Congested and Polluted, Mexico City Embraces Carpooling

February 11, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Emilio Godoy

MEXICO CITY, Feb 08 (IPS) – In a megacity like the Mexican capital, plagued by air pollution and traffic jams, carsharing and carpooling initiatives offer obvious advantages in addition to the economic benefits enjoyed by users.

carpool_400Two of the most popular new initiatives of this kind are Aventones and Carrot, small companies founded by young recent university graduates.

Aventones takes its name from “aventón”, the Spanish word for hitching a lift. The company’s creation was spurred by “the excess of traffic and the inefficient use of cars,” in the Mexican capital, said Ignacio Cordero, a 28-year-old industrial engineer and graduate of the Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA), a Jesuit university in Mexico City.

“The idea is to promote a culture of shared car use,” he told IPS, which in this case is achieved through carpooling.

Cordero joined forces with Cristina Palacios, a business administration graduate from UIA, and Alberto Padilla, an industrial engineer trained at the Monterrey Institute of Technology, to create the company in 2010.

Their services are offered to “communities of trust” – companies, universities and government institutions – with an average of 200 or 250 people, who are matched up through an online system that searches for compatible routes, travel times and empty seats in cars. The service’s users not only share a vehicle – they also share the ride together.

The client organisation is charged a fee of 8,000 dollars a year, which includes training courses.

The software used was created by the company’s founders. It is currently utilised by 5,752 users and 27 clients – 23 in Mexico and four in Chile, where the company began operating in January.

Carpooling has become well established in countries like Germany, Spain, Canada and the United States, but is just beginning to catch on in Latin America. Similar services are being developed in Argentina, Chile and Brazil.

Carsharing is another means of multi-user car transport, popular in Germany, Spain, Canada and the United States and now offered by Carrot in Mexico, Zazcar in Brazil and SigoCar in Costa Rica.

“There is a growing trend of providing more options for getting around. This has a significant positive impact on the environment and fosters multi-modal transportation,” said industrial engineer Jimena Pardo, 28, a UIA graduate, who co-founded Carrot in 2012 with Diego Solórzano, a graduate in actuarial science from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico.

The company, which is affiliated with the international CarSharing Association, offers its clients 40 vehicles, including three electric cars, and has already attracted 1,600 users.

Clients register through a website and pay a fee in accordance with how frequently they need the use of a car, Pardo told IPS. Occasional users pay around 23 dollars annually and seven dollars an hour, plus 23 cents of a dollar for each kilometre travelled.

A frequent driver pays around eight dollars a month, five dollars an hour, and 23 cents per kilometre. Users can pick up a car at one station and leave it at another when they are finished.

According to Carrot, each one of its shared vehicles keeps 20 private cars off the roads.

These new means of transportation are one of the most visible forms of “collaborative consumption”, a movement aimed at increasing the use and shelf life of consumer goods and resources by promoting their use by numerous different people, reducing the time that they sit unused but continue to generate expenses.

These solutions are more than welcome in a city like the Mexican capital and its metropolitan area, which have a combined population of 20.4 million. According to the Centre for Sustainable Transport, the inhabitants of this megacity carry out a total of 49 million trips daily, 53 percent on public transport and 17 percent in private vehicles.

The Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley estimated that as of October 2012, carsharing was operating in 27 countries and five continents, with an estimated 1,788,000 members sharing over 43,550 vehicles, and was planned in seven additional countries worldwide.

The “Propuesta de sistema de vehículos compartidos basado en un sistema de información geográfica” (Proposal for a carsharing system based on a geographic information system), co-authored in 2011 by Luis Guadarrama, Daniel Santiesteban and Javier García at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, states that “the expected benefits of a carsharing system include a reduction in the use of individual vehicles and the number of these vehicles in circulation.”

“Our goal is for carsharing to become a habit, and for our service to be a social experience in every way,” said Cordero.

Aventones states that it has prevented the emission of 115 tons of carbon dioxide and saved 750,015 kilometres and 10,586 hours in car travel and 71,430 litres of gasoline.

Carsharing systems “can be replicated in medium-sized and large cities that have urban transportation, a high population density and a mix of residential and office areas,” said Pardo, whose company employs nine people and operates stations in the largest Mexico City neighbourhoods.

Both initiatives are self-financed and have ambitious plans for the future.

Aventones, which employs a staff of 10, hopes to begin operations this year in Bogotá and attract 25,000 new users, thanks to financing provided by its new partner, Venture Institute. Its software team is developing an open application based on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Carrot, which has also partnered up with Venture Institute, plans to begin operations in Toluca and Puebla, cities near the Mexican capital, raise its membership to between 3,000 and 5,000 users, expand its fleet to 100 vehicles, and open up more stations in different neighbourhoods of the city.

Both organisations also hope to forge closer ties with the leftist local government of Mexico City, which is promoting the Metrobús (a bus rapid transit system using dedicated lanes), a public bike sharing system, and an electric taxi programme in the city’s historic centre.

* This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the World Bank.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2013.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Environment, Latin America, Politics, Report Tagged With: ,

Caught Between Diarrhoea Bugs and Arsenic

May 18, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Naimul Haq

DHAKA, May 18, 2012 (IPS) – Achieving the Millennium Development Goal of providing access to safe drinking water for its 160 million people by 2015 is a tough call for Bangladesh, which is caught between arsenic contaminated groundwater and diarrhoea-causing microbes in its ponds and rivers.

Yet, with a programme of using simple hand pumps and involving the women in affected communities, Bangladesh has managed to ensure that 98 percent of its rural population now has access to safe drinking water.

"Despite widespread arsenic contamination, over 98 percent of the rural population now has access to safe drinking water," avers Mohammad Nuruzzaman, chief engineer of the department of public health (DPHE).

"All the 1.3 million hand-pumped tubewells we have installed for the rural population are arsenic-free. We are constantly monitoring them through regular testing in our 14 regional laboratories," Nuruzzaman told IPS.

Hand pumps access water that is closer to the surface and has had less time to absorb arsenic. Also, very deep tube wells that reach water 500 metres below ground level are usually safe because arsenic deposits at that depth are likely to have been depleted.

"Through constant monitoring, we are adapting and improving our approach, but UNICEF will never be happy until all water supply is made safe from arsenic," Pascal Villeneuve, representative for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Bangladesh, told IPS.

UNICEF has special reason to be anxious about arsenic in groundwater because the U.N. body was responsible for promoting Bangladesh’s tube well programme in the 1950s, which turned disastrous with the discovery of high arsenic contamination of groundwater in 1993.

"Currently, the Bangladesh government and UNICEF are partners in implementing the largest hygiene behaviour change programme in the world," Villeneuve said. "This will ultimately reach 30 million people and is already reaching 20 million."

Under this programme, arsenic mitigation is "mainstreamed," Villeneuve explained. "Communities are being equipped with knowledge and skills to avoid arsenic poisoning while some 20,000 arsenic-safe water points are to be installed, reaching over two million people in areas that are most affected."

Nurul Islam, project director of the programme, told IPS that the role of women is crucial. "The programme is mainly designed to empower women in 600 affected communities so that they can make decisions and demand the best options available."

S.M.A. Rashid, executive director of the NGO Forum for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation, told IPS: "We promote women’s participation in the arsenic mitigation project and build the capacities of women in affected communities so that the victims can decide how best to solve their problems."

Rainwater harvesting, sand filters, traditional dug wells and alternate tube wells are among range of options on offer with beneficiaries needing to pay just ten percent of the costs.

Groundwater arsenic was first discovered in 1993 in the northwestern district of Chaipainawabganj but the issue remained buried until 1996 when doctors from the Dhaka Community Hospital (DCH) joined scientists from the School of Environmental Studies (SOES), Jadavpur University, West Bengal, India, to go public.

Dipankar Chakraborti, research director at SOES, told IPS: "The government in Bangladesh had thought that sinking deep tube wells would solve its water problems, but 40 percent of the wells turned out to be contaminated with arsenic."

Chakraborti, who has been carrying out tests on hundreds of water samples sent to him from Bangladesh, said many tube wells in the country still show dangerous levels of contamination – though the magnitude of the problem is far less than initially thought.

Arsenic contamination of groundwater occurs in many parts of the world, including locations in India, Thailand, China, Argentina, Chile and the United States. But nowhere has the problem been as severe as in Bangladesh.

Arsenic contamination in Bangladesh was not officially acknowledged until the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF and the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine jointly conducted a series of tests in 1995.

The enormity of the problem emerged as water samples in parts of the country revealed arsenic at concentrations of 250 parts per billion (ppb), though this is mostly limited to underground layers between 10 and 150 metres. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deems concentrations exceeding 10 ppb to be toxic.

During the late 1950s, UNICEF, with the good intention of reducing infant mortality from surface water-borne diseases, introduced tube well technology. As deaths from diseases such as cholera and shigella declined, millions of tube wells sprang up across the country with disastrous consequences.

About 22 percent of all tube wells in the country are still arsenic contaminated, according to Mahmud Shamsul Gafur, who works for WHO which once described Bangladesh’s situation as the "largest mass poisoning of a population in history."

"From what we know there are 38,430 patients suffering from various degrees of arsenic poisoning," Gafur told IPS. "It is commendable that there is now a massive government-led awareness programme with the close involvement of women who are the worst sufferers."

Traditionally, in Bangladesh, fetching water is a woman’s chore. Since the advent of tube wells, women have also taken on the responsibility of their maintenance and repair.

Arsenic poisoning can – apart from severely damaging the circulatory and respiratory systems, and causing kidney, bladder and liver diseases – be disfiguring. Women who suffer from the typical skin lesions tend to shy away from public gaze.

Arati Karmaker, who lives in Dakobe village of Khulna district, and has skin lesions caused by arsenic in drinking water, says she is socially isolated. This mother of three always wears a full-sleeved blouse and uses a shawl to cover the disfigurement.

"I opted for a deep tube well which is safe and can be used by other affected families in my neighbourhood," she said.

Some experts say solving Bangladesh’s arsenic problem calls for a return to surface water, which is easily treated for microbes by boiling and does not call for the use of expensive filters. Concentrated arsenic sludge, the byproduct of filtration, presents another serious problem – that of safe disposal.

"If we do not return to using surface water quickly the problem could turn catastrophic," says Prof. Mahmudur Rahman at the DCH. "By drilling so many tube wells we disturbed the underground environment and put ourselves in this crisis."

But surface water sources in densely populated Bangladesh have been drying up and half of the country’s original 300 rivers have vanished. For now, the best option is still the simple hand-operated pump and constant vigil for arsenic contamination by women in the communities.

*With inputs from Sujoy Dhar in Kolkata

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Asia, Development, Environment, Featured, Health Tagged With: , ,

INDIA: Industrial Pollution Brings Crocodile Tears

December 7, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Malini Shankar

DANDELI, India, Dec 7, 2011 (IPS) – Industrial pollution from a paper manufacturing factory in one of India’s most precious biodiversity hotspots is wreaking havoc on the local ecology, driving up the population of wild crocodiles in the area while simultaneously destroying the creatures’ habitat and food supply.

The Kalinadi, a river that flows through the thick wet evergreen rainforests in the Western Ghats on India’s West coast, has become a receptacle of untreated effluents from the West Coast Paper Mills, attracting unnaturally high numbers of marsh crocodiles in a five kilometre stretch of river along the source of toxic industrial discharge.

Although the forestry department has failed to conduct a regular census of crocodiles in Dandeli, Sunil Pawar, the deputy conservator of forests in the Dandeli Anshi Tiger Reserve, estimates that at least 40- 60 crocodiles live in a stretch of river where hitherto there had been no more than 15.

"The presence of so many crocodiles in a relatively small stretch of the river is a bio indicator of the river’s pollution," T.V. Ramachandra, a limnologist, or fresh water scientist at the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the renowned Indian Institute of Science (IIS) in Bangalore, added.

While the scavenger reptiles appear to be thriving for the time being, the untreated industrial pollutants will soon poison the surrounding area, making it virtually uninhabitable for crocodiles and other wildlife.

"Crocodiles need an undisturbed, unpolluted aquatic habitat filled with plenty of prey including insects, fish, frogs, birds, rodents, reptiles and larger animals, most of which will either be killed or driven away by the poison," Rom Whitaker, India’s premier herpetologist at the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, told IPS.

K.L. Chandak, executive director of West Coast Paper Mills, defended the company’s actions, claiming, "We have adapted our paper manufacturing technology to substantially decrease effluents flowing into the river."

"This new treatment plant complies with standards stipulated by both the Central (federal) Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB)," he added.

But in sharp contradiction to this declaration, Manoharan, technical officer of the CPCB in Bangalore, told IPS, "The CPCB’s Environmental Surveillance Scheme stipulates random (industrial) testing for every quarter in each state; we have not conducted a study of the Kalinadi pollution in the last three to five years."

Indeed, investigations undertaken by IPS found pollutants including calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride, nitrate, sulphate and very high levels of biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the river, causing water pollution that endangers the entire food chain.

"Pollution of any water body is as bad for crocodiles as it is for aquatic flora and fauna and is ultimately highly detrimental to their long-term survival," Whitaker told IPS.

Imbalance of either numbers or habitat can also have deleterious effects on the sex ratio of these endangered reptiles.

Widespread pollution, rampant mismanagement

The West Coast Paper Mills is an example of India’s controversial industrial development model, which has long advocated anthropocentric approaches to development such as slashing forests, endangering wildlife and exhausting natural resources in the name of ‘employment opportunities’ for humans.

Deciduous and wet evergreen rainforests such as those in Dandeli were lacerated in the 1950s and 1960s to create Bamboo plantations for pulpwood, the raw material used for paper manufacturing. Now, although industries like the West Coast Paper Mills have shifted their reliance from bamboo to eucalyptus, they continue to occupy and pollute huge swathes of nature in order to remain close to freshwater supplies.

Meanwhile, not a single state official has come forward to clamp down on the ecocide unfolding across one of India’s few remaining biodiversity hotspots.

Despite ample evidence to the contrary, IPS obtained official documents claiming, "KSPCB’s biannual 2011 report states that effluent discharge has decreased; the BOD and COD indicators are showing a decrease thanks to improved methods of production and waste treatment."

The KSPCB has also approved the industry’s proposal to manufacture precipitated calcium chloride (PCC), which involves satellite tracking of pollution. This new system effectively renders field inspections by the pollution control board obsolete, allowing the state to abdicate all regulatory responsibilities.

Ramachandra dismissed the report, stressing, "The values expressed by the KSPCB neither reflect the conditions on the ground nor do they compare to our own standards. This is a report worthy of rejection."

The Kalinadi also winds its way through a recently declared tiger reserve, meriting the highest level of administrative protection but despite powerful laws like the 1986 Environmental Protection Act and the 1980 Forest Conservation Act, authorities have not relocated this toxic industry.

The rainforest is home to a huge array of wildlife including black panthers – endemic to the region – tigers, leopards, wild dogs, bear, pangolins, bats, Langur monkeys, the giant Malabar squirrel, jackals, gaur (Indian bison), a variety of deer, over 200 varieties of endemic birds, butterflies, scores of insects species, reptiles such as the king cobra, python, pit viper and monitor lizard, freshwater terrapins in the river, and further downstream, estuarine dolphins and fresh water otters as well as a vibrant and diverse community of fish – all of which are now under threat.

The paper industry has also put human communities at risk: people in Dandeli rely on the river for their most basic sanitary and nutritious needs and will be hard pressed to find alternative sources of fresh water if the river becomes too polluted for their daily use.

Meanwhile, the growing population of wild crocodiles has added another layer of danger to the locals’ already hazardous lives.

"Misguided youngsters seeking thrills have fallen to the depths of the river where hungry crocodiles hunt them," Kanak Bhat, a senior reporter who has covered the Dandeli for over four decades, told IPS.

If this threat continues, villagers with no alternative will end up massacring the endangered creatures.

Furthermore, when cattle fall into the river and are devoured by crocodiles, farmers get no compensation from the forest department.

On top of all of this, air pollution has kept ecotourists at bay, stripping scores of people who rely on the tourism industry for employment of a steady income.

By breeding in the pollution, crocodiles have effectively exposed not only the toxic pollutants in the environment but also the deadly cocktail of corrupt politics, ineffective state bureaucracy and industrialism, for which India’s wildlife is paying the price.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Asia, Economy, Environment, Featured Tagged With: ,

The Tale of Two Cleaned Up Asian Cities

November 23, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN

By Taro Ichikawa

IDN-InDepth NewsFeature

DALIAN (IDN) – The partner cities of Dalian in Northern China and Kitakyushu in Western Japan have distinguished themselves as dedicated proponents of pollution control and clean environment. Back in the 1960s and 1970s the two cities were severely polluted by heavy industry and smokescreens. Now they are working together to mitigate global climate change in the interest of sustainable development.

It was not surprising therefore that the city of Dalian, which hosted the World Economic Forum’s ‘Annual meetings of New Champions’ in 2007, 2009 and 2011, organized the first Low Carbon Earth Summit (LCES) from October 19 to 26, 2011.

The Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as ‘Summer Davos’, is the foremost global business gathering in Asia, Introduced in 2007 in close collaboration with China and with the personal support of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

The eight-day conference in Dalian with the theme titled ‘Leading the Green Economy, Returning to Harmony with Nature’ was arranged by the Information and Research Centre of China’s State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. It attracted more than 4,000 experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials, according to the organisers. Nearly half of them came from 57 countries and regions such as the U.S., Canada, Germany, India and Japan.

The significance of the summit lies in the fact that the need for "low carbon economy" is widely recognized particularly since the 2009 UN climate change conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen. The conference covered multitude of climate change issues involving both public and private sectors, and offered a universal platform of scientific and technical communication for decision makers, researchers, industrial participants, business leaders and beyond.

Expressing the sentiments of several participants, J.C. Kala, Director General of the prestigious Amity Institute of Global Warming and Ecological Studies (AIGWES), told IDN that the summit was important because as Mahatma Gandhi said: "Nature provides everyone for his needs but not for greed."

Green Eco Project

Aware of the history of environmental cooperation between Japan and China, General Manager and Director of the Department of Environment of the Tokyo Trucking Association (TTA), Keiji Endo, presented the Green Eco Project, which appears to be of relevance to China and other countries. TTA is presided over by Kazuo Ohtaka.

The project has four key aspects: sustainability; reasonable costs; accuracy of data collected; and, above all, the activities should be such that drivers are kept motivated. An important plank of the project is Green-Eco-driving education. Good drivers are given recognition as a means of motivation. Managers are involved in the project on an equal footing, and have the possibility to take part in seminars seven times a year, Endo told summit participants.

He reported that the project had made great strides: member participation has been on the rise every year. By July 2011, over 530 companies and more than 12,214 vehicles participated in the Green Eco project.

In addition, fuel consumption was reduced over the past four years – the fuel saved was equivalent to what would have been used by 546 large-sized tank trucks. The savings were worth about US$14.4 million or about 10 million Euros.

The reduction of fuel consumed implied a reduction in 22,888 tons CO2 emissions or equivalent to 1,635,000 cedar trees forested. Also the number of traffic accidents declined by 40 percent over a period of four years.

"We can say that this Project has made a great achievement not only in terms of national economy but also of the society as a whole," Endo said, adding that the next step would be to benchmark fuel efficiency database for each type of vehicle.

"In Japan, we have many advanced devices to support the practice of Eco-driving, such as Digital Taco-graph or Drive recorders," he said.

However, the Green Eco Project neither requires huge financial investment nor hi-tech. All that it needs is a piece of paper called Driving Management Sheet, and a pen to start with – and all this to protect the environment, reduce fuel costs, bring about a decrease in the number of traffic accidents and foster better communication among company co-workers.

"Gathering accurate data is critical to making good policy decisions," Murtaza Ziauddin, Advisor, Matrix Stimulation, Schlumberger Pressure Pumping & Chemistry told IDN. "However, it is extremely difficult to get representative data. Many times the process is unnecessarily complex and few people participate. The elegance of Mr Endo’s work is that it is simple and yet extremely effective. It allows collection of representative data and also has the right incentives for the participants. It creates a win-win situation for all involved," Ziauddin added.

"Considering that this project can be implemented with pens and papers without utilizing expensive instruments, I think that it can be put into practice in China and other countries too," Hiroshi Maji, President of Japan’s ASUA Corporation, told IDN.

"As Mr Endo pointed out in his presentation," Maji added, "even though Green Eco Project is a tiny initiative, once undertaken by great many people, it can have an enormous impact on environment."

Sino-Japan Environmental Cooperation

Maji, a native from Kitakyushu City, said the City of Dalian was rightly chosen as the venue of the Low Carbon Earth Summit. The city once served as headquarters of the South Manchuria Railway Company (from 1906 till Japan’s defeat in WWII in 1945) and it has a long history of exchange with the city of Kitakyushu through the port of Moji. On the other hand, Dalian and the surrounding area carry footprints of Sino-Japanese history of the 20th century, particularly from a perspective of history of war.

According to a background paper on Sino-Japan environmental cooperation, Dalian became a sister city of Kitakyushu in May 1979. Since then, Dalian Environmental Protection Bureau on the one hand and Kitakyushu Environmental Protection Bureau and KITA (Kitakyushu International Training Association) on the other have been involved in frequent exchanges. Environmental protection trainees from Dalian return home "with greatly enhanced awareness in environmental protection, technical level and management experience," the document states.

Japan’s Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto visited China in 1997 to commemorate 25th anniversary of normalization of relations between China and Japan and proposed choosing one or two cities in China for conceptualization of building a "model city" for Sino-Japan cooperation in environmental protection.

The proposal was backed by Prime Minister Li Peng. Through Dalian’s efforts and Kitakyushu’s support, Dalian was finally listed as one of cities for this program, says the document.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) supported the development of ‘Dalian Environmental Model Area’ between 1996 and 2000. Experts from China and Japan deliberated Dalian Environmental Model Area Development Investigation Report, which drew a grand blueprint for Dalian’s environmental protection work in future.

The "model city" program has not only helped clean Dalian’s environment but, as the document points out, also benefited enterprises engaged in environmental protection.

What provides additional dimension to partnership is that midway between Tokyo and Shanghai, Kitakyushu is the most advanced city in Japan with regard to pollution control and recycling technology. In fact, it calls itself the "world capital of sustainable development".

In the 1960s it saw the birth of environmental protests in Japan, led by a group of housewives in Sanroku-cho, Tobata ward, who were concerned that their washing always became dirty while drying on the lines. Now Kitakyushu advises sister cities such as Dalian on water purification.

In 1992, Kitakyushu was one of twelve world cities given a Local Government Honours Award at the UN Earth Summit in Brazil to pay a tribute to its environmental programs. Within Japan it is a leading city in anti-pollution measures and recycling with the Ecotown facility in Wakamatsu ward.

Kitakyushu is home to the West Japan Industry and Trade Convention Association, with Kitakyushu International Conference Center and the West Japan General Exhibition Center. It is actively engaged in organising and hosting international conferences particularly on environment and education. A theme park called Space World is situated in Yahata-Higashi ward. JICA runs a training centre (JICA Kyushu International Center) there.

The ‘Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’ (OECD) introduced Kitakyushu’s improved environment to the world as the example of city transformed from a ‘Gray city’ to a ‘Green city’. Thanks due to Kitakyushu’s support, UN Environment Programme awarded Dalian the UNEP ‘Global 500 Award’ in 2001.

- This is the 10th in a series of special IDN-InDepthNews features on ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’. Previous articles are available as compilation, which can be downloaded here. [IDN-InDepthNews – November 22, 2011]

Copyright © 2011 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters

This article should not be republished or redistributed without the permission of the original author or copyright holder.


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Pollution Rising Fast in China’s Seas

June 20, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Mitch Moxley

BEIJING, Jun 20, 2011 (IPS) – Rapid economic growth in China’s coastal regions has resulted in serious levels of ocean pollution, damaging marine life and posing a threat to humans. As much as half of China’s offshore areas are considered polluted.

Roughly 48,000 square kilometres of China’s oceanic territory is seriously polluted, an increase of 18,300 square kilometres from last year, according to a report by the State Oceanic Administration of China (SOA). Of the 18 ecological zones monitored by the SOA, 14 were found to have unhealthy levels of pollution.

After 30 years of explosive economic growth, China last year overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy. While that growth has improved lives for tens of millions, it has also left China as one of the most polluted countries in the world, from sky to sea.

Booming coastal centres are dumping a growing amount of industrial and domestic waste at sea. About 147,000 square kilometres of China’s coastal waters failed to meet standards for "clear water" in 2009, a 7.3 percent increase from the year before, the SOA reported last year.

The new report, called the 2010 China Marine Environment Bulletin, found that 86 percent of China’s estuaries, bays, wetlands, coral reefs and seaweed beds were below what the SOA considers "healthy".

China has up to five million hectares of estuaries and coastal wetlands, both of which are important ecosystems. Since the 1990s, land reclamation and dam building has threatened these areas. Coastal wetlands are disappearing at a rate of 20,000 hectares a year, and 337 of 457 discharge outlets in China’s estuary areas were found to have excessive levels of pollution, according to a 2009 report by the SOA.

In 2008, China had 13,380 square kilometres of reclaimed land, up from 8,241 square kilometres in 1990s, a Legal Daily story said last month.

Rapidly rising levels of oil, pesticides and other harmful pollutants are contaminating the country’s marine life, including the shellfish supply, according to state media reports last year. Shellfish in offshore areas were found to contain "excessive harmful chemicals" such as lead, cadmium and the insecticide DDT. Levels of lead detected in shellfish were 50 percent above normal, while cadmium and DDT levels were about 40 percent higher.

Lead can cause damage to the human nervous system and cause blood and brain disorders if consumed in unsafe amounts. The World Health Organisation considers DDT a "moderately hazardous" pesticide.

Last year China’s coastal waters suffered 68 "red tides", or algae blooms, caused by excessive sewage in the water, affecting 14,700 square kilometres, 3.4 times the area affected in the 1990s, according to the report. "Algae bloom seriously threatens fishing resources," Yu Rencheng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Oceanology tells IPS. Severely polluted areas include the northern Yellow Sea, Liaodong Bay, Bohai Bay, Laizhou Bay, the Yangtze River estuary, Hangzhou Bay and the Pearl River estuary. Pollutants exceeding normal levels include inorganic nitrogen, reactive phosphate and oil. According to the SOA report, 50 percent of China’s offshore areas were facing problems with pollution, and 48,000 square kilometres did not meet Grade IV standards – meaning they were seriously polluted. Dangerous levels of pollution are generally found near areas experiencing rapid economic growth, Yu explains. The main causes of coastal pollution include the discharge of untreated sewage, the discharge of industrial and residential wastewater, and spillage resulting from shipping and marine accidents.

Between 1998 and 2008, there were 733 shipping accidents in China’s ocean jurisdiction, which led to massive economic and environmental losses, according to government figures. In the 1990s the government tried to curb pollution in China’s major rivers, which drain into the ocean. Along with national laws, local and provincial level governments have been encouraged to implement their own laws and regulations to prevent and control water pollution in small and medium-sized bodies of water, Yu says. In 2009, China’s State Council issued regulations to curb marine pollution caused by shipping. The regulation, which included 78 new rules that came into effect in 2010, called on transportation departments under the state council to develop emergency plans to deal with pollution caused by shipping.

Government officials have admitted there is still a long way to go in tackling the problem of marine pollution.

"Our environmental quality is only improving in certain areas, but overall the environment is still deteriorating," Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Zhang Lijun told state media.

Lan Hongyan, an expert on marine environment at Hebei Normal University, says a large part of the problem is an uncoordinated approach to tackling ocean pollution. Several different government bodies – including the State Oceanic Administration, the Marine Safety Administration and other national and provincial departments – all oversee different aspects of regulating ocean pollution.

"We don’t have a powerful and coordinated system, which impacts law enforcement," Lan tells IPS. (

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Asia, Environment, Health, Report Tagged With: , ,

Study: Regulating Dangerous Chemicals Does Not Cost Jobs

May 23, 2011 by

The Real News Network
May 18, 2011

James Heintz: Under current law, thousands of dangerous industrial chemicals are effectively unregulated


More at The Real News


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ENVIRONMENT: Military Debris Threaten Oceans

April 14, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Malini Shankar

BANGALORE, Apr 14, 2011 (IPS) – Military debris dumped into the world’s oceans are hazardous to coral ecosystems, reefs, fish and marine wildlife, say experts, who also warn – in light of the recent tragedy in Japan – that earthquakes and tsunamis could disturb this debris and even wash it ashore.

"The tsunami from the Japan earthquake increased the likelihood of sea dumped conventional and chemical weapons washing ashore as they rest at a shallow depth of 200 metres in Choshi Bay of Chiba Prefecture in Japan," said Ryo Sato, marine researcher at Global Green, the U.S. affiliate of the NGO Green Cross International.

The Baltic Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Pacific Ocean are hotspots.

In the Philippines "Coron, Subic Bay and Leyte Gulf have the highest density of planes and ships sunk during the Second World War, and numerous shipwrecks and airplanes litter the seafloor in the reefs," according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Philippines.

"The U.S. Army dumped over 8,000 tonnes of chemical weapons off Hawaii," said Paul Walker, director of Global Green, at the recently concluded Fifth U.N. International Marine Debris Clearance conference in Hawaii. Around 300,000 tonnes of chemical warfare agents were dumped in oceans from 1946 to 1965. Upwards of 400,000 gas filled-bombs and rockets float in U.S. waters. 40,000 tonnes of Conventional Weapons (CW) are in the Baltic Sea. 21,000 tonnes of CW agents float in Australian waters, and more than 6,600 tonnes off the coast of Japan.

"Marine debris… adversely impacts marine life, destroys habitat and entangles food for marine organisms and seabirds," says Finn Longinotto, senior programme fellow at Global Green.

France conducted 137 undersea nuclear tests between 1975 and 1996 in French Polynesia creating an artificial crater 140 metres in diameter – disturbing one million cubic metres of coral and sand. The explosions injected nuclear material into the carbonate rocks that will be released gradually into the ocean. Earthquakes and undersea landslides will intensify release of the radioactive material, affecting seafood, ocean currents, and rain bearing clouds around the whole planet in the long term.

Residual nuclear material is negligible according to a study initiated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the behest of the France in 1998.

According to a study undertaken by the University of Florida, missiles, torpedoes, and submarines emit sonar waves leaving cetaceans like dolphins, dugongs and whales hearing impaired – affecting their hunting ability, group communication, migration patterns, and mating behaviour.

India’s armed forces have also destroyed fragile marine habitat and coral ecosystems. In the Bay of Bengal, India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducts missile tests in the middle of a turtle-nesting site within the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary.

"DRDO is not supposed to carry out missile testing during the turtle nesting season. However, they flout this rule despite regular forest department objections," charges Biswajit Mohanty, of the Wildlife Society of Orissa.

"In one recent incident, the missile misfired, resulting in the destruction of the turtle nesting habitat in Nasi Island inside the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary – a breeding ground for olive ridley turtles. The vibration coming from missile launches being almost equal to seismic intensity can have an impact on the fragile eggs, we still don’t know scientifically what happens as an impact on the eggs," Mohanty told IPS. "The DRDO is insensitive that the state’s unique natural heritage – olive ridley turtles – might abandon the nesting grounds if the missile activity disturbs them."

The DRDO "have not disclosed the nature of debris littered in the sea," Mohanty added.

The government response: "DRDO takes due care to avoid any adverse effect on eco-system while planning and conducting missile tests from DRDO ranges. The launching pad has been designed in such a manner that it does not affect the fauna and flora of that area or cause any adverse effect on the environment."

"The flares emanating from missile launch heat the habitat, and disorient the turtles and hatchlings especially when they head to the sea," says a concerned Mohanty.

The DRDO however told IPS that, "All illuminated lights are placed in inverted position with shades and flames coming out of missiles lasting less than a minute, which do not affect the nesting of olive ridley turtles."

The Indian Navy has also chosen the coral island of Netrani on India’s west coast for "target practice," V. N. Nayak, marine biologist at the post graduate centre of Karnatak University in Karwar told IPS. "Netrani Island is home to diverse fauna, enlisted both in the IUCN [International Union for Conservation of Nature] Red Data List and the Indian Wildlife Protection Act’s Schedule One."

Naval exercises are a dire threat to the ecosystem, Nayak said. The large number of bullets, bombs, missiles and torpedoes fired at the endemic wildlife of the island and the seas cause mass mortality of fish and corals in this ecosystem. "Target practice on endangered wildlife is irresponsible," he stressed. "Netrani Island is located under the Coastal Regulatory Zone 4 and fishing zone."

Netrani Island’s fauna includes the white bellied sea eagle, corals, coral fish, whale shark, tiger shark, giant groupers, giant clam, dolphins, sea snakes, crustaceans, reef sharks, stingrays, squid, sea cucumbers olive ridley turtles, jelly fish, sea urchins, killer whales and edible nest swiftlets. The island is the only place outside of the Andaman Nicobar Islands where edible nest swiftlets live.

"Naval firing practices are periodically conducted on a 16-metre barren rock, located close to Netrani Island," the Indian Navy told IPS. "Such firing practices have been conducted for the last six decades." With chances of an outbreak of hostilities stemming from the terrorist attacks in Mumbai "the necessity for the Indian Armed Forces to remain combat-ready… at all times can hardly be over-emphasised. It is precisely this realisation that has already led the Karnataka Biodiversity Board to drop the proposal to consider Netrani Island a Biodiversity Park."

"Who is the enemy for the Indian Navy to bombard unarmed wildlife?" asks K. S. N. Cikkerur, the additional director general of the police forest cell of Karnataka, in Bangalore. Is the enemy the rare "Schedule One species listed in the Wildlife Protection Act?" Cikkerur wonders.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Environment, Report Tagged With: ,

Plastic Particles Circulating Endlessly in World’s Oceans

March 24, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Stephen Leahy

HONOLULU, Hawaii, U.S., Mar 24, 2011 (IPS) – That plastic bottle or plastic take-away coffee lid that has 20 minutes of use can spend decades killing countless seabirds, marine animals and fish, experts reported here this week.

On remote Pacific island atolls, diligent albatross parents unknowingly fill their chicks’ bellies with bits of plastic that resemble food. The chicks die of malnutrition, and when their bodies decay all those plastic bottle tops, disposable lighters, and the ubiquitous bits of plastic detritus get back into the environment in a cruel perversion of ‘recycling’.

There is now so much plastic in the oceans it is likely that virtually every seabird has plastic in its belly if its feeding habits mean it mistakes plastic bits for food. The same is true for sea turtles, marine animals or fish, experts say.

Northern fulmars, a common seabird numbering in the millions, have a collective 45 tonnes worth of plastic bits in their bellies, estimates Jan Andries van Franeker, a biologist with the Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies at the University of Wageningen in Holland.

At least 95 percent of fulmars in the North Sea where van Franeker has been working for three decades have one to several dozen bits of plastic in their stomachs. The same is true for related species like the tiny Wilson’s storm petrels, which unknowingly transport an estimated 35 tonnes of plastic from their wintering grounds in the North Atlantic to breeding grounds in the Antarctic, he says.

"If a seabird’s feeding habits mean it could mistake plastic for food, then it will likely have plastic in its stomach," he said in an interview at the weeklong Fifth International Marine Debris Conference, which ends Friday in Honolulu, Hawaii.

It has been 10 years since the last international marine debris conference and the hope is that industry, civil society, researchers and policy makers will find common ground on the strategies and best practices to assess, reduce, and prevent the impacts of marine debris.

"I sometimes have this kind of dream or nightmare where those fulmars drop all of that plastic on an audience in big conference room like this," van Franeker told IPS. "It would make a very clear statement."

It is a statement that needs to be made with the escalating problem of the world’s oceans being filled a staggering amount of plastic, fishing gear, and all other kinds of debris. There is no accurate accounting of exactly how much but it appears to be in the tens of millions of tonnes each year and is mostly from land-based sources.

A 2006 United Nations Environment Programme estimate suggested every square kilometere of world’s ocean has an average of 13,000 pieces of plastic litter floating on the surface. A walk on an ocean shoreline anywhere in the world will provide ample evidence of the scale of the problem – unless it was recently cleaned up.

The Ocean Conservancy, a U.S.-based NGO, has been leading beach and shoreline cleanups around the world for 25 years. Over that time, nearly nine million volunteers in 152 countries have cleaned up and catalogued 66 million kilogrammes of trash, according a new report released here in Honolulu.

The top three trash items collected by number of items found were cigarette butts, food packaging and bottle caps or lids. Plastic bags, bottles and straws or stirrers also made the top 10.

"People don’t realise that the cumulative impact of marine debris is a major issue for the oceans," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

UNEP and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are conference co-sponsors. (Full disclosure: UNEP provided travel funding for IPS to attend the conference).

Steiner said marine debris is an "out of sight, out of mind" type of problem but noted there was new science showing that tiny plastic particles called microplastics may be leaching endocrine disruptor chemicals. affecting the health of marine species and possibly humans.

"We need to become less reliant on plastics," he told conference participants in a video statement.

About 260 million tonnes of new plastic is made each year. Plastic does not really biodegrade, it only breaks down into smaller pieces until it is microscopic – microplastic particles – that can remain in the environment for hundreds of years.

In 1950, just five million tonnes of plastic was manufactured globally. Today each person in developed countries uses about 100 kgs of plastic annually while less developed use 20 kgs and that number is growing rapidly.

Steiner said policies like South Korea’s mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility System (EPR) are not only part of the solution but a new source of jobs and income. The EPR system requires manufacturers and importers to recycle a certain amount of their products. In the five years since the programme’s launch in Korea, six million tonnes of waste has been recycled, including 70,000 tonnes of plastic, producing a financial benefit of over 1.6 billion dollars.

Keeping plastic trash out of the ocean is as simple as setting up a mandatory deposit system with a high enough value on anything plastic to ensure it is too valuable to throw away, says van Franeker. Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries all have deposit systems for plastic bottles and recycling rates are better than 95 percent as a result.

"Degradable or compostable plastic should be banned. The bio-plastics have as much plastic as those made from oil," he said.

The so-called degradable bio-plastics simply break down into microplastic particles faster than traditional plastics. "We might not be able to see them with our eyes but the plastic is still there," he added.

The industry pushes degradable and compostable plastics so that one-time short term use of plastic can continue, he said. "One time use of plastic is simply unsustainable."

Van Franeker is not anti-plastic. "It is a wonderful material. Real plastic is valuable. It can be made to be safe and reuseable."

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Environment, Health, Report Tagged With: , ,

ENVIRONMENT: Dioxin Levels Soar on Icelandic Farms

February 26, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS,

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK, Feb 26, 2011 (IPS) – In the northwestern Icelandic town of Isafjordur, milk is causing pandemonium. A local milk marketing board recently tested one farm’s milk for the presence of harmful chemicals. Dioxin, and dioxin-like compounds, were found to be present in amounts higher than the recommended maximum levels, threatening the future of local farmers, and angering residents.

Dioxins are highly toxic compounds produced as a byproduct in some manufacturing processes, notably herbicide production and paper bleaching. They are a serious and persistent environmental pollutant.

The milk that was tested came from a farm called Efri-Engidalur, located in a valley only 1.5 kilometres from a waste-burning incinerator that was closed by the authorities last year due to consistently high levels of pollutants.

"Usually, measurements are done by the authorities, but we decided to test for dioxin because we were concerned about the incinerator," said Einar Sigurdsson, of MS Iceland Dairies.

As a result of the findings, the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (IFVA) decided to test samples of milk, meat, and hay from several farms in the surrounding area.

The findings revealed increased levels of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds in the majority of the samples. Dioxin-like compounds are polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly known as dioxin-like PCBs, which behave like dioxin, so are generally classified with it in terms of toxicity.

In 2007, the Environment Agency of Iceland (EAI) measured emissions from waste incinerators. According to regulations of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, maximum emission levels of dioxin should not exceed 0.1 ng/m3.

"The emission levels are measured per cubic metre in the exhaust from the incinerator rather than total emissions. As a result, an incinerator that burns more waste but has a lower emission measurement can emit more dioxin," explains Sigridur Kristjansdottir from the EAI.

However, in 2007, emission levels in Isafjordur were 21 times the maximum EC regulation level.

In addition, concern has arisen in the small town of Kirkjubaejarklaustur, in South Iceland, where dioxin levels were recorded at 95 times the maximum exposure level in 2007. And in Vestmannaeyjar, an island just off South Iceland, the dioxin level was 84 times the maximum exposure standard.

In all three cases, the results were sent to the Ministry for the Environment but were not released publicly.

In Kirkjubaejarklaustur, the waste incinerator is located in the same complex as the local school, sports centre, swimming pool, and music school. The original plan had been to use the waste heat from the incinerator to heat the surrounding buildings.

When the dioxin level was revealed, local residents became angry and demanded that the plant not operate while children were at school. One parent, civil engineer Oddur Bjarni Thorarensen, took his children out of the school.

But, according to Kristjansdottir from the EAI, "in the environmental impact assessment for the plant, the pollution dispersal forecast indicated that maximum pollution levels would be expected to occur at a distance of about 150 metres from the plant (relative to open areas)."

"This assessment was one of the items produced to justify that pollution levels would not be expected to be high in the immediate vicinity of the incinerator," says Kristjansdottir.

The Infectious Disease Control division of the Directorate of Health has decided to monitor residents of Isafjordur, Kirkjubaejarklaustur, and Vestmannaeyjar for the presence of dioxin.

"It is possible to scan for possible dioxin by testing hair for lead. A positive test indicates that dioxin may be present," says Gudrun Sigmundsdottir, head of the department.

Steingrimur Jonsson, the farmer from Efri-Engidalur, says that no one has come yet to take samples from him. He and his family have regularly been consuming milk and meat from their 20 cows and 80 sheep.

"But since dioxin was found in the milk, we have stopped eating our produce," he said.

Dioxin is an accumulative toxin and is not considered to be particularly toxic to humans unless a lot of produce containing it is consumed – as could well be the case for farmers, who tend to eat a lot of home-produced food.

But, if dioxin levels were too high in 2007 at three plants, when did the dioxin pollution begin? And what will this mean for the future of Iceland’s livestock industry?

"They can tell how long the pollution has been going on by taking soil samples, which they have done. But it’s a slow process," says Jonsson.

He sees no future for livestock in his area. "Not if the milk and meat cannot be sold," he told IPS.

Last year, 384 sheep were slaughtered near Isafjordur. These yielded about 6.5 tonnes of meat, of which almost five tonnes were sold overseas to the UK and Spain. Because the meat had not been tested for dioxin, all of the lamb has since been recalled as a precautionary measure.

Ironically, in the lead-up to the 1992 Rio conference on Agenda 21, it was Iceland that originally suggested that international controls be implemented to measure the release of persistent organic pollutants (POPS), including dioxin, and their impact on the environment.

But, as secretary general of the environment ministry Magnus Johannesson told IPS, "there was little enthusiasm for this on the international level."

The POPS Convention was eventually agreed in Stockholm in 2001, while regulation on the release of pollutants from waste-burning incinerators began in the EC in 2003. Operators of incinerators were given five years to conform to the new regulations.

However, "because the four waste-burning incinerators that were operating according to old licences had so little throughput, the EC agreed that these plants did not have to improve their technology while they were operating," says Johannesson.

The four plants include the now-closed incinerator near Isafjordur, the plants at Kirkjubaejarklaustur and Vestmannaeyjar, and a plant at Svinafell that was not measured for dioxin in 2007. The latter is used mostly in summer for burning tourist waste.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Environment, Europe, Health, Report Tagged With: ,

Q&A: "The Verdict Against Chevron Is Enforceable, Because It Is Just"

February 23, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Gonzalo Ortiz interviews JUAN PABLO SÁENZ, prosecuting attorney in Chevron case *

QUITO, Feb 23, 2011 (Tierramérica) – On Feb. 14, a provincial Ecuadorean court issued the harshest environmental verdict in history against a major oil company, the U.S.-based Chevron. But is there any chance it will be carried out?

"We wouldn’t keep working on this if we didn’t think success was possible. On a scale of one to 10, it’s a 10," the youngest of the litigant attorneys, Juan Pablo Sáenz, told Tierramérica in an interview.

It is the environmental trial of the century. The ruling of the court of first instance orders Chevron to pay 9.5 billion dollars to pay for the damage to human health and the environment in an Amazon forest area of northeast Ecuador, in the provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana. That is where oil exploration and drilling operations took place for 26 years under Chevron or Texaco, which Chevron acquire in 2001.

At the time that this Tierramérica edition was published, the company had presented a request for clarification and an extension of the ruling, which in practice freezes the 72-hour deadline the parties have to appeal once the verdict is issued.

When the legal battle began in 1993, Juan Pablo Sáenz was just finishing primary school. Now, at age 29, he is part of the legal team that has tallied a major win. He joined them four years ago after winning a contest as he finished his legal studies.

Q: On a scale of one to 10, what would you say are the chances of the ruling being enforced?

A: We wouldn’t keep working on this if we didn’t think the chance was a 10. Many people said that this was never going to succeed, that an Ecuadorean court would never rule against a big transnational corporation.

But we have several options and we have the advice of a U.S. law office, Patton Boggs LLP, which is an expert in enforcing this type of sentence. We are absolutely convinced that this can be carried out because it is just.

Q: The reality is that justice does not always win, especially when there are such powerful interests on one side.

A: Of course, but we have to believe in miracles. What differentiates us from similar cases is that we are working directly with the communities.

We are dedicated, in the end, to following the decisions that they make, and that gives us strength. As Pablo Fajardo (coordinator of the legal team) said, this is a matter of principles. And even if it takes many, many years, I am sure that we — and I am speaking not just for the attorneys, but especially for the communities — are going to last much longer than our opponents.

Q: It’s clear that the lawsuit did not seek money to distribute to people, and the sentence states that the fines should go to specific rubrics of environmental remediation and health care, and that these resources will be managed by a trusteeship. How many potential beneficiaries are there?

A: All of the residents of Orellana and Sucumbíos provinces. A few years ago they talked about 30,000 people. They are directly affected because they live in areas neighbouring petroleum zones. But according to the latest census, we would be talking about around 223,000 people in the two provinces.

Q: How many plaintiffs were there?

A: The people who signed the lawsuit, and who have continued with admirable tenacity, are not going to receive any money. This is a collective lawsuit, meaning that it was done in the name of all who live in the area. It is an undefined but identifiable group.

Q: How do you take legal action against Chevron outside the United States to ensure that the sentence is carried out, given that the company has not operated in Ecuador for years? What countries are you considering?

A: There is the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, of which Ecuador is a signatory. The easiest would be to look for enforcement in a country that is also a signatory of the treaty, because the process would be faster, but we could focus on any country where Chevron has oil platforms, ships, any type of goods, and seek their embargo until Chevron recognises its obligations.

Q: Do you have a country in mind?

A: We have a list of countries, but it would be premature now because it is obvious that they are going to file all possible appeals in the case, and there still are a few higher instances.

Q: The first is before the full court of Sucumbíos. Then, if Chevron continues filing appeals, it would have to take the case to the National Court of Justice for cassation, right?

A: Yes, but cassation is a much more limited type of appeal because the deeper issue would not be discussed, but rather three or four specific considerations. The timing would be accelerated because it is a summary verbal judgment for which the law gives judges shorter deadlines.

Q: So a one-year deadline is reasonable?

A: Yes. The first appeal should not take longer than six months, because new evidence is presented; it is simply judged based on what exists in the writs.

Q: What is your view of the appeals Chevron filed before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, based in The Hague, and in a New York court to prevent the sentence from being enforced?

A: They are suing Ecuador and are trying to re-litigate the whole matter as if the Ecuadorean government were party to it, and it isn’t. It is hard to imagine that the arbitration court of The Hague would ask the Ecuadorean government to interfere in the judiciary’s operations. It is ridiculous to think that.

The court of The Hague cannot prejudge the rulings made by courts in Ecuador, which are independent, and much less tell the government not to respect the judicial rulings.

The cases in New York and The Hague have no chance of interfering in the enforcement of the sentence. There is no supranational forum in which we are going to confront Chevron.

Q: And when the moment comes to enforce the ruling?

A: When we request injunctions against Chevron, any judge or court will review whether certain basic requirements were followed: that nobody has been deprived of the right to a defence, that due process was followed, but nothing more.

Q: But Chevron is already taking action in other ways…

A: What it is doing is lobbying against Ecuador, for example, trying to prevent the renewal of preferential tariffs. It wants the Ecuadorean government to interfere in due process. Chevron has spent millions of dollars over the past few years to drive a wedge between the U.S. government and Ecuador. They have no interest in this being heard in court: they have no arguments.

(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.)

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Energy, Environment, Interview, Latin America Tagged With: , , ,
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