A report from the United Nations Environment Programme-hosted International Resources Panel reveals how globally metal prices have climbed 176 percent, rubber prices have increased 350 percent and energy prices have risen 260 percent since 2000. The reports warns that as well as pushing up prices in the long term, resource constraints are leading to short term price volatility for key commodities. Most notably, food prices have seen a three-fold increase in volatility between 2000 and 2012 compared to the period between 1990 and 1999. UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said urgent action was needed to tackle a problem that was likely to intensify in the coming years. The report also argues that well-established business models and technologies have shown that it is possible to deliver drastic improvements in resource efficiency. It adds that governments should act to remove some of the barriers to adoption to resource efficient technologies and business models, such as subsidies worth up to $1.1tr a year that encourage inefficient consumption, a tendency to tax labour rather resources, and institutional and policy bias towards established but wasteful technologies. (BusinessGreen)
Oil industry seeks to influence EU extractive rules through US backdoor
The American oil industry is using its fight to rewrite US regulations requiring companies to publicly disclose their payments to governments as a lever to try and shape how rules are written in Europe. The US Chamber of Commerce and major oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron, successfully sued to stop the US law from taking effect this year. The judge sent the rule back for a rewrite saying it had failed to explain adequately why individual company payments should be made public rather than aggregated. The EU, on the other hand, is in the process of writing into national laws a requirement for oil, gas, mining and lumber companies to publish what they pay governments, broken down by project and company. Dotun Oloko, a Nigerian anti-corruption campaigner, pointed out that illicit payments by Shell and the Italian oil company Eni of more than $1 billion to a former Nigerian energy minister would never have come to light through an aggregated approach. That payment, equal to about 60 percent of Nigeria’s health budget, was only revealed through a lawsuit in the United Kingdom. “Anything other than project-level disclosure is supporting corruption,” Oloko said. (Reuters)
Human Rights
Largest poll of football fans reveals message on human rights
On the eve of the opening of the FIFA Congress in Sao Paulo, a multi-national poll of over 13,000 football fans has revealed that 86% of fans believe human rights issues should be taken into consideration when awarding international tournaments. The poll, which was commissioned by Amnesty International UK and the Swedish app developer Football Addicts, also revealed that eight out of ten of those polled believed FIFA has a responsibility to stand up for human rights. “I am sure FIFA’s executives and sponsors will find these results extremely illuminating” said Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK. “The belief that human rights and sport should not mix has been exposed as a myth. And as the FIFA Congress in Sao Paulo is about to begin, now is the time to act.” Amnesty UK has compiled a list of key human rights concerns linked to major sports events which includes freedom of expression, child labour, human trafficking and the right to protest. (Amnesty International)
Environment
US billionaire Tom Steyer launches new fund to help victims of climate change
Hedge fund manager and climate change activist, Tom Steyer, and his wife have launched and donated $2 million to the Climate and Disaster Relief Fund. The fund, which aims to provide grants to victims of climate-related disasters in the US, will be managed by the San Francisco Foundation. The fund will kick off by helping first responders to the recent wildfires in San Diego. The state of California has recently experienced its first ‘severe’ drought this century, while experiencing its third year of record-low rainfall. The recent National Climate Assessment report showed that heat, droughts and insect outbreaks linked to climate change have increased wildfires. “Climate change is the defining issue of our generation, and we can no longer afford to wait to address this very real threat”, Steyer said in a recent press release. “Those affected by the 2013 wildfire season have already felt the devastating impacts of climate change, and while the Climate Disaster Relief Fund will help with their recovery efforts, we must act now to prevent future climate-related disasters.” Steyer’s fund will be set up in addition to his recently-announced $100 million campaign against US senators who deny climate change. (Blue and Green Tomorrow)
Fish stocks depleted in tropics as poorer nations feed themselves
A new global study has found that fishing in low-income countries with growing populations has led to severe depletion of fish numbers in the tropics. In those regions, fishing accounts for more than 40% of the wild marine catch. The study also found that much of the overfishing has occurred in Indonesia and China, up by 4.7 million and 3 million tonnes respectively in the 60 years to 2010. Many wild marine fisheries will not be able to increase production until effective management plans are put in place to rebuild the overfished stocks. “It is possible to have sustainably overfished stock, which just means that the fish population is not as abundant as it could be – so it is still possible to fish from that population, but just in smaller numbers than you could if better management was in place,” said Andrew Tobin, a senior research fellow at Australia’s James Cook University Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture. “The good news is that with proper management, we find fish populations can replenish relatively quickly.” (The Guardian)
COMMENTS