Malaria is one of the world’s leading health problems. In 2008, an estimated 243 million people fell sick, and nearly 900,000 people died from the disease—85 per cent of them children under five years of age. In response, over the last 15 years, the global health community has ramped up its fight against malaria. But the arsenal of options to treat the disease has declined over time, as old treatments have become increasingly ineffective due to growing resistance by malaria parasites.

In 2004 the Institute of Medicine published a report that called for subsidization of treatments that are more effective ("saving lives") and stave off resistance to the active ingredient ("buying time"). A rigorous process ensued to establish a well-designed subsidy scheme: the Affordable Medicines Facility - malaria (AMFm).

This policy brief draws lessons from the process of establishing the AMFm and provides recommendations for policy-makers on the elements of good subsidy design, including analysis and research, stakeholder consultations, supporting interventions to mitigate risks and unintended consequences, and a mechanism for monitoring and evaluation.

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

The long-term security of our global food and water supplies may be impacted by the mismanagement of our phosphorus nutrient resources. Essential to plant growth and all life, phosphorus is mined from rock phosphate deposits and synthesized into mineral fertilizers destined for agricultural fields. Easily-mined rock phosphate reserves are dwindling and the constraints this could place on fertilizer production pose risks to our long-term ability to feed the planet. Excess phosphorus from agricultural fields runs off the landscape and eventually gets flushed into the ocean, where it takes millions of years to mineralize. Under the right conditions, phosphorus loads can choke water bodies as algae rapidly grow, die and decompose, depriving lakes, rivers, streams and coastal waters of oxygen. This process, referred to as eutrophication, threatens the security of our freshwater supplies and aquatic ecosystems. Phosphorus is fundamental to long-term food security, yet we mismanage it, allowing excess phosphorus to imperil our water resources.

Within the Canadian Prairies, "peak phosphorus" could have serious economic consequences. Rising fertilizer costs will hit the bottom lines of agricultural producers, which may result in higher food costs. Phosphorus mismanagement is also being exhibited within the water bodies of the region. Lake Winnipeg, which drains the Canadian Prairies, is the most eutrophic large lake in the world. This situation clearly points to a need to better manage phosphorus resources by finding more effective ways to use, recover and recycle this precious nutrient.

Fortunately, opportunities to accomplish this are abundant. Adopting agricultural practices that improve plant nutrient uptake and limit phosphorus runoff can lower application requirements. Phosphorus recovery from manure and human and food waste can also lower our dependence on mineral fertilizers. For instance, phosphorus recovery systems could become standardized within wastewater treatment plants. Composting manure as well as human and food waste also represents an important source of phosphorus. Closing the loop on our food systems and moving toward phosphorus independence are crucial to ensuring the long-term security of our food and water supplies. Treating phosphorus as a finite resource shifts our management paradigm from mitigating a noxious substance to recovering and recycling a precious element.

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 

If economics is the original dismal science, then climate change could be its understudy. As the meteorological picture comes into focus, campaigners have begun to argue that climate change holds potentially serious implications for international security. The basic argument is that climate change—by redrawing the maps of water availability, food security, disease prevalence and coastal boundaries—will reduce the available food and water, increase migration, raise tensions and trigger new conflicts.

This article addresses the threats of climate change for peace and stability in Africa. It was written for the Heinrich Böll Foundation's book Climate change, resources, migration: Securing Africa in an uncertain climate. The full conference report can be found at http://www.boell.org.za/web/116-505.html.

Key points:

• Although Africa is the continent least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, it is almost universally seen as the continent most at risk of climate-induced conflict.

• Plausible threats from climate change exist, but we have to be careful not to oversimplify the relationship or exaggerate the story.

• Many factors influence the probability of violent conflict. Poverty and education levels, natural resource endowments, demographics, ethnic and religious fractionalization, geography and prior conflict are all factors that constrain or facilitate conflict.

• Climate change is one of many security, environmental and developmental challenges facing Africa. Non-climate factors (such as poverty, governance, conflict management, regional diplomacy and so on) largely will determine whether and how climate change moves from a challenge of development to that of a security threat.

Summary:

Although trade can be a catalyst for gender equality, the effects of trade liberalization and economic globalization on women, in particular, so far have been mixed. For example, while in a large number of cases, trade in general has improved women's empowerment and livelihood, in some other cases, the benefits accrued by women from trade liberalization have been marginal, relatively lower than those accrued by men. Worse, in some other cases, trade liberalization has also exacerbated gender inequalities and women's economic and social status.⁽¹⁾

The primary criticism levelled against international trade agreements from a gender perspective is that the measurement of international trade in terms of a net economic benefit and market-based criteria has largely ignored societal imbalances, which in turn results in long-term trade inefficiencies. This criticism is supported by the fact that Article XX of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), which allows for the reconciliation of trade and non-trade related norms in the trade context, is silent on the issue of women's rights. Trade agreements have also been criticized for reducing the policy space afforded to national initiatives in general, and the same may well apply to the empowerment of women and their participation in formal economic activities. But these very agreements can be used to streamline and reduce inequalities at all stages of the economic process, such as in identification of and participation in activities, access to resources, possession of the necessary skills, simple formal trading channels and control over income earned. We proffer suggestions on the necessity and means of doing so.

Key findings:

• Gender relations are not outside the economy in some realm of “preferences,” “aptitudes” and “traditions,” but rather permeate all economic activities.

• The characteristic that identifies the engagement of women above all others in economic activities in Africa is the informal economy; for example, around 70 per cent of the informal traders in sub-Saharan Africa are women.

• Social perpetuation of gender gaps is not, it appears, the most compelling obstacle to women being involved in trade. In fact, national, institutional and legal hurdles have a more adverse effect on women attempting to develop their earning capacity.

• The percentage of women who would be affected by trade facilitation aimed at the formal economy would be much smaller than changes brought about bearing in mind the existence of and impact upon the informal economy.

• However, national or local measures are not always effective and external requirements may well bring about actual differences. Thus, there is a crucial role to be played by trade agreements to fill in all these gaps.

• It is possible that trade agreements may not be mindful of, or may be indifferent to, national and local policies while incorporating gender-sensitivity. Here, international instruments on gender not directly related to trade can play an important role in creating a rights-based framework where women seek economic rights by way of entitlement. They can also ensure that national governments have the appropriate protective enabling instruments in place to avoid any deterrence or distortions to trade policies.

• However, regional trading arrangements are likely to offer opportunities that are best suited to women because they do not necessarily need large export markets and may find neighbouring markets more familiar and easier to deal with.

Key recommendations:

• The most common phrase that one comes across is the requirement to adopt a “gender perspective” on trade relations. What is evident, therefore, is a methodological intervention whereby the analysis of the desirability of trade choices requires addressing gender concerns.

• It appears that the regional trade agreements (RTAs) in the region should address the reality of informal cross-border trade so as to minimize the negative effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) on vulnerable groups such as women.

• There should be supportive institutional measures adopted rather than a move towards eradicating informal cross-border trade altogether; at the same time, the hazards inherent in such trade should be removed. This calls for an enhanced role for regional governance bodies in assessing the positive role of informal trade and how they may inform regional trading arrangements.

• It would be useful to have a yardstick against which RTAs can be measured for their gender sensitivity, which would reduce considerably negotiator hesitancy and the administrative costs of incorporating gender concerns into individual RTAs.

Summary:

There is little doubt that trade liberalization has had a profound effect on the well-being of women in Southeast Asia. Not all of these impacts are negative, however. Indeed, the opening up of the region’s economies, at both national and regional levels, has brought about opportunities in the form of new employment, which may allow them to access higher incomes and improve their status in the society. Given their increasing role in the economies of Southeast Asia, however, women are often the major victims of economic openness. Poor women, in particular, remain vulnerable to economic policy changes that occur in the region. Unfortunately, trade policies are often gender-blind and ignore women’s interests and aspirations. In the view of most trade policy-makers in the region, macro-economics is all about aggregates, and both policy objectives (e.g., price stability, employment generation, growth and external balance) and traditional policy instruments of macro-economics (e.g. fiscal and exchange rate policies) are gender-neutral. As a result, it is not uncommon to find that trade policies adopted and pursued by both ASEAN and its member countries further marginalize the role of women in the society.

Key Findings:

• The preconception among Southeast Asian trade policy-makers that trade policy is gender-neutral contributes significantly to the exclusion of gender consideration in trade policy formulation in the region. Although the introduction of trade liberalization is aimed at advancing economic reforms in the region, such initiatives have generally failed to improve women’s standing in the society.

• The state of gender relations today, which frequently results in divergent outcomes between different genders, is already observable in several economic arenas in the Southeast Asian region, such as: (1) job segregation within the paid labour market; (2) the division of labour between paid and unpaid labour; (3) the distribution of income and resources within the household; (4) access to redistribution by the state (e.g., access to education and social safety net programs); and (5) credit in the financial markets.

Key Recommendations:

• Women, along with other marginalized economic actors, should be put at the centre of trade policy analysis and deliberations in the region. Increasingly, women play significant roles in the economies of Southeast Asia. Any trade policy changes that affect the society at large must take into account the concerns and aspirations of women’s groups.

• Trade policy changes should not be made at the expense of the quality of the lives of women in the region. Southeast Asian women not only contribute to the economic development of the region, but also to the maintenance of healthy family life, which contributes socially and potentially furthers the economic stability of the society.

• ASEAN, as one of the key promoters of trade liberalization in the region, could also help improve the well-being of women by undertaking the necessary gender-oriented review of its trade liberalization initiatives, as is currently done by some other regional groupings in the developing world.

• Women should be given easy access to any social safety net schemes initiated by ASEAN and its member governments should the adjustment costs generated from trade liberalization prove greater than its benefits.

• Trade-related capacity building is crucial to promote gender equality in the region. Although women are often both the beneficiaries and victims of trade liberalization, they often lack the capacity to either reap the benefits or minimize the negative impacts of such a trade policy.

• Equally important is capacity building to eradicate discrimination against women in the society. In many Southeast Asian communities, women are still perceived as second-class citizens. In the absence of efforts targeted at the community at large, women will still likely be the subject of harsh and persistent discrimination, which might hinder them from gaining from the positive impacts of trade liberalization or expose them to its negative impacts.

• Finally, the implementation of various commitments adopted by ASEAN and its member countries to improve gender equality is critical to the well-being and welfare of the region’s women. However, commitment alone is certainly not sufficient without the appropriate amount of resources to support their implementation.

Summary:

Empirical studies on gender impacts of trade liberalization in South American countries can be roughly divided into four groups. The first group comprises studies focused on the size and characteristics of female employment generated by non-traditional agro-export industries. The second group of studies is concentrated on the impacts of trade liberalization on female participation in urban labour markets. The third group concerns studies on the informal urban sector. Another important field of research addresses the impact of the liberal agenda on female smallholder or peasant production, a phenomenon associated with an increase in the share of female-headed rural households.

Key Findings:

• Two major hypotheses that were generated by the literature on trade and gender in manufacturing exports are also valid for high-value agricultural exports:

  • The first hypothesis concerns the nature of female jobs generated by the expansion of exports known as the “feminization of exporting jobs” due to the working conditions of export-processing operations. The basic hypothesis is that labour-intensive exporting industries demand “feminine” skills, characterized as obedience, manual dexterity, patience, acceptance of hierarchy and lack of labour militancy. Women are sought because they are likely to accept working conditions unacceptable to men (lack of job security and work-related benefits).

  • The second hypothesis refers to the “glass ceiling” represented by the consequences of technological upgrading of exporting operations on female manufacturing jobs. Women are hired for unskilled “feminine” jobs (sewing in textile operations, for instance) and they are replaced by men when technological upgrading is introduced. Both hypotheses are validated in the cases of South American high-value agricultural exports with the caveat of insufficient data for rigorous conclusions.

• In urban labour markets, data from household surveys show that over the past two decades, in all South American countries, there was a general expansion in female activity rates in all groups of women separated by age, income and years of schooling.

• Available empirical evidence shows that, after trade liberalization, labour markets were not well-functioning and there was an unexpected mismatch between skills women (and men) could supply and those that the market was demanding. Consequently, unemployment hit the female working-age population harder when compared with the same male population.

• High female unemployment rates must be added to underemployment data since, quite often, women find jobs in less productive sectors, such as personal and domestic services.

• On the positive side, women have increased their stock of human capital and there has been a general reduction in the male-female wage gap, although that decline does not always correlate positively with the number of schooling years. Conversely, empirical data show that the male-female wage gap is higher in subgroups with more education.

• During the period of trade liberalization, markets and public policies affected gender inequalities in access to resources and opportunities, although the net results are not clear. To what extent have the policies implemented during the 1980s and 1990s exacerbated or reduced gender inequality? To give a precise and comprehensive answer to this question is nearly impossible.

• Moreover, liberal policies reached their zenith in the late 1990s, after a series of financial crises rendered manifest the external vulnerability of Latin America. On the other hand, other public policies were formulated to reduce social and gender inequities.

• The result is that, at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, Latin American women, in general, are facing better social opportunities in accessing the “constituents of development” (education, health, legal and civil rights, decent jobs and political participation) than any time before.

• Concrete improvements in women’s lives can be measured by reduction in fertility and in mortality rates, longer life expectancy and incentives for girls to attend primary and secondary schools, together with greater participation in political life, as well as increased political representation.

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

Many countries have policies to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and use policy instruments such as investment incentives to enable FDI relationships. While the efficacy of incentives as a determinant for FDI is often questioned, small developing countries have resorted to such measures. Malawi, for instance, has introduced a range of allowances, tax holidays and tax rate reductions for investors in its tourism sector. This case study investigates the costs and benefits of these incentives, especially in light of assisting the country in reaching its sustainable development goals.

Key findings:

• Through an analysis of the top ten imports qualifying for general and tourism specific incentives it is clear that these incentives are in conflict with the basic tenets of sustainable and environmental development and there is evidence of missed of policy targets.

• Bureaucracy at Malawi Revenue Authority, the implementing agency, hampers uptake and utilization of the current incentives. For example, the process of following-up waivers was a long and expensive process and, at times, not worth the incentive.

• Investment incentives do not determine FDI in the tourism sector; rather, decisions to invest were largely driven by the country’s natural resources, the cost of raw materials, the availability of relatively cheap labour, and inflation, foreign exchange and interest rates.

• Eighty per cent of tourism-sector investors interviewed would have established themselves in Malawi even if there were no investment incentives. The nature of their business establishment was also not influenced by the incentives package.

• Some important areas needing policy reorientation or refocusing are: consultation with local communities in the planning process, forging partnerships with the private sector, liberal immigration regulations to facilitate free tourist movement and a tourism infrastructure development policy to facilitate tourism development for the benefit of both tourism and the wider society.

Key recommendations:

• A policy is needed to identify ways in which the benefits from tourism activity can be spread more evenly throughout society.

• Specific FDI should be achieved by formulating a focused set of investment incentives that target a specific activity/set of operators. Such a policy must be clear, measurable and specific.

• To counter the bureaucratic challenges faced by investors, the government should simplify the process of applying for and granting waivers to reduce the time and money spent on the process by investors.

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.

Namibia has recently undertaken a Rapid Trade and Environment Assess ment which identified potential “green” opportunities and likely threats from international trade law and technical standards.

The Namibian RTEA aimed to:

1. Provide a preliminary assessment of the potential environmental impacts and “green” opportunities of trade relationships;

2. Provide strategic recommendations on a way for ward for sustainable development as input to the policy-making process; and

3. Build capacity to develop integrated trade and environment policies, and help plan and direct capacity building measures.

The assessment has ignited national debate among stakeholders from the often un connected sectors of international trade, environment, agriculture, water, energy, tourism and others. The rapid assessment is the start of a process of greater collaboration between these previously distinct sectors, which will have the opportunity to collaborate to a greater extent in the future. Namibia's economy cannot com pete with neighbouring South Africa's economic and infrastructural advantages, but the country can excel in some niche, high-value areas depending on how policy-makers plan ahead. This book highlights opportuni ties and areas for further attention and follow-up.

Key findings:

• Namibia can achieve its Vision 2030's wealth and well being objectives if policy- and decision-makers do not expect Namibia's development to look like the Western or South African industrialisation and bulk export model. A proven “smarter” strategy is to capitalise on its demon strated strengths in high-value niche sectors for specialised products and services based on Namibia's comparative advantages.

• Many good efforts on, for example, eco-tour ism and natural products development, are already un derway.

• Namibia continues to forego many opportuni ties in the (formal and informal) carbon market.

• Namibia would benefit from ap pointing a technical body and/or champion (e.g., in the Namibian Standards Institute) to monitor inter national market and labelling developments and com municate updates to relevant stakeholders including the private sector. Conflict between the rural development imperative, sustainable land management and com mercial meat exports need to be addressed through harmonized policies.

• There is a general need for coordination between those government agencies negotiating international policies which can negate each others' efforts.

Key recommendations:

• Policy-makers need to look at creating incentives for markets in unique, specialised products.

• Namibia should establish a national forum on trade and environment issues to continue work in areas highlighted by the assessment.

• Namibia needs more appropriate carbon market mechanisms which support sustainable land manage ment and rural development (so-called “co-bene fits”).

• The government should commit resources to pre pare and train Namibian negotiators attending inter national forums on the diversity of relevant domestic policy considerations.

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.

Ecological watershed management is a key to successful climate adaptation in Manitoba, and will also help improve the state of Lake Winnipeg.

Manitoba is a region of high water variability—floods and droughts have always characterized the region. Climate change threatens to make that variability more extreme and may already be happening. At present, over 90 per cent of the available water budget returns to the atmosphere as evaporation; only 8 per cent is available as watershed runoff. As climate change brings more and more variable rainfall, ecological watershed management (for water conservation, groundwater recharge, and flood and drought protection) becomes an ever more important adaptation strategy and has the major co-benefit of also reducing nutrient loads on Lake Winnipeg.

The necessity of climate change adaptation also creates an innovation opportunity—doing things differently and better. In Manitoba, that means integrating water and land management; investing in our watersheds to seize economic, social and environmental benefits such as flood and drought damage reduction and improving the health of Lake Winnipeg.

The Manitoba Challenge: Integrated Water and Land Management for Climate Adaptation, a new study by IISD’s Water Innovation Centre, presents the case for technological and institutional innovation for effective ecological watershed management. 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.

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

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)

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)

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 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)

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