South America is the only region that has not submitted a report of its actions in the last year to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity, although it accounts for 40 percent of the world’s plant and animal species and the deadline was Mar. 30.
"These reports are very important in order to combat threats against biodiversity," David Cooper, Programme Officer at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) told IPS, referring to the fourth annual report, which none of the 12 countries of South America have presented.
Without their reports, there is no record of the actions, strategies and progress they have made toward the protection of biodiversity, which holds up regional progress on the issue, the experts complained.
Cooper and more than 30 representatives of South American governments, environmental groups and other other civil society organisations are in Lima participating in a high-level meeting to assess the region's progress and interests in relation to the CBD's 2010 biodiversity target to significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level.
The two-day meeting at the headquarters of the Andean Community trade bloc ended Wednesday with a declaration on progress and limitations in reaching the target, and a list of priorities for action as the 2010 deadline looms.
The CBD, approved in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is the foremost instrument for stemming the loss of biological diversity and ensuring equitable and sustainable access to the resources and benefits of that wealth. To promote compliance with the Convention, the Countdown 2010 Initiative was created within the scope of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in 2004 for Europe and in 2007 for Latin America.
There are 150 partners in the initiative, including government representatives, private companies and organisations around the world committed to curbing the loss of biodiversity.
"Biodiversity is a local issue for each country, but we share a common responsibility," Sebastian Winkler, the head of the Countdown 2010 Initiative and an adviser on European policy, told IPS.
"But as a region, Latin Ameria has not lived up to the commitments made in signing the Convention because so far, the countries have not reported on their national strategies, unlike Africa, for example," he said.
Winkler stressed that the countries of Latin America must make an effort to "monitor the present state of biodiversity and play a more active part in international processes."
South America not only possesses 40 percent of the planet’s biodiversity, but also 25 percent of the forests and 26 percent of the fresh water sources. This vast natural wealth has also made it one of the most vulnerable regions. Among the main threats that were pointed out at the Lima meeting were the impact of climate change which causes animal and plant species to die out, the uncontrolled extraction of natural resources and the modification of land use in the Amazon - that is, the expansion of areas devoted to agriculture and other productive activities to the detriment of the jungle.
Statistics on damage to biodiversity worldwide are worrying. According to the IUCN's Red List, last updated in 2008, there are 16,928 species threatened with extinction, equivalent to 38 percent of the species catalogued. Thirty-six million hectares of pristine forests have been lost every year since 2000.
The Andean Community, made up of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, has encouraged countries to create a regional policy to make progress on their commitments, although those involved have admitted that they will not be able to meet the target.
On Tuesday, the first day of the Lima meeting, a review of progress was carried out, which was far from encouraging, and preliminary priorities for 2010 were proposed. Among these were strengthening alliances between government and civil society representatives, defining indicators to measure progress on the commitments, and enlisting the private sector in the defence of biodiversity. Another proposal was to create communication strategies to spread simple, non-technical information, in order to involve the public in this global problem.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Can One Inherit the Happiness ?
A new study suggests that our feelings in our lifetime can affect our children.
Dr. Halabe Bucay suggests that a wide range of chemicals that our brain generates when we are in different moods could affect 'germ cells' (eggs and sperm), the cells that ultimately produce the next generation. Such natural chemicals could affect the way that specific genes are expressed in the germ cells, and hence how a child develops.
In his article in the latest issue of Bioscience Hypotheses, Dr Alberto Halabe Bucay of Research Center Halabe and Darwich, Mexico, suggested that the hormones and chemicals resulting from happiness, depression and other mental states can affect our eggs and sperm, resulting in lasting changes in our children at the time of their conception.
Brain chemicals such as endorphins, and drugs, such as marijuana and heroin are known to have significant effects on sperm and eggs, altering the patterns of genes that are active in them.
"It is well known, of course, that parental behavior affects children, and that the genes that a child gets from its parents help shape that child's character." said Dr. Halabe Bucay. "My paper suggests a way that the parent's psychology before conception can actually affect the child's genes."
"This is an intriguing idea" commented Dr. William Bains, Editor of Bioscience Hypotheses. "We wanted to publish it to see what other scientists thought, and whether others had data that could support or disprove it. That is what our journal is for, to stimulate debate about new ideas, the more groundbreaking, the better."
Dr. Halabe Bucay suggests that a wide range of chemicals that our brain generates when we are in different moods could affect 'germ cells' (eggs and sperm), the cells that ultimately produce the next generation. Such natural chemicals could affect the way that specific genes are expressed in the germ cells, and hence how a child develops.
In his article in the latest issue of Bioscience Hypotheses, Dr Alberto Halabe Bucay of Research Center Halabe and Darwich, Mexico, suggested that the hormones and chemicals resulting from happiness, depression and other mental states can affect our eggs and sperm, resulting in lasting changes in our children at the time of their conception.
Brain chemicals such as endorphins, and drugs, such as marijuana and heroin are known to have significant effects on sperm and eggs, altering the patterns of genes that are active in them.
"It is well known, of course, that parental behavior affects children, and that the genes that a child gets from its parents help shape that child's character." said Dr. Halabe Bucay. "My paper suggests a way that the parent's psychology before conception can actually affect the child's genes."
"This is an intriguing idea" commented Dr. William Bains, Editor of Bioscience Hypotheses. "We wanted to publish it to see what other scientists thought, and whether others had data that could support or disprove it. That is what our journal is for, to stimulate debate about new ideas, the more groundbreaking, the better."
Sunday, May 17, 2009
How Oil Gets Stuck Underground In Inaccessible Places
It is a mystery to many people why the world is running out of oil when most of the world’s oilfields have only been half emptied. However some of the oil that has been located is trapped as droplets of oil in small cavities in the surrounding rock or is stuck to the walls of the underground cavity and cannot be accessed by the techniques currently used in the oil industry.
Now, new research may have come up with an explanation as to where and how North Sea oil clings to underground rocks. This explanation could turn out to be the first step on the way to developing improved oil production techniques with the intent of increasing oil production from Danish oil fields.
A research group at the Nano-Science Center, part of the Institute of Chemistry at University of Copenhagen has investigated drill cores collected from North Sea oil fields using an atomic force microscope. Their investigations show that the spaces which contain oil have totally different surface qualities than expected from our knowledge of the minerals which make up the rock. The rocks which contain oil in the Danish part of the North Sea are primarily chalk – the same type of rock that the cliffs of Stevns and Møns are made of. Assistant Professor Tue Hassenkam lead the research, whose preliminary results were published in the respected scientific publication PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) this week. He says that this is the first time that investigations of this type have been carried out on chalk from an oil field in the North Sea.
'Previous investigations were carried out on the surface properties of pure mineral crystals. But our investigation has shown that this chalk has a different and more complex structure' says Tue Hassenkam.
The oil bearing layers in the subsurface are reminiscent of a sponge. The oil "hides" in tiny pores and gaps and only some of the oil can be pressed out of the chalk and into the borehole by injecting water into the chalk layer. The rest is left behind as small droplets of oil surrounded by water either in small gaps in the rock or stuck to the walls of the pores. The chalk particles ought to repel oil if they act like particles of the mineral calcite, which chalk is almost 100% made up of. However the new investigations, carried out with a particularly powerful microscope, have shown that the surfaces of the pores in the chalk are partially covered in a material which oil can stick to. Ass. Prof. Hassenkam believes that the surprising behaviour of the material in the surface of the chalk can be explained by studying how the chalk was formed.
'Chalk is actually the casings of ancient algae. The algae gave their cases a type of "surface coating" to make them resistant to water. And it is probably this surface coating that we can see in action here, even 60 million years later' according to Ass. Prof. Hassenkam.
If we can manage to squeeze even a few percent more oil out of the seabed under the North Sea it could be worth millions of Danish crowns (DKK) for Denmark. Therefore Mærsk Oil and Gas AS on behalf of DUC (Dansk Undergrunds Consortium) along with Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation are supporting a project being carried out by Professor Susan Stipps' research group – the so-called Nano-Chalk Venture, which has been ongoing for the last two years. Tue Hassenkam originally became interested in chalk because he found the algae casings so beautiful. Today, after a year's work in front of a microscope, he is glad that his work also has a practical application. An understanding of how the oil clings to the chalk can possibly help develop a method to release it. And that will be the second part of the Nano-Chalk Venture.
Now, new research may have come up with an explanation as to where and how North Sea oil clings to underground rocks. This explanation could turn out to be the first step on the way to developing improved oil production techniques with the intent of increasing oil production from Danish oil fields.
A research group at the Nano-Science Center, part of the Institute of Chemistry at University of Copenhagen has investigated drill cores collected from North Sea oil fields using an atomic force microscope. Their investigations show that the spaces which contain oil have totally different surface qualities than expected from our knowledge of the minerals which make up the rock. The rocks which contain oil in the Danish part of the North Sea are primarily chalk – the same type of rock that the cliffs of Stevns and Møns are made of. Assistant Professor Tue Hassenkam lead the research, whose preliminary results were published in the respected scientific publication PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) this week. He says that this is the first time that investigations of this type have been carried out on chalk from an oil field in the North Sea.
'Previous investigations were carried out on the surface properties of pure mineral crystals. But our investigation has shown that this chalk has a different and more complex structure' says Tue Hassenkam.
The oil bearing layers in the subsurface are reminiscent of a sponge. The oil "hides" in tiny pores and gaps and only some of the oil can be pressed out of the chalk and into the borehole by injecting water into the chalk layer. The rest is left behind as small droplets of oil surrounded by water either in small gaps in the rock or stuck to the walls of the pores. The chalk particles ought to repel oil if they act like particles of the mineral calcite, which chalk is almost 100% made up of. However the new investigations, carried out with a particularly powerful microscope, have shown that the surfaces of the pores in the chalk are partially covered in a material which oil can stick to. Ass. Prof. Hassenkam believes that the surprising behaviour of the material in the surface of the chalk can be explained by studying how the chalk was formed.
'Chalk is actually the casings of ancient algae. The algae gave their cases a type of "surface coating" to make them resistant to water. And it is probably this surface coating that we can see in action here, even 60 million years later' according to Ass. Prof. Hassenkam.
If we can manage to squeeze even a few percent more oil out of the seabed under the North Sea it could be worth millions of Danish crowns (DKK) for Denmark. Therefore Mærsk Oil and Gas AS on behalf of DUC (Dansk Undergrunds Consortium) along with Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation are supporting a project being carried out by Professor Susan Stipps' research group – the so-called Nano-Chalk Venture, which has been ongoing for the last two years. Tue Hassenkam originally became interested in chalk because he found the algae casings so beautiful. Today, after a year's work in front of a microscope, he is glad that his work also has a practical application. An understanding of how the oil clings to the chalk can possibly help develop a method to release it. And that will be the second part of the Nano-Chalk Venture.
High Blood Pressure Could Be Caused By A Common Virus
A new study suggests for the first time that cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common viral infection affecting between 60 and 99 percent of adults worldwide, is a cause of high blood pressure, a leading risk factor for heart disease, stroke and kidney disease.
Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and published in the May 15, 2009 issue of PLoS Pathogens, the findings further demonstrate that, when coupled with other risk factors for heart disease, the virus can lead to the development of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.
"CMV infects humans all over the world," explains co-senior author Clyde Crumpacker, MD, an investigator in the Division of Infectious Diseases at BIDMC and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "This new discovery may eventually provide doctors with a whole new approach to treating hypertension, with anti-viral therapies or vaccines becoming part of the prescription."
A member of the herpes virus family, CMV affects all age groups and is the source of congenital infection, mononucleosis, and severe infection in transplant patients. By the age of 40, most adults will have contracted the virus, though many will never exhibit symptoms. Once it has entered the body, CMV is usually there to stay, remaining latent until the immune system is compromised, when it then reemerges.
Previous epidemiological studies had determined that the CMV virus was linked to restenosis in cardiac transplant patients, a situation in which the heart's arteries "reblock." The virus had also been linked to the development of atherosclerosis, the hardening of the heart's arteries. But, in both cases, the mechanism behind these developments remained a mystery. This new study brought together a team of researchers from a variety of disciplines – infectious diseases, cardiology, allergy and pathology – to look more closely at the issue.
"By combining the insights of investigators from different medical disciplines, we were able to measure effects of a viral infection that may have been previously overlooked," explains Crumpacker.
In the first portion of the study, the scientists examined four groups of laboratory mice. Two groups of animals were fed a standard diet and two groups were fed a high cholesterol diet. After a period of four weeks, one standard diet mouse group and one high-cholesterol diet mouse group were infected with the CMV virus.
Six weeks later, the animals' blood pressures were measured by the cardiology team using a small catheter inserted in the mouse carotid artery. Among the mice fed a standard diet, the CMV-infected mice had increased blood pressure compared with the uninfected group. But even more dramatically, 30 percent of the CMV-infected mice that were fed a high-cholesterol diet not only exhibited increased blood pressure, but also showed signs of having developed atherosclerosis.
"This strongly suggests that the CMV infection and the high-cholesterol diet might be working together to cause atherosclerosis," says Crumpacker. In order to find out how and why this was occurring, the investigators went on to conduct a series of cell culture experiments.
Their first analysis demonstrated that CMV stimulated production of three different inflammatory cytokines – IL6, TNF, and MCP1 – in the infected mice, an indication that the virus was causing inflammation to vascular cells and other tissues.
A second analysis found that infection of a mouse kidney cell line with murine CMV led to an increase in expression of the renin enzyme, which has been known to activate the renin-angiotensin system and lead to high blood pressure. Clinical isolates of human CMV in cultured blood vessel cells also produced increased renin expression.
"Viruses have the ability to turn on human genes and, in this case, the CMV virus is enhancing expression of renin, an enzyme directly involved in causing high blood pressure," says Crumpacker. When the scientists inactivated the virus through the use of ultraviolet light, renin expression did not increase, suggesting that actively replicating virus was causing the increase in renin.
In their final experiments, the researchers demonstrated that the protein angiotensin 11 was also increased in response to infection with CMV. "Increased expression of both renin and angiotensin 11 are important factors in hypertension in humans," says Crumpacker. "What our study seems to indicate is that a persistent viral infection in the vessels' endothelial cells is leading to increased expression of inflammatory cytokines, renin and angiotensin 11, which are leading to increased blood pressure."
According to recent figures from the American Heart Association, one in three U.S. adults has high blood pressure, and because there are no known symptoms, nearly one-third of these individuals are unaware of their condition. Often dubbed "the silent killer," uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure or kidney failure, notes Crumpacker.
"We found that CMV infection alone led to an increase in high blood pressure, and when combined with a high-cholesterol diet, the infection actually induced atherosclerosis in a mouse aorta," says Crumpacker. "This suggests that further research needs to be directed at viral causes of vascular injury. Some cases of hypertension might be treated or prevented by antiviral therapy or a vaccine against CMV."
This study was funded by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and published in the May 15, 2009 issue of PLoS Pathogens, the findings further demonstrate that, when coupled with other risk factors for heart disease, the virus can lead to the development of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.
"CMV infects humans all over the world," explains co-senior author Clyde Crumpacker, MD, an investigator in the Division of Infectious Diseases at BIDMC and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "This new discovery may eventually provide doctors with a whole new approach to treating hypertension, with anti-viral therapies or vaccines becoming part of the prescription."
A member of the herpes virus family, CMV affects all age groups and is the source of congenital infection, mononucleosis, and severe infection in transplant patients. By the age of 40, most adults will have contracted the virus, though many will never exhibit symptoms. Once it has entered the body, CMV is usually there to stay, remaining latent until the immune system is compromised, when it then reemerges.
Previous epidemiological studies had determined that the CMV virus was linked to restenosis in cardiac transplant patients, a situation in which the heart's arteries "reblock." The virus had also been linked to the development of atherosclerosis, the hardening of the heart's arteries. But, in both cases, the mechanism behind these developments remained a mystery. This new study brought together a team of researchers from a variety of disciplines – infectious diseases, cardiology, allergy and pathology – to look more closely at the issue.
"By combining the insights of investigators from different medical disciplines, we were able to measure effects of a viral infection that may have been previously overlooked," explains Crumpacker.
In the first portion of the study, the scientists examined four groups of laboratory mice. Two groups of animals were fed a standard diet and two groups were fed a high cholesterol diet. After a period of four weeks, one standard diet mouse group and one high-cholesterol diet mouse group were infected with the CMV virus.
Six weeks later, the animals' blood pressures were measured by the cardiology team using a small catheter inserted in the mouse carotid artery. Among the mice fed a standard diet, the CMV-infected mice had increased blood pressure compared with the uninfected group. But even more dramatically, 30 percent of the CMV-infected mice that were fed a high-cholesterol diet not only exhibited increased blood pressure, but also showed signs of having developed atherosclerosis.
"This strongly suggests that the CMV infection and the high-cholesterol diet might be working together to cause atherosclerosis," says Crumpacker. In order to find out how and why this was occurring, the investigators went on to conduct a series of cell culture experiments.
Their first analysis demonstrated that CMV stimulated production of three different inflammatory cytokines – IL6, TNF, and MCP1 – in the infected mice, an indication that the virus was causing inflammation to vascular cells and other tissues.
A second analysis found that infection of a mouse kidney cell line with murine CMV led to an increase in expression of the renin enzyme, which has been known to activate the renin-angiotensin system and lead to high blood pressure. Clinical isolates of human CMV in cultured blood vessel cells also produced increased renin expression.
"Viruses have the ability to turn on human genes and, in this case, the CMV virus is enhancing expression of renin, an enzyme directly involved in causing high blood pressure," says Crumpacker. When the scientists inactivated the virus through the use of ultraviolet light, renin expression did not increase, suggesting that actively replicating virus was causing the increase in renin.
In their final experiments, the researchers demonstrated that the protein angiotensin 11 was also increased in response to infection with CMV. "Increased expression of both renin and angiotensin 11 are important factors in hypertension in humans," says Crumpacker. "What our study seems to indicate is that a persistent viral infection in the vessels' endothelial cells is leading to increased expression of inflammatory cytokines, renin and angiotensin 11, which are leading to increased blood pressure."
According to recent figures from the American Heart Association, one in three U.S. adults has high blood pressure, and because there are no known symptoms, nearly one-third of these individuals are unaware of their condition. Often dubbed "the silent killer," uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure or kidney failure, notes Crumpacker.
"We found that CMV infection alone led to an increase in high blood pressure, and when combined with a high-cholesterol diet, the infection actually induced atherosclerosis in a mouse aorta," says Crumpacker. "This suggests that further research needs to be directed at viral causes of vascular injury. Some cases of hypertension might be treated or prevented by antiviral therapy or a vaccine against CMV."
This study was funded by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
Helping Economy may Hurt Environment
The European Economic Recovery Plan devised by the European Commission last year to help deal with the financial crisis is likely to fast-track environmentally damaging projects in the new member states.
One of the tenets of the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), launched in November 2008 by European Commission (EC) president Jose Manuel Barroso, is acceleration of payments to new EU member states from the European Structural and Cohesion Funds and the European Investment Bank.
The accelerated funds, amounting to about 23 billion euros, are destined mainly for infrastructure development, and are considered essential by the EC to creating employment and assisting the economic recovery of the Central and Eastern European countries.
The EERP, which was approved by the European Parliament in March 2009, stresses the need for "smart" investments through promotion of clean technologies, support for micro-enterprises, and programmes for re-training labour.
But environment groups warn that these payments could be used by the new member states for infrastructure projects that are environmentally costly, have better alternatives, or are not sustainable in the long run.
Bankwatch, an independent group monitoring the impact of investments by financial institutions and corporations Europe-wide, has published a map of 55 EERP projects that are "environmentally threatening and economically unsound." The list includes 22 incinerators - 12 of them in Poland - and several transport routes that pass through naturally protected areas.
These projects are high on the list of government priorities, and are the ones most likely to get financing through the EERP.
"EU funds granted to post-socialist states provide hard cash for heavy investments, but fail to deliver capacity building and knowledge transfer for small-scale projects, which usually have more development effect for local and regional communities," Keti Medarova from Bankwatch told IPS. "Because of this, the money allocated for small initiatives cannot be absorbed, and gets re-allocated towards the ever-growing costs of large infrastructures."
Medarova warns that the combination of "the Keynesian approach promoted around the crisis to pump in public money for big infrastructure" can have negative consequences in the new member states, where politicians are keen to use this opportunity to "undertake grand promises and plans at the expense of promoting local and regional developments."
The 55 controversial projects lined up for EERP funding are still to receive the green light. Medarova says the map is intended as "an early warning" for the EC, which has a say in granting the money, and could also monitor procedures such as the environmental impact assessment and public consultation.
Many of the 55 projects lined up for EU funding have drawn considerable local opposition. Ignoring protests against incinerators in places such as Warsaw or Krakow in Poland, the government increased the number of planned incinerators from eight to 12.
Regardless of technological progress achieved over the past years in making incinerators less damaging to health and the environment, most incinerators still run the risk of producing carcinogenic emissions such as dioxides and metal particles.
Bankwatch figures also show that the 12 Polish incinerators would use up 66 percent of the cohesion funds granted to the country for waste management, restricting investment in more environment friendly and cost-efficient forms of waste management such as collection and recycling schemes. The EU is in fact going against its own policy of promoting recycling, reduction and reuse, according to Bankwatch. Currently, the Polish recycle only 3 percent of municipal waste.
According to the independent Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), lobbying from companies building incinerators has led to a policy that is more permissive for investors. In June 2008, the group revealed that Caroline Jackson, Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur for the EU Waste Framework Directive, held a remunerated position in the environmental advisory board of waste industry company Shanks PLC.
It is not just incinerators that are controversial. The R52 motorway planned in the Czech Republic to connect Brno city with Vienna would affect several sites protected under the European framework Natura 2000. After evaluating the environmental impact of the route, as well as an alternative proposed to it, the Czech government decided in June 2008 to go ahead with both projects, even though they would service the same transportation needs.
In Bulgaria, the planned nuclear plant at Belene, prioritised by the government for EU funding, has been opposed by environmentalists and specialists for years, principally on the grounds that it would lie on a highly seismic area, making it more prone to accidents.
Bankwatch has sounded an additional warning over the public-private partnership formula being promoted for investment through the EERP. The EC says public-private partnerships have strong stimulus effects for economic recovery, but critics say fast access to this money encourages corrupted politicians and greedy companies. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cautioned that "the money received by private corporations in the current setting is more likely to be hoarded than reinvested."
"The economic crisis should not be used as a political momentum to push forward controversial infrastructure projects with little recovery effects for the economy," says Medarova. "Instead, what the EC should insist on is even stricter implementation of environmental legislation, especially as regards the impact assessment procedures, the evaluation of alternative solutions - both for waste and transport - and increased transparency and public debate over how the money for economic recovery and stimulus measures is spent."
One of the tenets of the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), launched in November 2008 by European Commission (EC) president Jose Manuel Barroso, is acceleration of payments to new EU member states from the European Structural and Cohesion Funds and the European Investment Bank.
The accelerated funds, amounting to about 23 billion euros, are destined mainly for infrastructure development, and are considered essential by the EC to creating employment and assisting the economic recovery of the Central and Eastern European countries.
The EERP, which was approved by the European Parliament in March 2009, stresses the need for "smart" investments through promotion of clean technologies, support for micro-enterprises, and programmes for re-training labour.
But environment groups warn that these payments could be used by the new member states for infrastructure projects that are environmentally costly, have better alternatives, or are not sustainable in the long run.
Bankwatch, an independent group monitoring the impact of investments by financial institutions and corporations Europe-wide, has published a map of 55 EERP projects that are "environmentally threatening and economically unsound." The list includes 22 incinerators - 12 of them in Poland - and several transport routes that pass through naturally protected areas.
These projects are high on the list of government priorities, and are the ones most likely to get financing through the EERP.
"EU funds granted to post-socialist states provide hard cash for heavy investments, but fail to deliver capacity building and knowledge transfer for small-scale projects, which usually have more development effect for local and regional communities," Keti Medarova from Bankwatch told IPS. "Because of this, the money allocated for small initiatives cannot be absorbed, and gets re-allocated towards the ever-growing costs of large infrastructures."
Medarova warns that the combination of "the Keynesian approach promoted around the crisis to pump in public money for big infrastructure" can have negative consequences in the new member states, where politicians are keen to use this opportunity to "undertake grand promises and plans at the expense of promoting local and regional developments."
The 55 controversial projects lined up for EERP funding are still to receive the green light. Medarova says the map is intended as "an early warning" for the EC, which has a say in granting the money, and could also monitor procedures such as the environmental impact assessment and public consultation.
Many of the 55 projects lined up for EU funding have drawn considerable local opposition. Ignoring protests against incinerators in places such as Warsaw or Krakow in Poland, the government increased the number of planned incinerators from eight to 12.
Regardless of technological progress achieved over the past years in making incinerators less damaging to health and the environment, most incinerators still run the risk of producing carcinogenic emissions such as dioxides and metal particles.
Bankwatch figures also show that the 12 Polish incinerators would use up 66 percent of the cohesion funds granted to the country for waste management, restricting investment in more environment friendly and cost-efficient forms of waste management such as collection and recycling schemes. The EU is in fact going against its own policy of promoting recycling, reduction and reuse, according to Bankwatch. Currently, the Polish recycle only 3 percent of municipal waste.
According to the independent Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), lobbying from companies building incinerators has led to a policy that is more permissive for investors. In June 2008, the group revealed that Caroline Jackson, Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur for the EU Waste Framework Directive, held a remunerated position in the environmental advisory board of waste industry company Shanks PLC.
It is not just incinerators that are controversial. The R52 motorway planned in the Czech Republic to connect Brno city with Vienna would affect several sites protected under the European framework Natura 2000. After evaluating the environmental impact of the route, as well as an alternative proposed to it, the Czech government decided in June 2008 to go ahead with both projects, even though they would service the same transportation needs.
In Bulgaria, the planned nuclear plant at Belene, prioritised by the government for EU funding, has been opposed by environmentalists and specialists for years, principally on the grounds that it would lie on a highly seismic area, making it more prone to accidents.
Bankwatch has sounded an additional warning over the public-private partnership formula being promoted for investment through the EERP. The EC says public-private partnerships have strong stimulus effects for economic recovery, but critics say fast access to this money encourages corrupted politicians and greedy companies. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cautioned that "the money received by private corporations in the current setting is more likely to be hoarded than reinvested."
"The economic crisis should not be used as a political momentum to push forward controversial infrastructure projects with little recovery effects for the economy," says Medarova. "Instead, what the EC should insist on is even stricter implementation of environmental legislation, especially as regards the impact assessment procedures, the evaluation of alternative solutions - both for waste and transport - and increased transparency and public debate over how the money for economic recovery and stimulus measures is spent."
More Investment in Production Won’t Cure African Food Crisis
The food crisis in African states will not be solved by investment to spur agricultural production because the problem is not food output but poverty that is making food unaffordable for urban Africans.
This is the argument of Gilles Saint-Martin, the head of international relations for the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, known by its French acronym CIRAD. CIRAD’s approach to sustainable development focuses on the long-term ecological, economic and social consequences of change in developing communities and countries.
Saint-Martin talks to Hilaire Avril about the dire need for investment in African agricultural research; the effects that the economic partnership agreements will have on food production; and whether the African Union should adopt its own Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Q: You recently wrote that, despite last year’s food riots in many developing countries, ‘‘African agriculture is not disaster-stricken, and […] agricultural production has steadily increased across Africa since the 1960s, picking up even more speed since the 1980s.’’ How do you explain the food crisis currently affecting several African countries?
Gilles Saint-Martin (GSM): First and foremost, the problem is poverty. Last year’s food riots were mainly urban crises, affecting city-dwellers who could not afford to buy basic food anymore. The problem is not agricultural output, which is sufficient, but poverty, which makes it unaffordable.
The solution to the crisis is to tackle both issues, that is, to increase agricultural production and to decrease poverty by fostering rural economic activity.
The problem is that, for several years now, the traditional solidarity system between the African countryside and the cities has been severely undermined by repeated crises and that it has now broken down. Therefore, city-dwellers bear the full brunt of rising food prices.
Several CIRAD studies show that agricultural production has significantly risen in several African countries. Cassava outputs in Central and West Africa, for instance, have increased. But the problem is that the demographic increase is faster. We, at CIRAD, do not believe massive foreign investments will solve the problem of African food security. We’re still waiting to see what the outcome of investments such as those made in Senegal last year will be.
For the moment all the examples we’ve seen are geared towards ensuring food security for rich countries, which invest in agriculture for their own food security (and) not to share the production with the African country hosting the investment.
However, there are some under-reported but interesting initiatives - mainly in the Indian Ocean. Mauritius, for instance, which faces significant food supply challenges, says it would consider investing in countries with a high agricultural potential such as Mozambique, and sharing the production between investors, producers and the global market.
But, again, the main problem remains that of urban populations accessing affordable food. It’s going to get worse as migrants send fewer remittances back home to urban Africans because of the global economic downturn
Q: The African Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and other organisations recently created an ‘‘Investment Fund for African Agriculture’’. Are such funds the solution to the food crisis?
GSM: There is currently a trend towards increasing agricultural output rather than implementing regional policies that foster rural activity to help urban populations access affordable food while regulating prices on a regional level. What worries us is that, whether public or private, these funds’ position seems to be ‘‘let’s simply produce more, and we’ll all be fine’’.
Q: How do you expect the proposed EPAs (the trade liberalisation deals that the European Union is pressing African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to sign) to affect this situation?
GSM: We at CIRAD tend to think these agreements should be signed with caution. But many countries have signed them anyway, as they would otherwise have lost access to European markets.
Our partners in Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon recently told us ‘‘if we hadn’t signed the agreement, we would not have been able to keep selling our bananas in the European Union’’. Several countries signed these agreements essentially under the pressure of producers’ associations, who were afraid they would lose access to markets.
I haven’t followed the latest developments but, as they were proposed two years ago, EPAs seemed based on an outmoded model.
Q: What is CIRAD’s answer to the food crisis?
GSM: We’re very preoccupied with innovation, which is a key element in solutions for the North as well as the South. CIRAD focuses on research, so we naturally invest in innovation, whether in urban or rural environments, to mitigate poverty and to enhance food security and a more efficient use of resources.
Unfortunately, supporting innovation and research has never been considered a priority. Many donors tell us ‘‘we want immediate results, so you must implement innovating ideas urgently’’. But the period of time needed to implement innovating ideas in real social settings, with tangible objectives, are not compatible with the expected response time to a food crisis.
Our African research partners have been entirely de-structured by the (International Monetary Fund’s) structural adjustment policies in the 1980s and 90s. Most have still not recovered. We work mainly with young African scholars and researchers, but young recruits are scarce in Africa.
This is our main warning call. African research capacities need to be rebuilt, created or consolidated in order to foster innovations allowing us to cope with evolving societies, to preserve limited resources and to secure food supply.
Also, after several years of soul-searching, we have identified the development of the rural sector, by intensifying ecological production, as a priority. That means not relying on more fertilizers or herbicides, but optimising the use of ecosystems’ natural cycles and learning more about the way plants and soil work.
Q: Should Africa adopt its own version of the European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy?
GSM: Some versions of it already exist. In West Africa, the Economic Community of West African States and the West African Economic and Monetary Union have adopted regional agricultural policies which are not structured like the CAP but resemble it in that they harmonise national policies, including tariffs.
The Southern African Development Community and East African Community are also thinking of similar schemes. I think it’s unavoidable. Solutions can’t be found on a national level, they have to be regional.
The 2005 food crisis in Niger, for instance, was not a national but a regional emergency, which could have been solved if regional procedures had been put in place to share resources between Niger, Nigeria and Mali. This must be the priority for food security policies.
Q: What role could Europe play in constructing these regional clusters?
GSM: Europe’s organisational model for regional agriculture cannot be replicated but the EU could assist in setting up African region-wide systems.
But these regions’ agricultural products must also be protected, from time to time. The European CAP was built on these principles and still protects European farmers to some degree. The CAP so far focuses on markets, resources and consumer protection. In 2013, when the CAP is to be reformed, I think it should include food security as one of its main objectives.
European farmers, when you talk to them, are preoccupied by their production and purchasing power, of course. But they are also conscious of the food security problems the world faces. Incorporating world food security in the CAP’s objectives would be a positive evolution. It would help decompartmentalise the EU from global agriculture.
This is the argument of Gilles Saint-Martin, the head of international relations for the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, known by its French acronym CIRAD. CIRAD’s approach to sustainable development focuses on the long-term ecological, economic and social consequences of change in developing communities and countries.
Saint-Martin talks to Hilaire Avril about the dire need for investment in African agricultural research; the effects that the economic partnership agreements will have on food production; and whether the African Union should adopt its own Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Q: You recently wrote that, despite last year’s food riots in many developing countries, ‘‘African agriculture is not disaster-stricken, and […] agricultural production has steadily increased across Africa since the 1960s, picking up even more speed since the 1980s.’’ How do you explain the food crisis currently affecting several African countries?
Gilles Saint-Martin (GSM): First and foremost, the problem is poverty. Last year’s food riots were mainly urban crises, affecting city-dwellers who could not afford to buy basic food anymore. The problem is not agricultural output, which is sufficient, but poverty, which makes it unaffordable.
The solution to the crisis is to tackle both issues, that is, to increase agricultural production and to decrease poverty by fostering rural economic activity.
The problem is that, for several years now, the traditional solidarity system between the African countryside and the cities has been severely undermined by repeated crises and that it has now broken down. Therefore, city-dwellers bear the full brunt of rising food prices.
Several CIRAD studies show that agricultural production has significantly risen in several African countries. Cassava outputs in Central and West Africa, for instance, have increased. But the problem is that the demographic increase is faster. We, at CIRAD, do not believe massive foreign investments will solve the problem of African food security. We’re still waiting to see what the outcome of investments such as those made in Senegal last year will be.
For the moment all the examples we’ve seen are geared towards ensuring food security for rich countries, which invest in agriculture for their own food security (and) not to share the production with the African country hosting the investment.
However, there are some under-reported but interesting initiatives - mainly in the Indian Ocean. Mauritius, for instance, which faces significant food supply challenges, says it would consider investing in countries with a high agricultural potential such as Mozambique, and sharing the production between investors, producers and the global market.
But, again, the main problem remains that of urban populations accessing affordable food. It’s going to get worse as migrants send fewer remittances back home to urban Africans because of the global economic downturn
Q: The African Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and other organisations recently created an ‘‘Investment Fund for African Agriculture’’. Are such funds the solution to the food crisis?
GSM: There is currently a trend towards increasing agricultural output rather than implementing regional policies that foster rural activity to help urban populations access affordable food while regulating prices on a regional level. What worries us is that, whether public or private, these funds’ position seems to be ‘‘let’s simply produce more, and we’ll all be fine’’.
Q: How do you expect the proposed EPAs (the trade liberalisation deals that the European Union is pressing African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to sign) to affect this situation?
GSM: We at CIRAD tend to think these agreements should be signed with caution. But many countries have signed them anyway, as they would otherwise have lost access to European markets.
Our partners in Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon recently told us ‘‘if we hadn’t signed the agreement, we would not have been able to keep selling our bananas in the European Union’’. Several countries signed these agreements essentially under the pressure of producers’ associations, who were afraid they would lose access to markets.
I haven’t followed the latest developments but, as they were proposed two years ago, EPAs seemed based on an outmoded model.
Q: What is CIRAD’s answer to the food crisis?
GSM: We’re very preoccupied with innovation, which is a key element in solutions for the North as well as the South. CIRAD focuses on research, so we naturally invest in innovation, whether in urban or rural environments, to mitigate poverty and to enhance food security and a more efficient use of resources.
Unfortunately, supporting innovation and research has never been considered a priority. Many donors tell us ‘‘we want immediate results, so you must implement innovating ideas urgently’’. But the period of time needed to implement innovating ideas in real social settings, with tangible objectives, are not compatible with the expected response time to a food crisis.
Our African research partners have been entirely de-structured by the (International Monetary Fund’s) structural adjustment policies in the 1980s and 90s. Most have still not recovered. We work mainly with young African scholars and researchers, but young recruits are scarce in Africa.
This is our main warning call. African research capacities need to be rebuilt, created or consolidated in order to foster innovations allowing us to cope with evolving societies, to preserve limited resources and to secure food supply.
Also, after several years of soul-searching, we have identified the development of the rural sector, by intensifying ecological production, as a priority. That means not relying on more fertilizers or herbicides, but optimising the use of ecosystems’ natural cycles and learning more about the way plants and soil work.
Q: Should Africa adopt its own version of the European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy?
GSM: Some versions of it already exist. In West Africa, the Economic Community of West African States and the West African Economic and Monetary Union have adopted regional agricultural policies which are not structured like the CAP but resemble it in that they harmonise national policies, including tariffs.
The Southern African Development Community and East African Community are also thinking of similar schemes. I think it’s unavoidable. Solutions can’t be found on a national level, they have to be regional.
The 2005 food crisis in Niger, for instance, was not a national but a regional emergency, which could have been solved if regional procedures had been put in place to share resources between Niger, Nigeria and Mali. This must be the priority for food security policies.
Q: What role could Europe play in constructing these regional clusters?
GSM: Europe’s organisational model for regional agriculture cannot be replicated but the EU could assist in setting up African region-wide systems.
But these regions’ agricultural products must also be protected, from time to time. The European CAP was built on these principles and still protects European farmers to some degree. The CAP so far focuses on markets, resources and consumer protection. In 2013, when the CAP is to be reformed, I think it should include food security as one of its main objectives.
European farmers, when you talk to them, are preoccupied by their production and purchasing power, of course. But they are also conscious of the food security problems the world faces. Incorporating world food security in the CAP’s objectives would be a positive evolution. It would help decompartmentalise the EU from global agriculture.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Scientists Warn: Two-Degree Rise Ever More Likely
Climate scientists are calling for a phase-out of fossil fuels because humans are now pumping so much carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere that the '2-degree-C climate balloon' will burst otherwise, new studies show.
That 2-degree C climate balloon has a maximum capacity of less than 1,400 gigatonnes of CO2 total emissions from the year 2000 to 2050, Malte Meinshausen and colleagues report in the current issue of Nature. The European Union and others consider a global temperature rise of more than 2 degrees C as dangerous and potentially catastrophic. Temperatures are already 0.8 C warmer than the pre-industrial period.
The reality is that global emissions for the last seven years amounted to almost 250 gigatonnes of these long-lived greenhouse gases, meaning that the current and growing rates of fossil fuel emissions would burst the balloon in about 20 years – or less. Even if emissions are held to 1,400 gigatonnes maximum for the next 40 years, there is still a 50-percent probability of exceeding 2 degrees C, said Meinshausen, lead author of the study and climate researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
Indigenous peoples from around the world also called for a phase-out of fossil fuels at the conclusion of the first Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change in Anchorage, Alaska, that concluded last week.
"That call is well-supported by the evidence in this study," Meinshausen told IPS.
However, the world's future global carbon budget is likely less than 1,400 gigagtonnes. When other short-term warming gases like methane are included, then the total 'forcing', i.e. warming, could be 10 to 40 percent greater by the year 2100, said Meinshausen.
And some climate feedbacks - changes that will amplify or accelerate the warming - are absent from computer models. "Our modeling cannot account for emissions in methane from melting permafrost," he said.
Permafrost - permanently frozen bog and peatland - contains enormous amounts of organic carbon, perhaps enough to triple the amount currently in the atmosphere.
"Only a fast switch away from fossil fuels will give us a reasonable chance to avoid considerable warming," said Meinshausen. "We shouldn’t forget that a 2-degree C global mean warming would take us far beyond the natural temperature variations that life on Earth has experienced since we humans have been around."
This will be a serious challenge, he said, because there is plenty of carbon left in the ground. Proven reserves of oil, gas and coal represent four times the amount of carbon that would burst the 2-degree climate balloon. Burning just one quarter of what's left in the ground will bring humanity to the 50-50 point of tipping into dangerous climate change.
Delay is not an option when it comes to the fossil fuel phase-out, scientists stress. Even though a tonne of carbon is a tonne of carbon, whether released today or in 50 years' time, there is only so much the atmosphere can take before a 2-degree rise or more is inevitable, Meinshausen, Myles Allen of the University of Oxford and others write in a Nature Reports Climate Change commentary.
"Emitting CO2 more slowly buys time, perhaps vital time, but it will only achieve our ultimate goal in the context of a strategy for phasing out net CO2 emissions altogether," they conclude.
"Climate policy needs an exit strategy: as well as reducing carbon emissions now, we need a plan for phasing out net emissions entirely," Allen said in a release.
So what are the targets for the negotiators United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the Copenhagen this December?
If negotiators heed the scientific evidence, then a new global agreement's goal will be to reduce global emissions by 50 percent compared to 1990 and do that by 2050. To achieve this, the current three-percent annual growth in carbon emissions must flatline by 2015 and start the decline by 3 percent per year, reports Martin Parry of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London in another Nature study.
"If we do this it leaves an even chance of exceeding 2-degree C of warming," Parry and colleagues write.
If mitigation efforts are not substantial enough and emissions peak in the year 2025, then a 3-degree C rise in temperatures will likely occur. The damage from this level of warming could be substantial, placing billions more people at risk of water shortage and millions more at risk of coastal flooding. To avoid such damage will require massive investment in adaptation, such as improving water supply and storage, and protecting low-lying settlements from rising seas.
A final cautionary note: "The true sensitivity of the Earth system may well be higher, implying that any temperature-based target will become progressively harder to maintain as slower feedbacks kick in," write Gavin Schmidt, of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and David Archer of the University of Chicago in short article in Nature Wednesday.
"The bottom line? Dangerous change, even loosely defined, is going to be hard to avoid," they said.
Like an oil spill, it is far better and cheaper to avoid making the mess in the first place, they conclude
That 2-degree C climate balloon has a maximum capacity of less than 1,400 gigatonnes of CO2 total emissions from the year 2000 to 2050, Malte Meinshausen and colleagues report in the current issue of Nature. The European Union and others consider a global temperature rise of more than 2 degrees C as dangerous and potentially catastrophic. Temperatures are already 0.8 C warmer than the pre-industrial period.
The reality is that global emissions for the last seven years amounted to almost 250 gigatonnes of these long-lived greenhouse gases, meaning that the current and growing rates of fossil fuel emissions would burst the balloon in about 20 years – or less. Even if emissions are held to 1,400 gigatonnes maximum for the next 40 years, there is still a 50-percent probability of exceeding 2 degrees C, said Meinshausen, lead author of the study and climate researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
Indigenous peoples from around the world also called for a phase-out of fossil fuels at the conclusion of the first Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change in Anchorage, Alaska, that concluded last week.
"That call is well-supported by the evidence in this study," Meinshausen told IPS.
However, the world's future global carbon budget is likely less than 1,400 gigagtonnes. When other short-term warming gases like methane are included, then the total 'forcing', i.e. warming, could be 10 to 40 percent greater by the year 2100, said Meinshausen.
And some climate feedbacks - changes that will amplify or accelerate the warming - are absent from computer models. "Our modeling cannot account for emissions in methane from melting permafrost," he said.
Permafrost - permanently frozen bog and peatland - contains enormous amounts of organic carbon, perhaps enough to triple the amount currently in the atmosphere.
"Only a fast switch away from fossil fuels will give us a reasonable chance to avoid considerable warming," said Meinshausen. "We shouldn’t forget that a 2-degree C global mean warming would take us far beyond the natural temperature variations that life on Earth has experienced since we humans have been around."
This will be a serious challenge, he said, because there is plenty of carbon left in the ground. Proven reserves of oil, gas and coal represent four times the amount of carbon that would burst the 2-degree climate balloon. Burning just one quarter of what's left in the ground will bring humanity to the 50-50 point of tipping into dangerous climate change.
Delay is not an option when it comes to the fossil fuel phase-out, scientists stress. Even though a tonne of carbon is a tonne of carbon, whether released today or in 50 years' time, there is only so much the atmosphere can take before a 2-degree rise or more is inevitable, Meinshausen, Myles Allen of the University of Oxford and others write in a Nature Reports Climate Change commentary.
"Emitting CO2 more slowly buys time, perhaps vital time, but it will only achieve our ultimate goal in the context of a strategy for phasing out net CO2 emissions altogether," they conclude.
"Climate policy needs an exit strategy: as well as reducing carbon emissions now, we need a plan for phasing out net emissions entirely," Allen said in a release.
So what are the targets for the negotiators United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the Copenhagen this December?
If negotiators heed the scientific evidence, then a new global agreement's goal will be to reduce global emissions by 50 percent compared to 1990 and do that by 2050. To achieve this, the current three-percent annual growth in carbon emissions must flatline by 2015 and start the decline by 3 percent per year, reports Martin Parry of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London in another Nature study.
"If we do this it leaves an even chance of exceeding 2-degree C of warming," Parry and colleagues write.
If mitigation efforts are not substantial enough and emissions peak in the year 2025, then a 3-degree C rise in temperatures will likely occur. The damage from this level of warming could be substantial, placing billions more people at risk of water shortage and millions more at risk of coastal flooding. To avoid such damage will require massive investment in adaptation, such as improving water supply and storage, and protecting low-lying settlements from rising seas.
A final cautionary note: "The true sensitivity of the Earth system may well be higher, implying that any temperature-based target will become progressively harder to maintain as slower feedbacks kick in," write Gavin Schmidt, of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and David Archer of the University of Chicago in short article in Nature Wednesday.
"The bottom line? Dangerous change, even loosely defined, is going to be hard to avoid," they said.
Like an oil spill, it is far better and cheaper to avoid making the mess in the first place, they conclude
Friday, May 1, 2009
World Bank Provides Support to Improve Afghanistan’s Financial Sector
The World Bank approved a US$8 million grant to help improve access to formal banking services in Afghanistan as well as strengthen Da Afghanistan Bank’s core function of banking supervision and regulation on April 30, 2009.
In 2002 after the fall of the Taliban regime, the formal financial sector in Afghanistan was almost inoperative and the legal framework was virtually non-existent. Since then, Afghanistan’s financial sector has gone through two phases of development. During the first phase (2002-04), a basic legal and institutional framework for a modern financial sector was introduced, which laid the foundation for the re-establishment of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) as the central bank with autonomous regulatory authority to implement monetary policy and banking regulation and supervision.
In the second phase (2005-present), formal financial services emerged and a number of private commercial banks were established. Currently, there are 17 commercial banks operating in Afghanistan, which include 2 state-owned commercial banks, 10 private commercial banks, and 5 branches of foreign commercial banks. Despite these achievements, a weak financial sector still remains one of the major binding constraints to private sector development in Afghanistan.
The Financial Sector Strengthening Project supports Afghanistan National Development Strategy’s vision to establish a modern and competitive financial sector. The project will specifically strengthen the capacity of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) in the areas of banking supervision, accounting, internal audit, and human resource management. It will also develop necessary financial infrastructure such as public credit registry, collateral registry and Afghanistan Institution of Banking.
"The legal and regulatory framework of Afghanistan’s financial sector has improved significantly. But many challenges remain, notably increasing access to financial services as well as ensuring sustainability of the sector,” said Md. Reazul Islam, World Bank Senior Private Sector Development Specialist and Project Team Leader. “To overcome these challenges, the government needs to enforce implementation of rules and regulation. The World Bank remains committed to provide technical as well as financial resources necessary to build a sustainable and accountable financial sector in Afghanistan.”
The project also supports some of the key areas that have been agreed by the Government of Afghanistan and its development partners at the Enabling Environment Conference Road Map in 2007.
The total cost of the project is estimated around US$9.46 million. In addition to IDA’s US$8 million grant, International Financial Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has provided US$0.59 million in technical support. Some US$0.87 million have been contributed through counter funding by Da Afghanistan Bank, Afghanistan Bank’s Association and Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA).
For more information on the Bank’s work in Afghanistan, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org.af
In 2002 after the fall of the Taliban regime, the formal financial sector in Afghanistan was almost inoperative and the legal framework was virtually non-existent. Since then, Afghanistan’s financial sector has gone through two phases of development. During the first phase (2002-04), a basic legal and institutional framework for a modern financial sector was introduced, which laid the foundation for the re-establishment of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) as the central bank with autonomous regulatory authority to implement monetary policy and banking regulation and supervision.
In the second phase (2005-present), formal financial services emerged and a number of private commercial banks were established. Currently, there are 17 commercial banks operating in Afghanistan, which include 2 state-owned commercial banks, 10 private commercial banks, and 5 branches of foreign commercial banks. Despite these achievements, a weak financial sector still remains one of the major binding constraints to private sector development in Afghanistan.
The Financial Sector Strengthening Project supports Afghanistan National Development Strategy’s vision to establish a modern and competitive financial sector. The project will specifically strengthen the capacity of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) in the areas of banking supervision, accounting, internal audit, and human resource management. It will also develop necessary financial infrastructure such as public credit registry, collateral registry and Afghanistan Institution of Banking.
"The legal and regulatory framework of Afghanistan’s financial sector has improved significantly. But many challenges remain, notably increasing access to financial services as well as ensuring sustainability of the sector,” said Md. Reazul Islam, World Bank Senior Private Sector Development Specialist and Project Team Leader. “To overcome these challenges, the government needs to enforce implementation of rules and regulation. The World Bank remains committed to provide technical as well as financial resources necessary to build a sustainable and accountable financial sector in Afghanistan.”
The project also supports some of the key areas that have been agreed by the Government of Afghanistan and its development partners at the Enabling Environment Conference Road Map in 2007.
The total cost of the project is estimated around US$9.46 million. In addition to IDA’s US$8 million grant, International Financial Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has provided US$0.59 million in technical support. Some US$0.87 million have been contributed through counter funding by Da Afghanistan Bank, Afghanistan Bank’s Association and Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA).
For more information on the Bank’s work in Afghanistan, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org.af
World Bank Provides More Support to India’s Small and Medium Enterprises
The World Bank approved a US$400 million additional financing loan to the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) on April 30, 2009, designed to improve access to finance for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This additional financing will help scale up the fully disbursed original project which had been approved by the World Bank on November 30, 2004.
Access to adequate and timely financing on competitive terms, particularly longer tenure loans remains a challenge for Indian SMEs. This problem has been exacerbated by the current global financial crisis, the ensuing liquidity constraints and the slowdown in credit growth in the Indian financial sector. In particular, credit growth to SMEs has declined over the last year, which has held back the growth of SMEs and impacted overall growth and development.
"This Project is part of a larger program of support in response to the Government of India request for funding in light of the financial crisis. It is targeted particularly at SMEs, to help address the credit slowdown that has resulted from the financial crisis,” said Roberto Zagha, World Bank Country Director for India. “Achieving and sustaining growth and employment will require a sharp step up in industrial and services growth. This needs to be spurred by SMEs which have the greatest potential to provide employment.”
The credit facility supported by the Project will channel long-term and working capital loans for SMEs in geographical areas beyond those that were covered in the original Project. This includes expanding to new geographical areas, possibly to India’s low-growth states, thereby promoting inclusive growth.
Under the credit facility SIDBI will also explore refinancing other banks and financial institutions for on-lending to SMEs. In addition, this Project will build linkages with an on-going DFID financed technical assistance component which is helping banks enhance the quality of their SME loan portfolios, strengthening business development services and building market linkage programs. “This integrated Project will help SMEs improve their profitability and competitiveness, and become more creditworthy,” said Niraj Verma, World Bank Senior Financial Sector Specialist and project team leader.
Finally, the Risk Sharing Facility supported by the Project will expand the coverage of this innovative initiative launched under the parent Project.
The lending from the original project has covered 927 SMEs spread across 10 Indian states. A survey showed that nearly two-thirds of the SMEs financed upgraded their technology, which helped increase productivity.
The loan, from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), is backed by a Republic of India guarantee. It has a 15 year maturity which includes a 5-year grace period.
For more information on the Bank’s work in India, visit http://www.worldbank.org.in
Access to adequate and timely financing on competitive terms, particularly longer tenure loans remains a challenge for Indian SMEs. This problem has been exacerbated by the current global financial crisis, the ensuing liquidity constraints and the slowdown in credit growth in the Indian financial sector. In particular, credit growth to SMEs has declined over the last year, which has held back the growth of SMEs and impacted overall growth and development.
"This Project is part of a larger program of support in response to the Government of India request for funding in light of the financial crisis. It is targeted particularly at SMEs, to help address the credit slowdown that has resulted from the financial crisis,” said Roberto Zagha, World Bank Country Director for India. “Achieving and sustaining growth and employment will require a sharp step up in industrial and services growth. This needs to be spurred by SMEs which have the greatest potential to provide employment.”
The credit facility supported by the Project will channel long-term and working capital loans for SMEs in geographical areas beyond those that were covered in the original Project. This includes expanding to new geographical areas, possibly to India’s low-growth states, thereby promoting inclusive growth.
Under the credit facility SIDBI will also explore refinancing other banks and financial institutions for on-lending to SMEs. In addition, this Project will build linkages with an on-going DFID financed technical assistance component which is helping banks enhance the quality of their SME loan portfolios, strengthening business development services and building market linkage programs. “This integrated Project will help SMEs improve their profitability and competitiveness, and become more creditworthy,” said Niraj Verma, World Bank Senior Financial Sector Specialist and project team leader.
Finally, the Risk Sharing Facility supported by the Project will expand the coverage of this innovative initiative launched under the parent Project.
The lending from the original project has covered 927 SMEs spread across 10 Indian states. A survey showed that nearly two-thirds of the SMEs financed upgraded their technology, which helped increase productivity.
The loan, from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), is backed by a Republic of India guarantee. It has a 15 year maturity which includes a 5-year grace period.
For more information on the Bank’s work in India, visit http://www.worldbank.org.in
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