Climate change vulnerability: analyzing Colombian case.

Colombia, such as the majority of the Latin American Countries, presents a high vulnerability towards the possible effects that climate change could bring. However, there are several ways to measure the “level” of vulnerability, since the different approaches and criteria’s involved.

The Second National Communication highlights the degradation of ecosystems (mainly forests, moors, glaciers and bodies of water), the extended agriculture activities (coffee production) and its impacts on water supply, the infrastructure, and high percentage of people living in high- risk areas, as the main vulnerabilities for Colombia. This document is an important input for public policy design and institutional building on Climate Change.

The analysis made by the Climate Vulnerability Monitor- CVM- also covers the same topics, but goes further in the examination of social-related vulnerabilities. For example, the criteria used to establish the level of vulnerability, considerate impacts on human health, related malnutrition, malaria, diarrheal and other kind of diseases. Moreover, it looks in a deeper way the “economic stress” measured by the sectoral distribution of economy, inequality, poverty and economic growth. Even there is a shared purpose of both documents; this one has a special emphasis to help in the design of actions to avoid harm to communities. Colombia has a “moderate” vulnerability, with higher risks on weather disasters and economics issues.

The GAIN offers a more business –oriented approach of vulnerability analysis and outputs. Under this approach Colombia has a low vulnerability and high readiness, which means a low necessities of investment. The criteria used add the readiness that a country has to improve resilience.

Even all of the three approaches consider reasonable and pertinent issues to determine the vulnerability of Colombia in terms of climate change; it is vital to take into account the institutional capacity. For example, a solid regulatory and institutional base for risk management (related to disasters or high-impact climate change events), the lack of studies and base lines to monitor and evaluated the risk and the mitigations measures, as well as the human capabilities related to education, training, and awareness, are relevant issues that should be consider as well. However, the CVM is a good and broad approach to analyze, understands and make decisions related to climate change and its possible effects on our society.

Reference:

Barba, D, Bedoya M (and others): “Segunda Comunicación Nacional ante la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático”. Ministro de Ambiente, Vivienda y Desarrollo Territorial de Colombia. Bogota D.C., Junio 2010.

DARA:”Climate vulnerability monitor.The state of the climate crisis”. DARA and the Climate Vulnerable Forum. 2010

Global Adaptation Index. Colombia’n ranking. http://index.gain.org/country/colombia. Consulted: 07/02/12


Comments Off on Climate change vulnerability: analyzing Colombian case. / 10 Feb 2012 por Diana Patricia Sanchez Barajas
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Climate Vulnerability of Germany #Climate Change

The earth is getting hotter. Most scientists are sure this is mainly due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. To give a wake-up-call to the humanity and to find out who is mainly affected the President of the Maldives founded the Climate Vulnerable Forum in 2009. It created the Climate Vulnerability Monitor which analyzes four main areas: health impact, weather disasters, habitat loss and economic stress. Germany is with US and Japan amongst the largest developed economies which will experience the largest economic stress in absolute terms.

Another indicator which calculates the vulnerability to climate change of a country is the Global Adaptation Index (GAIN). It takes also the preparedness of a country into account to be able to cope with the climate change challenges. The GAIN can help to prioritize investments to make the response more efficient.

Looking closer at the “Vulnerability (exposure to climate-related hazards, sensitivity to their impacts and the capacity to cope with those impacts)”, Germany’s exposure to significant climatic variations remained the same, the sensitivity decreased and its “current ability to increase resilience” increased sharply between 2007 and 2008 mainly due to an increase of the agricultural technological capacity.

The Readiness evaluates the speed and efficiency of adaptation, where Germany increased since 1997 until 2005 and remained on a high level since then. The GAIN ranks Germany as number 9 in terms of vulnerability and readiness and states that Germany may need little help to overcome adaptation challenges. Compared with the Climate Vulnerability Monitor the GAIN goes more in detail and gives the possibility to access the data.

The National Communication states possible effects of climate change which could have negative or positive regional impacts. According to both indicators and the national communication the country seems to be aware of these effects and has the capability to cope with the challenges.

Resources, last accessed 09.02.2012:

DARA and the Climate Vulnerability Forum (2010) Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2010, http://daraint.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CVM_Complete-1-August-2011.pdf

Global Adaptation Institute (without year) Germany, http://index.gain.org/country/germany

United Nations (2010) Fifth National Report of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/deu_nc5_resubmit.pdf


Comments Off on Climate Vulnerability of Germany #Climate Change / 09 Feb 2012 por Marie Glück
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Climate Vulnerability Costa Rica

According to Costa Rica’s climate change and vulnerability country profile in the World Bank is regarded as a hot spot for climate change in the tropics. As there has been registered a lot of changes in temperature and precipitation extreme values between 1961 and 2003. The main effects of this is in climate changed is dryer and hotter dry seasons which increase the risk of suffering droughts specially in the north pacific region of the country while  an overall increase in precipitation  due to the increase intensity of rainfall. This increase in rainfalls will mainly affect the Caribbean coast of the country.

The conclusions from the country’s profile by World Bank show the country has worked on improving disaster response system and limit vulnerabilities. The main efforts have being focused in the effective enforcement of building codes and mainstreaming disaster risk management in the national development program. This matches with the position of the country in the center of the GAIN matrix with medium-vulnerability and medium readiness.

Costa Rica faces a big challenge with climate change and the increasing variability reported between the dry and rainy season. This will certainly increase the incidence of draughts and floods. In my opinion the main alternative the country has to make front to climate change is better urban planification. In sight that 77.9% of the population and 80.1% the country’s GDP are located in areas of high risk of multiple hazards.

Referrences:

http://data.worldbank.org/country/costa-rica

http://index.gain.org/country/costa-rica

 


Comments Off on Climate Vulnerability Costa Rica / 09 Feb 2012 por Javier Solano Palacios
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#Climate Change#2: South Africa’s vulnerability to climate change

Regarding the vulnerability and possibility of adaptation to the effects of climate change, South Africa mentions in its report to UNFCCC¹ that changes are likely to become more apparent in the coming years, affecting in a large scale the availability of water, the agriculture productivity, the biodiversity and the coastal and marine environment. Although the country has got specific sector plans to increase the resilience of its environment, the level of vulnerability is relevant as well as the possible impacts, and the adaptation measures are constrained by the uncertain effects of climate change.

Taking a look at the two main vulnerability and adaptation indexes available, the situation is confirmed. DARA², in its report called “Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2010″, foresee a worsening in the country’s vulnerability between 2010 and 2030, particularly in the dimension defined as “habitat loss” and in a smaller scale for “economic stress”. The situation about habitat loss is common to most of Sub-Saharan region, which means that one of the most valuable areas in the world in terms of biodiversity is extremely threatened. In its turn, the GAIN Index, whose approach add to the vulnerability the capacity of a country to absorb the impacts and increase its resilience, put South Africa in a negative trend as well. Concerns with food capacity, health workers and infrastructure are highlighted among the vulnerabilities, whereas tertiary education levels is a concern when it comes to the capacity to face the challenges posted by climate issues.

The conclusion is that, besides its carbon intensive economy as showed in my first blog regarding this topic, South Africa is likely to be extensively affected by the global climate change. National government is already undertaking actions to face this challenge, but the velocity and anticipation of the responses will be crucial if the predictions about climate are confirmed.

References:

¹ South Africa’s Second National Communication under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (available at http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/snc_south_africa_.pdf)

² http://daraint.org/about-us/


4 comentarios / 09 Feb 2012 por Fabio Pinto Almeida
IMSD /

EIA – The South African Stadium for 2010 FIFA World Cup

In 2004, the Southh Africa Football Association was selected as host to the FIFA World Cup 2010 soccer Championship. In preparation for this, the country decided to construct a new and bigger stadium. Six possible sites for development or redevelopment of 68,000 seat stadium as a semi final venue were identified. After assessment a place called the Green point site was chosen and it comprised of a “Brown field” which was an existing stadium and “Green field” which was used as a metroplitan golf club.

f

According to the National Environmental Management Act of 1998 any development that involves land change use,road construction and associated infrastructure requires an Environmental Impact Assessment. The construction of this stadium did not include land change only but also the construction of a road and  upgrading of electricity infrastructure. Then an EIA was planned and it established three alternatives which were; to do nothing, to use the existing airport site or the golf club site.

A decission was reached at after assessing the three alternatives above and these were the outcomes;

At last a decission was made to demolish the old stadium and a new one was built which hosted the 2010 FIFA World cup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New stadium in Capetown

http://www.google.es/webhprlz=1C1SVEF_enES457ES457&sourceid

Scoring the Stadium

http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/EnvironmentalResourceManagement/publications/Documents/enviroWORKS_Aug06.pdf

 

 


Comments Off on EIA – The South African Stadium for 2010 FIFA World Cup / 08 Feb 2012 por Tabithah Mkandawire Kaluwa
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EIA: Was law applied correctly in the Suerre Hotel Case?

In the late 80 s a Swedish entrepreneur invested in the Costa Rican- Caribbean forests and built a hotel in a Protected Area.

In 1990 the investor received the permit to use, the already built hotel in a sustainable way, under the Forestal Law and the Law for the protection of wild life, compromising to protect and preserve the environment and create opportunities for the community.

However, in 1992 irregularities and a big environmental damage were detected because of the construction of an artificial lagoon, the construction and expansion of drains, obstruction of natural waterways, tractor work, mercury lighting using the palm trees, coral to use mass logging and filling in a swamp. Because of the illegal actions, the permission was suspended; nevertheless, the hotel and the unconstitutional actions kept taking place.

Three years after, half of the property was sold to a Costa Rican entrepreneur. This part of the property stopped the growth infrastructure growth and developed a waste management for the hotel, self-sufficient energy programs and financed an aqueduct for the community and created a policy that all the hotel’s employees must be hired form the community. On the other hand “the Swedish” part continue with the infrastructure growth and built new rooms 150 meters away from the shore, which goes against the law. These activities awaken the attention of the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment and in 2004 the demolition of the hotel was ordered.

Finally 20 years after their construction, both hotels were demolished, leaving more than 50 people with out a job and spending more than $400 000 and debris in the middle of the forests. In my opinion, demolishing a hotel (that  shouldnt been built there in first  place) is not the proper solution, because part of that infrastructure is working in a sustainable way. It created a damage 20 years ago when it as built, but nowadays is an income source for the people, by providing jobs and business opportunities.

In this cases we can see the importance of having impact assessment instruments. For instance, a Strategic Environmental Assessment, with established priorities and policies could help for decision making and Even an Environmental Impact Assessment done before demolishing the Suerre Hotel after 20 years can help to determine if  this could have a bigger impact to the environment and the community.

Pinche aquí para ver el vídeo


Comments Off on EIA: Was law applied correctly in the Suerre Hotel Case? / 08 Feb 2012 por Natalia Diaz Zamora
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Environmental Impact Assessment Blog: “Agro Ecological Zoning in Brazil”.

The Problem

Production of sugarcane designated for the biofuel industry has been a successful history in Brazil, but nonetheless raising some criticism.

One of the main arguments in the country is that production of sugarcane in the Cerrado area, has pushed cattle ranchers to be established up north of this area which is on the footsteps of the Amazon, as consequence, affecting to a large extent both of these regions. ” According to a study published in the journal Conservation Biology, more than 50 percent of the Cerrado has already been transformed into pastureland, causing soil erosion, biodiversity loss, land fragmentation, and the spread of nonnative grasses.

Another major issue involving the production of sugarcane is in relation of how it is harvested, that is because in Brazil, a large percentage of harvesting practice of sugarcane is done by field burning causing air and water pollution, poor conditions for rural workers, health implications  and many other social and environmental impacts.

However the increase support and demand for sugarcane ethanol in the country and abroad lead the Brazilian government to address these issues in other to advance the grow of this sector in the future.

Thus in 2009 a presidential decree outlined an agriculture zone in the Brazilian territory where sugarcane production could be expanded. But agriculture zone is not a new thing in Brazil but its predecessor zoning was focus mainly in agro economic criteria and the way that the new agriculture zone for expansion of sugarcane production is different is because it want to serve as base for sustainable use of suitable land and farming practice with a in line relationship with biodiversity. What is more the sugarcane agro ecological zooning in Brazil will be used as decision making instrument at government level towards planning and coordination on the expansion of sugarcane production for industrial ends.

Therefore according to the new agro ecological zoning decree, suitable land for sugarcane production expansion has to follow these measures:

Nonetheless, this new zoning framework was established in a participatory way through discussions with stakeholders from industry, civil society, academia and government to identify areas where cultivation of sugarcane should be sanctioned and where it should be prohibited.

It is estimated that the amount of land available to expand the production of sugarcane that can follow and be fitted with the agro ecological sugarcane zooning measures to be equivalent to 64,7 million hectares in Brazil.

Green areas are suitable for expansion of sugarcane farming, whereas yellow areas are protected zones.

But how sugarcane farming expansion will be control and how these measures will be reinforced?

In order to solve these questions, the Brazilian government will work in partnership with financing institutions to assess information on loans undertaken by sugarcane farmers which has to be matched with the zooning criteria measures. Also, if evidence of illegal activity is found, the government reserves the right to refuse the granting or renewal of permits to local processing facilities.

Expected impacts from the New Agroecological Sugarcane Decree:

Environmental Impact

• Planning of production and avoiding its expansion in areas of native vegetation coverage;
• Production of biofuels in a sustainable manner;
• Conservation of soil and water through reducing erosion of cultivated soils;
• Reduced emission of GHG by the progressive replacement  of field burning technique by mechanical harvesting;

Economic and Social impact

• To  attract investment in agriculture sustainable projects;
• Increase skill of labor and work place opportunity in sugarcane processing industries upon the substitution of manual for mechanical harvesting;
• Economic efficiency in the use of land of labor;
• Induction of new technologies in the production and harvesting of canesugar;
• Qualification of sector workers in the face of progressive cultivation, meaning public and private investments in education and training expertise;
• investments in local infrastructure such as logistics, transportation, energy and
technical support.

The environment impact assessment inside the new Brazilian agro ecological zooning for sugarcane has served to inform and to support the private and public sector decision-making practices and policies on how to expand this potential agriculture field. However in order to make its expectations into a reality it will require a joint reinforce effort between all stakeholders in special public administration and commercial sector.

Here in this video made by EMBRAPA (the Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research). Shows how the Brazilian government expectations on the agro ecological sugarcane zoning and how they want to make it happen.

Documentary: Agri-ecologial Sugarcane Zoning in Brazil.

Pinche aquí para ver el vídeo

References

http://www.cnps.embrapa.br/zoneamento_cana_de_acucar/

Leopold, Aaron and Aguilar, Soledad (2009) “Brazil.” in E. Morgera, K. Kulovesi and A.

Gobena (2009) Case Studies on Bioenergy Policy and Law: Options for

Sustainability. FAO Legislative Study 102, FAO Rome. Available at:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1285e/i1285e00.htm

Aaron Leopold (UFZ), Agroecological Zoning in Brazil incentivizes more sustainable agricultural practices. 

 

http://www.eea.europa.eu/atlas/teeb/agroecological-zoning-brazil/view

Agroecological Zoning, Brazil.pdf


Comments Off on Environmental Impact Assessment Blog: “Agro Ecological Zoning in Brazil”. / 08 Feb 2012 por Patricia Perez Costa
IMSD /

Environmental Impact Assessment in the Apure River

In southern Venezuela, within a context of flatlands, the “Llanos” are found. This region has the particularity of flooding during the rainy season and drying during the dry season, affecting people especially in the rainy season. To avoid this, a series of dikes to canalize were proposed in the Apure basin in 1993.

The canalization of the Apure River would benefit navigation, commerce as a consequence, and would create suitable conditions for building small dams that generated electricity and collected water. Multidisciplinary teams formed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency worked with local institutions and ministries. After a series of workshops destined to make an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the project faced issues related with its consequences on biodiversity, water availability in some areas and flora.

Government needed quick results, reason why this information was gathered in a year and a half, constraining results and the generation of further information. Once the information was collected by multidisciplinary teams, communities should be clearly informed of the benefits and downsides of the project, their already established way of life could be affected by it. Also, they were witnesses of the yearly local cycles.

Finally, even when the project was building a channel to favor navigation and avoid flooding, the different groups arrived to the conclusion than doing so could affect too much biodiversity, waters and flora. The final proposal was that construction of dikes should be limited and vessels adapted to the rivers were better, so navigation could be sustainable during the year and biodiversity could be affected less.

Source:

Takeuchi et al (2007). Environmental Impact Assessment in the Apure River. Available at: http://library.witpress.com/pages/PaperInfo.asp?PaperID=17620 . Last consulted: 07/02/2012.

 


Comments Off on Environmental Impact Assessment in the Apure River / 08 Feb 2012 por Rodrigo Capriles Mazzei
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EIA/SEA class: Rosia Montana project – Environmental Impact Assessment

Location: 2,500 year old village in Transylvania/ Romania
Problem: Proposed project to build largest open cast cyanide leach gold mine in Europe
Affected Community: 2000 residents in the Rosa Montana and Corna Valley
Mining Company: Canadian mining company Gabriel Resources

“Saturday, the 28th of January 2012, the most significant street action dedicated to the Save Rosia Montana Campaign took place in Bucharest, Romania. More than 500 Romanians from all over the country participated in the manifestation, protesting side by side with the locals from Rosia Montana against the imminent decision of Laszlo Borbely, the Minister of Environment and Forests, of emitting the environment approval for the mining project proposed for Rosia Montana.” (http://rosiamontana.org/en/)

The EIA report analyzes all the aspects of the gold and silver mining project from Rosia Montana, Romania from the construction phase to the post-closure phase incl. the operational phase, mine closure and environmental rehabilitation. The initial documentation was prepared in 2006-207, which was updated in 2010. The geological exploration and studies started already 1997. According to the original plan, the mining activity would have opened 2008 and closed in 2013. The mine land would have been returned back to public use by 2033. This makes 20 years of recovering land. I wonder if the mining company would be able to fulfill this time period or would disappear in some years, as we have seen it so many times in the past.

After many international decision-makers ( i.e. Worldbank, EU) turned down the request for this mining througout the years also “a representative of the Hungarian government declared in October 2005: “It is of the highest priority for the Hungarian Government that the Rosia Montana gold mine investment is never realized….The Rosia Montana project given its sheer size could not only affect the immediate area, but, in the event of a spill, would also affect the Tisa (Hung.river) Basin.” Hungarian government concerns have been heightened due to a January 2000 cyanide spill at a different gold operation in northern Romania that released some 100,000 tons of contaminated wastewater into the Tisza River, and eventually into the Danube–destroying 1,240 tons of fish and polluting the drinking water supplies of 2.5 million people. In March 2006 and again in March 2007, Hungary’s environmental movements consisting of 300 NGOs detail their opposition to the Rosia Montana mine development in letters to the Romanian and Hungarian ministers for the environment. After releasing its expert assessment of Gabriel Resource’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report in October 2006, the Hungarian „ministry for the Environment has asked the Romanian authorities not to endorse the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report for the proposed Rosia
Montana gold/silver mine. The experts involved in the analysis assessed that the document contains major deficiencies and false basic conclusions.” (http://rosiamontana.org/en/)

Beyond the above mentioned facts, I found particularly interesting the assessment of the closure part (see figure below). It takes a timeframe of 25 years into consideration, while the actually mining period is only 5 years. Did they want to convince someone to the plan?

 

It could be interesting to further analyze the EIA and the situation.

References:

http://en.rmgc.ro/rosia-montana-project/environment/environmental-impact-assessment.html

http://en.rmgc.ro/sites/default/files/eia-en/54_en.pdf


Comments Off on EIA/SEA class: Rosia Montana project – Environmental Impact Assessment / 08 Feb 2012 por Ildiko Heim
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#EIA/SEA#: The Belo Monte Project in the Amazon region (State: Pará. Country: Brasil)

UHE Belo Monte is a hydroelectric power plant to be built in the Amazon area, in the state of Pará (Brazil). The total capacity of the plant is 11,2 GW, which makes it the third biggest hydro power plant in the world. The assessment to evaluate the potential of the Xingu Basin was conducted during the 70’s and the 80’s, and the original project of Belo Monte, at that moment called Kararaô, was presented in 1989. Due to environmentalists and civil society pressure, particularly the reluctance of local indigenous people to accept the project, the project was left aside for a long time. In 2001, Brazilian’s government brought up a plan to increase the energy generation in the country, following the demand expectation and the necessity to have security in the supply. Since then, there has been a constant fight between investors/government against civil society players, and in 2009 the consortium responsible for the project presented the Environment Impact Assessment in order to move on with the project. As a result of the adaptations of the project, the mitigation and compensation plans presented, IBAMA (Brazilian’s National Environmental Agency), issued the Installation License in 2011, meaning that the construction was permitted and could start from that moment.

The project is quite controversy in Brazil and created a conflict with several international institutions, especially with the OECD. Personalities are advocating against the power plant in inside the country and abroad (James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others). The project is criticized from many points of view, but the central discussion remains over the environmental impacts, social impacts, technical feasibility and costs.

From the environmental and social point of view, although the technology to be used is the best available, which means that a smaller area has to be flooded, the reservoir will cover 440 Km² and will cause the displacement of almost 1.000 families. The river flow will be reduced, affecting the local fauna and flora, besides undermining some economic activities, such as fishery. The social and environmental programs or projects to comply with the IBAMA’s requirements account for about USD 3 billion, or 20% of the total cost.

Furthermore, to prevent major impacts and compensate some of them that are not avoidable, the project was adapted. First of all, changes in the reservoir, in the channel structure to compose the reservoir, among others, made that the power plant only can operate near its total capacity during a certain period of the year. So, even though the total capacity is above 11 GW, the energy guaranteed in the purchase agreements is closer to 4 GW, which is the amount that can be generated constantly throughout the year. Taking into account the total cost incurred (more than USD 15 billion), the feasibility and real necessity of the project has been put on trial for many technical experts and representatives of the civil society. The high cost of environmental and social programs, along with the changes in the technical project, proves the importance of the EIA in this case, even though the concerns raised from this process haven’t been enough to convince the involved parts not to undertake it.

Finally, the discussion comes to a point which is even more controversial. What is the kind of development we should encourage in the Amazon area? Nowadays, despite its decrease, the deforestation levels are still high. The project is already attracting many people to the region and the cities tend to expand, which is particularly dangerous in an area that land properties and environmental legislation are not fully respected. Maybe a Strategic Environment Analysis would be very useful in this case.

References: www.ibama.com.br

 


Comments Off on #EIA/SEA#: The Belo Monte Project in the Amazon region (State: Pará. Country: Brasil) / 08 Feb 2012 por Fabio Pinto Almeida
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