[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
Sunanda Creagh
JAKARTA
Fri Mar 19, 2010 5:31am EDT
Indonesia to review forest carbon laws: official
(Reuters) - Indonesia has launched a review of laws governing a U.N.-backed carbon trading scheme aimed preserving rainforests, a forestry ministry official said on Friday.
Indonesia in 2008 became the world's first country to design a legal framework for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), a scheme that would allow rich countries to pay developing nations not to chop down their trees.
Forest preservation is seen as an important step in slowing global warming because trees soak up large amounts of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, which is emitted by burning fossil fuels, such coal, oil and gas.
Deforestation and forest fires are another major source of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when carbon-rich peat forests are cleared and drained.
REDD aims to reward developing nations for protecting, restoring and sustainably managing rainforests. Projects would earn tradeable credits for the CO2 locked away by the trees -- a trade potentially worth billions of dollars a year.
Local communities would share a portion of the credit sales to develop alternative livelihoods as an incentive to protect surrounding forests.
The review of forestry department decrees 30, 36 and 68 is aimed at removing rules that overlap or clash and could see the creation of a new authority to monitor REDD in Indonesia, said forestry ministry official Wandojo Siswanto.
"We would like to revisit all of and make them clearer and more simple for everybody to understand and to participate in REDD," Siswanto told Reuters by phone. "We would like to have a designated national authority for REDD. I hope it will be set up by the end of the year."
Siswanto said the new authority would assess proposals from would-be REDD developers and coordinate with the finance, planning, environment and mining ministries. It may also play a role in monitoring whether or not REDD projects actually conserved carbon.
CURBING EMISSIONS
The review would also update existing laws to reflect a global move toward what is known as REDD-plus, a beefed up scheme where project developers could earn carbon credits not just for carbon preservation but extra benefits such as biodiversity protection, social development and enhancing forest cover.
"Hopefully, altogether, the review will be finished by the end of this year," he said, adding that project developers who have already applied would not have to re-apply but would be expected to follow the new decrees.
Indonesia has more than a dozen early REDD projects and has attracted funding from the governments of Norway, Australia and the United States, as well as green groups such as The Nature Conservancy and banks such as BofA Merrill Lynch and Macquarie Group.
Indonesia, with some of the world's most complex and diverse forests, also has one of the highest deforestation rates. The government says reducing deforestation and protecting forests, particularly peat lands, is central to its goal of curbing the growth of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
Decree number 36, which relates to rules on how much REDD revenue should be shared with the state or local communities, would be re-assessed as part of the review, he said.
A source in the fledgling REDD industry, who asked not to be named, said he understood the finance ministry wanted more say in the revenue sharing rules.
He said more consultation with industry was needed.
"We hope these changes are for the better but this needs to involve all the stakeholders to make it work," he said.
(Editing by David Fogarty)
[Green Business]
SAN FRANCISCO
Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:52pm EDT
Ecuadoreans appeal allowing of Chevron arbitration
(Reuters) - Ecuadorean plaintiffs have appealed a U.S. judge's decision to allow Chevron Corp to seek arbitration of a case of alleged pollution in the Amazon rainforest with a potential $27 billion liability.
The plaintiffs, indigenous Ecuadoreans, filed the notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit on Thursday, a week after a judge ruled in favor of the second-largest U.S. oil company in its efforts to seek international arbitration.
Chevron cites violations under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty in the case, which was originally filed in New York in 1993 and is now being heard by a court in Ecuador.
The company says Ecuador breached the treaty by not forcing that court to dismiss the lawsuit, in which indigenous people say Texaco, bought by Chevron in 2001, damaged their health and the forest and polluted rivers while operating there.
"After more than 17 years of litigation fraught with delay caused largely by Chevron itself, these individuals deserve to have their claims resolved in the forum that Chevron chose," Jonathon Abady, a lawyer who represents the rainforest residents, said in a statement.
Chevron says Ecuador and state oil company Petroecuador, Texaco's partner there, released Texaco from further liability in 1998 after the U.S. company's share of remediation work was complete. The validity of that release, however, is disputed by the plaintiffs.
Chevron has also complained of government interference in the case and said last year it uncovered a $3 million bribery plot linked to the Ecuadorean judge, who later recused himself.
U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand ruled on March 11 that arbitrators would determine the parameters for any proceeding by a tribunal whose members have been chosen, but which has not yet held a hearing.
"We have a high degree of confidence in the integrity of Judge Sand's ruling and doubt an appeal will be successful," Justin Higgs, spokesman for San Ramon, California-based Chevron, said in a statement.
The appealed case was in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Yaiguaje et al v Chevron Corp and Texaco, No. 10-0316.
(Reporting by Braden Reddall, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
[Green Business]
SINGAPORE
Fri Mar 19, 2010 10:27am EDT
Singapore jewelers selling tiger parts: report
(Reuters) - Some jewelry shops in Singapore are illegally selling tiger parts, helping fuel the disappearance of the big cat from Asia, a local animal protection group said on Friday. A three-month investigation by Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) found that 59 out of 134 jewelry and antique shops it visited in the Southeast Asian city-state were allegedly selling tiger parts, including claws, teeth and pieces of skin.
All commercial tiger trade has been banned by the international CITES convention that Singapore has signed, and under domestic law the sale of tiger specimens is prohibited, even if the products turn out not to be real, ACRES said. Shopkeepers told ACRES that demand had been higher over Lunar New Year -- the start of the Year of the Tiger -- and more orders could be placed for parts that could take from a week to three months to be delivered.
The parts came from Southeast Asia, China and South Asia, they said.
Tiger parts are used to make jewelry and Chinese medicine.
Tigers in the Greater Mekong region face extinction, conservationists say. Global tiger populations are at an all-time low of 3,200, down from about 100,000 a century ago, as forest habitats disappear and the animals are killed for their body parts, used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Asian countries are a hotspot for the illegal wildlife trade, which the international police organization Interpol estimates may be worth more than $20 billion a year.
"As long as there is demand, there will be supply," said Singapore member of parliament Lim Wee Kiak. "Legislation alone is insufficient to bring a complete halt to the illegal trading."
(Reporting by Neil Chatterjee; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
[Green Business]
Sunanda Creagh
JAKARTA
Fri Mar 19, 2010 5:31am EDT
Indonesia to review forest carbon laws: official
(Reuters) - Indonesia has launched a review of laws governing a U.N.-backed carbon trading scheme aimed preserving rainforests, a forestry ministry official said on Friday.
Indonesia in 2008 became the world's first country to design a legal framework for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), a scheme that would allow rich countries to pay developing nations not to chop down their trees.
Forest preservation is seen as an important step in slowing global warming because trees soak up large amounts of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, which is emitted by burning fossil fuels, such coal, oil and gas.
Deforestation and forest fires are another major source of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when carbon-rich peat forests are cleared and drained.
REDD aims to reward developing nations for protecting, restoring and sustainably managing rainforests. Projects would earn tradeable credits for the CO2 locked away by the trees -- a trade potentially worth billions of dollars a year.
Local communities would share a portion of the credit sales to develop alternative livelihoods as an incentive to protect surrounding forests.
The review of forestry department decrees 30, 36 and 68 is aimed at removing rules that overlap or clash and could see the creation of a new authority to monitor REDD in Indonesia, said forestry ministry official Wandojo Siswanto.
"We would like to revisit all of and make them clearer and more simple for everybody to understand and to participate in REDD," Siswanto told Reuters by phone. "We would like to have a designated national authority for REDD. I hope it will be set up by the end of the year."
Siswanto said the new authority would assess proposals from would-be REDD developers and coordinate with the finance, planning, environment and mining ministries. It may also play a role in monitoring whether or not REDD projects actually conserved carbon.
CURBING EMISSIONS
The review would also update existing laws to reflect a global move toward what is known as REDD-plus, a beefed up scheme where project developers could earn carbon credits not just for carbon preservation but extra benefits such as biodiversity protection, social development and enhancing forest cover.
"Hopefully, altogether, the review will be finished by the end of this year," he said, adding that project developers who have already applied would not have to re-apply but would be expected to follow the new decrees.
Indonesia has more than a dozen early REDD projects and has attracted funding from the governments of Norway, Australia and the United States, as well as green groups such as The Nature Conservancy and banks such as BofA Merrill Lynch and Macquarie Group.
Indonesia, with some of the world's most complex and diverse forests, also has one of the highest deforestation rates. The government says reducing deforestation and protecting forests, particularly peat lands, is central to its goal of curbing the growth of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
Decree number 36, which relates to rules on how much REDD revenue should be shared with the state or local communities, would be re-assessed as part of the review, he said.
A source in the fledgling REDD industry, who asked not to be named, said he understood the finance ministry wanted more say in the revenue sharing rules.
He said more consultation with industry was needed.
"We hope these changes are for the better but this needs to involve all the stakeholders to make it work," he said.
(Editing by David Fogarty)
[Green Business]
SAN FRANCISCO
Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:52pm EDT
Ecuadoreans appeal allowing of Chevron arbitration
(Reuters) - Ecuadorean plaintiffs have appealed a U.S. judge's decision to allow Chevron Corp to seek arbitration of a case of alleged pollution in the Amazon rainforest with a potential $27 billion liability.
The plaintiffs, indigenous Ecuadoreans, filed the notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit on Thursday, a week after a judge ruled in favor of the second-largest U.S. oil company in its efforts to seek international arbitration.
Chevron cites violations under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty in the case, which was originally filed in New York in 1993 and is now being heard by a court in Ecuador.
The company says Ecuador breached the treaty by not forcing that court to dismiss the lawsuit, in which indigenous people say Texaco, bought by Chevron in 2001, damaged their health and the forest and polluted rivers while operating there.
"After more than 17 years of litigation fraught with delay caused largely by Chevron itself, these individuals deserve to have their claims resolved in the forum that Chevron chose," Jonathon Abady, a lawyer who represents the rainforest residents, said in a statement.
Chevron says Ecuador and state oil company Petroecuador, Texaco's partner there, released Texaco from further liability in 1998 after the U.S. company's share of remediation work was complete. The validity of that release, however, is disputed by the plaintiffs.
Chevron has also complained of government interference in the case and said last year it uncovered a $3 million bribery plot linked to the Ecuadorean judge, who later recused himself.
U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand ruled on March 11 that arbitrators would determine the parameters for any proceeding by a tribunal whose members have been chosen, but which has not yet held a hearing.
"We have a high degree of confidence in the integrity of Judge Sand's ruling and doubt an appeal will be successful," Justin Higgs, spokesman for San Ramon, California-based Chevron, said in a statement.
The appealed case was in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Yaiguaje et al v Chevron Corp and Texaco, No. 10-0316.
(Reporting by Braden Reddall, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
[Green Business]
SINGAPORE
Fri Mar 19, 2010 10:27am EDT
Singapore jewelers selling tiger parts: report
(Reuters) - Some jewelry shops in Singapore are illegally selling tiger parts, helping fuel the disappearance of the big cat from Asia, a local animal protection group said on Friday. A three-month investigation by Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) found that 59 out of 134 jewelry and antique shops it visited in the Southeast Asian city-state were allegedly selling tiger parts, including claws, teeth and pieces of skin.
All commercial tiger trade has been banned by the international CITES convention that Singapore has signed, and under domestic law the sale of tiger specimens is prohibited, even if the products turn out not to be real, ACRES said. Shopkeepers told ACRES that demand had been higher over Lunar New Year -- the start of the Year of the Tiger -- and more orders could be placed for parts that could take from a week to three months to be delivered.
The parts came from Southeast Asia, China and South Asia, they said.
Tiger parts are used to make jewelry and Chinese medicine.
Tigers in the Greater Mekong region face extinction, conservationists say. Global tiger populations are at an all-time low of 3,200, down from about 100,000 a century ago, as forest habitats disappear and the animals are killed for their body parts, used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Asian countries are a hotspot for the illegal wildlife trade, which the international police organization Interpol estimates may be worth more than $20 billion a year.
"As long as there is demand, there will be supply," said Singapore member of parliament Lim Wee Kiak. "Legislation alone is insufficient to bring a complete halt to the illegal trading."
(Reporting by Neil Chatterjee; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
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