Asia-Pacific nations conclude and support for green economy

 

 

Asia-Pacific countries concluded  three days of discussions today on sustainable  development  challenges  facing  the region including growing natural  resource  constraints,  climate  change,  hunger  and poverty.

According to the UN  ESCAP  Strategic  Communications  and  Advocacy  Section's press release, Asia-Pacific countries also reaffirmed    their    commitment    to    make    economic   growth   more environmentally-friendly and inclusive.

Over  120 delegates from 20 countries attended the 22-24 February Committee on  Environment and Development convened by the United Nations Economic and Social  Commission  for  Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

They reviewed progress in addressing  sustainable  development  priorities of the region ahead of the United  Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) also known as Rio+20, to be held in Brazil in June.

The  second session of the biennial ESCAP Committee provided an opportunity for  the  countries  of  Asia-Pacific  to review the complex, deepening and converging   crises   facing  the  region,  namely,  food  and  fuel  price volatility,  increasing  scarcity  of  natural  resources  and uncontrolled consumption  patterns,  record  biodiversity  loss  rates,  as  well as the accelerating impact of climate change.

"An  assessment  of resource intensity shows that the region consumes three times  the  resources as the rest of the world to produce one unit of value added,"  said  Shun-ichi Murata, ESCAP Deputy Executive Secretary while opening the Committee session.

 "Given the levels of persistent poverty, and resource  constraints,  such  resource-intensive  growth  patterns  are not sustainable," he added.

Sufficiency  Economy
In  a  keynote  address,  Mingquan Wichayarangsaridh, Deputy Permanent Secretary,   Ministry  of  Natural  Resources  and  Environment,  Thailand, informed  the session that the Royal Government of Thailand was formulating policies  in  support  of  sustainable  development  under  the  concept of sufficiency  economy.

"Regional  cooperation  is  an  important vehicle to provide  an  important  platform  to  further  spread  the benefits of such initiatives," she added.

The  Committee  session  also  explored  possible  collective  solutions to challenges  before  the  region  in order to strengthen concerted action in pursuit  of sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. A side event provided participants the opportunity to share best practices and practical know-how on green growth.

Many  countries attending the Committee emphasized the urgency of improving resource  and  energy  efficiency  to  sustain economic growth necessary to reduce  poverty. Some countries called for a green growth approach based on resource   efficiency   as  an  effective  strategy  to  overcome  resource constraints and pursue sustainable development in the region.

The  Committee  session  concluded  with a renewed commitment to strengthen inclusive  and sustainable development and reaffirmed support to the "Seoul Outcome"  adopted  by the Asia-Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting for the UNCSD  which  was  held in October 2011 in South Korea.

The Committee also outlined a set of recommendations which will be presented to the 68th ESCAP session to be held in May 2012.

US embargo on Indonesia's CPO is discriminative

Trade Ministry viewed an embargo on crude palm oil procurement from Indonesia applied by US is inaccurate and discriminative.

Director General of International Trade at Trade Ministry Deddy Saleh said the embargo can be categorized as a discriminative measure because cooking oil made from soybean, sunflower oil, and corn oil are considered to contain greater carbon emission.

“Palm has less environmental impact than soybean. Then, land productivity of palm oil could be 4 tons per hectare, while that of soybean is only at 0.4 tons per hectare,” he revealed in a working visit to Mamuju, West Sulawesi, yesterday.

He affirmed US just considered a number of debatable assumptions, as estimation for undeveloped land of palm oil plantation in 2020 based on scientific calculation.

In addition, US also assessed imported crude palm oil from Indonesia used as raw material of biofuel isn’t environmentally friendly.

Even, US Government had issued notification of Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA) on renewable fuel standards stating that bio-fuel of Indonesia does not yet qualify the renewable standards.

EPA regulates that the reduction limit of greenhouse-gas effect for biodiesel and renewable diesel made from crude palm oil is 20% at minimum.

In the meantime, the analysis result of EPA showed the palm oil export from Indonesia to US is still below the standard at 17% for biodiesel and 11% for renewable diesel.

Therefore, Director General for Processing and Marketing of Agricultural Crop at Agriculture Ministry Zaenal Bachrudin said stakeholders of crude palm oil sector in Indonesia and representative officers of Malaysia will hold a final meeting on the notification of EPA.

Planting areal

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan informed Indonesia has the world’s largest tropic-forest area up to 130.8 million hectares, so it could determine the geopolitical position at global level.

The forest area has three functions, namely for conservation forest covering 26.8 million hectare area, protection forest covering 28.86 million ha, and production forest covering 57 million ha.

The forestry development beyond forestry sector such as for palm plantation has also been regulated in Law No.14/1999 on Forestry.

Public Concerned over Gas Jet

Gugul villagers in Tlanakan are calling on the Pamekasan regional government to stop using gas jets in the village. “I get dizzy from the smell,” said 24-year-old student Sirojudin.

Pamekasan Natural Resources Division head, Jumhari Ghani, said his office had not discussed the matter. “We’re still studying whether the gas content is economical or not,” he said.

Twitter BOSS: Don't Use Twitter So Much...

Warning: Twitter co-founder Christopher Stone said the website was designed to be dipped in and out of

It's enough to make any PR agent wince. The co-founder of Twitter has urged its 500million users to get off the micro-blogging website and do something else instead.

Christopher Stone said he did not want anybody to spend hours using the site because it is ‘unhealthy’. Instead he said they should dip in and find what they want – then stop and do other things.

Mr Stone was one of the four men who created Twitter in 2006 and has remained creative director, helping it become one of the most influential social networks in the world.

But users have repeatedly complained that it is incredibly addictive, with some staying logged on for 12 hours at a time. At a conference in Montreal, Mr Stone, 37, said using Twitter that much was not what he intended. ‘To me, that sounds unhealthy,’ he said.

‘I like the kind of engagement where you go to the website and you leave because you’ve found what you are looking for or you found something very interesting and you learned something.

‘I think that’s a much healthier engagement. Obviously, we want you to come frequently.’ Twitter, which has around 30million users in Britain, allows them to post short messages – no longer than 140 characters – for others to see online.

Among the first celebrities to use the site was Stephen Fry, who tweeted a picture of himself when he got stuck in a lift in 2009. In his speech, Mr Stone admitted that when Twitter first launched many thought it would fail because they did not think it was useful. ‘Nobody thought it was a good idea,’ he said.

‘And I distinctly remember my colleague Evan Williams saying, ‘Well, neither is ice cream. Should we ban ice cream and all joy or can we have something that’s just fun? What’s wrong with that?’

The speech has echoes of the infamous comments by tycoon Gerald Ratner in 1991, who effectively destroyed his cut-price jewellery empire when he said one of the firm’s products was ‘total ***p’.

6,000 Users of Porn Website Have Email Addresses Leaked

Thousands of porn website users have had their personal passwords and emails leaked online by hackers. In total, 6433 users of the YouPorn chat site were exposed after third-party service provider failed to secure data, its owner claimed.

Luxembourg-based Manwin Holding SARL said the chat site had been disabled and would remain offline until an investigation was carried out. The site hosts hundreds of free porn videos as well as films and services you can pay for.

A Manwin spokesman stressed that the site was run by an outside company on separate servers and that there was no breach at YouPorn itself. ‘YouPorn continues to ensure that all appropriate measures and tools are in place to maintain the security of its infrastructure, and to safeguard the privacy of its users,’ they said.

It remains unclear how many people were potentially affected by the breach. Email address and password combinations were put on the website Pastebin, although some appeared to be bogus or inactive.

However, users at risk face a great deal of embarrassment. ‘You can imagine how employers and marital partners may be less than impressed to find you are registered for a website like YouPorn,’ said Graham Cluley of Sophos.

And their discovery of your porn penchant is only a search and a click away.’ The data breach is the second to hit major porn sites recently, coming only 10 days after a hacker claimed to have stolen 350,000 user logins for the Brazzers.com site.

Data breaches are a nightmare for companies at the best of times, but porn companies can fail over night if users cannot maintain their anonymity. Manwin runs some of the world's most-visited pornography websites, and its YouPorn offering is one of the 100 most-popular sites on the planet, according to Web information company Alexa.

Miller said she could not immediately say who ran the chat service, called YP Chat. The site was down yesterday but a cached version described it as an ‘affiliate partner program site licensed by YouPorn.’

Marcos Jnr: Stop Blaming Dad for Philippine Woes

Ferdinand Marcos should stop being blamed for the Philippines’ woes, the late dictator’s son said Friday as he criticised subsequent leaders for doing little to improve the lives of Filipinos.

Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, a senator with presidential aspirations, let rip on his Facebook page as President Benigno Aquino prepared to lead a rally Saturday to mark a bloodless “people power” uprising that toppled Marcos Snr in 1986.

“China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia can all point to the progress they have made these last 26 years but unfortunately, for the majority of our people, nothing much has changed today,” Marcos Jnr said.

“Blaming past administrations will not bring food to the plates of the hungry. Excuses cannot substitute for performance and results.” Marcos Jnr acknowledged he was unable to pass impartial judgment on the uprising that ended his father’s 20-year rule and forced his family into US exile, but said his political foes also promoted only their version of history.

“Most of what we hear now from all sides are still within the ambit of propaganda. But I certainly am concerned with the state of our country today,” he said. Aquino’s mother, Corazon Aquino, famously led the “people power” uprising after reluctantly taking the pro-democracy leadership baton from her husband when he was murdered at Manila’s airport in 1984.

She served as president for six years, between 1986 and 1992, and earnt a reputation as a leader with strong personal integrity. Benigno Aquino scored a landslide victory in the 2010 presidential elections when he capitalised on the immense public support for his late mother, and vowed to continue her agenda of fighting corruption.

The incumbent blames a culture of corruption in past administrations for widespread poverty in the Philippines. But while Benigno Aquino enjoys widespread support because of his parents, so too does Marcos Jnr.

He easily won a senate seat in the 2010 elections and has said publicly he may seek to emulate his father and lead the Philippines. His sister, Imee, was also elected governor of Ilocos Norte province, the family’s political stronghold, while their famous mother, Imelda, won a seat in the lower house of parliament at the age of 80.

Indonesia's Govt Considering Cutting Foreign Loans for State Funding

The government is planning to cut foreign debts as an alternative source of state funding, the director general of debt management of the ministry of finance, Rahmat Waluyanto, said.

"We will propose using alternative instruments available in the discussion of the revision budget (to receive funding). We may replace foreign debts with domestic debts," he commented here on Thursday night.

He noted the government has so far been able to obtain loans with a low rate of interest by selling state securities in the domestic as well as international markets after the country’s debt rating was raised to investment grade. Also, he felt issuing bonds right now is less expensive than seeking commercial loans from overseas banks.

"We can later replace the commercial loans with funds collected from the domestic capital market through bond issuances at home and abroad," he said. Additionally, he was of the opinion that seeking loans from the domestic market was more beneficial, as the process could be done without negotiations and the execution could be done directly.

"So there will be flexibility with regard to which instrument to be used, to be considered more efficient, cheaper and able to be quickly executed," he added. Rahmat said the country’s debt ratio to the gross domestic product stands at 24.9 percent, which indicates that the use of debts has been very productive.

"The use of debts has been really productive, especially for financing projects that are productive and increasing growth. So, the debt management so far has been carried out well," he said.

Regarding the possibility of the revised budget’s deficit to expand, he suggested that expansion is estimated to be above 1.5 per cent. He declined to say where the funds to cover the deficit would come from.

"It has yet to be discussed with the House of Representatives. So, I could not tell if assumptions would change or not. For the time being we are still referring to the present assumptions used in the budget for issuing state securities," he said. Rahmat commented that the government has been ready with various alternative funding sources to cover deficits whose projection has yet to be determined in the revised budget.

"What is clear is we have been ready with various funding alternatives to deal with a possible rise or decline in the budget deficit," he added. Due to the increasing world oil prices, the government plans to cut fuel subsidies and state spending.

How The Google Goggles Work

Google glasses would deliver the smartphone experience straight to your eyes 

 

If you’re the sort of person who spends ages looking for your mobile phone, Google may have the answer. And the solution will be right in front of your eyes – literally.

The technology giant is close to launching a pair of futuristic glasses that would deliver all the services of a smartphone straight to the wearer’s eye. Featuring a miniature display on one lens, the hi-tech specs allow users to surf the internet or deal with text messages and emails without lifting a finger.

The screen is controlled with a ‘mouse’ which is moved simply by tilting your head. And should you still wish to actually talk to someone, it is believed the glasses will let you make calls using an in-built microphone.

Reports suggest the device, which would revolutionise the smartphone market, could be available by the end of this year costing less than £380 – making it cheaper than Apple’s iPhone.

Users would also be able to see through the lenses as normal and go about their daily business, then with a flick of the head activate the display and start surfing. The glasses would use the same Google operating system that powers Android smartphones and tablets and would connect to the internet through 3G or next-generation 4G mobile networks.

They would also be equipped with GPS mapping technology and motion sensors, as well as a camera. It brings the prospect that wearers could be given information instantly on the buildings they are looking at, on nearby landmarks or friends who are in the area. But the devices will also bring new potential for advertisers to reach users in ever more personal situations, such as in a lift, a restaurant or relaxing on their sofa.

Seth Weintraub, from the 9 to 5 Google blog, revealed clues to how the glasses would work. ‘The system currently used is a head tilting to scroll and click,’ he said. ‘We are told it is very quick to learn and once the user is adept at navigation, it becomes second nature and almost indistinguishable to outside users.

‘These glasses, we heard, have a front-facing camera used to gather information and could aid in augmented reality apps. The heads-up display is only for one eye and on the side.’

The glasses are apparently being developed in Google’s top-secret research laboratory in Mountain View, California. Apple is also thought to be developing pioneering technology, such as smartphones that can be worn as watches or sewn into clothing. Google declined to comment.

Newmont Mining Posts 4Q Loss

Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) swung to a fourth-quarter loss as a large write-down tied to the gold and copper producer's Canadian mine offset slightly higher revenue.

Newmont, the world's second-biggest gold producer after Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), had seen its revenue rise in recent quarters thanks to a surge in prices for the precious metal. But the performance of its bottom line has been mixed due to lower production, higher costs and one-time items.

The latest quarterly result included a $1.6 billion write-down of the company's Hope Bay project in Canada. Executive Vice President Randy Engel told Dow Jones Newswires the company decided to place the mine in care and maintenance for the time being to focus efforts on more advanced projects in Ghana, Australia and Peru.

“Given the overall magnitude of our projects this year, we have to do some capital rationing,“ he said.

In November, Newmont suspended its Conga project in Peru, citing ongoing protests in the region by antimining activists. It warned last month that this year's copper production would fall short of its estimated 2011 levels due to a planned stripping campaign an Indonesian mine.

The company has said gold production should be mostly in line with estimated 2011 production levels. ewmont reported a loss of $1.03 billion, or $2.08 a basic share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $812 million, or $1.65 a basic share.

Excluding items such as the Hope Bay write-down and other adjustments, earnings rose to $1.17 from $1.16 as revenue grew 8.5% to $2.77 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast earnings of $1.27 on revenue of $2.74 billion.

Attributable gold production was off 7.1% while attributable copper output dropped 36%. The average realized price for gold rose 22% to $1,670 an ounce. The average realized price for copper declined 25% to $3.41 a pound.

Shares were off 18 cents at $63.62 after hours. The stock has climbed 6.3% so far this year through the close of trading Thursday.

Philippines Cuts Safeguard Duty on Indonesia's CFG, TFG

The Philippines has lowered safeguard duty on Indonesia’s clear float glass (CFG) to 3,234.41 peso from 3,404,64 peso per million ton and tinted float glass (TFG) to 4,085.56 peso from 4,300.59 peso per million ton.

The Philippines decided to lower surcharge on the Indonesian glass on December 13, 2011 after reviewing the policy, Director of Trade Safeguard at the Indonesian Trade Ministry Ernawati said in a press statement issued on Thursday. She said that the Philippines was also assessing the impact of the policy which had been in place since 2004 and would end in 2014 on its domestic industry and other parties subjected to safeguard duty.

During the review, the Indonesian government along with producers and exporters had established close cooperation with Philippine authorities by providing necessary inputs, she said. "The results are quite good," she said.

She said the decline in safeguard duty would have a positive impact on Indonesia’s glass exports to the Philippines. Data from the Trade Ministry show Indonesia’s glass exports to the Philippines fell over the past two years but the decline was not significant.

In the January-September 2010 period Indonesia’s CFG and TFG exports to the neighboring country were recorded at 47,864.5 tons worth US$20.08 million. The figure dropped to 47,473.02 tons worth US$20.08 million in the same period last year.

Overall, Indonesia’s export of glass products and goods made of glass in 2010 reached 71,682 tons valued at US$30 million.