Governments must craft a global pact that promotes a carbon tax and prices goods based on ecological costs, politicians and UN panelists urged Monday.

Former Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey said the planet is living beyond its means and needs a "sustainable" economy that better manages natural resources for its 7 billion inhabitants, while promoting human rights, equality and an end to poverty.

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/SciTech/20120206/eu-un-energy-revolution-12020...

Healthy seas and coasts would pay healthy dividends in a green economy, according to a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners that highlights the huge potential for economic growth and poverty eradication from well-managed marine sectors.

The report, Green Economy in a Blue World, argues that the ecological health and economic productivity of marine and coastal ecosystems, which are currently in decline around the globe, can be boosted by shifting to a more sustainable economic approach that taps their natural potential – from generating renewable energy and promoting eco-tourism, to sustainable fisheries and transport.

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http://www.eco-business.com
http://www.unep.org

Barely a month into the Aquino presidency, green activists warned Cabinet officials of a looming climatic catastrophe.

The warning went largely ignored, but the Climate Change Congress of the Philippines (CCCP) headed by Archbishop Antonio Ledesma plodded on, raising alarm bells.

The warning was repeated to Cabinet officials in an antipoverty conference two weeks before Tropical Storm “Sendong” struck on December 16.

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"Unless we take action now, all our efforts on social development and reducing poverty, even our very own survival, will be all for nothing.” Thus Presidential Assistant on Climate Change Elisea G. Guzon said Wednesday to the over 1,000 delegates during the official opening of the 58th Philsutech (Philippine Sugar Technologists, Inc.) Annual National Convention at Waterfront Hotel, Lahug, Cebu City where she was the guest speaker.

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http://www.sunstar.com.ph

Viktor Kaisiepo from First Peoples Worldwide after speaking out as a witness in the International Poverty Hearing in New York. He talks about his work with the environment and poverty and the need for governments to hear the voices of impoverished people.

This EEPSEA study from the People's Republic of China assesses a number of potential policy options that could help protect the Qixinghe Wetlands which lie in the country’s Sanjiang Plain. The region’s wetlands are the most important breeding ground and migration route for waterfowls in Northeastern Asia, and provide a habitat for numerous species of wildlife. They face many challenges, one of the most significant being the disruption of the water supplies that feed them. Agriculture is the main cause of this problem, accounting for more than 75% of the total water use in the area. As the flow of water entering the wetlands is diverted, its ecosystem is damaged. This problem affects many wetland areas in the PRC.

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EEPSEA

Program administrators are often faced with the difficult problem of allocating scarce resources
among regions in a country when interventions are aimed at addressing multiple objectives. One main concern is the tradeoff between poverty reduction and improvement of environmental quality. To provide a framework for analysis, this paper develops a model of optimal budget allocation that allows for variations in three factors: administrators' valuation of objectives; their willingness to accept tradeoffs among objectives and regional allotments; and regional administrative costs. The results from an application of this model using information for Lao PDR show that simple poverty indicators alone do not provide consistent guidelines for policy. However, when different poverty indicators are embedded in an optimizing model that incorporates preferences and costs, the resulting provincial allocations are very similar. This suggests that adoption of a formal analytical approach to resource allocation can help promote the harmonization of regional policy guidelines.

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This article asks through what processes and for which interests the emerging
Vietnamese climate change strategy is being designed, and if, ultimately, it is likely
or not to be effective in the face of the looming threat.

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http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

The Environmental Protection Agency is about to spend millions looking at how pollution and a crap environment leads to poverty and the general decline of quality of life in the U.S., The New York Times' Green blog reports. It's all part of the agency's commitment to better address environmental injustice.

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http://www.grist.org

This year has been designated the International Year for Forests by the United Nations. However, the current state of environment in Uganda is extremely poor given the environment and natural resources degradation which has not left any wetland in Kampala to sieve all the waste and the surface run-off from our cemented impermeable streets.

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http://www.monitor.co.ug