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DAILY GREEN NEWS & VIEWS








23 December 2010 (Wednesday)


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DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK REFORM UPDATES


Politics, foreign funds jump-start PHL economy 


Two incendiary changes this year helped jump-start the Philippine 
economy — down but not out — as it reeled from the global financial 
meltdown that began in the US in 2007. The most obvious was the changing of the guard in Malacañang, with then 
President and now Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo 
completing her nine-year rule. President-elect Benigno Aquino III and his Cabinet came in as a breath 
of fresh air and a band of purported idealists. But idealism alone 
cannot rescue hostages. 



CLIMATE ACTION UPDATES 


Europe moves ahead on Cap & Trade, Japan seen shelving carbon emission trading scheme






Japan is likely to shelve a plan to introduce carbon emissions 
trading as the troubled ruling Democratic Party bows to powerful 
business groups still recovering from a costly downturn. If 
confirmed, it would be a massive reversal by the party, which has backed
one of the toughest emissions reduction targets of any major economy 
and said emissions trading was a key way to achieve that goal and drive 
greater energy efficiency at home.



 


Out of Cancun Climate Talks, A Breakthrough for Preserving Wetlands Globally (
http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20101221/out-cancun-climate-talks-breakthrough-preserving-wetlands-globally ) 

Climate negotiators at UN talks agreed to 
consider letting rich 
countries cut their climate-changing emissions by "rewetting" 
degraded 
peatlands, in the first official sign of global action on the 
issue. It was a victory for conservationists who long fought for 
incentives 
in UN forestry and land-use proposals to entice governments to 
stop 
draining carbon-rich swamps.



Solons seek repeal of law mandating calamity funds in local budgets 


ILOILO CITY, Philippines — A bill has been filed in Congress seeking 
to scrap the mandatory allocation of calamity funds from the budget of 
local government units (LGUs). House Bill No. 3813, co-authored by Negros Oriental Representative 
George Arnaiz and Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Treñas, seeks to repeal Section
21 of Republic Act No. 10121 or the “Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Act of 2010." Section 21 mandates LGUs to allocate at least 5 percent of its income
for its Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (LDRRMF).



 


Use calamity fund for disaster preparedness equipment—DILG 


MANILA, Philippines—The Department of 
Interior and Local Government 
is pushing for the expansion of the use of calamity fund to 
include the 
purchase of disaster preparedness equipment to avert huge damages 
during
calamities. Secretary Jesse Robredo told a news conference 
Wednesday that he 
hoped the proposal would be adopted in the Senate, as the proposal
had 
already reached second reading at the House of Representatives. 
Robredo said that the proposal would include the expansion of the 
scope of calamity funds to include safeguards against disasters. 
He said that ideally, 70 percent of the fund should be spent on 
preparedness and mitigation measures and 30 percent for relief 
operations.



FOOD SECURITY AND SAFETY UPDATES 


Sen Angara urges use of S&T for food supply resiliency ( http://mb.com.ph/articles/294326/angara-urges-use-st-food-supply-resiliency ) 


MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Edgardo Angara 
yesterday called on the 
Aquino administration to use science and technology (S&T) to 
advance
the country’s agricultural system and make it a priority in 2011. 
Angara, chairman of the Congressional Commission on Science 
Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), said the government should 
use 
S&T to “engineer resilience” into agricultural methods in 
order to 
keep the sector competitive in the face of natural calamities and 
disasters



Vatican largely supportive of GMOs — Wikileaks ( http://www.gmanews.tv/story/208842/vatican-largely-supportive-of-gmos-wikileaks ) 


According to whistleblower site Wikileaks,
the US Embassy in the Vatican
reported to Washington that the Pope is receptive to using 
genetically 
modified crops (GMOs) to fight world hunger, but may encounter 
resistance from bishops from the Philippines and other countries. 
Among Wikileaks latest disclosures is a cable sent to Washington, DC in
2009 that touched on Pope Benedict XVIs remarks on environmental 
protection, among other things. The cable lauded Pope Benedicts remarks
at the World Food Security 
Summit in Rome on Nov. 16, 2009, where he underscored the link 
between 
agricultural development and agricultural technology.



POPULATION & REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH UPDATES  


Enrile warns of ‘bloody’ debate on birth control (
http://www.cathnewsphil.com/2010/12/21/enrile-warns-of-%E2%80%98bloody%%5C%20E2%80%99-debate-on-birth-control/ ) 


THE president of the Philippine Senate on Monday said he expects a "bloody" debate on the reproductive health bill pending in Congress as
Catholic bishops said they have not softened their stand against the proposed measure. "This is going to be one of the most debatable and the most
serious piece of legislation that will confront both houses of Congress. It will divide the country very politically," Senate president Juan Ponce
Enrile, a Catholic, said.



SHIFT SHIFT TO RENEWABLE ENERGY UPDATES 


Biofuels potential harm to biodiversity. A European report and recommendation to hamper crop invasiveness 


Biofuels
and their invasive potential is a problem being address worldwide. A 
report was written for the Convention on the Conservation of European 
Wildlife and Natural Habitats (known as the Council of Europe-Bern 
Convention) by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and 
Research (ISPRA) - an agency led by the Italian Ministry for the 
Environment. Following the report the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention, 
worried that the increase of biofuel cropping systems may lead to 
cultivation escapes of invasive taxa with subsequent negative effect on 
native biological diversity, adopted advices to reduce impacts, of 
potentially invasive alien plants being used as biofuel crops, on 
species biodiversity and natural ecosystems.



PUBLIC HEALTH UPDATES


Health for all feasible 


MANILA, Philippines—The decreasing budget for health services 
highlights once again the need to pursue a reform agenda to provide all 
Filipinos access to quality but affordable health services. This is an 
imperative for social equity in which people who have less in life 
should have more in basic government services, especially for health. The proposed 2011 budget of P33.3 billion for the Department of 
Health (DOH) is meager by all measures. It represents about 2 percent of
the proposed 2011 national budget of P1.64 trillion. In their candid 
but exasperating manner, lawmakers have said that the devolution of 
health services to local government units (LGUs) is the primary reason 
for the low DOH budget.



PEACE & DEVELOPMENT UPDATES


Govt may start informal talks with MILF next month 

MANILA, Philippines - The government is targeting to start 
exploratory talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) by 
January. In a press release, lead negotiator and lawyer Marvic Leonen said the
government panel is just waiting for the go-signal from MILF panel 
chair Mohagher Iqbal. The sessions may be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.



MINING RE-ORIENTATION UPDATES 



Small-scale mining not so small after all



DAVAO CITY, Philippines—If small-scale mining normally involves 
manual labor, what do you call supposedly small-time miners who use 
heavy equipment? This is the dilemma the Department of Environment and Natural 
Resources has been facing in Southern Mindanao, says regional director 
Jim Sampulna. Sampulna told the Inquirer last Monday that contrary to what the law 
prescribed, small-scale miners now use heavy equipment such as 
bulldozers.



 


 


 BIODIVERSITY & ECOSYSTEM MGNT UPDATES


 



Biodiversity Year Ends on a High Note as UN General Assembly Backs Resolution Signing into Life an IPCC-for Nature (
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=653&ArticleID=6872&l=en&WT.rss_f=pr&WT.rss_a=653-6872 ) 



New York/Nairobi, 21 December 2010 A new 
international body aimed at catalyzing a global response to the loss of 
biodiversity and worlds economically-important forests, coral reefs and
other ecosystems was born yesterday by governments at the United 
Nations 65th General Assembly (UNGA). It underlines a further success of the UNs 
International Year of Biodiversity and should provide a boost to the 
International Year of Forests which begins in January 2011, and the 
international decade of biodiversity, also beginning in January 2011. The adoption, by the UNGA plenary, was the 
last approval needed for setting up an Intergovernmental Platform on 
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).





 


 


 INTERNATIONAL SECURITY UPDATES


China warns anew vs US role in Spratlys dispute ( http://www.gmanews.tv/story/208910/china-warns-anew-vs-us-role-in-spratlys-dispute ) 


China will “take all the necessary measures" in maintaining peace and 
stability in the disputed Spratly islands but these do not include 
giving the United States (US) any role in the negotiations among 
claimants, a Chinese diplomat said. “(The US should) have no involvement in the negotiations, as it would 
only complicate matters," said Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu
Jianchao in a press briefing on Wednesday at his residence in Makati 
City. According to Liu, the Spratlys dispute does not concern the US because 
it is between China and other countries from the Association of 
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) claiming the islands.
 



 



HUMAN RIGHTS & SOCIAL JUSTICE UPDATES


LGBT Rights in the UN: Philippine Abstention means injustice 


The good news first: the UN decided to restore sexual orientation in 
the text of the resolution on extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary 
killings. An overwhelming number of States pushed to correct the grave 
error against human rights that took place a month ago, thus 
highlighting that inhuman abuses are committed against certain 
individuals because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. The bad news: The Philippines abstained again. This is not 
surprising, since in many UN initiatives involving sexual orientation 
and gender identity, the Philippines has consistently abstained. The Permanent Mission ( http://www.un.int/philippines/ )
of the country  to the UN has always justified this stance by claiming 
that the country has no national policy on the rights of lesbians, gays,
bisexuals and transgenders. That’s a lame excuse. The mandate provided by our own Constitution is
clear enough – the State affirms human dignity. Extrajudicial and 
arbitrary killings, especially those sanctioned by State agents, violate
human rights.


 







 


 

























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