OTTAWA (Reuters) - A deal by 191 nations to eliminate ozone-depleting substances 10 years ahead of schedule is a "pivotal moment" in the fight against global warming, Canadian Environment Minister John Baird said on Saturday.
Delegates at a U.N. conference in Montreal struck the deal late on Friday. The agreement will phase out production and use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) for developed countries to 2020 from 2030 and to 2030 from 2040 for developing nations.
The sun shines over outrigger paddlers practicing on the North Shore of the island of Oahu, in Haleiwa, Hawaii, June 15, 2006. A deal by 191 nations to eliminate ozone-depleting substances 10 years ahead of schedule is a "pivotal moment" in the fight against global warming, Canada's environment minister said on Saturday. (REUTERS/Lucy Pemoni)
Baird singled out China -- which produces the majority of HCFCs -- for praise. When the talks began on Monday, delegates said Beijing's role would be pivotal.
Washington says the faster phase-out of HCFCs will be twice as effective as the Kyoto protocol in fighting climate change. The United States walked away from the protocol in 2001 and Canada says it cannot meet its Kyoto targets.
"It (the deal) ... will stand out as a pivotal moment in the international fight against global warming," Baird told a televised news conference in Montreal.
Baird said the fact that India, the United States and China -- major countries not bound by firm Kyoto targets -- had signed the deal was a promising sign ahead of talks designed to produce a climate change accord after 2012.
The U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) conference in Montreal marked the 20th anniversary of the Montreal protocol, which was designed to cut the use and output of chemicals found to harm the ozone layer.
Damage to the layer protecting the Earth from ultraviolet radiation has been linked to an increased risk of cancers and cataracts among humans. HCFCs are used in air conditioners and refrigerators.
'GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY'
"Governments had a golden opportunity to deal with the twin challenges of climate change and protecting the ozone layer and governments took it," Achim Steiner, UNEP's executive director, said in a statement.
"The precise and final savings in terms of greenhouse gas emissions could amount to several billions of tonnes," he said.
Under the terms of the deal, all governments agreed to freeze HCFC production by 2013 compared to average production levels in 2009 and 2010.
Developed nations agreed to cut production and consumption by 75 percent by 2010 and by 90 percent by 2015 on the way to a full phase-out by 2020.
Developing nations committed to a 10-percent cut in production and consumption by 2015, a 35-percent cut by 2020, a 67.5-percent reduction by 2025 and a phase-out by 2030.
UNEP said that delegates had agreed to find enough money to provide financial and technical help to developing nations, but gave no details. The United States said before the talks that finding enough aid to satisfy China would be crucial.
Baird told Reuters that he had been "stunned and really pleased" by what he called China's huge contribution during the talks. He also praised Washington's role.
UNEP said it has spent $2 billion U.S. since 1987 on helping developing nations curb the use and production of ozone-damaging substances.
A study group will now look into how much the accelerated elimination is likely to cost and is set to issue a report early next year.
Memaparkan catatan dengan label Mohd Saufy Zulfadly Bin Ruzailee. Papar semua catatan
Memaparkan catatan dengan label Mohd Saufy Zulfadly Bin Ruzailee. Papar semua catatan
Ahad, 23 September 2007
CDC Has Ample Supply of Flu Vaccine
(WASHINGTON) — Come one, come all: After years of shortages and confusion, this fall promises plenty of flu vaccine to go around — up to 132 million doses, more than the nation has ever produced.
The ample supplies have the government urging vaccinations not just for people at highest risk of dying from influenza, but for anyone who wants to avoid a week of aching misery.
"Flu is a formidable foe," Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday. "It is not an illness we should be complacent about."
But new CDC data show only a fraction of people who need flu shots the most get them, including just one in five babies and toddlers. And there's wide geographic variation, with Rhode Island reporting the most high-risk adults vaccinated and Nevada the fewest.
Shots aren't the only option. Wednesday, the government ruled that it's safe for younger kids than ever before to try a nasal-spray vaccine called FluMist. Once only an option for people ages 5 to 49, FluMist now can be used by children as young as 2.
Flu usually peaks in February, so a winter vaccination isn't too late. Still, Gerberding advised seeking vaccine early in case flu begins striking before the usual November.
Indeed, there already are reports of sick schoolchildren in Hawaii, although the geographic distance makes it impossible to predict if that signals an unusually early flu season for the rest of the country.
Perhaps of more concern, CDC is closely monitoring whether a new strain that emerged near the end of Australia's flu season will cause illness here — a strain that this year's vaccine doesn't specifically target.
Each year's vaccine contains protection against three influenza strains — two Type A strains, an H1N1 and an H3N2 version, plus a milder Type B — that experts predict will cause the most illness. The vaccine isn't always a perfect match, and this year's contains a different H3N2 version than the newly emerging one, nicknamed H3N2/Brisbane-like.
Get vaccinated anyway, Gerberding stressed. The other two strains in the vaccine are causing illness around the world, and even if the newer one travels here, too, the vaccine should provide some cross-protection.
Every year, flu infects up to 20 percent of the population, causes the hospitalization of 200,000 people and kills 36,000.
Who's at highest risk? Anyone over 50 or under 5; people of any age who have asthma, heart disease, weakened immune systems or other chronic illnesses; and pregnant women.
Vaccine also is particularly recommended for relatives and caregivers of those people, and health care workers _ people who may be robust enough to recover themselves, but could infect the more vulnerable before they realize they're ill.
"The day before you become sick, you're already excreting the virus," warned Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University, vice president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
That equals 218 million people who should be vaccinated each year. Nowhere near that many seek vaccine. Last year, about 18 million of the nearly 121 million doses produced weren't used and had to be thrown away.
But the CDC's new estimates of how many high-risk patients get vaccinated, gleaned from public-health surveys, shed new light on the most troubling gaps.
People 65 and older are most likely to get vaccinated, 69 percent during the 2005-2006 flu season, the latest count available.
But that's still well under the national goal of vaccinating 90 percent of seniors _ even though Medicare provides them flu shots for free.
Just over a third of 50- to 64-year-olds are getting vaccinated, and just 30 percent of high-risk younger adults, CDC found.
Flu vaccine is a little more complicated for young children, because they need two doses a month apart the very first year they're inoculated. Just 21 percent of youngsters ages 6 months to 2 years were fully vaccinated, and just over one in 10 who needed two doses got both, CDC reported.
If a young child missed that necessary second dose last year, health officials are recommending that he or she make it up this year with two shots.
The ample supplies have the government urging vaccinations not just for people at highest risk of dying from influenza, but for anyone who wants to avoid a week of aching misery.
"Flu is a formidable foe," Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday. "It is not an illness we should be complacent about."
But new CDC data show only a fraction of people who need flu shots the most get them, including just one in five babies and toddlers. And there's wide geographic variation, with Rhode Island reporting the most high-risk adults vaccinated and Nevada the fewest.
Shots aren't the only option. Wednesday, the government ruled that it's safe for younger kids than ever before to try a nasal-spray vaccine called FluMist. Once only an option for people ages 5 to 49, FluMist now can be used by children as young as 2.
Flu usually peaks in February, so a winter vaccination isn't too late. Still, Gerberding advised seeking vaccine early in case flu begins striking before the usual November.
Indeed, there already are reports of sick schoolchildren in Hawaii, although the geographic distance makes it impossible to predict if that signals an unusually early flu season for the rest of the country.
Perhaps of more concern, CDC is closely monitoring whether a new strain that emerged near the end of Australia's flu season will cause illness here — a strain that this year's vaccine doesn't specifically target.
Each year's vaccine contains protection against three influenza strains — two Type A strains, an H1N1 and an H3N2 version, plus a milder Type B — that experts predict will cause the most illness. The vaccine isn't always a perfect match, and this year's contains a different H3N2 version than the newly emerging one, nicknamed H3N2/Brisbane-like.
Get vaccinated anyway, Gerberding stressed. The other two strains in the vaccine are causing illness around the world, and even if the newer one travels here, too, the vaccine should provide some cross-protection.
Every year, flu infects up to 20 percent of the population, causes the hospitalization of 200,000 people and kills 36,000.
Who's at highest risk? Anyone over 50 or under 5; people of any age who have asthma, heart disease, weakened immune systems or other chronic illnesses; and pregnant women.
Vaccine also is particularly recommended for relatives and caregivers of those people, and health care workers _ people who may be robust enough to recover themselves, but could infect the more vulnerable before they realize they're ill.
"The day before you become sick, you're already excreting the virus," warned Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University, vice president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
That equals 218 million people who should be vaccinated each year. Nowhere near that many seek vaccine. Last year, about 18 million of the nearly 121 million doses produced weren't used and had to be thrown away.
But the CDC's new estimates of how many high-risk patients get vaccinated, gleaned from public-health surveys, shed new light on the most troubling gaps.
People 65 and older are most likely to get vaccinated, 69 percent during the 2005-2006 flu season, the latest count available.
But that's still well under the national goal of vaccinating 90 percent of seniors _ even though Medicare provides them flu shots for free.
Just over a third of 50- to 64-year-olds are getting vaccinated, and just 30 percent of high-risk younger adults, CDC found.
Flu vaccine is a little more complicated for young children, because they need two doses a month apart the very first year they're inoculated. Just 21 percent of youngsters ages 6 months to 2 years were fully vaccinated, and just over one in 10 who needed two doses got both, CDC reported.
If a young child missed that necessary second dose last year, health officials are recommending that he or she make it up this year with two shots.
Perubahan iklim agenda utama
Daripada Azhar Abu Samah Di New York
PERUBAHAN iklim akan menjadi agenda utama ketua negara dan pemimpin dunia pada Perhimpunan Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) ke-62 bermula minggu ini, sekali gus membuka jalan untuk perbincangan lebih serius semua 192 negara anggota badan dunia itu bagi mengatasi masalah sejagat ini.
Selain tidak mengetepikan isu keselamatan dan politik antarabangsa untuk dibincangkan, antaranya Kosovo, kemudahan nuklear Iran, isu Palestin, Myanmar, Lubnan dan menghantar pasukan pengaman ke Darfur, Sudan, perhimpunan PBB kali ini sudah mendapat gambaran awal bahawa pemimpin dunia sudah bersedia untuk mengatasi masalah ketidaktentuan iklim dunia, termasuk merangka langkah tambahan bagi menguatkan lagi komitmen semua negara anggota menjayakannya.
Menteri Luar, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, berkata kesan perubahan iklim dunia ketika ini begitu ketara, termasuk peningkatan suhu dunia dan cuaca tidak menentu yang membawa kepada banjir dan ribut kuat serta memberi kesan langsung kepada penduduk dunia.
"Sudah sampai masa pemimpin dunia berkongsi kepakaran dan sumber, termasuk menyediakan kewangan bagi mengatasi masalah ini kerana ia membawa bahaya kepada kita," katanya sambil menambah, Malaysia turut merasai kesan perubahan iklim dunia apabila Johor dilanda banjir terburuk tidak lama lalu.
Bercakap kepada wartawan di sini semalam, Syed Hamid berkata, beliau akan mengambil bahagian pada majlis pembukaan mesyuarat peringkat tinggi perubahan iklim di PBB hari ini dengan membawa usul betapa penting PBB mempunyai sumber kewangan yang kukuh untuk menguruskan soal perubahan iklim dunia.
"Isu ini akan mencuri tumpuan dalam tempoh dua hingga tiga hari PBB bersidang, termasuk ketika perbahasan umum," katanya sambil menambah Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yang akan berucap pada 28 September turut menyentuh isu sama, termasuk pendekatan Islam Hadhari.
Beliau berkata, walaupun Protokol Kyoto yang akan berakhir pada 2012 sudah mengambil tindakan mengurangkan kesan pengeluaran gas rumah hijau, namun pemimpin dunia perlu merangka satu mekanisme baru bagi memperlihatkan tindakan positif untuk memelihara kepentingan generasi akan datang.
Difahamkan, kesepakatan yang dicapai pemimpin dunia mengenai isu perubahan iklim dunia pada perhimpunan agung kali ini akan membuka ruang kepada masyarakat antarabangsa memulakan rundingan bagi perjanjian baru ketika berlangsungnya persidangan mengenai perubahan cuaca dunia di Bali, Indonesia pada Disember ini.
PERUBAHAN iklim akan menjadi agenda utama ketua negara dan pemimpin dunia pada Perhimpunan Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) ke-62 bermula minggu ini, sekali gus membuka jalan untuk perbincangan lebih serius semua 192 negara anggota badan dunia itu bagi mengatasi masalah sejagat ini.
Selain tidak mengetepikan isu keselamatan dan politik antarabangsa untuk dibincangkan, antaranya Kosovo, kemudahan nuklear Iran, isu Palestin, Myanmar, Lubnan dan menghantar pasukan pengaman ke Darfur, Sudan, perhimpunan PBB kali ini sudah mendapat gambaran awal bahawa pemimpin dunia sudah bersedia untuk mengatasi masalah ketidaktentuan iklim dunia, termasuk merangka langkah tambahan bagi menguatkan lagi komitmen semua negara anggota menjayakannya.
Menteri Luar, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, berkata kesan perubahan iklim dunia ketika ini begitu ketara, termasuk peningkatan suhu dunia dan cuaca tidak menentu yang membawa kepada banjir dan ribut kuat serta memberi kesan langsung kepada penduduk dunia.
"Sudah sampai masa pemimpin dunia berkongsi kepakaran dan sumber, termasuk menyediakan kewangan bagi mengatasi masalah ini kerana ia membawa bahaya kepada kita," katanya sambil menambah, Malaysia turut merasai kesan perubahan iklim dunia apabila Johor dilanda banjir terburuk tidak lama lalu.
Bercakap kepada wartawan di sini semalam, Syed Hamid berkata, beliau akan mengambil bahagian pada majlis pembukaan mesyuarat peringkat tinggi perubahan iklim di PBB hari ini dengan membawa usul betapa penting PBB mempunyai sumber kewangan yang kukuh untuk menguruskan soal perubahan iklim dunia.
"Isu ini akan mencuri tumpuan dalam tempoh dua hingga tiga hari PBB bersidang, termasuk ketika perbahasan umum," katanya sambil menambah Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yang akan berucap pada 28 September turut menyentuh isu sama, termasuk pendekatan Islam Hadhari.
Beliau berkata, walaupun Protokol Kyoto yang akan berakhir pada 2012 sudah mengambil tindakan mengurangkan kesan pengeluaran gas rumah hijau, namun pemimpin dunia perlu merangka satu mekanisme baru bagi memperlihatkan tindakan positif untuk memelihara kepentingan generasi akan datang.
Difahamkan, kesepakatan yang dicapai pemimpin dunia mengenai isu perubahan iklim dunia pada perhimpunan agung kali ini akan membuka ruang kepada masyarakat antarabangsa memulakan rundingan bagi perjanjian baru ketika berlangsungnya persidangan mengenai perubahan cuaca dunia di Bali, Indonesia pada Disember ini.
200 negara setuju hapus bahan kimia ancam ozon
MONTREAL 23 Sept. – Hampir 200 negara telah menyatakan persetujuan untuk mempercepatkan penghapusan bahan kimia yang mengancam ozon dan memburukkan lagi pemanasan global, lapor Program Alam Sekitar Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (UNEP), semalam.
Pengarah UNEP, Achim Steiner menandatangani perjanjian tersebut dengan ketua-ketua kerajaan terbabit bagi pengharaman pengeluaran bahan kimia hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC).
Pengharaman itu merupakan satu isyarat mustahak dalam usaha memperlahankan perubahan iklim dan pemanasan global.
“Ia barangkali perkembangan yang paling penting dalam proses rundingan persekitaran antarabangsa sekurang-kurangnya untuk tempoh lima atau enam tahun ini.
“Kerajaan mempunyai peluang yang cerah untuk bekerjasama dalam menangani masalah berkembar iaitu perubahan iklim di samping melindungi lapisan ozon yang kian menipis,” katanya.
Perjanjian itu dicapai sewaktu para pemimpin dunia bersiap sedia menghadiri Perhimpunan Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (UNGA) yang antara lain cuba membentuk perjanjian sejagat dalam menyelesaikan masalah gas rumah hijau.
Menerusi persetujuan itu, negara maju akan melalui fasa tanpa menghasilkan HCFC pada 2020 manakala negara membangun bermula pada 2030.
Tempoh itu adalah 10 tahun lebih awal daripada perjanjian terdahulu.
Perjanjian tersebut telah merombak jadual yang dibuat pada 1987 di bawah Protokol Montreal, bertujuan untuk menyingkirkan penggunaan HCFC dan bahan kimia berkaitan yang selalu dijumpai dalam peti sejuk dan penyembur rambut.
– AFP
Pengarah UNEP, Achim Steiner menandatangani perjanjian tersebut dengan ketua-ketua kerajaan terbabit bagi pengharaman pengeluaran bahan kimia hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC).
Pengharaman itu merupakan satu isyarat mustahak dalam usaha memperlahankan perubahan iklim dan pemanasan global.
“Ia barangkali perkembangan yang paling penting dalam proses rundingan persekitaran antarabangsa sekurang-kurangnya untuk tempoh lima atau enam tahun ini.
“Kerajaan mempunyai peluang yang cerah untuk bekerjasama dalam menangani masalah berkembar iaitu perubahan iklim di samping melindungi lapisan ozon yang kian menipis,” katanya.
Perjanjian itu dicapai sewaktu para pemimpin dunia bersiap sedia menghadiri Perhimpunan Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (UNGA) yang antara lain cuba membentuk perjanjian sejagat dalam menyelesaikan masalah gas rumah hijau.
Menerusi persetujuan itu, negara maju akan melalui fasa tanpa menghasilkan HCFC pada 2020 manakala negara membangun bermula pada 2030.
Tempoh itu adalah 10 tahun lebih awal daripada perjanjian terdahulu.
Perjanjian tersebut telah merombak jadual yang dibuat pada 1987 di bawah Protokol Montreal, bertujuan untuk menyingkirkan penggunaan HCFC dan bahan kimia berkaitan yang selalu dijumpai dalam peti sejuk dan penyembur rambut.
– AFP
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