The report Global Outlook on Sustainable Consumption and Production [SCP] Policies, developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with the financial support of the European Commission, provides a non-exhaustive review of policies and initiatives that are promoting the shift towards SCP patterns. It is illustrated by 56 case studies ranging from global multilateral agreements and regional strategies to specific policies and initiatives being implemented by governments, businesses and civil society organizations.

This text seeks to provide information about existing activities promoting SCP, to identify best practices, and to provide recommendations to adapt, replicate and scale up SCP policies and initiatives contributing to the overarching goal of achieving sustainable development.

The chapter “SCP at the Global Level” looks at some of the most important policies and initiatives promoting SCP at a global level, and the chapter “SCP at the Regional Level” provides an introduction to the report’s regional chapters on SCP.

Indonesia spent IDR164.7 trillion (US$18.1 billion) subsidizing fuel products in 2011, of which IDR76.5 trillion (US$8.4 billion) was spent subsidizing gasoline. The rising cost of subsidies is placing a huge burden on limited public resources and presents a fiscal liability, vulnerable to increases in the international price of oil. Fuel subsidies are also known to be regressive and a highly inefficient tool for reducing poverty and meeting the country's development needs.

The government has made progress toward reform. It has significantly reduced kerosene subsidies with its kerosene-to-LPG conversion program. In January 2012, the government announced plans to reduce subsidies by restricting access to subsidized gasoline and developing gas-based alternative transport fuels, to be implemented by April 2012; and, as of March 2012, the government has announced a plan to raise the price of subsidized gasoline ("Premium") by IDR1,500 per litre, which is equivalent to one third of the current price.

This report is an output from a project whose objective was to assist the Indonesian government to implement fossil-fuel subsidy reform and create a sustainable network to support it. The project mapped the positions of major stakeholder groups based on consultations and surveys conducted in 2011. It also provided new analysis of the practical challenges facing the government's specific implementation plans to reduce gasoline subsidies, as announced in January 2012. Finally, the action plan draws on both research and consultations to provide a set of recommended actions for progressing fuel subsidy reform.

This brochure summarizes the watershed-based approach to ecohealth taken by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, in partnership with the Network for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health. It provides the rationale for approaching public health at the watershed level and illustrates how the ecohealth concept can be applied through case studies on the Cowichan Watershed in British Columbia and the Seine Watershed in Manitoba.

Ecohealth thinking can improve the efficiency of health care investments by proactively protecting people from threats and improving their day-to-day surroundings and sense of security. Preventive public health through watershed management may, in fact, be a more efficient allocation of scarce resources than standard health spending.

For the full details on the Ecohealth and Watersheds: Watersheds as Settings for Health and Well-Being in Canada project, click here to view the report.

Sustainable development at its heart is an investment problem—a challenge to replace unsustainable infrastructure, productive technologies, and consumer goods with more sustainable stock. Nowhere is this more evident than in the effort to address climate change, where investment is needed in areas as disparate as clean energy, transportation, industry, forestry, agriculture—in virtually all sectors of productive economic activity.

But the sheer scale of the need is staggering to contemplate. The case of clean energy, which provides powerful environmental and development benefits, provides perhaps the best elaborated testimony to the size of the challenges involved. The IEA estimates that achieving the target of carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations at 450 parts per million (ppm) will demand incremental investment across sectors like transportation, power generation, buildings and energy efficiency of a staggering US$1 trillion per year over the period 2010–2035, and even this may not achieve the Copenhagen Accord’s goal of limiting global temperature increase to 2o C. Most of this investment needs to occur in developing countries.

All this cannot come from public coffers alone, and certainly the IEA scenarios assume no such thing. It thus falls to policy-makers to explore how public spending might act as a catalyst for the much larger flows of private investment in this area; that is, what policies might governments pursue to enable and facilitate investment by individuals and firms to fundamentally change the energy matrix on which we currently rely.

This report aims to serve as a useful guide to policy-makers contemplating how to meet exactly those challenges within the energy sector and other sectors that are critically important to climate change and sustainable development. It is elaborated specifically for policy-makers in developing countries, where the majority of new investment is needed. It consists of two parts. The first section looks at the sorts of policies that have been successful in the past in catalyzing this sort of clean energy investment, relying on case study work for Brazil, China, and India, all of which have valuable lessons applicable even to states with much smaller economies. The second part surveys the sorts of financing platforms that policy-makers might access to support possible policy reforms. There is a dizzying variety of sources of international finance dedicated to such support, and this report is thorough in trying to make sense of this complex landscape.

According to the World Economic Forum, global demand for water, energy and food is expected to rise between 30 and 50 per cent in the next 20 years. Recognizing the interconnection between these three dimensions is critical to the success of short- and long-term planning required to deal with the anticipated shortages of fresh water. Water shortages will hamper economic development and create large-scale environmental damage and social unrest.

The conference will focus on innovations from large river basins around the world, including governance innovation, technology innovation, bioeconomy innovation and case studies that demonstrate the integration of water, energy and food security as drivers and outcomes of basin management.

In many regions water is a determining factor on energy and food security through multiple pathways including drought and flooding, irrigation, bioenergy, hydropower and thermal power production.

The conference sessions include an overview of WIC’s Lake Winnipeg Bioeconomy Project and case studies on integrated approaches to water, energy and food security in major basins based on a GWSP survey. The survey included studies of the Amudarya, Danube, Jordan, Nile, Rio de la Plata, Nile, and Lake Winnipeg basins, among others.

WIC has built on its international research and experience in global and regional watershed management to develop and implement bioeconomy solutions that address water, energy and food security in the context of Canada–United States transboundary issues in the Lake Winnipeg Basin.

Speakers include:

Howard Wheater: Canada Excellence Research Chair in Water Security

Janos Bogardi: executive officer of the Global Water System Project

Slobodan Simonovic: Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction

Bradley Doorn: Agriculture, Carbon, and Water Applications, NASA

David Brooks: senior associate, IISD

Claudia Pahl-Wostl: University of Osnabrück, Germany

Jim Bruce: consultant (Ottawa) and former assistant deputy minister at Environment Canada

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Please contact IISD public affairs manager Nona Pelletier for more information: +1 (204) 958-7740, mobile +1 (204) 962-1303 or email npelletier@iisd.ca.

A report from the seminar Making Investment Work for Africa, organized by the Pan African Parliament in collaboration with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS).

The report provides an overview of the recent wave of foreign investment in farmland and water in Africa and examines the impacts on development, employment, human rights, women and natural resources.

The report outlines the legal implications of foreign investment in light of the current system of bilateral investment treaties and investor–State contracts.

The report provides a road map for parliamentarians and other actors, including governments, academics and civil society, on how to address the new wave of investment. This map includes:

• Achieve the goal of the Maputo Declaration to invest at least 10 per cent of African countries' national budgets in the agriculture sector;

• Implement comprehensive land reform in line with the African Union Land Policy Initiative;

• Launch Africa-wide campaigns to improve awareness of the situation;

• Improve transparency and accountability;

• Build capacity among governments and parliamentarians to better negotiate investment deals; and

• Initiate legislative and budgetary measures.

A number of findings are provided:

• The speed at which biofuel production has increased over the last decade may have exacerbated food price volatility and contributed to rising food commodity prices.

• The rigidity of biofuel consumption targets and the relative inelasticity of agricultural production will result in ongoing conflict between energy and agricultural markets.

• The range of research and modelling results looking at the role of biofuels in previous food price spikes and modelling their potential future impact on food commodity prices indicate there is some uncertainty in the literature on the exact extent of the role of biofuels.

Several potential options are being discussed by policy-makers. This policy brief discusses two main policy recommendations:

• Reducing the rigidity of biofuel consumption targets imposed by mandates to help ease competition between energy and agricultural markets

• Ensure strong reporting requirements for the European Union’s and United States’ biofuel policies, including provisions on the use of food crops as feedstocks in order to ensure the issue of increasing food commodity prices are within a formal policy reporting structure.

The Canadian government has moved to implement policies that reduce GHG emissions by regulating the performance of modified and new coal-fired power facilities that start generating electricity after July 1, 2015. Coal will likely be primarily displaced by natural gas turbines.

IISD uses original modelling to forecast that GHG emissions in the electricity sector will fall 25 per cent to 87 million tonnes in 2030 from 117 Mt in 2005.

The average cost of the proposed regulation could be about $26 per tonne of GHGs reduced from 2015 to 2030 or roughly $260 million per year. Emissions are likely to be reduced 5 Mt in 2020 and 20 Mt by 2030.

“These societal costs must be weighed against a number of benefits, including the reduction of GHG emissions and improvements in local air quality due to less air pollutants,” said IISD climate change and energy director David Sawyer in the paper, Regulating Carbon in Canada: The impact of the federal government’s proposed electricity coal performance standards. The actual value of these benefits weren’t estimated in the report.

Together with recent federal vehicle efficiency standards and provincial government actions to reduce GHGs, Canada is now on track to achieve nearly a third of its emission reduction target under the Copenhagen Accord.

The regulations will apply to about 8 per cent of Canada’s total forecast electricity generation in 2020 and about 54 per cent of fossil fuel generation.

Sawyer said Canadian GHG emitters are facing carbon costs consistent with emitters in the European Union and well above United States competitors’ levels.

For additional details on regulating carbon emissions in Canada, please see the commentary Mind the Gap: The state-of-play in Canadian greenhouse gas mitigation.

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For more information, please contact David Sawyer at dsawyer@iisd.ca or Nona Pelletier, IISD manager, public affairs at +1 (204) 958-7740, mobile: +1 (204) 962-1303 or email npelletier@iisd.ca.

Yet many provinces and territories in Canada do not have clear governance structures at any scale, and where watershed organizations exist, they must grapple with complex interjurisdictional and intrajurisdictional division of powers and scarce resources when conceiving of relationships among watersheds, ecosystems, social systems and health.

The Watersheds as Settings for Health and Well-Being Project explored connections between watershed governance and human health in five watershed organizations serving a variety of scales across Canada: the Fraser Basin Council (BC), Cowichan Watershed Board (AB), Save Our Seine River Environment Inc. (MB), Otonabee Region Conservation Authority (ON) and Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (ON). The application of a systemic framework known as the Watershed Governance Prism informed the development of case studies of these five watershed organizations. Watershed partners undertook a self-assessment and participated in a collaborative workshop that explored a variety of dimensions of their programs. Specifically, the Prism framework provided a basis for the watershed organizations to (a) identify and prioritize different types of relationships among watersheds, ecosystems, social systems and health, and (b) to make a systematic analysis of how their watershed organization programs interact with determinants of health and well-being.

Results of the watershed organization self-assessment and the collaborative workshop demonstrate that watershed organizations operate largely from the perspective of water governance for sustainable development (linking watersheds, ecosystems and social systems). Where health is addressed, it is usually implicit rather than explicit. Even so, there was recognition of the range of health implications of watershed-based activities, ranging from source water protection and flood management, to the health promotion benefits of engagement with environmental stewardship. Despite these converging objectives, participating watershed organizations identified a lack of capacity to optimize synergies and interact with partners in the health sector.

Findings from the self-assessment inform this paper’s key lessons and recommendations.

For a summary of Ecohealth: Health, Well-Being and Watersheds, click here to view our brochure.

It highlights the relevant developments in international investment disputes in an attempt to outline some of the wider policy implications of the arbitral awards between September 2010 and October 2011. Through a case analysis of some of the most significant awards on jurisdiction and liability, this brief provides an overview of the substantive issues that arose in the various arbitral awards. It outlines how tribunals have defined the term “investment” and how they have interpreted the provisions on most-favoured nation treatment, expropriation, fair and equitable treatment, and dispute resolution under investment treaties and foreign investment laws.

The book is written by the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin team, and edited by ENB executive editor Pam Chasek, and Lynn Wagner, managing editor of knowledge management projects for IISD Reporting Services. It reviews the 20-year period since world leaders first gathered to construct a new sustainable development paradigm that promised to enhance environmentally sound economic and social development.

“This book captures the dynamics of international sustainable development through the eyes of the experts who have been right there with a ringside seat at negotiations, offering us a rare and valuable insight as we move forward beyond discussions to implementation,” said IISD board chair Dan Gagnier.

The Roads from Rio: Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Multilateral Environmental Negotiation (paperback, US$39.95; published by Resources for the Future Press/Routledge) offers first-hand insights by writers who have participated in most of the post-1992 negotiating processes.

“This is how international environmental diplomacy really operates. The authors apply a fine-grained level of resolution that offers new insights into the practice of international environmental politics by multiple actor groups,” said Peter M. Haas, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

The chapters examine the proliferation of multilateral environmental negotiations and meetings, changes in the actors and their roles (governments, nongovernmental organizations, secretariats), the interlinkages of issues, the impact of scientific advice and the challenges of implementation across UN negotiating processes, including the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertification, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Commission on Sustainable Development, the Forum on Forests, the chemicals conventions (Stockholm, Basel and Rotterdam), the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Convention on Migratory Species and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The book is available at Routledge.com or on Amazon.com.

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For more information, please contact the editors by email: Pam Chasek pam@iisd.org and Lynn Wagner lynn@iisd.org, or IISD manager, public affairs Nona Pelletier at +1 204 958-7740 or cell: +1 204 962-1303.

WINNIPEG—March 1, 2012—The Earth Negotiations Bulletin, the world’s leading publication on international environment and sustainable development negotiations, is marking its 20th anniversary with ongoing coverage of a series of meetings and events leading up to where it all began—in Rio de Janeiro at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

Langston James “Kimo” Goree VI, director of the International Institute for Sustainable Development IISD Reporting Services; Pamela Chasek, executive editor of ENB; and Johanna Bernstein wrote and edited the first issues of the publication at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

“This anniversary marks an important milestone in IISD’s history. We are proud of ENB’s significant contribution to international environmental governance and social development by shedding light on important meetings and negotiations for sustainable development over the past 20 years,” said IISD board chair Dan Gagnier.

In the past 20 years, more than 200 people from almost 40 countries have worked as ENB writers, primarily PhD students and graduates, as well as lawyers, former United Nations representatives, government officials and other experts.

ENB writers were part of world’s first wave of Internet and digital media users to provide daily coverage of meetings and negotiations, with overnight dispatches disseminated to a global readership.

“When we first started publishing the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, we decided that the best way to influence the process was not by using our publication to lobby or advocate for any political position, but to help level the information playing field and promote both transparency and the free distribution of knowledge to all of the participants,” Goree said.

ENB writers work as knowledge brokers and serve as trusted intermediaries for sustainable development decision-makers. They are the experts sitting in the back of the room, taking notes and reporting on the statements of governments and international organizations at key world summits, using new and emerging digital technologies.

ENB’s reports are complemented by a photographic library that is a treasure trove of historic moments. The photos are regularly featured by the world’s leading news media outlets and publications to tell the stories of international negotiations and events related to the three Rio Conventions—on biodiversity, climate change and desertification—as well as other events and meetings related to sustainable development.

IISD Reporting Services has continued to promote transparency and the free distribution of information through its suite of knowledge management products and platforms related to coverage of climate change, energy and sustainable development.

As part of its 20th anniversary celebration, IISD Reporting Services is launching Help Bring ENB Back to Rio—a fundraising campaign to ensure an ENB presence at the meetings leading up to and during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio this June.

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For more information, please contact Joanna Dafoe, IISD Reporting Services outreach coordinator at +1 (647) 986-7745 or Nona Pelletier, IISD manager, public affairs at +1 (204) 958-7740 or cell: +1 (204) 962-1303.

Fossil Fuels: At What Cost? Government Support for Oil and Gas Upstream Activities in Russia was issued Monday, while Fossil Fuels: At What Cost? Government Support for Oil and Gas Upstream Activities in Norway was issued earlier this month. They are part of a series of reports published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Global Subsidies Initiative. The Russia report was initiated and prepared by WWF Russia. The Norway report was prepared by Econ Pöyry.

The Russia report quantifies the value of 17 subsidy schemes totalling US$8.1 billion in 2009 and US$14.4 billion in 2010—4.2 per cent and 6.0 per cent respectively of the total value of oil and gas production in Russia.

The Norwegian government provided US$4 billion in subsidies for upstream oil and gas activities in 2009—roughly 13 per cent of the oil and gas industry’s total revenue.

The reports use an internationally agreed definition of subsidy adopted by the World Trade Organization to determine the value of oil and gas production subsidies. This detailed analysis is the first of its kind in Russia and Norway.

In both countries, subsidies are provided to develop new fields in remote areas, including the Arctic.

The reports are intended to improve transparency regarding subsidies provided to the oil and gas industry and foster a public debate on whether they constitute a good use of public funds.

In recent years, governments around the world have pledged to reform their fossil fuel subsidies as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to preserve public finances.

In 2009, G20 and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries, including Russia, undertook to rationalize and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption over the medium-term. While not a member of the G20 or APEC, Norway supports the commitment and is a member of the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform group of countries.

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For more information about the Russia report, contact author Ivetta Gerasimchuk at +7 916 487 4382 or igerasimchuk@iisd.org. For more about the Norway report, contact Kerryn Lang at +41 22 917-8920 or klang@iisd.org, or Damon Vis-Dunbar at +41 22 917 8848 or dvis-dunbar@iisd.org.

Under the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive, 10 per cent of transport fuels used in the EU must come from renewable sources by 2020. Member states are placing large bets on biofuels to meet that target.

The role that biofuels should play in Europe’s transport policy is being hotly debated. The benefits potentially include greater greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, localized production and greater energy security. However, biofuels have also been criticized for generating GHG emissions from the clearing of forests, loss of biodiversity and increased food prices that ripple through international markets.

Two reports, by GSI and FiFo, examine the economic costs of meeting the EU’s renewable transport fuel targets by using biofuels.

The reports find that U.K. consumers will likely pay between £1 and £2 billion per year (approx. €1.6 to €3.2 billion) in higher transport fuel prices by 2020. In Germany, consumers are expected to pay €1.4 to €2.2 billion per year.

Meeting the renewable transport fuel target also entails significant cost to government coffers. The U.K. and German governments, together with the EU, provide a range of subsidies to encourage biofuel production, including excise tax duties, grants and support to infrastructure and payments to farmers.

The research finds that a growing portion of agricultural subsidies are going to farmers who produce biofuel stock under the EU’s Single Payment Scheme (SPS). While SPS payments to farmers in the U.K. for growing biofuel stock are relatively low, they are growing rapidly and have more than doubled in the two-year period ended April 14, 2011 from April 15, 2009. SPS payments to German farmers growing biofuel stock amounted to €372.25 million in 2009.

Despite these costs to taxpayers and consumers, 90 per cent of transport fuel will still come from oil. “Even if the targets are met, the impact is fairly small in terms of the overall picture,” said Peter Wooders, senior economist at IISD and a co-author of the U.K. report.

“We encourage governments to explore alternatives and assess these against biofuels,” Wooders said.

Please see the reports: Biofuels – At What Cost? Mandating ethanol and biodiesel consumption in the United Kingdom and Biofuels – At What Cost? Mandating ethanol and biodiesel consumption in Germany. -end-

For more information, please contact Peter Wooders at pwooders@iisd.org or Damon Vis-Dunbar, IISD’s GSI communications coordinator, at +41 22 917-8848 or dvis-dunbar@iisd.org.

“The new members offer a wealth of experience in business and development, which will greatly assist the institute moving forward,” said board chair Dan Gagnier.

Michael Vukets, CA, is founder & principal of Toronto-based Michael Vukets & Associates, a boutique financial services firm, which specializes in integrating wealth management, philanthropy and family harmony. The firm works with affluent families to realize a vision of creating $3 billion of funds for charities and non-profit organizations in Canada by 2020. 

Michel De Broux practices law in Joliette, Quebec, following a 30-year career at Hydro-Quebec as a senior executive. His current work focuses on helping small and medium-size businesses to secure funding with Quebec and Canadian institutions

Vukets and De Broux replace former board members Isabelle Hudon and Maureen O'Neil. The board is yet to fill the seat formerly held by distinguished fellow Milton Wong, who died on December 31, 2011.

“Milton Wong’s contribution to the board will be deeply missed,” said Gagnier. Wong was named a distinguished fellow of IISD in recognition and appreciation of his lifetime achievements and for significant contributions in leadership toward better living for all in business, education and philanthropy.

With the appointment of these new directors, there are now 22 members of the board, representing eight countries. IISD’s board of directors meets twice a year. -end-

For more information, please contact Nona Pelletier, IISD manager, public affairs at +1 (204) 958-7740 or cell: +1 (204) 962-1303.

WINNIPEG—December 19, 2011—New analysis by the International Institute for Sustainable Development identifies carbon offsets as a key opportunity to cost-effectively reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and achieve its stated reduction target.

“Canada’s move to regulate carbon will have a cost impact on industry, and this impact will increase over time as more reductions are sought. Offsets are a cost-effective mitigation option that can help minimize adverse competiveness impacts while broadening the scope of reduction opportunities” said David Sawyer, director of IISD’s climate change and energy program and lead author of Offsets and Canada’s GHG Regulations: Reducing costs, improving competitiveness and lowering emissions. (See also the Summary Report.)

The report is based on new economic modelling developed to show how offsets might complement sector-by-sector GHG performance regulations as well as how they may help Canada more cost-effectively meet the target it has set for itself. IISD estimates the planned federal and provincial mitigation actions will deliver about 46 per cent of the 2020 national target, or about 103 million tonnes (Mt) of the 225 Mt needed.

The report offers a range of scenarios and discusses their impact on costs and emission reductions. It also reviews other offset programs operating in jurisdictions elsewhere in Canada as well as in Australia, the United States and Europe.

“There is substantial evidence that targeting emitters outside of the regulated sectors can significantly reduce mitigation costs and deliver other important environmental benefits,” Sawyer said.

“A well-developed offsets program could deliver significant savings across the economy by offering unregulated sectors, such as agriculture and forestry, an opportunity to reduce Canada’s emissions while delivering important co-benefits from ecological goods and services that provide cleaner water and improved flood mitigation.”

IISD is working with leading thinkers on mitigation policy to produce a range of policy options that would complement the Government of Canada’s move to regulate carbon emissions with performance-based regulations.

“The aim is to develop federal policies that set out the best way to regulate carbon emissions in a way that co-exists with provincial carbon pricing and regulatory actions, and to offer ways to achieve a national carbon mitigation framework for Canada,” Sawyer said.

See Regulating Carbon Emissions in Canada for more information about this initiative.

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For more information, please contact David Sawyer by email at dsawyer@iisd.ca, or Nona Pelletier, IISD manager, public affairs at +1 (204) 958-7740, mobile: +1 (204) 962-1303 or email npelletier@iisd.ca.

DURBAN—December 6, 2011—The substantial environmental and economic benefits of reforming fossil fuel subsidies are being debated on the sidelines of the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban.

In September 2009, the leaders of the Group of 20 countries agreed to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies over the medium term. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) governments made an almost identical pledge the same year.

At an event on December 7, 2011, ministers from New Zealand, Costa Rica, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland, along with the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI), will encourage G20 and APEC leaders to implement their political commitments to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies as soon as possible, with maximum ambition and transparency.

The International Energy Agency estimates that fossil fuel-consumption subsidies totalled US$409 billion in 2010, an increase of almost US$110 billion from US$300 billion in 2009, placing a significant strain on government budgets in the face of rising international fuel prices.

Below-market fuel prices also bring down the cost of production and consumption, making it harder for cleaner forms of energy to compete, and leading to increased carbon dioxide emissions. A complete phase out of these would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 5.8 per cent by 2020 as compared with business as usual.

At the same time, the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform, a group of non-G20 countries that support the reform of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, fully recognize that domestic reform must take into account vulnerable communities’ access to essential energy services. Established in June 2010, current members of the group include Costa Rica, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

GSI is a program of the International Institute for Sustainable Development that is dedicated to researching the scale of government subsidies and their impacts on sustainable development. -end-

For more information, please contact: Peter Wooders, IISD senior economist +41 76 430 50 26 or pwooders@iisd.org; or Damon Vis-Dunbar, IISD communications coordinator, at +41 78 818-0501 or dvis-dunbar@iisd.org.

Though scattered across the globe, young northerners are meeting at www.ookpik.org, an online forum designed to support northern youth dialogue. The online event is hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and is aimed at gathering stories from northern youth from around the circumpolar North. Youth who participate in the Ookpik forum will be eligible to be part of a group of youth leaders who will attend and present at the IPY conference in Montreal.

The following are some of their stories:

Elizabeth Zarpa from Goose Bay, Labrador said, “We live close to the environment and we have for generations. My grandparents on both sides grew up in a totally different world than what I live in now. They travelled with the seasons and ate more wild meat and fish than I do now, but it doesn't make me any less Inuk. I am still from the North and climate changes are affecting me.”

Niko Partanen of Finland, who is currently studying in Russia, said, “I interviewed yesterday an elder Komi woman who lives in the western Udora region of the Komi Republic. She was born in 1948, and lived there most of her life. She said that the weather has been changing there also. Nowadays the winters are milder than they used to be and the summers dryer. The rivers also have less water, there are sandy islands appearing and sandy banks of the rivers are wider. It is more difficult to move with boats on some smaller rivers. There is even less fish to catch.”

Joe Mackenzie from Yellowknife said, “I want to do what I can to help out the environment for my region and most importantly, the caribou herds. For thousands of years since the end of the Ice Age my people, the Dogrib First Nations, have been hunting them for food since they are our main source of food in the North. Since the climate is changing, the herds are moving a bit further up north like near Great Bear Lake and the cost of food has gone up since it has to be imported food from south.”

Bali Symenuk of the Yukon said, “This is the best opportunity for youth from remote isolated communities to connect during a time when the North is facing challenges.”

Pauline Gerrard, IISD’s circumpolar leaders program coordinator said, “It is important for northern youth to share their experiences so others can understand their concerns. These young people will have to take the actions required to address climate change in the North.”

The theme of the conference is knowledge and change. To read more stories or to take part in the online forum, go to http://www.ookpik.org/forum/.

To apply to be a young leader at IPY in Montreal, go to http://www.ookpik.org/cylp/. -end-

For more information, please contact: Pauline Gerrard, IISD training coordinator at +1 (204) 958-7727 or pgerrard@iisd.ca; or Nona Pelletier, IISD manager, public affairs at +1 204 958-7740 or cell: +1 204 962-1303 or npelletier@iisd.ca.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development hosted the meeting to inform stakeholders about progress made in the development of a bioeconomy initiative as a critical component of an action plan to reduce the nutrient loading within the Lake Winnipeg Basin, while incorporating innovative approaches and economic benefits for Manitobans, such as the Netley-Libau Marsh project.

The meeting coincides with the anniversary of last year’s Lake Winnipeg Basin Summit and unfortunately follows a year of serious flooding across Manitoba, which compounds the issue of nutrient loading in the lake. The meeting provides an update on project developments in the past year, including IISD’s bioeconomy atlas concept—a roadmap for implementing bioeconomy opportunities across the province.

“The bioeconomy atlas will provide stakeholders with baseline data as the basis for a long-term action plan for the Lake Winnipeg Basin,” said Franz Tattenbach, IISD president and CEO. “I am encouraged by the high level of interest from a wide spectrum of stakeholders as we continue to move forward.”

Keystone Agricultural Producers policy analyst James Battershill said, “The bioeconomy atlas is a good step forward. It is a tool we can use to assist in the development of appropriate polices to help address water management, rural development and environmental issues.”

Henry David (Hank) Venema, director of IISD’s Natural and Social Capital program and Water Innovation Centre provided an update on the broader implications for the Lake Winnipeg bioeconomy initiative.

“The strategy is to develop a bioeconomy based on the principle that our water resources and nutrients, particularly phosphorus, are strategic resources that need to be harnessed and transformed into high-value products. The water and nutrients that we have in abundance will be key to our future prosperity and should become a critical component of the action plan to address the condition of Lake Winnipeg,” he said.

Manitoba Chambers of Commerce president Graham Starmer said an economic approach to address the issues with the lake are supported by the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce as it aims to deliver on one of the promises of Manitoba Bold—an initiative to create new enterprises based on clean technologies that use renewable materials and energy sources.

“We are encouraged by the efforts of the institute’s Water Innovation Centre and believe the development of a bioeconomy will encourage farmers, municipalities and entrepreneurs to make the investments necessary to improve the condition of Lake Winnipeg. We continue to encourage and call for strong leadership regarding our lake and its health,” Starmer said.

Manitoba Innovation Council executive chair Jan Lederman said, “There is a compelling case to use innovative approaches to deal with Manitoba’s ongoing problem of drought and flood, and help Lake Winnipeg at the same time.”

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For more information, please contact Nona Pelletier, IISD manager, public affairs at +1 204 958-7740 or cell: +1 204 962-1303 or npelletier@iisd.ca.

For an interview with Graham Starmer, please contact Susan Barkman, director, policy and communications, the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce at +1 204-948-0103 or +1 204-948-0100.

The workshops—organized in partnership with the South African Ministry of Energy, the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the South African Renewables Initiative—will feature briefings by experts from the private sector, government, international organizations and news media.

The following issues will be explored at six workshop sessions:

Thursday, December 1, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (SAST): Financing Renewables to Scale – Lessons from South Africa and Elsewhere

Monday, December 5, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (SAST): Access to Energy – What Role for Renewable Energy?

Monday, December 5, 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. (SAST): Energy Subsidies – How Much is Being Spent and to What Effect? Note: this workshop will be held at the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC)

Tuesday, December 6, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (SAST): Barriers to Renewable Energy – What are They and How Can They Be Overcome?

Wednesday, December 7, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (SAST): Unlocking the Door to a Green Economy – Renewable Energy, Job Creation and Economic Growth

Thursday, December 8, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (SAST): A special closing session on renewable energy in Africa will be organized by the South African Department of Energy.

Where the sessions will be held:

Upper Deck of the Phantom Ship, uShaka Marine World, except the workshop on Energy Subsidies, Monday, December 5, 5:00 to 6:30 p.m., which will be held in the Bellona Solutions Centre, Room 14, Durban ICC.

The speakers include:

Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General, IRENA; George Mnguni, Deputy Director General, South African Department of Energy; Ogunlade Davidson, Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Sierra Leone; Philippe Benoit, Head of Energy Efficiency and Environment, International Energy Agency; Sakkie Leimecke, Lead Principal: Energy, Nedbank; Kirsty Hamilton, Fellow, Energy, Environment and Development Programme, Chatham House; and other high-level government representatives.

Journalists should register their interest in attending by sending an email to: mediaworkshops@irena.org. Please include your name, affiliation, contact details and the workshops of interest.

For more information, please contact IISD senior economist Peter Wooders at pwooders@iisd.org or IISD’s GSI communications coordinator Damon Vis-Dunbar at +41 22 917-8848 or dvis-dunbar@iisd.org.

“Many Canadian GHG emitters are facing carbon costs consistent with emitters in the European Union and at levels well above competitors in the United States,” said David Sawyer, IISD climate change and energy director and author of Mind the Gap: The State-of-Play in Canadian Greenhouse Gas Mitigation.

The Canadian Government is implementing policies that reduce GHG emissions by regulating new and modified coal-fired power facilities and through vehicle efficiency standards in order to meet its target of a 17 per cent reduction in emissions from 2005 by 2020.

The Canadian government isn’t acting alone to reduce GHG emissions. “The emerging federal GHG emission mitigation policy builds on what is happening at a provincial level,” Sawyer said.

“The federal and provincial governments are delivering reductions that jointly put Canada on track to achieve nearly half of its 2020 emissions reduction target,” he said, adding that existing policies are already delivering 30 per cent of the target and the new measures should deliver a total of 46 per cent.

“Closing the remaining 54 per cent gap in Canada’s target will be challenging and require a rethink on how we approach policy design, which has until recently focused on carbon pricing policies rather than performance-based regulations preferred by the Canadian government.”

IISD’s Mind the Gap paper provides new modelling to measure the impact of Canadian efforts to reduce GHG emissions, outlines five principles to guide policy development in a regulatory environment and offers three options Canada can consider to help it reach its target.

The first option suggests Canada can regulate all existing sources of carbon emissions, rather than just new or modified sources. It can also look at establishing a domestic offsets system and expand Canadian use of international offsets that take advantage of the relatively low-cost reductions available internationally.  

“While it isn’t currently politically feasible to implement a national carbon pricing policy, it will eventually be necessary in order to the deliver cost-effective reductions required to meet Canada’s longer-term aspirations for GHG emission reductions,” Sawyer said.

The report, Mind the Gap: The State-of-Play in Canadian Greenhouse Gas Mitigation, is one in a series of papers on the subject of Regulating Carbon Emissions in Canada. Please also see the commentary:State-of-Play in Canadian Federal and Provincial Greenhouse Gas Mitigation.
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For more information please contact David Sawyer by email dsawyer@iisd.ca or Nona Pelletier, IISD manager, public affairs at +1 (204) 958-7740, mobile: +1 (204) 962-1303, or email npelletier@iisd.ca

It is one of 10 meetings being held across Canada, facilitated by the Canadian Environmental Network and the Stakeholder Forum, in preparation for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development or Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next June 4-6.

The Winnipeg meeting was designed to encourage open and frank discussion from some 50 participants representing a range of civil society organizations on the subject of Manitoba’s role in the green economy and governance for sustainable development.

Manitoba Eco-Network executive director Kristine Koster emphasized the important role the group plays in bringing people and organizations together to promote and contribute positive environmental action for sustainable development.

“We need to challenge the myth that there is a trade-off between environmental investments and economic growth,” Koster said. “We need to build linkages between environmental and economic priorities and persuade decision-makers to put in place policies that support and promote sustainable development.”

IISD vice president and chief operating officer William Glanville said local and national actions are required to implement commitments set out at the first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. “We need to move beyond negotiation to understand what it will take to connect people at the local level to achieve commitments made through international agreements for sustainable development,” he said.

“Clear national policies and local actions are critical to achieving the goals set out in agreements at the first Earth Summit and the 20 years since then.”

Comments and issues raised at the half-day Winnipeg meeting will be compiled and form part of a summary report to be released early next year, as part of an initiative by the Canadian Environmental Network, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Stakeholder Forum.

For more information, please contact Nona Pelletier, IISD manager, public affairs at +1 204 958-7740, +1 204 962-1303 (cell) or npelletier@iisd.ca.

The YLSF program offers young professionals an opportunity to participate in overseas internships in the global South. The jobs are located in Africa and Latin America, includingGhana, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Guyana, Panama, Brazil and Peru.

Interns are hosted by reputable international organizations, including the United Nations Environment Program, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Iwokrama International Rainforest Program, CARE International, the World Agroforestry Centre, the Association for Progressive Communications, the Human Development Network (REDEH) and LEAD International.

The successful interns were selected from over 160 applicants. They are recent graduates from Canadian universities and residents of various provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

“This is a unique opportunity for me to gain developing country experience from another perspective,” said Fatou Thioune of Quebec, who immigrated to Canada from Senegal seven years ago. “I want to learn more about how international development projects are managed.”

“I am excited for a challenge that is going to broaden my horizons and give me more experience in the field of sustainable development,” said British Columbia resident Jeremy McDaniels, a recent graduate from Vancouver’s University of British Columbia.

“I am looking forward to gaining a firsthand understanding of what the rest of the world is like, especially the challenges and opportunities offered in developing countries,” said Ontario resident Candice Link, a recent graduate from Toronto’s York University.

IISD president and CEO Franz Tattenbach congratulated the interns at the conclusion of their one-week intensive training session at IISD’s headquarters in Winnipeg. “The next six months offers interns a tremendous opportunity to deepen their understanding of the complexities of international development and make to an important contribution to poverty reduction and global collaboration towards better living for all through sustainable development.”

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Please contact Pauline Gerrard, IISD Training Coordinator for more information:
Phone: +1 (204) 958 7727 or email: pgerrard@iisd.ca, or
Nona Pelletier, IISD manager, public affairs: Phone +1 204 958-7740 Cell: +1 204 962-1303 or email npelletier@iisd.ca

GENEVA—October 11, 2011—The International Institute for Sustainable Development has convened a one-day meeting of specialists from the climate change and the international trade law communities aimed at developing a better framework to address unilateral trade-related action on climate change, at the World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva on Thursday.

“Several high profile measures have already sparked legal challenges in the WTO, a clear sign of things to come,” said IISD senior advisor and associate Aaron Cosbey.

The most prominent case is the action Japan has brought against Canada over Ontario’s Green Energy Act, which provides preferential incentives to green energy (solar and wind), but only if it uses components manufactured by local manufacturers. If Japan succeeds, it could mean lost jobs and a roadblock to Ontario’s ambitions to be a clean energy exporter.

“This is a major concern to all members of the WTO, as the uncertainty has stalled critical and urgent investments in clean energy infrastructure and other climate change-related investments,” said Cosbey.

Despite the urgency, Cosbey said it will still take years to establish a framework to deal with the complex issues. “This meeting is just the beginning, but the issues are so important we expect a lively and productive discussion at the very least.”

He said the aim is to foster greater international cooperation in an effort to keep investment flowing in the direction of initiatives that help countries develop the infrastructure needed for climate change adaptations and mitigation.

The meeting will also look at issues around border carbon adjustment, which pose serious challenges for international cooperation on trade and investment, as well as in the ongoing climate change negotiations.

Please see the agenda for a full list of presenters at the conference: Trade, Investment and Climate Change: Searching for Progress on Key Issues,on October 13, 2011. -end-

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

The report released at World Water Week in Stockholm reviews best practices in policies and programing for ecosystem goods and services (EGS) aimed at achieving effective integrated water resources management in some of the most water- stressed regions of the world.

“Well-designed EGS programing can be a key instrument for improved international cooperation and human security in water-stressed areas around the world,” said Henry David Venema, director of IISD’s Water Innovation Centre and an author of the report.   

About 40 per cent of the world’s population lives in river basins that straddle two or more countries, cover almost half of the Earth’s land surface and provide over 60 per cent of global freshwater flow. 

The report reviews some of these transboundary river basins, including the Mekong, Okavango, Congo, Danube, Jordan, Red and La Plata Rivers—representing Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, West Asia, North America and Latin America regions of the world respectively.

The Red River Basin is the least studied of the group, yet has a major impact on the health of Lake Winnipeg, the world’s largest most eutrophic freshwater lake. “In the case of the Red River Basin, there are significant opportunities for transboundary collaboration and international cooperation to address flooding and water quality as integrated issues,” Venema said.

“The institutions that manage transboundary river basins have traditionally focussed on issues like navigation, hydropower production and water sharing agreements. However, we are now seeing a shift toward cooperation on environmental issues. EGS programing can connect local issues such as habitat and flood protection with the overall health of the river and region. It’s one of the most important frontiers in global environmental governance.” 

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Links: Ecosystem Approaches in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM): A Review of Transboundary River Basins

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

“The past year has been a time of tremendous change for the institute under the leadership of our new president and CEO Franz Tattenbach,” said board chair Dan Gagnier. “We have operationalized our strategic plan to help us achieve the kind of transformative changes we seek for sustainable development.

“The international experience and the diversity of strength represented by our board of directors provide solid support and advice to IISD’s talented management, staff and associates.”

The board has elected four new directors to replace Tensie Whelan and Sir Mark Moody-Stuart who retire after six and nine years respectively. The board also appointed director Milton Wong a distinguished fellow of IISD in recognition and appreciation of his lifetime achievement of significant contributions in leadership toward better living for all in business, education and philanthropy.

New board members

Maurice A. Biron has extensive finance and investment experience on programs and funds designed for sustainable finance for small and medium sized businesses. He is a member of the Garden River First Nation and president of Nativest Inc., a Toronto business consulting company focussed on development of a 300 megawatt wind farm for the Henvey Inlet First Nation. Maurice is a director (and founding member 1990) of an Aboriginal capital corporation serving Six Nations and Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation and trustee and audit chair of Canada’s $300-million First Nations Market Housing Fund.

Pedro H. Moura-Costa, PhD in forest biotechnology, is an expert and entrepreneur in market mechanisms for dealing with environmental services, particularly in relation to greenhouse gas emissions. He is a founding partner and chair of E2, an environmental finance concern, and of Guardiam, an investment company of the Amazon. He is also former president and co-founder of EcoSecurities and a noted and prolific author.

Jiahua Pan, PhD in economics, director of the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS); professor of economics at CASS; vice president Chinese Society for Ecological Economics; member National Expert Panel on Climate Change and National Foreign Policy Advisory Committee, China.

Emmanuelle Sauriol, director, corporate responsibility and sustainable development at Laval-based Dessau Inc. Sauriol has a background in business, engineering and communications.

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

With the addition of these new directors, there are now 23 members of the board, representing nine countries. IISD’s board of directors meets twice a year. -end-

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

REDD+ is a climate change mitigation mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It goes beyond reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) to encompass sustainable management of forests, conservation and enhancement of carbon sinks in developing countries.

The 2010 Cancun agreements emphasized the need for nationally driven plans for effective implementation of REDD+. Given the complexity of the rapidly evolving subject, decision makers and key stakeholders need to be well equipped with the knowledge and skills required to formulate national strategies to ensure success of REDD+.

REDD+ after Cancun: moving from negotiation to implementation is the theme of the two-and-a-half day workshops to be held in Douala on May 10–12 and Hanoi on May 18–20 2011. They offer a series of expert presentations and in-depth discussions about the REDD+ process. Policy and technical topics will include:

• Safeguards—how to ensure REDD+ projects are implemented without causing harm to the communities and existing biodiversity
• Co-benefits—how countries can accrue other environmental and social benefits from REDD+ in addition to monetary value of projects
• Measurement, Reporting and Verification—best approaches for systems that guarantee integrity and transparency in the REDD+ implementation process.

“REDD+ planning needs to be consistent with sustainable development goals, to ensure economic, environmental and social benefits are included,” said Deborah Murphy, senior associate with IISD’s climate change and energy program.

“This is a follow-up to the REDD+ task force meeting we had in Manila early this year, which identified policy needs  for key research areas with the overarching goal of drawing on country experiences and lessons learned to inform REDD+ development,” said ASB global coordinator, Peter Minang.

The IISD-ASB workshop is supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and will target participants from countries benefiting from the UN-REDD and Forest Carbon Partnership Facility programs. It is one in a series of training programs aimed at building REDD+ capacity for decision makers and other stakeholders in developing countries. These events will especially benefit from regional and international experts and facilitators who will explore priority areas and commonalities between these countries.

To allow for continued interaction and learning among participants and other key stakeholders, IISD and ASB have recently launched a web platform on Building REDD+ Capacity in Developing Countries that includes information on REDD+ initiatives and actions throughout Asia and Africa, lessons learned and critical issues moving forward.

About IISD and ASB

The International Institute for Sustainable Development is a non-partisan, charitable organization specializing in research, analysis and information exchange. IISD applies human ingenuity to improve the well-being of the world’s environment, economy and society. The Institute champions sustainable development around the world through innovation, partnerships, research and communications. Through a dynamic portfolio of projects and programs, IISD has partnered with over 200 organizations worldwide. IISD has been ranked by sustainability experts as one of the most effective sustainable development research organizations in the world. Please visit www.iisd.org for more information.

Founded in 1994, the Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins brings together local knowledge, policy perspectives and science to understand the tradeoffs associated with different land uses and the roles of markets, regulation, property rights and rewards. While ASB is coordinated by the World Agroforestry Centre, it is a global partnership of international and national-level research institutes, non-governmental organizations, universities, community organizations, farmers' groups, and other local, national, and international organizations. Please visit www.asb.cgiar.org for more information.

For more information about the workshops, please contact Ottawa-based IISD project manager Jessica Boyle +1 613-238-9883 jboyle@iisd.ca, http://www.iisd.org or Nairobi-based ASB Programme Associate Florence Bernard +254 20 722 4000 f.bernard@cgiar.org, www.asb.cgiar.org.

For additional comment, please contact IISD media and communications officer Nona Pelletier +204 958-7740 npelletier@iisd.ca or ASB communication officer Elizabeth Kahurani +254 20 722-4000 or via USA +1 650 833- 6645 e.kahurani@cgiar.org.

The collaborative is a community-driven initiative spearheaded by IISD, the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources and three First Nations living within Canada’s frontier forests.

Undefined carbon rights and a lack of experience prevent First Nations from accessing carbon markets, even though many of them live within and around the boreal forest region that stores 30 per cent of the world’s carbon, according to 2007 research by Woods Hole Research Center.

The literature review indicates there is little information about First Nations in Canada and carbon markets and that this void will need to be filled before First Nations can become active carbon market participants.

The best practices review found that local ownership enhances potential carbon market benefits, well beyond job creation. The review highlights the need to establish realistic timeframes, as capacity building can take considerable resources and time to deal with such issues as governance, transmitting local and traditional knowledge, operational training, youth development and succession planning.

As an initial capacity-building activity, the University of Toronto’s Centre for Environment in cooperation with the First Nations Carbon Collaborative will be hosting a free First Nations and carbon webinar series every Wednesday from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. (EST) beginning April 20 and ending May 25, 2011.

Webinar topics will include carbon 101, indigenous rights to carbon, emissions trading policies/legislation in Canada, carbon financing, offset projects and First Nations case study carbon projects. Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Shawn Atleo will open the webinar series. Grand Chief Edward John, the North American representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum, will also be a guest speaker.

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For more information please contact IISD project manager Vivek Voora (204) 958-7797 or IISD media and communications officer Nona Pelletier (204) 958-7740.

“David Sawyer represents the best of a new generation of economists developing innovative and fresh approaches to the complex issues posed by climate change and the development of renewable energies,” said IISD chief executive and president Franz Tattenbach.

“IISD is fortunate to have been able to draw a strong leader from its talented and dedicated team of climate change and energy experts willing to step up and take responsibility for the important work started by our former director John Drexhage*,” Tattenbach said.

Sawyer said he is looking forward to taking a leading role at IISD. “IISD is a world class think tank and I am pleased to have the opportunity to direct the work of the climate change and energy program as we help shape North American climate and energy policy and continue to influence global efforts for change,” he said.

Sawyer has been an associate of IISD’s for the past four years and has contributed to the work of IISD’s Global Subsidies Initiative—most recently as the lead author of a comprehensive study of the value of oil production subsidies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland & Labrador.

Sawyer has 20 years of national and international experience working as an environmental economist. He has built a solid reputation as a leader in the economics of climate policy and energy futures in Canada. His advice is routinely sought by a wide cross-section of climate policy leaders.

He holds a master of development economic degree from Dalhousie University, and has completed short and long-term assignments in the Caribbean, China, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam.He has also held positions with Environment Canada and Canada’s Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development.

Sawyer will be transitioning out of his work with EnviroEconomics Inc, a micro-consultancy specializing in environmental economics, prior to taking up his new position at the beginning of May.

In the meantime, IISD’s climate change and energy program manager Jo-Ellen Parry will continue in her role as interim director and lead the program’s work on adaptation and risk reduction.

*(John Drexhage stepped down to head U.K.-based International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) new climate change program, earlier this month.)

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The Quebec Business Council on the Environment and IISD will co-host the all-day seminar on current trends and future perspectives, which will cover the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. There will be three speakers for each dimension, representing academia, business and non-government organizations.

An estimated 8,000 people are expected to attend Americana 2011—the ninth biennial edition of the Americana International Environmental Technology Trade Show and Conference, March 22–24. It features 350 exhibits and participants from 50 countries representing a cross-section of sectors including industry, technology, business, government, academia and media.

The conference theme is Tomorrow reinvented.

Deborah Murphy, a senior associate with IISD’s climate change and energy program will make a presentation on March 22, day one of the conference, on the subject of International carbon market mechanisms. Her topic is the Future of International carbon market mechanisms in the Post-Kyoto Period, which will focus on potential mechanisms to engage developing countries, such as the clean development mechanism (CDM), reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), and others.

Download seminar program

Download conference program

Registration information 

Please contact IISD media and communications officer Nona Pelletier for more information at +1 (204) 962-1303 or npelletier@iisd.ca.

The report sets out the guiding principles for creating opportunities to reduce nutrient loadings in the lake basin and building a process for achieving a vision for the future.

In January 2011, the Lake Winnipeg Basin Summit steering committee recommended to IISD that it build on the momentum and goodwill generated at the summit and pursue a work program oriented towards the focus question of the summit—how to create economic opportunities for Manitoba while reducing nutrient loading within the Lake Winnipeg Basin.

"Nothing is more important than the quality of our water," said Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger. "The Province of Manitoba is pleased to support IISD and would like to thank them for taking on the important role of moving a Lake Winnipeg action plan forward."

IISD president and CEO Franz Tattenbach said, “No organization or government can tackle the problem alone and we are proud to have been entrusted by the participants to facilitate the development of a five-year action plan that incorporates innovative approaches and economic benefits for Manitoba.”

WIC director Henry David (Hank) Venema said, “At the end of the summit, we felt a great sense of optimism and common purpose in the room but it was when we dug into the details of the discussion and the vision statements that we realized the participants really expect the full sustainable development package—environmental, social and economic integration.”

The synthesis report and video proceedings of the Lake Winnipeg Basin Summit held on
November 30 and December 1, 2010 are available at the following links: http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2011/summit_2010_synthesis.pdf
http://www.iisd.org/wic/summit_2010.aspx

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For more information, please contact Nona Pelletier, media and communications officer, IISD
Phone +1 204 958-7740 Cell: +1 204 962-1303 npelletier@iisd.ca.

The successful candidate will be based at IISD’s Winnipeg office and work closely with other youth on a number of programs and interventions, including the development of a youth component for the upcoming Hudson’s Bay Awareness Summit to be held later this year.

The deadline for applications is Friday, February 18, 2011. Candidates must be between the ages of 19 and 30 to apply.

For more information about the program and how to apply is available at http://slicinternational.iisd.org/.

Drexhage, an international expert, advisor, author and noted commentator on a broad range of climate change issues and negotiations, has directed IISD’s work on climate change and energy for over 10 years.

“John has been an outstanding and dedicated leader to a team of staff and associates around the world and has helped raise IISD’s profile on the international and national stage with the establishment of our climate change and energy program a decade ago,” said IISD CEO and president Franz Tattenbach.

“We thank John for his many years of service to the institute and wish him well in his new endeavours. We look forward to opportunities for future collaborations in our work for sustainable development.”

Drexhage will be working closely with ICMM president Anthony Hodge, a former IISD associate, to help the international mining and metals industries meet the organization’s policy objectives and the challenges posed by climate change.

With over 20 years of leadership in the field, IISD’s associates and partners are
found around the world at the cutting edge of sustainable development whether in
non-government organizations, government or industry.

Drexhage officially takes up his new position in mid-March. -end-

For more information please contact Nona Pelletier, IISD media and communications officer, Phone +1 204 958-7740 Cell: +1 204 962-1303 npelletier@iisd.ca 

The Lake Winnipeg Basin Summit hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Water Innovation Centre ended with a shared vision of the future and a call for IISD to chair a stakeholder group tasked with producing a five-year action plan that incorporates innovative approaches and economic benefits for Manitobans.

“The summit has already been a catalyst for positive developments,” said Henry David (Hank) Venema, director of IISD's Sustainable Natural Resources Management program and Water Innovation Centre, referring to the government of Manitoba’s announcement of support for the IISD’s Netley-Libau Marsh Management Project and the appointment of University of Manitoba soil sciences Prof. David Lobb as Manitoba's first-ever research chair in watershed systems.

“David Lobb is a great scientist and will provide excellent scientific leadership as we develop a solutions roadmap and implementation strategy for the Lake Winnipeg Basin,” Venema said.

One strategy is to develop a bioeconomy derived from renewable sources. A key link to Lake Winnipeg Basin nutrient management is the insight that phosphorus—the element regarded as the noxious pollutant responsible for fouling Lake Winnipeg—is, like potash, a strategic resource, which can be captured, recycled and transformed into high-value products.

The Netley-Libau Marsh proof-of-concept project as well as nutrient removal and recycling from wastewater are examples of how nutrient management can be linked to economic development opportunities.

Summit co-facilitator John Fjeldsted, executive director of the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association, said the strong representation of the business community at the summit has brought a fresh perspective to dealing with Lake Winnipeg issues. “We are looking for ways to reduce the nutrient loading within the Lake Winnipeg Basin in a way that creates economic opportunities rather than costs.”

Red River Basin Commission executive director Lance Yohe said participants left the summit with a feeling of accomplishment. "This conference was a gigantic step forward in addressing Lake Winnipeg problems from a basin perspective. This summit has moved us closer to a unified effort under the umbrella leadership of IISD. Recommendations that are already being acted upon will include a leadership core, a leadership voice, and actions for short- and long-term solutions. These outcomes move us closer to creating a ‘Healthy Lake Winnipeg’."

Ducks Unlimited research biologist Shane Gabor said disregard for wetlands has significantly contributed to the plight of lake Winnipeg. “The summit symbolized the nature of the coordination, cooperation and innovation that will be required if we hope to avoid the collapse of ecosystems that we all take for granted.”

IISD plans to convene a meeting of stakeholders early in 2011 to begin the transition to a solutions strategy for the Lake Winnipeg Basin.

For more information please contact Nona Pelletier, IISD media and communications officer,
Phone +1 204 958-7740 Cell: +1 204 962-1303 npelletier@iisd.ca 

REDD-plus is about reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and other related issues in a way that benefits developing countries. These benefits include conserving biodiversity and improving the livelihoods of communities.

REDD-plus negotiations are a highly technical and rapidly evolving subject and many developing countries require support to understand their options and to develop strategies to effectively negotiate an appropriate REDD-plus decision under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

“The goal is to ensure negotiations account for broader sustainable development benefits for developing countries, while retaining the integrity of greenhouse gas emission reductions,” said IISD associate Deborah Murphy.

The project is focused on assisting UN-REDD Program pilot countries. It aims to help these developing countries improve their capacity for policy analysis. The project will contribute to regional coordination, undertake policy research, raise awareness of on-going REDD-plus activities, and build the foundations for collaboration between southern actors and institutions.

Project activities in 2010–2011 include one REDD Development Dividend Task Force meeting, two regional workshops, the development of two policy papers and a web platform to support South-South information sharing on REDD-plus.

The first phase of the project ran from 2009–2010 and included a forum attended by Xavier Mugumya, coordinator for climate change at the National Forestry Authority in Uganda.

“The forum inspired optimism and gave participating countries a sense that REDD-plus could effectively deal with climate change, despite the limitations to reach concrete agreements at COP15 (Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen),” Mugumya said.

“IISD helped us to understand the background to REDD-plus and how it relates to the whole scheme of climate change talks. ASB-ICRAF showed us that it is possible to have ground-based evidence that informs the REDD-plus negotiations and also supports the implementation of REDD-plus actions on the ground.”

The project will be delivered by IISD and ASB-ICRAF, with generous support from the government of Norway.

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier, npelletier@iisd.ca +1 204 958-7740 (cell: +1 204 962-1303; or IISD project officer Jessica Boyle, jboyle@iisd.ca 1 613 222-8550; or ASB-ICRAF Programme Associate Florence Bernard, f.bernard@cgiar.org.

ASB-ICRAF is a global partnership of research institutes, non-governmental organizations, universities, community organizations, farmers' groups, and other local, national, and international organizations, working at the nexus of two important problems: tropical deforestation and human poverty.

The Lake Winnipeg Basin Summit, hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Water Innovation Centre (WIC) is focused on creating and taking advantage of opportunities for Manitoba’s economy, while reducing the nutrient loading within the Lake Winnipeg Basin.

Over the past few years, IISD has worked with partners and other stakeholders to better understand Lake Winnipeg and its vast watershed.

“No one has as strong an interest in the health of Lake Winnipeg as Manitobans do,” said Henry David (Hank) Venema, director of IISD's Sustainable Natural Resources Management program and WIC.

“Although other jurisdictions are involved we can’t wait for the perfect plan that coordinates all the Canadian provinces and U.S. states—we have to lead. Half the nutrients originate within Manitoba and we have everything to gain in taking an aggressive leadership position,” said Venema.

IISD believes an opportunity for Manitoba lies in harnessing “bioeconomy” principles for Lake Winnipeg nutrient management. A bioeconomy is an economy where the basic building blocks for industry are derived from renewable sources—the bioeconomy becomes the framework for implementing sustainable development. The key to Lake Winnipeg nutrient management is phosphorus recycling. Phosphorus is regarded as the noxious pollutant responsible for fouling Lake Winnipeg. However, it is, like potash, a resource, and it can be captured, recycled and transformed into high-value products.

“We know there will be no quick-fix,” said IISD president and CEO Franz Tattenbach in an opening address to the meeting of 150 invitation-only participants at the two-day summit.

“What we need is a made-in-Manitoba-solution,” Tattenbach said, adding that sustainable natural resource management is critical to the future of Lake Winnipeg and other environmentally stressed regions of the world. “What we do here can make a difference elsewhere.”

Summit co-facilitator John Fjeldsted, executive director of the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association, said his role is to ensure Manitoba businesses have a constructive part to play in the process. “I was very pleased to be invited to take part in this summit. Too often Manitoba businesses have been excluded from the discussion. It’s great to have a voice at the table,” Fjeldsted said.

As part of his keynote address, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger announced funding of $150,000 to support IISD’s Netley-Libau Marsh Management Project.

For more information please contact Nona Pelletier, Media and Communications Officer, IISD
Phone +1 204 958-7740 Cell: +1 204 962-1303 npelletier@iisd.ca

The SSI Review 2010 is a collaborative effort by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the International Institute for Environment and Development, Aidenvironment, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and ENTWINED—Environment and Trade in a World of Interdependence—research consortium.

The SSI Review 2010 represents the most up-to-date and comprehensive overview of major voluntary sustainability standards and initiatives in the forestry, coffee, cocoa, tea and banana sectors, including detailed information on market performance, governance, criteria coverage and implementation practices.

Recent years have witnessed a remarkable rise in the number of environmental and social standards attached to commodities. The SSI Review 2010, which includes information on Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, Forest Stewardship Council, Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ Certified, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, GLOBALGAP, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Social Accountability International (SA8000), and 4C Association, reveals a growing appetite among consumers for these products.

• Environmental criteria are the most prevalent and robust across these initiatives and, in some cases, have expanded to include a wide variety of considerations such as energy conservation, genetically modified organism prohibition and greenhouse gas emissions. 
• Social requirements focus on criteria related to compliance with the International Labour Organization’s core labour standards, worker health and safety and employment conditions, with less emphasis on gender, employment benefits, community involvement and the humane treatment of animals. 
• Economic criteria, although the least developed across the initiatives surveyed, increasingly focus on transparency and sound commercial relations. 

Growth across voluntary sustainability initiatives is being driven by growing demands for transparency in global supply chains. The Review reveals that voluntary initiatives are playing an important role in improving supply chain transparency by bringing more credible systems for monitoring, enforcing and reporting on good practice. However, it also reveals that further growth in the market for sustainable products will likely depend on ensuring the continued integrity and credibility of voluntary sustainability initiatives through more systemic reporting. More in-depth reporting on market and field-level impacts across initiatives represents a key area where further investment will likely be needed as markets mature.

*Numbers revised to reflect update to report.

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