Cicer et cetera

Grassroots innovator presents his latest venture at TEDx Dubai…

2012-01-21T21:38:00.005-05:00

Social entrepreneurs like Illac Diaz are changing the world. While many twenty or thirty-somethings claim the title, Illac is a true grassroots innovator. In this video, he presents A Liter of Light at TEDx Dubai.

The campaign has gotten major international publicity in recent months, and it was obvious that Illac was on the move when he was featured in a panel on social entrepreneurship at the JFK Forum at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2008.

After meeting Illac Diaz and witnessing his progress, he has distinguished himself as an intelligent, compassionate, constructive, and optimistic leader who is a great example for others working on poverty and sustainable development issues in their own countries.

Illac established the MyShelter Foundation to create a system of sustainability and reliability through capability building and employment-generating projects and A Liter of Light (Isang Litrong Liwanag) is its latest venture.

Malua BioBank makes forest conservation a commercially competitive land use…

2012-01-08T15:43:00.024-05:00

The Malua BioBank is a unique public-private partnership for investing in forest conservation. “Public and philanthropic funding for conservation has not kept pace with the rate of biodiversity loss. Attaching value to conservation will harness private sector finance to help fill this funding gap,” according MaluaBank.com.

The site is the 34,000 ha Malua Forest Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia. Sitting adjacent to one of the region’s last pristine lowland tropical rainforests, the Malua BioBank provides a buffer between virgin rainforest and oil palm plantations. The area is home to one of the world’s highest concentrations of orangutans, as well as clouded leopards and pygmy elephants.

The Sabah government has licensed conservation rights for 50 years to the Malua BioBank and a private investor has committed up to $10 million for the rehabilitation of the Malua Forest Reserve. The investor is the Eco Products Fund, a private equity investment vehicle jointly managed by New Forests and Equator Environmental.

You can purchase Biodiversity Conservation Certificates
to support rainforest conservation at ProtectMalua.com

The Malua BioBank sells Biodiversity Conservation Certificates, with each certificate representing 100 square meters of forest restoration and protection. Revenues generated from the sale of BCC’s will be used to recover costs incurred and to endow a trust fund set up to manage the Malua BioBank. Any profit will be shared between the forest management license holder (a foundation established by the government to improve the livelihoods of local citizens) and the investor.

The government has committed to halting logging in the Malua Forest Reserve for the next 50 years. This agreement commits the government to implementing a management plan under the monitoring of the Malua Trust, which will be funded by revenues from BCC sales.

“The ultimate aim of the Malua BioBank is to shift land use towards rainforest restoration and preservation, catalyzing a new economy of conservation. The sale of certificates will make rainforest rehabilitation and conservation a commercially competitive land use,” according to MaluaBank.com.

Biodiversity in Turkey at risk yet largely ignored…

2011-12-23T21:45:00.007-05:00

A scientific article in Biological Conservation outlines
“Turkey’s globally important biodiversity in crisis”

There’s been a recent burst of attention to threats to biodiversity in Turkey, particularly after the publication in Biological Conservation of an article by 13 scientists. The 18-page report on “Turkey’s globally important biodiversity in crisis” was even covered by the New York Times in a story that profiled the lead author, a conservation biologist at the University of Utah. In addition to that role, Cagan Sekercioglu is the founder of KuzeyDoga, and organization that promotes biodiversity research and conservation in Eastern Turkey.

TreeHugger picked up the story with an article by Jennifer Hattam titled, “Arbitrary, development-obsessed environmental policy-making threatening Turkey's ecosystems.” Here’s an excerpt:

"As ecologists and conservation biologists working in Turkey, we have witnessed a similar level of increasing arbitrariness in environmental policy, where economic development has trumped all other concerns," wrote Sekercioglu, the lead author of a comprehensive report that painted a grim picture of Turkey's biodiversity in crisis.

Legislative or legal developments over just the past two years have created a host of obstacles to ecosystem protection. According to Sekercioglu, these include allowing mining in wildlife refuges, excluding riparian and coastal areas from wetland conservation zoning, constructing dams and other energy projects in protected areas, redefining terms such as "common good" and "sustainable use," and eliminating independent conservation committees.

This is especially interesting since neighboring Armenia faces similar development and governance challenges in relation to biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. Many of the regions under study were also part of Western Armenia prior to the genocide. Given the proximity to present day Armenia, there are undoubtedly transboundary conservation issues between the two countries that are worthy of attention. In short, the issues under discussion are directly related to Armenia's natural heritage.

In addition to the Times coverage, TreeHugger reviews details of the article from Biological Conservation here.

Pavan Sukhdev discusses the economic invisibility of nature at TED Global...

2011-12-14T20:49:00.008-05:00

In this talk from TEDGlobal, Pavan Sukhdev explains the economic invisibility of nature and why we need to correct this market failure. He outlines the value of natural capital and explains why it is characterized as an externality because it is not priced by markets. This becomes a challenge because it often leads to the overexploitation and subsequent scarcity of resources that may be irreplaceable. Pavan points out that we are losing natural capital at an extraordinary rate, with implications that may be more severe than the global financial crisis.

Pavan is the CEO of GIST Advisory, an environmental consulting firm which helps governments and corporations manage their impacts on natural capital. He founded the Global Markets Centre in Mumbai and took a sabbatical from Deutsche Bank to lead UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative and the G8+5 commissioned project on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB). Pavan was a speaker at the World Economic Forum in 2010 and 2011 and he serves on the boards of Conservation International and the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

The research done by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity initiative was cited in my talk on Redefining Our Economic Systems at TEDx Yerevan. Pavan's talk is well worth watching.

New conservation trust fund creates sustainable source of financing for protected areas in biodiversity hotspot…

2011-11-30T21:24:00.002-05:00

Peter Musurlian co-wrote, narrated, and edited this 11-minute film about the work of the Caucasus Nature Fund in Georgia and Armenia. CNF is a conservation trust fund that is building capacity to support the ongoing maintenance and operation of nature reserves in the South Caucasus.

This work is particularly important since the region is one of the planet’s 34 most endangered hotspots for biodiversity. The organization has already invested in the Khosrov Reserve and four other national parks in Armenia and Georgia. According to the director, David Morrison, the goal is to support the operation of 15 parks by 2015.

“Saving the Wild” includes rare film footage of several of the endangered species under protection in these areas including bezoar goat, mouflon, and Caucasian leopard. The program has received major support from the German Development Bank (KfW) and other international organizations to create a sustainable source of financing.

Redefining our economic systems @TEDx Yerevan…

2011-10-19T21:23:00.007-04:00

Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any better, coverage of my talk at TEDx Yerevan, "Redefining Our Economic Systems: Could a Forest Be Worth More Than a Gold Mine?" hit National Geographic Online. The premise was that forests are a form of green infrastructure that have a range of values worth more than firewood or building material and that these could be worth more than a gold mine. The issue is significant because the region is one of the planet’s most endangered “hotspots for biodiversity” and the country’s economy is dependent on mining.

In addition, resources like forests and water are becoming scarce as a result of unsustainable management and climate change while several strategic industries are heavily reliant on the “natural capital” provided by forests. National Geographic’s coverage by Kara Marston of the event at the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies is available here. The video of the talk was posted by TEDx here:

The talk is based on my master's thesis on “How Payments for Environmental Services Can Deliver Co-Benefits for Business and Sustainable Development: A Conservation Finance Strategy to Protect Armenia’s Natural Heritage,” and I cited data from UNEP's program on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity. The research was presented earlier this year at the 17th International Sustainable Development Research Conference hosted by the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the United Nations Division of Sustainable Development.

The concepts of forest valuation and understanding our dependence on ecosystem services are becoming more mainstream, especially among large corporations and in conversations about creating a Green Economy. The following sites provide further information: Bank of Natural Capital, Corporate Ecosystem Services Review, Guide to Corporate Ecosystem Valuation. Stay tuned...

Carrying on the work of Wangari Maathai...

2011-10-04T16:35:00.008-04:00

You may have heard of the passing of Wangari Maathai, an extraordinary woman who was responsible for planting 45 million trees in Kenya by empowering women to enact social and environmental change.

I'll never forget the feeling of joy and pride when I received the news on a field visit to Armenia in October 2004 that Wangari Maathai was being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the Green Belt Movement.

Wangari Maathai with the Crown Prince and King and Queen of Norway
after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on December 10, 2004

During my most recent trip last month, I was saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Maathai, who was an inspiration to us at Armenia Tree Project and to so many others around the world who seek to restore the planet's degraded environment. Obituaries were published by all of the major newspapers and websites, including National Geographic.

ATP founder Carolyn Mugar and executive director Jeff Masarjian wrote an op ed about our connection with “the planting of ideas” in the Boston Globe. The article appeared on the day of Wangari’s visit to Boston and Carolyn and Jeff had a chance to meet her at a gathering hosted by the Urban Forest Coalition.

Carolyn also heard the news of Wangari’s passing while traveling and shared this sentiment: “I was very sorry to hear this news. [Wangari] made an extraordinary contribution and what she showed people about what they can do to change their own lives will live on for ages.”

Dr. Maathai made connections between education, poverty, and deforestation which influenced ATP to establish programs that empowered rural women to start planting trees for future generations. In this spirit, ATP is establishing a tree planting site in the Republic of Armenia to honor the memory and vision of Wangari Maathai. Our goal is to raise $5,000 in support of this memorial effort, so please consider a donation via the ATP website.

ATP begins propagation of rare & endangered plants & fruit trees…

2011-09-30T11:16:00.000-04:00

By Armine Tokhmakhyan & Jason Sohigian

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has been publishing its Red List of Threatened Species since 1963. The IUCN is the world’s main authority on the conservation status of plant and animal species, and the Red List is published periodically as the most comprehensive inventory available.

The Ministry of Nature Protection released its own two-volume “Red Book of Plants and Animals of the Republic of Armenia” in 2010. “The country’s attractiveness and public welfare are directly linked with the splendor and richness of its natural heritage,” writes Minister of Nature Protection Aram Harutyunyan in the preface. “The production of the Red Book is another step forward in the preservation and recovery of the region’s biodiversity.”

There are approximately 3,600 plant species in Armenia, and 123 are endemic or found nowhere else on the planet. According to the authors, these plants become endangered because of deforestation, the overuse of resources like water, and development of land which provides habitats for plants and animals. The new Red Book includes information about 452 plant and 40 fungus species that are rare along with 223 plant species that are in danger of extinction.

“In response to the concern over the loss of native plants, Armenia Tree Project has a policy of growing only indigenous trees in its three nurseries,” explains Nursery Program Manager Samvel Ghandilyan. “In recent years many native species have either vanished or drastically reduced in numbers. Native and naturalized species possess traits that make them more likely to thrive under local conditions, which is why ATP has made this a priority in our nursery and tree planting programs.”

“ATP started to pay special attention to the propagation of endangered plants at our nursery in Karin. These include nine trees and shrubs that are registered as rare in the Red Book and two that are in danger of extinction,” Ghandilyan says. “These are Alpine Maple (Acer thrautvetteri) and Halfsphere Rose (Rosa gaenuspherica).”

Twenty speakers selected for second TEDx Yerevan event…

2011-09-09T21:50:00.004-04:00

Encouraged by the success of the inaugural gathering, “Beyond Borders,” TED has licensed the second TEDx Yerevan for 2011. The event will take place on Sept. 24 at the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies. This year’s conference will focus on understanding youth, maturity, and transitions at the individual, institutional, and national level.

Created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading,” the TEDx program is designed to give communities, organizations, and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. TEDx events are planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.

The organizers released this trailer video today.

The twenty speakers selected for this year’s “Becoming Young” event are Sara Anjargolian, Nazik Armenakyan, Levon Aronian, Karen Balayan, Vahé Berberian, Eames Demetrios, Al Eisaian, John Marshall Evans, Arpine Grigoryan, Shushan Harutyunyan, Vrej Kassouny, Stepan Khzrtian, Narineh Mirzaeian, Aram Pakhchanian, Onic Palandjian, Artur Papyan, Sergey Sargsyan, Lara Setrakian, Artyom Shamtsyan, and yours truly, Jason Sohigian.

The hosts of the inaugural TEDx Yerevan event were Alexis Ohanian and Kristine Sargsyan, who is back to organize this year's gathering. Presenters included Armen Devejian, Hagop Emrazian, Rich Goldman, Hawk Khatcherian, Alexis Ohanian, Timothy Straight, and Serj Tankian. Videos of the presentations are available here.

An update from Serj Tankian's latest visit to Armenia...

2011-08-13T22:05:00.019-04:00

Text & Photograph by Serj Tankian (reposted with permission)

Here's some quick updates from my travels in Armenia. I recently visited the Tumo Center-- it's an incredible non-profit high-tech venture that brings technical training on animation, web design, film making, etc. to the youth in Armenia. The founder, Dallas native Sam Simonian, took me on a tour of the building. Google would be jealous of the design and setup, I was extremely impressed. The show I am playing tomorrow will be in front of the center to celebrate its opening in Yerevan, Armenia. Very exciting stuff!

I also visited the Lori region early this week and was taken aback by the beauty of the lush forests, rivers and countryside. The Teghut Forest is in that region and will be completely devastated by mining if it's not stopped. You can learn more about the Teghut Forest and how to help prevent the mining disaster from ruining the natural beauty, resources, and homes to many endangered species by clicking here. I strongly encourage you all to take a look.

Peace,
Serj

August 15 Update: Serj participated in this public forum for NGO's hosted by Civilitas Foundation. Topics of discussion included deforestation and mining, genetically modified food, governance and activism. The entire session is available on video here:

A field visit to tree planting sites in the Republic of Armenia...

2011-08-11T17:29:00.008-04:00

As many readers of this blog know, Armenia Tree Project has been greening Armenia's future since 1994. The organization's sustainable development programs include tree planting and environmental education. I compiled a short series of my favorite photographs in this slideshow during a working visit to ATP sites in June and July. Click here to view:

Site locations include ATP’s nurseries in Karin and Khachpar villages, the Mirak Family Reforestation Nursery in Margahovit Village, and ATP's environmental education centers in Karin and Margahovit, both of which have been sponsored by the Ohanian Family. I also visited urban and rural green spaces created by ATP’s Community Tree Planting Program and several new forests established by ATP in partnership with local communities.

Of particular interest was a visit to the forests surrounding ATP's nursery in the northern Lori region, where we encountered several owl, flowers listed in the Red Book of Endangered Species, and breathtaking landscapes above the tree line. The trip concluded with a barbeque for our staff and their families hosted by ATP board member Anthony Barsamian and founder Carolyn Mugar.

A Green appeal for commencement...

2011-05-25T11:10:00.009-04:00

Dear Friends,

Most of you probably know I am wrapping up my master’s degree in Sustainability and Environmental Management this week – commencement is Thursday! Many of you have provided support and encouragement for which I am grateful.

Overall it was a wonderfully enriching experience – highlights that come to mind are a report for the Massachusetts Commission on Financing Forest Conservation, being a part of World Forestry Congress XIII in Buenos Aires, publication in Germany of a study on renewable energy, and presenting my research on Payments for Environmental Services at the International Sustainable Development Research Conference at the Earth Institute.

During this time, I’ve been inspired by the work of colleagues at the Armenia Tree Project and more importantly by the individuals and institutions that have invested in our work. ATP has been planting trees since 1994 and environmental education has been a core program since I joined the organization in 2004.

Armenia Tree Project Slideshow

View more presentations from jsohigian

Given the urgency of the environmental crisis, I drafted this note to encourage your direct participation. I hope each of you reading this will plant at least ONE TREE in Armenia in honor of this important work. I have set a goal to raise $2,500 on the occasion of my graduation so please use this link to make a small online gift of $20 or more:

http://www.armeniatree.org/donate_online.htm

Many employers will match your charitable donation so that would double your gift. I have told my colleagues at ATP that we will raise these gifts between Commencement and Memorial Day so I hope you will join this effort TODAY.

Armenia is home to dozens of rare and endangered species which are of global conservation significance including the Caucasian Leopard. So please take this small step to create a green future and help me achieve this new milestone. Thank you for your commitment to this cause!

Eco regards,

Jason A. Sohigian

Here’s an appeal update: To date, 29 of you donated a total of $1,515 in support of ATP’s mission to plant trees! A big THANK YOU to everyone that contributed – you’ll get a formal acknowledgment from Armenia Tree Project. Others may continue to sponsor trees via the ATP website.

The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity discussed at London School of Economics…

2011-03-27T13:47:00.006-04:00

In this video from the London School of Economics, Pavan Sukhdev provides an engaging discussion on the findings of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity study. The TEEB initiative was launched by the G8+5 in 2007 to create an economic, scientific, and policy analysis for ecosystems and biodiversity that would be comparable to the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change.

In addition to his role as TEEB study leader, Pavan Sukhdev is head of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Green Economy Initiative. Prior to his work for TEEB and UNEP, he was head of Deutsche Bank’s Global Markets Business in India and a founding member of the Green Indian States Trust. His March 21 talk at LSE was titled, “Ending the Economic Invisibility of Nature.”

How Payments for Environmental Services can deliver co-benefits for business & sustainable development…

2011-02-16T00:51:00.017-05:00

This site was created to review issues related to my career and graduate coursework, so this is a good time for a status update. In December, I completed a capstone on Payments for Environmental Services, which was the last requirement for my master’s from the Sustainability and Environmental Management Program at Harvard.

The abstract for my capstone, “How Payments for Environmental Services Can Deliver Co-Benefits for Business and Sustainable Development: A Conservation Finance Strategy to Protect Armenia’s Natural Heritage,” was recently accepted for the 17th International Sustainable Development Research Conference. The conference is hosted by the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the United Nations Division of Sustainable Development.

The peer review committee invited me to present the research in the session on “Redefining Economic Systems for Sustainable Development.” The following is a condensed version of the research abstract:

“The Caucasus region has been identified by international conservation organizations as a ‘global hotspot’ for biodiversity. Among the nations of the South Caucasus, the environment of the Republic of Armenia faces widespread degradation driven by factors including unsustainable management, lack of alternative energy supplies, and a shortage of sustainable financing for conservation. In order to address similar challenges, some countries have implemented Payment for Environmental Services (PES) programs to compensate upstream landowners or land managers for environmental conservation that benefits downstream users. This research presented three examples of PES programs. The programs in Costa Rica and in upstate New York demonstrated that PES can deliver significant levels of conservation finance and can achieve favorable sustainable development results. The ongoing example in the Danube Basin shows that PES can be implemented as a pilot program to demonstrate the applicability of the concept and transfer lessons learned to neighboring regions.”

“Based on these results, this paper argues that PES may be an effective conservation finance strategy to apply in the Republic of Armenia. This is especially compelling since there are several sectors that have been identified as strategically important for the country’s economic development that rely heavily on environmental services as a core part of their business. These include hydropower, the beverage industry, and the tourist industry. This paper has shown that these sectors have a direct interest in environmental conservation and that investing in natural capital would ensure their long-term viability and profitability. In addition to addressing business risk in these strategic industries in a proactive manner that lowers costs, a PES program can deliver sustainable development co-benefits and enhance a Corporate Social Responsibility program.”

This research was motivated by the work of a number of organizations including the following, each of which provided support or resources cited in this study:

One of the next steps is to advance the business case for a PES program using WRI’s Corporate Ecosystem Services Review. This tool enables corporate managers to develop proactive strategies to manage business risks and opportunities arising from environmental impacts and dependence on environmental services. I hope readers will stay tuned as this research advances to the next stage toward implementation.

Architects of Change TV series highlights ATP's sustainable development programs…

2011-02-12T13:00:00.009-05:00

Armenia Tree Project will be featured in the second season of the Architects of Change documentary television series. Episode 18 on Vers une gestion durable des forêts (Toward sustainable management of forests) will be aired on the French-language RDI channel in Canada with plans to release in other countries this year.

Architects of Change traveled to Armenia for footage of ATP’s tree planting and environmental education programs and the segment features a profile of the organization’s executive director Jeff Masarjian. The series is also being released on the web in Canada via the link here.

The Architects of Change series highlights pioneers with innovative solutions to global challenges including poverty, pollution, public health, and climate change. In addition to ATP, Architects of Change has profiled influential individuals including Bill Drayton, Gary Hirshberg, Wangari Maathai, and Muhammad Yunus.

‘For us children, forests are our future’: Young activist tells adults at UN to ‘stop talking & start planting’...

2011-02-06T12:28:00.010-05:00

Thirteen-year-old Felix Finkbeiner was invited from Germany to address the United Nations Forum on Forests in New York this month. Inspired by the United Nations Environment Program’s Billion Tree Campaign, Felix founded the Plant for the Planet organization to mobilize children around the world to plant trees.

In an eloquent speech at the launch of the UN's International Year of Forests, Felix declared: “For us children, forests are our future.” He referred to the poverty crisis and the problem of climate change and cited several reasons for a lack of progress on these issues including a perception of the future among adults that leads to short-term thinking among global leaders.

In response, Felix pointed out that “children have to take our future into our own hands” and outlined three goals: zero carbon emissions using existing technology, eliminating poverty through climate justice, and planting trees and protecting forests.

His organization started a new campaign called “Stop talking, start planting,” which has used photographs of children with global leaders and high profile environmental activists. Felix is pictured here with Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen, who was named a UNEP Goodwill Ambassador in 2009.

PFA issues new report on state of Armenia’s environment…

2011-01-14T21:41:00.003-05:00

Policy Forum Armenia has issued its first annual report on The State of Armenia’s Environment. According to its website, PFA has a “hybrid mission,” operating as a think tank and an advocacy group. With an international network of members, PFA’s stated objective is to offer professional analysis with innovative and practical recommendations for public policy design.

The 32-page study provides an overview of environmental challenges facing Armenia in areas including water resources, air pollution, the adequacy of nature reserves, deforestation, and energy. The report argues that improving environmental governance requires increased transparency and public participation in policy decisions as well as the enforcement of existing environmental laws.

A major section of the report is a case study of the open pit copper mine in northern Armenia, where the Teghut Forest has been cleared to create a tailing dump. “[Teghut] is an example of one facility where both urgent policy changes and adequate enforcement of existing policies are needed,” notes PFA.

The authors state that Armenia is a country of rich biodiversity with more than 3,500 plant species and 17,500 invertebrate and vertebrate species including the endangered Caucasian Leopard. However, mismanagement and the rapid growth of some sectors of the economy during the last decade created serious environmental challenges. The report concludes that “environmental protection should constitute a key element of Armenia’s developmental strategy.”

“Despite the fact that the prevailing developmental policy thinking is heavily skewed toward extractive industries, decisions about whether or not to undertake new large-scale projects with potentially sizable environmental impact in Armenia must be considered with the country’s long-term benefits and objectives in mind,” notes the PFA study.

It is especially interesting that PFA’s second “state of the nation” report has addressed environmental issues, particularly since this integral aspect of sustainable development has not been widely considered in Armenia. For example, a 2006 conference hosted by the Armenian International Policy Research Group titled, Armenia: Challenges of Sustainable Development, did not give environmental issues any consideration on the agenda.

The focus of sustainable development in Armenia has been on economic and social issues, while attention to environmental conservation has not been widely understood as a current strategic priority. Hopefully this annual report will contribute to a broader understanding of sustainable development and raise the level of dialogue to a new level.

Will TEEB end the economy vs. environment debate?

2010-11-15T18:31:00.009-05:00

How valuable are forests and wetlands? Economics largely takes nature, biodiversity, and environmental services for granted and does not put a value on them. These services include water and air quality regulation, nutrient cycling and decomposition, plant pollination, and flood control. As a result, governments, businesses, and people tend to overexploit the resources on which our livelihoods and prosperity depend.

It is against this background that The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) project was set up in 2007 to provide an assessment of the economic aspects of these issues. A groundbreaking new book, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Ecological and Economic Foundations, outlines all of the scientific and economic principles of measuring and valuing environmental services and biodiversity.

The effort furthers the work of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment which issued a major scientific review in 2005 of the status and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as recommendations for action to manage them more sustainably. The head of the TEEB project is Pavan Sukhdev, a Deutsche Bank economist who also leads UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative.

The book was launched at the COP10 Nagoya Biodiversity Summit in Japan and is recommended for a detailed review of the latest research in environmental economics and the valuation of natural resources. The TEEB project has also launched a website, Bank of Natural Capital, to make its findings more accessible to the public.

The hope is that the thorough scientific and economic analysis behind the TEEB studies will put and end to the popular debate about the economy versus the environment, and correct the market failures that lead to the unsustainable use of natural capital.

ATP energizes crowd during NYC reception at Studio 580 gallery…

2010-10-22T17:06:00.020-04:00

Several friends of the Armenia Tree Project put together a New York City cocktail reception and silent auction for the organization at Studio 580 on Eighth Avenue. The program was led by Forbes columnist Vahan Janjigian and included remarks by board member Nancy Kricorian. ATP is currently raising funds to meet the Global ReLeaf Challenge as part of its partnership with American Forests.

Pictured here with gallery owner Serge Gregorian, Carnegie Corporation of New York President Vartan Gregorian, and ATP benefactor Jean-Marie Atamian

Pictured here with Alexis Ohanian (center) and event organizers James Norian, Margarita Melikjanian, and Lisa Vahradian

A crowd of more than 100 friends turned out for the event, including musicians, painters, filmmakers, legal advocates, and leaders from the non-profit and business community. As with most ATP events, the evening was full of energy as young and older supporters mingled and bid on auction items.

More than 35 items were donated for the benefit auction including a private piano lesson at the Manhattan School of Music, signed photographs by Hawk Khatcherian, Garo Lachinian, Serj Tankian and items from businesses with Armenian roots such as Michael Aram, John Derian, Tufenkian Artisan Carpets, and Harvest Song. The event was covered by Voice of America for television broadcast in Armenia.

A few more photos from the ATP reception are available here.

Update: Honored guest Vartan Gregorian has selected ATP to share the stipend from the Henry Crown Leadership Award, which he received from the Aspen Institute. The award honors outstanding leaders whose achievements reflect high standards of honor, integrity, industry, and philanthropy. A conversation with Christiane Amanpour from the awards ceremony is available here.

New environmental education program seeks to build bridges…

2010-09-20T19:08:00.007-04:00

Armenia Tree Project has been working on a pilot program this year to introduce its environmental education material in Armenian schools throughout North America.

One of the first achievements of “Building Bridges: Connecting Diaspora Armenian Students with Their Environmental Heritage” was the publication of an English edition of ATP’s Plant an Idea, Plant a Tree training manual. The 97-page manual includes information on the importance of forests, lessons on exploring the environment, and ecological and cultural heritage.

The second major achievement has been the publication of a pilot edition of Building Bridges, a newsletter for children ages 6-12. This 8-page color newsletter was written and designed by the creators of the new Gakavig children’s publication.

“The goal is to raise the level of awareness about Armenia’s rich natural heritage and the challenges of conservation, as well as making connections between young people in Armenia and the Diaspora through environmental education,” stated Environmental Education Program Manager Alla Berberyan in a press release. “We hope this work strengthens the bonds between Armenia and the Diaspora and further engages young Armenians to become stewards of the environment.”

TEDx Yerevan announces speakers for ‘beyond borders’ event...

2010-09-11T10:17:00.018-04:00

TEDx Yerevan has announced the speakers selected for its first by-invitation-only event being held on Sept. 25. The theme of the widely anticipated event is “Beyond Borders” and topics of the 6-12 minute TED Talks will include innovation, technology, education, diaspora, and the arts.

The speakers selected after topics were proposed by the public and auditions held over the summer are Michael Aram, Rev. Ktrij (Armen) Devejian, Paula Devejian, Hagop Emrazian, Rich Goldman, Hans Gutbrod, Vardan Hovhannisyan, Hrair Hawk Khatcherian, Meroujan Minassian, Alexis Ohanian, Siemon Scamell-Katz, Timothy Straight, and Anna Yeghoyan (bios available here).

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission to promote “ideas worth spreading.” The program is designed to give communities, organizations, and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue. At TEDx events, talks given by thought leaders are intended to spark deep conversation and connections.

TED started in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from the fields of technology, entertainment, and design. The independent TEDx Yerevan event is operated under license from TED and it will be held at the Ani Plaza Hotel in Yerevan. The TEDx Yerevan organizing committee is headed by Alexis Ohanian and Kristine Sargsyan, along with representatives of the Civilitas Foundation and other organizations.

Alexis co-founded reddit.com, a popular social media site that was sold to Condé Nast in 2006. He recently completed a Kiva Fellowship in Armenia and founded Breadpig, Inc., an “uncorporation that’s responsible for bringing geeky things into the world” like xkcd: volume 0 and donating all the profits to charitable causes. In 2009, Alexis delivered a TED Talk on How to make a splash in social media.

Kristine has 13 years of experience in the non-profit and business sector as an organizational development consultant. She has worked with organizations including World Learning, USDA, PA Consulting Group, Eurasia Foundation, and Caritas Armenia. Kristine is on the board of the Professionals for Civil Society NGO and is the initiator of TEDx Yerevan and the TED Open Translation Project in Armenia.

En route to a presentation at a Startup Bootcamp at MIT, Alexis reflected on the reason behind initiating the TEDx Yerevan event: “I was so impressed by so many energetic, inspiring people who I met during my time in Armenia, that it seemed like such a waste to not have a conference to get them all sharing.”

Update: Videos of the talks presented at TEDx Yerevan are now available here.

New study looks at aggregation & mitigation to finance forest conservation…

2010-09-08T18:37:00.009-04:00

The Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest has released a new research publication, Financing Forest Conservation Across the Commonwealth: Using Aggregation and Mitigation to Conserve the Forests of Massachusetts. I worked on the study over the past year with James Levitt and several others. I met Jim at Harvard after his guest lecture in the course taught by Mark Leighton on Conservation Biology and Sustainable Use of Forested Landscapes. He has been a great mentor and I owe him a great deal of thanks for his introduction to the field of Conservation Finance.

Last year Jim invited me to work on this case study on forest aggregation in Massachusetts, which is a pioneering effort led by a group of individuals and organizations to increase the pace of land conservation in a region threatened by parcelization and development. The goal of this effort is consistent with the new Harvard Forest Wildlands and Woodlands Vision for the New England Landscape.

In order to complete the research I had to turn down a couple of TA offers, took some time off from my work at Armenia Tree Project to attend meetings at the Harvard Forest, and to attend meetings of the Financing Forest Conservation Board of Advisors at the State House, at Appalachian Mountain Club, and at the New England Forestry Foundation.

The forest aggregation program highlighted in this report is an inspiring effort to achieve landscape-scale conservation that takes natural capital, social capital, and financial capital into account. It was even highlighted by the New York Times as a conservation finance innovation. I would like to extend my thanks to Jim and the many leaders of this effort that are highlighted in the report and that supported this research, including the Harvard Forest and the Massachusetts Environmental Trust.

Russian news agency reports on environmental crisis in Armenia…

2010-08-20T22:27:00.013-04:00

During a two-day visit to Armenia by President Dmitry Medvedev, RIA Novosti published an article by journalist Diana Markosian about the country’s forest and water resources, and how these may be impacted by climate change. She points out that logging is leading to desertification, which will be exacerbated by increasing temperatures.

(Photo in Lori region by Jason Sohigian)

The first national report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change warned, for example, that a two-degree Celsius increase over the 21st century will decrease the total annual flow of water in Armenia by 15 to 20 percent.

In a study by the Stockholm Environment Institute, The Socio-Economic Impact of Climate Change in Armenia, the United Nations Development Program warns that “Armenia’s future economic development will depend on the decisions that the current generation makes about investments in adaptation [to climate change].”

Armenia Tree Project has been planting trees to mitigate the impacts of climate change, but the effort may not be enough to solve the problem. With only eight percent forest cover, Armenia is still exporting wood according to the National Statistical Service. In the last 16 years, ATP has planted 3,500,000 trees around the country.

Associate Director Areg Maghakian tells RIA Novosti that reforestation is “an issue of national security” and that the government must take the initiative in order to address it adequately.

I was also interviewed for the story: “Armenia is focused on economic and social development, but the third aspect of sustainable development is environmental impacts. Business and economic development have been identified as a priority. That’s obviously very important, but business and life itself are supported by natural ecosystem services like forests, water, soil, and clean air, which can’t be easily replaced when they are degraded or depleted.”

Pavan Sukhdev discusses the invisible natural economy...

2010-08-10T22:55:00.007-04:00

This Corporate Knights news magazine interview with Pavan Sukhdev was filmed earlier this year during a series of talks in Canada organized by Sustainable Prosperity. Mr. Sukhdev is head of UNEP's Green Economy Initiative, a program intended to demonstrate that the greening of economies is not a burden on growth but rather a new engine for growth and poverty reduction.

The Deutsche Bank economist is leading the G8+5 commissioned report on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, which has shown the economic significance of the loss of nature's services. In this interview, Mr. Sukhdev explains the problems of a global economy that ignores the economic value of nature and its services.

Why do governments and corporations value some things and not others? Mr. Sukhdev discusses the impact of externalities and market failures on the valuation of natural assets and makes a case for assessing the real value of our environment.

New education manual outlines environmental issues & steps to identify practical solutions…

2010-07-24T08:41:00.009-04:00

Armenia Tree Project has released a new edition of its innovative “Plant an Idea, Plant a Tree” environmental education manual. “Plant an Idea, Plant a Tree” was introduced in 2005 when ATP published Armenia’s first teacher’s manual for environmental education, compiled and written by Karla Wesley. It received approval from Armenia’s Ministry of Education and Science for integration into the secondary school system.

“Plant an Idea, Plant a Tree” quickly gained in popularity among teachers and schoolchildren. Since 2006, ATP’s environmental education staff has trained hundreds of teachers in different regions of Armenia and the manual became an indispensable part of their classes.

Last year, ATP worked with teachers and experts from the National Institute of Education to make the manual fully compatible with official curriculum standards. The manual was enriched with lessons on climate change, starting a youth eco-club, and civic engagement. New lessons were drafted by Armenian educators and scientists, and the manual has a particular focus on forests and sustainable development. Of particular interest, the English edition includes an exclusive translation of Hovhannes Toumanian’s poem, “The Beetle School,” and a lesson on a unique breed of shepherd dog that is endemic to Armenia.

The OSCE Yerevan Office partnered with ATP to support the publication of the Armenian edition. Deputy Head Carel Hostra noted that he placed great value on the new manual. “The manual is important as it doesn’t dwell only on nature protection, but also emphasizes the responsibility of individuals towards nature protection. Let’s change the world starting with ourselves,” stated Mr. Hostra.

Environmental Education Program Manager Alla Berberyan pointed out that this was a completely new step for teachers in Armenia. “Teachers have taken a lead role in the elaboration of the manual, became deeply familiar with the modern methodology standards of education, and gained the relevant knowledge and skills to create a new teaching tool,” emphasized Ms. Berberyan at the launch of the new edition.

Climate mitigation program addresses forest restoration in the South Caucasus…

2010-06-06T07:27:00.007-04:00

The Caucasus branch of the World Wildlife Fund organized a media tour to the afforestation sites in Northern Armenia established by Armenia Tree Project and the forestry department of the Ministry of Agriculture. In December, ATP announced its partnership with WWF and Germany's KfW Development Bank on a large-scale afforestation program in the Lori region.

The work was part of the WWF-KfW program, Mitigating the Impacts of Climate Change through Forest Protection, Management and Restoration in the Southern Caucasus. It was financed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety through KfW as part of Germany's Climate Initiative.

“Climate change is happening globally and Armenia is not an exception. Weather extremes have serous implications for forests. We are proud to collaborate with KfW and WWF to create a better future for the environment and people,” stated ATP Yerevan Director Mher Sadoyan. “We hope we can fight the adverse impacts of climate change in those territories of Armenia which are most affected, and reforestation is one way to achieve this goal.”

This environmental program created hundreds of jobs for rural residents who often migrate to earn a living abroad. As part of the goal to address the socio-economic status of the communities in the project area, ATP provided seasonal tree planting jobs for more than 300 people from the region. The television coverage posted above was made available by Ankyun Plus 3 TV after the media tour.

Harvard Forest releases Wildlands & Woodlands Vision for New England…

2010-05-19T23:33:00.005-04:00

Experts from the Harvard Forest launched Wildlands & Woodlands: A Vision for the New England Landscape today at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The program included remarks by Henry Lee, director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program at the Kennedy School, James Levitt, director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest, Theodore Roosevelt IV, chairman of Barclays Capital Council on Climate Change, and David Foster, director of the Harvard Forest.

The story of New England’s forests is remarkable because European colonists displaced Native Americans and rapidly transformed the land to farms. The region was almost completely deforested after being an overwhelmingly forested land for more than 10,000 years. As transportation improved, New England farmers found it difficult to compete with large-scale food production from across the nation. Farms were abandoned and the landscape returned to forest through a process of natural regeneration over the past 150 years. Currently, New England is 80 percent forested while at the same time being one of the most densely populated regions of the country.

Experts from the Harvard Forest have noted, however, that these new forests are increasingly threatened by residential sprawl, commercial development, and landscape fragmentation. In response, the Wildlands & Woodlands vision calls for a 50-year conservation effort to retain at least 70 percent of New England in forestland that is free from development (30 million acres). Ninety percent of the forests would be conserved by willing landowners as sustainably managed woodlands for multiple uses and 10 percent of forests would be wildland reserves (3 million acres).

Achieving the vision will require a doubling of the current rate of land conservation in New England, noted Dr. Foster in his remarks. While this might seem like an ambitious goal, the cost of losing forests and the natural ecosystem services they provide would be much greater than the cost of conserving forests.

Since 80 percent of the forests in New England are privately owned, achieving the vision will require the support of landowners interested in protecting their forests as a legacy for future generations. Conservation tools will include easements sold or donated by willing landowners, enhanced tax incentives, and acquisitions by private, public, and non-profit organizations.

Dr. Foster pointed out that the Wildlands & Woodlands vision does not advocate for, but does allow for a doubling of the amount of developed land. At the same time, the report notes that we can’t afford to lose much more forest and still have widespread access to clean, affordable water, natural carbon sequestration that mitigates the impact of climate change, and widespread use and enjoyment of forested lands.

In his comments about the Wildlands & Woodlands vision (click here to view), Mr. Roosevelt noted that the work of David Foster and his colleagues is about ecological values, community values, and property values. In short, the Wildlands & Woodlands vision succeeds in aligning ecological values and economic values in its analysis, while acknowledging the central role of local stakeholders and social capital in the process.

Addressing the issue of conservation finance for this ambitious proposal, Mr. Roosevelt emphasized the need for a price on carbon so landowners can benefit from the carbon sequestration provided by the sustainable management of their forest lands. Mr. Roosevelt, who is chairman of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, concluded that the Wildlands & Woodlands approach will provide the kind of resiliency required at the landscape-scale for biodiversity to adapt to the anticipated impacts of climate change.

Book highlights exemplary Conservation Finance initiatives…

2010-05-13T20:27:00.011-04:00

A new book published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Conservation Capital in the Americas: Exemplary Conservation Finance Initiatives, is a collection of papers presented at a conference of the same name in Valdivia. The book was published in collaboration with the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.

Edited by James Levitt of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest, the collection is an insightful follow-up to his last book, From Walden to Wall Street: Frontiers of Conservation Finance. Authors reviewed many of the leading approaches to conservation finance used to protect land and biodiversity. These include carbon finance and ecosystem service markets to conserve forest lands, conservation investment banking methods such as debt-for-nature swaps, and the use of tax policies to finance conservation.

The following are just a few examples of insights taken from the case studies.

Chile’s Private Lands Conservation Initiative, reviewed by Henry Tepper, Victoria Alonso, Antonio Lara, and Rocio Urrutia:

Measured values of ecosystem services are usually greater than the operating costs of protected areas, so payments for ecosystem services would provide resources for conservation
A group of prominent business leaders joined the Chilean-American Chamber of Commerce and the Nature Conservancy to advocate for financial incentives including changes to tax laws to protect private lands
The effort was inspired by the land trust movement in the US, whose success was attributed to the development of legal instruments to protect private lands, notably conservation easements
An effort has been underway since 2008 to allow private landowners to put a derecho real de conservacion (real right of conservation) on designated lands to secure the perpetual protection of that land

Ecuador’s ChoCO2 Conservation Carbon project, reviewed by Ben Vitale, Tannya Lozada, and Luis Suarez:

Developing countries often have conflicting laws regarding land tenure, while Ecuador has clarified regulations that would be required for forest carbon ownership rights under a variety of land tenure circumstances
The Conservation International ChoCO2 project to restore 500 ha of native forest in the Choco-Manabi region of Ecuador is one of the few forestry projects developed as part of the CDM
The project is expected to sequester 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide over 30 years, and Ricoh Company agreed to finance an annual stream of payments to cover the front-loaded projects costs
Project benefits must overcome the opportunity cost of land allocated to forest carbon projects, which may be possible by monetizing multiple ecosystem benefits that will diversify revenue

Costa Rica’s Payments for Ecosystem Services program, reviewed by Shannon Meyer:

Paying landowners to protect and sustainably manage forests benefits society at large by reducing soil loss and improving water quality, tourism and recreation benefits, biodiversity protection, and carbon storage
Rather than measuring each ecosystem service provided by protected forest land, the Costa Rica program assumes that every acre provides an identically valued bundle of services
The program was partially funded by a tax on gasoline, as well as by hydropower producers that benefited from the hydrological services provided by the conserved forest lands
The program also depended on financing from the World Bank, GEF, and KfW, while efforts to convince the ecotourism industry to internalize the cost of benefits provided by the conserved forests have not been successful

The book’s contributors are from prominent organizations including Conservation International, National Audubon Society, Nature Conservancy, Open Space Institute, Pacific Forest Trust, Root Capital, and Trust for Public Land. Conservationists, project investors, and policymakers will benefit from the essays, which review the latest innovations in conservation finance and the use of emerging financial mechanisms to protect ecosystems and biodiversity.

Reflecting on the field of conservation finance and the success of the conference in Chile, Levitt sums up the issues: “How do we find the financial capital--as well as the human, social, and natural capital--to steward the earth’s resources for this and future generations? Where do we find the money, the talent, and the political will to do the jobs necessary to address complex threats to wildlife and habitat and to ecosystems that provide a spectrum of essential services that sustain life?”

Conservation Capital in the Americas provides at least some of the answers in this series of 14 essays written by recognized and emerging innovators from around the world in the field of conservation.

CNN asks ‘Can forests thrive in the world of carbon trading?’

2010-04-28T19:36:00.006-04:00

In a CNN article this week, Can Forests Thrive in the World of Carbon Trading, Lara Farrar writes about the challenges and opportunities for carbon finance to address climate change mitigation.

Land use change and forest degradation are responsible for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, so avoided deforestation and reforestation have been identified as priorities in a portfolio of solutions to address climate change.

Organizations have been developing forestry projects that rely on carbon finance but the market has been slow to develop. In January, Ecosystem Marketplace released its first-ever State of the Forest Carbon Market report, Taking Root and Branching Out.

“The verification process is quite rigorous to go through and satisfy the questions, especially on how you measure emissions,” said Alexander Rau of Climate Wedge Ltd, a carbon management and investment advisory firm.

I was interviewed for the story since it profiles the forestry and other sustainable development programs implemented by the Armenia Tree Project: “The reason people want to invest in it is they understand trees and carbon have a relationship, so it is easy for the public to make an association between climate change and trees.”

“This is an evolving market and mistakes will be made. I feel confident [that] smart people can work out the details, and [it] will evolve into a market that will prove much more viable than the existing market for cutting down trees,” concludes James Lyons, a lecturer at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and former Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment in the Clinton Administration.

Armenia joins global celebrations for 40th anniversary of Earth Day…

2010-04-24T10:21:00.009-04:00

Conservation activists joined national and international organizations in the Republic of Armenia to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this month. Armenia Tree Project partnered with the Young Biologists Association, OSCE Aarhus Ecological Information Center, and Earth Day Network to organize an entire series of events including a tree planting in the capital city of Yerevan.

Two hundred native seedlings were provided by ATP with the support of the Earth Day Network for the public tree planting in the Nor Nork community of Yerevan. British Ambassador Charles Lonsdale joined participants to plant a tree and expressed his appreciation to the sponsors for organizing this environmental initiative.

Other Earth Day events included a seminar on “How to Live Green and Stop Climate Change” and a panel discussion where climate scientists and environmentalists addressed climate change and biodiversity issues in Armenia. The final event held on Earth Day was a “Live Green” painting competition for young children.

“We extend our thanks to the British Embassy and other organizations that joined our partnership including the Earth Day Network, Young Biologists Association, and OSCE Aarhus Center,” noted ATP director Jeff Masarjian. “Although our work is ongoing, we were glad to work with so many people on this day to demonstrate our commitment to the environment, be a part of global Earth Day celebrations, and contribute to the actions taking place all over the world to stop climate change.”

Click here for photos uploaded by ATP and the Young Biologists Association. For more information about other Earth Day events taking place around the world this month, visit the website of the Earth Day Network: http://www.earthday.org/

H2Economy to Join Cambridge Panel on Hydrogen Fuel Cells...

2010-04-17T11:11:00.008-04:00

A panel discussion featuring the president of a hydrogen fuel cell company from Armenia and two local counterparts will be held on April 29 from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Cambridge Public Library on 449 Broadway.

Titled “Fuel Cells and the Hydrogen Economy: Views from Armenia, the US, and Beyond” and sponsored by the Cambridge Yerevan Sister City Association, the event is part of the week-long Cambridge Science Festival organized by MIT, Harvard University, Cambridge public schools, the public library, WGBH, and the Museum of Science. Admission is free and the public is invited to learn about fuel cells.

Agassy Manoukian, the CEO of H2Economy in Armenia will describe innovative work being done by his company. Radha Jalan, the CEO of Boston-area ElectroChem, Inc., and Brad Bradshaw, the CEO of Hy9 Corporation, will describe their companies’ achievements in this field. Charles Myers, the president of Trenergi Corp. and interim president of the Massachusetts Hydrogen Coalition, will moderate the panel.

Accompanying Manoukian to Cambridge is another guest of CYSCA, science educator Gayane Poghosyan of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia. She will attend the events and meet with science educators in the Boston area.

National Geographic highlights ATP’s sustainable forestry programs…

2010-03-15T19:44:00.006-04:00

National Geographic daily online news service editor David Braun has released a profile of Armenia Tree Project on his popular blog, Nat Geo News Watch.

“Armenia has learned the hard way what it means for a country to lose its forests--and the huge backbreaking effort required to replant them. But in its struggle and determination to restore its trees, Armenia is an inspiration for the rest of the planet,” writes Braun.

“The endeavor to bring trees back to Armenia is thanks mostly to an initiative called the Armenia Tree Project, a program supported by the international conservation charity World Wildlife Fund and BMU/KfW, the German Development Bank,” he adds.

He points out that last year one million trees were planted by ATP, which brings the total number of trees planted to 3.5 million. “A million trees required a million individual efforts--holes dug, backs bent, tender hands placing seedlings in the soil, careful nurturing of saplings to raise them to productivity. All of this is done by individuals determined that their trees will become forests that will sustain livelihoods and restore a vibrant environment,” notes Braun.

“The massive tree planting program has stimulated employment for Armenians, from the cultivation of seedlings to planting to protection of the nascent forests. In many ways the effort to restore trees to Armenia is a restoration of the nation's vitality,” he concludes in his National Geographic post.

Click here to read the entire Nat Geo News Watch article, “How Trees Are Restoring Hope to Armenia,” which describes how people are pulling together to reinvent Armenia’s future through restoring its trees.

Stockholm Environment Institute looks at climate change in Armenia...

2009-12-21T22:23:00.008-05:00

The UNDP Armenia has released a thorough and alarming study conducted by the Stockholm Environment Institute on The Socio-Economic Impact of Climate Change in Armenia. The 130-page report was written by Elizabeth A. Stanton, Frank Ackerman, and Flavia Resende, who are highly respected experts in the field of environmental economics.

The study points out that climate change will have far-reaching effects on social and economic life, and the ability for people to adapt will depend on whether or not funding will be available to support adaptive policy measures and how quickly these policies can be implemented. “Armenia’s future economic development will depend on the decisions that the current generation makes about investments in adaptation [to climate change],” warns the report.

According to this UNDP study, national scenarios forecast an increase to Armenia’s average annual temperature to be 4.5 degrees C in the lowlands and 7 degrees C in the highlands over the next century. Average annual precipitation is expected to decrease by as much as 9 percent, with the biggest reductions predicted for Yerevan and the Ararat Valley, which can expect 30 percent less precipitation by 2100. Higher temperatures will lead to more evaporation which means less soil moisture and reductions of up to 24 percent in river flows, which will reduce the availability of water for agriculture and power generation.

On an optimistic note, the experts from the Stockholm Environment Institute point out that many of the best available climate adaptation policy measures can be important for Armenia’s economic development. These include improving water and power generation infrastructure, integrating climate adaptation in plans for economic development and energy production, planning for more efficient use of resources in the context of growth and higher rates of consumption, and considering the needs and vulnerabilities of rural and low income households.

“Unless quick action is taken on large-scale adaptation measures, it is unlikely that Armenian families, their livelihoods, or their economy will be unscathed by climate change. Armenia’s poor and especially its rural poor populations will be particularly vulnerable,” warn the authors. “Social impacts will include an increased incidence of illness from heat waves as temperatures rise, a shortage of water and an increase to electricity tariffs as competing needs collide, food shortages or increased food prices as agricultural productivity falters, and an increased incidence of dangerous and damaging landslides, mudflows, and floods as dry soil and deforestation coincide with extreme storms.”

UNDP representative Dirk Boberg points out that this report is a pilot process undertaken by UNDP in only a few countries. He indicates that the priority sectors for adaptation to the impacts of climate change are water, agriculture, energy, and forests. “[This study] provides economic analysis and recommendations for decision-makers that need to manage the impacts of climate change by minimizing negative impacts and maximizing adaptation opportunities,” he writes in the foreword to The Socio-Economic Impact of Climate Change in Armenia.

Cicer blog supports global climate change editorial campaign…

2009-12-07T11:12:00.008-05:00

This editorial calling for action from world leaders on climate change was published by 56 newspapers around the world in 20 languages. The text was drafted by the Guardian during consultations with editors from the papers involved. Most of the newspapers have taken the unusual step of featuring the editorial on their front page.

Here is the text of the editorial, Fourteen Days to Seal History’s Judgment on this Generation, which is free to reproduce under a Creative Commons license:

Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting, and last year's inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world's response has been feeble and half-hearted.

Climate change has been caused over centuries, has consequences that will endure for all time, and our prospects of taming it will be determined in the next 14 days. We call on the representatives of the 192 countries gathered in Copenhagen not to hesitate, not to fall into dispute, not to blame each other but to seize opportunity from the greatest modern failure of politics. This should not be a fight between the rich world and the poor world, or between east and west. Climate change affects everyone, and must be solved by everyone.

The science is complex but the facts are clear. The world needs to take steps to limit temperature rises to 2C, an aim that will require global emissions to peak and begin falling within the next 5-10 years. A bigger rise of 3-4C -- the smallest increase we can prudently expect to follow inaction -- would parch continents, turning farmland into desert. Half of all species could become extinct, untold millions of people would be displaced, whole nations drowned by the sea. The controversy over emails by British researchers that suggest they tried to suppress inconvenient data has muddied the waters but failed to dent the mass of evidence on which these predictions are based.

Few believe that Copenhagen can any longer produce a fully polished treaty; real progress towards one could only begin with the arrival of President Obama in the White House and the reversal of years of US obstructionism. Even now the world finds itself at the mercy of American domestic politics, for the president cannot fully commit to the action required until the US Congress has done so.

But the politicians in Copenhagen can and must agree the essential elements of a fair and effective deal and, crucially, a firm timetable for turning it into a treaty. Next June's UN climate meeting in Bonn should be their deadline. As one negotiator put it: "We can go into extra time but we can't afford a replay."

At the deal's heart must be a settlement between the rich world and the developing world covering how the burden of fighting climate change will be divided -- and how we will share a newly precious resource: the trillion or so tons of carbon that we can emit before the mercury rises to dangerous levels.

Rich nations like to point to the arithmetic truth that there can be no solution until developing giants such as China take more radical steps than they have so far. But the rich world is responsible for most of the accumulated carbon in the atmosphere -- three-quarters of all carbon dioxide emitted since 1850. It must now take a lead, and every developed country must commit to deep cuts which will reduce their emissions within a decade to very substantially less than their 1990 level.

Developing countries can point out they did not cause the bulk of the problem, and also that the poorest regions of the world will be hardest hit. But they will increasingly contribute to warming, and must thus pledge meaningful and quantifiable action of their own. Though both fell short of what some had hoped for, the recent commitments to emissions targets by the world's biggest polluters, the United States and China, were important steps in the right direction.

Social justice demands that the industrialised world digs deep into its pockets and pledges cash to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, and clean technologies to enable them to grow economically without growing their emissions. The architecture of a future treaty must also be pinned down -- with rigorous multilateral monitoring, fair rewards for protecting forests, and the credible assessment of "exported emissions" so that the burden can eventually be more equitably shared between those who produce polluting products and those who consume them.

Click here to read the rest of the editorial.

European study addresses the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity…

2009-11-21T17:57:00.007-05:00

As a follow up to my Sept. 11 post, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity released its report for policymakers. According to this study, factoring multi-trillion dollar ecosystem services into national and international investment strategies are likely to deliver high rates of return and strong economic growth in the 21st century. Some countries are making the link and seeing benefits in terms of economic returns that outstrip those wedded to economic models of the previous century, notes a press release from the UN Environment Program.

The report, subtitled Responding to the Value of Nature, calls on policymakers to accelerate, scale-up, and embed investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems. “Nature’s multiple and complex values have direct economic impacts on human well-being and public and private spending. Recognizing and rewarding the value delivered to society by the natural environment must become a policy priority,” noted TEEB study leader Pavan Sukhdev at a press conference in Brussels.

The report has a number of recommendations, including investing in ecological infrastructure. This can provide cost-effective opportunities to increase resilience to climate change, reduce risk from natural hazards, improve food and water security, and contribute to poverty alleviation. Investments in maintenance and conservation are almost always cheaper than trying to restore damaged ecosystems and the social benefits that flow from restoration can be several times higher than the costs.

Since protected areas are a cornerstone of conservation policies and provide multiple benefits, an investment of $45 billion US in protected areas could secure vital nature-based services worth $5 trillion US a year, including the sequestration of carbon, the protection and enhancement of water resources, and protection against flooding. The global protected area network covers 13.9 percent of the Earth’s land surface and nearly one-sixth of the world’s population depend on these lands for a significant percentage of their livelihoods.

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity was launched by Germany and the European Commission in 2007 to develop a global study on the economics of biodiversity loss. TEEB is hosted by UNEP with financial support from the European Commission, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and United Kingdom. The latest study is one of a series of five interconnected reports which will be released through 2010, including an analysis of the economic values for the main types of ecosystem services around the world.

Armenia joins 350 international day of climate action…

2009-10-27T20:43:00.004-04:00

As part of the global 350 climate change campaign, activists led by Armenia Tree Project and other NGOs worked with schoolchildren to plant 350 pine seedlings in northern Armenia on Oct. 24.

“We were proud to represent Armenia in this international 350 movement. This campaign was initiated by activists and scientists concerned about rising levels of carbon dioxide that is causing climate change globally and even in Armenia, where we are witnessing more weather extremes and drier weather that has implications for forests and agriculture,” explained ATP Yerevan Director Mher Sadoyan.

“Activists all over the world planned actions on this day to let global leaders know that carbon dioxide concentrations in our atmosphere need to be lowered to 350 parts per million, or scientists predict we will face climate changes that could lead to widespread disruptions for people and ecosystems,” added Sadoyan.

“Trees absorb carbon that causes climate change, so we hope our contribution to the global 350 campaign will help reduce the adverse impacts of climate change, especially for rural populations in Armenia and other countries that are most affected,” stated ATP Environmental Education Program Manager Alla Berberyan.

“The climate action was a positive event to raise awareness of the importance of the number 350 to the Armenian and the international community, and we are expecting it to have a practical educational impact,” noted Berberyan.

To read this story in Armenian, click here.

Publications review latest Conservation Finance & Forest Carbon programs…

2009-10-04T15:14:00.007-04:00

I have been reading two important resources on Conservation Finance and Forest Carbon and wanted to share the titles since they are highly recommended for conservation professionals.

The first, Guide to Conservation Finance, focuses on new sources of sustainable financing for conservation, including Payments for Ecosystem Services and other market-based economic instruments. This publication outlines mechanisms that have been implemented around the world, and case studies demonstrate both successes and challenges facing project developers.

The Guide to Conservation Finance was released by World Wildlife Fund this month and provides an overview of topics including Carbon Finance, Payments for Watershed Services, Tourism and Recreation Revenue Programs, Mitigation Banking and Biodiversity Offsets, and Environmental Investment Funds.

Deforestation has been a major driver of climate change, so it is widely understood that its reversal must be an integral part of the solution. In Climate Change and Forests: Emerging Policy and Market Opportunities, international experts explain the links between climate change and forests, highlighting the potential role of this sector within emerging climate policy frameworks.

Climate Change and Forests provides an excellent overview of forestry and the Clean Development Mechanism, emerging programs to finance avoided deforestation, and the growing voluntary carbon markets. The authors are prominent innovators in this field, and the book includes chapters on Risks and Criticism of Forestry-Based Climate Change Mitigation and Carbon Trading, Rewarding Developing Countries for Protecting Forest Carbon, and Carving a Niche for Forestry in the Voluntary Carbon Markets.

The first chapter by editors Charlotte Streck, Robert O’Sullivan, Toby Janson-Smith, and Richard Tarasofsky is available from the publisher here.

Ecosystems are climate mitigation and adaptation engines...

2009-09-11T22:11:00.007-04:00

A new study by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity project launched by Germany and the European Commission reports that investing in the restoration and maintenance of the Earth’s multi-trillion dollar ecosystems--from forests and mangroves to wetlands and river basins--can have a key role in countering climate change.

A Climate Issues Update was launched this month by study leader Pavan Sukhdev of Deutsche Bank. The update suggests that an agreement on funding for forests is a priority for governments attending the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in December. Fifteen percent of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions are being sequestered by forests every year, making them the mitigation engine of the natural world, highlights a press release by the German Ministry for the Environment.

Investing in ecosystem-based measures such as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) has been identified as an effective means to combat climate change and a key anti-poverty and adaptation measure. Forests also provide services such as freshwater, soil stabilization, nutrients for agriculture, eco-tourism opportunities, and food, fuel, and fibre, all of which are key to buffering vulnerable communities against climate change.

The TEEB initiative is urging governments to factor these benefits into a forest carbon finance package in order to maximize the return of an agreement in Copenhagen. “This might pave the way for a new economy in the 21st century where natural or nature-based assets become part of mainstream economic and policy planning,” notes the German Ministry for the Environment.

The TEEB findings indicate that investing in the Earth’s ecological infrastructure offers an excellent rate of return. For example an investment of $45 billion in protected areas alone could secure nature-based services worth some $5 trillion a year.

“Human vulnerability to the harmful impacts of global climate change is significantly increased by the loss of biodiversity. TEEB proves that the protection and restoration of ecological infrastructure is a cost effective means to mitigate global climate change,” notes the German Minister for the Environment.

Film documents Watertown development along Charles River...

2009-08-31T22:46:00.004-04:00

Ashley Hunt produced this documentary about our local community in association with the Watertown Community Access Center. The program probes the history of the so-called Pleasant Street Corridor and the contentious issues confronting recent rezoning efforts.

The 30 minute film, 'Pleasant Street Corridor District: Fulfilling the Promise of its Name,' features interviews with Watertown civic leaders, concerned citizens, and business owners about this unique stretch of town that is adjacent to the Charles River.

Earthwatch benefit supports research on the most important environmental challenge of our time...

2009-07-31T08:49:00.006-04:00

The third annual Beat the Heat benefit event for Earthwatch Institute climate change research programs in being held on Thursday, August 13 at the Museum of Science in Boston. The event runs from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at the Washburn Pavilion on the Charles River.

I have been part of the organizing committee since its inception, and this has been a nice event for young professionals in Boston to network and support an important cause.

The venue for this evening provides a stunning view of the Charles River and the summer skylines of Boston and Cambridge, and the host is Improper Bostonian columnist Jonathan Soroff. Advanced tickets are discounted, and the price includes complimentary food and drinks (catered by Wolfgang Puck), parking, and live entertainment.

The event will feature climate change expert and Earthwatch scientist Peter Kershaw, who will report on his work with Earthwatch volunteers in the Arctic Circle.

If Beat the Heat gets 350 followers on Twitter by August 13, First Wind, a renewable energy company based in Newton, will donate to support Earthwatch climate change research expeditions and fund a community tree planting with EarthWorks Projects, a non-profit based in Roxbury.

ATP celebrates 15 years of greening Armenia...

2009-06-30T23:02:00.001-04:00

In celebration of the 15th anniversary of its founding, Armenia Tree Project NGO has released a new documentary about its tree planting and environmental education programs. The 15-minute film, "Every Tree...," was directed by Kennedy Wheatley and photographed and edited by Amaya Cervino.

"ATP began in 1994 with the modest goal of re-greening the public spaces in Yerevan where trees had been sacrificed during the ‘dark years’ after Armenia’s independence when people were forced to burn whatever they could find to stay warm," recounted founder Carolyn Mugar.

"By 2004 it became clear that rejuvenating public areas alone was not going to significantly impact the larger issue of deforestation. It was then, only five years ago, that I issued a challenge to our staff to undertake a program to plant 15 million trees by 2015," Ms. Mugar wrote in a message to supporters.

"I personally accompanied the filmmakers on a tour of ATP’s three nurseries, two education centers, and dozens of planting sites, and I think this film captures the emotion and impact of our tree planting, poverty reduction, and education programs," noted ATP director Jeff Masarjian.

"This has been a difficult year because of the global economic recession," added Mr. Masarjian. "Nevertheless, we are making every effort to follow through on our commitment to purchase and plant the tree seedlings grown by partner families who are working with ATP."

The status of renewable energy in the Republic of Armenia…

2009-05-22T21:29:00.018-04:00

The solar hot water and cooling system shown in the foreground on the roof of American University of Armenia is powered by a two-wing array of 72 solar panels that was constructed locally and generates a total of 5 kW (Photo by Jason Sohigian)

Armenia uses a diverse mix of energy resources, from natural gas to nuclear, hydropower, wind, solar, and geothermal energy. In 2005, 42 percent of the energy consumed was generated by the Medzamor Nuclear Plant, 30 percent was produced by hydropower and wind, and 28 percent was generated by thermal power plants fueled by natural gas.

I recently completed a study on the renewable energy sector and had an opportunity to visit a few key sites and interview Tamara Babayan and Ara Marjanyan of the Armenia Renewable Resources and Energy Efficiency Fund, Kenell Touryan and Artak Hambarian of American University of Armenia, and Diana Harutyunyan of the Climate Change Information Center.

The basic principles of Armenia's Energy Sector Development Strategy adopted in 2005 are achieving sustainable economic development, enhancing the energy independence of the country, and ensuring efficient use of domestic and alternative sources of energy.

A new market study by Danish Energy Management indicates that Armenia has proven experience in solar PV technologies and significant deposits of raw materials for developing a local technological chain. This extensive study co-authored by SolarEn LLC points out the existence of a wide variety of siliceous raw material, local experience in PV technologies, and a highly competitive research and development potential.

“From the various PV technologies analyzed, [a] few can be considered ready and some of those can be applicable for PV industry development in Armenia. Technological chains based on local raw materials and existing infrastructure can offer a certain degree of competitive advantage for investors. Today in Armenia a number of companies and organization exist that can help jump-start the PV industry development,” noted the report optimistically.

The capacity of the Pushkin Pass wind farm is 2.64 MW and it comprises four 660 kW Vestas wind turbines (Photo source: Implementation of Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism)

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed a map of wind power resources with SolarEn LLC, which assesses a wind power potential of 4,900 MW from seven sites that cover an area of 979 sq km. Armenia’s Energy Sector Development Strategy includes a series of renewable energy targets that include 595 MW of hydropower, 500 MW of wind power, and 25 MW of geothermal power by 2025.

According to Vardan Sargsyan of the State University of Economics, the economically viable capacity for wind energy is comparable with nuclear in Armenia. During a 2006 NATO conference in Istanbul on energy, sustainable development, and environmental security, Dr. Sargsyan indicated that the government is planning to generate 10 percent of its electricity from wind power and that prospective sites have been identified for wind farms.

The first in wind farm in the South Caucasus was put into operation at Pushkin Pass in 2005. The total installed capacity is 2.64 MW and the “Lori 1” project comprises four 660 kW Vestas wind turbines. The wind farm was funded by a $3.1 million grant from Iran, which is also working on a natural gas pipeline and hydropower station along the border of the two countries. The project was initiated in 2002 with the support of The Netherlands and the total installed capacity was intended to be 19.5 MW using 23 turbines, and negotiations are currently underway with investors to expand the wind farm.

Currently organizations such as the Renewable Resources and Energy Efficiency Fund are developing feasibility studies and offering preferential financing. At the same time, experts are nurturing the development of renewable energy through tax incentives, reviews of tariff structures, and legislation that demonstrates a commitment from the government. Ultimately the renewable energy sector can help Armenia achieve its energy independence and sustainable development goals, while at the same time emerging as a global leader in the clean energy sector.

Update: This study was adapted for publication in the January 2010 issue of the Armenian Weekly. It is also being published in German by ADK Magazine (click here for part one and part two).

ATP case study part of upcoming World Forestry Congress in Buenos Aires…

2009-05-02T09:39:00.004-04:00

The author with ATP reforestation manager Vadim Uzunyan (left) and a backyard nursery micro-enterprise owner in the Getik River Valley

A case study about the Armenia Tree Project Backyard Nursery Micro-Enterprise Program has been accepted as part of the proceedings of the XIII World Forestry Congress.

The international gathering is scheduled for October 18-23, 2009, in Buenos Aires. The paper was originally drafted for a master’s level course in Sustainable Development that is part of the Environmental Management program at Harvard.

I updated and expanded the section on lessons learned and submitted an abstract, which will be presented as a poster at the meeting and published in the proceedings of the XIII WFC. The following is the text of the abstract as submitted:

“Case Study: Armenia Tree Project’s ‘Backyard Nursery’ Micro-Enterprise Program Delivers Poverty Reduction and Environmental Benefits in Rural Areas”

Armenia’s forest cover was 18 percent in the 17th and 18th centuries, and a period of cutting for industrial and farming uses has brought the forest cover to a dangerously low level of less than 10 percent. Landsat data has revealed that Armenia’s forest cover was as low as 7.7 percent in 2006, and a major feature of the deforestation has been an accelerated rate of forest fragmentation.

Armenia Tree Project NGO was founded in 1994 and has initiated programs to address the interrelated issues of poverty and deforestation, with the goal of “using trees to improve the standard of living and protect the environment, guided by the need to promote self-sufficiency, aid those with the fewest resources first, and conserve the indigenous ecosystem.”

The organization identified a remote area in northeastern Armenia that was isolated by landslides caused by deforestation and employs its refugee population to grow seedlings to replenish their local forests in a Backyard Nursery Micro-Enterprise Program. ATP identified 20 families to grow seedlings in backyard plots in a pilot project. ATP purchased the surviving seedlings when they were ready to be planted in the forest, and hired additional workers from the village to do the planting.

After the first seedlings were planted in 2004, the organization expanded the program and began working with hundreds of families to produce seedlings. Although the sums paid are small by Western standards, the program has nearly doubled the annual income of these rural families.

The program has accomplished reforestation and poverty reduction goals, but the organization is concerned that it may not be fully sustainable in its current design because it relies on philanthropic donor inputs. However, some sustainable development experts have argued that any program that protects the environment or reduces poverty is sustainable over the long term.

To address the issue of sustainability, ATP is exploring the possibility of identifying other potential buyers of these seedlings, such as the Armenian State Forestry department or forestry programs in neighboring countries. The program may also benefit from the sale of ecosystem services generated by the newly established forests, such as carbon sequestration or groundwater recharge.

The ‘Backyard Nursery’ Micro-Enterprise Program is a good example of a sustainable development project since it provides economic (employing families to grow seedlings), social (partners provide needed services such as school lunches, computer access, health care), and environmental (reforestation to address landslide/erosion problems) benefits.

Update: To read ATP's press release about the XIII World Forestry Congress, click here. To view a PDF of the poster being presented at the series of meetings in Buenos Aires, click here.

Destruction/Development: The Wealth of Natural Capital…

2009-04-21T11:27:00.005-04:00

The IREX Alternative Media Project organized a two-day seminar at American University of Armenia on “Advanced Coverage of Environmental Issues” for 14 journalists from various regions of Armenia.

The program was led by Leah Kohlenberg and included presentations on Bird Conservation Studies by Karen Aghababyan (Acopian Center for Conservation Learning), Trash and Recycling by Lilik Simonyan (Women for Health and Healthy Environment), Tree Planting Programs by Bella Avetisyan (Armenia Tree Project), National Parks by Siranush Galstyan and Artur Khoyetsyan (World Wildlife Fund).

The second day featured presentations on Wildflowers by Anna Asatryan (Institute of Botany), Deforestation by Hovik Sayadyan (State Agrarian University), and Trash and Recycling by Helmut Bernt (GTZ). The International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) is an international organization providing programs to improve the quality of education, strengthen independent media, and foster civil society.

IREX will coordinate the work of the journalists to publish a regional supplement related to the issues presented at the seminar in time for World Environment Day in June. I was invited to discuss the topic of Sustainable Development and “The Wealth of Natural Capital,” and the following is an overview of the concepts presented.

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems include provisioning services such as food, water, and timber; regulating services that affect climate, floods, and water quality; cultural services that provide recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual benefits; and supporting services such as soil formation, carbon sequestration, and nutrient cycling. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment concluded that non-market ecosystem benefits are often more valuable than market benefits. “The value of managing ecosystems sustainably is often higher than the value associated with the conversion of the ecosystem through farming, logging, or other intensive uses,” noted the influential report.

In addition, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity study led by Deutsche Bank managing director Pavan Sukhdev has shown that the value of environmental services lost every year is greater in magnitude than the current global financial crisis. “Whereas Wall Street by various calculations has to date lost, within the financial sector, $1-1.5 trillion, the reality is that at today’s rate we are losing natural capital [from global deforestation] at least between $2-5 trillion every year,” noted Sukhdev on the sidelines of the IUCN Congress in Oct. 2008.

I presented case studies that demonstrate the economic value of environmental services, as examples that could be replicated by professional, industry, and public sector experts in Armenia. First, the Catskills watershed provides drinking water to New York and is the largest US surface water supply that is not mechanically filtered. In 1989, city officials were faced with an EPA order to build a filtration plant that might have cost $6-8 billion, and instead the city allocated $1.5 billion to create buffers of undeveloped land around the reservoirs, to let nature pay for its own conservation.

Second, a study by the Audubon Society and Gund Institute for Ecological Economics estimated that Massachusetts forests provide $2.9 million in environmental services each year. For example, conservation efforts protected forests around the Quabbin Reservoir, which provides 40 percent of the state’s drinking water. Because of the services provided by this forest buffer, taxpayers were exempted from financing a $750 million filtration plant. Third, a 1986 project analysis in the Philippines estimated that logging would generate gross revenues of $9.8 million over 10 years, while a corresponding increase in sedimentation would result in lost revenues of $8.1 million from fisheries and $19.3 million from tourism over same period. The results convinced the government to ban logging in the Bacuit Bay watershed and declare it a reserve.

“We cannot--and should not--put a brake on the legitimate aspirations of countries and individuals for economic development,” concluded The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity study initiated by the European Commission. “However, it is essential to ensure that such development takes proper account of the real value of natural ecosystems. This is central to economic and environmental management.”

Update: The IREX Core Media Support Program media supplement, Protecting Armenia's Environment, was published in July 2009.

‘The Tree Lady’ honors Green Belt Movement…

2009-03-28T16:07:00.002-04:00

This brief documentary about Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement was created by Will Levitt. It was the first place student winner in the My Hero film festival and was part of the National History Day competition in Washington.

“Though Wangari's message has been shared in many ways, most notably with her 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, I thought that it was important that I try and share her message in my own way. Through her work, Wangari is a hero to so many. She has stood up for countless issues: the environment, women's rights, just government, sustainable economies, international cooperation,” wrote Will on the My Hero website.

The 10 minute film describes the founding of the Green Belt Movement, when Wangari organized women to plant trees with the goal of improving their lives. She started by planting seven trees in her own backyard on World Environmental Day in 1977 and the project quickly expanded. Today, over 30 million trees have been planted with the Green Belt Movement and it has spread to 30 countries.

Will recounted meeting Wangari in 2006, when she was the guest of Boston's Urban Forest Coalition and also the subject of an article by the Armenia Tree Project leadership in the Boston Globe. “To meet her in person further displayed to me the importance of her work, but also made me grateful all the more for her work that has inspired so many,” Will noted.

Other Earthkeeper Heroes highlighted on the My Hero website include Alexandra Cousteau for her work to protect the world’s oceans, E.O. Wilson for his studies on human impacts on the planet, and Laurie David for her commitment to curb climate change.

Changing climate, changing coasts...

2009-02-27T13:48:00.008-05:00

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and New England Aquarium brought together a group of climate experts, business leaders, policymakers, and marine biologists this month to discuss global climate change. The interdisciplinary group gathered at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston for Changing Climate, Changing Coasts, a symposium on the local impacts of climate change and the marine environment.

NEAQ President Bud Ris moderated the proceedings and authored an op ed on climate change earlier in the week. “With sea level now expected to rise about 1-2 feet by the end of this century, and much of that now irreversible, we will see dramatic changes in our coastline. The 100-year flood zone will move inland and what was previously a 100-year zone will become more like a 30 or 40 year zone,” he wrote in the Boston Globe. “The current estimates of sea-level rise are now believed to be fairly conservative.”

Daniel Schrag of Harvard's Center for the Environment noted that the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has not been higher than 300 parts per million in the past 650,000 years, but today is climbing higher than 385 ppm. He warned that scientific models may be underestimating the sensitivity of the earth to climate change, that scientists tend to underestimate risk when there is uncertainty, and that there is a tremendous amount of momentum in the global climate system.

Under a business as usual scenario, scientists are expecting atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations to rise to 550 ppm, which will have tremendous impacts on climate and human life. In response, experts agree that all available solutions will be necessary including switching to less carbon intensive energy, carbon sequestration, and adaptation measures. Given the magnitude and urgency of the problem, Prof. Schrag proposed an emerging geo-engineering innovation as the best available solution. Acknowledging the risk of releasing aerosols into the atmosphere to deflect heat from the sun to prevent global warming, he described it as “the worst idea except for the alternative.”

Many of the presenters focused on the impacts of climate change on coastal New England and the marine environment, with many scenarios showing the New England Aquarium in Boston and other coastal areas impacted by anticipated sea level rise. The 2007 study initiated by Union of Concerned Scientists, Confronting Climate Change in the US Northeast: Science, Impacts, and Solutions, was widely cited along with estimates of the economic and environmental impacts of climate change.

Steps to be taken include revisiting zoning requirements and development regulations along the shoreline, bolstering waterfront property with seawalls, bringing insurance premiums in line with new levels of risk, and advancing alternative energy solutions. Many of the speakers emphasized that we can’t afford the costs of doing nothing when it comes to climate change.

Sustainable development and Armenia’s environment…

2009-01-27T22:22:00.001-05:00

“The moral argument is that we have a duty to preserve irreplaceable gifts of creation, whereas we have no comparable duty toward transient commercial goods. The economic argument is that any society that depletes its natural capital is bound to become impoverished over time.”

I used this Peter Barnes quote from Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons to open an article about sustainable development for the special year-end magazine issue of the Armenian Weekly. The commentary gives an overview of environmental challenges in the Republic of Armenia caused primarily by the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources.

The copper smelter in Alaverdi poses a great risk to public health in Armenia (Photograph by Hawk Khatcherian)

A widely accepted definition of sustainable development is reviewed, along with an emphasis on the economic value of environmental services provided by forests. The following are some of the key conclusions: The protection of agricultural lands from loss of topsoil caused by deforestation and erosion must be prevented, especially given Armenia’s finite resources and geographic isolation.

Strategic decisions and actions taken today can prevent potential resource conflicts both within Armenia and with Armenia’s neighbors. And finally, sustainability must be an integral part of any national development strategy, and by definition it must address economic, environmental, and social factors.

In response to the urgency of the situation, there are signs of progress. I cite ATP's backyard nursery micro-enterprise program, which was selected as a National Winner of the Energy Globe Award for Sustainability at the European Parliament in Brussels, and the United Nations Global Compact which been operating in Armenia since 2006 and has enlisted more than 30 business and organizations committed to aligning their operations with universally accepted principles in the areas of environmental protection and social issues.

ATP model is part of conservation finance conference in Chile…

2008-12-21T21:03:00.014-05:00

The Armenia Tree Project Backyard Nursery Program was used as a model for a winning paper by Harvard University graduate student Catherine Gordon. Ms. Gordon expanded on ATP’s micro-enterprise concept by including a Payment for Ecosystem Services component that will market the various services provided by the newly planted forests.

Ms. Gordon was selected to join 17 students with winning papers from a number of universities ranging from Oxford to the Universidad Austral de Chile for the Conservation Capital in the Americas conference in January, where international experts in the protection of land and biodiversity will consider exemplary cases in conservation finance innovation.

The Chile conference is being coordinated by James N. Levitt, director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest, and some of the topics to be covered include Limited Development and Sustainable Land Use, Financing for Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Sustainable Enterprises, Conservation Investment Banking, and Ecosystem Service and Forest Carbon Markets.

Partners for the conference include Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard's Kennedy School, Environmental Leadership and Training Institute of the Smithsonian Institution and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and Nature Conservancy.

The following is a summary of the paper written by Catherine Gordon, which was selected from among 40 other entries from North America by a panel of conservation finance experts from New Forests, Trust for Public Land, Harvard Forest, and elsewhere:

"The ATP program was used in this conservation finance model as an innovative way to enhance payment for ecosystem services (PES) projects. The backyard nurseries are used to supply of forestry seedlings for PES projects. Given the minimal set-up requirements, a backyard nursery is easily transferable within a region or other countries and allows for scalability so that the seedlings can be used with any sized PES project. Having a low-cost local infrastructure and supply will allow for the investment in small-scale projects that would normally be prohibitive due to set-up costs.

"Since maintaining genetic diversity and protecting endangered tree species is vital for forest management and preserving ecosystems, the backyard nursery allows for the propagation of specific seedling varieties to be used in targeted biodiversity PES projects. The seedlings are grown in local environments so that specific species of important ecological value can be targeted based on the needs of specific forests in any region of the world.

"Furthermore, though some PES projects have a pro-poor component, the inclusion of a backyard nursery model in payment for ecosystem services provides the opportunity for a quantifiable compensation program for local rural poor that is not solely reliant on one single PES project. Engaging local rural poor provides an opportunity to augment their income, educates them about conservation, and makes them stakeholders in the conservation of their local forests and ecosystems."

(Photo at Walden Pond State Reservation by Vicki Sohigian)

What you get from giving...

2008-12-18T21:30:00.001-05:00

I had the pleasure of running into Terri Trespicio in the neighborhood and found out she is a senior editor at Body+Soul magazine. I am always fascinated by the people, organizations, and companies here in Watertown. I knew Martha Stewart’s magazine had an office just down the street, so it was a nice to make the connection. Of course I had no idea that Terri is something of a media celebrity, with appearances on television and in print as an award-winning poet, essayist, and public speaker.

Since I’ve wanted to comment on Bill Clinton’s book, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, I thought I would point out Terri’s insightful conversation about giving during Martha Stewart’s interview with the former President about the Clinton Global Initiative.

Terri’s remarks were based on her article, What You Get from Giving, where she outlines a series of “inspirations to start making generosity a part of every day,” and I want to point out a couple of favorites. Be happy for someone else: “One of the most generous things you can do for the world (and often the most difficult) is to share sympathetic joy or true happiness for someone else’s good fortune…Rather than imagine that there’s less left for you, think the opposite: There’s more to be had as a result.”

Give what you need: “You might decide to give someone something but then a clenching fear arises that you’ll need it, that you don’t have enough of it to give away. The key is awareness of that fear, and giving in spite of it. That’s what makes altruism a practice. It’s not about succeeding or failing; it’s about learning the nature of generosity…Rather than view yourself as bereft and in need of things from others, see yourself as the giver of those things, and you’ll be surprised at what happens.”

Terri refers to research which suggests that nurturing others may feel good because it is rewarded by spikes of dopamine--the neurotransmitter linked to cravings, pleasure, and reward. “If you want a better life, better health, and the sense of being connected and hopeful in this world, the answer is to give,” says bioethicist Stephen Post. “In what can only be considered a blissful karmic payoff, it’s more often the giver--not the receiver--who reaps the biggest payback,” Terri writes.

So watch the interview here to find out why President Clinton said he wished he had Terri’s article before writing his book.

Covering the environment in a new media world…

2008-11-25T19:59:00.008-05:00

The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School hosted a panel on Nov. 19 with new media communicators Bill McKibben of 350.org, McArthur of Free Range Studios, David Ledford of the Wilmington News Journal, and Brick Thornton of MediaGems.

As an introduction to new media, McArthur used clips from The Story of Stuff to emphasize that people responded overwhelmingly to Annie Leonard’s storytelling and having a chance to participate, make choices, and interact with the narrator, while David Ledford described the creation of the interactive Catching the Green portal at his newspaper in Delaware.

Brick Thornton gave a tutorial on viral sharing and the use of new widgets, APIs, and feeds on iGoogle and iPhones, while Bill McKibben announced the launch of 350.org as an attempt to reset the context of the post-Kyoto negotiations on climate change. Since the science has gone from consensus to panic in the past 18 months, this new initiative is focusing attention on the need for urgent action to lower atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to 350 parts per million.

This is the target identified by James Hansen of NASA, and McKibben argued that the only way it will happen is through a global agreement to reset the price of carbon. A follow up to the successful Step It Up national day of climate action in 2007, the new initiative to draw attention to this urgent priority is based on an international day of action set to take place on Oct. 24, 2009.

Henry Fair’s Industrial Scars…

2008-11-01T20:47:00.012-04:00

I first came across the captivating work of J Henry Fair in Harper’s, which ran several of his large landscape photographs of industrial waste sites. Since then I have acquired two posters from his Industrial Scars exhibitions in Italy, Germany, and Singapore. The oversized color shots depict bauxite waste from an aluminum oxide refinery and waste from the processing of phosphate fertilizer.

Conveyor and bucket-wheel excavator digging in the top layer
of earth and coal (Photograph by J Henry Fair courtesy of www.industrialscars.com)

In a description of the photographs, he points out that heavy metals from the production of aluminum are pumped into vast storage areas where it is blown by the wind and covers everything nearby with contaminants, while the production of phosphate fertilizer creates acidic and radioactive waste that leeches into groundwater.

“I see our culture as being addicted to petroleum and the unsustainable consumption of other natural resources, which seems to portend a future of scarcity. My vision is of a different possibility, arrived at through careful husbandry of resources and adjustment of our desires and consumption patterns toward a future of health and plenty,” notes the artist in a statement of purpose.

“Over time, I began to photograph all these things with an eye to making them both beautiful and frightening simultaneously, a seemingly irreconcilable mission, but actually quite achievable given the subject matter,” writes J Henry Fair.

Industrial Scars is being shown in galleries in Berlin, Bochum, Essen, and Stuttgart, and he is currently working on a series of coal mining photographs from the United States and abroad. The New York-based artist has started Soapbox Henry to document his travels.

Upcoming conferences/lectures related to Energy and Armenia’s Environment…

2008-09-21T11:37:00.008-04:00

The Dangers Facing Armenia’s Natural Treasures: Current Risks and Opportunities

ALMA Contemporary Art Gallery
September 25, 2008

Lecture by ATP Executive Director Jeff Masarjian will focus on Armenia’s unique environmental and biological diversity and the threats posed by mining operations and recent plans to lower the water level of Lake Sevan. A documentary film by Vem Media Arts of Yerevan and co-produced by ATP will be screened.

Conference on Waste Management in Armenia

State Engineering University of Armenia
September 25-26, 2008

The ARPA Institute and Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America are presenting this conference sponsored by the Ministry of Nature Protection, Ministry of Education and Science, State Engineering University, and Yerevan State University. Topics will include waste management and the mining industry, the use of solid waste to generate energy, waste management and the Debed River, and radioactive waste disposal.

Fruitfull Armenia IV & Armagroforum III

Armenian State Agricultural Academy
Sept. 29 – Oct. 2, 2008

International conference hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Argentinean entrepreneur Eduardo Eurnekian to highlight the present and visions for the future of sustainable agriculture in Armenia, with a focus on natural resource issues, legal issues, policy, marketing, and agro-industry financing.

At the Crossroads of Development: The Present Situation of the Armenian Environment

Armenian Society of Los Angeles
September 30, 2008

Glendale Public Library
October 4-5, 2008

Lecture by Greens Union of Armenia head Hakob Sanasaryan will focus on Armenia’s environmental protection and conservation legislation, anticipated impacts and adverse effects of existing and proposed mining projects, Lake Sevan and the disparities between the declared management policy and actual activities pertaining to the lake, and air pollution from the Alaverdi copper smelter.

International Forum on Renewable Energy in Armenia

Yerevan ExpoMedia Center
October 6-7, 2008

A government-affiliated renewable energy fund is organizing this forum for local and international scientists and manufacturers to present Armenia’s resources and investment capacity. The forum will focus on small hydropower, wind energy, bioethanol, biofuel, solar technologies, hydrogen energy, and biogas.

Caucasus Biodiversity Reporting Awards

Marriott Hotel, Yerevan
October 27, 2008

The winners being recognized by the International Center for Journalists are Arpi Harutyunyan from ArmeniaNow.com for “Conflict of Man and Beasts: Armenian Wildlife in Danger of Extinction,” Karine Simonyan from Radio Free Europe for “Those in Teghut Can’t Make It! Which Is More Important--Environment or Jobs?” and Rezo Getiashvili from Kviris Palitra for “The Failure of Forestry Reform: New Legislation Could Break Villages.”

The Importance of Ecology and Nature Protection in Sustainable Development Perspectives

Yerevan State University
November 20-21, 2008

This international forum supported by UNDP and the World Bank will focus on environmental monitoring and resource management, ecosystem analysis, protection, and remediation, climate change and sustainable development, interdisciplinary links between sociology, economy, and ecology, environmental legislation and policy, and environmental education and public awareness.

Off to the Riviera…

2008-09-04T23:07:00.006-04:00

On the streets of Nice, France (Photo by Jason Sohigian)

We took a beautiful vacation to Provence and the Cote d’Azur on Aug. 21-31. We stayed with family in a suburb of Marseille and visited all of the key destinations in Southeastern France. A few favorites were Grand Canyon du Verdon, the Greco-Roman archeological ruins at Glanum, and the city of Nice.

I posted lots of photos online: Aix-en-Provence/Arles/Eastern Riviera, Avignon/Western Riviera/Verdon, Haute Provence/Vieux Port/Frioul, Marseille/Carry/Cassis/Notre Dame.

After our return I used an online carbon calculator developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization to estimate the emissions from our flights, and we made a donation to Armenia Tree Project to plant trees to help reduce our carbon footprint from the trip.

Our three year old son Robert seemed to enjoy flying even more this time and he fell in love with airplanes, so we definitely need to start traveling more! I am planning a small trip to visit friends in Portland and the Northern California Redwood Forests, and I’m hoping to go back to Europe during the month of July for the Tour de France.

Carbon offsets emerging as important tool to mitigate climate change…

2008-08-15T21:17:00.005-04:00

Carbon offsets have emerged in recent years an important means of mitigating the effects of climate change. While there have been problems identified with offsets--from technical scientific issues to a lack of quality standards--the voluntary market has grown 240 percent since 2006 to US $331 million in 2007, and the compliance market has grown to US $66 billion.

Size of the Voluntary and Regulated Carbon Markets (2006-2007)

Source: Katherine Hamilton, Milo Sjardin, Thomas Marcello, and Gordon Xu, Forging a Frontier: State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2008, Ecosystem Marketplace and New Carbon Finance

I wrote a study on this rapidly emerging field for an environmental management course on climate change taught this summer by William Moomaw and Timothy Weiskel at Harvard University. The following is a summary of the key points that address some of the controversy and benefits of carbon offsets:

Mechanisms to fund emission reductions in other countries are enabling developing countries to transition to a low carbon economy
Voluntary offsets create an opportunity to sequester carbon emissions that are unavoidable
Voluntary offsets are driving project innovation and quality standards which are expected to have an influence on changes in the compliance market
Voluntary offsets are sometimes being purchased in the compliance market to exceed reductions required by law
The lack of US participation in Kyoto has stimulated the emergence of voluntary actions on the part of US cities and states to legislate emission reductions
A forestry offset may bring a company into compliance until a more cost effective emission reduction technology advances
Forestry projects contribute to a “triple bottom line” by creating environmental, economic, and social benefits in addition to climate mitigation

A working visit to the Republic of Armenia...

2008-08-01T20:05:00.007-04:00

Hundreds of rural families in the Getik River Valley are growing seedlings that ATP will purchase for reforestation in the nearby hillsides (Photo by Jason Sohigian)

I had the good fortune of conducting in a working visit to the Republic of Armenia on July 17-21 to inspect the nurseries and tree planting sites overseen by Armenia Tree Project, and to attend the inauguration of the Mirak Family Reforestation Nursery in the northern region of Lori.

ATP’s new reforestation nursery in Margahovit Village has the capacity to produce over one million tree seedlings per year, and it has already played an integral part in the organization’s partnership with Yale University’s Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.

The inauguration was attended by Robert Mirak and his sister Muriel Mirak-Weissbach, who were traveling with a large group of diasporans, and it was publicized widely by Armenia TV, Armenia Now, Armenian Reporter, and other local media. In addition to this nursery, ATP is planning to establish a new Ohanian Environmental Education Center in the same region.

This church is lost in the forest on the way to one of ATP's remote forest planting sites--the pieces are scattered around the area and were inventoried in Soviet times (Photo by Jason Sohigian)

For three days I traveled with reforestation staff Robert Alexanyan and Vadim Uzunian to inspect the 12 forest sites in Northern Armenia established by ATP since 2004. In addition, we visited 15 of the 400 rural families in the Getik River Valley who are growing seedlings for ATP in the Backyard Nursery Program that was awarded the Energy Globe Award for Sustainability, as well as the community fruit orchards established by ATP and the environmental youth clubs in the regions where we are doing reforestation.

One highlight of the trip was a visit to the site of the Mkhitar Ghosh Vank, which dates from the 9th-11th century. The building stones and khachkars are broken and scattered all over the site, and the church was relocated after an earthquake, when a new church was established in Ghosh village. There are numbers on some of the stones, since an inventory of the site was apparently done in Soviet times.

We met with the forester Gagik Amiryan on a Saturday afternoon at his office in Vanadzor, where he explained the use of demonstration plots to show the importance of trees in agricultural systems (ie. improving grazing land, creating shaded areas, fruit and timber production, crop protection, community nurseries, and community education). Gagik recently participated in a program in Canada coordinated by Adrina Ambrosii called Building International Bridges for Forest Futures.

I visited the botanist Nora Gabrielyan at her home on Sunday so she could sign a copy of her new book “Flowers of the Transcaucasus and Adjacent Areas.” This magnificent book co-authored with Ori Fragman-Sapir highlights 623 plant species from Armenia, Eastern Turkey, Southern Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Northern Iran with color photographs and descriptions, and it is available at select shops in Yerevan and from the publisher Koeltz Scientific Books. Dr. Gabrielyan is currently working on the 11th volume in a series documenting the 3,500 species of plants in Armenia. In the evening I saw Arto Tuncboyaciyan and the Armenian Navy Band at the Avantgarde Folk Music Club, with my brother-in-law Haygaz and his colleague from FINCA Armenia.

There is an obvious sense of pride and appreciation among the program beneficiaries and ATP in-country staff for their work. These rural development programs have been successful in reducing rural poverty and rehabilitating the environment since the organization began implementing reforestation projects after 10 years of doing mostly urban forestry. ATP began partnering with the United Nations Environment Program’s Billion Tree Campaign immediately after it was announced in 2006, and this year has pledged to plant another 600,000 trees in Armenia.

A Danish island’s victory over carbon emissions…

2008-07-15T18:05:00.001-04:00

Samsø’s land-based turbines produce 26 million kilowatt-hours a year, enough to meet the island’s electricity needs
(Photo by Joachim Ladefoged)

Williamstown-based writer Elizabeth Kolbert wrote a very interesting profile of the Danish island of Samsø, which cut its fossil fuel use in half and became an exporter of electricity by 2003. After residents formed energy cooperatives, organized seminars on wind power, and replaced their furnaces with heat pumps, by 2005 the island was producing more energy from renewable sources than it was using.

Kolbert is the author of an excellent series of articles for the New Yorker about climate change, which was published as Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. Her latest article, The Island in the Wind: A Danish Community’s Victory over Carbon Emissions, is about an island in the North Sea about the size of Nantucket.

She points out that Samsø is “the site of an unlikely social movement” that began in the late 1990s, when the island’s 4,300 inhabitants had “a conventional attitude toward energy.” Residents are proud of their accomplishment, yet they insist on their ordinariness since they are not wealthy, especially well educated, or idealistic.

And yet, Samsø transformed its energy systems in a single decade. “Its experience suggests how the carbon problem, as huge as it is, could be dealt with, if we were willing to try,” writes Kolbert.

When the Ministry of Environment and Energy sponsored a renewable energy contest in 1997, an engineer thought the island would make a good candidate. He drew up a plan in consultation with the mayor, and the general reaction among residents was puzzlement when Samsø won. One of the few people on the island to think the project was worth pursuing was Søren Hermansen, recounts Kolbert.

He had to begin by enlisting the support of the island’s opinion leaders. “This is where the hard work starts, convincing the first movers to be active,” he said. Eventually, the social dynamic that stalled the project began to work in its favor, and as more people got involved, that prompted others to do so, explains Kolbert.

“People on Samsø started thinking about energy,” states one farmer who heats his house with solar hot water and a straw burning furnace. “It’s exciting to be a part of this,” says an electrician who installed a small turbine in his backyard.

Samsø has 11 land-based turbines and 12 additional micro-turbines that produce 26 million kilowatt hours a year, which is enough to meet the island’s electricity needs. Ten larger offshore turbines each generate eight million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, and they were erected to compensate for Samsø’s use of fossil fuels in vehicles and ferries.

Each land-based turbine cost the equivalent of $850,000 and each offshore turbine cost around $3 million. Some of the turbines were erected by a single investor and others were purchased collectively. At least 450 residents own shares in the onshore turbines, and an equal number own shares in those offshore. Shareholders receive annual dividend checks based on the price of electricity and how much their turbine has generated, explains Kolbert, and the turbines are expected to repay a shareholder’s investment in eight years.

Journal looks at forests, carbon sequestration, and climate…

2008-06-21T14:21:00.003-04:00

The June 13 issue of the journal Science features an extensive series of articles on Forests in Flux. In “Managing Forests for Climate Change Mitigation,” Josep Canadell and Michael Raupach suggest three strategies to mitigate carbon emissions through forestry: reforestation to increase forested land area, bolstering the carbon density of existing forests, and expanding the use of forest products that sustainably replace emissions from fossil-fuels.

“Forests currently absorb billions of tons of carbon dioxide globally every year, an economic subsidy worth hundreds of billions of dollars if an equivalent sink had to be created,” write Canadell and Raupach. “Concerns about the permanency of forest carbon stocks, difficulties in quantifying stock changes, and the threat of environmental and socioeconomic impacts of large-scale reforestation programs have limited the uptake of forestry activities in climate policies [but] with political will and the involvement of tropical regions, forests can contribute to climate change protection.”

In “Forests and Climate Change: Forcings, Feedbacks, and the Climate Benefits of Forests,” Gordon B. Bonan discusses feedback mechanisms between forests and climate--the carbon cycle, the water cycle, surface energy fluxes, and vegetation dynamics--as well as human alteration of the biosphere. He argues that improved modeling of these interactions will aid in the development of land use policies to mitigate climate change. “These policies must recognize the multitude of forest influences, their competing effects on climate, their different spatial and temporal scales, and their long-term effectiveness and sustainability in a changing climate,” Bonan writes.

The fate of forests is increasingly determined by concesssionary agreements with extractive industries and the demand for commodities produced on forest lands, and climate change and rapid economic growth further complicate effective forest management. In “Changing Governance of the World’s Forests,” Arun Agrawal, Ashwini Chhatre, and Rebecca Hardin argue that understanding the factors that lead to effective governance--rather than explicit ownership of forest land--will be critical to addressing future governance of forest resources.

“The goal of forest conservation has historically not been met when in conflict with land use changes driven by the demand for food, fuel, and profit,” they write. “It is necessary to recognize and advocate for better governance of forests more strongly given the importance of forests in meeting basic human needs in the future, making resources available for livelihoods and development, maintaining ecosystems and biodiversity, and addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation goals.”

In “Beyond Deforestation: Restoring Forests and Ecosystem Services on Degraded Lands,” Robin Chazdon argues that the complexities involved in reforestation require a case-by-case analysis to determine whether natural regeneration or some form of human-guided reforestation is the best way to proceed. Chazdon says that depending on the state of the forest and its soil, some forest regeneration may benefit from human intervention, but that many secondary forests have proven that nature works better.

Much of the interest in reforestation is currently based on carbon storage and climate mitigation, and Chazdon cautions against quick solutions: “Fast-growing, short-lived species with low-density wood are favored by many reforestation projects designed to provide carbon offsets, but long-term carbon sequestration is promoted by growth of long-lived, slow-growing tree species with dense wood and slow turnover of woody tissues.”

Finally, Chazdon explains that new forests are not a solution to deforestation of existing forests: “Plantations and restored forests can improve ecosystem services and enhance biodiversity conservation, but will not match the composition and structure of the original forest cover.”

Micro-enterprise program receives Energy Globe Award for Sustainability…

2008-06-02T18:15:00.010-04:00

The backyard nursery micro-enterprise program being implemented by Armenia Tree Project was selected as the National Winner for Armenia of the Energy Globe Awards, also known as the World Award for Sustainability. I was fortunate to attend the award ceremony with my ATP colleague Paul Yeghiayan on May 26 at the European Parliament in Brussels.

During the televised evening gala in the Plenary Hall of the European Parliament, an honorary Energy Globe Award was presented to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev. European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso presented the award to Mr. Gorbachev for his role as cofounder of Green Cross International.

The ATP program recognized by the Energy Globe Awards earlier in the day is mitigating poverty-driven deforestation by creating micro-enterprise tree nurseries in the Getik River Valley of northern Armenia. These nurseries are owned by hundreds of Armenia’s most impoverished families, who have doubled their annual income by participating in the backyard nursery program.

ATP initiated the program as a pilot project with 17 families in 2004, and since then it has grown to include 400 families this year who are growing reforestation seedlings. One goal of the program is that some of the additional income be invested to reduce reliance on the forests for heating and cooking fuel by creating an economy for a natural gas infrastructure in these villages.

In the Plenary Hall of the European Parliament
before the TV Gala (click photo for more images)

The afternoon program at the European Parliament included remarks by President Gorbachev and Maneka Gandhi, chairwoman of the Energy Globe Awards jury. The most innovative and sustainable projects from over 100 countries were recognized, from alternative energy projects in Bangladesh, Georgia, Kenya, Nicaragua, Poland, and Sri Lanka, to forestry projects in Argentina and Honduras.

During the evening program, awards went to a Peruvian waste management program, a project building wells in Mozambique, a parabolic power plant in Spain which produces emission-free energy, and a South African project that raises youth awareness of environmental issues. The overall winner was Austrian-based Fronius International, which operates zero emissions vehicles with hydrogen fuel produced by photovoltaic cells and electrolysis.

The television gala (click here for webcast) included remarks by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Bollywood star Aamir Khan, as well as performances by Dionne Warwick, Alanis Morissette, and Zucchero.

Forum on Armenia Tree Project’s Sustainable Development Strategies…

2008-05-24T09:52:00.004-04:00

Armenia Tree Project and a group of partnering organizations are hosting a public program on sustainable development and forestry on June 19 at the Armenian Cultural Foundation in Arlington, MA.

ATP is working with the Armenian Assembly, Armenian Environmental Network, Armenian National Committee, and Vem Media Arts of Yerevan to organize the event. These organizations are involved because they have each worked with ATP on environmental issues over the past few years.

A documentary about Armenia’s environment by Vem Media Arts will be screened, followed by a presentation by ATP director Jeff Masarjian and Zachary Parisa of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Mr. Parisa has done field work in the forests of northern Armenia (see photo by Kathryn Howard) near ATP’s reforestation nursery.

He is drafting a sustainable forestry manual for Armenia, which is part of an innovative two-year project funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. [Click here for a press release by ATP announcing the grant, and click here for an article by CEPF about the project.]

Documentary photograher interested in Dark Tourism...

2008-03-08T09:46:00.013-05:00

This building is the site of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (A-Bomb Dome) because it was the closest structure to withstand the 1945 nuclear attack (Photo by Julie Dermansky)

I first learned about the photographic work of artist Julie Dermansky in what is known as Dark Tourism from a feature article in the New York Times back in 2005. At the time she was visiting sites around the world for her project: Mankind’s Monuments to Barbaric Acts and Other Unusual Vacation Destinations.

She had a tragically long list of these sites from around the world, and I contacted Julie to be sure she was planning to visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan on the day of April 24, when hundreds of thousands of citizens pay their respects to the victims of the 1915 genocide.

She was planning to go when funding and time allowed, but the project was put on hold when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and Julie was off to document the human and natural tragedy in New Orleans. I received periodic updates about her work from New Orleans, and she was in touch recently about her plan to go to Yerevan on April 24, 2008.

An immediate goal of the project is an exhibit at the American Institute of Architects in New York in September 2008, which she describes as a photographic survey of museums and monuments dealing with genocide and injustice.

If you’re in Armenia look up Julie when she’s there in April, and if you’re in the diaspora check out her work and give her your support!

Update: Here is an exclusive interview with Julie Dermansky in Hetq Online and Armenian Weekly. Click here to read the interview in French on Yevrobatsi.org.

JFK Forum defines new trends in social innovation…

2008-03-05T08:25:00.009-05:00

Kennedy School Reynolds Fellow Illac Diaz created innovative programs in the Philippines to address unemployment and poverty (Photo source: http://illacdiaz.multiply.com/)

I was fortunate to attend the JFK Forum at the Harvard Kennedy School this week on trends in social entrepreneurship. This phrase has entered our lexicon along with sustainability as something that everyone wants to be associated with right now, and the ideas are sound and inspiring. A more down to earth way to describe the concept may be social innovation, but the term is not what is important since these are people doing important work to create large-scale change in society.

The panel was titled after the new book The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Are Changing the World, and it featured theorists and leaders from the field. This book was considered so influential, in fact, that it was given to attendees of the World Economic Forum in Davos this year.

The speakers were Leslie Crutchfield, managing director of the Ashoka Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship and coauthor of Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, Pamela Hartigan, managing director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and coauthor of The Power of Unreasonable People, Stacey Childress, senior researcher at Harvard Business School, Vanessa Kirsch, founder of New Profit, Inc., and Christopher Gergen, founding partner of New Mountain Ventures and coauthor of Life Entrepreneurs. Rebecca Onie and Illac Diaz are young leaders in this field who also participated.

Here are some of the important points I took from the presenters:

Stacey Childress: social entrepreneurs seek opportunities to address the root causes of problems, rather than the effects of a problem, and they affiliate with larger movements to change the rules of the game. Rebecca Onie: social entrepreneurs leverage the assets of existing systems to create change, and are often able to find simple, elegant solutions to seemingly intractable problems.

Leslie Crutchfield: social entrepreneurs build movements and find points of leverage in all sectors including other non-profits. She also recalled that the founder of Ashoka said rather than teaching a village how to fish, you need to revolutionize the entire fishing industry! Vanessa Kirsch: resources made available by government can be important for success, and too often organizations become focused on sustaining themselves rather than finding ways to create change.

In a highlight of the evening, Reynolds Fellow Illac Diaz described how he was able to address unemployment and poverty in the Philippines through listening and learning from beneficiaries of a Habitat for Humanity program to implement simple and practical solutions that were traditionally overlooked. He emphasized that business plan competitions can connect innovative ideas that often exist locally with necessary sources of capital investment.

In response to the anticipated crisis in non-profit leadership, Christopher Gergen concluded that rather than going out to start new organizations, there is a need to catalyze existing non-profits with these ideas so they can have more of an impact.

New projects preserve biodiversity of the planet...

2008-03-02T18:03:00.008-05:00

(Photo of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault by Mari Tefre)

The New York Times announced two major multi-million dollar projects this week that will contribute to the preservation and understanding of the biodiversity of the planet. The first, Near Arctic, Seed Vault Is a Fort Knox of Food, is about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway. This new seed bank is engineered to store and protect samples from every seed collection in the world.

With plant species disappearing at an alarming rate, scientists and governments are creating a global network to store seeds and sprouts, precious genetic resources that may be needed for the world’s food supply to adapt to climate change, writes Elisabeth Rosenthal.

The Global Vault is part of an effort to gather and systematize information about plants and their genes, which may be “more valuable than gold” since the FAO has reported that three-quarters of crop biodiversity has been lost in the last century.

The second, The Encyclopedia of Life, No Bookshelf Required, is about the launch of Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson’s project to catalogue the 1.8 million known species with room for the millions of other species as they are discovered.

An international team of scientists has introduced the first 30,000 pages of the Encyclopedia of Life and they predict they will have the other 1.77 million within 10 years. The species currently listed online come mainly from databases of fish, amphibians, and plants, and the authors hope the scientific community will pool its knowledge on the pages, writes Carl Zimmer.

Major advances have made the goal more realistic than past attempts, since biologists can now consult databases that hold DNA sequences from hundreds of thousands of species. And ten of the largest natural history libraries in the world are scanning millions of pages of scientific literature, which computers are text-mining to add information to species pages.

Both programs will become increasingly more important as we face biodiversity loss caused by human-induced climate change.

AmeriFlux reveals how forests cycle carbon...

2008-03-01T17:31:00.004-05:00

A new article published by OnEarth--the magazine of the National Resources Defense Council--reviews new research into carbon sequestration in older forests. The Giving Trees reports on the AmeriFlux Network, an international collaboration that tracks the exchange of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and energy in the Americas. This research has challenged conventional wisdom about how forests mitigate climate change.

Global warming has forced foresters to address the impact of logging on the flow of carbon between forests and the atmosphere, and many in the industry have insisted that stands of young, fast-growing trees capture carbon more efficiently than do older forests, writes Sharon Levy.

According to a recently developed technology called the eddy covariance method (or eddy flux measurement), it turns out that forests hundreds of years old can continue to actively absorb carbon. “All the ecological models said that temperate forests stop their net carbon uptake at about 50 years. Eddy flux data has clearly shown that this is not true,” states Harvard Forest researcher Steven Wofsy.

Resprouting clear-cuts, on the other hand, emit carbon despite the rapid growth rate of young trees because decomposer microbes in the forest soil--which release carbon dioxide as they break down dead branches and roots--work more quickly after a stand is logged. In this case, the microbes respiring in the soil--rather than photosynthesis by the trees aboveground--can dominate the carbon balance for up to 20 years.

Sustainability expert outlines Plan B 3.0 to save civilization…

2008-02-28T23:08:00.009-05:00

Lester R. Brown, a pioneer in the field of sustainable development and founder of the Worldwatch Institute and the Earth Policy Institute, discussed the latest edition of his book, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, this month at the Harvard University Center for the Environment. He was joined by panelists Daniel Schrag and Michael McElroy of Harvard (click here for a new article by Prof. McElroy on renewable energy).

After an overview of dramatic climate change impacts including melting glaciers and expanding desertification, Brown described some of the political and social problems facing developing nations such as population growth and the pitfalls of the demographic transition. And as we reach the stage of peak oil [dwindling supplies] and with world food prices rising, for the first time the energy and food economies of the world are now tied closely to each other, Brown observed.

His solution to the crisis prescribes an 80 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2020, arguing that the 2050 target date of many other strategies is too long to wait given the environmental indicators we are witnessing today. His recommendations--which he describes in detail in Plan B 3.0--include greater energy efficiency, using renewable sources of energy, and expanding tree cover around the world.

This new energy economy would include a restructuring of the tax system to reflect the market failures described by Sir Nicholas Stern that contributed to the problem of climate change, so that prices reflect all of the indirect costs associated with various energy sources and lifestyle choices.

“This problem is a race between natural and political tipping points,” cautioned Brown, who uses the example of World War II to demonstrate that the United States can mobilize the country successfully around an idea very quickly when it is demanded by public leaders and supported by industry and citizens.

“The restructuring of the US industrial economy in support of the war effort was accomplished in a matter of months, not years,” emphasized Brown to illustrate the sense of immediacy, innovation, and collective action required to transition quickly to a more sustainable economy. “Saving civilization is at stake, and everyone needs to get active,” concluded Brown.

What High-Impact Nonprofit Groups Do…

2008-02-26T22:57:00.005-05:00

Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant have gotten some great press for their recent book, Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, which examines 12 successful organizations including Environmental Defense, City Year, and YouthBuild USA.

In fact, Ms. Crutchfield will be leading a high profile panel that takes its title from John Elkington’s latest book, The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Are Changing the World, on March 3 at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's JFK School.

A Chronicle of Philanthropy profile noted that the authors expected their research into successful non-profit organizations to confirm the notion that charities could thrive by modeling themselves after their for-profit counterparts. What they found was something a little different, and the following are some of the traits identified in Forces for Good that distinguish vibrant organizations from those that are less effective.

What High-Impact Nonprofit Groups Do:

Use leverage to change entire systems
Do whatever it takes--short of compromising core values
Engage outsiders in meaningful experiences
Build long-term relationships
Nurture networks of nonprofits
Constantly adapt and balance creativity with structure
Empower others to lead and take action
Invest in the basics: people, fundraising, and systems

What Less-Effective Groups Do:

Focus exclusively on their own organization
Only provide direct services, avoid politics
Treat volunteers as free labor or donors as check writers
See fellow nonprofits as competitors
Fear change, become mired in bureaucracy, or get overwhelmed with too many ideas
Maintain a command-and-control hierarchy and allow the CEO to be the "hero"

Armenia Tree Project inspires planting in Albania...

2008-02-21T16:17:00.006-05:00

(Photo of Oxygen Park in Tirana, Albania by Gjergj Bakallbashi)

A few prominent members of Boston’s Albanian community learned about the work of Armenia Tree Project at a program hosted by the Earthwatch Institute in May 2007, and decided to implement a similar program in their country.

After meeting with ATP’s leadership to learn about the organization’s methodology, Gjergj Bakallbashi and Lejda Kapia organized the planting of their first 10 trees on the grounds of the Mother Teresa Medical Center in Tirana, Albania.

The site, Oxygen Park, is intended to improve the aesthetics and environment of the hospital and is used as a resting place by visitors. The small leaf linden trees are encircled by colorfully painted recycled truck tires.

The planting was covered by the Albanian website Gazeta Shqip. “I’m not sure if you read Albanian, but you will be able to spot your name as one of the people that inspired and contributed to the realization of the project,” wrote Lejda to ATP Executive Director Jeff Masarjian. “Thank you very much for your guidance and support!”

Gjergji added that Jeff’s name is on the plaque that describes the park. “I took the liberty of adding your name to the list of Albanians who supported the project because you did too,” he wrote. “We planted the first batch of trees. Now it is up to the hospital staff to take care of them.”

“We were impressed and inspired by your collaboration with various groups to strengthen your impact on the lives and landscape of your country. Many wishes for another productive reforestation year,” they added in a note to ATP.

Preserving Armenia's architectural memory...

2008-01-21T13:01:00.000-05:00

Working with the environmental organization Earthwatch Institute, Jane Britt Greenwood is leading a series of architectural research expeditions that will take international volunteers to Gyumri, Armenia. An associate dean at the College of Architecture, Art, and Design at Mississippi State University, Jane and her husband Allen went to Armenia after the earthquake of 1988 to assist in the establishment of the American University of Armenia.

After leaving Armenia, Greenwood began looking for ways to be involved in the reconstruction of the country she had come to love. As an architect, the rebuilding of Armenia's infrastructure interested her, but she was disappointed to find that the new buildings generally lacked the traditional Armenian character. In a recent article in the Armenian Weekly, Preserving Architectural Memory, Greenwood describes the Earthwatch expedition as well as the work of the Heritage Conservation Network and Historic Armenian Houses.

“The reminders of who we are and where we come from are inherent in the architecture that surrounds us, yet we often do not realize it until those reminders no longer exist,” writes Greenwood. “When it comes to issues of conservation and preservation, the need to restore small-scale residential architecture is often overlooked in favor of maintaining those structures perceived as having more important civic and/or religious value.”

“There needs to be an understanding of how residential architecture in Armenia evolved so that architectural memories of the past can be re-interpreted to create new memories for the future. Without these efforts, cultural identity associated with Armenian lifestyle will be lost,” cautions Greenwood.

During the summer of 2008, research activities will be in the second of a three-year project funded by Earthwatch. The project, Armenia’s Architectural Heritage, involves the documentation of houses constructed between 1840 and 1920 when Gyumri was known as Alexandrapol. “The residential architecture from this time period is currently at risk of being destroyed due to economic development and to years of neglect in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in 1988,” notes Greenwood.

In 2007, three teams of volunteers documented oral histories while they measured, drew, and photographed five dwellings in the Kumayri Historic District of Gyumri. Greenwood plans to use the information to develop a “visual vocabulary of the elements and components of residential architecture that produce diverse and unique regional characteristics,” which can be used to guide the future growth and development of Gyumri while preserving the quality of its architecture.

The Heritage Conservation Network workshop aims to document the buildings through a process of de-construction and re-construction. Greenwood reports that arrangements are being made with USAID for this project to serve as a job training exercise for masons, with a workshop “to help bring life back to the historic stone residences representative of Gyumri.” Heritage Conservation Network is a non-profit organization located in the US that utilizes the skills and efforts of volunteers to help save the world’s architectural heritage.

One of the goals of the workshop is to demonstrate how preservation can be a cost effective and sustainable process, creating jobs related to restoration and re-construction, and increasing regional income through “heritage tourism.”

Finally, Historic Armenian Houses was formed in 2004 to research and preserve the historic houses of Armenia. “Whether rebuilding in the wake of natural disasters or in response to economic development, there is an urgent need to design and construct in a manner sensitive to the memory of people and places,” writes Greenwood.

“Disseminating information that documents the process used for the Kumayri Historic District will provide a prototypical methodology that can be applied to other Armenian cities and towns looking to construct and design neighborhoods reflective of their national heritage,” she emphasizes. “Identifying vernacular neighborhood, architectural, and landscape pattern languages will provide a guide for designing and building structures consistent with the unique and distinct traditions inherent in Armenian culture.”

For more background and information about this work, an extensive interview with Jane Britt Greenwood published by Hetq Online and the Armenian Weekly is available here (and here in French).

Diamond asks 'What’s Your Consumption Factor?'

2008-01-03T20:13:00.000-05:00

Diamond writes about the ancient Moai on Easter Island in 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed' (Photo: Tomas Munita/New York Times)

Jared Diamond is the noted author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Guns, Germs, and Steel” and “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” which emphasizes the serious consequences of deforestation. As a geographer who also happens to be a Malthusian theorist, his ideas are sometimes considered controversial. A recent article stated that “through the wide-angle lenses of [Diamond’s] books, people appear not as thinking agents motivated by dreams and desires, ideas and ideologies, but as pawns of their environment” and “some anthropologists saw [‘Guns, Germs, and Steel’] as excusing the excesses of the conquerors...If it wasn’t their genes that made them do it, it was their geography.”

In his Jan. 2 article “What’s Your Consumption Factor?” Diamond writes that the average rate at which people consume resources like oil and metals and produce wastes like plastics and greenhouse gases is 32 times higher in North America, Western Europe, Japan, and Australia than in the developing world. So the estimated 1 billion people who live in developed countries have a relative per capita consumption rate of 32, while the other 5.5 billion people in the developing world have relative per capita consumption rates closer to 1.

He notes, for example, that each of the 300 million Americans consumes as much as 32 Kenyans, so with 10 times the population the US consumes 320 times more resources than Kenya. Diamond adds that China stands out among the developing countries that are seeking to increase per capita consumption, since it has the world’s fastest growing economy and there are 1.3 billion Chinese. “The world is already running out of resources, and it will do so even sooner if China achieves American-level consumption,” he writes.

“Per capita consumption rates in China are still about 11 times below ours, but let’s suppose they rise to our level,” he continues, adding that if India as well as China were to catch up, world consumption rates would triple and if the whole developing world were to catch up, world consumption rates would increase by a factor of 11.

“It would be as if the world population ballooned to 72 billion people (retaining present consumption rates),” writes Diamond. “Some optimists claim that we could support a world with 9 billion people, but I haven’t met anyone crazy enough to claim that we could support 72 billion. Yet we often promise developing countries that if they will only adopt good policies--for example, institute honest government and a free-market economy--they, too, will be able to enjoy a first-world lifestyle. This promise is impossible, a cruel hoax: we are having difficulty supporting a first-world lifestyle even now for only 1 billion people.”

After outlining this grim scenario, Diamond concludes that we could have a stable outcome in which all countries converge on consumption rates below current levels. “Real sacrifice wouldn’t be required because living standards are not tightly coupled to consumption rates,” he reveals. “Much American consumption is wasteful and contributes little or nothing to quality of life…Whether we get there willingly or not, we shall soon have lower consumption rates because our present rates are unsustainable.”

New ‘Carbon Partnership Facility’ Will Pay to Leave Forests Standing…

2007-12-15T14:33:00.001-05:00

(Young people demonstrate in favor of forest protection at the UN climate conference in Bali, Photo: Earth Negotiations Bulletin)

A new fund to compensate developing countries for the value of their forests was launched on Dec. 11 by the World Bank at the UN climate conference in Bali, reported Environment News Service. The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility was developed because forests are more important left standing than cut down, acknowledged the World Bank, which has a special unit dedicated to carbon financing.

“The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility signals that the world cares about the global value of forests and is ready to pay for it,” said the US head of the World Bank. “This can change the economic options for many people who depend on the forests for their livelihoods. There is now a value to conserving, not just harvesting the forest.”

The Kyoto Protocol does not give carbon finance incentives to developing countries for reducing deforestation and degradation (REDD), but the new facility will build the capacity of developing countries in tropical and subtropical regions to reduce emissions from deforestation.

On the sidelines of the Bali conference on Dec. 8, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) hosted the first "Forest Day" meeting ever held at a UN climate conference. "In the climate change process, there is growing political acknowledgement of the need to reduce emissions from deforestation," said the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, adding that "if we do not sustain trees, we will soon live in a world that will not sustain us."

A new study by CIFOR presented on Forest Day warns that the new push to reduce emissions from deforestation is imperiled by a failure to grasp the root causes of deforestation. Based on more than a decade of research on the forces driving deforestation, the report shows that there is an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions if financial incentives are sufficient to offset political and economic realities that cause deforestation. The report sees promise in the idea that financial incentives can compensate landowners for valuable "environmental services" provided by forests.

Dr. Henry Astarjian on ‘The Struggle for Kirkuk’...

2007-12-08T19:21:00.000-05:00

Dr. Henry D. Astarjian recently conducted an interview on the WNPR radio program “Where We Live” about Iraq and his new book “The Struggle for Kirkuk: The Rise of Hussein, Oil, and the Death of Tolerance in Iraq.” Dr. Astarjian was a columnist when I was at the Armenian Weekly, and his personal account of Iraq is colorful, insightful, and informative.

Dr. Astarjian explores the social and political dynamics in Iraq before the rise of Saddam Hussein. His personal memoir reveals the turmoil of life under Communism and his experience as a political prisoner in a death row cell in Iraq.

He gives an eyewitness view of the history of Iraq through the life of one of its most volatile towns, from the perspective of a citizen who witnessed death, kidnapping, corruption, political indoctrination, and open murder in the streets, writes the publisher Praeger Security International.

"The Struggle for Kirkuk" is the story of the diversity of Kirkuk, where colonial Britains, Kurds, Turkomans, Assyrians, Jews, and Armenians all lived together. The book also explores the influences that the British, through the Iraq Petroleum Company, had in shaping Iraqi society.

Nansen Institute advances Environmental Management in Armenia…

2007-11-12T10:55:00.000-05:00

The Fridtjof Nansen Institute of Norway organized a seminar in Armenia this fall on international environmental obligations, implementation, and public participation. Armenia has ratified a number of international environmental treaties, but there are substantial obstacles in the implementation process, according to a press release from the Nansen Institute.

“In our dialogue with Armenian governmental bodies and civil society, we have tried to encourage a change towards the need for political will as well as political feasibility in the ongoing implementation process,” states Pål Skedsmo of the Nansen Institute.

The seminar discussed the implementation process and significance of multilateral environmental treaties ratified by Armenia, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Cartagena protocol on Biosafety, the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), and the Convention of the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Berne Convention).

The seminar included discussions on the role of civil society and environmental NGOs. Civil society in Armenia is getting stronger and more assertive, according to the Nansen Institute, but is nevertheless riddled by many of the challenges facing civil society in post-Soviet states such as weak support from the state, limited public participation, and a reliance on international donors.

“These seminars--where a broad range of civil servants as well as civil society representatives participate--facilitate and improve dialogue between various sectors. Several of the participants said they would bring the discussions back to their various ministries in order to continue enhancing cross-sectoral cooperation,” concluded Skedsmo.

The Nansen Institute has a web page for the “Environmental Management and Civil Society in Armenia” project, as well as the presentations from this seminar. These include “International Environmental Institutions: An Overview of Development and Significance” by Steinar Andresen, “Development of Protected Areas in Armenia” by Karen Manvelyan, and “Environmental NGOs in Armenia: Their Relations to Authorities and International Donors” by Anna Jenderedjian.

Clark University advances environmental sustainability…

2007-11-12T09:43:00.000-05:00

The cover article of the Fall 2007 issue of the Clark University magazine notes that the university and its faculty, students, and alumni have long been at the forefront in examining the drivers of environmental sustainability.

A Clark University Environmental Sustainability task force is examining environmental issues on campus to help Clark move into the next decade with a greener profile. Task force initiatives include an annual report card on environmental sustainability and urging the university to join the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.

Other initiatives include Campus Sustainability Day and a student campaign to invest in wind power to offset the amount of “dirty” electricity they use, writes Tammy Griffin-Kumpey in “The Sustainable University.” A Clark Energy Awareness Program was founded to educate the campus about energy conservation and begin a dialogue about energy conservation. In addition, the Lasry Center for Bioscience received a Gold Leadership in Energy and Design certification and the new student residence Blackstone Hall is in the process of LEED certification.

The article interviews several faculty members working in the field of environmental sustainability, including Jennie Stephens (see photo by Rob Carlin) who teaches a course that challenges students to think about sustainability in the context of the university as an agent of change. Campus greening is a hot topic, she says, and there’s a push for campus communities to demonstrate good sustainability practices and integrate them into the curriculum and across disciplines, and also to reach out to facilitate societal change.

Stephens researches carbon capture and storage technologies that remove carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants before it’s emitted into the atmosphere, and she notes that climate change is an urgent sustainability issue. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing as a direct result of human burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, which in turn leads to increasing global average temperatures, rising sea levels, and more frequent extreme weather events, writes Griffin-Kumpey.

Another profile features geographer B.L. Turner II, who teaches “The Earth Transformed by Human Action,” which considers the increasing capacity of humankind to manipulate the structure and function of the Earth’s system. Turner has been involved with a project in Yucatán, examining this coupled system in a tropical forest and how it relates to deforestation. “When the use and cover of some segment of the Earth is changing, it has social and environmental implications,” explains Turner.

Management professor Joe Sarkis says businesses face pressure to be environmentally responsible from government, competitors, consumers, and employees. There are a lot of reasons why businesses would want to be greener, but there debates as to whether or not good environmental responsibility relates to good financial performance. “Companies that are spending a lot to be environmentally sound may not realize the returns for many years, but part of that return is that they exist many years down the line. Companies that look for the easy buck in the short term might lose out in the end,” he says.

Finally, the cover article includes sidebar stories about Clark alumni who are working in the field of environmental sustainability. Colleen Mullaney profiles my work with Armenia Tree Project, Angela Mwandia’s work with the Africa Stockpiles Program of the World Wildlife Fund, which cleans up obsolete pesticides, and Sharon Rowe’s innovative company EcoBags.

Daily Show segment on the Armenian Genocide...

2007-10-12T10:45:00.001-04:00

This Oct. 11 video clip from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart about the Armenian Genocide resolution in the US Congress was removed from You Tube within 12 hours of it being posted, but it is still available on the Comedy Central web site here. Also on the same topic, this Dan Wasserman cartoon from the Oct. 12 issue of the Boston Globe was great.

Update: The brief Oct. 12 coverage of the issue by Bill Maher was not as favorable, since he chose to gloss over the issue in the context of the war in Iraq. But even luminaries like Noam Chomsky have failed to put the legacy of the Armenian Genocide in the context of current day human rights atrocities. The issue is not a diaspora or US citizens lobbying their own government--it is about mass violence, accountability, intellectual responsibility, and government denial.

Would be nice to see a tree planting program like this in the City of Yerevan…or even Watertown

2007-10-10T22:01:00.000-04:00

(Photo by Jason Sohigian, Watertown, MA)

New York City has kicked off a plan to plant a million trees throughout the streets, parks, and private open spaces over the next 10 years. The program is part of a plan to guide growth in an environmentally sustainable way over the next few decades, according to the Oct. 10 article "Bid for a Million Trees Starts With One in Bronx.”

The Mayor’s focus on increasing the city’s canopy cover--a measure of the physical space shaded by trees--will help reduce carbon dioxide and lower energy use by cooling the city. New York’s 5.2 million trees, nearly 600,000 of them on the streets, cover about 24 percent of the city’s land mass, and officials aim to increase that beyond the national average of 27 percent.

The Mayor is proposing that the parks department spend $400 million to plant 600,000 trees over the next decade, about 220,000 along streets and 380,000 in other city property like parks. In addition, proposed zoning regulations would require street trees for most new development, including major expansions or some changes of use of existing properties, writes Diane Cardwell in the New York Times.

The Dirty Story Behind Local Energy...

2007-10-03T21:43:00.000-04:00

Aviva Chomsky is a professor of history and coordinator of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean studies at Salem State College and the co-editor of “The People Behind Colombian Coal: Mines, Multinationals, and Human Rights.” The eldest daughter of Noam Chomsky, she has led three delegations to the Colombian coal region. In an October 1 story in the Boston Phoenix, “The Dirty Story Behind Local Energy,” she explains that Massachusetts hums comfortably on Colombian coal, but the mines are devastating the land and people’s lives.

“Today Tabaco is a memory, obliterated as it was on August 9, 2001, to allow for expansion of the world’s largest open-pit coal mine. On that day, employees of the Cerrejón Zona Norte mine--supported by armed security guards, the national police, and the army, which dragged some residents from their homes by force--leveled the town with bulldozers, evicting Tabaco’s 700 residents and razing its every structure. The coal from that mine now fires power plants in the Bay State,” writes Aviva in the Phoenix.

“Underground coal mines pose huge risks to the people who work in them: explosions, accidents, cave-ins, and poisoned air have killed thousands of coal miners over the years…Surface, or open-pit, mines pose different risks. Whole ecosystems are destroyed when miles of land are dug up to access the coal underneath it. In the Guajira, rivers and streams have been diverted, desertification has spread, and whole species--such as the iguana and the howling monkey--have disappeared or been supplanted. Too often, these ecosystems include people who are simply deemed dispensable by the mining companies,” continues Aviva.

The article explains that Massachusetts is the only New England state relying heavily on coal for electricity. One-fourth of its electricity comes from burning coal at the Mount Tom plant in Holyoke, the Salem Harbor plant in Salem, and the Brayton Point plant in Somerset.

“East Coast industries and power plants used to rely on coal brought in by rail from Appalachia and the southeastern US. But beginning in the 1970s, environmental regulations started requiring power plants to lower their emissions. The idea behind the legislation was for plants to upgrade their equipment and install scrubbers that would catch toxic particles (sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide) during the burning process. But many plants found that they could reduce their emissions by simply switching to higher-quality, cleaner-burning coal, such as could be found in the open-pit coal mines of the western US,” she explains.

“By the 1980s, two major US energy companies, Exxon and Drummond, were exploring another source: Colombia’s vast, untapped, and clean-burning coal deposits. Soon these two companies were shutting down their US mines to shift production to Colombia. Not only was its coal clean, it was inexpensive: government subsidies and cheap labor provided an important incentive. And Massachusetts plants soon had another reason to make the switch: it’s actually cheaper to ship the coal by sea from Colombia to the ports of Massachusetts than it is to move it by rail from mines in Illinois and Wyoming,” reveals Aviva.

“Although the coal from this region powers electricity here in Massachusetts--as well as much of the rest of the US and Canadian Eastern Seaboard, Europe, Israel, and Japan--Colombians see the coal only in the displacements, the contaminated air, and the scars on their land. The indigenous Wayuu village of Tamaquito has no electricity, nor health services, running water, or schools...The company has bought all of the farmland, leaving the village an isolated island,” writes Aviva, adding that Cerrejón’s slogan is “Coal for the world, progress for Colombia.”

Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change

2007-09-29T18:38:00.000-04:00

Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change--an annual gathering of environmental, industry and social justice innovators who have demonstrated visionary and practical models for restoring the Earth and its inhabitants--will be held at UMass Dartmouth on October 19-21, 2007. The conference will bring together a diverse audience of students, faculty, entrepreneurs, scientists, and everyday people. The conference will feature world-renowned innovators such as:

* Bill McKibbin--organizer of Step It Up 2007! A National Day of Climate Action and author of The End of Nature

* Dr. Joia Mukherjee--a long-time health care access and human rights advocate in the U.S. and developing countries, co-founder of the HIV Equity Initiative, which served as a model for the Millennium Development Goals

* Robert F. Kennedy Jr.--senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council

* Diane Wilson--co-founder of Code Pink and recipient of Mother Jones's Hell Raiser of the Month and Louis Gibbs' Environmental Lifetime Award

* Van Jones--founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, now working to wed the social justice and ecology movements by promoting the slogan "Green-collar Jobs, Not Jails"

* John Perkins--author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

* Simran Sethi--presenter for TreeHugger News and award-winning journalist

* Naomi Wolf--literary star of the third wave of the feminist movement

* Will Allen--organic farming visionary, activist and entrepreneur, author of War on Bugs

In addition to morning speakers and afternoon workshops, there will be evening film showings, an open mic showcasing youth participants and featured artists, wild-edibles walks, veggie-oil bus demonstrations. To register, visit www.connectingforchange.org.

New chickpea helps farmers adapt to climate change...

2007-09-14T22:15:00.000-04:00

C hickpeas--one of the plants with the highest amount of protein--are a staple of Middle Eastern food. Farmers in Turkey, according to a September 4 report by Environment News Service, have been enduring a severe drought that has caused their crops to fail. A new chickpea variety that can withstand drought and still produce a high yield has been developed by scientists with the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) based in Aleppo, Syria.

System of a Down bassist does new Bad Brains video...

2007-09-09T22:41:00.002-04:00

This new Bad Brains video was directed by Shavo Odadjian of System of a Down, and was shot by Danny Hiele in Portland and at the Sasquatch Festival. While I’m at it, I also wanted to include 1988 Bad Brains clips from Daytona Beach and Holland, and 2006 clips of HR’s reggae band and from one of the final shows at CBGB’s with HR wearing a motorcycle helmet during the song 'Coptic Times.' The new record 'Build A Nation' was produced by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, who got their start opening for Bad Brains in New York in the early 1980’s.

Update: In this Aug. '08 video clip from Miami, HR has apparently handcuffed himself to a woman who had to stand with him for the entire set. Meanwhile, Bad Brains played Sao Paulo this year with Israel Joseph I instead of HR. I wonder why...

Wildlife along the 'Pleasant Street Corridor'...

2007-09-01T14:36:00.000-04:00

I brought my two year old son Robert along for Carole Smith Berney’s wildflower walk along the Charles River in Watertown on August 18. In her booklet co-authored with Patsy Murray, “Wildflowers Near the Charles River Along the Greenway Path in Watertown, Newton, and Waltham,” Carole has done a remarkable job documenting the wildflowers with sharp color photographs and interesting descriptions. In fact, I cited her identification of 47 species of wildflowers in a study I did this summer of wildlife along the Pleasant Street section of the Charles River. The town has hired Sasaki Associates to study the area and make new zoning recommendations for development and green spaces.

After a public meeting in June and an update to the town council on August 14, it looks like the plan is geared toward heavy residential development along what is being called the “Pleasant Street Corridor” in Watertown. My research looked at wildlife along the river and some of the commercial and other types of development already sited there, and highlighted areas of concern identified by stakeholders and experts related to development along this iconic regional ecosystem. The analysis by Sasaki and the town focuses on the value of real estate and taxes, but does not begin to quantify the value of the green spaces and wildlife along the river, unless it is in the context of "riverfront property."

Which is why the work of people like Carole Smith Berney and others cited in my research is so important. My study documented some of the natural habitats along the river and contrasted that with the adjacent commercial properties, and during the walk Carole told a great story about a turtle coming into intimate contact with a human-made landscape.

She pointed out that female turtles lay their eggs on the banks of the river around Father’s Day, and one day she saw a fairly large snapping turtle digging a hole in the new landscaping mulch behind Riverbank Lofts. Carole wondered how the turtle was going to get back to the river after laying her eggs, because there is a three foot concrete wall between this area and the path to the river. She photographed the turtle walking to the wall and continuing right off the edge (see photo above by Carole Smith Berney), and then walking across the path and through the poison ivy back to the river.

I also met Will Kemeza from Trustees of Reservations on the walk, and we observed a resident using a very heavy rope and a hook to pull large debris out of the river from the footbridge between Sasaki and the pool. On that day he removed an old computer and an even older cash register from the river (see photo by Jason Sohigian)--probably dating back to a robbery from the 1930s!

For those of you following the Pleasant Street Corridor issue in Watertown (a group which now includes my Harvard instructor and former Watertown Science Program Director George Buckley), Carole is planning to do a presentation in the fall about “Green Watertown,” which will include a section about the Pleasant Street planning. I hope the conservation groups in town remain closely involved in the process, so the value of the river’s natural resources and green spaces are included in the town’s balance sheet.

September 23 update: As of the September 20 public meeting the planning mentioned above seems to have changed its general focus over the past 30 days from residential/condominium to retail/restaurant for Pleasant Street--with a recommendation to allow higher buildings along the Charles River in exchange for access to the river.

Improper profiles ‘Big Dig’ house in Lexington…

2007-08-14T20:46:00.000-04:00

(Photo by Single Speed Design)

The Improper Bostonian ran a profile of the ‘Big Dig’ house in Lexington in its August 1-14 issue written by Matt Heid and photographed by Michael Piazza. The house was designed by John Hong and Jinhee Park of Single Speed Design in Cambridge, whose work embraces the concepts of sustainability and minimalism.

The house is made of 600,000 pounds of steel beams and concrete slabs that were part of the I-93 highway elevated over Boston. According to the article, the project was commissioned by Paul Pedini and Christina Perez-Pedini, civil engineers who worked on the $15 million Big Dig project.

“The goal was to create a house using recycled material from the demolished expressway that once ran through downtown. Park spent days combing through debris at sites in Everett, Lancaster, and Worcester, eventually locating the 13 concrete slabs that would form the floors and roof of the building,” writes Heid.

“She also helped select the thick steel beams required to hold up the 23,000 pound slabs…This strength means that no internal supports are required, allowing for a flexible and open floor plan inside the 3,800 square foot residence.”

‘Beat the Heat’ 8/21 - On the Waterfront - Museum of Science - Boston

2007-08-06T18:43:00.001-04:00

Earthwatch Institute is organizing an event for young professionals called ‘Beat the Heat’ on August 21. It’s going to be a great evening at the Museum of Science overlooking the Charles River with cocktails, appetizers, fire dancers, and live music.

They invited me to join the organizing committee, and we're expecting over 300 young professionals to be in attendance. There is a link below where you can purchase tickets online or by calling the Earthwatch office in the US. Here’s the invitation if you can make it:

An Invitation for Boston’s Young Professionals: Cool down and be a part of the solution!

Enjoy icy cocktails, hot hors d'oeuvres, and a cool silent auction overlooking the Charles River. Proceeds will benefit Earthwatch Institute's global climate research program.

Earthwatch Institute is the world's largest environmental volunteer organization. Understanding that global warming is the most urgent environmental issue we face, Earthwatch supports critical field research on climate adaptation and mitigation in 19 locations around the world.

From measuring the impact temperature increase has on the fragile rainforests of North Queensland, Australia, to monitoring the Arctic's vast stores of greenhouse gases in Manitoba, Canada, Earthwatch volunteers collect data 365 days a year that contribute to global understanding and action.

August 21, 2007
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
On the Waterfront of the
Washburn Pavilion
Museum of Science
Boston, MA

Tickets $75 in advance, $90 at the door. Business Attire.

Purchase tickets online here, RSVP Events Manager at (978) 450-1212, or email heat@earthwatch.org

Caucasian leopard campaign launched by WWF and Marriott Armenia...

2007-07-26T23:56:00.000-04:00

(This rare photo of an endangered Caucasian leopard in southern Armenia was provided courtesy of World Wildlife Fund)

World Wildlife Funded has posted an announcement about a campaign to support the protection of the endangered Caucasian leopard. Guests at the Marriott in Armenia are being asked to donate $1 for every night of their stay during the month of September.

Proceeds from the campaign will support anti-poaching units that patrol the leopard’s habitat in southern Armenia. This will include the purchase of fuel for patrol cars, ranger uniforms, and other items necessary to combat illegal poaching, according to the WWF release.

The Caucasus leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica) is the most critically endangered species in the Caucasus ecoregion. According to WWF, only about 20 of these leopards are left in the Lesser Caucasus and Talish mountains, and it is believed that there are 5-8 leopards in southern Armenia.

Stop the Clock on species extinction by protecting forests…

2007-07-14T17:50:00.007-04:00

Every 20 minutes, another species is pushed to extinction as more than 1,200 acres of forest are destroyed, according to a new action alert issued by Conservation International. It’s a catastrophe on a global scale, perhaps Earth’s next great extinction event. You can be a part of the solution by signing the petition to save forests and ‘Stop the Clock’ on species extinction.

Conservation International will deliver the petition to the leaders of 189 countries at the international summit on climate change in Bali on December 13. By signing the petition, you’re telling government leaders to incorporate forest protection into their national policies on climate change for the good of our species and our climate.

Did you know that with every acre of trees cleared, more than 150 tons of carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere? Protecting forests is a critical part of the global solution to climate change, and it is vital to the survival of life on Earth.

Forbes says going green can be profitable...

2007-07-09T20:38:00.000-04:00

Forbes.com has posted a series of articles titled Going Green. In his introduction to the special report, editor Dan Bigman asks what’s a fad and what’s real and concludes “We find it isn't easy being green--but it is possible. And, yes, potentially profitable.”

Some of the lead articles are about BP’s investments in genetics research for new biofuels and mining technologies, how Starbucks hopes to trim its carbon emissions footprint, and which US states are most likely to host the next generation of nuclear reactors.

An amazing photo gallery of green roofs...

2007-07-08T10:51:00.000-04:00

Above: The Toyota Roof Garden (Photo: Business Week, Japan)

TreeHugger posted an amazing photo gallery of green roofs all over the world from the Green Roofs For Healthy Australian Cities web site: "TreeHugger loves green roofs--they can be beautiful architectural elements or 'a rooftop food production system that meshes the technologies of aquaponics, vermiculture, rooftop water harvesting, and solar-powered air moisture harvesting.'"

When the sevens clash...

2007-07-07T12:43:00.000-04:00

I just realized that today is July 7, 2007, which reminded me that 30 years ago was the day when “the sevens fully clashed.” The Rastafarian leader of the reggae group Culture, Joseph Hill, believed 1977 was going to be a year of judgment when past injustices would be avenged, and he released the song Two Sevens Clash.

According to the liner notes, “the prophesies noted by the lyrics so profoundly captured the imagination of the people that on July 7, 1977 a hush descended on Kingston--people did not go outdoors, shops were closed, an air of foreboding and expectation permeated the city.”

I doubt many injustices were avenged on that day and Marcus Garvey’s Black Starliner didn’t repatriate all Africans, but the message influenced people around the world and the British punk group The Clash took their name from the song. It was the only reggae album to make Rolling Stone’s list of “50 Coolest Records.”

Since I was thinking about Culture and The Clash, I looked them up and was sorry to learn that Joseph Hill passed away unexpectedly in August. If I recall correctly, I saw Culture perform outdoors with the Red Hot Chili Peppers around 20 years ago.

I also learned in Chris Salewicz’ new book, Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer, that the leader of the Clash was part Armenian! That was a surprise, since I have been a fan since I was a teenager and I had no idea. So today is a tribute to Joe Strummer and Joseph Hill, on the day when the sevens clash!

Birdwatching on the Charles River in Watertown

2007-07-05T21:52:00.001-04:00

I have seen some unbelievable fish (striped bass) and birds (hawks) at the Charles River along Pleasant Street in Watertown. This photo was taken today on the bridge behind Sasaki Associates, where we spend a lot of time walking and birdwatching. There are two types of heron in this photo, and unfortunately there’s also an occasional bike or beer keg in the river too. I recently joined Trees for Watertown and the Brookline Bird Club to learn more and get involved in the local environmental community.

'Nickel and Dimed' segment from Lewis Lapham film airing on Sundance Channel

2007-07-03T21:37:00.000-04:00

This clip was posted on You Tube, from Lewis Lapham's 2005 film The American Ruling Class, which is airing on the Sundance Channel on July 4. C-Span Book TV also ran a great interview with Lewis Lapham on June 3.

Mr. Lapham was editor of Harper's magazine for nearly 30 years and is currently editor emeritus. He is also the editor of Lapham's Quarterly, a new journal of history.

Environmental News Archive (July 2007)

2007-07-01T06:45:00.000-04:00

I'll try to keep an updated archive of important environmental and related news in this space each month:

Air Pollution

"For One Business, Polluted Clouds Have Silvery Linings," Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times, July 12, 2007

"For Athletes, an Invisible Traffic Hazard," Gretchen Reynolds, New York Times, July 12, 2007

"The Economy and the Traffic Are Humming in Hanoi, but the Price Is Dirtier Air," Thomas Fuller, New York Times, July 7, 2007

Armenia's Environment

"Traffic, Road Construction Impede Flow of Vehicles in Armenia," Christian Garbis, Armenian Weekly, July 21, 2007

"Copper Mine Menaces Armenia's Teghut Forest," Environment News Service, July 11, 2007

"Armenia’s Forests Are Vanishing; Greed and Corruption Aren’t Helping," Armen Hakobyan, Armenian Reporter, July 7, 2007

"Saving Armenia's Forests," Kellyn Betts, CEPF In Focus, July 2, 2007

"New Threat on the Horizon," Jeff Masarjian, Transitions Online, June 27, 2007

"Twenty years from now, will we have Armenia, or a moonscape?" Armen Hakobyan, Armenian Reporter, June 23, 2007

Climate Issues

Energy Issues

Food Production

"Bringing Moos and Oinks Into the Food Debate," Kim Severson, New York Times, July 25, 2007

"A Genetically Modified Potato, Not for Eating, Is Stirring Some Opposition in Europe," Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times, July 24, 2007

"Five Eco-Diets Get Put to the Test," Tyghe Trimble, Conscious Choice, June 30, 2007

"Protecting livestock biodiversity," Danielle Nierenberg, Worldwatch Institute, June 11, 2007

Water Issues

New study finally documents deforestation in Armenia

2007-06-30T18:14:00.000-04:00

The Economy and Values Research Center has issued a new study on "The Economics of Armenia’s Forest Industry" commissioned by the Eco-Armenia consortium (World Wildlife Fund, AUA Environmental and Conservation Research Center, Armenia Tree Project, and Armenian Forests NGO) with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The groundbreaking report was funded by the British Embassy of Armenia and Eco-Armenia and was authored by Manuk Hergnyan, Sevak Hovhannisyan, Sona Grigoryan, and Hovik Sayadyan.

Armenia’s forests cover less than 10 percent of its total land area, so deforestation of already scarce forest resources presents a significant threat since it destroys habitats and biodiversity and results in lost revenue to the government of Armenia. Logging for industrial wood products and fuelwood are key causes of deforestation, according to the report. Much of this logging takes place in violation of the Forest Code and other legislation designed to protect forests. This report documents illegal logging and describes how it is “intertwined” with the wood processing industry and the livelihoods of the population.

Household consumption of fuelwood is driven primarily by poverty and according to the study nine percent of households consumed fuelwood for cooking and heating purposes in 2006. The consumption of fuelwood has been decreasing because of increasing supplies of gas, growing levels of household prosperity, and increasing remoteness of forests. The wood processing industry is comprised of a few hundred small and medium-sized entities engaged in processing, production, trade, and consumption of forest products. The industry is mainly based on illegally harvested timber, and the wide gap in cost between legally procured timber and illegal timber provides significant financial incentives for illegal logging.

A number of solutions are proposed by the 54-page report, including:

1. improved access to gas for rural residents through micro-credits and discounted installation costs

2. exemption of industrial roundwood imports from VAT

3. an export ban on industrial roundwood

4. facilitating "tree farming" within the country

5. promoting recycling and renewable energy

6. enhancing the eco-tourism, NWFP, and forest services sectors

7. implementing forest certification and chain of custody tracking procedures

December 4 update: The Economy and Values Research Center has revised the study and it is available on the ATP web site here.

Why a blog?

2007-06-30T12:25:00.001-04:00

I decided to experiment with a blog to share ideas, news about events, and interesting people and places without having to flood everyone with email! Now friends, colleagues, and family can visit me here to find out what I've been doing and what I've been thinking about.

The main idea was to post important stories from the media and share reports from public events on this blog, and it will likely be a space to explore issues from the Environmental Management program I'm starting at Harvard this summer.

Although blogs are adding to the quantity of information, much of it terribly unimportant, my goal is to actually decrease my contribution to the Data Smog (David Shenk, 1997) by using this blog as much as possible instead of sending email to friends and colleagues all over the world!

This will be a very personal site, but it will be mostly about my professional interests in the Environment and in Sustainable Development in Armenia and other countries. A word about the title: cicer (chickpeas) is one of my favorite foods (I am a vegetarian). It's great in an Indian curry, in Middle Eastern food, and even in a burrito. It's a great source of protein and I find it to be very hearty and healthy.