RE: Missed all tergets EU Warned of Climate-Induced Polar Security Threat
BRUSSELS - European Union leaders will receive a stark warning next week of potential conflict with Russia over energy resources at the North Pole as global warning melts the ice cap and aggravates international security threats.
A report to the leaders by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the executive European Commission describes climate change as "a threat multiplier", which will exacerbate many existing tensions and heighten instability.
"A further dimension of competition for energy resources lies in potential conflict over resources in Polar regions which will become exploitable as a consequence of global warming," the eight-page report obtained by Reuters said.
"The resulting new strategic interests are illustrated by the recent planting of the Russian flag under the North Pole."
A Russian scientific expedition planted a flag on the ocean floor last summer, staking a symbolic claim to the resource-rich region. President Vladimir Putin decorated the three-man team with "Hero of Russia" medals.
The report said the EU needed to address the growing debate over Arctic territorial claims and access to new trade routes which challenged its ability to secure its trade and resource interests and may put pressure on relations with "key partners".
It suggested the 27-nation bloc develop a specific Arctic policy "based on the evolving geo-strategy of the Arctic region, taking into account ... access to resources and the opening of new trade routes".
Rules of international law such as the Law of the Sea might have to be strengthened to cope with new challenges, it said.
The study suggested the EU should do more to focus international attention on security risks related to climate change using the UN Security Council, the Group of Eight major industrialised powers and specialist UN bodies.
It cited a host of regional examples of the increased prospect of conflict caused by the reduction of arable land, water shortages, dwindling food and fish stocks, increased flooding and prolonged droughts which were already occurring.
The east coasts of China and India, as well as the Caribbean region and Central America faced particularly severe economic damage from sea-level rise and increasing natural disasters.
Loss of territory as coastlines recede and large areas are submerged would magnify disputes over land and maritime borders.
"Europe must expect substantially increased migratory pressure", the report said, as millions of "environmental migrants" flee poverty, poor health and unemployment, risking increased conflicts in transit and destination areas.
Solana and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said climate change could increase instability in failed or failing states, stoking tensions between ethnic and religious groups and political radicalisation.
Existing tensions over access to water in the Middle East were almost certain to intensify, "leading to further political instability with detrimental implications for Europe's energy security and other interests," the report said.
It also saw additional potential for conflict in central Asia from an increasing shortage of water, vital for both agriculture and power generation, with an impact on EU strategic and economic interests.
(reporting by Paul Taylor; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)
Story by Paul Taylor
Story Date: 7/3/2008
https://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/47375/story.htm
INTERVIEW - New Book Puts Cost of Saving Planet at $190 Billion
LONDON - What would it cost to wipe out world poverty, guarantee universal health care, stabilise population growth and roll back the ravages of global warming?
About $190 billion a year, or the equivalent of a third of US annual military expenditure, a prominent environmental economist says in a new book.
"Once you accept that climate change, population growth, spreading water shortages, rising food prices etcetera are threats to our security, it changes your whole way of thinking about how you use public resources," Lester Brown told Reuters in an interview.
From eradicating adult illiteracy to restoring fisheries and stabilising water tables, the head of the Earth Policy Institute think tank in Washington calculates the cost of saving civilisation in a new edition of his best-selling "Plan B".
The $190 billion price tag compares with $1.2 trillion that world governments spent on military budgets in 2006. The United States splurged the most with $560 billion.
Describing a planet on the brink of environmental meltdown, Brown calls for a "great mobilisation" to fight climate change, equivalent to the Allied wartime effort to beat Nazi Germany.
Plan A would be for the world to continue on its present course. Plan B is Brown's strategy to stabilise climate, stem runaway population growth, eradicate poverty and restore damaged ecosystems.
Brown argues that failure to achieve any one of these goals would result in defeat overall.
"I don't think Plan B is perfect, but it's the only plan out there -- the only alternative to business as usual," he said.
"One might think that the World Bank or the UN or someone would have a plan that takes into account how systems are interacting and what that translates into, but the reality is this is the only one."
"ECOLOGICAL HONESTY"
The centrepiece of Brown's blueprint for change is a detailed plan to cut global carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2020 to keep a lid on future temperature rises.
He also calls for a restructuring of the world economy -- and tax systems in particular -- to make markets "ecologically honest", meaning that commodity prices should reflect indirect environmental costs.
Take the price of water, which Brown argues is too cheap to discourage countries from exhausting vital sources.
"The thing to keep in mind is that it takes 1,000 tonnes of water to produce one tonne of grain," he said.
"Seventy percent of all the water we use in the world -- that we pump from underground or divert from rivers -- is used in irrigation. Not everyone has connected the dots to see that a future of water shortages will be a future of food shortages."
Brown, who has authored or coauthored more than 50 books, was one of the first economists to warn that the boom in biofuels could be a threat to global food security.
"In this new world where the price of grain is tied to the price of oil, if the price of oil goes up, so grain goes up," he said. "And that is a threat to political stability in the world that I don't think we've come close to grasping yet."
A central theme of "Plan B" is that it's not too late to save the planet -- if we act now.
That optimism sets Brown apart from eco-pioneers like Gaia guru James Lovelock, who has concluded it's too late to reverse the devastating effects of climate change.
"He might be right, and he's not the only one who thinks that," Brown said. "I have to hope there's a chance we can turn it around. Otherwise there's no point. Even if we lose it's better to go down fighting than just standing there."
(Editing by Andrew Roche)
(For information about humanitarian issues visit Reuters AlertNet https://www.alertnet.org)
Story by Tim Large
Story Date: 7/3/2008
https://www.planetark.com/avantgo/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=47385
i.m.h.o.
FCEL has made impressive positive progress with their products achieving scientific targets of sustainability. FCEL certainly appears to be grossly undervalued, and is severely underestimated by some.