnipeg are compelling and complex," Venema said, adding that the transboundary issues alone are an important dynamic in reducing pollution in Manitoba's largest lake.

The Environment Canada funding will accelerate two key WIC projects—one concerning the restoration of Netley-Libau Marsh. The other, in partnership with the Red River Basin Commission, concerns multi-purpose land and water investments that produce nutrient and flood reduction benefits.

"The proximity of the Water Innovation Centre to Lake Winnipeg in essence offers a dynamic and living laboratory where we can test new innovative water management strategies and policies that offer valuable lessons for similar circumstances in many other parts of the world," Venema said.

About WIC and IISD

The Water Innovation Centre will develop, communicate, and help implement an integrated Lake Winnipeg Basin strategy based on natural capital and integrated water resources management principles. The Centre will respect the mandates of other water-related agencies, take into account the importance of regional initiatives and provide technical, logistical, and policy support to federal and provincial agencies, community groups and municipalities.

Since 2004, IISD has conducted seminal analyses on Prairie watershed issues, identifying the Lake Winnipeg watershed as ecologically vulnerable. Our work in ecosystem service and community management assessments, as well as our pioneering efforts in ecological engineering approaches to Lake Winnipeg Stewardship—paved the way for the Water Innovation Centre.

For more information, please contact Henry David (Hank) Venema Phone: +1-(204)-958-7706 or IISD media and communication officer, Nona Pelletier Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.

The two-day meeting began with the appointment of three new members to the board, replacing Laxanachantorn Laohaphan, Khawar Mumtaz, and Mohamed Sahnoun who retire after many years of dedication, hard work and outstanding commitment to sustainability and the vision and mission of IISD. Mohamed Sahnoun becomes a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute, as well as former chairman of the board Jacques Gérin.

Board member Stephanie Cairns is also stepping down to lead the search for the new president and CEO to replace David Runnalls, who is retiring in 2010 after a decade in the position.

The new board members and fellows offer a wealth of sustainable development experience in the fields of education, governance, business and the environment.

"Isabelle Hudon, Papa Kwesi Nduom and Erna Witoelar are renowned leaders and bring considerable experience to IISD," said board chair Dan Gagnier.

With the addition of these new directors, there are now 20 members of the board, representing nine countries. IISD's board of directors meets twice a year.

New members of the board:

• Isabelle Hudon is President of Montreal ad agency Marketel. She was previously President and CEO of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. Currently, she is Chair of the Board of the Université du Québec à Montréal, the Société du Havre de Montréal and the Fondation les petits trésors of the Rivière-des-Prairies Hospital. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Aéroports de Montréal and Holt Renfrew Canada. She was part of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 2005 roster, and honored in 2006 as one of Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100.

• Papa Kwesi Nduom is a renowned entrepreneur in Ghana. He owns hotels in Accra and Elmina and has been a board member of the Ghana Heritage Conservation Trust. He has been Ghana’s Minister for Energy and was a presidential candidate in 2008. He worked his way through the University of Wisconsin, where he earned his Ph.D. in Service Delivery Systems.

• Erna Witoelar is Indonesia’s UN Special Ambassador for the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific. She was the former Minister of Human Settlements and Regional Development (1999-2001) and a former member of the National Assembly of Indonesia. She currently serves as chairperson of the Indonesia Biodiversity Foundation (KEHATI), co-chair of the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, and an Earth Charter Commissioner (based in Costa Rica). Before joining the government, she pursued a long career in civil society. She is a board member of several civil society organizations at national and international levels, including chair of the YIPD (Foundation for Local Governance Innovation), and advisor to the Indonesian Association of Municipalities and Association of Districts.

About IISD

International Institute for Sustainable Development is a Canadian-based not-for-profit organization with a team of 60 employees based in Winnipeg (our head office), Ottawa, Geneva and New York and an additional 90 interns, writers, and researchers in 30 countries around the world. At its core, IISD supports the integration of economic, social and environmental considerations into decision-making. Its vision is better living for all—sustainably; its mission, to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably.

For more information, please contact Nona Pelletier, IISD media and communications officer, phone: +1 (204) 958-7740 or cell: +1 (204) 962-1303.

Climate models are predicting a hotter, drier and less predictable climate in the Middle East—a region already considered the world's most water scarce and where, in many places, demand for water already outstrips supply. For Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, climate change threatens to reduce the availability of scarce water resources, increase food insecurity, hinder economic growth and lead to large scale population movements. This could hold serious implications for peace in the region, according to the report.

Rising Temperatures, Rising Tensions: Climate change and the risk of violent conflict in the Middle East (PDF - 4.4 mb) is the latest report on the links between climate change, peace and conflict by IISD, an independent Canadian policy think tank. Drawn from extensive consultations and workshops throughout the region, augmented by desk research, the report makes three key points:

• The legacy of conflict in the countries of the Levant undermines the ability of countries and communities in the region to adapt to climate change. The history of hostility and mistrust in the region greatly complicates efforts to collaborate over shared resources, to invest in more efficient water and energy use, to share new ways to adapt to climate change and to pursue truly multilateral action on climate change. Ultimately, climate change presents an even more serious challenge than it would otherwise.

• The report shows that climate change itself poses real security concerns to the region. It may increase competition for scarce water resources, complicating peace agreements. It may intensify food insecurity, thereby raising the stakes for the return or retention of occupied land. It may hinder economic growth, worsening poverty and social instability. It could lead to destabilizing forced migration, increased tensions over refugee populations, the increased militarization of strategic natural resources and growing resentment and distrust of the West.

• Nevertheless, the report points out there is much that national governments and authorities, civil society and the international community can do address the challenge of climate change, and in so doing, address some of the threats it may pose to regional peace and security. They can promote a culture of conservation in the region, help communities and countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foster greater cooperation on their shared resources.

Note to Editors:

For more information on preparations for the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009, see http://www.en.Cop15.dk

More of IISD's work on environmental change and security can be found at here.

For more information please contact the authors:

Oli Brown (obrown@iisd.org) or Alec Crawford (acrawford@iisd.org)

For additional information or assistance please contact:

• Nona Pelletier
  IISD Winnipeg
  Phone: +1 (204) 958-7740
  Cell: +1 (204) 962-1303
  E-mail: npelletier@iisd.ca

• Damon Vis-Dunbar
  IISD Geneva
  Phone: +41 (22) 917-8748
  Cell: +41 (78) 818-0501
  E-mail: dvis-dunbar@iisd.org

GENERata builds on this standard of excellence with a new interactive framework to help users draw knowledge from the vast database of resources on a wide-range of sustainable development issues. There are over 44,000 sources referenced in the online catalogue.

Since its inception, IISD's virtual library has been building the world's best collection of materials to describe a world of sustainable development. It is one of the few specialized public libraries with a collection focused on the environment and how it links to human interaction.

“GENERata brings together the best thinking on sustainable development,” said Marlene Roy, manager of IISD'S Research and Learning Resources.

“It is a brain trust. It is part of our ongoing commitment to offer the most comprehensive information and knowledge on issues and trends related to sustainable development. Our collection is virtually accessible to everyone—24/7.”

GENERata will also focus on the world's Thought Leaders with a series of interviews on those individuals with the knowledge and wisdom to offer guidance and insight on the world's urgent challenges.

GENERata is an excellent resource for everyone interested in issues related to sustainable development, particularly researchers, journalists and a new generation of content creators.

MORE ABOUT GENERata and IISD's Research Library

GENERata keeps you up-to-date on sustainable development issues, trends and insights from creative thinkers. It takes the best information and transforms it into knowledge, showcases ideas and captures the past to inform the future. And for those wanting to delve further into topics, there is an entire Knowledge Finder section to guide you.

GENERata is produced by IISD's Research Library, one of the few libraries worldwide with a sustainable development focus and ‘24-7' access through its on-line catalogue-SD-Cite. It aims to ignite discovery, exploration, innovation and collaboration. With sustainable development aims becoming more urgent, filtering vast amounts of information and making sense of it has become critical for solving difficult problems.

To achieve these aims, the Research Library has developed a number of products and services including SD-Cite on-line catalogue, Weekly Journal Review, Reference services and maintaining a print and electronic collection as well as GENERata.

IISD's Research Library specifically locates, organizes and provides access to knowledge about:

• Sustainable development policy and its theoretical underpinnings
• General works on the relationship between environment and development
• Ecological and environmental economics
• Poverty links to environment
• Human development and well-being
• Biodiversity and conservation
• Ecosystem goods and services
• International sustainable development negotiations, regimes and decision-making
• Environmental governance and multilateral environmental agreements
• Energy and climate change policy
• Trade and foreign direct investment policy and links to sustainable development
• Natural resources management and policy
• Integrated assessment
• Measurement and indicators of sustainable development
• Environment and security
• Sustainable agriculture
• Watershed management and policy

Biofuels - At what cost? Government support for ethanol and biodiesel in Canada (PDF - 3.4 mb) is the latest in a series of reports addressing subsidies for biofuels in Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Indonesia, Malaysia, Switzerland and the United States. The report provides the most comprehensive quantification to date of the amount of public money being spent to support ethanol and biodiesel, as well as analysis on whether it presents good value for Canadian taxpayers.

"Public subsidies for biofuels have been justified on their environmental merits, as well as the economic boost they provide to rural economies," said IISD associate Stephan Barg. "However, our research shows that these policies are an extremely expensive and inefficient way to conserve fossil fuels and reduce GHG emissions."

The comprehensive study found a growing array of subsidy programs at the federal, provincial, and even municipal levels that support nearly every stage of the biofuels supply chain, from research and development, business planning, through construction of plants, production of biofuels, marketing and purchase of vehicles capable of using the fuels.

In the three-year period ended 2008, total transfers to biofuels approached $1 billion, with an average of around $300 million per year. The subsidies accounted for 20 to 70 per cent of the retail market prices for the biofuels.

While transfer payments are levelling off, ethanol from corn (maize), the most common product in Canada, requires subsidies of between $0.50 and $0.70 a litre to replace an equivalent litre of fossil energy-enough to purchase the displaced fuels with the subsidy alone.

"Subsidizing biofuel production is clearly an expensive way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To remove one tonne of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere via corn- or wheat-based ethanol costs between $200 and $400. By comparison, one tonne of CO2 reductions cost $4.25 on the Chicago Climate Exchange or $33.85 on the European Climate Exchange," Barg said.

"Therefore, the Canadian government could remove up to 100 times more carbon from the atmosphere simply by purchasing emission reductions on the market. The numbers are similar for biodiesel, with subsidies costing between 6 and 137 times more to reduce a tonne of CO2 then purchasing carbon offsets."

The report was written by Tara Laan, Todd Alexander Litman, Ron Steenblik

Nairobi, February 20, 2009 – Intrastate conflicts are likely to drag on and escalate without a greater focus on environment and natural resources in the peacebuilding process, according to a new report launched today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The report is co-authored by IISD senior fellow Richard Matthew, IISD program manager Oli Brown and David Jensen of UNEP's Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch (PCDMB).

For more information, please download UNEP's media release (PDF - 99 kb) and read the report
(PDF - 1 mb).

There are concerns that overly restrictive government-imposed requirements to gain access to biological resources for academic research have become so burdensome that it is stifling international collaboration and benefit sharing between developed and less developed nations.

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) associates and Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) writers and editors Stefan Jungcurt and Sikina Jinnah, who have been reporting on the issue for some years, have noted the near absence of academics and have appealed to the scientific community to become more actively involved in the negotiations.

In an article published in the January 23, 2009 issue of Science Magazine, the ENB reporters have outlined a number of issues where there is a lack of consensus in the negotiations, which should be of particular concern to scientists.

"This is an opportunity for scientific professional organizations, such as the Society for Conservation Biology, to pool member experience and to prepare a paper on, for example, experiences with overly restrictive access requirements, such as those faced by entomologists in India, when a collaborative project to study the insects of the Western Ghats was derailed by the Indian National Biodiversity Authority for biopiracy concerns," the authors said.

They point to numerous examples where scientists have been denied access to biological resources needed for academic research, or even jailed for lacking the appropriate permits for possession.

The aim of the CBD isn't just to conserve biological diversity, but to also address sustainable development and conservation issues. However, the window for input by the scientific community is quickly closing as negotiations are expected to conclude in 2010.

"Industry, environmental and indigenous organizations are certain to continue making their voices heard. Why not academics too," Jinnah and Jungcurt said, adding that the ENB provides daily coverage of what is discussed at the meetings as well as a summary and analysis of the meetings' outcomes. CBD webpage on ABS.

The Science Magazine article is available by subscription at http://www.sciencemag.org/, or can be accessed at EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/ by registered members.

Please contact the authors by email for comment or to arrange interviews.

Stefan Jungcurt is available for interviews in English, French or German: stefan@iisd.org

Sikina Jinnah: Sikina_Jinnah@brown.edu

For additional assistance or information please contact:

• Nona Pelletier, Winnipeg
  Phone: +1 (204) 958-7740
  Cell: +1 (204) 962-1303
  E-mail: npelletier@iisd.ca
  Skype: Nona Pelletier

Recent research by the IISD's Global Subsidies Initiative (www.globalsubsidies.org), a Geneva-based program, throws doubt on the logic behind the vast amounts of government support flowing to the biofuels industry in the United States. GSI research reveals that under existing policies, the U.S. biofuels industry will benefit from support worth over US$92 billion within the 2006 - 2012 timeframe.

Although biofuels subsidies have been promoted as a way to address concerns related to the environment, energy security, and rural development, the cost-effectiveness of achieving these goals under the current subsidy regime is low. Moreover, the sheer levels of government support to biofuels appear out of proportion to their ability to satisfy domestic transport-fuel requirements.

"As prices for agricultural commodities come down from the record highs set earlier this year, Tom Vilsack will come under intense pressure to cushion farmers with various subsidies, including those for biofuels," said Mark Halle, Director of IISD Europe. "However, we urge the new U.S. Agriculture Secretary to resist special interest lobbying, and promote policies based on their economic and environmental merits."

The IISD recommends the new U.S. administration:

• desist from increasing mandatory consumption levels for biofuels and instead adopt a neutral policy position favoring all options to reduce reliance on petroleum in the transport sector;

• take into account the environmental effects of biofuels production and distribution cycles in the design of policies that affect biofuels;

• establish a transparent evaluation process to assess the cost-effectiveness of support policies at all levels of government in attaining the declared objectives behind U.S. biofuels policy

For more information please contact the IISD's communication team members:

• Damon Vis-Dunbar, Geneva
  Phone: +41 (22) 917-8748
  Cell: +41 (78) 818-0501
  E-mail: dvis-dunbar@iisd.org

• Nona Pelletier, Winnipeg
  Phone: +1 (204) 958-7740
  Cell: +1 (204) 962-1303
  E-mail: npelletier@iisd.ca

GENEVA—December 12, 2008—Institutional roadblocks are crippling our ability to respond to the toughest issues facing humankind and are diverting us from achieving sustainable development, according to leading British environmentalist and authority on biodiversity Norman Myers.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development has just published The Citizen is Willing, But Society Won't Deliver: The Problem of Institutional Roadblocks, described as one of the "toughest" books ever written by the co-authors, Myers and Jennifer Kent. The book is only available in electronic form from the IISD website.

"There are dozens of institutional roadblocks, and they are proliferating like crazy," Myers and Kent said. "Plainly the environmental cause is failing. After decades of efforts by governments, businesses, media and others—and despite many success stories—we are losing ground faster than ever."

The book outlines some of the largest failures of our time and traces the fault back to institutional roadblocks that prevent citizens from doing the right thing.

"The world features more than a billion people without sufficient supplies of that most basic element of human existence, water. Poverty afflicts 1.4 billion people in the developing world. Some 860 million people live with hunger as part and parcel of their daily lives. The world is losing topsoil that in principle could grow enough grain to meet the needs of 27 million people. Over 800 million people, mainly women, are illiterate, and 115 million children receive no schooling. We are dislocating the world‘s climate systems to a degree that could set back our societies by at least two generations. The world is poised to lose perhaps half of its 10 million species during this century, with severely downside implications for the planet and hence for the world extending several millions of years ahead."

Myers said these failures need not be outright disasters, if people will take action now to break free of institutional roadblocks and demand their governments tackle the world's most pressing and urgent problems.

"The deficiencies reside in the lack of political leadership. Many politicians are so ecologically illiterate they would think a food chain is a line of supermarkets."

Meyers and Kent also offer some success stories and examine the value of such concepts as "creative destruction", where old ideas, technologies, skills and equipment become obsolete and are swept away, so that they can be replaced by continuous progress and improved standards of living for everyone.

What others are saying about The Citizen is Willing, But Society Won't Deliver: The Problem of Institutional Roadblocks:

"As this book well demonstrates, many of the ways in which we manage our societies need radical revision. Too often we are locked into wrong ways of thinking, particularly in the field of economics. The focus should be on wellbeing rather than mere productivity. This book lays out the pathways of change." Sir Crispin Tickell, Director of the Policy Foresight Programme at the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization, University of Oxford.

"Myers and Kent have again put their fingers on an essential problem of our time—and on its solution. If we really want to solve the interconnected problems of climate disruption, biodiversity loss, poverty, and sustainability (rather than arguing about them), this book is a must-read and this approach is a must-do." Professor Robert Costanza, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont

"This great book is about one of the most dangerous aspects of our time. We know how to deal with most of the problems—there are pragmatic solutions—but all too few in society are taking any action. Instead, there is paralysis." Professor James Martin, Founder, 21st Century School, University of Oxford

For more information please contact Norman Myers +44 (1865) 750387 or IISD's communication team members:

• Nona Pelletier
  Phone: +1 (204) 958-7740
  Cell: +1 (204) 962-1303
  E-mail: npelletier@iisd.ca

• Damon Vis-Dunbar
  Phone: +41 (22) 917-8748
  Cell: +41 (78) 818-0501
  E-mail: dvis-dunbar@iisd.org

study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (PDF - 2.4 mb)

IISD produced the study for Pimachiowin Aki (PIM-AH-CHEE-OWE-IN AHH-KEY) Inc., a non-profit group leading the bid to have the site designated an international treasure, similar to other World Heritage Sites like Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Egypt's pyramids at Giza and Canada's Rocky Mountains.

IISD researchers Stephan Barg and Vivek Voora have assessed the value of some well-known economic activities in the boreal forest—like hunting and trapping—but also used green economics to put a value on the benefits nature offers, such as clean air and water.

"There's more going on in the boreal forest then you might think," Barg said. "Estimating these ecosystem services helps show that the value of this intact boreal forest is far more than what the current level of economic activity suggests."

Intact natural environments like this stretch of boreal forest are becoming increasingly scarce worldwide as a result of human expansion and activity.

"By applying a dollar value to this area we are providing an economic reason to preserve and maintain it as an intact area," Voora said. "This is an emerging analysis that we know has growing interest around the world. As well, this may lead to some payments in the future for people who preserve, manage and maintain the forest."

Using green economics to value natural environments is a new way of thinking for some people, but it is part of a growing international effort. And it is common sense for people who live on the land, according to Pimachiowin Aki spokesperson Sophia Rabliauskas (SO-FI-A RA-BLOUSE-KISS).

"As First Nations, we already know the value of this land—because we live on it and live with it every day. Now we want our neighbours, people who live in cities and people around the world to understand how important it is. This study brings a new perspective that validates what people have been saying all along," Rabliauskas said.

Please refer to FAQs (PDF - 542 kb) for more about ecosystems services valuation assessment.

A summary report (PDF - 2.2 mb) is also available, in addition to the final report (PDF - 2.4 mb).

More information see: http://www.pimachiowinaki.org AND http://www.iisd.org

Contact

• Nona Pelletier
  Phone: +1 (204) 958-7740
  Cell: +1 (204) 962-1303
  E-mail: npelletier@iisd.ca

• Gord Jones
  Project manager, Pimachiowin Aki
  Phone: 204-275-1564
  Cell: 204-232-8528
  E-mail: whp@shaw.ca

"We found the environmental impact varied a great deal according to China's position in the supply chain," said IISD president and CEO David Runnalls. "There are real opportunities for China to dramatically mitigate negative impacts of economic growth, while substantially reducing the environmental pressures it incurs in some parts of the supply chains."

The study was carried out in cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).

"As the world's leading importer of raw cotton and exporter of cotton textiles, for example, China is well positioned to be a force for good in helping West Africa," Runnalls said. "China could make a significant difference for sustainable development by importing primarily from West Africa, which is one of the world's leading producers of pesticide-free, sustainable cotton. More guaranteed import contracts from West Africa would greatly benefit the region."

Runnalls said China can take a leading role in addressing deforestation issues, as the world's largest importer of logs. "China's impact on deforestation isn't a good-news story, but it could become one if China adopts recommendations to foster forest governance and management in supplying countries."

In the case of e-products, Runnalls said the issue is more about what the rest of the world can do to help China deal with e-waste. "E-waste isn't just China's problem. Consumers of e-products need to work with China to develop an action plan for responsible trade and disposal of the waste."

IISD has issued a summary report (PDF - 2.5 mb) of its findings with policy recommendations for each of the sectors studied, as well as three comprehensive reports.

Global Forest Product Chains (PDF - 2.8 mb) summary of recommendations

• Build capacity for sustainable forest management by providing targeted supplying countries with financial aid to build forest governance and management capacity

• Build markets for sustainable forest products by improving market transparency and encouraging the growth of markets for sustainably produced forest products

• Be a proactive participant in international initiatives.

Global Cotton and Textile Product Chains (PDF - 1.2 mb) summary recommendations

• Develop national strategy for environmentally sound cotton production;

• Promote international cooperation for sustainable production and trade, particularly in the development of Sino-African cotton trade.

Sustainable Electronics and Electrical Equipment for China (PDF - 1.5 mb) summary recommendations

• Develop a national sustainable e-product growth strategy aimed at stimulating "green" economic growth in the e-product sector, through investment and innovation for sustainable e-product design and production practices

• Develop a national e-waste strategy for the responsible collection and treatment of e-waste, based on increased transparency and coherence across existing e-waste management legislation and programs, as well as the drafting of new legislation to fill existing e-waste management gaps

• Join an international action plan for sustainable e-waste management for the responsible trade and disposal of e-waste.

David Runnalls will be in Beijing from November 24 to 26, and can be reached on his mobile at +1 (613) 263-4889.

More about IISD

As one of the world's leading policy research institutes, IISD has been involved with China through the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development for many years. The CCICED is a high-level advisory body that makes recommendations to the Chinese government on environment and development issues. IISD is a founding member of CCICED's Working Group on Trade and Environment of the China, established in 1995. IISD has helped to assess the environmental consequences of China's WTO accession, particularly on the environment and development, and contributes to the debates concerning the transformation of China's economy and its impact on sustainable development. IISD continues to be involved in the China Council through the work of IISD's Distinguished Fellow and former President, Arthur Hanson, as well as this project and others.

For more information please contact IISD's communication team members:

• Nona Pelletier
  Phone: +1 (204) 958-7740
  Cell: +1 (204) 962-1303
  E-mail: npelletier@iisd.ca

• Damon Vis-Dunbar
  Phone: +41 (22) 917-8748
  Cell: +41 (78) 818-0501
  E-mail: dvis-dunbar@iisd.org

Global Connectivity builds on our former Knowledge Communications program, to incorporate how technology, in particular communications technology, is supporting and changing how we organize our governing systems, our economies, and our cultures in unprecedented ways.

Global Connectivity looks at how massive social networks of people are emerging with their own ability to influence priorities and planning, for better or worse.

There is great potential to transform sustainable development through the interface of technology and social organization; but also great risk that the technology may drive unsustainable practices instead.

Three broad areas of work are:

1. Networked governance principles and practice

2. Internet sector engagement and policy support

3. Sharing leadership for the networked age

For more information about Global Connectivity, please contact program Director Heather Creech.

The memorandum of understanding provides a general framework and a guiding tool in identifying and carrying out specific collaborative projects and activities to accelerate efforts to train the next generation of sustainable development leaders.

The world is on the cusp of dramatic global change and we will need strong leadership to help us adapt and mitigate the effects of such things as climate change over the next 10 to 20 years, according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

“The goal of the consortium is to ensure sustainable development work being done today is continued into the future,” says Heather Creech, IISD Director of the Knowledge Communications.

This will require a new generation of leaders prepared in fundamentally new ways to think and act in a way that matches the scale of the challenge. The consortium will focus on equipping young professionals with the knowledge, skills and values necessary to lead for success in an era of unprecedented challenges.

The joint initiative is being officially launched on Thursday, October 9, 2008, with the signing of the MOU by Julia Marton-Lefevre Director General of IUCN, Heather Creech, Director of Knowledge Communications IISD, Edward Kellow, Director of Training, and WWF Gordon Shepherd, Director of International Policy Thursday at the World Conservation Forum.

Where:

Supporting the Next Generation of Sustainable Development Leadership Workshop

Fourth IUCN World Conservation Congress; Barcelona, Spain

• When: Thursday, October 9, 2008
• Time: 14:30-16:00h
• Location: CCIB 127

Materials for the Media:

Paper on "Supporting the Next Generation of Sustainability Leadership".

Spokespersons:

• IISD Project Manager, Carolee Buckler, E-mail: cbuckler@iisd.ca, Phone: +1 (204) 962-0133
• Cathrine Mutambirwa, E-mail: Cathrine.Mutambirwa@iucn.org, Phone: +34 647775291

• Event date: Thursday, October 9, 2008
• Time: 9:30 to 11:30 A.M. EST
• Location: 555 Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia University

Presented by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and The Earth Institute at Columbia University

WINNIPEG, October 8, 2008—Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will face a full house when they meet Thursday morning in New York for a high-level discussion on ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Although the event is fully booked, it will be webcast here.

Viewers are invited to e-mail questions to the moderator, IISD's John Drexhage, at webcast@ei.columbia.edu

The event is designed to focus attention on a critical core element of the global climate change negotiations, which are scheduled to culminate in a new international agreement in Copenhagen, December 2009.

International Emissions Trading Association President and CEO Henry Derwent and Columbia University Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics Klaus S. Lackner will also take part in the discussion that will focus primarily on the critical issues of environmental integrity, economic efficiency and long-term policy implications.

Event contact: Rick Groom, IISD Fund Development and Communications Officer, Phone: (204) 958‐7742, Cell: (204) 250-1434, E-mail: rgroom@iisd.ca

Media requests: For Professors Sachs and Lackner contact Kyu Lee, E-mail: klee@ei.columbia.edu, Phone: (212) 851‐0798

For Yvo de Boer, Carrie Assheuer, E-mail: cassheuer@unfccc.int or press@unfccc.int, Phone: (+49 228) 815‐1005, Cell: (+49 172) 179‐8836

For John Drexhage, Nona Pelletier, E-mail: npelletier@iisd.ca, Phone: (204) 958‐7740, Cell: (204) 962‐1303

For Henry Derwent, Cédric Ammann, E-mail: ammann@ieta.org, Phone: (+41 22) 737‐0500, Cell: (+41 79) 815‐2713

The International Institute for Sustainable Development and The Earth Institute at Columbia University present an important discussion on climate change in New York, Thursday, October 9, 2008

WINNIPEG, October 1, 2008—Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will discuss whether a carbon market or carbon taxes are the best way to cut greenhouse gas emissions—a critical question for governments working to establish a framework to address climate change amid a global financial crisis and market uncertainty.

IISD Climate Change and Energy Director John Drexhage is the moderator of the event, designed to focus attention on a critical core element of the global climate change negotiations, which are scheduled to culminate in a new international agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Download PDF for more about the event , webcast links and registration details (PDF - 121 kb).

IISD also congratulates its associate Bryan Oborne on becoming the first recipient of the Manitoba Minister of Water Stewardship Scholarship for International Studies. The $50,000 scholarship will help him gain expertise in Israel that can be brought back and applied to similar issues in Manitoba, while assisting him with his PhD work at the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of Manitoba.

The announcement was made at the Manitoba – Israel Water Experts Symposium in Winnipeg, which brings together 12 water experts from Israel and 12 water experts from Manitoba to share knowledge, experience and expertise on water issues of joint interest. Oborne is representing IISD on the expert panel at the symposium.

"Bryan's expertise in looking for solutions to address Lake Winnipeg's current problems demonstrates his understanding of the watershed-based interrelationships among land, water, wildlife, and human activities," said IISD vice president and chief operating officer Bill Glanville.

IISD is involved in a number of projects aimed at improving the stewardship of Lake Winnipeg, including a number of initiatives on behalf of Manitoba Water Stewardship, as part of a five-year agreement with the province.

"Bryan's work on Lake Winnipeg Stewardship/Netley-Libau Wetlands Research will be greatly enhanced by the knowledge and experience he gains working with our colleagues in Israel," Glanville said.

Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick also announced $100,000 to fund joint water management projects between Israel and Manitoba. The projects will be selected in the next few months, based on ideas developed at the symposium.

For more information, please contact Nona Pelletier, IISD media and communications officer (204) 958-7740 or cell phone (204) 962-1303.

Over the past few months, IISD has been facilitating a series of grassroots forums with the urban First Nation community and their service sector providers, in order to understand the issues and build a culturally-specific indicator system. The indicator system is designed to give First Nation people in Winnipeg an effective and understandable tool that reflects the issues that impact their well-being and measures progress towards their vision for the future.

"We are very encouraged by the results of this project so far," said AMC Grand Chief Ron Evans. "We are here to serve all First Nations, whether on or off reserve. This project is providing a guideline as to how we can best do this for the urban First Nations."

The interim report highlights the many issues, identified by the urban community, which have an impact on their well-being. IISD is now working to gather baseline data to help measure the impact of these issues on the community's well-being. The baseline indicators and findings are expected to be shared with the community and media in the fall, as well as the plan for part two of this project, which currently remains contingent on funding.

The second part of this project will aim to engage the community in the development of a shared vision for the future and establish a community steering committee. IISD will work with the community steering committee to build the necessary capacity to develop a strategic action plan, and to maintain, update and manage the indicator system over time.

"Community ownership of this project is essential to its success," IISD project manager Christa Rust said." If the indicators aren't relevant, they won't be effective."

• Download the preliminary report here.
• See frequently asked questions.

For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:

• Nakina Sankar
  Director of Corporate Communications Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
  Phone: (204) 799-6493
  E-mail: nsankar@manitobachiefs.com

• Nona Pelletier
  Media and Communications Officer
  International Institute for Sustainable Development
  Phone: (204) 958-7740
  Cell: (204) 962-1303
  E-mail: npelletier@iisd.ca

The CLIMATE-L.ORG Project is a knowledge management website and electronic newsletter that provides information to decision makers on the actions of international organizations in responding to the problem of global climate change.

In one location, (http://www.climate-l.org) users can find the most up-to-date knowledge-base on climate-related actions throughout the international community, and, specifically, the latest information on United Nations activities provided in cooperation with the UN system agencies, funds and programs through the UN Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) Secretariat.

The CLIMATE-L.ORG Bulletin will contain the key précis and summaries posted to http://www.CLIMATE-L.org during the previous two weeks, along with guest articles on international climate change activities, written by the heads of UN and other international bodies. IISD will contribute a fortnightly analysis of global activities on climate change, focusing on the inter-governmental negotiations for long-term cooperative action around the areas of adaptation, mitigation, technology and finance.

The first issue of the CLIMATE-L.ORG Bulletin features an essay by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon entitled, On the Way to Copenhagen. In this article, the Secretary-General speaks of his vision for long-term collaborative action to combat climate change and the role of the United Nations in this effort.

"I have made it a personal priority to ensure that the United Nations plays its full role in this process, not only because climate change is just the kind of global challenge that the UN is best suited to address but also because of the clear moral imperative for bold, decisive and urgent action," Ban said, adding, "Our common priority is a deal in Copenhagen, on time, and in full. This bulletin is a welcome way to keep us in touch and on track as we each do our part to meet our collective obligation to realize this goal."

The first issue of the CLIMATE-L.ORG Bulletin has been sent to the CLIMATE-L listserv and can be found here.

The content found at http://www.climate-l.org is provided by IISD’s Reporting Services team of Issue and Institutional Cluster Experts, working virtually from throughout the world and providing a constant stream of articles and updates on international climate change activities that are organized and searchable by actor, issue area and the four UNFCCC "building blocks" for a post-2012 climate change regime: mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology.

Policymakers following the Bali Roadmap negotiations can use this site to track progress in the various policy formulation streams. The CEB and international organizations will use this database to assist them in coordinating system-wide activities to combat climate change.

CLIMATE-L listserv marks first decade

The CLIMATE-L listserv, which was launched by IISD in 1998, is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a primary communications mechanism for more than 18,000 professionals in the climate policy community. IISD Reporting Services will use this existing network to distribute the fortnightly electronic newsletter, CLIMATE-L.ORG Bulletin.

"We expect CLIMATE-L.ORG to quickly become one of the policy community’s primary sources of information on climate change," said Langston James Goree VI, Director of IISD's Reporting Services.

"With so much information and so many activities throughout the world on the issue, it is essential to have a single knowledge-source that can deliver what policymakers need, particularly as we move through the next few years of intense international negotiations on the issue," Goree said.

The CLIMATE-L.ORG Project has financial support from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the IISD and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC).

For more information please contact Langston Goree at kimo@iisd.org or at 1-917-293-4781.

The two-day meeting kicked off today with the appointment of five new members to the board, replacing James Carr, Angela Cropper and Charles Hantho, who retire after many years of dedication, hard work and outstanding commitment to sustainability and the vision and mission of IISD.

The new board members offer a wealth of sustainable development experience in the fields of education, governance, business, technology and investment.

"Patricia Moles-Rivero, Maureen O'Neil, Bruce Schlein, Vicky Sharpe and Emoke Szathmáry are exceptional and talented leaders with a great deal to offer the Institute as we work together to develop a strategic plan to tackle the multi-faceted challenges for sustainable development," said IISD board chair Dan Gagnier.

IISD president and CEO David Runnalls said public interest in environmental issues has never been more acute, as world looks for policy advice to deal with such issues as climate change, the food crisis and other emerging and ongoing issues of major importance. "There are so many important and urgent issues to address. This board will have a critical role to play in setting priorities and shaping the future direction of the institute."

With the addition of these new appointees, there are now 20 members of the board, representing nine countries. IISD's board of directors meets twice a year.

New members of the board:

• Patricia Moles-Rivero is Brazil country manager of Singapore-based chocolate manufacturing concern Petra Foods Pte. She is an expert on environmental planning, and international finance and management, and has extensive experience in developing financial instruments to support conservation, biodiversity and other sustainable development initiatives.

• Maureen O'Neil is president of the International Development Research Centre. She is a member of the International Board of Governors of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and chair of the Advisory Council on Corporate Social Responsibility of Canada's Export Development Corporation. She is also a Fellow of the School of Policy Studies of Queen's University.

• Bruce Schlein is vice president of Environmental Affairs for Citigroup where he advises on corporate environmental and social policies, business opportunities and footprint, and leads the environmental portfolio for the Citigroup Foundation. He has also served as sustainable development manager at Bechtel International.

• Vicky J. Sharpe is president and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a Government of Canada initiative to build a sustainable development technology infrastructure in Canada. Sharpe has served on numerous technology and industry association committees, in particular as an international advisor on sustainability issues.

• Emoke J.E. Szathmáry served 12 years as the president of the University of Manitoba (1996-2008). As president emeritus and professor, she is continuing her academic appointments in the Department of Anthropology as well as in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics. Szathmáry has published over 80 articles and reviews, and she has co-edited three books. She is an elected Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America (1989), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1995) and the Royal Society of Canada (2005). She was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2003.

Retiring members of the board:

• Jim Carr is founding president and CEO of the Business Council of Manitoba. He is a board member of the Canada West Foundation, a board member of the Winnipeg Airports Authority, vice-president of the Performing Arts Consortium of Winnipeg, and a director of the Manitoba Arts Stabilization Fund. An accomplished media correspondent, Carr served as deputy leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party until 1992 and was a member of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Constitutional Task Forces.

• Angela Cropper is assistant secretary-general and deputy executive director for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). She is co-founder and president of The Cropper Foundation, a non-profit organization which contributes to public policy for sustainable development. Cropper's many accomplishments include co-chairing the Assessment Panel of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment; the board of trustees of the Centre for International Forestry Research, and was past member of the board of the Trinidad and Tobago Environmental Management Authority and trustee of its environment fund.

• Chuck Hantho is chair of the board Hamilton Utilities Corporation. As chairman of the Canadian Chemical Producers Association (CCPA), he championed and introduced the "responsible care" program for the safe handling and use of chemicals from cradle to grave—which has since been copied around the world. In 1997, Hantho was awarded the Order of Canada and has been a member of the IISD board since 2002.

For more information, please contact Nona Pelletier, IISD media and communications officer (204) 958-7740 or cell phone (204) 962-1303.

WINNIPEG—June 9, 2008—Manitoba could gain billions of dollars a year in ecosystem services through environmental restoration of the Lake Winnipeg watershed, according to the co-authors of a ground-breaking study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

IISD has been working with Environment Canada to assess the ecosystem services provided by the current and pre-settlement distribution of southern Manitoba's environmental assets or natural capital, as this landscape contributes a substantial portion of the nutrient load flowing into one of Canada's largest and most threatened lakes.

For example, water treatment and purification services could be obtained from wetlands, which also prevent floods by retaining surface runoff. There are many other ways in which environmental assets or natural capital can be used to deliver economic value through ecosystem services, such as providing wildlife habitat or carbon sequestration.

The study reconstructed three separate pre-settlement views of the Canadian Prairie, and focused on the Souris, Red and Assiniboine watersheds that are part of the massive Lake Winnipeg watershed. These areas, once a mosaic of forest, native prairie and wetlands, have largely been cleared and drained for agriculture.

"We can't turn back the clock completely, nor should we. Agriculture is an important component of the Manitoba economy, and sustainable agriculture provides many of the same ecosystem services as did pre-settlement ecosystems. Our challenge is to find the right balance between productive and natural landscapes within our watersheds – a lot of money hangs in the balance," said Henry David (Hank) Venema, IISD's director of Sustainable Natural Resources Management, co-author of the report

"If those pre-settlement landscapes could be re-created, they would provide, on an annual basis, between $500 million and $3.1 billion of ecosystem services, and between $80 million and $1.4 billion worth of carbon offsets in the emissions market."

"Having the means to value ecosystem services can help justify spending in preserving and restoring these natural environments, compared to often more expensive hard infrastructure investments," said Vivek Voora, IISD project officer and co-author.

The study also has important implications for the health of Lake Winnipeg and our ability to cope with extreme weather expected with climate change.

"The restoration of the Prairies' natural capital could help address many of the major environmental management problems and threats we are facing," Venema said. "This work has applications for improved management of watersheds in other parts of Canada and around the world."

Learn more about the study

Please refer to the following two reports: The Natural Capital Approach - Concept Paper (PDF - 1.5 mb) and An Ecosystem Services Assessment of the Lake Winnipeg Watershed: Phase 1 Report - Southern Manitoba Analysis (PDF - 2.3 mb).

For more information, please contact: Nona Pelletier, IISD media and communications officer (204) 958-7740

For additional comment, please contact: Vivek Voora (204) 958-7797 or Henry David (Hank) Venema (204) 958-7706

Many governments, particularly developing and other countries facing investor claims, spoke strongly in favor of transparency and expressed their desire that the issue be addressed immediately. But a number of governments, including governments that proclaim to be “strong supporters” of transparency, spoke against including transparency in the current revision process.

IISD and Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) have issued a joint press release
(PDF - 59 kb), as well as a joint paper (PDF - 227 kb) showing how the UNCITRAL Rules can be simply amended to address the needs of investor-state arbitrations.

The ABS-Management Tool (ABS-MT) will assist companies and researchers to undertake fair and well-informed negotiation with countries and communities for the use of plants, animals and microbes containing potentially valuable genetic resources. Such genetic resources are the building blocks for many medicines, including 78% of all cancer drugs, as well as new agricultural, horticultural, cosmetic and industrial products. Genetic resources are being used to develop new crops to adapt to climate change and create new, enzyme-based, low-energy production systems.

There has been international concern about biopiracy—situations where genetic resources have been collected without the prior informed consent of governments or local communities, or without adequate terms for the sharing of benefits.

The ABS-MT—available in English, Spanish and French—addresses this problem by helping ensure that those who want to obtain genetic resources do so in a way which respects an internationally agreed set of procedures known as the Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization, and follows best practices. The Bonn Guidelines are part of the global Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which has been ratified by 190 governments.

This is the first comprehensive, neutral advice for companies and researchers seeking genetic resources.

When used properly, the ABS-MT will benefit governments and indigenous and local communities by providing them with a clear set of outcomes and steps when negotiating appropriate terms for approving access to the genetic resources they own and manage.

Jorge Cabrera, a respected lawyer from Costa Rica, who led the negotiations of the Bonn Guidelines in 2002, said "the ABS-Management Tool will help give confidence and build trust between industry and researchers who search for genetic resources and governments or indigenous and local communities who own and manage these resources."

The ABS-MT was funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and prepared by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (Switzerland), Stratos Inc. (Canada) and Jorge Cabrera (Costa Rica).

Copies of this convenient handbook can be downloaded here.

For more information please contact:

• Dave Boyer
  International Institute for Sustainable Development
  Phone: + 41 79 792 2452
  E-mail: dboyer@iisd.ca

Rio Tinto Alcan and the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) are pleased to announce the 2007 recipient of the US$1 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability is the Utthan Centre for Sustainable Development and Poverty Alleviation, based in India (Utthan).

"We congratulate Dr. Dina Nath Tewari, his staff, and their networks on receiving the 2007 Prize," said Rio Tinto Alcan's Corey Copeland, Senior Vice President, Communications and External Relations. The Alcan Prize for Sustainability was introduced to recognize and reward significant contributions to the goal of economic, environmental, and social sustainability by NGOs, not-for-profit, and civil society organizations around the world. "Utthan has made remarkable strides on behalf of disadvantaged communities in India, and we're delighted to think that the Alcan Prize might further advance the fine work this organization does."

Founded in 1996, the Utthan Centre for Sustainable Development and Poverty Alleviation operates in surface soil-mined areas around cities, degraded forest lands, dry lands, and wastelands. Its projects cover distressed migration areas; backward and inaccessible areas with disadvantaged communities and poor communication; and areas with deficits in food, nutrition, and health support. These include 10 districts in Uttar Pradesh, two districts in Chhattisgarh, and four districts in Madhya Pradesh States.

Utthan's mission is to create opportunities for sustainable economic, social, and ecological development in south Asia by adopting and promoting programs that are pro-disadvantaged community and pro-environment.

Adrian Hodges, Managing Director of the IBLF, said, "The Alcan Prize for Sustainability has been in place for four years and has importantly raised the profile of pioneering NGOs like Utthan. People working in organizations like Utthan deserve to be recognised for their efforts in helping make the world a better place. The Alcan Prize is a tangible reward for Utthan's past achievement and an award to support their future good work."

"This funding and recognition is very significant for us," added Dr. Tewari, President of the Utthan Centre for Sustainable Development and Poverty Alleviation. "The money associated with the Alcan Prize will allow us to do so much more for disadvantaged communities. But, perhaps even more importantly, the recognition of our efforts on the international stage will lead to learning and partnerships that we might not have been able to access on our own."

The Alcan Prize annually recognizes NGOs, not-for-profit, and civil society organizations working to build sustainable societies around the world. Rio Tinto Alcan committed to nine years of funding in the first Prize cycle, which is now in its fourth year. The Prize is managed independently by the IBLF, and Rio Tinto Alcan does not have a voice on the international panel of distinguished sustainability thinkers that annually reviews entries and selects the winner.

The recipient of the 2007 Alcan Prize will be celebrated in June 2008 in Montreal during the International Economic Forum of the Americas (Conférence of Montreal).

In addition to the US$1 million Prize, Rio Tinto Alcan awarded US$15,000 Training Grants to all nine remaining shortlisted organizations for the first time this year. The Grants are awarded with the specific intention of investing in certifiable training and capacity building for the organization.

Previous winners of the Alcan Prize include the Forest Stewardship Council (2004), the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services Pakistan (2005) and The Barefoot College (2006).

For further information, contact

• Rio Tinto Alcan Media Relations, Montreal
  Stefano Bertolli
  Phone: +1-514-848-8151
  E-mail: stefano.bertolli@alcan.com
  Web: http://www.riotinto.com/riotintoalcan

• Alcan Prize for Sustainability (IBLF)
  Leesa Muirhead
  Phone: +44-7901-510-701
  E-mail: alcanprize@iblf.org
  Web: http://www.alcanprizeforsustainability.com

• Utthan Contact
  Dr. Dina Nath Tewari
  Phone: +91-98261-24273

To arrange an interview with IISD President and CEO David Runnalls, contact

• Stu Slayen
  Phone: +1-204-958-7733
  E-mail: sslayen@iisd.ca

(January 14, 2008, Winnipeg) The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), with support from the Government of Manitoba, the University of Northern British Columbia, and the University of Manitoba, is pleased to announce the release of the Sustainable Development Survey.

The survey, spearheaded by IISD's Knowledge Communications program, is designed to assess Manitobans' understanding of sustainable development. Using random sampling, 3,000 Manitoba homes across the province will receive the poll in the coming days. The survey is composed of 55 questions probing respondents about their thoughts on such topics as climate change, corporate social responsibility, biodiversity and ecosystems. The results will be presented to the Manitoba Education for Sustainable Development Working Group (MESDWG), established in 2005 to support and foster a culture of sustainable development education in the province.

Heather Creech, IISD Director of Knowledge Communications, notes that current information on what people really understand about sustainable development is limited and often contradictory. While some local polling indicates strong levels of support for environmental issues, others suggest Manitobans don't consider environmental concerns a top-of-mind priority.

"Right now, public survey and polling data on sustainable development concerns among Manitobans are very limited. What information that is out there is unclear. We want to know how Manitobans perceive the term sustainable development and what they know about it. We also want to revisit these questions in the future, so we can track how understandings of sustainable development change over the next several years," says Creech.

The survey comes three years into a UNESCO-led decade-long initiative to champion sustainable development education. The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development runs from 2005–2014 and strives to integrate the principles, values and practices of sustainable development into education and learning.

Creech also notes that no data exist on youth perceptions of sustainable development, something the Sustainable Development Survey will begin to address.

"It's three years into the UN Decade for Sustainable Development Education. Youth are a big part of that initiative, so it's important to find out how much of this message has already gotten through, and in the process create a benchmark so we can measure changes over time," she says. A second survey, designed for students from grades 6 to 12, will be also be tested shortly.

IISD is supported in its efforts by grants from the provincial Sustainable Development Innovation Fund and from the Department of Education, Citizenship and Youth. The Institute for Social Research and Evaluation at the University of Northern British Columbia and the Department of Education at the University of Manitoba are providing expertise in survey methodology.

IISD is a Canadian-based not-for-profit organization with a team of 60 employees based in Winnipeg (our head office), Ottawa, Geneva and New York. IISD is further extended by an additional 90 interns, writers, and researchers in 30 countries around the world. At its core, IISD supports the integration of economic, social and environmental considerations into decision-making. Its vision is better living for all—sustainably; its mission, to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably.

For more information, please call 204-958-7711, or contact Stuart Slayen or

• Heather Creech
  Director, Knowledge Communications
  International Institute for Sustainable Development
  Phone: 204-958-7735
  Cell: 204-962-0307
  E-mail: hcreech@iisd.ca

(December 20, 2007, Ottawa) Three leading organizations dedicated to understanding climate change, are pleased to recognize the Canadian scientists whose contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) helped win the group the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. The awards ceremony on December 10, happened at a time when evidence of climate change was at the forefront of discussions on a post-2012 international effort to fight global warming, in Bali, Indonesia.

The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS), the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) have highlighted the fact that both events demonstrate the strong role played by Canadian scientists in identifying upcoming climate challenges and opportunities, and providing the data and analyses needed for policy action on these changes. These scientists demonstrate the quality and relevance of Canadian climate research and the country's international profile.

More (PDF - 49 kb)

Dennis Cunningham, Climate Change Officer, is in Bali as part of the International Institute for Sustainable Development's Publishing and Communications Team to offer media liaison service.

In addition to responding to media requests, Dennis will also be posting to the new IISD Media Blog at http://blog.iisd.org

The blog will initially feature Dennis's observations on the work that IISD is doing during COP 13 and the numerous side events and organizations in Bali until mid December. After that the blog will be a regular source of information about IISD and the work that we do around the world in sustainable development.

In addition to the IISD Media Blog there is another source of valuable information through the new IISD Reporting Services Blog at http://www.iisdrs.org

For more information about IISD and our programs please contact Donna Huffam.

The Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony will be held on December 10^th, 2007 at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway. December 10^th is the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize will be former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore and the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr. R.K. Pachauri. The Nobel Lectures in Peace will be given that day. A live broadcast will be available at http://nobelprize.org/

The International Institute for Sustainable Development is proud to congratulate the IPCC and their excellent work in the area of climate change. In addition to the large number of our board members, staff, associates and fellows of our Institute who have contributed to the IPCC's work over the years, the Institute would especially like to congratulate James P. Bruce, IISD Board Member from 1997-2004, who will be attending the ceremony as a special guest.

During the 1980s he was Acting Deputy Secretary General, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, with his work involving oversight of international programs on weather, climate, water, and atmospheric composition. When the Executive Council of the WMO decided that there was a need to establish an international organization to review global climate change research it fell to Mr. Bruce to arrange the first ever meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in November of 1988. "It was a relatively small but powerful group that met in the basement room of the Geneva Convention Centre," said Mr. Bruce. "Now you'd need to rent a large hall to have an IPCC meeting," he added with a laugh.

Mr. Bruce is the former co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group on Economics and Social Dimensions. He has continued to work for the IPCC including in its most recent assessments. But he stresses that he is only one of a number of prominent Canadian researchers that have worked for the organization over the years. "There were several Canadians involved in the very early days of the IPCC. It's very nice to be asked to go [to Oslo] but I'm representing 30-40 Canadians that played a major role."

December 12, 2007 1100 – 1200 hrs
Royal United Services Institute, Whitehall, London

Once seen as an environmental issue, then as an energy problem, climate change is now being recast as a security threat. This presentation will discuss the rise of climate change as a security issue and question what it means for economic and political stability around the world.

The Royal United Services Institute's Climate Change and Security program welcomes Oli Brown of the International Institute of Sustainable Development to the first in a series of talks on climate change and security.

Oli Brown is a program manager and policy researcher for IISD's Trade and Investment, and Security programs. He also co-ordinates the Trade, Aid and Security initiative – a joint IISD/IUCN project that focuses on the way in which the trade in natural resources can contribute to violent conflict, and on the role of development assistance and trade liberalisation in fuelling or alleviating this downward spiral.

Over the past year, Oli has written extensively on the security implications of climate change: for the Human Development Report of the UNDP; the journal International Affairs and for the Canadian and Danish governments. He just returned from West Africa where he has been conducting national level surveys in Ghana and Burkina Faso of the security implications of climate change.

If you would like to attend this free event, please complete and return the booking form (DOC - 492 kb) to confirm your place.

• Lisa Muxworthy
  Phone: +44 (0)20 7747 2619
  E-mail: lisam@rusi.org
  Web: http://www.rusi.org/events

A new report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development's Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI), Investment incentives: Growing use, uncertain benefits, uneven controls, provides an up-to-date, comprehensive and accessible account of how investment incentives are utilized by governments around the world, the debate over their effectiveness in attracting investment, and their potentially negative impact on sustainable development.

While investment incentives may promote economic growth in certain circumstances, the report demonstrates that they can also exacerbate income inequality, reduce economic efficiency and induce environmentally harmful economic activities.

"There is a potential for a 'race to the bottom' in investment incentives, whereby globalization and government decentralization are pushing many governments into offering incentives they may not be able to afford, and the money could be put to better uses," says the report's author, Dr. Kenneth P. Thomas.

Investment Incentives Seminar

On November 26, 2007, the GSI is hosting a seminar with author and leading expert on investment incentives, Dr. Kenneth P. Thomas, at the World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. The presentation will provide an overview of investment incentives globally, before focusing on specific industry case studies, including the call-center industry, biofuels manufacturing, and microchip fabrication. It concludes with an analysis of national, regional and global rules to control incentives.

About the Author

Kenneth P. Thomas is Associate Professor of Political Science and Fellow in the Center for International Studies, University of Missouri - St. Louis (1991-present).

His major publications are Competing for Capital: Europe and North America in a Global Era (Georgetown University Press, 2000); Capital Beyond Borders: States and Firm in the Auto Industry, 1960-1994 (Macmillan, 1997); and most recently, "The Sources and Processes of Tax and Subsidy Competition," in Ann Markusen, ed. Reining in the Competition for Capital (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2007).

For more information about the seminar, please visit http://www.globalsubsidies.org, or contact us at info@globalsubsidies.org.

Sustainable Agriculture, from Common Principles to Common Practices is the first book published by the International Forum on Assessing Sustainability in Agriculture (INFASA). The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Swiss College of Agriculture (SHL) are leading a multi-year forum (INFASA) to seek excellence in the use of indicator and assessment systems for sustainable agriculture. The pillars of science, policy and practice will form the basis of an ongoing dialogue on these tools to strategically advance the agricultural sustainability agenda. The book and CD include case studies and synthesis of an initial symposium held in Bern, Switzerland in March 2006. It hosted a group of actual and potential users of indicators and assessment systems, and evaluation system specialists. The event successfully generated an initial dialogue for advancing the widespread use of indicator and assessment systems in everyday agriculture by policymakers, business, farmers and ultimately consumers. Future activities of INFASA will further advance sustainable agriculture through the development and effective use of indicator and assessment systems.

Members of INFASA will be on-hand at the Beyond GDP conference being held November 19-20, 2007 in Brussels, Belgium. INFASA will also be attending the Sustainable Agriculture 2007 conference held later that week in Brussels on November 22-23, 2007. Copies of the book and CD will be available for review and the INFASA co-chairs Dr. László Pintér (Director of Measurement and Assessment at IISD; lpinter@iisd.ca) and Dr. Fritz Häni (Professor of Plant Protection; fritz.haeni@shl.bfh.ch) may be contacted for interviews.

For more information on the INFASA program please see IISD's INFASA Web site.

For more information about INFASA please contact:

• Maryline Guiramand
  21 Avenue Choiseul
  CH - 1290 Versoix
  Switzerland
  Phone: +41 22 779 17 16
  Cell: +41 79 235 06 71
  E-mail: mguiramand@iisd.ca

• Hans Porsche
  Bern University of Applied sciences
  Swiss College of Agriculture
  Project RISE
  Länggasse 85
  CH-3052 Zollikofen
  Phone: +41 31 910 21 49
  E-mail: hans.porsche@shl.bfh.ch
  Web: http://rise.shl.bfh.ch or http://www.shl.bfh.ch

Ms Cropper has been a member of the IISD Board since 2000 and has played an inspirational role for the Institute throughout her tenure. IISD's participation in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) began largely through the encouragement of Ms. Cropper, who was one of the co-chairs of the MA Assessment Panel.

Ms. Cropper brings to UNEP extensive experience in environmental policy, analysis and negotiations, combined with high-level engagement in intergovernmental environmental negotiations and processes, as well as a strong sense of vision and strategic thinking. She also brings strong leadership and management qualifications and experience. The recipient of numerous environmental awards in recognition of her achievements, Ms. Cropper has catalyzed activities for equity, peace and sustainable development at both international and local levels.

David Runnalls, CEO and President of IISD comments: "They could not have made a better choice for this role than Angela. Her background and consummate knowledge in sustainable development issues will be a perfect fit for this position with UNEP."

Dan Gagnier, Chair of the IISD Board of Directors agrees: "IISD has been very fortunate to have had Ms. Cropper on our board to advise us on issues related to development, the environment and economics for all these years. Her expertise in sustainable development will be of enormous benefit to UNEP and their organizational goals. We want to offer Ms. Cropper our sincere congratulations and best wishes with her new appointment."

• When: November 14, 2007 17:00 to 18:00
• Where: Internet Governance Forum - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, IGF meeting room – Pardo II
• Keynote speakers from InfoDev, IDRC and IISD
• Wine, refreshment and hors d'œuvres

Sustainable development. Internet governance.

The connection between these two issues may not be obvious and yet in this increasingly global economy the two are inextricably linked. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without global access to communications and knowledge sharing.

“Therefore,” according to Heather Creech, Director of Knowledge Communications for the International Institute for Sustainable Development, “the outcomes of the Internet governance debate will affect our ability to manage the social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainable development.”

Please join us for this launch of Internet Governance and Sustainable Development: Towards a Common Agenda (PDF - 374 kb) at the Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 12-15, 2007.

For more information contact:

• Tony Vetter
  International Institute for Sustainable Development
  Phone: +1 (613) 288-2024
  Cell: +1 613-864-3566
  E-mail: tvetter@iisd.ca

• Featured Speaker: Alyson Slater, Global Reporting Initiative
• Host: The Centre for Applied Business Research in Energy and the Environment
• When: Thursday, November 8, 2007 - 6 pm to 7 pm
• Where: Stollery Executive Development Centre
  Room 5-40, Business Building, University of Alberta

Reception to follow lecture.

Thousands of companies issue sustainability reports each year, but who reads them? As key forces in society, organizations of all kinds have an important role to play in achieving the goal of sustainable development which is to “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Yet in this era of unprecedented economic growth, achieving this goal can seem more of an aspiration than a reality. As economies globalize, new opportunities to generate prosperity and quality of life are arising through trade, knowledge-sharing, and access to technology. One of the key challenges of sustainable development is that it demands new and innovative choices and ways of thinking.

Alyson Slater is the Communications Director for Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. GRI is a unique, multi-stakeholder organization that manages the Sustainability Reporting framework of which the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines are the cornerstone and provides guidance for organizations to use as the basis for disclosure about their sustainability performance.

The Peter Kilburn Memorial Lecture series is planned jointly by the School of Business and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). Mr. Kilburn was the first CEO and President of IISD, established in 1990 to research policy solutions for global sustainable development.

Please RSVP by November 6, 2007 online, by Phone: (780) 492-6303 or E-mail: cabree@ualberta.ca.

A UNEP Online feature—Ask UNEP—allows the public to ask an expert and join in the global discussion on the environment. Each day a new UNEP expert will provide answers to your questions about environmental projects and issues around the world. The expert-a-day exercise aims to bring the environment into public discourse and create a discussion about the health of our planet and the sustainability of natural resources.

On November 6^th, 2007 between 00:01 GMT and 23:59 GMT

IISD's Dale Rothman will be answering questions about his work on the GEO 4 – Chapter 9: The Future Today.

Ask an Expert session

• scroll down for information on Dale's session
• to access on November 6^th click on “Current Session” in the box on the left of the page.

For more information please click here.

Environment for development (GEO-4)

In order to build environmental considerations into decision-making there is a strong need to monitor and assess environmental impacts and changes. Without the ability to monitor and assess human development's impacts on environmental trends, navigating the sea of global change would be reduced to reactive crisis management—hardly an effective way to tackle the large policy issues of today.

The United Nations Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook publications attempt to map out the state of the world's environment, identifying emerging issues that required international attention and provide options for policy making and action planning.

GEO assessments seek to answer the following questions:

• What is happening to the environment and why?
• What are the consequences for the environment and humanity?
• What is being done and how is it effective?
• Where are we headed?
• What actions could be taken for a more sustainable future?

On Thursday, October 25^th, 2007, UNEP launched the Global Environment Outlook: Environment for development (GEO-4). IISD President and CEO, David Runnalls participated in the launch in Ottawa along with IISD associate, Jane Barr. Dale Rothman attended the Washington, D.C. launch of the report.

Jane Barr is an associate with the Measurement and Assessment Team of IISD and was the Coordinating Lead Author for Chapter 6 on Regional Perspectives as well as the lead author for Chapter 6's North American section.

Dale Rothman is a senior researcher with the Measurement and Assessment Team of IISD and was the Coordinating Lead Author for Chapter 9 on The Future Today – Towards 2015 and Beyond.

REPORT EMBARGOED UNTIL 10:30 AM EDT, OCTOBER 23, 2007

Launch Event

• Where? The German Marshall Fund of the United States 1700 18 Street, NW; Washington, D.C. 20009

• When? 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 Lunch will be served at 12:00 p.m.

RSVP: Please contact Ulrike Leis at (202) 745 6667 or at uleis@gmfus.org. “Biofuels: At What Cost? Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the United States – 2007 Update” is available under embargo upon request. Please contact: Javed Ahmad at jahmad@iisd.org.

A launch event, hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, will see the release of the latest report in this series, the study on U.S. government support for biofuels in the U.S.: “Biofuels: At What Cost? Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the United States – 2007 Update.” This report, which updates the GSI’s report issued last October, details the extent of the current government support to biofuels in the United States, and analyzes the impact of forthcoming legislation, namely the Energy and Farm Bills.

Background

Biofuels production and consumption has surged dramatically over a short period of time – globally, production of both ethanol and biodiesel has grown at double-digit rates in each of the last four years. A host of emerging concerns have arisen as a result, including impacts on food supplies, the environment, and economies.

While increasing attention has been paid to the potentially negative consequences resulting from the biofuels boom, there has been relatively little focus on the forces driving the expansion. It is critical to understand that the rapid growth of the biofuels industry has not been solely in response to market forces; rather, government policies, such as subsidies and mandated use of biofuels, have been the key driving factors. A series of reports by the Global Subsidies Initiative, a division of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, reveal the scale and shape of that government support in the United States, the European Union, and other selected OECD countries.

• EVENT: Press conference
• WHEN: Tuesday, October 23, 2007
• TIME: 10:00 a.m.
• WHERE: Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Secretariat Inc
  200 – 260 St. Mary Avenue
  Winnipeg, Manitoba
  “Main Boardroom”

Winnipeg, MB – On Tuesday, October 23, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the International Institute for Sustainable Development will announce their partnership on a sustainability indicator system for Winnipeg's urban First Nations community.

The groups will work with an advisory panel including Jim Carr, founding President and CEO of the Business Council of Winnipeg, and an IISD board member, and University of Manitoba President Dr. Emoke Szathmáry. The group has also invited the participation of Mayor Sam Katz, University of Winnipeg President Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, and United Way President Susan Lewis.

Sustainability indicator information systems are fast becoming an important means in North America for empowering communities through articulating quality of life aspirations, setting goals and navigating progress towards achieving those goals over time.

For further information please contact:

• Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
  200-260 St. Mary Ave.
  Winnipeg, MB.
  R3C-0M6
  Phone: (204) 956-0610

• Nakina Sankar
  Director of Corporate Communications
  Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
  Phone: 204-799-6493
  E-mail: nsankar@manitobachiefs.com

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) congratulates the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore for receiving the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. The award was given to the IPCC and Gore "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

IISD is extremely proud to have contributed to the work of the IPCC through the efforts of John Drexhage, Director of Climate Change and Energy, and associates Adil Najam, and Dennis Tirpak. They were among the 2,000 global experts who contributed to the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Working Groups' reports this year.

In a news release, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said:

"Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming. Thousands of scientists and officials from over one hundred countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming. Whereas in the 1980s global warming seemed to be merely an interesting hypothesis, the 1990s produced firmer evidence in its support. In the last few years, the connections have become even clearer and the consequences still more apparent.

"By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world's future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind. Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man's control."

The CBD is an international agreement designed to conserve and ensure the sustainable use of biological diversity and the sharing of benefits derived from the use of genetic resources. Many of these resources are found in countries with little or no formal legislation designed to protect genetic resources. This issue is known as Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) under the CBD.

One aspect, for example, is to ensure that genetic resources, such as genetic components from plants which can be used as medicines, are properly collected and that the benefits from commercialization are shared with governments, communities and indigenous peoples located where these genetic resources originate.

At this meeting, the Swiss Government released the Access and Benefit Sharing Management Tool (ABS – MT). This guide to good practice on genetic resources, prepared by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, is designed to provide researchers and companies with a set of standards to ensure that genetic resources are accessed properly and that countries and communities receive a fair share of benefits from the use of these resources.

For more information on the ABS – MT please click here.

Or contact George Greene at ggreene@stratos-sts.com.

For more information about this and other IISD projects please contact Donna Huffam.

Download the GSI Report: "Biofuels at What Cost? Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the European Union"

The GSI report, "Biofuels: At What Cost? Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the European Union", questions the rationale behind the very large sums of money being invested in support of this particular form of energy.

Subsidies and other forms of government support are strongly linked to the amount of biofuels that are produced and consumed in the EU. While current policies have been promoted as a way to decrease CO2 emissions, they are an expensive and ineffective means to achieving that goal. Transfers per tonne of CO2-equivalent removed are estimated to be between 575 and 800 euros for ethanol made from sugar beet, around 215 euros for biodiesel made from used cooking oil, and over 600 euros for biodiesel made from rapeseed. Purchasing CO2-equivalent offsets on the European Climate Exchange would be far cheaper.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) set up the Global Subsidies Initiative in December 2005 to examine the extent to which public subsidies can cause counterintuitive outcomes that undermine sustainable development. The GSI's aim is to look behind the official justifications offered for public subsidies and study the extent to which they make economic, environmental and social sense.

For more information on "Biofuels: at What Cost? Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the European Union", and the Brussels launch of the report, please contact Javed Ahmad, the GSI's Director of Communications, at jahmad@iisd.org.

Therefore we would like to introduce you to http://www.iisdlabs.org.

This unique site for IISD will allow staff to continually update our knowledge and information about the new technology we use. Staff will be contributing to a ColdFusion blog to discuss the reliability, ease of use, security and the overall usefulness of each new piece of software we test.

Be sure to check back often to see how things develop.

"The problem, as we saw it, was that nobody was really monitoring the situation, at least in respect of the levels and effects of subsidies and trade barriers," says David Runnalls, President and CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). "The question has to be asked: can governments justify gambling so much of the public's money when the benefits are so questionable? Do biofuels represent the best use of scarce resources? And what does this mean for sustainable development?"

The new report by the Global Subsidies Initiative, Biofuels — At What Cost? Government support for ethanol and biodiesel in selected OECD countries, by Ronald Steenblik, GSI's Research Director, provides an overview and analysis of subsidies to biofuels in Australia, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and the United States. This synthesis report precedes upcoming individual country reports on subsidies to be released over the next few months.

The next major release is of the EU country study, Biofuels: At What Cost? Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the European Union. The report will be launched under the auspices of Parliamentarians for Global Action (GLOBE) at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, October 3^rd, 2007.

For more information about the Global Subsidies Initiative go to http://www.globalsubsidies.org

For media requests, please contact:

• Javed A. Ahmad
  Communications Director
  The Global Subsidies Initiative
  IISD-GSI, 9 chemin de Balexert
  1219 Geneva, Switzerland
  Phone: +41.22.917.8848
  Fax: +41.22.917.8054
  E-mail: jahmad@iisd.org

IISD is pleased to announce that the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB), IISD's e-publication on international negotiations, has won an award for outstanding work in raising awareness of ozone depletion and the Montreal Protocol.

The ENB is well-known as a balanced, timely and independent reporting service that provides daily information from multilateral negotiations on environment and sustainable development throughout the world. By promoting transparency and openness of the intergovernmental processes, ENB encourages the increased exchange of information and knowledge globally amongst the public, media and the international delegates.

The award was presented to ENB's William McPherson at the twentieth anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer on Sunday, September 16, 2007. The event was hosted by Environment Canada and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and took place at the Palais de Congrès in Montreal, Canada.

IISD would like to congratulate ENB staff, Director of Reporting Services, Langston James "Kimo" Goree, and the entire Reporting Services team on their award.

To sign up for the Earth Negotiations Bulletin or any of the free mailing lists offered by IISD's Reporting Services Team please go to http://www.iisd.ca/

For more information about the event, please see IISD's Reporting Services Summary.

For more information, please contact Donna Huffam.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development has played a key role in the development of this unique program. The coordinator of the Sustainable Commodity Initiative, Jason Potts, has been an integral part of this project from the beginning. The innovation required to develop the small-medium enterprise (SME) finance industry is an excellent example of the kind of work that IISD supports in its mission to "champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably".

The FAST alliance, born from a recognized need to improve the delivery of finance and financial management tools to producers in the sustainable trade arena, will improve the lives of some of the world's poorest rural producers who lack access to basic financial resources essential to the sustainability and prosperity of their businesses. The new trade association will work to promote the growth of this financial niche market, enabling rural entrepreneurs to successfully leverage quality financial services to work their way out of poverty.

With the funds from Citi Foundation and Cordaid secured, FAST is set to hire an Executive Director and will formally begin taking on new members this fall. The funds allow the alliance to focus energies on the development of four key areas of project work identified through stakeholder consultations as the most urgent for rural producers in need.

The projects in development on the FAST agenda will improve the operational efficiency of the sector by; creating networking systems to bridge the communications gap between producers and lenders; analysing the social and environmental impacts of socially oriented lending; and centralizing access to financial services information and educational tools. FAST will work with the sustainable donor industry to generate the funds needed to implement these key project plans.

Citi Foundation has supported the development of FAST from early on. "The Citi Foundation is pleased to support effective organizations like FAST that facilitate the growth of sustainable production and trade, creating jobs and economic development for developing countries," said Pamela Flaherty, President and Chief Executive Officer, Citi Foundation.

Cordaid, a relief and development aid organization based in the Netherlands, provides pre-financing to producer organizations and cooperatives and views FAST's ability to lead the growth of the SME finance sector as a critical tool in poverty reduction for rural producers.

"Currently social lenders work independently without cooperation, causing inefficiency that stagnates growth," says Gauke Andriesse, Cordaid Investment Officer and FAST steering committee member. "We support FAST with the hope that the alliance will help improve the current situation. We expect FAST to encourage better coordination between financing entities, act as a spokesperson for this emerging sector and develop new products that will benefit producer organizations and their members."

FAST Media Contact:

• Kimberley Kenney
  Phone: 647-218-0380
  E-mail: kkenney@iisd.ca

About FAST

The Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST), launched in May 2007, is dedicated to developing a coordinated, long-term vision for the Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) finance industry. Working within the "sustainable trade" arena, FAST aims to improve the delivery of finance and financial management tools to "sustainable" SME producers through the development of joint projects, high level advocacy, shared strategies and enhanced transparency. Currently developing four core projects in its first year of operations, FAST will work to; bridge the gap between producers and lenders, create networking systems, centralize access to financial services information and educational tools, and analyse the social and environmental impacts of socially oriented lending. For more information about FAST visit our Web site.

Supporters of FAST include: Citigroup Foundation, Cooperative Coffees, Conservation International, CORDAID, Root Capital (formerly Ecologic Finance), Forestrade, Green Development Foundation, Green Mountain Coffee, International Institute of Sustainable Development, Rabobank, Shared Interest, Starbucks, Technoserve, Transfair USA, Calvert, UNCTAD and the World Bank.

About Citigroup Foundation

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Major brand names under the trademark red arc include: Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Citi Smith Barney and Banamex. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com..

About Cordaid

Cordaid's work focuses on achieving sustainable poverty eradication in around 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin-America, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe and the Netherlands. Cordaid was formed in 1999 after a merger of the Catholic development organisations Memisa, Mensen in Nood and Bilance (Vastenaktie and Cebemo). The gospel and the Catholic doctrine based thereon is still Cordaid's source of inspiration. The Cordaid head office is in The Hague and the organisation has around 280 employees. Cordaid receives funding from the Dutch government, the European Union and half a million private donors in the Netherlands who support Cordaid's work via the funds of Memisa, Mensen in Nood or Vastenaktie. Every year around 150 million euro is spent on initiatives in developing countries.

On June 6, 2007, the Alberta Emerald Foundation announced the winners of the 2007 Emerald awards for excellence at the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts in Calgary.

IISD Associate, Peter Dickey, won the 2007 Emerald Award for environmental corporate/institutional leadership.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development would like to congratulate Peter Dickey on his receipt of this prestigious award.

IISD CEO David Runnalls and John Drexhage, Director of IISD's Climate Change and Energy (CC&E) program, credit Peter with the establishment and much of the success of the Institute's CC&E program.

"I have long benefited from Peter's wise counsel and down-to-earth advice on climate change and energy issues," says Runnalls.

"Peter's contributions to IISD, particularly the Climate Change and Energy team, have been enormous. Without him, IISD simply would not hold the credibility it does within Alberta and in the rest of Canada," says Drexhage.

Dickey, however, is known to have his fingers in many pies over the years. His work as the Chair of the Pembina Institute is a tribute to his ability to network over numerous groups and individuals, all in an effort for us to see issues more clearly and broadly. He was also a major contributor to the process, with Jim Leslie, of building Climate Change Central (C3) as well as the Engaged Group of Companies—a group of progressive companies seeking to address the most critical issues of both the environment and the economy, sustainably.

"Peter has brought stakeholders together, or has been a facilitator of many discussions during the 1990s to today. While this is not high in public profile, among thought leaders, Peter is known as the ring leader and the caliber of thinking rises as a result of his efforts," says Gordon Lambert, VP SD, Suncor Energy.

IISD offers sincere congratulations to Peter Dickey. We are proud to have had his sage advice over the years and look forward to many more years to come!

Be sure to check out the Live Webcast.

• Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
  5^th Floor Conference Room
  Woodrow Wilson Center at the Ronald Reagan Building
  1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, D.C.

Speakers

The Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, President and Vice Chancellor, University of Winnipeg; David Runnalls, President, International Institute for Sustainable Development; and Oli Brown, Project Manager and Policy Researcher, International Institute for Sustainable Development Current conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Darfur have drawn attention to the complex links among global security, control over natural resources—including oil, water, timber and minerals—and foreign aid and international trade policy. The new book Trade, Aid and Security: An Agenda for Peace and Development, a collaborative effort of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the IUCN – The World Conservation Union, explores how certain trade and aid policies can undermine security and contribute to violence and the disintegration of nation states. Co-editor Oli Brown, along with The Honourable Lloyd Axworthy and David Runnalls, will discuss the book's six proposals for trade and aid policy that practitioners can use to help reduce the likelihood of armed conflict, as well as promote economic and political stability. Copies of Trade, Aid and Security will be available for purchase at the event.

London, England

The purpose of tomorrow's global company is:

"To provide ever better goods and services in a way that is profitable, ethical and respects the environment, individuals and the communities in which it operates."

"We believe in a strong market economy. The market economy has driven human progress and growth, lifting the living standards of many people. But the world is now undergoing a period of unprecedented change and it is becoming clear that the current frameworks in which the market operates are leading to unsustainable outcomes.

There are major issues which the market and the political systems have not resolved—particularly climate change, areas of persistent poverty and abuses of human rights.

Global companies can be a force for good and are uniquely placed to deliver the practical solutions that are urgently required to address these issues."

The report, Tomorrow's Global Company: challenges and choices, argues that stronger frameworks are needed to enable companies to create wealth and shareholder value at the same time as delivering practical solutions to global issues such as climate change, persistent poverty and human rights abuses.

The report is the result of an 18-month inquiry by a team drawn from people working for businesses and NGOs based in Europe, North America and Asia. These included: ABB, Alcan, Anglo American, Amnesty International Business Group, BP, Dr. Reddy's, Ford, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Infosys, KPMG, Leaders' Quest, McKinsey, Standard Chartered, SUEZ and SustainAbility. The inquiry has been initiated by Tomorrow's Company, a think-tank focused on business issues, to generate ideas and promote debate on the role of global companies in society.

Dan Gagnier, Chair of the Board of Directors, and David Runnalls, CEO and President of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, were members of this august panel of global business and NGO leaders.

The report argues that while the market has proved the most powerful means of stimulating innovation and meeting immediate consumer needs for goods and services, there are major issues relating to long-term sustainability which it has left unresolved—such as global warming, the depletion of natural resources, persistent poverty and human rights violations.

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman of Anglo-American and a member of the IISD Board of Directors, states,

"Global businesses, operating in a market system, can be a tremendous force for good in the world—so long as the market is shaped and regulated in the right way. So it's up to us to work with governments, NGOs, academic experts and others to make sure we work within a system that delivers progress and helps to resolve the world's most difficult issues."

In July, Tomorrow's Company will be launching the findings of the inquiry in India and then from September it will be running a series of events and roundtable discussions exploring how this framework can be implemented within companies. More information about the inquiry can be found on the Tomorrow's Company Web site.

For further information, please contact Donna Huffam or:

• David Lourie
  Head of Communications, Tomorrow's Company
  Phone: +44 (0)20 7222 7443 or +44 (0)7976 095548
  E-mail: david@tomorrowscompany.com

About Tomorrow's Company

Tomorrow's Company is a not-for-profit research and agenda-setting organisation committed to creating a future for business which makes equal sense to staff, shareholders and society. Its business-led programme of publications, events and other activities focuses on three issues fundamental to the future success of business:

• an improved investment system

• an inclusive approach to leadership and governance

• and closing the gap between business and society.

Having had a strong influence on business leadership and governance in the UK, Tomorrow's Company is now approaching these issues on an international basis under the theme of Tomorrow's Global Company.

About the Tomorrow's Global Company inquiry

The inquiry process has involved interviews, consultations, desk-top research, and a call for evidence via Web sites

This included a programme of 55 interviews and 16 consultations conducted internationally with members of the Inquiry Team, their executive team, senior representatives from other influential organisations, and experts including internationally renowned writers, academics and key-influencers.

Copies of the full report can be obtained by e-mailing david@tomorrowscompany.com or writing to:

• Tomorrows' Company
  NIOC House
  4 Victoria Street
  London
  SW1H 0NE

• When: Friday, June 8, 2007, 10:00 am to 11:30am

• Where: International Development Research Centre (IDRC), 14th floor, 250 Albert St. Ottawa, Ontario

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and IUCN – The World Conservation Union (IUCN) are pleased to announce an important new book:

• Trade, Aid and Security: An Agenda for Peace and Development»  Edited by: Oli Brown and Mark Halle of IISD; Sonia Peña Moreno and Sebastian Winkler of IUCN, Foreword by Dr Lloyd Axworthy. (Earthscan, London, 2007)

Praise for "Trade, Aid and Security"

"A compelling contribution to our evolving understanding of the links between trade, aid and security and what the international community needs to do to ensure peace and development in the world."
Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

"As we begin to contemplate what the post-Iraq world will look like, it is vital that we reflect on the limits of the utility of hard power and the importance that development can play in avoiding failed states before they fail, preventing conflicts where we can and more successfully re-building states afterwards where we have to. This timely book makes a most important contribution to that process."
Lord Paddy Ashdown, UN High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2002–2006; Leader of U.K. Liberal Democrat Party, 1988–1999

Speakers:

• Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg, formerly the Director and CEO of the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia, and Canada's Foreign Minister from 1995 to 2000.

• David Runnalls, CEO and President of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

• Oli Brown, Project Manager, the Trade, Aid and Security Initiative, IISD

Trade, Aid and Security: An Agenda for Peace and Development

Most conflicts nowadays are within states—poor states—and most victims are civilians, not soldiers. Over half of the world's conflicts in the past two decades have been in the world's least developed countries (LDCs). It is clear that security is an essential precondition for development. It is no coincidence that those countries that are furthest away from the Millennium Development Goals and lowest on the UN's Human Development Index are those that continue to suffer political and economic instability.

Rather than focusing only on reactive responses to conflict, we need to consider how current policies systematically undermine peace and development. Trade and aid policies are two of the areas that require our attention most. Powerful conduits for money, technology, ideas and influence, they both reflect and reinforce global power disparities and, if poorly designed and managed, can undermine economic and political stability.

"Applied insensitively…trade policy can increase inequality and weaken government structures, causing instability and increasing the chance of conflict…. Aid can also increase instability and contribute to corruption, mismanagement and failures of governance…. used in the wrong way, it can hinder recovery from conflict," states Duncan Brack in the Introduction.

"The reality is that badly designed trade and aid policies are too often increasing the likelihood and longevity of violent conflict," says Dr. Lloyd Axworthy.

This new book, written by leading international experts, introduces the linkages between trade, aid and security, and exposes how inappropriate or misused trade and aid policy can and do undermine security and contribute to violence and the disintegration of nation states. On a practical level they demonstrate how six key areas of trade and aid policy can be used to help forge stability and security, reduce the likelihood of armed conflict, and assist economic and political recovery in our war-torn world.

The Trade, Aid and Security Initiative

The Trade, Aid and Security initiative is a research project jointly coordinated by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and IUCN – The World Conservation Union, with funding from the governments of Norway and Italy.

Since 2000, the initiative has focused on the ways in which trade in natural resources can contribute to violent conflict at the sub-state and international level, and on the role of foreign aid and trade liberalization—in tandem or in isolation—in accelerating or alleviating this downward spiral. On the basis of this understanding, current research focuses on the options available to domestic and international policy makers.

For more information and full versions of all the Initiative's research and policy briefs please click here.

Book review editors and course leaders: To request review or inspection copies please send all relevant details of your publication or course to gudrun.freese@earthscan.co.uk

Winnipeg, April 30, 2007 – Following in the footsteps of the micro-finance industry, small-and medium-sized enterprise (SME) finance – aimed at organizations like coffee (and other commodity) cooperatives – has seen rapid growth in recent years. The SME finance industry, economists believe, is poised to become the next revolution in banking for the poor.

On Sunday May 6 2007 the Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST), a new organization aimed at developing a coordinated, long-term vision for the SME finance industry, will celebrate their official launch of operations.

FAST has evolved out of a recognized need to improve the delivery of finance and financial management tools to producers in the sustainable trade arena. Millions of the world's poorest producers of agricultural (and other) commodities lack access to the basic financial resources essential to the sustainability and prosperity of their businesses. Historically, a chronic lack of access to capital in the Developing World has stunted the growth and limited profitability of businesses rooted in low-income communities.

Recent growth in markets for "sustainably produced products" however, has created new opportunities for developing country producers to sell higher priced, value added products and create more stable trading relationships. Entry into such markets however, typically requires additional capital and investment – a major road block for many producers. FAST will help facilitate producer adoption of sustainable practices and entry into sustainable markets by improving their access to vital credit and financial services.

The creation of better access to business finance is widely considered a vital tool in poverty reduction and rural development, especially since small to medium enterprises are the most important drivers of economic growth in developing countries.

"Like the micro finance industry, SME finance creates opportunities that stretch far beyond the primary loan recipient in the developing world", says Jason Potts, FAST steering committee member and Coordinator of the Sustainable Commodity Initiative (International Institute for Sustainable Development).

"From producer to retailer to investor - the entire sustainable trade industry stands to benefit from improved efficiency and collaboration in the SME finance industry. FAST will help make financial opportunities a reality for thousands of producers in the developing world" says Potts.

FAST will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders for the first time, who will work collectively to increase the number of producers in developing nations who can successfully access quality trade finance, tailored to their business needs, as they enter sustainable markets.

An international, member driven, non-profit association, FAST will represent financial institutions and producers dedicated to bringing "sustainably produced products" to market. Members will include commercial lenders, socially oriented and alternative lending institutions, sustainable SME producer organisations, development focused institutions and others in the agricultural commodities supply chain who have made explicit commitments to promote sustainable production and trading practices within their respective capacities.

To date a wide range of leading organisations have been involved in the establishment of FAST. Some of the organisations involved include Citigroup Foundation, Cooperative Coffees, Conservation International, CORDAID, Ecologic Finance, Forestrade, Green Development Foundation, Green Mountain Coffee, International Institute of Sustainable Development, Rabobank, Shared Interest, Starbucks, Technoserve, Transfair USA, Calvert, UNCTAD and the World Bank.

FAST has planned an inspirational launch event this Sunday May 6, scheduled to coincide with the Specialty Coffee Association of America's (SCAA) annual convention in Long Beach California.

The FAST Launch - open invitation:

• Sunday May 6 2007, 5:00pm - 7:00pm
  At the SCAA Annual Convention in Long Beach California
  Long Beach Convention Centre, concourse level, off main lobby, outside rooms 101-103
  300 East Ocean Boulevard Long Beach, California 90802

Open invitation to all media representatives:

For more information on FAST visit http://www.fast-international.org or contact:

• Roy Parizat
  FAST Project Coordinator
  International Institute for Sustainable Development
  Phone: +44 (0)191 281 7090
  E-mail: rparizat@iisd.ca

• Kimberley Kenney
  FAST Media Contact
  Communications – Sustainable Commodity Initiative
  International Institute for Sustainable Development
  Phone: +44 (0)191 281 7090
  E-mail: kkenney@iisd.ca

April 23, 2007 – On May 4th, 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release the third part of its Fourth Assessment Report to the international community, at a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

This report of Working Group III will assess the scientific, technological, environmental, economic and social aspects of the mitigation of climate change.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is pleased to invite you to a briefing on the key findings of the report at 10am on May 4, 2007.

Please note the change in location from previous media briefings

• Friday, May 4, 2007 10am
  University of Ottawa, Fauteux Hall, Faculty of Law, 57 Louis Pasteur
  3^rd floor, Room 351

Media representatives are requested to confirm their attendance in advance with IISD at npelletier@iisd.ca

This briefing will give you the opportunity to hear directly from Canadian experts who have contributed to this global report. There will be a presentation followed by light refreshments.

The briefing will take place at the University of Ottawa in the lounge (room 351) on the third floor of Fauteux Hall.

Mr. David Runnalls, CEO and President of IISD will chair the session.

Participating Speakers

• Phillippe Crabbe, University of Ottawa, lead author for chapter one, Introduction.

• Werner Kurz, Natural Resources Canada, lead author for chapter nine, Forestry

• John Drexhage, Director of Climate Change and Energy for IISD and the lead author for chapter 11, Mitigation from a cross-sectoral perspective.

• Erik Haites, Margaree Consultants, review editor of chapter 13, Policies, Instruments and cooperative arrangements.

Training Manual Pre-Launch: May 10, 2007 from 6:30 – 8:00 pm

Founders Room, University of Maryland University College, Inn and Conference Centre, Marriott College Park, Maryland (near Washington, D.C.)

Our global environment is under attack. In order to accurately measure the damage done and assess our attempts to ameliorate it, we need timely and sensitive environmental data.

Utilizing a process known as Integrated Environmental Assessment (IEA), the United Nations Environment Programme's GEO has become an essential tool to report on environmental trends and policies, their impacts on human well-being, and our options for the future.

However, running an effective IEA requires careful planning and capacity. In response to needs expressed by governments and other partners, UNEP has engaged the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to provide key educational materials for the development of IEA projects throughout the world.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "The recent Millennium Ecosystem Assessment concluded that two thirds of our ecosystems—from forests and fisheries to wetlands and waterways—are damaged or being over exploited. It is not a recipe for a sustainable present let alone a sustainable future".

"The UNEP GEO process is part of the response towards better and more sustainable management of these economically and socially significant natural and nature-based resources. Sound and solid environmental assessments provide the basis for action," he added.

"The new book, which distills the environmental assessment expertise and experience of over 40 leading experts working in this field, can therefore educate and assist others towards a more intelligent trajectory for the global economy. In doing so, it can also aid international efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and beyond," said Mr Steiner.

The GEO Resource Book will incorporate a flexible, modular design, allowing sections to be used in a workshop session or as a whole. The book will also be available in a CD format for easy shipping and plans are being developed to make it accessible as an e-learning tool online. It is envisioned as a living document that will be periodically updated based on the experience and needs of its users.

The training manual is being launched as part of the "Global Assessments: Bridging Scales and Linking to Policy" Workshop - a joint event of the Integrated Assessment Society (TIAS) and the Global Water System Project (GWSP) May 9-11, 2007.

The GEO Resource Book will be available this spring in print and electronic form on both the web sites of UNEP and IISD and on CD-ROM. Editions in official UN languages will follow.

For more information, please contact Donna Huffam or:

• Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox
  UNEP Regional Office for North America
  Phone: (202) 974-1307
  E-mail: egc@rona.unep.org

• Nick Nuttall
  UNEP Spokesperson
  Phone: (254-20) 762-3084
  E-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org

"Even if, by some miracle, we could stop emitting greenhouse gases today, we will still experience climate change in the next few decades, making adaptation unavoidable. On the other hand, without any effort in mitigation we are likely to reach a level of climate change that makes adaptation impossible for some ecosystems, while for people it could involve very high social and economic costs." Richard Klein, coordinator of climate policy research at the Stockholm Environment Institute and a coordinating lead author of the IPCC.

One of the political dilemmas of climate policy is the fact that the costs and benefits of climate change are not distributed equally around the world. Saleemul Huq, director of the climate change programme of the International Institute for Environment and Development, and also a coordinating lead author, points out that for some countries, particularly the poorest countries in Africa and the small island developing states, adaptation is more important than mitigation. For countries like China, India and Brazil, the combination of the two strategies is essential, according to Huq.

John Drexhage, director of climate change and energy for the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and an expert reviewer of the IPCC report, agrees: "This report confirms a message we have been stating loud and clear for a few years now: namely that those least responsible for global warming — the poor, the indigenous communities — are the ones to be the most immediately and severely impacted by it. This is a core equity issue that must be addressed in the international negotiations."

Tom Downing, director of the Oxford office of the Stockholm Environment Institute and a lead author of the IPCC: "Many of these linkages are opportunities to promote sustainable development and alleviate poverty. We found relatively few examples where decision-makers made explicit, economic trade-offs between mitigation and adaptation."

The report from Working Group 2 of the Fourth Assessment of the IPCC was released in Brussels on Friday April 5, 2007. Working Group 3 will present its findings on May 4, 2007 in Bangkok and the final synthesis report will be released in November of this year.

Klein, Huq, Downing and Drexhage, and the three institutes they represent, The Stockholm Environment Institute, The International Institute for Environment and Development and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, have joined forces in addressing the challenge of climate change and development. As the Global Initiative on Climate Change (GICC), they provide knowledge to policymakers to ensure that climate change is seen as a development issue as well as an environment issue.

Contact Details

• Dr. Richard J.T. Klein
  Stockholm Environment Institute
  Stockholm, Sweden
  E-mail: richard.klein@sei.se
  Phone: +46 8 6747054

• Dr. Saleemul Huq
  International Institute for Environment and Development
  London, UK
  E-mail: saleemul.huq@iied.org
  Phone: +44 20 73882117

• Dr. Thomas E. Downing
  Stockholm Environment Institute
  Oxford, UK
  E-mail: tomdowning.sei@gmail.com
  Phone: +44 1865 426316

• Mr. John Drexhage
  International Institute for Sustainable Development
  Ottawa, Canada
  E-mail: jdrexhage@iisd.ca
  Phone: +1 613 238 9820
  Cell: +1 613 276 7794

The Summary for Policymakers (SPM) was released to the media in Brussels on April 6, 2007.

Providing an assessment of the already-observed changes due to climate change and future impacts, this report focuses on the need for adaptation. Significant changes in our physical environment are already evident and future changes will likely lead to a heavy toll on vulnerable populations of the world.

John Drexhage, director of climate change and energy for the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and an expert reviewer of the IPCC Working Group II report, states: "This IPCC report confirms a message we have been stating loud and clear for a few years now: namely that those least responsible for global warming — the poor, the indigenous communities — are the ones to be the most immediately and severely impacted by it. This is a core equity issue that must be addressed in the international negotiations."

David Runnalls, CEO and president of IISD, agrees. "In order for development to be sustainable, we are now going to have to factor in increasing and targeted levels of overseas assistance that will help developing countries cope with the problems we in the developed world have created."

"The fact that we are already experiencing the impacts of climate change should not mean that we throw up our hands in the air — far from it. Instead it should galvanize us into actions that will once and for all treat this problem with the level of seriousness it needs to be treated." For more information on the Working Group II report, its findings and implications please contact npelletier@iisd.ca.

WINNIPEG — The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) of Winnipeg, is pleased to invite the media to attend and interview Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, Anglo American plc, at a very special dinner event at The Fairmont Hotel, June 8, 2006, in Winnipeg. The event offers personal insights from Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, Anglo American plc, on "People, Planet and Profits" and what this principle means for business.

Time

• Media Interviews from 5:45 to 6:30 pm with Sir Mark, The Fairmont Hotel, Wellington Room (Winnipeg)

• Reception and Dinner with Speech: 6:30 pm

Sir Mark is an international proponent for corporate social responsibility and lives in London, England. He oversees the significant global interests in natural resources and mining of Anglo American, plc. The corporation is geographically diverse with operations and developments in Africa, Europe, South and North America, and Australia. Anglo American represents a powerful world of resources. Sir Mark is best known for his long and distinguished career with Royal Dutch/Shell, where he was Chairman of the Committee of Managing Directors (1998–2001), and his high profile role at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. He has been called one of the most influential proponents for sustainable development in the world by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Not only is he engaging as a speaker, his beliefs and values permeate everything he says and does. It is always a special experience to be with him.

What do people, planet and profits have in common? The potentially enormous impact on our future well-being in our personal lives and in our professional roles, and that is the topic we will be focusing on this week.

IISD's vision is "Better Living for all – sustainably"

IISD has earned a well-deserved global reputation for having a reasoned, constructive and practical approach to sustainable development. This unique status allows the fundamental thinking and analysis of IISD to assist governments, businesses and civil society organizations around the world discover and implement practical solutions that balance the needs of the different players.

As we continue to impact and demonstrate value, people expect more from IISD—and we're happy to deliver. We are driven by our collective conscience and by our commitment to our partners. We continue our global efforts to influence policy-makers and world leaders who have promised human dignity; peace and security; vibrancy; and overall well-being for today and for future generations.

Since its inception in 1990, IISD has become one of the half dozen pre-eminent sustainable development institutions in the world. IISD has built a solid reputation for its policy research on trade and sustainable development. We are making a mark in the climate change debate.

We have pioneered new techniques for measuring the three aspects of sustainability—social, environmental and economic. We have built solid networks on trade, climate change and Internet-based information with similar institutions in both developed and developing countries. These "knowledge networks" bring together leading institutions to co-create knowledge capital and to deliver that knowledge to target audiences.

• BACKGROUNDER: Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (35 kb)

http://www.iisd.org has a new look and new features

The International Institute for Sustainable Development is pleased to welcome visitors to our redesigned Web site at http://www.iisd.org.

The redesign was undertaken to freshen the look of the site and to accommodate its rapid growth. Through consultations with internal colleagues and external users, we determined that the primary needs were to (a) make it easier to find what you're seeking; and (b) reduce clutter.

The redesign offers the following features and design highlights:

• our site search is now powered by Google;

• site searching is supported by an alphabetical site index, that will expand in the coming weeks;

• some older material has been identified as archival and has been removed from main navigations;

• team members are clearly identified on our thematic pages (see the Climate Change and Energy home page, as an example);

• our overall thematic navigation has changed (click on the "Our Knowledge" tab at the top of any page in the site); and

• the look has been freshened with more white space and images.

The design has been implemented on our main thematic pages and through a few complete sections of the site. In the coming weeks, the design will be rippled through all remaining current pages.

The new design was collaboration among: IISD Web Development Coordinator, Jason Manaigre; external design consultant Neal Thomas; Knowledge Communications Director, Heather Creech; Publishing and Communications Manager, Stuart Slayen; Director of Development and Community Relations, Susan Barkman; and President and CEO, David Runnalls.

Online since the early 1990s, IISD has attracted millions of visits from policy-makers, academics, students, researchers and casual users to http://www.iisd.org and to our IISD Linkages site at http://www.iisd.ca. We are hopeful that our redesign efforts will benefit our repeat users while attracting new visitors as we work to advance sustainable development.

We welcome your feedback and questions at info@iisd.ca.

Sustainability isn't a term normally associated with band or author tours. Promotional tours generally involve extensive travel and greenhouse gas emissions from planes, busses and cars, not to mention the energy required for an event at each venue.

Thomas Homer-Dixon's newest release, The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization, focuses on the practical realities of climate change and the process by which small changes can add up to large impact. In keeping with the theme of his book, Homer-Dixon has organized one of North America's first book tours that deliberately seeks to minimize carbon emissions.

Working with publisher Random House, the author of widely-acclaimed The Ingenuity Gap, has teamed up with other national and international sustainable development organizations and companies.

Zero Footprint is calculating the carbon emissions of the travel involved on the tour and arranging for the purchase of credits to offset the emissions. Bullfrog Power Ontario's first 100% green electricity retailer, is donating the green power to offset the energy used at the various venues across Canada and the United States. And the International Institute for Sustainable Development is reviewing the green tour plan as well as offering its assistance in promotion. IISD staff travel internationally and have extensive experience in offsetting their travel emissions. To make all aspects of their travel eco-friendly the Institute is currently publishing a green travel guide for staff.

Information about The Upside of Down, Thomas Homer-Dixon, emissions and offset credits, book tour locations and dates, is all available on his website http://www.theupsideofdown.com

"Biofuels: At What Cost? — Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the United States", is the first of six country studies commissioned by the GSI and planned for release over the coming months. The report provides the most comprehensive survey of subsidies to biofuels to date, cataloguing hundreds of government programs that support virtually every stage of production and consumption relating to ethanol and biodiesel.

"Many of these subsidies are poorly coordinated and targeted," says Simon Upton, director of the GSI. "All indications are that subsidies are being piled on top of one another without policy makers having a clear idea of their potential impact on the environment and the economy. Yet the potential for waste on a grand scale and some spectacularly perverse environmental outcomes is large."

The report estimates that subsidies to biofuels are between $5.5 billion and $7.3 billion a year. Those figures are expected to grow significantly if current policies remain in place, as the bulk of biofuels subsidies are tied to output and output is increasing at double-digit rates of growth.

Government subsidies to biofuels in the U.S. have lately been promoted as a way to simultaneously address concerns related to the environment, energy security, and rural development. But the cost-effectiveness of achieving these goals under the current subsidy regime is low.

The report finds, for example, that biofuels are an extremely high-cost means for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Under optimistic projections, it costs some $500 in federal and state subsidies to reduce one metric ton of CO₂-equivalent through the production and use of corn-based ethanol.

"That could purchase more than 30 metric tons of CO₂-equivalent offsets on the European Climate Exchange, or nearly 140 metric tons on the Chicago Climate Exchange," notes the report's author, Doug Koplow.

Moreover, the sheer levels of government support to biofuels appear out of proportion to their ability to satisfy domestic transport-fuel requirements. Current forecasts are that biofuels would account for less than 5 percent of total transport fuel use in 2010.

"Because most liquid biofuels will be consumed as blends with gasoline or petroleum diesel, biofuels will for some time to come be complements to petroleum-based transport fuels, not major competitors with them," observes the GSI's Director of Research, Ronald Steenblik.

The Global Subsidies Initiative is concerned that widespread and largely uncritical support has surrounded liquid biofuels with a sense of inevitability, eclipsing other energy alternatives.

"There is an urgent need to examine the claimed benefits from biofuel subsidies, and to compare them with the costs of meeting the same goals in other ways," says Mr. Upton. "Until then, we suggest that the U.S. Congress and the States declare a moratorium on programs that would increase or extend subsidies to liquid biofuels, with a view to developing a plan for phasing out subsidies to all transport fuels as quickly as possible."

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) of Winnipeg, is pleased to invite the media to attend and interview Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, Anglo American plc, at a very special dinner event at The Fairmont Hotel, June 8, 2006, in Winnipeg. The event offers personal insights from Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, Anglo American plc, on "People, Planet and Profits" and what this principle means for business.

Time

• Media Interviews from 5:45 to 6:30 pm with Sir Mark, The Fairmont Hotel, Wellington Room (Winnipeg)

• Reception and Dinner with Speech: 6:30 pm

Sir Mark is an international proponent for corporate social responsibility and lives in London, England. He oversees the significant global interests in natural resources and mining of Anglo American, plc. The corporation is geographically diverse with operations and developments in Africa, Europe, South and North America, and Australia. Anglo American represents a powerful world of resources. Sir Mark is best known for his long and distinguished career with Royal Dutch/Shell, where he was Chairman of the Committee of Managing Directors (1998–2001), and his high profile role at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. He has been called one of the most influential proponents for sustainable development in the world by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Not only is he engaging as a speaker, his beliefs and values permeate everything he says and does. It is always a special experience to be with him.

What do people, planet and profits have in common? The potentially enormous impact on our future well-being in our personal lives and in our professional roles, and that is the topic we will be focusing on this week.

IISD's vision is "Better Living for all – sustainably"

IISD has earned a well-deserved global reputation for having a reasoned, constructive and practical approach to sustainable development. This unique status allows the fundamental thinking and analysis of IISD to assist governments, businesses and civil society organizations around the world discover and implement practical solutions that balance the needs of the different players.

As we continue to impact and demonstrate value, people expect more from IISD—and we're happy to deliver. We are driven by our collective conscience and by our commitment to our partners. We continue our global efforts to influence policy-makers and world leaders who have promised human dignity; peace and security; vibrancy; and overall well-being for today and for future generations.

Since its inception in 1990, IISD has become one of the half dozen pre-eminent sustainable development institutions in the world. IISD has built a solid reputation for its policy research on trade and sustainable development. We are making a mark in the climate change debate.

We have pioneered new techniques for measuring the three aspects of sustainability—social, environmental and economic. We have built solid networks on trade, climate change and Internet-based information with similar institutions in both developed and developing countries. These "knowledge networks" bring together leading institutions to co-create knowledge capital and to deliver that knowledge to target audiences.

• BACKGROUNDER: Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (35 kb)

• Where: Ottawa River Room, Palais des Congrès, Montreal, Quebec
• When: Friday, December 9, 2005, 13:00–15:00

Montreal – December 9, 2005 – With the impacts of climate change already being felt around the globe, what sort of government policies are required to help countries and societies adapt to uncertain and changing circumstances? What can countries learn from each other? And what could Canada and India possibly have in common on the subject?

These issues will be on the table as representatives from Canada’s International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and India’s The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) hold an information session to discuss their collaborative work on adaptive policy-making in Montreal, site of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Specific attention will be paid to water resources management and agricultural issues.

"Like Canada, India is a large country of diverse climate and geography," said Preety Bhandari, Director of the Policy Analysis Division of The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, India. "We therefore have much to learn from each other in terms of developing policies that address adaptation to climate change."

It is becoming increasingly clear at the Montreal conference that adaptation is a primary issue as the world moves through the Kyoto Protocol commitment period and beyond.

"There has been a great deal of policy-making progress at an international level, but we are still not where we need to be at a country level," said IISD Project Manager Stephan Barg. "If TERI and IISD can identify the helpful tools and policies for India and Canada, then I'm certain that our solutions can be applied much more broadly."

The session features speakers from IISD, TERI, the Pelangi Institute (Indonesia), the United Nations Development Program, and project funder, the International Development Research Centre (Canada).

Climate change is here, and we are feeling its impacts all over the world, from melting polar ice caps to increasing desertification, and we must adapt to these new realities, attendees at the COP-11 Adaptation Day parallel event heard today from panels of national and international experts.

Hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Adaptation Day parallel event at Montreal 2005 Climate Change Conference (COP-11) highlighted the science behind adaptation techniques and how communities around the world, particularly in developing countries, are adapting and coping with changes in their climate.

Ironically, the people most immediately and significantly affected by climate change – namely those in developing countries- are the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases.

"Adaptation has remained the poor cousin of mitigation, which is more often the focus of government policies," said John Drexhage, Director of Climate Change and Energy for IISD. "Negotiating targets is a more clear cut path than the many actions that are required to address adaptation, which is largely about the ways in which we can protect human settlements and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change."

If necessity is the mother of invention then the delegates and attendees heard the mother-lode of creativity as speakers from Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Kenya and Samoa gave example after example of how local communities are adapting to increasing numbers of droughts, floods and extreme weather events.

"A local NGO in Kenya has developed what is called "sand dams" which store water in sand behind dams which prevents evaporation and the water can then be used during droughts and the dry season through wells," explains Jeroen Aerts of the Institute for Environmental Studies at Freie University in Berlin.

"The dams are inexpensive to build, and have drastically reduced the distance needed to walk for water, which in turn has increased the productivity of family members to participate in income earning activities," he added.

"Parallel events such as Development and Adaptation Days provide a really important opportunity for developing country participants to share their information and knowledge and learn from each other in how they are coping and responding to changes in climate," said Dr. Saleemul Huq, Director of IIED's Climate Change program.

About IISD

The International Institute for Sustainable Development contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy, climate change, measurement and assessment, and natural resources management. Through the Internet, we report on international negotiations and share knowledge gained through collaborative projects with global partners, resulting in more rigorous research, capacity building in developing countries and better dialogue between North and South.

IISD's vision is better living for all-sustainably; its mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. IISD is registered as a charitable organization in Canada and has 501(c)(3) status in the United States. IISD receives core operating support from the Government of Canada, provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Environment Canada; and from the Province of Manitoba. The institute receives project funding from numerous governments inside and outside Canada, United Nations agencies, foundations and the private sector

About IIED

The International Institute for Environment and Development (www.iied.org) is an international policy research institute, working for more sustainable and equitable global development. IIED draws on a well-established reputation for independence and honesty, providing cutting-edge ideas to push policy forward. We work through a wide range of long-standing relationships with partners in the developing world. Our partnerships generate close working links to many key actors, from smallholder farmers and big city slum-dwellers to national governments and regional NGOs, global institutions and international processes.

Our principal fields of activity cover natural resources, human settlements, global governance, sustainable markets and climate change. In the field of climate change, IIED has focused particularly on issues of vulnerability and adaptation, working closely with the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), to build their capacity and strengthen their negotiation skills. We advise governments and donor agencies on mainstreaming climate into development policy. IIED seeks to promote carbon markets which provide benefits both for the environment and for social ends.

About the COP

Montréal 2005: United Nations Climate Change Conference is where delegations from 189 countries have gathered to launch discussions towards a more effective and inclusive global approach to climate change through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Delegates at Montréal 2005 will also discuss the next steps in the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, which came into effect in February of this year.

Montréal 2005 also features a series of parallel events supported by the Government of Canada. Hosted by a wide range of partners, these events and activities are designed to raise awareness of the causes and impacts of climate change, and to showcase Canadian innovation, technology and commitment to action on climate change.

For More Information on Development and Adaptation

• http://www.iisd.org/climate/unfccc/cop_dadays.asp
• http://www.iied.org/cc/index.html
• http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/tiempo/

Other organisations working with Climate Change

• Africa Centre for Technology Studies [ACTS], Kenya
• Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies [BCAS], Bangladesh
• Centre for European Economic Research [ZEW], Germany
• The Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE)
• COPPE UFRJ, an institute of the University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Department for International Development [DFID]
• Development Alternatives [DA], India
• The Dutch National Institute of Public Health and Environment (RIVM)
• Environment and Development Action [ENDA], Senegal
• HELIO International, France
• LEAD International
• Nordic Timber Council
• Oxfam
• Pelangi, Indonesia
• Potsdam Institute for Climatic Impact Research [PIK], Germany
• Regional and International Networking Group [RING]
• Shell Foundation
• SouthSouthNorth, Africa
• Stockholm Environment Institute [SEI]/li>
• The Energy and Resources Institute [TERI], India
• Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
• United National Environment Programme Collaborating Centre on Energy and Environment [UCCEE]
• University of East Anglia [UEA]
• World Bank
• The World Conservation Union [IUCN]
• Zimbabwe Energy Research Organisation [ZERO], Zimbabwe
• Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO), Oslo
• The Climate Group, UK
• Development and Climate Project (IIED, UCCEE and RIVM)
• GreenFacts.org
• Intergrovernmantal Panel on Climate Change [IPCC]
• International Institute for Sustainable Development [IISD]
• SciDev.net
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC]
• World Bank Climate Change Team
• Generation Why [Oxfam]

Montreal — What will take place after the Kyoto Protocol's commitment period of 2008 to 2012 will be the subject of intense international negotiation for years to come, attendees heard today at the COP-11 side event "Canada and Post 2012".

The climate change regime that replaces the much maligned Kyoto Protocol, could take a number of different forms including:

• Implement Kyoto assumes that the current structure will remain and new commitments will be negotiated every five years.

• Change Kyoto would envision renegotiation of some key elements such as a change from absolute targets to rate-based targets or a safety valve price cap on the price of carbon.

• Parallel Kyoto assumes that some countries or groups of countries will proceed with implementing Kyoto and other countries and groups of countries will adopt a different approach.

• Integrating Kyoto argues that the climate change issue needs to evolve from a discrete environmental issue into one that is more effectively integrated into energy and natural resource management considerations.

The audience also heard international experts representing South Africa and Russia - the latter being the critical linchpin in bringing the Kyoto Protocol into force and the former representing a critical force in framing developing country responses to the threat of climate change.

"Russian officials and business circles should recognize that only strong obligations and a strong "cap-and-trade" system are profitable for Russia," according to Alexey Kokorin from WWF Russia. "Russia can meet weak commitments or a system of intensity targets, but if so, there will be no chance of profitable emission trading and additional revenues."

The side event, hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) heard that the magnitude of emissions reductions needed is unprecedented.

Limiting the rise of the earth's temperature to 2 degrees Celsius, would require cutting 22 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2050, but this would only give a one in sixteen chance of meeting that target.

As an illustration, this kind of reduction would require displacing 2 billion conventional cars for hydrogen vehicles, sequestering carbon from 1400 1GW coal fired power plans and increasing the world's current nuclear capacity by a factor of 10.

"The range of options for a post 2012 climate change regime raises just as many questions as answers," said John Drexhage, Director of IISD's Climate Change and Energy program. "Who will be subject to commitments? Is a global or regional approach more appropriate? What will be the commitment period? What level and type of support should be provided to developing countries?"

"We know we must act and make larger emissions reductions, but how we are going to do that will require some international tightrope walking, and this COP is an important step towards supporting the start of official negotiations," he added.

About IISD

The International Institute for Sustainable Development contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy, climate change, measurement and assessment, and natural resources management. Through the Internet, we report on international negotiations and share knowledge gained through collaborative projects with global partners, resulting in more rigorous research, capacity building in developing countries and better dialogue between North and South.

IISD's vision is better living for all-sustainably; its mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. IISD is registered as a charitable organization in Canada and has 501(c)(3) status in the United States. IISD receives core operating support from the Government of Canada, provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Environment Canada; and from the Province of Manitoba. The institute receives project funding from numerous governments inside and outside Canada, United Nations agencies, foundations and the private sector

IISD has been an active participant in exploring how efforts to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations could take place after 2012, participating in collaborative projects internationally as well as exploring options for Canada.

Current Work in this Area

• Backgrounder on Options for the Post-2012 Climate Regime
  Provides an overview of the various approaches and elements that could be incorporated into a post-2012 climate regime.

• Which Way Forward? Issues in developing an effective climate regime after 2012
  IISD produced "Which Way Forward?," a series of four papers that help frame international dialogue on options for the development of a post-2012 climate regime, focusing on issues of economic growth, technology, the carbon market and adaptation to the impacts of climate change.

• Canada in a Post-2012 World
  IISD has undertaken a qualitative assessment of Canadian and international perspectives on establishing a sustainable, global regime for climate change action after 2012, including an initial assessment of how Canadian sensitivities and perspectives might be received by critical Parties in the global community.

• Developing Post-2012 Climate Regime Scenarios
  Since 2002, IISD has worked within an international consortium of research institutes to explore options for governing climate change after 2012.

Montreal and the Post 2012 Climate Change Regime

Defining the framework for emission reductions post-2012 poses a daunting challenge. In developing this framework, the global community will be asked to choose from among a number of options, which may be broadly characterized as deciding to implement Kyoto, change Kyoto, establish a parallel Kyoto or replace Kyoto.

• Implement Kyoto assumes that the current structure will remain and new commitments will be negotiated every five years.

• Change Kyoto would envision renegotiation of some key elements such as a change from absolute targets to rate-based targets or a safety valve price cap on the price of carbon.

• Parallel Kyoto assumes that some countries or groups of countries will proceed with implementing Kyoto and other countries and groups of countries will adopt a different approach.

• Integrating Kyoto with the energy and natural resource management policy priorities.

In making this decision, the international community will need to address a number of key questions, including:

• Who will be subject to commitments?
  The Kyoto Protocol sets out emission reduction targets to be met by industrialized countries that have ratified this accord; developing countries currently do not have reduction commitments. In a second commitment period, should all developing countries have reduction targets? Should only those developing countries that have met a specified level of prosperity (e.g., China, Brazil, India) be encouraged to meet reduction targets? The topic of who should be subject to commitments is highly controversial and will likely represent the first substantial roadblock in the multilateral negotiations. Without knowing who else is going to be subject to commitments, countries will be reluctant to begin discussing other issues such as future emission reduction targets.

• Is a global or regional approach more appropriate?
  The Kyoto Protocol provides a single, global framework in which emission reductions are to take place. In a second commitment period, consideration may be given to instead establishing regional frameworks in which greenhouse gas emissions would take place. A regional approach could provide the flexibility needed to engage countries like the United States that are currently not participating in the Kyoto Protocol. It could also respond to the different levels of capacity between developed and developing countries. Regional initiatives could be established instead of, or as a complement to, a global regime.

• Should reductions be absolute or intensity based?
  A second commitment period could continue the standard set by the Kyoto Protocol and require that countries meet an absolute emission reduction target—a fixed percentage reduction of their emissions relative to their levels in 1990. Another option is for absolute targets to be set for certain economic sectors. Under this scenario, the cement industry, for example, would reduce its total greenhouse gas emissions relative to its emissions in 1990. Intensity targets set emission reduction targets relative to rate of economic growth. For example, greenhouse gas emissions per gross domestic product or emission reductions per capita.

• Should qualitative commitments based on particular policies and measures be included?
  Qualitative standards would focus on measures that have an indirect impact on greenhouse gas emissions, as opposed to the current quantitative approach in which commitments are based on direct measurement of greenhouse gas emissions. Examples of possible qualitative commitments include requirements to meet particular technology standards; removing subsidies for industries and activities that produce a high level of greenhouse gas emissions; and establishing regional emissions trading arrangements as has been done by the European Union. Setting targets based on qualitative standards is seen by some as an initially effective means of bringing developing countries into the "commitments tent" as it would ask developing countries to commit to policies and measures that complement their other development priorities.

• What should be the legal nature of the commitments?
  The commitments made could be: (a) non-binding, as they currently are under the UNFCCC; (b) binding, as under the Kyoto Protocol, where countries "shall" reduce their emissions by an agreed to amount; or (c) enforceable, in which legally binding commitments also include penalties for non-compliance.

• What will be the commitment period?
  The first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol is for five years and requires emission reductions relative to 1990 levels. In the future, the commitment period could be shorter or longer and the base year could be changed from 1990. As well the commitment period does not necessarily need to start in 2013, immediately following the end of the Kyoto commitment period. Furthermore, consideration may be given to having graduated commitments, in which (for example) industrialized countries would have a commitment period that begins in 2013 while the commitment period for developing countries could begin in 2018.

• What level and type of support should be provided to developing countries?
  A future global climate regime will need to address the particular priorities of developing countries, particularly if there is a desire for some or all of these countries to take on emission reduction commitments. Donor countries could be expected to provide assistance to developing countries in four different areas: capacity building; technology transfer; adaptation; and the impact of efforts to reduce emissions on countries that are highly dependent on the production and sale of fossil fuels.

From this list, it is clear that there are a number of choices facing the international community. The options presented are also not necessarily mutually exclusive—a new system could include a combination of intensity targets and absolute targets, qualitative measures and support for developing countries. It is expected that one of the key issues that will influence the choices made in the future negotiations around post-Kyoto commitments will be the need to establish a framework for action that will engage the United States. In their absence, it is unlikely that developing countries will also take on emission reduction targets.

Finding a single approach that will address the interests of all countries will be challenging, but it may be possible to construct an acceptable comprehensive policy approach by selecting elements from the various options. In this manner, a framework could be established that provides the best opportunity to gain broad support from developed and developing countries.

Montreal — Sharing their countries' experiences and concerns around climate change, what it means for the livelihoods of their people, and how they are responding to change is the focus of the two day parallel event Development and Adaptation Days at COP-11 in Montreal.

• Who:
  • Christine Churcher, Minister for Science and Environment, Ghana
  • Liana Bratisadai, Deputy Minister for Environmental Conservation, Indonesia
  • Mohan Munasinghe, Vice Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

In addition, over 35 panelists will speak at six sessions on a host of different topics areas. The sessions topics include: Linking Development and Climate Change; Health and Climate Change; Disaster Management and Climate Change; Adaptation Science; Community-based Adaptation; Experience with National Adaptation Programmes of Action, as well as high level panel discussions. For a full agenda, please click here.

• What: Development and Adaptation Days, part of the Understanding and Preparing for Change Parallel Event

• When:
  • Day 1: Development Day, Saturday, December 3, 2005 (9:00-5:45)
  • Day 1: Reception, Saturday, December 3, 2005 (5:45-7:30)
  • Day 2: Adaptation Day, Sunday, December 4, 2005 (9:00-5:45)
    
    

• Where: Guy Favreau Complex, Conference Centre

• Why: For many of the world's most vulnerable communities climate change is already a reality and their priority is finding strategies for adapting to change and to voice these practical concerns in the international decision making processes.

Armed with information and heightened awareness, business owners took away from today's workshop concrete ways that a changing climate will affect business plans and their bottom line.

"Small- and medium-sized enterprises can benefit by understanding the influence international climate change negotiations, like the upcoming COP-11 meeting in Montreal, can have on the national and local business environments," said Dennis Cunningham, Executive Director of the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association. "The Kyoto Protocol, for example, resulted in greenhouse gases becoming a tradable commodity in Canada with a real cash value, so climate change creates a new frame of reference in business decision-making that can't be ignored."

"Businesses of all shapes and sizes will benefit from knowing where the opportunities are, what the costs are and how new policies and programs will affect them," he added.

The workshop, hosted by the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, heard from a number of speakers including local businesses.

"Creating our new corporate office building provided an opportunity for us to 'walk the talk' and create the kind of physical environment that we encourage our clients to create," said Rick Linley, COO of Smith Carter Architects and Engineers.

"Integrating environmental sustainability with the firm's business goals resulted in some great synergies—the building makes a significant contribution to sustainability, and it also leverages the firm's ability to create intellectual capital, communicate our brand and enhance our overall effectiveness as a practice," he added.

John Clarkson, Deputy Minister of Energy, Science and Technology for the province, also encouraged businesses to take advantage of the provincial opportunities that are available.

"Manitoba has a number of advantages in meeting our Kyoto commitments—we have clean energy supplies, a low-carbon economy and a diversified industry base," he said. "Our economy is dominated by small and medium businesses, and the opportunities for increasing efficiencies with the benefits of lowering costs and reducing emissions makes good business sense regardless of whether you are a small or large operator."

• What
  A two-hour professional development seminar aimed at editors, reporters, producers and columnists. Stories to watch for, key personalities, side deals, sticking points. Handouts, background, hot tips, loads of story ideas.

• Who
  Canada's Kyoto expert John Drexhage of the IISD and international award-winning science journalist and author Alanna Mitchell.

• Why
  This is the biggest world climate conference the world has seen since the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997; up to 10,000 participants are expected. It's the first to be held in North America and Canada is the lead country on this for the coming year. It's the one that will tell the tale of whether the world will set tougher targets for carbon reduction. It's the first since Kyoto came into force nine months ago, making carbon a commodity on emerging world markets. It's the first that the business community will attend in force.

• Where
  Room ENGLG 13, Centre for Computing and Engineering, Ryerson University, 245 Church St. (north of Dundas), Toronto

• When
  9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Monday, November 14, 2005

• Cost
  $50 each for working journalists, free for students. Pay at the door or ask IISD to send an invoice. Sign up soon. Space is limited.

• Organizers
  Ryerson School of Journalism, Toronto and the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a leading international institute whose mandate is to foster non-partisan public discussion about the economic implications of sustainable development.

• Background
  The climate change talks run from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9, 2005 at the Palais de Congrès in Montreal. More information on http://www.unfccc.int

Environment Canada has increased its annual support to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a Winnipeg-based research organization, from $200,000 to $1 million annually under terms of its three-year agreement with IISD. In recognition of the Institute's ongoing contribution to sustainable development and poverty reduction, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is providing a grant of $3,720,000, over three years.

"The Government of Canada is committed to its research capacities in sustainable development," said Minister Alcock. "Supporting a Winnipeg-based organization such as the International Institute for Sustainable Development demonstrates that Canada recognizes its role and its responsibility towards other countries that are less fortunate."

"Environmental sustainability and poverty reduction are intrinsically linked. I am proud that CIDA is a leader on environment and sustainable development. "More focus on environmental issues is essential, if we, as an international community hope to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," said Minister Carroll.

"IISD has been providing Environment Canada with relevant and advanced research on sustainable development issues such as water quality, biodiversity and climate change," said Minister Dion. "Our partnership has proven, and will continue to prove, invaluable to the quality and precision of Canada's environmental policies."

Dr. Bill Glanville, Vice President and Acting CEO of IISD, thanked Environment Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for their continued support.

"This funding is absolutely crucial to maintaining the intellectual infrastructure that allows IISD to carry out our work and continue to be relevant on so many major issues – from water policy in the Prairies to international negotiations on climate change, to poverty reduction in Mali, to working on environmental policy in China," said Dr. Glanville.

With Government of Canada funding support, the IISD will conduct research and information dissemination activities pertinent to sustainability in Canada and internationally.

Research on sustainable development and engagement of partners on the full range of sustainability challenges including climate change, clean air, clean water, land use and biodiversity supports Project Green - the set of policies and programs aimed at supporting a sustainable environment, healthy population and competitive economy. Project Green addresses environmental and competitiveness issues for the 21^st century including measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to increase fuel and energy efficiency and to increase Canadian and foreign markets for environmental technologies that can drive our economy and protect our environment and health. Through Project Green's policies and programs, Canada can set an international example by developing effective model solutions for the long-term health of the planet.

All sessions of the Prairie Water Policy Symposium are open to the media. The symposium is on Thursday Sept 22 and Friday Sept. 23 and includes presentations made by Steve Ashton, Manitoba Minister of Water Stewardship, David Forbes, Saskatchewan Minister of Environment and the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, President of the University of Winnipeg and former federal Foreign Affairs Minister.

For a full symposium program, please click here.

Upon accepting his appointment in Winnipeg on Friday, June 10, Mr. Gagnier said, "It is with great pride and humility that I accept this responsibility. IISD's mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. For development to be sustainable it must integrate environmental stewardship, economic development and the well-being of all people—not just for today but for countless generations to come. This is the challenge facing governments, non-governmental organizations, private enterprises, communities and individuals. I believe this challenge is of the utmost importance and look forward to helping shape IISD's agenda in promoting sustainable development across the world."

Mr. Gagnier, who also recently assumed Alcan's global leadership role for sustainability initiatives, will chair IISD for three years. His mandate, in concert with his 20 fellow board members, is to engage decision-makers in government, business, NGOs and other sectors to develop and implement policies that are simultaneously beneficial to the global economy, the global environment and to social well-being.

"Dan brings to the IISD Board a wide range of experience in the area of business and sustainable development. Dan recognizes that business and sustainability go hand-in-hand," said David Runnalls, President and Chief Executive Officer of IISD. "We value his experience as a senior public servant at both the federal and provincial levels. Dan's knowledge of global sustainability issues will greatly enhance IISD's own work on the intersection of business, environment and social responsibility," he added.

Founded in 1990, IISD is a not-for-profit Winnipeg-based policy and research institute that promotes change towards sustainable development through its research and effective communication of its findings. IISD receives operating grant support from the Government of Canada, provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the International Development Research Centre and Environment Canada, and from the Province of Manitoba. The institute receives project funding from the Government of Canada, the Province of Manitoba, other national governments, United Nations agencies, foundations and the private sector. IISD is registered as a charitable organization in Canada and has 501(c)(3) status in the United States.

Alcan is a multinational, market-driven company and a global leader in aluminum and packaging, as well as aluminum recycling. With world-class operations in primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum as well as flexible and specialty packaging, aerospace applications, bauxite mining and alumina processing, today's Alcan is well positioned to meet and exceed its customers' needs for innovative solutions and service. Alcan employs 70,000 people and has operating facilities in 55 countries and regions.

WINNIPEG — Provincial contributions to IISD for sustainable development research totalling $1 million were announced today in Winnipeg.

At IISD's 15th anniversary reception the announcement capped off a year where momentum has been gaining for IISD—the Commonwealth Secretariat hosted an event in April to launch IISD's model investment agreement and in February IISD was named the most effective sustainable development research organization in the world according to the GlobeScan survey results.

"We are extremely proud of the fact that IISD is now 15 years old, which is not an insignificant milestone for a non-profit think tank in these turbulent times," said David Runnalls, President and CEO of IISD. "We don't just make widgets, we develop practical ideas that policy-makers can use to implement sustainable development."

"The Government of Manitoba is pleased that we are a partner with IISD and provide this outstanding organization with $1.1 million per year," said Conservation Minister Stan Struthers. "As part of this five-year arrangement, IISD and the Province have agreed that this year, 30% of the funding will be allocated to projects in Manitoba. This partnership has been very productive and mutually beneficial as it has had a great impact on an number of initiatives related to Climate Change and the recent nomination of the World Heritage Site on the east side of Lake Winnipeg. The Province and IISD will soon begin discussions on the next five-year funding agreement."

Established in Winnipeg in 1990 by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Environment Minister Lucien Bouchard, and Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon, IISD has touched the four corners of the world. Some of the institute's greatest achievements over the past 15 years include:

• The most effective sustainable development research organization in the world, according to the GlobeScan survey results of 2004

• Placing over 250 interns in 39 countries around the world with 90 different partner organizations.

• Reaching over 45,000 experts and decision-makers through the Earth Negotiations Bulletin. Since 1992 our reporting services team has posted 1,947 reports on meetings from Nairobi to Yokohama to Bali. The reports provide precise, accurate, and insightful analysis in sustainable development negotiations and are made freely available.

• Winning a 3 1/2 year battle to take part in NAFTA hearings; a NAFTA tribunal accepts and formally considers public submissions in a precedent-setting "triumph for openness" in international trade and investment arbitration.

• Bringing to light startling evidence of climate-change-related impacts in the Far North documented in Sila Alangotok: Inuit Observations on Climate Change, a dramatic video.

• Developing one of the world's first Web sites dedicated to policy and sustainable development. Last year alone, 52 million hits were recorded from over 100 different countries and over two million documents were downloaded.

• Pioneering new ways of working with partner organizations around the world and being considered intellectual leaders in this field. At any given time, IISD is working with over 80 partner organizations.

• Increasing funding from the original base of three core government funders to today where our projects and work are supported by over 17 international governments, 12 international bodies, five philanthropic organizations and five private companies.

• Launching a model international investment agreement at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London that calls for new international rules on foreign investment that address the development, environmental and human rights concerns that lie at the heart of sustainable development.

"This small organization continues to be relevant on so many major issues—from water in Manitoba to international investment agreements in London to working with the government of China developing environmental policy," says outgoing Chair of the Board Jacques Gérin.

Background Information

About IISD

The International Institute for Sustainable Development contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy, climate change, measurement and assessment, and natural resources management. Through the Internet, we report on international negotiations and share knowledge gained through collaborative projects with global partners, resulting in more rigorous research, capacity building in developing countries and better dialogue between North and South.

IISD's vision is better living for all—sustainably; its mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. IISD is registered as a charitable organization in Canada and has 501(c)(3) status in the United States. IISD receives core operating support from the Government of Canada, provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Environment Canada; and from the Province of Manitoba. The Institute receives project funding from numerous governments inside and outside Canada, United Nations agencies, foundations and the private sector

IISD Board of Directors

Board

Stephanie Cairns
James Carr
Angela Cropper
John Forgách
Christian Friis Bach, PhD
Daniel Gagnier
Jacques Gérin
Chuck Hantho
Nicolas Imboden
Huguette Labelle
Laxanachantorn Laohaphan
Elizabeth May
Gordon McBean, Ph.D., FRSC
Mark Moody-Stuart
Khawar Mumtaz
Robert Page, Ph.D
Jane Rigby
Mohamed Sahnoun
The Rt. Hon. Edward R. Schreyer
Mary May Simon

Advisory Participants

Norm Brandson
Maureen O’Neil
Paul Thibault
Samy Watson

Friends of the Institute

Gro Harlem Brundtland
José Goldemberg
Sir Shridath Ramphal

Distinguished Fellows

Arthur J. Hanson, PhD
Jim MacNeill
Maurice Strong

Founding Chair

Lloyd McGinnis

WINNIPEG — On May 19, 2005, Konrad von Moltke, PhD, a Senior Fellow of IISD, passed away in Vermont. Von Moltke had fought a short, but courageous battle with cancer.

"I have known Konrad for more than 30 years and his passing leaves a great void. We will miss Konrad's gentle wit. We will miss his legendary creative summers where he would hole up in Vermont for a month or two and suddenly produce a piece of pure genius on trade and investment, or the future of the international environmental governance regime, or how to persuade the Chinese Government that the time has come to look at its influence on global commerce, rather than the other way round," said David Runnalls, IISD's President.

"But most of all we will miss his humanity. Born to the ultimate patrician German military family, he despised conflict and worried that his homeland occasionally showed signs of veering away from democracy. He was committed to European unity and worked tirelessly to establish pan-European civil society organizations that could complement the formal political ones established under the various EU treaties. Raised also in the American tradition, he lamented the loss of civility and sophisticated political debate in his adopted country," added Runnalls.

"This is a sad time for IISD," said Runnalls. "We have lost a friend, mentor and visionary."

The Board, staff and associates of IISD extend their condolences to the family of Konrad von Moltke.

Konrad von Moltke Biography

Selected IISD Publications Authored and Co-authored by Konrad von Moltke

• IISD Model International Agreement on Investment for Sustainable Development - Negotiators' Handbook
  Book: Howard Mann, Konrad von Moltke, Aaron Cosbey, Luke Eric Peterson, 2005

• A Southern Agenda on Investment? Promoting Development with Balanced Rights and Obligations for Investors, Host States and Home States
  Book: Howard Mann, Konrad von Moltke, 2005

• An International Investment Regime? Issues of Sustainablity
  Book: Konrad von Moltke, 2000

• International Environmental Management, Trade Regimes and Sustainability
  Book: Konrad von Moltke, 1996

• State of Trade and Environment Research: Building a New Research Agenda
  Paper: Konrad von Moltke, Aaron Cosbey, 2003

• The Maastricht Treaty and the Winnipeg Principles on Trade and Sustainable Development
  Book: Konrad von Moltke, 1995

• The Organization of the Impossible
  Paper: Konrad von Moltke, 2001

WINNIPEG — With $560 billion dollars flowing between countries, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is calling for new international rules on foreign investment that address the development, environmental and human rights concerns that lie at the heart of sustainable development.

Guests gathered today at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London to celebrate the launch of this important international initiative at an event hosted by the Deputy Secretary-General Mrs. Florence Mugasha. Guests, including members of the London diplomatic corps and leaders in the international investment field, were on hand for the release of the proposed international treaty.

In her opening remarks, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General, Mrs Florence Mugasha highlighted the importance of trade and investment issues. She said these "are potent vehicles for accelerated development of member states". She welcomed the inclusive approach adopted by the IISD and commended the Model Agreement for consideration by Commonwealth member states.

IISD's Model International Agreement on Investment for Sustainable Development comes at an opportune moment.

Investment from abroad plays an increasingly significant role in many economies world wide. This foreign investment must contribute to local poverty alleviation and environmental improvement, but there has been no effort to date to make international investment agreements achieve these goals.

In the absence of a single international set of rules, more than 2300 bilateral investment treaties have arisen to fill the vacuum. This patchwork of bilateral treaties has failed to meet the broader challenges that increased global investments face, including poverty alleviation, resource depletion, human rights violations, and corruption.

"The current model of investment agreements was developed in the international economic climate of the 50's and 60's, which was characterized by a fear of communism and the impacts of decolonization on business interests," explains Dr. Howard Mann, Senior International Law Advisor for the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

"Given this focus, the agreements in the past have focused on just one aspect of the investment process - the protection of foreign capital and investments."

"While this may have been appropriate for the time, this goal no longer meets the needs of the global economy in the 21st century," he added.

Although there have been several high-profile attempts to negotiate a single universal treaty governing global investment – including through the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Trade Organization - such initiatives have met with sharp opposition from non-governmental groups and developing countries for their narrow focus on business and corporate interests.

IISD's model agreement addresses these shortcomings by setting out an ambitious but balanced agenda for a new multilateral effort, which would:

• Protect investor rights and public goods in a manner that is legitimate, transparent and accountable;

• Balance investor rights with core responsibilities, including in the areas of development, environment and human rights;

• Establish a transparent, balanced and fair international dispute settlement process which serves the interests of investors and the communities receiving foreign investment.

By developing and publishing its model investment agreement, IISD is seeking to provide new tools for negotiators of international investment agreements, especially from developing countries. IISD is also seeking to ignite debate amongst investors, developed and developing countries, and the public as to the appropriate international rules for governing trans-border business activity.

"Her Excellency Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, High Commissioner for Pakistan underlined the need for a new and balanced approach to international investment agreements. She said investment should be aimed at genuine sustainable development rather than mere growth. In this regard a revised model international investment agreement, which takes into account the aspirations of developing countries, is a good basis to work on."

"This bold new approach to international investment agreements will set an agenda to improve the negotiation climate and will move us away from the heavy handed 'take it or leave it' approach which has characterized investment negotiations in the past, while simultaneously moving us closer to sustainable development goals," says Mann.

Background Information

Further information

• IISD Home

• Trade Home

• Investment Home

• IISD Model International Agreement on Investment for Sustainable Development - Negotiators' Handbook
  This publication contains the full text of IISD's Model International Agreement on Investment for Sustainable Development, with an article-by-article commentary explaining in clear language the intent and nuances of the text. It is essential reading for negotiators of IIAs struggling against the current model to craft agreements that will serve their national interests. But it is also written to engage a wider audience of stakeholders concerned about the future path of international law and globalization.

• A Southern Agenda on Investment? Promoting Development with Balanced Rights and Obligations for Investors, Host States and Home States
  This paper identifies major issues of concern for developing countries that are vital from the perspective of sustainable development but that are not being addressed in the current negotiating processes, beginning with the very need for investment to support development goals

• Lessons Learned on Trade and Sustainable Development
  This book distills the lessons from six years of research undertaken by and for the Trade Knowledge Network (1998 - 2004). It draws on in-country research, thematic research and workshop papers to identify the key issues, and explores in depth what the TKN research has to say about them. The result is an excellent primer on the issues faced by the South in the area of trade and sustainable development. The book includes a companion CD covering all of the surveyed TKN research (more than 40 papers in all, including several in Spanish).

WINNIPEG — The first budget from the Liberal minority government may send out a strong signal that Canadians and industry will be rewarded by pursuing cleaner, more climate friendly modes of development, but it seems to have ignored the fact these initiatives are a response to our Kyoto Protocol obligations.

"It is curious that in the Minister's entire speech, the word 'Kyoto' is not mentioned once. It is, after all, the Kyoto Protocol coming into force that has precipitated a relatively strong response in this budget," said John Drexhage, IISD's Director of Climate Change and Energy.

"More details, particularly on the reduction policies for large industry, such as utilities, and the auto sector, are still needed before we have a comprehensive plan in place. We need to continue to press Minister Dion to make sure that he delivers on his promise to have a full plan in place within a month. We also need to know a bit more about how all these new programs will operate, and most importantly, how we can ensure that they deliver the required reductions in time for Kyoto. Little time is at hand before 2008, when our Kyoto commitments begin," said Drexhage.

IISD recognizes the important role new programmes like the new 1 billion dollar Clean Fund, the 250 million dollar Partnership Fund, and the Renewable Power Production Incentive will play in creating new jobs, encouraging innovation and producing domestic emission reductions. The government's promised expansion of the Renewable Power Production Incentive, quadrupling of the Energuide home energy retrofit and wind energy incentive programs and the allocation of 250 million dollars to the Sustainable Energy Science and Technology Strategy to foster the development of new emission reducing technologies are all positive signs of an increased federal commitment to addressing climate change.

"The government has put a lot of money into the types of things we wanted them to, so I am happy to give two and half cheers for Minister Goodale's efforts," said David Runnalls, IISD President and CEO.

In English (87 kb) - En Français (89 kb)

WINNIPEG — Ask a sustainability expert which sustainable development research organization they think is particularly effective and the International Institute for Sustainable Development tops the list more times than any other organization. That is one of the findings presented in the recently released GlobeScan Survey of Sustainability Experts 2004-2 Highlights Report.

"It is especially gratifying to be recognized like this by your peers. The credit goes to our researchers who have built a very solid reputation for the Institute on a wide range of cutting edge sustainability issues. This survey result speaks well to the resonance and impact of our work in all program areas and reinforces the fact that others are deriving value from it as well,” said David Runnalls, IISD President and Chief Operating Officer.

The Survey of Sustainability Experts asked respondents who study, deal with, or are directly involved in sustainable development research organizations to name a maximum of four SD research organizations they consider to be particularly effective. In the responses received, IISD ranked most highly by being named by one quarter of the respondents.

The Highlights Report presents selected findings of the 2004-2 GlobeScan Survey of Sustainability Experts conducted from September 12 to October 25, 2004. The survey was sent out to 1,962 experts and stakeholders in Asia, Western Europe, and North America, as well as Africa, the Middle East, South America, and Eastern Europe. Two hundred experts had completed the survey by the October 25, 2004 closing date.

The GlobeScan Survey of Sustainability Experts Most Effective SD Research Organizations results can be viewed here. GlobeScan has been conducting its biannual Survey of Sustainability Experts since 1994.

WINNIPEG — IISD has launched a new project in partnership with the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA—the rural extension service of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada that has from its inception in the aftermath of the "dirty 30s," built adaptive capacity among farmers and farm communities to cope with climate stress), and the Centre for Community Based Resource Management at the University of Manitoba's Natural Resources Institute.

This-two year, $300,000 project is funded through the Canada's Climate Change Action Fund and will examine the resilience of prairie communities to past climate stresses as the basis for adaptation to future climate change.

The project is based on the premise that prairie agroecosystems, or the inter-relationship between social and ecological systems in the prairie region, have been continuously adapting (successfully and unsuccessfully) to historic climate variability.

"By examining successful examples of how agroecosystems have adapted to past climate stress, we believe that we can learn how to promote adaptive capacity and build the resilience of prairie agroecosystems to climate change," explains Dr. Henry David Venema, Director of Sustainable Natural Resources Management at IISD.

The project will undertake a series of case studies in regions of high historic climate stress. Through these carefully selected case studies using GIS analysis of historic climate stresses, the project will explore:

• why some prairie agroecosystems are resilient to existing climate stress;

• which existing policies and management practices promote or impede resilience to existing climate stress;

• how climate resilience can be increased by strengthening adaptive capacity through targeted policy intervention; and,

• which prairie agroecosystems may be highly vulnerable to future climate change, and which policy interventions are most important in these regions.

To reach these goals, the project will undertake three main tasks:

1. A Vulnerability Analysis that will integrate historic climate variability and socio-economic data to identify potential vulnerability "hotspots" for detailed study.

2. A Resilience Analysis at the farm and community level that will assess existing adaptive capacity and its role in building resilience to climate change, and include a synthesis of current and planned policies that will build resilience to climate change.

3. An Adaptation Priority Analysis in which future climate scenarios will be integrated with crop and land use models to identify regions where building resilience to climate change may have highest priority.

The primary outcomes of the project will be a deeper understanding of the potential for increasing resilience to climate change on the Canadian prairies and policy recommendations to support this goal.

"Because the project reflects IISD's deep interest in agroecological systems resilience, their varied adaptive capacity, and the underlying policies that promote or impede adaptive capacity I am very confident that the project's research findings will make an important contribution to the design of Canada's evolving Agricultural Policy Framework," Dr. Venema said. "I am also pleased to be working with PFRA and the Centre for Community Based Resource Management on this project. It is great to have such strong partners collaborating on this research."

The project is led by Dr. Venema in collaboration with Dr. Fikret Berkes of the Natural Resources Institute, and Dr. Harvey Hill of PFRA.

WINNIPEG — After two years of careful political maneuvering, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed his country's Kyoto Protocol ratification papers, paving the way for the Protocol to come into force in early 2005. For Canada, and other countries facing strict greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, little time remains to meet our Kyoto targets.

"Finally the logjam has been broken," says David Runnalls, President and CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), "President Putin's action today means that much of the world now has binding commitments for reducing emissions and dealing with climate change."

While the Canadian government recently reiterated its commitment to meeting its Kyoto target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by six per cent below 1990 levels by 2008–2012, it did not provide a timeline for the development and implementation of an achievable national plan that will enable it to meet this commitment. It is increasingly obvious that the ongoing delays in effectively implementing the 2002 Climate Change Action Plan for Canada have not reversed Canada's historic pattern of continually growing emissions.

The evidence is overwhelming that immediate action is needed:

• The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in its 2004 Environmental Performance Review of Canada, indicates that Canada's energy intensity per unit of gross domestic product is the highest in the OECD. The lead recommendation in the review is that Canada should, "further elaborate and aggressively implement the Climate Change Plan for Canada, using a broad array of policy instruments (including emissions trading and other flexibility mechanisms) to ensure that GHG targets are met effectively and efficiently."

• According to figures released in September 2004 by the U.S. and Canadian governments, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions have grown by 14 per cent since 1990 while Canada's emissions have increased by 20 per cent.

• Media reports on the disagreement between Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada over stringent vehicle emission regulations point to deeper interdepartmental divisions and a lack of consensus among departments on climate change actions.

• The U.S. Government's Energy Information Administration indicates that Canada's per capita energy consumption is the highest in North America and far higher that European Union countries.

There are several actions IISD suggests the Canadian government pursue:

• Finalize and put in place legislation supporting the establishment of an emissions trading system for Canadian industrial emitters.

• Work with industries that have proactively taken action and reduced emissions by adopting energy conservation, technological innovation and the shift to more climate-friendly sources of energy to encourage wider industry buy-in.

• Develop an international strategy using Kyoto Protocol flexibility mechanisms to ensure the use of strategic investments that will enhance Canada's technologic know-how and export market opportunities.

• Not shy away from obtaining a greater proportion of its reductions through the global carbon emissions marketplace.

"The importance of the Protocol coming into force is that it means the value of carbon is solidified in the international emissions market," says John Drexhage, Director of Climate Change and Energy at IISD.

"What we will soon see, as a result of Russian ratification, is the dawning of the carbon market. This is one of the most significant accomplishments of the Protocol—it has created an international monetary value for carbon—and that, for business, will make a difference to the bottom-line," Drexhage adds.

By continuing to delay action domestically and internationally, Canada risks missing the boat on fostering technological innovation in energy efficiency, renewables and energy distribution; losing further competitive advantage to trading partners; and foregoing training and job opportunities for Canadian workers. It must better articulate an international strategy that will ensure the use of strategic investments that will enhance Canada's technologic know-how and export market opportunities.

WINNIPEG — David Runnalls, President of IISD, and Arthur Hanson, Distinguished Scientist of IISD, joined a meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) in Beijing. CCICED is a high level international advisory body designed to strengthen cooperation and exchange between China and the international community in the field of environment and development. The Council meets every year and submits recommendations to the Chinese Government related to environment and development. The theme this year is "sustainable agriculture and rural development." The Council is scheduled to meet with Chinese Premier Wen on October 29.

Arthur Hanson, acting as International Lead Expert, was responsible for reviewing research and recommendations from five Task Forces reporting to the Council this year. Together with Honglie Sun, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he oversaw the drafting of recommendations to be considered by the Council.

David Runnalls is International Co-Chair of the Task Force on WTO and Environment (TFWE). Together with the Chinese Co-Chair, Dr. Ruqiu Ye, Dr. Runnalls is reporting to the Council on the Task Force and submitting recommendations on what China should do to maximize the environmental benefits and minimize negative impacts resulting from China's WTO accession.

China's accession to the WTO has been the most important development in trade policy for China and for the WTO as a whole since the Uruguay Round. The impact on China's economy has been profound. The impact on the environment has also been significant.

The report by the TFWE looks at six sectors where the environmental impacts are the most pronounced: agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, automobiles, energy and textiles. These sectoral studies represent the most comprehensive assessment of the environmental consequences of trade liberalization policies undertaken by any country to date.

Certain environmental consequences are the result of growth. In many instances, the necessary policy responses are well known. Growing industries are dynamic and engaged in processes of innovation, so often opportunities exist to find solutions that protect the environment without impacting growth. The textile sector is a good example.

Trade liberalization not only promotes increased production; it also creates consumer surpluses associated with falling prices or increased quality. Again there are important environmental measures that can be taken to ensure that the consumer surplus also serves environmental needs. These are particularly pronounced in the automobile sector.

Some economic sectors or activities will actually be reduced because their products can be imported at lower cost or higher quality. Such sectors are less likely to be innovative and do not benefit from the new resources associated with growth. Yet these sectors may still present specific environmental problems that require the attention of policy-makers; these are among the most challenging aspects of the trade and environment debate. Examples may be found in agriculture that is resource-intensive rather than labour-intensive.

The TFWE recommended to the CCICED that, in growing sectors, the government will need to introduce more stringent environmental regulations to improve environmental quality and to promote international competitiveness. In contracting sectors, measures will be required to ensure these sectoral adjustments will not cause unacceptable environmental harm. The forestry sector in particular will require close monitoring to make the necessary adjustments. This review should include domestic policies and conditions, as well as import and export policies, and forests in other countries liable to be impacted by dramatically increasing Chinese imports of their products.

The automobile sector presents particular challenges and opportunities. Prices are falling on account of WTO accession and the number of automobiles is growing dramatically each year. Yet falling prices also permit the authorities to introduce more stringent environmental standards without meeting consumer resistance. The TFWE recommended an accelerated transition to the Euro IV standards, among the most stringent in the world.

Meanwhile, China's WTO accession leads to increased demand for commodities that must be imported. China will continue to seek access to such resources on a global scale. The TFWE recommended that China should consider its ecological footprint and take steps to ensure that its commodity imports are sustainable.

WINNIPEG — Led by Dr. Lloyd Axworthy—President of the University of Winnipeg and former Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada—a group of international experts in trade in natural resources, aid policy and security issues are in Geneva, Switzerland today to establish the operating guidelines for an exciting new International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and IUCN - World Conservation Union project examining the linkages between environment and conflict. There are three Nobel Prize nominees on the steering committee: Dr. Axworthy, Partnership Africa Canada, and Global Witness.

"Lloyd Axworthy is internationally recognized for his significant contributions to effective dialogue and action on security and sustainability issues. He also has a deep understanding of the current political realities and complexities involved in peace-building initiatives. I can't think of a better person to be at the helm of this committee; he is probably one of the two or three best people in the world for this. Obviously, his leadership will be invaluable," said David Runnalls, President and CEO of IISD.

Security is an essential precondition for sustainable development. Without security, social institutions cannot function, people cannot plan for the future and investors cannot safely enter. It's with the best intentions that trade and aid seek to support the internal security goals of developing countries; the starker reality is that trade and aid often undermine security and lead to violent conflict.

Recognizing this, and seeking to develop a more pragmatic and integrated understanding of the divergence between what are supposed to be supportive mechanisms, IISD and IUCN have assembled this advisory steering committee to guide the project team over the next 12-18 months of project activity.

The project will develop a number of focused case studies and rigorous thematic papers to investigate these linkages. It will also seek to assess what policy tools might be effective to combat the problems they cause. Throughout the process the steering committee will oversee the progress and direction of the research. Towards the end of 2005 the conclusions of the project will be launched with a book and a conference.

"I am especially pleased to have such a distinguished group of experts make this commitment to our project. Their guidance and insights will greatly influence the final outcomes of the project and expand the reach of our message considerably," explained Mark Halle, project leader and Director of the IISD Trade and Investment program.

Steering Committee Members

• Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, Canada (Chair)
• Duncan Brack, United Kingdom
• Dr. Valerie de Campos Mello, Brazil
• Georg Frerks, Netherlands
• Dr. Christian Friis Bach, Denmark
• Gavin Hayman, United Kingdom
• Leiv Lunde, Norway
• Mansoob Murshed, Bangladesh
• Ian Smillie, Canada
• Mark Taylor, Norway/Canada

Biographies (PDF - 54 kb) of committee members are also available.

About IISD

The International Institute for Sustainable Development contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy, climate change, measurement and indicators, and natural resources management. By using Internet communications, we report on international negotiations and broker knowledge gained through collaborative projects with global partners, resulting in more rigorous research, capacity building in developing countries and better dialogue between North and South. IISD's vision is better living for all-sustainably; its mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. IISD receives operating grant support from the Government of Canada, provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Environment Canada, and from the Province of Manitoba. The institute receives project funding from the Government of Canada, the Province of Manitoba, other national governments, United Nations agencies, foundations and the private sector. IISD is registered as a charitable organization in Canada and has 501(c)(3) status in the United States.

IUCN CEESP

CEESP, the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy, is an inter-disciplinary network of professionals whose mission is to act as a source of advice on the environmental, economic, social and cultural factors that affect natural resources and biological diversity and to provide guidance and support towards effective policies and practices in environmental conservation and sustainable development. Following the mandate approved at the Second World Conservation Congress in Amman, October 2000, CEESP contributes to the IUCN programme and mission with particular reference to five thematic areas:

• Collaborative Management of Natural Resources
• Sustainable Livelihoods
• Environment and Security
• Environment, Trade and Investment
• IUCN WCPA-CEESP Theme Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, Equity, and Protected Areas

WINNIPEG — The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has appointed Dr. Henry David Venema of Winnipeg, Manitoba, as Director of the Sustainable Natural Resources Management program.

The re-shaped program will focus initially on water resources issues on the Canadian Prairies and in the northern United States. IISD's international work on community-based natural resources management, mining issues and on environment and security will continue as well.

Dr. Venema recently completed his PhD in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo. He also holds a Master's Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Ottawa and is also a gold medalist in Physics and Civil Engineering from the Universities of Winnipeg and Manitoba respectively. He is a professional engineer with extensive experience in water resources, natural resources, and energy sector planning in North America, Africa and Asia. He has been a researcher at IISD since 2001 working primariliy on climate change and energy issues.

"Hank brings a special energy and an exceptional breadth of practical experience to the position," said IISD President and CEO David Runnalls. "He's able to link research from different disciplines and deliver innovative approaches to solving some of the environment and development issues facing the world. And his Prairie roots give him a solid perspective on regional matters."

"It's an honour to be selected," said Venema. "IISD is doing internationally recognized research in climate change, international trade and investment, and other areas. I'm looking forward to advancing our work in natural resources and its key linkages with our other research programs."

WINNIPEG — On September 6, 2004, the Human Development and Capability Association will be launched at the 4th Capability Conference in Pavia, Italy. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen will be the first president of the association. The International Institute for Sustainable Development, through the efforts of Dr. Anantha Kumar Duraiappah, Director of Economic Policy, played a central role in the establishment of the association.

The Human Development and Capability Association mission is to promote quality research in the interconnected areas of human development and capability. The association will focus on research in areas where the human development and capability approach have made, and can make, significant contributions, including the quality of life, poverty, justice, gender, development and environment. It is also committed to supporting work in all disciplines—such as economics, philosophy, political theory, sociology and development studies—where such research is, or may be, pursued.

Activities of the association include regular conferences, training activities, Web communications and a listserv. The Human Development and Capability Association Web site can be found at http://www.hd-ca.org. More information about IISD's work related to Amartya Sen's research can be found here.

WINNIPEG — The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) announced today the appointment of seven new members to its board of directors. Joining the IISD board for three year terms are Stephanie Cairns (Canada), John Michael Forgách (Brazil), Daniel Gagnier (Canada), Gordon McBean (Canada), Jane Rigby (Canada), Mohamed Sahnoun (Algeria), and Mary Simon (Canada).

"These new members provide further evidence of the institute's reputation and reach. They are exceptional individuals with a vast array of experience and expertise. They will add much to the collective wisdom of an already very capable and highly effective board," said IISD Board Chair, Jacques Gérin.

"I am looking forward to working with these new board members over the next few years. We will be relying on the entire board as we implement our second strategic plan. I am confident they will have much to contribute in this regard," said David Runnalls, President and CEO of IISD. "It is also worth noting that with the addition of these new members we have both lowered the average age of our board and significantly improved the gender balance."

"IISD is a leading international research organization bringing much needed attention to many important sustainable development issues. I believe the institute's work in Canada and with its partners around the world has furthered global progress towards sustainability. I am very pleased to be working with such a highly regarded organization as a member of its board. My familiarity with the institute goes back to my participation in the Young Canadians for a Sustainable Future internship program, so I am well aware of the very positive impact IISD's work has," said Jane Rigby, Vice President with Cantor Fitzgerald / CO2e.com.

With the addition of these new appointees, IISD's board of directors now has 20 members representing nine different countries. The International Institute for Sustainable Development's board of directors meets twice annually in Ottawa in January and in Winnipeg in June.

WINNIPEG — The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has completed its second year of operating as a carbon neutral organization-reducing and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions associated with its operations and travel.

IISD's carbon neutral goal is part of a broader internal sustainability strategy being pursued by the institute as one of a very limited number NGOs participating in the Global Reporting Initiative.

For the fiscal year 2002/03, IISD achieved net-zero carbon emissions through the purchase of 375 tonnes of certified emission reduction credits. This amount represented emissions related to IISD air travel. This was the first year IISD tracked greenhouse gas emissions associated with any aspect of our operations.

"IISD is actively engaged in climate change issues domestically and internationally. Not only does our carbon neutral commitment further advance our work in this area, it is the right thing to do" said David Runnalls, President and CEO of IISD. "It has been a great learning experience for us. We've gained useful insights concerning how small and medium-sized organizations can set and meet internal greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and prepare themselves for participating in the emerging domestic emissions trading system."

For 2003/04 IISD expanded its travel emissions tracking to include IISD associates and Earth Negotiations Bulletin/Linkages team members. The institute also measured emissions related to energy usage at its head office in Winnipeg. These two decisions require the institute make a larger offset purchase this year, but also provide a more accurate indication of IISD's total emissions. This accuracy will continue to increase during 2004/05 when IISD will include employee commuting in its total emissions number. The institute will also measure emissions related to institutional office energy use in Ottawa and Geneva.

IISD's carbon neutral commitment involves not only purchasing offsets, but reducing its overall emissions footprint. The institute is actively pursuing emission reduction opportunities gained through energy use improvements. IISD also supports and participates in climate-friendly programs, including the Winnipeg Commuter Challenge, which encourages participants to use sustainable and active modes of transportation; and the Winnipeg Transit Eco-Pass program, offering transit users a discounted monthly bus pass.

IISD's greenhouse gas emission reduction purchase was brokered by CO2e.com. IISD is working with CO2e.com on a proposal to bring more members of the Canadian NGO sector into the emerging domestic emissions trading marketplace through the creation of an emissions purchasing pool.

WINNIPEG — From the perspective of the Kyoto Protocol, the 2004 Federal Budget would have to be seen as a disappointment, says the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

The only additional funds for climate change related activities arise from the sale of Petro-Canada and the government is allocating $1 billion instead of $2 billion.

Of the $1 billion allocated, $200 million has been earmarked for Sustainable Development Technology Canada and the remaining $800 million is allocated to the development of new environmental technologies, which have yet to be identified.

While these may result in emission reductions in the long term, there is no assurance that these investments will actually result in reductions during the Kyoto commitment period of 2008-2012.

"I guess what the Throne Speech giveth – in the form of a renewed commitment to Kyoto – the budget taketh away," says John Drexhage, IISD's Climate Change and Energy Director.

"The Kyoto Protocol is not mentioned once in the budget and this may not be an accident, which is a worrisome sign."

Instead, the government is accelerating support for oil and gas development in the Arctic and offshore while there is no defined additional support for wind and other renewable energy technologies.

"The investment in the Sustainable Development Technology Canada is innovative and should help Canadians make the transition to a carbon-constrained future," Drexhage says. "But there must be an accounting system in place that tracks its effectiveness in actually delivering real emission reductions."

"We don't have much time to move on climate change issues, and this budget does little to reassure Canadians that this government is serious about meeting its Kyoto commitments," Drexhage adds.

WINNIPEG — The decision by a NAFTA tribunal to accept and formally consider public submissions in a major environmental case represents a precedent-setting "triumph for openness" in international trade and investment arbitration, says the Canadian-based International Institute for Sustainable Development.

IISD has won a 3½ year battle to take part in NAFTA hearings this year into claims by Methanex Corporation that California violated guarantees of investors' rights when it banned a polluting gasoline additive manufactured in Canada. Methanex, of British Columbia, says its NAFTA Chapter 11 rights were violated when the state banned MTBE, a suspected carcinogen.

The breakthrough, communicated to IISD late Friday, was welcomed by the Institute's President David Runnalls as another new breach in the walls that have surrounded international trade and investment arbitration cases, until now conducted secretly "in-camera" with investors and governments as the sole participants.

Said Mr. Runnalls: "We set out in August 2000 to address the procedural deficiencies of the investor-state arbitrations, as well as concerns about rights accorded to investors under NAFTA's Chapter 11. This precedent-setting Tribunal decision builds on previous breakthroughs that opened the hearings to the public, thus making the process more transparent. Now the hearings are open for public input as well. The decision addresses almost all of our original procedural goals and we welcome this news.

"We look forward now to participating in the process of getting the interpretations of NAFTA's Chapter 11 right. Foreign investment is critical to achieving sustainable development today. But foreign investor rights that take priority over the right of policy-makers to govern and legislate in the area of sustainable development are self-defeating.

"Our goal is to leave the Tribunal with a strong and clear impression of what is at stake, and how appropriate interpretations of Chapter 11 can protect the legitimate interests of investors as well as the capacity of countries to actively pursue sustainable development goals."

IISD Senior International Lawyer Howard Mann of Ottawa said the Institute's submission to the Tribunal for formal consideration will represent "a true landmark, firmly establishing another global precedent towards the democratization of international investment cases and international investment law.

"This Tribunal has consistently shown its awareness of the public interests in this case," he added. "It has previously acknowledged that cases under Chapter 11 have important public policy and public welfare issues at their heart. Now they are working to ensure public interests can be fully aired and debated. They have had the courage of their convictions in setting out this procedure. Now it is up to us to show the effort has value."

Mr. Mann said IISD remains concerned about the substantive direction Chapter 11 cases are taking and "for the first time, we will now be able to express those concerns before a decision is made in an important case, not just afterwards."

Background

NAFTA Chapter 11, originally intended to protect foreign investors from expropriation and government harassment, has become "a strategic tool" for corporations and an offensive weapon against new environmental and other public welfare laws, according to IISD.

Chapter 11 provides foreign firms with the opportunity to directly sue a government through an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. Commonly found in international investment agreements today (of which there are more than 2,000), this is a powerful tool for businesses looking to influence government policy. It costs only a few thousand dollars to prepare a notice of intent to arbitrate, which starts a potentially very costly process for government.

In a much-publicized case, Ethyl Corp, U.S. producer of a suspected carcinogen, argued that the Canadian government had unfairly discriminated against it by banning the good's import. Ethyl claimed US$ 250 million in damages for, among other things, expropriation of its goodwill and future earnings. The case was settled out of court for US$ 13 million, and the Canadian government was forced to scrap the ban.

The suit brought against the U.S. by the Canadian firm Methanex claims US$ 970 million in damages for California environmental regulations that phase out the company's gasoline additive MTBE due to concerns about groundwater poisoning caused by leaking storage containers and the product's suspected carcinogenicity.

IISD has warned that Chapter 11, improperly interpreted, could lead to a "regulatory freeze" in the three NAFTA countries, with environmental policy decisions inhibited by the threat of multi-million dollar corporate lawsuits. Governments could find themselves required to compensate firms harmed by new environmental regulations on the grounds they amount to "expropriation" under Chapter 11.

The IISD has recommended that NAFTA member countries, without reopening the agreement itself, draft a statement interpreting what they mean by "expropriation" and some of the other disciplines. Such interpretive statements, already successfully deployed by NAFTA countries in other areas, are legally binding in future arbitrations, and would easily limit the aggressive strategic corporate use of suits of this kind.

Two types of issues have concerned IISD, and motivated the initial August 2000 submission to the Tribunal to seek amicus status:

• The secrecy of the arbitration process, which had never been open to the public, which had not allowed documents to be made public, and which did not allow for amicus submissions to that point.

• The substantive provisions of Chapter 11, which had been used several times to that point to challenge new environmental laws, and was again being so used in the Methanex case.

IISD sought four results:

The Tribunal's new decision fulfills all but the fourth of these requests.

The NAFTA parties have, since the original IISD petition in August 2000:

For more information on this case and IISD's wider work on investment rules and sustainable development, please click here.

Out of Respect - The Tahltan, Mining and the Seven Questions to Sustainability report was the result of the Tahltan Mining Symposium held in Dease Lake, B.C., in April of 2003 which brought together members of the Tahltan Nation, mining industry representatives, the federal and provincial governments, and was facilitated by the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

The symposium and subsequent report reviewed the relationship between the Tahltan people and territory and mining/mineral activity.

"We wanted to send a signal that the Tahltan people are supportive of mining on their land," said Jerry Asp, Chief of the Tahltan Band. "But at the same time there have to be conditions that respect our concerns regarding fair distribution of costs and benefits."

"We want to make sure that any mining that happens on our traditional lands is a win-win for all parties – the Tahltan people, the mining industry and the government," he added.

Respecting environmental concerns and ensuring that any mining activity undertaken is done in a sustainable manner were also primary concerns of the Tahltan people.

"To guide us through the review of the Tahltan's relationship with the mining industry we used a process called the Seven Questions to Sustainability," said Anthony Hodge, facilitator of the symposium and leader of the mining and minerals team at the International Institute for Sustainable Development. "We want to make sure that the health, social, cultural, environmental, as well as economic, implications of mining and mineral activity are fully addressed."

"The key to this is effective engagement in decision making of the numerous interests," he added.

"We want to ensure that our relationship with the Tahltan people is one of mutual respect and understanding of each other's concerns," said Dennis Bergen, former Vice President, Operations with Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. "Wheaton River has worked with the Tahltan to that end, and I am happy to have been invited to participate in this comprehensive process."

The Tahltan Mining Symposium, held in Dease Lake, B.C., April 4-6^th, 2003, was supported by: Barrick Gold Corporation, British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines, British Columbia Ministry of Sustainable Resources Management, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Natural Resources Canada, Noranda Inc., Wheaton River Minerals Ltd.

For further information on the Tahltan Mining Symposium, please click here.

To download Out of Respect - The Tahltan, Mining and the Seven Questions to Sustainability, please click here.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba can use its natural assets to seize the opportunities presented by the Government of Canada's proposed greenhouse gas emissions trading system, states a new report released today by the Task Force on Emissions Trading and the Manitoba Economy chaired by the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy.

The report Realizing Opportunities: Emissions Trading in Manitoba was presented by Mr. Axworthy to Manitoba Premier Gary Doer at the Manitoba Legislative Building today.

"We all know climate change is a key issue for the 21^st century and Canada is coming to grips with how it is going to cope with its impacts both environmentally and economically," said Lloyd Axworthy, chair of the task force.

"The federal government has asked for input into its proposed emissions trading system, and Manitoba has really taken the lead in identifying opportunities," he added.

While the international implementation of the Kyoto Protocol weathers the storm of on-again off-again Russian ratification, all indications point to the virtual certainty of a dynamic trading market for emissions emerging – with or without Kyoto.

The task force came to three overarching conclusions related to the federal government's proposed system:

1. Manitoba has a natural advantage in clean electricity and the reduction of emissions and enhancement of sinks from agriculture and forestry activities. Manitoba can supply offset credits and the provision of clean, renewable energy.

2. 2008 is too late! The proposed start date for the federal system should be earlier in order to allow time to smoothly implement emissions trading.

3. We need to get the trading system right in the long run. The proposed federal emissions trading system needs major revisions in order to foster a clean energy, low-emission economy.

"A new system has to provide stronger incentives for electricity that doesn't produce greenhouse gas emissions and to encourage energy efficiency," said Axworthy. "For example, a new low-impact hydro development in Manitoba would receive no economic incentive under the federal government plan and if this doesn't change neither will Canada's energy mix."

"We should also be expanding the coverage of the trading system so that it doesn't just target large industrial greenhouse gas emitters. A broader system would provide the necessary economic incentives to more emitters across the country," he added.

"The Task Force Report reinforces Manitoba's enviable position as being a 'green' leader in Canada," said Premier Doer. "Our government is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting a clean energy economy through initiatives such as new generation hydro and a national energy grid. This report and the central idea of building environmental considerations into investment and development decisions makes sense for the long-term well being of our economy, our environment and the planet."

"Manitoba is in a good position to be able to fill the power-generation void left by the coal-fired plants that are due to be closed in Ontario," said David Runnalls, task force member and President and CEO of the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development. "New hydro developments and wind opportunities provide non-emitting, sustainable electricity sources."

"The farming community in Manitoba can also play a key role in reducing greenhouse gases," says Ian Wishart, task force member and Executive Member of Keystone Agricultural Producers. "Managing manure more effectively and capturing methane would reduce the impacts of livestock, and with farmers avoiding summer fallowing, the soil can soak up carbon dioxide."

The task force was commissioned by the Provincial Government and its members included: Rob Altemeyer, MLA; Lloyd Axworthy, Chair; Bob Brennan, President and CEO of Manitoba Hydro; Andrew Cowan, City of Winnipeg; Terry Duguid, Chairman of the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission; Kerry Hawkins, President of Cargill Ltd; Merrell-Ann Phare, Executive Director of the Centre of Indigenous Environmental Resources; Bob Puchniak, Executive VP and CFO of James Richardson & Sons Ltd; David Runnalls, President and CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development; Marsha Sheppard, President, ECOMatters; Michael Spence, Mayor of the City of Churchill; and Ian Wishart, Executive Member, Keystone Agricultural Producers. The International Institute for Sustainable Development served as the secretariat for the task force. The task force was funded by the Province of Manitoba, Western Economic Diversification Canada and Manitoba Hydro.

"The Government of Canada's commitment to addressing climate change and greenhouse gas effects presents an economic opportunity for Manitoba," said the Honourable Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, Minister of Western Economic Diversification. "This report will help us determine possible next steps towards realizing this potential. Western Economic Diversification Canada is pleased to have contributed to this study."

"Climate change is very real and a real concern for Manitobans," said Axworthy. "Our recommendations are intended to be a roadmap for Manitoba to become an innovative leader in the greenhouse gas emissions trading market."

WINNIPEG AND TORONTO — Young Canadians have succeeded in getting youth issues near the top of agenda at the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) through a youth caucus, world-wide e-consultations, workshops and a youth hub space. Thanks to their efforts, the final WSIS declaration is expected to include the strongest-ever language on youth in a UN declaration.

The Summit, being held in Geneva December 10-12 is a drawcard for world political, civic and business leaders including German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac, and will explore everything from Internet governance to the use of new technologies to improve healthcare and educational systems in developing countries.

Global youth input to the Summit has been spearheaded by two Canadian NGO's-Toronto-based, youth-led TakingITGlobal (TIG) and the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

"It is no surprise that young people are having such a large impact at WSIS, says Jennifer Corriero," the 23 year old co-founder of TakingITGlobal and a member of the official Canadian WSIS delegation. "Whether it's leadership in new economy companies, powering telecom profits or bridging the digital divide, young people are where IT is at."

Key youth events that will be happening during the Summit include:

• A dedicated "Youth Day" on December 10 coordinated by young people (aged 14-28) who have formed a "caucus" and have been active in the WSIS preparations since 2002. The Youth Caucus is facilitated by TakingITGlobal. Youth day events include workshops, National Information Society Youth Campaigns, launching the Youth Creating Digital Opportunities Action Plan and a Youth Awards showcase.

• A panel discussion at the Canadian Government Pavilion on December 11 focusing on the role of young Canadians in information and communication technology for development (ICT4D). Panel presenters include:

  • Terri Willard (Project Manager, IISD)
  • Santiago Reyes-Borda (Senior Advisor, Industry Canada)
  • Diane Trahan (Director, NetCorps Canada International)
  • Louis Dorval (VP Finance, Engineers Without Borders - McGill)
  • Jennifer Corriero - (Co-founder, TakingITGlobal)
    
    

• Merging the work of the gender and youth caucus, there will be a roundtable of young female leaders involved with ICT4D. The roundtable follows an extensive e-consultation with young women from around the world, led by IISD, in an effort to better understand their contributions to the information society.

"Young people's involvement in the ICT for development field is truly outstanding and it is great to see it getting such a profile here at WSIS," says Terri Willard, project manager at IISD and coordinator of the Youth Creating Digital Opportunities (YCDO) Coalition.

"I've been particularly impressed by the abilities of the young Canadians in forging partnerships with young people from around the world to bridge the digital divide. It's a new approach to development," she says, "in which young people serve as the catalysts for change and, in the process, shatter our old stereotypes of developed versus developing countries. They all learn from each other and support each other's initiatives."

The Canadian Government has also been a large supporter of youth efforts, earmarking money specifically for key youth events in Geneva.

The Executive Director of the Summit Secretariat of WSIS, also a Canadian, has been similarly impressed with the efforts of youth. Pierre Gagne says that, "young people are now acting as catalysts for the development of a truly inclusive and empowering information society and their participation brings real excitement and relevance to our work."

For more information

• www.wsis.org
• www.wsis-canada.gc.ca
• www.ycdo.net
• www.takingitglobal.org
• www.iisd.org

The principles, signed by the Honorable Herb Dhaliwal, Minister of Natural Resources Canada, and Bob Page, Chairman of IETA and Vice President, Sustainable Development, TransAlta Corp., and a member of IISD's Board of Directors, bring Canada a step closer to developing a functioning carbon market.

IISD's corporate partners in this initiative include Alcan, B.C. Hydro, BP, Climate Change Central, Co2e.com, Conoco Phillips, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Dofasco, DuPont, ICF, Lafarge, MacLeod Dixon, Natsource, Noranda Falconbridge, Ontario Power Generation, Petro Canada, Shell, Suncor, The Royal Bank of Canada and TransAlta.

"We're pleased to be part of this group. It's vital that Canadian industry and government can work together to address the climate change issue," said John Drexhage, IISD's Director of Climate Change and Energy. "These shared principles are just a first step, though. The implementation of an effective domestic emissions trading system will require a great deal of effort and commitment."

The 12 Principles for the Canadian Carbon Market include sustainability, innovation, the role of price signals, international consistency, certainty and transparency.

The domestic emissions trading system will be one of the important tools available to large final emitters, such as power, oil and gas and certain manufacturing industries, in meeting the reduction of 55 million tonnes of GHG emissions under the Government of Canada's Climate Change Plan for Canada. A domestic emissions trading system promises to help meet Canada's Kyoto targets to reduce GHG emissions by six per cent from 1990 levels by the period 2008 to 2012. The Kyoto Protocol was ratified by Canada on December 17, 2002.

A domestic emissions trading system is one of the mechanisms providing industry with flexible options for meeting GHG targets in an economically efficient manner by promoting price discovery, rewarding innovation, supporting the competitiveness of Canadian industry and providing incentives for the development of low-emissions technologies. Designing an effective and efficient domestic emissions trading system is therefore an important element in efforts to balance climate change commitments and a healthy economy.

The Principles for the Canadian Carbon Market are available online at http://www.ieta.org.

WINNIPEG — Feeling confused about whether your morning cup of coffee is organic, fairly traded or shade grown? Well you're not alone, says a new report published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). Consumers and businesses around the world have been taking a greater interest in "socially and environmentally responsible" coffees, but this interest has been matched by an equal cup of confusion.

The new report, The State of Sustainable Coffee: A Study of 12 Major Markets, was launched in Columbia at the International Coffee Organization's Annual Council Session, and documents the fundamental features of the main sustainable coffee available today, as well as the state of their current markets.

The report, which calls for stricter guidelines and policies on what can be labelled organic, fair trade and shade grown, collectively known as sustainable coffees, indicates that this segment of the coffee market is growing significantly but is also in need of policy guidance to ensure that producers continue to benefit.

Coffee is arguably one of the world's most important cash crops and is vital to the livelihood of more than 25 million small coffee farmers. Sustainable coffees can provide such benefits as improved natural resource management; fewer agrochemicals used in production, which decreases costs and health risks; and increased use of rural labour, which provides more jobs for those in desperate need.

The market for these coffees is small-less than two per cent of consumption in developed markets, on average-but in 2002 sales of all coffees making credible sustainability claims were in excess of 1.1 million bags. Sustainable coffees around the world have already made significant headway toward improving the living conditions of almost a million farming households in the Southern Hemisphere. The markets and overall growth for such coffees are, however, threatened by growing confusion among industry and consumers alike.

"The report shows that consumers and industry representatives in Europe were clearly confused about the diverse labels and claims to sustainable coffee that are being made," says Jason Potts, Coordinator of the Sustainable Commodity Initiative at IISD.

"What this study shows is both the need and opportunity for developing an international platform for defining sustainability in the coffee sector based on clarity, transparency and multi-stakeholder collaboration," he added.

The report, authored by Daniele Giovannucci, is the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, and examines the characteristics and trends of the sustainable coffee markets in 11 European markets and Japan. This report follows on the heels of an earlier similar report that Giovannucci wrote which surveyed the North American market. These reports are widely considered by many to be groundbreaking work.

The study was published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the International Coffee Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

WINNIPEG — The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is celebrating the 200th intern placement in its flagship program, Young Canadian Leaders for a Sustainable Future (YCLSF).

Since 1997, interns have been placed in 36 countries around the world with over 80 host organizations. The interns are placed with such international heavyweights as IUCN - The World Conservation Union, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.

"The reputation of the program has really grown and people want to be associated with it," says Carolee Buckler, project manager for the internship program. "This year alone we received almost 300 applications for just 25 internship positions so the interns get really excited when they find out their applications were successful."

And it's no wonder. Today, alumni of the YCLSF program are currently employed with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the United Nations, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Renewable Energy Systems, the Mennonite Central Committee, the Canadian International Development Agency and Canada World Youth among others.

Shannon Bradley from Sardis, BC, is the 200th YCLSF intern. She eagerly awaits her placement with Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) International in London.

"The opportunity to get hands-on experience in the sustainable development field in an international context is fantastic," she says eagerly. "Young people have a lot to offer and this program really recognizes the value of that."

The organizations who host the interns think so to. Armed with impeccable credentials, the interns are highly educated, well travelled and multi-lingual. These young Canadians face their new challenges with a spirit of adventure and a desire to make a difference in the world.

Lilian Chatterjee, former Director of Communications for the host organization International Institute for Environment and Development, praises the interns that have been placed with her organization.

"IIED is extremely grateful to IISD and to the Government of Canada for its support of this excellent program that has enabled us to build our capacity and be more effective in supporting and realizing our sustainable development objectives."

Not only do these under-30's gain incredible work experience, but they are also exposed to the cultural differences by living and working in a different country. This year, placements are being made in Switzerland, Britain, South Africa, Malaysia, Kenya, Mexico, Ghana, Guyana, Romania, India, Hungary, Costa Rica, Germany, Norway and Sri Lanka.

"Once they are back in Canada, you start to hear some of the stories that have occurred outside of their work experiences," says Buckler with a laugh. "We have had interns tell us about their experiences with a coup in Pakistan, a volcano erupting in Equador and an earthquake in El Salvador."

The Young Canadian Leaders for a Sustainable Future Program is made possible through the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through the Government's Youth Employment Strategy and Human Resources Development Canada.

WINNIPEG — The impacts on air quality, climate and human health from coal burning power plants amount to $1.8 billion a year, and are not accounted for in the price consumers pay for electricity, concludes a new study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

The report, The Full Costs of Thermal Power Production in Eastern Canada, is the first to quantify the health impacts, air quality and climate change externalities associated with electricity produced from fossil fuels across Eastern Canada.

The study traced the passage of pollutants from the electricity sector to their impacts on people. The costs of the increased risks of mortality, chronic respiratory disease and child bronchitis as well as increased respiratory and cardiac hospital admissions, emergency room visits and degraded quality of life due to air pollution were calculated to total $700 million a year (1996 dollars) in Eastern Canada alone.

Additionally, the impacts on global climate change as a result of electricity generation from fossil fuels in Eastern Canada are estimated to be $1.1 billion a year.

"We need to think about how we produce our energy and how we can restructure our energy supply system so that the full costs of our choices are reflected," said Stephan Barg, co-author of the report and Senior Corporate Advisor at the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development.

"Ontario, in particular, is at a critical crossroads in determining how to meet future electricity needs, how to meet Kyoto commitments and how to secure future energy supplies," he added.

Coal produces mercury, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide when burned which makes it a particularly severe source of air pollutants.

"Using other energy sources such as solar, natural gas or wind may not seem so expensive when compared to the full costs of so-called cheap coal," said the report's co-author Henry David Venema, Research Associate at IISD. "Our domestic emissions would be less and we wouldn't have to buy emission credits on the international market."

"There is this illusory notion out there that coal is cheap," he added. It isn't. It affects our health, our air quality and our quality of life."

Winnipeg — Sila Alangotok, an acclaimed documentary video on Inuit observations of climate change, will be aired on BBC World's "Earth Report" at the end of July and the beginning of August.

The video, produced in 2000 by the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), documents Inuvialuit observations of the effects of climate change on their way of life in the remote Artic community of Sachs Harbour.

The presence of unusual species of fish, birds, animals and insects; melting permafrost; a disappearing lake; and unprecedented reports of Arctic lightning storms are among dozens of climate change related impacts in the far north.

The video supports a long-held belief that climate change impacts would be felt first in the Polar Regions. The project involved scientists working with Elders, hunters and community members to document the dramatic changes that have occurred on their landscape and in their hunting and fishing patterns.

For more information about the project, please visit our climate change web site.

BBC World will air the documentary on Monday, July 28, 5:30 pm & 9:30 pm EDT; Tuesday, July 29, 5:30 am EDT; Saturday, August 2, 12:30 pm EDT; and Sunday, August 3, 5:30 am EDT. Click here for regional variations to air times.

Further Information and Interviews:

Stuart Slayen
Communications Officer
Ph: 204-958-7740

The sheer volume of information, new and old, now available on the science, policy and possible consequences of Earth's changing climate overwhelm even the most interested and diligent researchers.

That's why the Climate Change Knowledge Network is pleased to announce the Climate Compendium, a regularly updated cyber-bulletin that condenses, consolidates and channels the latest and best information on climate change at one easy-to-find-and-use location.

With its comprehensive background material and extensive resource guides, the Climate Compendium has been created to help foster a better understanding of global climate change issues.

Hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development for the Climate Change Knowledge Network, the Climate Compendium is a guide to the issues and actors involved in one of the most critical public policy issues of our time. It has been funded by the Canadian International Development Agency and the United States Agency for International Development.

The Climate Compendium provides the best possible starting point for people seeking to better understand the issues related to global climate change, said IISD President David Runnalls.

"The Climate Compendium is an excellent resource for the CCKN as it works to build capacity and increase the understanding of the international complexities of the climate change negotiations," said CCKN co-manager Jo-Ellen Parry.

The Climate Compendium is divided into five broad sections

1. International Negotiations

A detailed backgrounder summarizes the progress of negotiations so far by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, including coverage of the first six Conferences of the Parties (COP). There are separate sections on the progress of negotiations since COP-6 and COP-6 Part II (the Bonn Agreement).

The section on UNFCCC issues includes detailed coverage of capacity building, vulnerability and adaptation, financial mechanisms and technology transfer. There is also an in-depth analysis of issues surrounding the Kyoto Protocol.

An update on Kyoto mechanisms complements separate detailed analyses of these mechanisms: clean development, emissions trading and joint implementation. Other Kyoto issues covered in detail include compliance, sinks, inventories and "good practices" in policies and measures to address climate change.

2. National Policies and Implementation

Provides links to the latest national reports, studies and publications from around the world as well a comprehensive list of more than 100 government websites with information on climate change profiles and policies provided by both Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 countries.

3. Business and Technology

Contains a list of recent report, studies and publications and links to business organizations, associations and programs that specialize in, or have developed positions on climate change. Also identifies NGO/industry/intergovernmental programs and associations and companies involved in greenhouse gas emissions trading.

4. Scientific Research

Links to new reports, studies and publication and climate change science resources as well as a guide to educational and background reading on climate science available on the Internet. Separate sections on climate change data and trends and potential impacts.

5. Related Institutions

With links to recent climate change reports and studies from organizations such as the World Bank, UNCTAD, Global Environment Facility, OECD, International Energy Agency, UNEP, UNDP and International Finance Corporation. Also links to the climate change sections of other UN conventions and treaties.

The Climate Change Knowledge Network

CCKN brings together expertise, experience and perspectives from more than a dozen organizations from developing, transitional and developed countries. The network aims to contribute to a more effective, sustainable and equitable>

• undertaking collaborative research and action on issues such as the Kyoto mechanisms, adaptation to climate change, and technology transfer;
• building capacity in developing and developed countries to better understand and address climate change issues; and
• communicating information and knowledge within and outside the network

The International Institute for Sustainable Development is the network coordinator for the CCKN.

WINNIPEG — A pioneering book by distinguished economist, philosopher and Nobel Laureate Amartya Kumar Sen has been reformulated and published as a 48-page comic book with the goal of reaching and influencing a mass audience in some of Africa's poorest nations.

Prof. Sen's "Development as Freedom" has been produced in an illustrated format with characters who interpret and explain his economic theory in everyday language, emphasizing the role of personal freedoms and capabilities in defining the success of development efforts.

In an effort to convey his ideas in the most accessible format possible, the Canadian-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) initiated this innovative project with the Mazingira Institute of Nairobi, Kenya, and with seed funds from the C.P. Loewen Foundation of Canada. Kenyan artist Terry Hirst donated his time to the yearlong project.

Prof. Sen, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University, critiqued the text and said he was "very happy with what elegance and reach you have reflected the main concerns that I tried to present, and in such an accessible and entertaining form.

"The art of communication can be very exacting especially when the content is complex. The authors of this marvelous book of cartoons have done a superb job in reaching out without losing the basic features of seeing development as freedom."

The illustrated version of Prof. Sen's book, entitled "There is a Better Way," will be launched Feb. 5 in Nairobi, Kenya, at the Governing Council meeting of the UN Environment Programme, an active supporter of the project.

An initial run of 5,000 copies will be distributed via local workshops in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania to schools, universities and development organizations.

In his book, Prof. Sen argues that economic growth is only one of many factors involved in reducing poverty and improving well being; that essential freedoms and personal capabilities in a democratic decision-making system are the real measures of national development and quality of life.

Students and policy-makers at the University of Nairobi, Cambridge University and UNEP were highly positive after reviewing early copies of the comic book and felt its potential market was especially large in Africa as many of the issues covered are highly relevant to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) initiative, the development agenda for African countries over the next decade and longer.

A passionate advocate of enhanced investment in health, education and the creation of opportunities, Prof. Sen's landmark work in welfare and development economics earned him the Nobel Prize in 1998, the same year he was appointed the first non-British Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University, considered by many the most prestigious academic post in the United Kingdom.

In his Nobel Prize citation, Prof. Sen was credited by the Royal Swedish Academy with "having restored an ethical dimension to economics."

During the launch of "Development as Freedom," one commentator characterized Prof. Sen as an economist who "distrusts unadulterated market economics" and "has a penchant for emphasizing the social in the social science of economics." The review noted that his Nobel Prize raised eyebrows at the time among more conventional economists who hold that economic growth through a process of liberalization, stabilization and privatization will solve the poverty problem and improve human well being across the board.

IISD President David Runnalls called Prof. Sen's writings "a powerful tool for change.

"Prof. Sen's 'Development as Freedom' is now more easily accessed by many people in developing countries, especially the poor. The illustrated version, 'There is a Better Way,' will expose many additional people involved in development work today and in the future to an alternative economic paradigm to that taught at the universities and entrenched within development agencies."

The project was conceived, designed and produced Dr. Anantha Kumar Duraiappah, IISD's Director of Economic Policy and Senior Economist directed the project. He and Dr. Flavio Comim of Cambridge University provided intellectual guidance for the project while Terry Hirst from the Mazingira Institute fashioned the work into its illustrated form. Davinder Lamba, Director of the Mazingira Institute, provided logistical and other support in Kenya.

"Drafting a simple, fast-paced dialogue that does justice to the insights espoused so eloquently in Prof. Sen's book was a painstaking challenge met most admirably by artist Terry Hirst," said Dr. Duraiappah.

"This new product provides a unique way to broaden young mindsets and evoke change," he added. "Professor Sen's work offers the impoverished everywhere a new framework within which to influence NEPAD and other such international development strategies, and to reduce poverty and achieve well being as defined by them."

Through an analysis of Santiago's transportation sector, a series of study tours and workshops, the project team plans to bolster the institutional and technical capacity of transportation and environmental officials in Chile to develop CDM projects in the transportation sectors. The project team will help identify potential CDM projects, assess their greenhouse gas (GHG) and air quality emissions reductions, and develop methods for structuring CDM projects in the transportation sector.

"This project will break new ground by exploring the links between transportation development and the opportunities available to countries such as Chile through the Clean Development Mechanism. The addition of CDM funds could go a long way to encouraging appropriate and sustainable development in transportation planning and development over the coming decades,” says John Drexhage, Director of Climate Change and Energy at IISD.

The project hopes to provide useful lessons for other developing countries that wish to reduce GHG and air pollutant emissions from the transportation sector and participate in the CDM.

"The CDM provides an excellent opportunity to enhance investment in Chile's transportation sector over the coming years, while also reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and promoting sustainable transportation initiatives. This important joint initiative between CC&D, IISD and CCAP will contribute much toward facilitating the advancement of thinking on the links between the Kyoto Protocol, and clean development in the transport sector in Chile,” says Eduardo Sanhueza, Director of CC&D.

"In addition to advancing climate policy goals in Chile, this project has great potential to set international precedent on how CDM projects in the transportation sector are designed and how the associated emission reductions are quantified. During the early stages of the CDM, the Executive Board will be looking for model projects in the transportation sector to demonstrate 'gold-standard' techniques for assessing project GHG benefits – the timing of this project could not be better,” says Ned Helme, Executive Director of CCAP.

The project will be launched during the Eighth Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, COP-8 being held in New Delhi, India October 24 – November 1, 2002.

About IISD

The IISD is an independent, not-for-profit corporation. Its mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. IISD contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on climate change, international trade and investment, economic policy, measurement and indicators, and natural resource management. IISD has extensive experience on climate change mitigation, impacts, adaptation and policy design. Established in 1990 with continuing support from the governments of Canada and Manitoba, IISD also receives revenue from foundations and other private sector sources.

About CC&D

CC&D is a consulting firm that specializes in the analysis, design and promotion in Chile of the market-based instruments under the UNFCCC involving the participation of developing nations. Since its establishment in 1994, CC&D has been actively involved in the local and international climate change debate as a source of expert information on technical matters related to these types of instruments, both for the National Environmental Commission (CONAMA) and the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Chile and for its delegation to the UNFCCC negotiation process.

About CCAP

CCAP is a non-profit environmental think-tank that specializes in developing and implementing innovative solutions to major environmental problems that balance both environmental and economic interests. CCAP has extensive experience on transportation analysis and climate policy development. CCAP specializes in engaging government, industry and NGO experts in substantive dialogue on policy design and implementation.

The Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), along with project partners IUCN-The World Conservation Union and Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), are working together to demonstrate how community-based natural resource management can increase resilience to climate impacts.

"Because the poorest and the most vulnerable tend to rely more directly on natural resources for their livelihoods, and because many ecosystems can provide a natural buffer against climate hazards, sustainable environmental management can be important in building the resilience of these communities to climate-related disasters,” says John Drexhage, Director of Climate Change and Energy at IISD.

The IISD, IUCN and SEI are undertaking a three-year international research project to highlight successful examples of locally based natural resource management activities that enable communities to cope with disasters and prepare for the anticipated impacts of climate change.

"The rising toll of current climate-related disasters foreshadows the likely adverse effects of climate change. We need to find a more proactive, anticipatory approach that helps vulnerable communities prepare for and withstand the impacts of such change,” says Brett Orlando, IUCN’s Climate Change Focal Point.

They will be presenting their joint initiative at the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP-8) in New Delhi, India. An event will be held on October 28, 2002 at 6 p.m.

WINNIPEG — A report released today from the Mining Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) North America shows that the mining industry has recognized that continuation of its "social licence" to operate depends on bringing its practices in line with sustainable development.

Towards Change is available online. It is the result of a one year review of mining practices in Canada and the United States. The project was led by the Mining Team of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD, Winnipeg) in collaboration with the Mining Life-Cycle Center, University of Nevada, Reno. The project engaged many interests including junior and senior mining companies, mining service companies, government, labour ,communities, aboriginal people, NGOs, and universities.

"By initiating this project, the mining industry has taken an unprecedented step and shown real leadership. Continuing attitudes and practices of the 19th century, it went on its merry way through most of the 20th century thumbing its nose at the massive rise in concern about how people and the environment have been treated. I like to think that this marks a real turning point. No other industry has taken an initiative like MMSD. Now at the beginning of the 21st century, there is a remarkable opportunity for the industry, government, and others to demonstrate in concrete terms that the future will be different from the past," says David Runnalls, President of the International Institute for Sustainable Development

Some of the key recommendations in the final report include: increasing effort to address the human and environmental legacy of past mining practices; enhancing capacity to reward good and discourage poor performance by the mining industry and others; and clarifying how the distribution of costs, benefits and risks between companies, communities, and governments can be made more fair in the future

"The world has changed and there is no turning back. The question is simply one of whether or not the industry chooses to be proactive in participating in that change, or slips back to a 19th century reactive mode," says Tony Hodge, IISD Mining Leader.

The results of the report will be presented at the Energy and Mines Ministers Conference being held in Winnipeg Sept. 15 -18. Runnalls and Hodge will give a presentation at the open session on Tuesday Sept. 17th at 10:30 at the Fairmont Hotel.

A new publication by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the IUCN - World Conservation Union says that while wars between countries are increasingly unlikely, over three-quarters are fought within developing countries, by armed bands financing themselves with diamonds, drugs and illegal logging. The fatal blow for governments already weakened by economic downturn is increasingly environmental-from natural disaster or famine to rapid deforestation or toxic pollution-which deepens ethnic divides and sparks violence. In a series of case studies ranging from the role of land scarcity and population growth in densely populated Rwanda to the "war" between Canada and Spain over the Atlantic fisheries, "Conserving the Peace: Resources, Livelihoods and Security" examines how natural resource management is linked to social tension and conflict, and spells out the value of protecting the environment in addressing the roots of insecurity.

"The impact of today's wars is overwhelmingly felt by the poor," stressed Richard Matthew, security expert at the University of California and co-author of the report presented today. Pointing out that 15 of the world's 20 least-developed nations were torn by internal conflicts in the 1990s, he cautioned that unresolved conflicts can spill across borders and even onto the Main Streets of the world's financial centres, with global implications.

"Addressing the roots of conflict means safeguarding the critical resources which people need to survive and thrive," said Achim Steiner, Director General of IUCN - The World Conservation Union. "As much as 50 per cent of wood imported into Europe may come from illegal sources, much of which is harvested at gunpoint, with devastating impacts on traditional communities and on wildlife."

"Conserving the Peace: Resources, Livelihoods and Security," which can be accessed in its entirety here asks the question: is conflict on the rise because of mismanagement of the planet's natural resources? And if so, what can be done about it?

"Security is at the top of the political agenda, particularly with September 11th only a week away," observed David Runnalls, President of the International Institute for Sustainable Development. "The global community spent nearly US$30 billion on humanitarian assistance in the 1990s, an ever-increasing part of foreign aid. This trend is unsustainable. Our two years of research in this field shows that protecting critical natural systems can be a cheap investment in peace."

The world leaders attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which comes to a close on September 4th, are aiming to confront serious and growing threats to human well-being, from water scarcity to land degradation to biodiversity loss.

For example, every year land degradation and desertification cause an estimated $42 billion in damage and lost income, but the cost to prevent degradation would total only $2.4 billion a year, according to United Nations. Conservation action in different parts of the world has shown that these alarming trends can and should be reversed and that environmental health is key to long-term economic and political stability.

"The Johannesburg Summit promises the world a new comprehensive agenda that, by addressing all aspects of the development process at the same time, offers a realistic framework for lasting global security," noted Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, IUCN Patron, who addressed the delegates at the launch of the book at 5:30 p.m. at the IUCN Environment Centre Atrium.

About IISD

The IISD is an independent, not for profit corporation. Its mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. Established in 1990 with continuing support from the governments of Canada and Manitoba, IISD also receives revenue from foundations and other private sector sources.

About IUCN

The IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP), is an inter-disciplinary network of professionals advising on the environmental, economic, social and cultural factors that affect biological diversity in support of the Union's mission. The World Conservation Union was founded in 1948 and brings together states, government agencies and a wide range of NGOs in a unique worldwide partnership. As a Union, IUCN seeks to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.

Peter Hardi, Director of IISD's Measurement and Indicators Program, is available for media interviews following the event.

WINNIPEG — The Dashboard of Sustainability, a new online tool that helps policy-makers and the public visualize and track progress towards sustainable development, will be presented at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

The software communicates complex information in a user-friendly format, allowing people to see sustainability performance between countries, through the use of numerous indicators. The Dashboard of Sustainability was developed by the Consultative Group on Sustainable Development Indicators (CGSDI), a group of leading indicator experts from five continents. It is based on the United Nations CSD indicator set and contains 19 social, 20 environmental, 14 economic and eight institutional indicators. It includes data for over 200 countries. The latest version, RioJo, allows a comparison of the situation at the time of the Rio Summit in 1992 with the current state of the world.

The Dashboard is the product of a six-year international project led by the Canadian-based International Institute for Sustainable Development, with headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

"It provides a tool to signal what is significant and to go deeper into the underlying causes," says Peter Hardi, Director of Measurement and Indicators at the International Institute for Sustainable Development. "Like the instrumentation of an aircraft, the Dashboard offers a visual signal of progress towards sustainable development, and warnings of problems."

"The Dashboard helps the 'pilots' of our societies to understand the complexity of sustainable development, and to discuss and communicate their ideas," adds Jochen Jesinghaus, a civil servant at the European Commission and author of the Dashboard software.

The prototype will be demonstrated on August 30, 2002, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm at the Ubuntu Village Conference Centre, room F - Fever Tree.

Background

An aircraft dashboard contains instruments that signal the flight path and performance, enabling the pilot to know when corrective action is needed. The signals are often integrated in one panel to avoid overwhelming the pilot with information, but individual problems and more specific information can be traced back through the detailed instrument displays.

The Dashboard of Sustainability takes an analogous approach to the presentation of sustainable development indicators. It is an instrument panel designed to inform decision-makers and the public on the status of a nation's progress toward (or movement away from) sustainability. The concept grew out of the work of the Consultative Group on Sustainable Development Indicators (CGSDI), engaged in critical assessments and design discussions since 1996.

Recently, the Dashboard was made functional by using 57 indicators offered by the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) to compose the three main clusters for over 100 countries. Algorithms and graphic presentation software have been developed; data are presented in an animated version of the Dashboard.

The specification has a built-in flexibility and the clusters can be modified according to the end-users' specific needs, without changing the functioning of the Dashboard. It allows the presentation of four dials, corresponding to the four clusters of the CSD indicator set (economic, environmental, social and institutional). The Dashboard allows presentation of complex relationships in a format that is digestible for decision-makers and other persons who might specialize in one field (e.g., environment or social issues or economics), but need to integrate policy fields in which they are not experts, into their work.

The correlation between any pair of indicators can be shown graphically. A list of indicators, sorted by "best fit," allows identification of the most relevant linkages (for example: is unemployment correlated with GDP growth?). In particular, these functions allow identification of synergies (indicators whose "desirable" values are positively correlated) and potential conflicts (e.g., environment vs. many economic and social variables).

WINNIPEG — Former participants in the Canadian Government's Youth International Internship Program (YIIP), representatives from international organizations and Canadian government officials gather at a reception hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development to hear how programs such as YIIP have advanced Canada's contribution to sustainable development.

The YIIP program is funded through the Youth Employment Strategy and supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

"Many of the answers to the complex challenges of sustainable development involve fundamentally changing the way we think and the way we live; and youth are not only better prepared to make such changes, they are better prepared to lead the way, " said Minister Whelan. "Canada supports international internships to provide youth with the skills, knowledge, and contacts required to deal with the realities of the world today."

IISD has been a sponsoring organization of the Government of Canada's YIIP since 1997. The IISD works to match the skills and interests of young Canadians with the needs of international organizations focused on sustainable development issues. Over 130 young Canadians have been placed in over 50 different host organizations where they have had the opportunity to share their skills, promote sustainability, and gain international work experience. The reception for Canadian interns will highlight the success of YIIP and the direct contributions being made by the youth of Canada to the WSSD and to the sustainable development movement at home and abroad.

"It is no accident that wherever you go in the world, you find young Canadians making progress towards sustainability within the United Nations, international corporations and non-profits. The YIIP program has been instrumental in cultivating a generation of young leaders with a global outlook and concern for the environment," said David Runnalls, President of the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Former interns recognize the contribution it makes to building careers in sustainable development. "The program was invaluable to me in my pursuit of a career in development," said Alyson Slater, a former YIIP intern who helped to organize the World Summit parallel event. "The face-to-face contact and cross-cultural flow of ideas has allowed me to develop extensive international contacts, and enriched my ideas and values."

Many current and former interns are playing a pivotal role at the WSSD, including organizing NGO participation, developing sustainable development reporting guidelines for companies, and contributing to key WSSD documents, most notably the Global Environment Outlook (GEO), and Conserving the Peace.

The event will be held at 6:15 pm - 9:00 pm at the IUCN Environment Center, Aloe Room 135 Rivonia Road, NEDCOR Bank Building, Sandton Square, Johannesburg.

WINNIPEG — The Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero held over a decade ago brought global attention to the environmental, social and economic crises facing the world. A new publication released by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Ten + Ten, assesses the progress we have made since then, examining the 10 under-celebrated successes in the last 10 years and the 10 glaring failures.

The publication, available online, asks the questions: what has the world accomplished since 1992, where have we all fallen short and what do we need to do next? While acknowledging the lack of political will to honour many commitments made in Rio, there is hope for the future.

"We wanted to illustrate successes as well as failures to offer some real hope that, slowly, the world is starting to shift direction. The successes signal the hard work of scientists, bureaucrats, business people and citizens around the world to respect and safeguard humanity and the ecosystems," says Heather Creech, Director of Knowledge Communications at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, who led the editorial committee for the publication.

The ten failures include the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the human tragedy of AIDS, the continued extinction of rare species of animals and the continued armed conflicts raging around the globe. Successes include landmark agreements reached on chemical and biological risks, the thousands of practical grassroots projects and the emergence of corporate social responsibility.

Establishing National Authorities for the CDM identifies specific steps in facilitating developing country involvement in the "Clean Development Mechanism," and presents various Latin American experiences, encouraging other countries to adapt lessons learned to their local needs.

"IISD recognizes the urgency in establishing a prompt start in implementing the CDM. This guide is intended to help developing countries in that respect and to address uncertainties in the viability of CDM investments over the next few years" said John Drexhage, IISD Director of Climate Change and Energy.

"This product is a step-by-step guide to the establishment of National Authorities that can successfully evaluate, approve and market CDM project proposals," said Michael Zammit Cutajar, outgoing Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). "Distilling the experiences of Latin American countries, it contains a wealth of information, commentary and practical advice on the functioning of these bodies. It is a 'must read' for all those, in developing countries and elsewhere, whose mission is to lay solid institutional foundations in order to benefit from the CDM."

The 174-page book, available online, describes the evolution and functions of National Authorities needed to govern international "Clean Development Mechanism" projects, and explains the types of projects involved.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas will co-host a launch of the publication in Bonn Weds. June 12 at 1 p.m., at the 16^th meeting of the Subsidiary Bodies (a meeting under the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change).

About IISD

The IISD is an independent, not-for-profit corporation. Its mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. Established in 1990 with continuing support from the governments of Canada and Manitoba, IISD also receives revenue from foundations and other private sector sources.

About CSDA

The Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, DC Its mission is to promote innovative financial instruments which support sustainable development in Latin America, the Caribbean and other developing countries. Specializing in the financial instruments emerging from the Climate Change Convention, CSDA works simultaneously at four distinct levels: policy, institutional/capacity building, project preparation and carbon finance.

WINNIPEG — The recent release of the Bush Administration's alternative to the Kyoto Protocol has once again raised the profile of the current debate surrounding climate change, particularly in light of President Bush's energy policy released last year.

Bush's announcement will likely be at the centre of discussion at this week's Continental Energy Markets and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Implications? a conference co-sponsored by Winnipeg's International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Canadian Energy Institute Research Institute, to be held in Ottawa on February 20 and 21 at the Westin Hotel.

The Honourable Herb Dhaliwhal, Minister of Natural Resources, is scheduled to give the first keynote address of the conference on Wednesday, February 20. The Honourable David Anderson, Minister of the Environment, is scheduled to give the second day's keynote address, on Thursday, February 21. Lorne Taylor, Minister of the Environment for the Province of Alberta will be the closing keynote speaker on the second day of the conference.

The conference will feature round table discussions on US Energy Policy, the implications of the Kyoto Protocol and innovative approaches to energy policy. Participants include experts in related fields from across North America, including Mexico.

"As the Bush Administration releases its climate change plan, we need to bring a variety of issues into the spotlight and look at the possible implications for Canada, the United States and Mexico," says John Drexhage, director of Climate Change at IISD.

"This conference is a forum for various people to debate and discuss the issues pertaining to energy production and climate change," says Morgan MacRae, director, Environment-Energy Research from CERI.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development is an independent, not for profit corporation headquartered in Winnipeg whose mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. Established in 1990 with continuing support from the governments of Canada and Manitoba, IISD also receives revenue from foundations and other private sector sources.

The Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) is a cooperative research organization based in Alberta whose principal role is to undertake objective, independent research studies to assist corporations and governments make energy-related decisions and policy choices.

For more information contact Stuart Slayen at the International Institute for Sustainable Development 204- 958-7726 (office) or 204-951-3001 (cell).

The BSD Global Guide project coordinator, Peter Hughes, is available for interviews.
Please call 416-532-8218 or 204-958-7742 to arrange a time.

WINNIPEG — A new web-based guide that shows businesses how to enhance their bottom line by putting the principles of sustainable development into practice goes online today (December 3).

Business and Sustainable Development - A Global Guide (www.bsdglobal.com) puts practical applications of sustainable business into the hands of corporate decision-makers. It was created through a partnership between the Canadian-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the independent, Swiss-based Foundation for Global Responsibility, which specializes in promoting sustainable business practices.

"In the run-up to next year's World Summit on Sustainable Development, industry is increasingly being put under the spotlight and expected to play its part in creating a world that's fit for future generations," said David Runnalls, President of IISD.

"Sustainable development offers big opportunities for business. The so-called 'triple bottom line' - taking into account financial, environmental and social aspects - is now widely used in gauging business performance. Companies can no longer afford to ignore the social and environmental impacts of their activities."

The BSD Global Guide gives business leaders the practical steps they need to turn broad aspirations towards sustainable development into tangible results.

"Businesses face real dilemmas when responding to the conflicting demands of different stakeholders, all trying to balance their economic, environmental and social responsibilities," says Javed Ahmad, President of the Foundation for Global Responsibility.

"No one pretends that this balancing act is easy, but it helps to have immediate, free and easy access to relevant, credible and practical information. The BSD Global Guide was developed to fulfill this purpose."

Case studies including such household names as Electrolux, ICI, Nike and Volvo are used to illustrate the wide range of business tools available. The online resource also provides expert briefings on specific topics, written from a business perspective, including:

• Corporate reporting
• Environmental management systems (EMSs)
• Standards, such as EMAS and ISO 14001
• Social responsibility

The BSD Global Guide also addresses the cold war that has traditionally prevailed between business and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and how this is gradually giving way to a more collaborative approach between lobby groups and the companies they are seeking to influence.

The BSD Global Guide is a development of earlier work by IISD in the field of sustainable business, which was funded by the Canada-Manitoba Infrastructure Program.

WINNIPEG — Experts emphasised the links between climate change, ecosystem management and disaster prevention today at the end of a two-day workshop on Climate Change, Vulnerable Communities and Adaptation. The meeting evaluated the available evidence for the linkages and set up a Task Force to define research gaps and actions to influence policy.

"This Task Force gives climate change a human face. It is not about a warmer climate in 50 years time, it is about disasters that are already increasing in frequency and violence and that hit poor communities harder than they hit the countries that cause the problem," says Lionel Hurst, Ambassador in Washington of Antigua and Barbuda, co-chair of the two-day meeting.

The global cost of disasters is $30 billion annually and is estimated to increase to $300 billion by the year 2050 as a result of increasing climate-related disasters. The world's most vulnerable populations - in particular, those living on fragile or degraded lands, like the Arctic Inuvialuit or West Indian nations - are those most likely to bear the brunt of these disasters. The impact of disasters on regional economies and local livelihoods undermines development and conservation efforts and deepens the divide between those who can afford to protect themselves, and those who cannot.

"In recent years, disasters cost the world's poorest nations more than 14 per cent of their GDP, the richest nations less than three per cent," says Janet Abramowitz with the Worldwatch Institute.

Disasters are natural phenomenon that cannot be prevented, but human activities often exacerbate the consequences. Deforestation increases the risk of landslides, and drainage of wetlands and construction in floodplains increase the risk of floods. Landslides during Hurricane Mitch (Mesoamerica) especially hit poor farmers that are forced to farm on the cheaper land on hillslopes.

The Task Force intends to address the linkages between ecosystem management and disasters in research and will bring that knowledge to international fora. They emphasised the discrepancy between the local measures that are needed to mitigate disasters and the international negotiations on climate change: "Negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol are dominated by national economic interests. The question is what we can do to put the real issues on the agenda," says Brett Orlando, IUCN Climate Change Expert.

One central message in the expert meeting was that, even though measures to adapt to climate change or mitigate its consequences may be available, it is vital to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. "Climate change reflects a world that is 'overeating'. We can buy bigger clothes, or go on a diet. We can adapt to climate change, but to solve the problem we must reduce emissions," says Mark Halle of the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

The meeting was organised by IUCN - The World Conservation Union, the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Stockholm, Environment Institute - Boston Centre.

The 10th Annual Canadian Awards for International Cooperation were held in conjunction with International Development Days held in Winnipeg November 16-20. The events were co-sponsored by the Canadian Manufacturers Association (CMA) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Since its inception in 1997, the YCLSF program has placed more than 100 young people from across Canada with organizations in Europe, Asia, North America and Africa. The program is intended for people aged 21 to 30 years with an interest or background in sustainable development.

"The program is creating a new generation of decision-makers who are well equipped and dedicated to leading Canada in its commitments toward global sustainability," said YCLSF Program Manager Carolee Buckler, who accepted the award on behalf of IISD. She stressed the importance of such programs in a world that is changing so dramatically.

"Recent world events have forced greater reflection about the essential role that young leaders play in fostering partnerships in the international arena. Now more than ever, we need to bridge cultural gaps in the global community, nurture the thoughts and ideas of young minds and develop capacity for a sustainable future. An opportunity such as this compels its participants to question their values and understand those of others."

Former interns were delighted that the program was recognized for the contribution it makes to building careers in sustainable development. "The program was invaluable to me in my pursuit of a career in development," said Jen Castleden, who, as an intern, worked for the United Nations Development Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. "The face-to-face contact and cross-cultural flow of ideas has allowed me to develop wonderful contacts, ideas and values."

WINNIPEG — On September 10, Jim Leslie, President of the IISD Business Trust, died at the age of 63 while hiking in Banff, Alberta.

The following is a statement from David Runnalls, President and CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development:

"It is with great sorrow that we mourn the death of our longtime colleague and friend, Jim Leslie. As President of the IISD Business Trust, Jim played a critical role in the advancement of our work with corporate partners around the world. While Interim Director of our Climate Change strategic objective, he freely contributed his expertise and experience as IISD sought to develop a very solid program of climate change activities.

We will miss Jim greatly. His gentle wit was ever present, never malicious. He was a consummate professional whose work, by virtue of its quality, contributed to the cause of sustainable development. He was a team player who shared his energies on major, institute-wide matters such has strategic planning and our examination of innovation. We treasured his expertise and enthusiasm.

But we will remember him best as a superb human being. We will miss him greatly in the months and years ahead. Our thoughts are with Jim's wife, Marjorie, and the Leslie family."

Jim Leslie - Biography

Jim Leslie completed his BSc in Civil Engineering and later received an MBA while working as a management consultant in the energy industry and other areas for over two decades. He served as a senior officer with TransAlta Utilities Corporation, including three years as the Senior Vice-President, Sustainable Development from 1994 until he joined IISD in 1997. Jim Leslie lived and worked in Calgary.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba Premier Gary Doer today announced the signing of a five-year, $5.7 million funding agreement with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

"The Institute promotes the principles and practices of sustainable development on a national and international basis," said Doer. "It performs an important role researching sustainable development practices and promoting education and information."

The provincial funding will support ongoing program delivery, operating expenses and specific project funding. The IISD established its head office in Winnipeg in 1990.

Over the next five years, the Institute will focus on:

• creative responses to climate change and its impacts;
• more sustainable forms of agriculture and natural resource use; and
• improved methods for the public and private sectors to measure progress toward sustainable development.

"The government and the Institute have enjoyed a close working relationship since the Institute's inception," the premier stated. "We expect that relationship will continue and grow in the years ahead."

Under the terms of the new funding agreement, the province will contribute $4.6 million towards ongoing operating costs and up to $1.1 million for specific project funding based on government priority needs. Two areas being considered for funding are climate change initiatives and the Manitoba Round Table for Sustainable Development.

"The continued operation of the Institute and its presence in Winnipeg are necessary to continue important sustainability research being conducted in Canada," said Doer.

David Runnalls, President of the International Institute for Sustainable Development says that the money will allow the organization to do work on a range of sensitive issues such as global trade policies as well as projects within the Province. "IISD is not only a policy think tank, but a high tech organization that works at the provincial, national and international level."

This research will take on greater significance as Manitoba implements the recommendations of the Consultation on Sustainable Development Implementation (COSDI) initiative.

Thursday, June 28, 2001 at 8 a.m.
The Winnipeg Chinese Cultural Centre
180 King Street, Winnipeg, MB

Canadian launch of the Asian Development Bank's Asian Environment
Outlook 2001

J. Warren Evans, Asian Development Bank; Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, Secretary of State (Asia Pacific) will speak.

WINNIPEG — Canada's International Institute for Sustainable Development hosted the Canadian launch of a report by the Asian Development Bank that paints a devastating portrait of environmental decline in Asia. The report entitled Asian Environment Outlook 2001 (AEO) concludes environmental degradation in the Asia and Pacific region is pervasive, accelerating, and unabated, putting at risk people's health and livelihood and hampering the economic growth needed to reduce the level of poverty in the region.

"Environmental trends are alarming and previous institutional and policy approaches appear to have had a limited success," said J. Warren Evans, Manager, Environment Division, Asian Development Bank. "Even in the face of this devastation, the region still has the opportunity to follow a different economic-environmental pathway, one that builds a clear urban-industry economy and ensures sustainability of natural resources."

The Asian Development Bank is a leading multilateral development agency with headquarters in Manila, Philippines. The AEO report provides in-depth analyses of the environmental issues facing the region, as well as a workable framework to improve the environment and reduce poverty.

"For Canada, protecting the environment and reducing poverty are inseparable. Without poverty reduction we cannot achieve sustainable development," said Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) and M.P. for Winnipeg-North St. Paul. "It is the world's poor who are most vulnerable to the effects of environmental degradation. Canada therefore continues to strongly support the ADB's programming and policy work related to the protecting the environment, improving the quality of life for all."

Asia's economic development over the past few decades has come at a high environmental cost, according to the report:

• By 2020, over half of Asia's population is likely to live in cities, with the urban population tripling to over a billion in 2020 from 360 million in 1990, a further strain on already inadequate infrastructure for water supply, housing, and sanitation.
• The region has already lost up to 90 percent of its original wildlife habitat to agriculture, infrastructure, deforestation, and land degradation.
• One in three Asians lacks access to safe drinking water within 200 meters of home, with South and Southeast Asia suffering the most.
• The region is expected to replace the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries as the world's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions by 2015.
• Air pollution is a major cause of respiratory ailments and premature death in several Asian cities.

"If nothing is done, Asian industry may follow the same destructive path taken earlier by the industrialized nations. Much of the growth may be highly polluting," said Mr. Evans.

With only a few exceptions, Asia's "grow now, clean up later approach" has resulted in a long list of institutional, policy, and governance failures, says the AEO. The separation of economic growth from environmental concerns has led to:

• Excessive reliance on centralized, top-down approaches;
• Inadequate participation of civil society in environmental management;
• Weak enforcement;
• Absence of political will;
• Corruption;
• Market distortions; and
• Limited funding for environmental management.

The report identifies three core elements of a new approach to meet the Asian Development Bank's vision of a region where consumption is based on services rather than ownership or assets, ecosystems and biodiversity are valued and protected, and environmental management is decentralized, participatory and effective. The three elements are:

• Environmental and development policies must be integrated at national and regional level. Currently, a stand-alone agency is usually responsible for environmental protection but often lacks the authority to put environmental concerns high on policy agendas.
• Development by design should guide sustainable development. This means guiding urban and industrial development according to publicly accepted and integrated environmental and economic development plans.
• A strong political will is essential to translate environmental rhetoric into actions. This means a minimum level of environmental compliance, adequate budget and human resources, access to information and public participation as well as eliminating subsidies that aggravate resource degradation.

Mr. MacLeod served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Shell Canada Limited from 1985 to 1993. He was a director of NOVA Corporation of Alberta, Trimac Limited, and the Sun Life Assurance Company. Mr. MacLeod was also a member of the Alberta Northeast Gas Advisory Board, Alberta Science and Research Authority Management Board, the Advisory Group to the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and the Van Horne Institute. He chaired Learning for a Sustainable Future and the Calgary Health Trust. Mr. MacLeod served as a member of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy and was a director of the C.D. Howe Institute, and Chair of the Environmental Choice Program.

Mr. MacLeod was a champion of sustainable development and will be missed by his friends and colleagues at IISD.

WINNIPEG — The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has just signed an agreement for a $700,000 research project to be conducted in India with partners from India and Norway. The project will look at how farmers in India may be vulnerable to the problems caused both by economic globalization and climate change.

"Climate change will impact farmers and communities in India through environmental change such as drought or flooding, this in turn, upsets established crops and planting cycles," said Stephan Barg, IISD Senior Program Advisor and project manager. "At the same time as the climate is changing, economic globalization is affecting the markets for farm products, with varying prices and volumes of exports and imports creating even further challenges for farmers and their communities."

The project will construct a map showing the areas in India that are most vulnerable to such physical changes. Maps of these economic variables will also be developed, and compared with factors such as poverty levels. The result will be a map showing those parts of India most vulnerable because of their poverty, their climate, and their farm products. Case studies of four of these vulnerable areas, and analysis of the types of government policies that might reduce the potential problems, will then be conducted. The result will be a better understanding of these linked issues in India, some policy suggestions to deal with the issues, and thus a better capacity to deal with the problems as they arise.

IISD is conducting this research with two partners: The Tata Energy Research Institute in New Delhi, India, is an eminent Indian research organization specializing in climate change and energy issues. The Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, in Oslo, Norway, also specializes in climate change issues. IISD specializes in evaluating policy impacts and suggesting changes. The three partners in this project are all part of an international group of 14 institutions called the Climate Change Knowledge Network, which seeks to develop effective, equitable and sustainable solutions to climate change through collaborative research, workshops and information dissemination.

The project will bring together several aspects of sustainable development that IISD has been researching, including climate change, community livelihoods, and agricultural policy. More on IISD can be found at http://www.iisd.org.

The largest part of the $700,000 for the project will come from the Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency. The Norwegian Government is also making a grant of $83,000 Canadian to the project. The project will take place over the next two years.

WINNIPEG — The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has become the first Manitoba-based member of a national coalition of corporate, environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) and municipal organizations seeking to accelerate the development of Canada's renewable energy industry. IISD seeks to promote positive actions and solutions on climate change internationally, nationally and locally.

"I am especially pleased IISD has become a member of this forward looking coalition. Renewable energy benefits the health of Canadians, our environment and our economy," said David Runnalls, IISD President and CEO. "The Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition is working hard to encourage the federal and provincial governments to improve demand and access to markets for renewables in Canada. We need to be leaders or risk falling behind countries like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Japan and Australia which are already taking action in this area."

The coalition is currently recommending the federal government implement a Consumer Green Energy Credit to increase demand for "green power^[1]"; and broaden the Canadian Renewable and Conservation Expense or the Investment Tax Credit treatments for new capital spending to support the supply of green power. These short-term policies would stimulate demand for green energy and send a clear signal to electricity entrepreneurs and providers to consider renewable energy technologies far more seriously. These actions will lead to cleaner air and help Canada meet its international commitments on climate change.

"Being a member of the Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition will allow IISD to play a more active role in the national climate change debate," said John Drexhage, IISD Director of Climate Change initiatives. "The coalition represents a remarkable and highly effective mix of organizations. It is business leaders, municipal government representatives and members of the ENGO community working together to promote policies that will lead to environmental improvements, economic competitiveness and more diversified energy resources."

Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition Members:

• http://www.iisd.org
• http://www.axor.com
• http://www.bchydro.bc.ca
• http://www.bp.com
• http://www.b9energy.co.uk
• http://www.dofasco.ca
• http://www.enbridge.com
• http://www.fcm.ca
• http://www.foecanada.org
• http://ontariopowergeneration.com
• http://www.pembina.org
• http://www.pollutionprobe.org
• http://www.shell.ca
• http://www.suncor.com
• http://www.torontoenvironment.org
• http://www.torontohydro.com
• http://www.transalta.com
• http://www.wei.org

"The Dashboard of Sustainability" is a unique new way to present indicators of sustainable development - as gauges similar to the control panel of an aircraft or car. The instrument turns a complex array of economic, social and environmental performance indicators into a simple graphic representation of a country's current position relative to an agreed consensus about sustainability.

The product of a six year international project led by the Canadian-based International Institute for Sustainable Development, the prototype will be demonstrated April 24 during the 9th session of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-9), meeting at the U.N. in New York.

The prototype presents the performance of three countries (Finland, the Philippines, and South Africa) on a set of 57 indicators of sustainable development currently being tested by the CSD. Data for other nations, obtained from the U.N. Statistical Division, the World Bank, the OECD and other international agencies, have also been included in the prototype.

The goal is to enable quick assessment of the weak and strong points of a nation's performance. On-going data updates will facilitate tracking of trends over time. On completion of testing, the Dashboard will be freely available for download from the Internet.

The data clusters can also be modified according to the end-users' specific needs.

For each indicator, performance can be displayed relative to a nation's level of income (thus providing a way to reflect the different circumstances of developed and developing countries).

View the Dashboard here.

Peter Hardi, who heads the project for the IISD, said the Dashboard serves a valuable function by drawing attention to interconnections between many activities, problems and solutions in the field of sustainability.

"The challenge of sustainability reporting is to cluster all the relevant information on various issues and demonstrate the connections between seemingly disparate factors," he said. "Because it shows the relationships between the different aspects of development - economic, social and environmental - the Dashboard is an essential tool for national policy making."

"The Dashboard is an imaginative approach that makes complex information about the economy, society and the environment more easily understandable," said IISD President David Runnalls.

"It provides a tool to signal what is significant and to go deeper into the underlying causes. Like the instrumentation of an aircraft, the Dashboard offers a visual signal of progress towards sustainable development, and warnings of problems."

Runnalls cautioned, however, that the tool can offer results only as good as the data input. "The quality of data on all aspects of sustainable development still needs considerable improvement," he said. "Widespread adoption of the Dashboard and supporting data systems would give governments and the public clear signals of how well they are performing in meeting their goals."

Hardi said the Institute and its consultative team - drawn from 12 leading global institutions - is inviting experts, particularly in the developing world, to participate in future discussion, development and testing of the software.

Mr. Hardi said next steps in the project are to:

• Invite all testing countries to check how the Dashboard works with data in their own national context;
• Show changes to the indicators over time;
• Further develop and complement the database, particularly in developing countries;
• Create a functional Internet connection to national documents and datasets; and
• Create an association between the Dashboard indicators with international news, negotiations and other developments in each country.

"Our grand vision is that this will become the tool of choice for everybody who wants to work with indicators, including government decision makers, NGOs, academics, students, journalists and the public," he said.

The Dashboard project is funded by the Bellagio Forum for Sustainable Development, Sweden's Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (MISTRA) and Deutsche Bank's Global Head, Sustainable Development.

Background

An aircraft dashboard contains instruments that signal the flight path and performance, enabling the pilot to know when corrective action is needed. The signals are often integrated in one panel to avoid overwhelming the pilot with information, but individual problems and more specific information can be traced back through the detailed instrument displays.

The Dashboard of Sustainability takes an analogous approach to the presentation of sustainable development indicators. It is an instrument panel designed to inform decision-makers and the public on the status of a nation's progress toward (or away from) sustainability. The concept grew out of the work of the Consultative Group on Sustainable Development Indicators (CGSDI), engaged in critical assessments and design discussions since 1996.

Recently, the Dashboard was made functional by using 57 indicators offered by the UN CSD to compose the three main clusters for over 100 countries. Algorithms and graphic presentation software have been developed; data are presented in an animated version of the Dashboard.

The specification has a built-in flexibility and the clusters can be modified according to the end-users' specific needs, without changing the functioning of the Dashboard. It allows the presentation of four dials, corresponding to the four clusters of the UNCSD indicator set (economic, environmental, social and institutional). The Dashboard allows presentation of complex relationships in a format that is digestible for decision-makers and other persons who might specialize in one field (e.g. environment or social issues or economics), but need to integrate policy fields in which they are not experts, into their work.

The correlation between any pair of indicators can be shown graphically. A list of indicators, sorted by "best fit," allows identification of the most relevant linkages (for example: is unemployment correlated with GDP growth?). In particular, these functions allow identification of synergies (indicators whose "desirable" values are positively correlated) and potential conflicts (e.g. environment vs. many economic and social variables).

Work on the Dashboard has brought together a multidisciplinary team, and a unique constellation of partner institutions. One particularly important area where significant efforts are still needed is the input of developing countries to enrich the selection of sustainability measures.

Following its initial presentation at CSD-9, the project will move to a testing and modification phase, the experiences from which will be synthesized in a final report to be published as a manual on how to use the Dashboard, at different levels and by different audiences.

Members of the Consultative Group on Sustainable Development Indicators

Alan AtKisson, President, AtKisson + Associates, Inc.
Senior Fellow, Redefining Progress
Director of Arts & Culture, Sustainability Institute, USA

David Berry, Executive Director
Interagency Sustainable Development Indicator Group
U.S. Federal Government

Arthur L. Dahl, Deputy Assistant Executive Director
Division of Environment Information and Assessment, U.N. Environment Programme

Edgar E. Gutierrez-Espeleta, Director
Observatorio del Desarrollo
Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica

Allen Hammond, Senior Scientist and Director of Strategic Analysis
World Resources Institute, USA

Peter Hardi, Coordinator
Senior Fellow and Director
Measurement and Indicators, IISD, Canada

Jochen Jesinghaus, European Commission Joint Research Centre
Institute for Systems, Informatics and Safety (ISIS), EU

Bedrich Moldan, Professor, Environmental Sciences; Director, Environmental Centre
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Yuichi Moriguchi, Head, Resources Management Section
Social and Environmental Systems Division
National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan

Adil Najam, Director, Board of Governors
Pakistan Institute of Environment-Development Action Research (PIEDAR), Pakistan

John O'Connor, Consultant
OconEco, USA

Robert Wallace, Honorary Chairman President
Wallace Global Fund, USA

† Dana Meadows, Professor, Environmental Studies Program,
Dartmouth College, USA.
Professor Meadows passed away in February 2001.

WINNIPEG — In their capacity as Chairs of the Hemispheric Trade and Sustainability Symposium, Pierre Marc Johnson, former Premier of the Province of Quebec and Counsel at Heenan Blaikie, David Runnalls, President and CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and Enrique Leff from the United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean will release a policy statement entitled: The FTAA and Hemispheric Integration - Building a Triple-Win Strategy for Trade and Sustainability in the Hemisphere.

A zero-sum relationship has gradually developed between a growing part of civil society and trade and economic international forums and processes since the Seattle events. Mr. Johnson, Leff, and Runnalls believe that the Quebec Summit is a unique occasion to break this Seattle Syndrome. Indeed, the Summit of the Americas constitutes a very important forum where trade, social, and environmental policy can be integrated into a coherent and integrated strategy. By adopting the proposed strategy, countries of the hemisphere would do much to renew public support for trade liberalisation and economic integration in the Americas.

The policy statement, which will be presented to delegations at the Summit of the Americas, calls countries of the hemisphere to address the sustainability issues that are related to the FTAA by making a strong commitment toward the implementation of an integrated strategy in the field of trade and environment. The strategy rests on three pillars:

• Build an environmentally-sound FTAA through the incorporation of a series of environmental provisions in the text of the Agreement.
• Strengthen environmental cooperation in the Americas, especially in trade-sensitive or trade-related sectors.
• Strengthen dialogue with civil society by creating a High Level Hemispheric Experts Group on Trade and Sustainability

The statement proposes to adopt a positive strategy on trade and environmental issues by identifying policies that can benefit trade liberalisation, social development, and the protection of the environment. It also suggest key areas for policy action, and means to strengthen the hemispheric framework for environmental cooperation. It is proposed to create an Americas Ecological Accord to integrate environmental policies, institutions, and instruments in the hemisphere. Special attention is also given to the key role of Sub-regional institutions such as the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

The coordination of trade and environment policy remains a considerable challenge, especially at the hemispheric level. The Policy statement proposes the creation of a High Level Hemispheric Experts Group on Trade and Sustainability to act as a bridging mechanism between the trade and environment communities. The Experts Group should report to the FTAA Trade Negotiations Committee and to various environmental processes in the Americas.

The policy statement will be available at the press conference or on the symposium website:.

Acronyms used:

IISD: International Institute for Sustainable Development
IUCN: The World Conservation Union
UNEP/ROLAC: United Nations Environmental Programme | Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
NACEC: North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation
NRTEE: National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy

The Hemispheric Trade and Sustainability Symposium gathered 200 experts from the Americas from April 17 to 19, 2001 in Quebec City. The Symposium was organised jointly by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, IUCN, the World Conservation Union, and the United Nations Environment Programme - Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. Partner institutions included the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation and the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.

Highlights of the Policy Statement

By identifying and developing provisions that are consistent with both a trade liberalisation and a sustainability agenda, the FTAA can deliver an important piece of the structural paradigm shift to sustainable development.

Until now, FTAA negotiations have been unable to address the contentious issue of trade policy as it relates to environmental and social policy. This situation has much to do with fears, mostly in Latin America, that environmental provisions in the FTAA would be used by Canada and the United States to justify protectionist measures.

An ex ante FTAA sustainability impact assessment process, or five sub-regional processes, should also be established to orient negotiations in the next four years.

The agreement should adopt a pollution havens clause that rejects the lowering of environmental standards as a method for attracting investment. In addition, investment provisions designed to guarantee investor rights should do so without being detrimental to environmental regulations (as has been recently the case with NAFTA's Chapter 11).

There are over 272 environment and sustainable development accords in the Americas, which currently use measures relating to trade to achieve their goals. This system of interacting international accords lacks coherence and structure.

It is our proposal that a new 'Americas Ecological Accord' (AEA) could act as an international legal and policy coordination body for this environmental agenda.

The strengthening of sanitary and phytosanitary systems should also become a priority, in light of recent epizooties. Biosafety should also become a priority as trade and economic integration multiply the risks associated with the dissemination of invasive species and genetically modified organisms.

It is recommended that a High Level Experts Group be established with appropriate participation from hemispheric institutions such as the OAS, ECLAC, the IDB, and FTAA Secretariat, and sub-regional organisations such as UNEP-ROLAC, NACEC and others. Government, industry, and civil society experts should also be adequately represented.

The Summit of the Americas is a unique forum where trade and environment policies can be integrated in a coherent set of priorities. As the FTAA process is entering a crucial development period, the Quebec City Summit constitutes a critical occasion to reintegrate trade and environmental policies in a coherent package.

The Quebec City Summit also has the opportunity to send a clear signal that the time has come to move beyond zero-sum thinking in trade and environment policy by announcing the intention of the countries of the Americas to address these questions through cooperation channels rather than through the traditional conflicting trio: sanctions - competitiveness - protectionism.

Participants will discuss the issue of trade liberalization in the Americas and assess the current state of FTAA process as it relates to environmental and equity concerns. The issue of transparency and civil society participation will also be discussed by participants. Workshops will be held on issues such as climate change, biosafety, forests and water issues in the Americas.

The event will feature keynote presentations from Pierre Pettigrew, Canadian Minister of International Trade; David Anderson, Canadian Minister of Environment; Maria Minna, Canadian Minister for International Cooperation; and Victor Lichtinger, Mexican Minister of Environment.

Two special events will be held in the evening of April 17 and 18. On April 17, the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation will host a reception for the participants. On April 18, the Canadian National Roundtable on Environment and Economy will host another reception, with Nobel Prize Laureate and former Costa Rican President Dr. Oscar Arias as keynote speaker. Both events will be open to journalists who are registered in advance.

A press conference will be held on April 18 at 12:30 at Auditorium 1 of the Musée de la Civilisation (85 rue Dalhousie, Quebec City). The event will be chaired by Pierre Marc Johnson and attended by the two other Symposium Chairs. Simultaneous translation will be available.

Pierre Marc Johnson will be available for interviews starting March 22.

For information or registration, please consult the Symposium's web site http://www.iisd.org/trade/qc2001 or contact:

Karel Mayrand, Director and media Relations Coordinator
(514) 985-0343 or (514) 802-2781

Secondary contact:
Marie Claire Segger, Director
(514) 581-4984

The Inspection Panel was created in 1993 to provide an independent forum to private citizens who believe they or their interests have been or could be harmed by a project financed by the World Bank. People affected by a project may now present their concerns to the Panel in a Request for Inspection. Since it began operations in September 1994, the Panel has received 21 formal Requests for Inspection.

MacNeill is a policy advisor on environment, energy, management and sustainable development to international organizations, governments and industry. He is a member of several boards including those of the Woods Hole Research Center and the Wuppertal Institute on Climate and Energy Policy. He was Secretary General of the World Commission on the Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) and a major author of "Our Common Future," the Commission's acclaimed report. He served for seven years as Director of Environment for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Earlier, he was a deputy minister in the Government of Canada. MacNeill holds a graduate diploma in Economics and Political Science from the University of Stockholm and Bachelor's Degrees in Science (Math and Physics) and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan.

He is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Order of Canada. He was appointed as a member of the Inspection Panel on August 1, 1997 and has been the Chairman of the Panel since March 1, 1999.

Read the Tribunal’s decision.

WINNIPEG — After more than six months of intense effort by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a NAFTA Chapter 11 Tribunal has set a precedent by ruling that it has the power to accept amicus curiae ("friends of the court") briefs. The January 16 decision in the controversial case of Methanex vs. the United States clears the way for a decision to accept IISD's petition to submit its legal arguments to what has until now been a process closed to public participation.

"We are delighted that the Tribunal has acted where it felt it could to provide civil society access." David Runnalls, IISD President said. "They have broken new ground by recognizing the important public interest element of this case, and that the Chapter 11 process could benefit from greater openness and transparency."

In November of last year both the Canadian and U.S. governments formally supported the IISD petition in the case, which pits a Canadian firm against the US over a Californian ban of a suspected carcinogen. The Mexican government and the firm, Methanex, both opposed the petition. The Tribunal said it was "at present minded to receive" the amicus submissions of the IISD, but delayed its final decision until the procedural steps for doing so can be determined. The show of government support and IISD's credentials, which the Tribunal called "impressive", undoubtedly influenced the decision in favour of the IISD.

This ruling is important for several reasons:

• It is an essential first step in opening the previously closed Chapter 11 proceedings to non-parties, clearing the way for possible substantive roles for civil society.
• While this ruling does not legally bind other tribunals, it does set a precedent that will be referred to. The strength of the precedent is reinforced by the fact the both Canada and the United States supported IISD's petition.
• It reveals an inherent recognition of the important public interest element in this case.

IISD had its request to participate in the Tribunal's oral hearings turned down due to Methanex's opposition. The United States, on the other hand, consented to IISD's participation in the proceedings.

"We regret we will not have the opportunity to make oral arguments." Runnalls said, "It is hard not to be struck by the Methanex position in this case. On the one hand they argue for more transparency and access to the governmental decision-making process when their interests are affected. On the other hand they make every effort to prevent any public access in this case. We applaud the United States for supporting our bid to participate in the oral arguments, even though that bid was unsuccessful."

If the Methanex dispute is settled in the company's favour it will set a precedent that could plague North American environmental regulators for years to come, potentially forcing them to pay polluters to stop polluting. IISD hopes to put forward interpretations of NAFTA's Chapter 11 that will not lead to such results.

WINNIPEG — Over the past decade climate scientists around the world have found increasing evidence that human activity directly impacts the world's climate. These changes are already affecting regions of Canada and there is little doubt that the entire country will experience changes. Being prepared for the challenges and opportunities climate change will present should be a high priority for all Manitobans.

Climate change could significantly affect our landscape, and the economic and social fabric of the province during the next two decades and beyond. Identifying the issues and areas that a changing climate will have the greatest impacts in and beginning to look at strategies for responding to upcoming challenges is the goal of the public forum "Climate Change in Manitoba - Beginning the Dialogue" on January 10th at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

"There has to be coordinated discussion of this topic if we are to develop sensible and appropriate strategies to ensure Manitoba can respond to a changing climate," said Terry Duguid, chairman, Manitoba Clean Environment Commission. "Not only is this forum intended to inform, it seeks the input and perspectives of all Manitobans on this critical issue.

Beyond looking at the challenges the province could face, the forum will also examine the opportunities that climate change will inevitably create. Already Manitoba is a leader in the fields of alternative fuel technologies, transportation, hydro development and adapting agricultural crop production. Capitalizing on this leadership early and seeking innovative solutions to future agricultural, natural resource management, and industrial challenges could have significant economic payoffs for the province.

"This is an important discussion to be having now," said David Runnalls, International Institute for Sustainable Development president. "Climate change is an issue that requires a long-term thinking and solutions that consider the overall sustainability of Manitoba."

Sponsored by the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the forum features presentations by the Honourable Oscar Lathlin, Minister of Conservation; the Honourable Greg Selinger, Minister of Finance and Minister Responsible for Manitoba Hydro; David Phillips, Environment Canada; Terry Duguid, Chairman, Manitoba Clean Environment Commission; John Drexhage and Allen Tyrchniewicz, IISD; Ken Ogilvie, Pollution Probe; Toby Maloney, Resource Conservation Manitoba; as well as experts from Manitoba's agriculture, transportation, forestry, energy, and manufacturing sectors.

For more information contact:
Terry Duguid, Chairman
Clean Environment Commission
305-155 Carlton Street
Winnipeg, MB
(204) 945-5293

WINNIPEG — IISD President David Runnalls and trade and environment law expert Howard Mann are available for interviews. Please call 416-538-8712 to schedule a time.

For the first time, the governments of Canada and the United States have formally supported the right of an environmental non-governmental organization-the International Institute for Sustainable Development-to intervene in a major trade law case. If successful, the Canadian-based Institute will be the first NGO ever to intervene in the so far secretive but environmentally critical NAFTA Chapter 11 proceedings.

In documents submitted on November 10 to the NAFTA Tribunal hearing the case of Methanex vs. the United States, Canada supported IISD's August 26 petition to present an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief. The U.S. government also formally supported IISD's petition, and that of a U.S.-based NGO, EarthJustice.

The arbitration Tribunal, convened under the rules of NAFTA and the United Nations Centre for International Trade Law, is expected to render a final decision later this month.

IISD wants to intervene for two reasons:

• The Methanex dispute has huge environmental implications. The Canadian company is suing the U.S. over a Californian ban on the gasoline additive MTBE , a suspected human carcinogen. Methanex argues that since the ban would hurt its business (it produces methane which is then turned into MTBE) it amounts to expropriation, and the company should be compensated roughly CDN $1.6 billion. If successful, Methanex will set a precedent that will plague North American environmental regulators for years to come, potentially forcing them to pay polluters to stop polluting. IISD intends to put forward interpretations of NAFTA's Chapter 11 that will not lead to such results.
• The process for tribunals held under Chapter 11 provisions has been highly secretive up to now. "Friend of the court" status for IISD would start to open that process to public input and scrutiny.

Due to the Tribunal's confidentiality provisions, the Canadian government documents supporting IISD, submitted November 10, are still not available to the public.

NAFTA's Chapter 11, designed to protect foreign investors from expropriation and other unfair treatment, has been invoked against environmental regulations in several recent cases:

• On November 13, a tribunal decided that Canada's export ban on carcinogenic PCB wastes unfairly hurt an American investor. The investor was seeking damages of CDN $31 million. The amount of the award has not yet been decided.
• In September of this year, another tribunal found the Mexican government had unfairly treated a U.S. company by not allowing it to set up a hazardous waste treatment plant in an area of ecological significance, and awarded the company CDN $29 million.
• In 1998, Canada withdrew a ban on MMT , another controversial gasoline additive suspected of having neurotoxic properties, and paid CDN $20 million in damages to Ethyl Corporation after it initiated a Chapter 11 case.

Said IISD President David Runnalls: "We are delighted that the government of Canada has taken this unprecedented stand to support our petition for a voice at the Tribunal. It shows that they appreciate both the critical environmental importance of this case, and the urgent need to pry open the closed doors of NAFTA's Chapter 11."

IISD Project Manager Graham Ashford, Scientist Norm Snow and Rosemarie Kuptana, Sachs Harbour, NWT, resident and Past President of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference are available for advance interviews Nov. 13, 14 and 15. Please call 416-538-8712 to schedule a time. Project officials and Inuit spokespersons will also participate, with environmentalists David Suzuki and Elizabeth May, in a news conference to launch the video Thurs., Nov. 16, 8 a.m. EST, Dining Room, National Press Club, 150 Wellington St., Ottawa.

WINNPEG — Unusual species of fish, birds, animals and insects; melting permafrost; a disappearing lake; thinning ice; and unprecedented reports of Arctic lightning storms are among dozens of climate change-related impacts in the Far North documented in Sila Alangotok: Inuit Observations on Climate Change, a dramatic new video released Nov. 16.

As nations meet in The Hague Nov. 13-24 to decide how to implement goals agreed to under the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Institute for Sustainable Development project underscores the urgency of the issue. The video footage vividly illustrates for the first time many ill effects warming temperatures are having on Inuit hunters, trappers and fishers in the hamlet of Sachs Harbour on Banks Islands, Northwest Territories, the most westerly island in the Canadian Arctic.

Among the climate change problems captured by the video project:

• An inland lake that drained into the ocean killing all of the fresh water fish, because of melting permafrost;
• Foreign insects and animals showing up in the region and competing for food and habitat;
• Thinning ice, making hunting and fishing more dangerous. Seals and polar bears are carried further out to sea, making it more difficult for residents to get food;
• Building foundations shifting due to permafrost melt, leaving some residents fearful they might have to abandon their community;
• Autumn storms are more frequent and severe, making boating difficult. Thunder and lightning are reported for the first time.

Undertaken by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Hunters and Trappers Committee of Sachs Harbour, and funded by the Climate Change Action Fund, the Governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories, and the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation, the video follows local people onto the land and sea around Sachs Harbour-and chronicles the changes they've observed-as they perform traditional activities.

"We've long known Polar Regions play an important role in regulating weather patterns around the world," said IISD Project Manager Graham Ashford. "Scientists have been predicting climate change would be most severe in the Polar Regions first. This project provides first-hand evidence of that and an indication of what's in store for the rest of us."

Two videos have been produced. A 14-minute version captures the intensity and challenge of climate change. The longer, 42-minute version includes additional, in-depth observations and visual evidence of climate change, including the appearance of salmon, barn swallows and robins; the impacts on muskox and geese; interviews with science team members; and archival footage.

"What's scary is the uncertainty," said Rosemarie Kuptana, Sachs Harbour resident and Past President of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference. "We don't know when to travel on the ice and our food sources are getting further and further away. We can't read the weather like we used to; it's changing our way of life.

"The Arctic is a very important ecosystem to the health of the rest of the planet," she added. "What we can do is try and educate and say: 'this is what's happening to us.'"

In addition to the videotape record, the project involved Western-trained scientists who interviewed community members, especially Elders and hunters, to obtain their detailed observations. Their work will result in several technical articles on the integration of indigenous knowledge, local observations and adaptive strategies with Western scientific research on climate change in the Arctic.

Said Kuptana: "Traditional Inuit knowledge about the world around us-like the weather, the animals, the migration patterns, the changes that we've seen-this is knowledge that has been accumulated over many, many centuries. It's oral tradition; it's scientific knowledge. It's our scientific knowledge."

David Runnalls, President of IISD, which produced the film, said: "We undertook this project to help the world see the problem of climate change through Inuit eyes.

"Climate change is widely considered to be one of the gravest threats to the sustainability of the planet's environment, the well-being of its people and the strength of its economies. By clearly demonstrating the negative impacts of climate change in Canada's Arctic, IISD hopes this project will reveal to people that this problem is real and action needs to be taken locally, nationally and internationally."

The video will be presented November 16 by IISD at the Conference of Parties (COP-6) to the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, meeting in The Hague Nov. 13-24. It is available for public viewing online Nov. 16 at http://www.iisd.org.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS

Changes in birds - New species of birds observed in the area including robins and barn swallows. Changes in bird behaviour-snow geese stayed for a shorter time in the spring, while some small birds, which traditionally migrated, now stayed the entire winter.

Changes in marine animals - Observing seldom-seen aquatic species such as salmon and herring. Rock cod populations were observed to decline. Char were larger in size. Less sea ice was thought to have led to more young bearded seals being separated from their mothers and starving. Although many people felt that the seal population in the area was higher, fewer seals were accessible to the community due to a lack of sea ice.

Changes in land animals - The population of caribou was smaller and contained fewer large males. Polar bears leave their lairs earlier and move away from the community with warmer weather. The population of wolves was observed to be higher while the number of rabbits has decreased. New types of foxes (black/red) have been observed.

Changes in insects - Shorter winters, longer summers and more water were thought to have caused an increase in the number of insects in the area, and led to the arrival of new species. An increase in mosquitoes and a longer mosquito season. Occurrence of new beetles and sand flies.

Changes in weather patterns - Milder winters, warmer summers, a shorter fall and a slower and later freeze-up. Increased rain, summer hail, intense summer sun, stronger winter winds and the occurrence of thunder and lightning were also identified. Fluctuations in the seasons were also noted, particularly the earlier arrival of spring. The occurrence of bigger waves in the harbour was also felt to be a significant change.

Harvesting problems - Thinner and less abundant sea ice is making it difficult for people to hunt for animals such as seals and polar bears. On the land, melting permafrost created difficult conditions for overland travel, making it hard to harvest and transport land animals.

"I am especially pleased to have John join IISD," said David Runnalls, IISD President. "He has been working at the highest levels of the climate change negotiation process for the past seven years and he brings to the Institute a wealth of experience and insight."

Drexhage comes to IISD from Environment Canada where he held the position of Associate Director, Climate Change International, International Relations Directorate. In this position he was responsible for the coordinating the Government of Canada's policy positions in formal negotiations. Drexhage is one of the key negotiators for the Canadian delegation participating at the Sixth Conference of the Parties negotiations on climate change from November 13 to 24, 2000.

Prior to holding the Associate Directorship position, Drexhage held the following Environment Canada positions: Manager, Climate Change - International, Global Air Issues Branch, and Senior Policy Advisor, Domestic Climate Change Program, representing Environment Canada in federal- provincial negotiations on domestic actions on climate change.

Drexhage holds a M.A. in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, a B. Ed. from the University of Toronto (Canadian History/Political Science), and a B.A. from Calvin College, Grand Rapids Michigan (Political Philosophy and History).

The International Institute for Sustainable Development and Manitoba Agriculture are hosting a special Agricultural Landscape Sequestration of GHGs for members of the agricultural community on Thursday, September 21, 2000 in Winnipeg at the Red River Exhibition Park, 3977 Portage Avenue.

The workshop's goal is to raise awareness of climate change and GHG sequestration in Manitoba and to promote strategy development for farmers in the province. Throughout the day Canadian climate change experts hope to encourage discussion on how to deal with climate change by using current scientific understanding, identifying and strengthening the links between farmers and public policy-makers, and facilitating communication, consultation and negotiation among the various stakeholders. The hope is to create a mechanism to develop practical solutions for the effects of climate change on agriculture in the province.

"This workshop will raise awareness of the international and national processes surrounding greenhouse gas sequestration strategies for addressing climate change," said Allen Tyrchniewicz, senior specialist of natural resource management at IISD. "Farmers need to understand the physical and political changes this issue will bring. We must look now at how we're going to position agriculture in order to achieve the maximum benefit from opportunities climate change could bring."

The workshop runs from 9:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Topics covered by industry and government experts include background on climate change; climate change policies and agreements; science of sequestration in agriculture; and economics of sequestration on the prairies.

WINNIPEG — Environmental activists are widely credited with (or condemned for) derailing OECD negotiations for a Multilateral Agreement on Investment in late 1998. It took more than environmental opposition to stop the MAI, but since then it has been accepted wisdom that environmentalists are opposed to an international investment agreement. Today, the International Institute for Sustainable Development releases a book that takes a hard look at that assumption. Its first conclusion is that an international investment agreement should be a priority for those interested in environment and sustainable development. The question then is: what kind of an investment agreement?

An International Investment Regime? Issues of Sustainability (PDF - 2.1 mb) by Konrad von Moltke, IISD Trade and Investment Senior Fellow, asks, "What would international investment rules look like if they aimed to achieve both economic growth and environmental protection?" To answer this critical question, the book examines the many attempts to draft investment rules and takes an innovative approach, first considering the nature of the problem and then asking what this means for the shape of the necessary institution. The proposed solution is radically different from any pursued to date.

"This books argues that international investment - particularly long-term investment - is key to achieving sustainable development," said David Runnalls, IISD president. "Poor countries, in particular, need investment to replace outdated infrastructure and environmentally damaging technologies. An international set of rules on investment would help lower perception of the risks of investing in developing nations. This book sets out to discover what an investment agreement would look like if it were intent on achieving sustainable development."

Creating an investment agreement with a sustainable development focus is a challenge. It would look significantly different from the MAI and the GATT. It should not be modeled after trade-rules institutions because investment is not like trade in goods, which is a once-off deal. Instead, productive investment can last for years or decades, with the investor gaining economic citizenship in the host country and environmental regulations steadily evolving over that time. Key trade principles such as national treatment and most-favoured nation simply become inappropriate when applied to investment.

In framing an international investment regime, we should learn from the architects of international environmental agreements. A framework agreement on investment combined with a number of sectoral agreements in areas like climate change or forestry, for example, would make it possible to identify public interest that might be impacted by providing private investors with additional rights, as negotiated in the investment agreement. Creating this type of framework would allow us to bring greater balance to the rights of investors and their responsibilities to their host countries.

WINNIPEG — The fallout from the World Trade Organization's failed Seattle ministerial conference is still being felt almost a year later. The international trading system continues to be mired in problems and has made little progress in addressing some of the institutional failures that resulted in the Seattle conference's collapse. In its Statement on Trade and Sustainable Development to be released on September 11, 2000, Canada's International Institute for Sustainable Development calls for major reform of the WTO to address many of these problems.

"There are many critics of the WTO who are glad to see that international trade negotiations have been derailed so successfully since Seattle. We are not," said Mark Halle, Director of Trade and Investment at IISD. "We believe trade liberalization is an essential component of sustainable development. The time has come to move beyond the rhetoric, address the real issues and make some progress towards badly needed reform of the WTO." Given the lack of progress in international trade talks, IISD President David Runnalls said it is time for the IISD to set the pace. "While the IISD has been highly critical of the international trade regime, it also believes a strong and effective WTO is necessary, not only in the interest of economic development, but also to achieve sustainable resource use and to improve social well-being world wide."

The IISD Statement on Trade and Sustainable Development is intended to be a rallying point for like-minded organizations and a foundation for constructive efforts at reforming the WTO. The IISD Statement on Trade and Development recommends the following WTO reforms:

• Openly address - and give priority to - the range of impacts which result from trade liberalization, whether on small producers, rural poor, economic growth or the environment;
• Find ways for developing countries to participate more equitably in it's the WTO's work;
• Greatly increase capacity of both governments and civil society-particularly in developing countries-to promote trade policies and to promote reforms in the WTO that support and advance sustainable development.

The IISD trade statement highlights the shift in the balance of power in the WTO, with developing countries flexing their muscles. "The failed trade talks in Seattle clearly indicated that nothing can be done on the environment and sustainable development without their support", said Halle.

The trade statement exhorts the environmental community to distinguish clearly between trade-related measures designed to meet internationally accepted goals and those designed to protect domestic special interests. "While there is a fine line between protecting the environment and blatant protectionism, the environmental community has not always been attentive to the impact of their proposals on the developing countries," said Halle. "With this statement we urge that they come out and openly condemn blatant protectionism as bad for trade, bad for development and bad for the environment, and refocus their efforts on building an environmental agenda in the WTO with which both developed and developing communities can identify."

David Runnalls, IISD president, and Mark Halle, director of trade and investment will be available for comment on the IISD Statement on Trade and Sustainable Development on Monday September 11, 2000. They can be reached in Geneva at (41-22) 979-9353. Inquiries from North American media outlets can be directed to Dennis Cunningham at (204) 958-7705.

WINNIPEG — The International Institute for Sustainable Development may yet get an opportunity to present its amicus (friend of the court) brief before the arbitration tribunal hearing a NAFTA dispute between Methanex, a Canadian firm, and the government of the United States. The arbitration tribunal, convened under the rules of the United Nations Centre for International Trade Law, considered IISD's request on September 7, 2000 and decided to delay a final decision in order to give all concerned parties more time to submit arguments on the participation of public interest groups in such cases. The delay is a sign that the tribunal is taking seriously the first-ever such request under NAFTA's closed-door Chapter 11 proceedings.

Methanex is claiming that a Californian environmental regulation banning MTBE - a gasoline additive with suspected carcinogenic properties -- amounts to unfair treatment and expropriation of its investments in the United States. NAFTA's Chapter 11, designed to protect foreign investors from expropriation and other unfair treatment, has been invoked against environmental regulations in several recent cases. IISD believes that the issues raised in the Methanex case have a critical impact on environmental protection at the federal, state, provincial and municipal levels across North America. It is because of this vital public interest dimension that the IISD has sought permission to submit an amicus brief in this case.

"The tribunal has acted with commendable responsibility to ensure a full opportunity to consider all the issues and perspectives, including the views of all three NAFTA parties," said David Runnalls IISD President. "While we would obviously have preferred a positive reply on Thursday, we see this as a constructive recognition of the importance of this issue, and of the need to address it in a responsible way."

The tribunal has given all parties an opportunity to submit written arguments on whether public interest groups can make representations in the otherwise private proceedings between foreign companies and governments. The IISD, Canada and Mexico have until October 13 to submit arguments on the participation of public interest groups as friends of the court in this case. The United States and Methanex, as litigants in this case, will then have until October 27 to submit their arguments. This will be an important test of the NAFTA member nations' publicly stated commitment to openness and transparency.

"This decision is important on several fronts," said David Runnalls, IISD's president, "The fact that the tribunal is giving further consideration to IISD's request means that they have taken our arguments seriously. It also forces Mexico, Canada and the US to state their positions clearly on this important question."

WINNIPEG — The International Institute for Sustainable Development celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with a special press event on the Skownan Community Values Project on Thursday, June 22 from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., 7th floor, 161 Portage Avenue East.

IISD began the project by training six people from Skownan First Nation in an innovative approach to community empowerment. Called appreciative inquiry, this method generates knowledge by focusing on community strengths, expanding "the realm of the possible" and helping community members first visualize and then implement a collectively desired future.

"This project brings the community together," explains Nelson Catcheway, Skownan First Nation education and training coordinator. "People are telling stories of Skownan at its best and thinking about new ways in which traditional activities can support economic development while maintaining and respecting the land. Elders and youth are working together to forge a vision for Skownan's future that reinforces everything we value. It's an innovative approach we hope to share with other communities."

The Skownan First Nation team is developing a vision of their community by asking a cross-section of local people to tell stories of Skownan at its best—times when people felt most fulfilled and happy. These success stories are used to further understand the value of traditional livelihoods and the surrounding forest to create new opportunities for community economic development—opportunities that produce revenue from activities people enjoy. An Aboriginal film-maker is visiting the community three times to capture the community's vision on video.

"IISD believes that all communities experience remarkable achievements made possible by the strengths and vision of their members," says Graham Ashford, senior specialist in community development at IISD. "Appreciative inquiry is a process to identify these moments, understand the factors that led to them, and create ways of replicating and enhancing those conditions."

Since its incorporation in 1990, IISD has been on the forefront of communicating innovation and progress on sustainable development. It was one of the first organizations in the world to use the Internet as a research and advocacy tool. And this long-time Internet presence has helped establish IISD as the resource for sustainable development information. In 1999 alone, for example, content was downloaded from the Institute's Web sites more than 3 million times.

IISD also uses the Internet to create networks of knowledge on trade, climate change and sustainable development communications. These networks allow IISD to bring together organizations from all parts of the world to share knowledge, experiences and shape equitable policies on critical issues that affect people around the globe.

"Over the past decade, IISD has continuously and emphatically stated the case for sustainable development, both to Canadians and a broader international audience," says IISD President David Runnalls. "I am proud of the role we have had here and on the world stage, but I truly believe that now more than ever IISD is ideally positioned to assist government, business and civil society in overcoming the challenges found in creating a sustainable society."

IISD has a well-deserved international reputation for excellence in sustainable development research and advocacy. For example, as a Collaborating Centre with the United Nations Environment Programme, IISD took a lead role in developing a training program and manual to teach officials from developing countries how to conduct integrated environmental assessments. To date more than 150 senior officials have taken part in six regional training sessions worldwide.

Over the past three years, IISD has also sent some 90 Canadian youth to work in six-month international internships in over 20 countries, from Argentina to Zimbabwe. Called the Young Canadian Leaders for a Sustainable Future, this program provides international work experience for the next generation of Canadian leaders in the sustainable development community.

Locally, IISD works with the prairie agricultural community and regional scientists to promote adaptive strategies to cope with the challenges of climate change. Through a series of well-attended workshops, IISD helps provide practical measures for prairie farmers and businesses to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and to adapt to climate change.

IISD is also working in the Canadian Artic to help the Inuit of Banks Island explore the contribution that local observation and traditional knowledge can make to scientific research on climate change. An integral part of this project is a video that will demonstrate to decision-makers in Southern Canada how climate change is affecting the traditional livelihood of Inuit on Banks Island.

"IISD has the people, the tools, the expertise and the research capacity to develop the new insights needed in our world today," says Runnalls. "The right kinds of decisions need to be made by the agents of change—political leaders, business leaders, community leaders—because sustainable development is a crucial priority for today. IISD and its network of institutions from other countries are working to ensure the right decisions are being made."

The work of the Global Knowledge Partnership is rooted in the conviction that-

• access to and effective use of knowledge and information are increasingly important for sustainable economic and social development for individuals, communities and nations;
• the information revolution can be a positive force for empowering the world's poor; and
• effective action that includes the poorest individuals, communities and nations in the global information economy requires increased partnership and mutual learning among public, private and not-for-profit organizations.

IISD's has been involved with GKP since the GK '97 Conference when we played a critical role providing Webcasting services as well as end-of-the-day conference summaries and a concluding conference brief. IISD is a member of the Canadian Network on Global Knowledge (Canada @ GK)-a national sub-group of the GKP-and we are currently participating in important lead-up activities to the GKII Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in March 2000.

IISD is also contributing to GKII by gathering the voices of young people-by using creative ways to integrate young people into GKII by promoting and implementing information and communications technologies for development. Jointly with the three working groups (on access, empowerment and governance) and the Malaysian GKII Content Committee, IISD is organizing an international electronic conference, entitled "Youth: Building Knowledge Societies." We have invited eight young professionals and students from around the world to form the GKII Youth Advisory Council, which will run the six-week virtual conference (early January to end-February). Ideas and interventions from the virtual conference will inform the GKII Knowledge Forum and the GKP's Action Summit.

For further information, please e-mail IISD at info@iisd.ca.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is pleased to announce the appointment of Jacques Gérin as Chair of the Board of Directors. Mr. Gérin is a civil engineer with a master's degree in regional planning. He is also a consultant on environment at Hatch, a Canadian consulting engineering company. An environmental specialist, Mr. Gérin has been a manager and consultant in natural resources management, economic development and the environment, in both the public and private sectors. He is a former president of Hatch & Associés Inc. and was responsible for the environment for the Hatch group of companies.

Mr. Gérin was formerly with the Government of Canada as Vice President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Deputy Minister of Environment Canada, and Associate Deputy Minister, North, of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

In 1997 Mr. Gérin received the Richard Beatty Mellon Award from the Air and Waste Management Association. He is a Governor of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and member of the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (NACEC). He currently chairs the Panel on Ecological Integrity of Canada's National Parks.

Angela Cropper, Board Member

Angela Cropper has been appointed to IISD's Board of Directors. Ms. Cropper is a former Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. She has also been involved in the Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM) as Adviser in Environment and Education, and Director of Functional Cooperation. She is former Project Manager (Eastern Caribbean Office) of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR). Ms. Cropper is also the Deputy Chair of IUCN's Commission on Environmental Law. She is currently on the Advisory Committee on Forest Policy of the World Bank. Ms. Cropper is a Commission member of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, and was the Chairperson of its Editorial Committee and Editor of the Commission's Report. Ms. Cropper will be taking over as the Chair of the Advisory Board of Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development in Guyana.

Jim MacNeill, Chairman Emeritus and Distinguished Fellow

Retiring Chair, Jim MacNeill, has been appointed Chairman Emeritus and Distinguished Fellow in recognition of the influential and lasting contribution he has made at IISD. During his five-year tenure as Chair of the Board, Mr. MacNeill helped make IISD a more effective organization by moving sustainable development from concept to practice through his vision, leadership and guidance.

Maurice Strong, Distinguished Fellow

Maurice Strong has been appointed Distinguished Fellow in recognition of his invaluable contribution to advancing sustainable development through initiatives spanning a broad spectrum of activities.

For further information, please e-mail IISD at info@iisd.ca.

"We are delighted to be able to appoint someone of David's experience and accomplishment as our new President," MacNeill said. The appointment came after a worldwide search conducted by a Committee of the Board led by Jack MacLeod of Calgary, former CEO of Shell Canada. In addition to Winnipeg's Hartley Richardson, the Committee also included Dian Cohen, Canadian Vice-Chair Jacques Gérin, International Vice-Chair Edward S. Ayensu and MacNeill.

Runnalls has been at the forefront of the environment and development debate for more than 25 years. He was the Research Director for Only One Earth, the book that set the tone for the first global environment conference in 1972. He worked with Barbara Ward to found the International Institute for Environment and Development in London. He was the Director of the IIED office in London for seven years and helped to establish its keystone programs in energy, human settlements, information and monitoring the environmental performance of the foreign aid agencies. In 1981 he moved to Washington where he made IIED's North American office into one of the premier players in the international environment arena in the United States.

He returned to Canada in 1988 where he helped to create the Environment Program at the Institute for Research on Public Policy. He left IRPP in 1993 to become a Senior Fellow of IISD and Senior Adviser to both the President of the International Development Research Centre and the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.

MacNeill went on to say that, "with David on board as President and with a new strategic plan to focus the activities of the Institute, the IISD is well placed to enter the millennium and strengthen its role as one of the international leaders in sustainable development."

For further information, please contact Lael Dyck, Office of the President, at (204) 958-7707.

From November 2 to 13, some 5,000 diplomats, scientists, lobbyists and journalists from more than 145 countries gathered in Buenos Aires for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. During those marathon sessions, the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) provided the most comprehensive, immediate and widely accessible coverage of the negotiations.

Written on location each day by an international team of climate change policy experts, the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, an IISD print and Internet publication, was distributed to conference participants in Buenos Aires, as well as to an e-mail readership of some 25,000 people around the world. These daily reports provided brief summaries of the day's negotiations, highlighting positions on climate change policy of the participating countries.

Linkages, one of IISD's Web sites, provided text, photographs and audio coverage of the negotiations. As an information clearing house for environment and development policy makers, Linkages featured interviews with high-level officials, coverage of special side events, and daily reports of the proceedings for Internet users in more than 140 countries. Over a 17-day period that included the convention, Linkages registered more than half a million hits.

IISD maintains three Web sites: Linkages, IISDnet and the SD Gateway. In the past six months, IISDnet, the institution's home page, has received more than 2.8 million hits from some 150,000 users in 140 countries.

Funding for Internet coverage was provided by 14 governments and specialized agencies of the United Nations.

IISD is an independent, not-for-profit corporation headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada, established and supported by the governments of Canada and Manitoba. Its mandate is to promote sustainable development in decision-making in Canada and around the world.

For more information about IISD, Linkages or the United Nations Climate Change Conference, please contact:

Langston James Goree VI
Managing Director, IISD Reporting Services
Telephone: (212) 644-0204
E-mail: enb@iisd.org
IISDnet: http://iisd.ca
Linkages: http://www.iisd.ca/linkages

"IISD is indeed fortunate in having someone of David's experience ready and willing to step in at such short notice," Mr. MacNeill stated. "He is one of the handful of Canadians who was active at the beginning of the international environmental debate. He worked with the British economist and writer, Barbara Ward, in the production of the award-winning book, Only One Earth, which set the tone for the first global conference on the environment in Stockholm in 1972."

Runnalls was one of the cofounders of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in 1973 and acted as the Director of the IIED office in London until 1981. He helped to establish its keystone programs in energy, human settlements, information and in monitoring the environmental performance of the foreign aid agencies. In 1981 he moved to Washington where he made the Institute's North American office into one of the premier players in the environment and development debate in the United States.

He returned to Canada in 1988 to help establish an environment program at the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP). While at the IRPP, Runnalls became a frequent media commentator on environmental issues leading up to the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. He was a regular columnist on CBC Radio's As It Happens and a frequent contributor to Canada AM.

In 1993 Runnalls left the IRPP to become a Senior Fellow of IISD, directing its Trade Program. He also became Senior Advisor to the President of the International Development Research Centre and to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. He is also the Co-Chair of the Trade and Environment Working Group of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.

Mr. Runnalls is a Director of IIED (London), the World Environment Center in New York and Pollution Probe, a Canadian ENGO. He was for six years the Canadian member of the Board of IUCN/The World Conservation Union and the Chair of the Planning Committee for the organization's World Conservation Congress in Montreal in 1996.

IISD was established in 1990 with funding from the governments of Canada and Manitoba. The head office is in Winnipeg. IISD carries out sustainable development activities in Canada and worldwide, supported by more than 40 funding sources.

For further information, please contact Jim MacNeill, Chairman of the Board, at 204-958-7707.

WINNIPEG — Dr. Arthur J. Hanson has announced he will step down from his position as President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), effective October 31, 1998. Jim MacNeill, Chairman of IISD's Board of Directors, stated that Dr. Hanson, who has served the Institute as President for the past seven years, will continue his full-time association with the Institute in the role of Distinguished Fellow and Senior Scientist.

Dr. Hanson says, "I have enjoyed my time as the chief administrator. It's been tremendously satisfying to help develop IISD to its position of leadership." Dr. Hanson commented further that he had been considering a change in his role for some time, based on his desire to return to the professional work that was the focus of his career prior to becoming President of IISD in 1992. "I am looking forward to applying my knowledge and experience to the sustainable development dimensions of key global issues, such as the current financial crisis."

Mr. MacNeill cited the outstanding contributions and exceptional commitment that Dr. Hanson has demonstrated while guiding IISD as President. "Dr. Hanson has brought the Institute from an idea in the mind of its founders, to a major international player on the key issues of sustainable development," Mr. MacNeill said. "Under his leadership, IISD has established vital programs in the fields of trade, business, monitoring, Great Plains agriculture, sustainable livelihoods and communications. IISD's Earth Negotiations Bulletin is today the premier source of information on all of the streams of international negotiations initiated at the Earth Summit, including climate change, biodiversity and forests. The Institute's award winning web sites are key sources of information worldwide on sustainable development."

Mr. MacNeill announced that the Board would be launching an international search for a new President. An Acting President will be appointed shortly and, in the interim, Dr. Bill Glanville, IISD's Vice President, will perform the duties of CEO.

IISD was established in 1990 with funding from the governments of Canada and Manitoba. The head office is in Winnipeg. IISD carries out sustainable development activities in Canada and worldwide, supported by more than forty funding sources. Following a recent review of organization and fund development and the development of a new strategic planning process, IISD is preparing to enter a new cycle of development.

For further information, please contact Jim MacNeill, Chairman of the Board, at 204-958-7707.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a Canadian-based environment and development policy research center, announced today the immediate availability of several free sources of information on the climate change negotiations.

IISD publishes the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB), a daily 2000 word summary in French and English that details the positions taken by governments at this week's meeting in Bonn on the protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The ENB will also be published at the Third Conference of the Parties to be held in Kyoto from 1-10 December 1997. For information on how to subscribe, send e-mail to enbinfo@iisd.org

The ENB is a politically neutral reporting service for meetings on international environment and development policy, providing real-time information on climate change, biological diversity, desertification, sustainable development, chemical management and forest issues. Support for the ENB is provided by the governments of the Netherlands, US, UK, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, Austria and the European Community.

According to IISD Reporting Services Managing Director, Langston Goree, "Our small team of lawyers and academics, armed with laptop computers, attend these and other UN negotiations. Each night we write and edit summaries of the negotiations, which are distributed over the Internet and printed out each morning for the negotiators. We think that they are an excellent resource for journalists or for anyone who wants to receive information direct from the negotiations."

IISD's WWW site on Climate Change policy features background materials, daily photos, RealAudio interviews with negotiators, reports from previous Climate Change negotiations, links to official documentation and other related sites. The site is located at http://www.iisd.ca/climate

The CLIMATE-L e-mail list, maintained and moderated by IISD, facilitates the exchange of information on the climate change negotiating process. More than one thousand subscribers share information on climate change policy. To subscribe to the CLIMATE-L list, send an e-mail message to listproc@mbnet.mb.ca with the one line message: subscribe CLIMATE-L

Winnipeg, MB - While some urban children think food comes from the store, the Grade 2’s at École Guyot know it comes from cows, chickens, crops and pigs. "The food we eat and where it comes from" is the theme of an innovative Internet tool developed by the Grade 2 students with the partnership of École Guyot in the St. Boniface School Division and the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Two grade two classes at École Guyot are experiencing first hand what Internet technology has to offer in the classroom. While writing their own Internet homepage on food, they also created links with other schools and organizations outside the classroom, like producer organizations in Manitoba.

The students were responsible for finding recipes from several sources, identifying selected ingredients and matching them with the relevant food groups. "We wanted to develop a better understanding of the four food groups in a more exciting, technologically stimulating environment," said Gérald Fouasse, Principal at École Guyot.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is bringing their capacity and expertise in Internet communications together with the food producers of Manitoba. "The desired result is to help students understand how food is linked to the economy, to the environment and to the well-being of people," said Allen Tyrchniewicz, Program Director at IISD. "We want people to understand at an early age what sustainable development is all about."

Within the Grade 2 homepage there are links to the Internet pages of some of Manitoba’s food processors and agricultural producers, The bilingual homepage also outlines how food makes it from the farmers to the consumers. The work of the students can be accessed at http://iisd.ca/grade2/. "We’ve appreciated the help of the Manitoba Chicken Producers, Manitoba Egg Producers, Manitoba Milk Producers, Manitoba Pork Producers, Peak of the Market and the Beef Information Centre. This project has captured everyone’s imagination," said Fouasse.

Where does our food come from?

There were four primary objectives for the students in this project:

1. French: to teach the students vocabulary related to food.
2. Health: to teach the four main food groups and how to select a balanced meal.
3. Technology: to use the Internet, to work new technology into the daily curriculum and to demonstrate partnerships with the private sector.
4. Social Studies: to educate about where some people work, to teach where foods come from, and to use math by adding and subtracting the cost of the recipes.

Using Internet technology as a teaching tool is an exciting and fun way for students to share their learning experiences with other students in other parts of the world. "We hope this project will branch out to other schools across Canada so that kids everywhere will have the opportunity to learn about food, food groups and where our food comes from in an entertaining way," said Tyrchniewicz.

For more information please contact:

Allen Tyrhcniewicz
Great Plains Program Director
International Institute for Sustainable Development
Tel: 204-958-7747
Fax: 204-9587710
Email: atyrch@iisd.ca
IISDNet: http://iisd.ca/

Global Green Standards simplifies the complex issues of environmental management systems and explains how adhering to voluntary standards can help consumers, governments and companies monitor ways to reduce their environmental impact and increase their long-run sustainability.

What is ISO 14000?

ISO 14000 is a series of standards that defines a voluntary environmental management system which will help companies manage their environmental issues in a systematic way. It was developed by industry and other stakeholder representatives for the member countries of the International Organization for Standardization. Used in conjunction with appropriate goals, and with management commitment, the standards may help improve corporate performance. They will provide an objective basis for verifying a company's claims about its performance. This is particularly important in relation to international trade, where at present there are no easy ways to verify assertions about environmental performance.

Why is this report useful?

The report highlights what stakeholders interested in sustainable development should understand about the 14000 standards and how the standards relate to global trends in sustainable development. It also explains what ISO standards can and cannot do for their organizations.

Global Green Standards is a plain talk guide to understanding ISO 14000 within the context of several relevant issues: such as the relevance of ISO 14000 standards to the World Trade Organization and the implications for new international trade rules, as well as its implications for the developing world.

"A decade from now we may recognize these standards as one of the most significant international initiatives for sustainable development," said Hanson. "For all of those who have heard about voluntary environmental management standards or ISO 14000 this book provides an easy way to make sense of the issues."

Where can I get a copy?

Copies of the report are available from the IISD for $14.00. Order your copy of Global Green Standards today by calling (204)958-7700 or order on line from our Catalogue. A free Portable Document Format version is also available along with related publications.

What is the IISD?

Head-quartered in Winnipeg, IISD's mission is to promote sustainable development in decision making internationally and within Canada. To be sustainable, development must improve economic efficiency, protect and restore ecological systems and enhance the well-being of people. IISD's work contributes new knowledge and concepts, analyzes policies, identifies and disseminates information about best practices, demonstrates how to measure progress, and builds partnerships to amplify these messages. IISD is a prominent research institute in the field of sustainable development. The work on Global Green Standards is related to IISD's initiatives on corporate reporting and trade and sustainable development.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development was established in 1990 with continuing financial support from Environment Canada, CIDA and the Province of Manitoba. It also receives revenue from foundations and other private sector sources.

This is one of the main recommendations contained in the report prepared by the task force entitled Connecting with the World, which was presented today to Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy.

"This report serves as a wake-up call and reminds us of the stark reality", said Mr. Axworthy. "Knowledge-based economies will dominate the 21st century and Canada will be obliged to earn its way in large part through its intellectual capacity and global leadership."

Through consultation and research, the authors of the report reviewed Canada's role in the fields of research and international development policies. They also examined the strategies that Canada should adopt to maintain its position in global economics and politics and to make its own original contribution to the international community.

"The Task Force's key conclusion is that Canada's place in the world cannot be taken for granted. It will need to earn its position through intellectual and policy leadership and through its strategic advantage as a multidimensional "knowledge broker", explained Maurice Strong. "The Task Force is aware that the development assistance window will not grow in the immediate future. However, if the generation and dissemination of knowledge is to be central to Canada's foreign policy, then some reallocations must occur", he added.

The group recommends that the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the North-South Institute (NSI) and other relevant institutions develop closer ties with the private sector and other donor agencies. The government should match the funds obtained from these other sources. These institutions, in turn, should be allowed flexibility in the way they use these funds and should, for example, be able to use them as venture capital and endowment funds.

"I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the report's authors", said Mr. Axworthy. "I will be taking steps on the highest priority basis to identify the specific actions required for the expeditious implementation of its recommendations, which apply directly to the foreign policy of the Government of Canada."

Connecting with the World was sponsored by three Canadian organizations, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the North-South Institute (NSI).

Chaired by Maurice Strong, Senior Advisor to the President of the World Bank, the group included Senator Jack Austin; Tim Brodhead, President and Chief Executive Officer of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation; Margaret Catley-Carson, President of the Population Council; John Evans, Chairman of the Board, Torstar Corporation; Yves Fortier, former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations; Professor Gerald Helleiner of the Department of Economics, University of Toronto; Pierre-Marc Johnson, former Premier of Quebec and Professor Janice Gross Stein of the Department of Political Science, University of Toronto.

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WINNIPEG — Manitoba will become the home base for a worldwide sustainable development information service network, made possible through an innovative project funded by the Canada-Manitoba Infrastructure Works Agreement.

The Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) will build on its existing IISDnet, a global service network connecting Canada with the most current information on sustainable development activities around the world. The project will enable Canadian environmental businesses and enterprises to promote their products and services internationally.

Funding for the project was announced today by Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon and Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy. The infrastructure program's $500,000 investment in IISDnet represents equal contributions by the federal and provincial governments and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

"The project will reaffirm Manitoba's leadership in environmental industries and information technology - two of the world's most important emerging sectors, "Premier Filmon said. "Through IISDnet, the information highway can be used to develop new business opportunities that enhance the environment. For Manitobans, that means economic growth that is forward-looking and innovative, with jobs and opportunities that can be sustained for generations to come."

Speaking on behalf of the Honourable Jon Gerrard, Secretary of State for Western Economic Diversification and Minister responsible for implementation of the infrastructure program in Western Canada, Minister Axworthy said: "This initiative supports sustainable development information requirements of Canadian business, while contributing to export opportunities for environmental enterprises. It will provide an inexpensive, online showcase to promote Canadian products, services and expertise in environmental technologies, and create jobs and growth in these businesses."

IISD has an established audience of over 12,000 decision-makers around the world, and to date has invested over $1 million in creating the foundation for a leading-edge, knowledge-based information system with the capacity to connect to global electronic networks. "We identified the opportunity to enable businesses to make more effective use of global networks, by providing access to highly focused information and the tools to improve their approach to sustainability," said International Institute for Sustainable Development President and CEO, Dr. Arthur Hanson. "The infrastructure funding will help take us to the global stage.

"IISDnet will also jump-start our efforts to partner with public and private educational institutions across Canada, enabling us to respond to rapid changes in user requirements, technology and the marketplace," he added.

IISD is already working in partnership with the International Development Research Center (IDRC) to foster the use of sustainable development on the Internet with institutions in developing countries. These include emerging markets in the Middle East, Asia and Southeast Asia. Manitoban and Canadian environmental entrepreneurs will be able to reach this global audience via IISDnet.

Current components of IISDnet include the delivery of information on new sustainable development ideas and actions, a prototype electronic tool kit to support decision making, and the Earth Negotiations Bulletin — a state-of-the-art world-wide electronic reporting service covering negotiations on environment and development.

Over the next two years, the expansion of IISDnet to service the business community will generate two information technology positions.

To date, 394 projects and more that $184 million in funding have been announced under the Canada-Manitoba Infrastructure Works Agreement. Infrastructure funding for these projects is expected to create over 3,200 jobs, including direct on-site and off-site employment.

The Canada-Manitoba Infrastructure Works Agreement was signed in January 1994 to encourage infrastructure development and job creation in Manitoba. The Agreement provides for a total investment in Manitoba of $204.8 million, with federal, provincial and local shares of one-third or $68.2 million each. Funds are administered by a federal-provincial agreement committee, co-chaired by Western Economic Diversification Canada and the Manitoba government's Executive Council.

The WTO Assessment is an in-depth progress report. "Since sustainable development is a cross-cutting issue affecting all of the work of the WTO, this report examines not only the work of the WTO Committee on Trade and the Environment, but that of the other WTO Councils and Committees," said David Runnalls, Director of the Trade Program at IISD. "We conclude that the WTO has failed to integrate sustainable development concerns into trade policies, that the organization still conducts its business behind closed doors, and has been slow to develop relations with other organizations essential for its success."

Quoting directly from the recommendations of the Report the WTO has been compared to the GATT:

"The dominant theme has been continuity from the GATT to the WTO. A culture of closed decision-making has persisted, inefficient internal structures have carried over without reflection, and the dispute settlement process still resembles the rules committee of a club. The Committee on Development has achieved nothing notable and the Committee on Trade and Environment may continue a record of futility which now dates back twenty-four years to the first creation of the abortive environment committee of the GATT. The Councils on Intellectual Property Rights and Trade in Services have spent most of their two years on mundane housekeeping tasks."

The report points out the need for immediate action arguing that if the environment is not given more importance in the trade rules, consumers and environmentalists will take their grievances outside the system. Large economies such as the United States and the European Union have shown a tendency to take unilateral actions when they feel that the formal trading system does not respond to their priorities. And there is a strong potential for alliances between frustrated environmental groups and protectionists on issues such as the trade in forest products.

The World Trade Organization was created as a result of the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations just over two years ago and this Report is very critical of its ineffectiveness in linking the issues of sustainable development and trade liberalization. With the WTO hosting its first meeting of trade ministers in Singapore in December this year, Runnalls said, "It is critical that the Singapore Ministerial address these limitations of the WTO."

Three assessment documents are available in hard copy or on-line at IISDnet: http://iisd1.iisd.ca/. A four page executive summary, a thirty-four page summary assessment (PDF file) and the full Assessment Report (PDF file) can be viewed and down-loaded on-line. To order copies, see the Report entry in our publications catalogue.

Background

Headquartered in Winnipeg, IISD's mission is to promote sustainable development in decision making internationally and within Canada. To be sustainable, development must improve economic efficiency, protect and restore ecological systems and enhance the well-being of people. IISD's work contributes new knowledge and concepts, analyzes policies, identifies and disseminates information about best practices, demonstrates how to measure progress, and builds partnerships to amplify these messages. IISD is a prominent research institute in the field of sustainable development and international trade.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development was established in 1990 with continuing financial support from Environment Canada, CIDA and the Province of Manitoba. It also receives revenue from foundations and other private sector sources.

This agreement highlights the commonality and complementarity of work between IISD and UNEP's Environment Information and Assessment Programme. According to Ms. Dowdeswell, "IISD's work has been at the cutting edge of sustainable development reporting, the establishment of methodologies such as indicators, and the development and promotion of electronic information networks and systems. This recognition is an accomplishment of which IISD and Winnipeg can be proud."

Under the agreement IISD is mandated to undertake reviews related to the state of the world environment, provide early warning of environmental threats, improve access to information for environmental decision-making and enhance developing countries' capabilities to use information.

"Working closely with UNEP provides IISD a greater opportunity to influence international decision-making," said Dr. Hanson of the agreement. The timing of this designation is also critical. "As the five year follow up to the Earth Summit approaches, measurement of advances in sustainable development will become the focus of international attention," he said.

"The Government of Canada takes great pleasure in welcoming this important dialogue over the future of the world's forests," said Axworthy. "We think it appropriate that Winnipeg, located in the heart of North America, will be at the heart of this international event."

The North American Public Hearing will take place from 30 September to 2 October 1996 and is expected to attract upwards of 300 individuals and groups from Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The WCFSD is an independent group of distinguished leaders drawn from politics, science, international organizations and civil society. The Canadian member is the Honourable Charles Caccia who Chairs the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. The Commission is modeled after the Brundtland Commission, and plans five major public hearings by the middle of next year in Asia, North America, South America, Africa and Siberia.

According to Commission Co-Chair Dr. Emil Salim, of Indonesia, "The first hearing which recently took place in Jakarta in March brought together 300 participants from the Asia region. The event was marked by frank and open discussions. Rainforest loss, fairer North-South relations over forest resources and ethical corporate conduct were among the many substantive issues discussed."

"This is a unique opportunity for people from all three countries to discuss forest matters as they relate to North America and the wider international forest policy dialogue," said Dr. Arthur J. Hanson, President and CEO of IISD. "Major international decisions on forests are expected to be taken next year - this is our chance to influence them."

The WCFSD's purpose is to promote adoption of key policy recommendations for forest policy reform and action. It will interact with communities, industry, the general public and non-governmental organizations and it will participate in key United Nations processes for shaping both national and global forest strategies in the 21st century.

Current supporters of this Hearing include: the Governments of Canada and several Provinces, the International Development Research Centre, the Commission on Environmental Cooperation, the International Model Forest Program; the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, and Manitoba Hydro.