The Second High-Level Meeting on Environment and Health in ASEAN and East Asian countries was held in Bangkok, Thailand during 12-13 December 2005. The meeting follows a continuation of the process, which began in Manila in November 2004, where a regional initiative on environment and health was launched by ADB, WHO, and UNEP. It was attended by Representatives from Government and International Agencies and Institutions. The List of Participants is attached as Annexure 2

This chapter applies to all air contaminant sources and to their owners and operators.

This report looks into the developments in China’s political response to the threat of climate change from the late 1980s when the problem emerged on the international political agenda, until 2004. Three theoretically based explanatory models are employed to identify the factors that have influenced Chinese foreign policy-making on climate change in the past, and furthermore how these factors are likely to influence China’s future climate change policy. The three models emphasize respectively: national interests in terms of costs and benefits; domestic political bargaining; and learning through diffusion of knowledge and norms.

Green and Growing is a strategic framework that will continue to be developed and expanded as we go forward. Through this strategic framework, we hope to provide Manitobans, and the world, with a better understanding of the Manitoba government’s overall approach to the environment as well as the health and well-being of our province and its families. Our goal is to build a future that promises to be both green and growing for the benefit of all Manitobans.

This document describes proposals for making communities better prepared and more resilient to catastrophic natural disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2006. Methods described include warning systems, data sharing, and land use decisions.

The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme ('EU ETS') began on 1 January 2005. The implementation of the EU ETS has raised interest in market-based approaches to achieving environmental and related public policy goals in the EU, particularly those related to promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Indeed, national and regional markets in tradable green certificates ('TGCs') and (to a lesser extent) tradable white certificates ('TWCs') already exist. Green certificate schemes are established or proposed in a number of Member States (e.g., Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK) and form part of a growing portfolio of measures to achieve the renewable targets outlined in Directive 2001/77/EC. White certificate schemes are considerably less widespread, although schemes have been established in Italy and the UK and further activity may be stimulated by the Commission proposal on energy services (COM(2003)739). Both the renewables Directive and the energy services proposal envisage the possible evolution and harmonisation of these instruments into EU-wide certificate schemes. This study has two major objectives: -1. Analyse interactions among EU ETS and green/white certificate markets. The first major objective is to describe the interactions between green and white certificate programmes and the EU …

This Fiscal Year 2006 edition of Our Changing Planet describes a wide range of new and emerging observational capabilities which, combined with the Climate Change Science Program’s analytical work, lead to advances in understanding the underlying processes responsible for climate variability and change. The report highlights progress being made to explore the uses and limitations of evolving knowledge to manage risks and opportunities related to climate variability, and documents activities to promote cooperation between the U.S. scientific community and its worldwide counterparts.

This activity report summarizes the main outcomes of the inter-regional workshop on the Human Health Impacts from Climate Variability and Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya Region (India 2005). The objectives of the workshop were: to inform government organizations, nongovernmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders about the impacts of climate change; to Identify specific human health risks linked to climate variability and change in the Himalayan mountain regions; to propose strategies for integrating health with relevant sectors; to achieve consensus on a draft framework for national action in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain region.

This activity report summarizes the main outcomes of the inter-regional workshop on the Human Health Impacts from Climate Variability and Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya Region (India 2005). The objectives of the workshop were: to inform government organizations, nongovernmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders about the impacts of climate change; to Identify specific human health risks linked to climate variability and change in the Himalayan mountain regions; to propose strategies for integrating health with relevant sectors; to achieve consensus on a draft framework for national action in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain region.

Climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a continuing issue in the 109th Congress. Bills directly addressing climate change issues range from those focused primarily on climate change research to comprehensive emissions cap-and-trade programs. Additional bills focus on GHG reporting and registries, or on power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, as part of wider controls on pollutant emissions. The bills vary in their approaches to climate change issues. This report briefly discusses the basic concepts on which these bills are based and compares major provisions of the bills in each of the following categories: climate change research, technology deployment, GHG reporting and registries, and emissions reduction programs.

An act to establish the legislative commission on global climate change: to direct the commission to study issues related to global warming, the emerging carbon economy, and whether it is appropriate and desirable for the state to establish a global warming pollutant reduction goal; and, if the commission determines that the establishment of a goal is appropriate and desirable, to authorize the commission to develop a recommended goal.

The Global Land Project (GLP) Science Plan and Implementation Strategy represents the joint research agenda of IGBP and IHDP to improve the understanding of land system dynamics in the context of Earth System functioning. This plan is therefore a first critical step in addressing the interaction between people and their environments. It is part of the broader efforts to understand how these interactions have affected, and may yet affect, the sustainability of the terrestrial biosphere, and the two-way interactions and feedbacks between different land systems within the Earth System. GLP will play a clear role in improving the understanding of regional and global-scale land systems, as well as promoting strong scientific synergy across the global change programmes. This Science Plan and Implementation Strategy develops a new integrated paradigm focused on two main conceptual aspects of the coupled system: firstly, it deals with the interface between people, biota, and natural resources of terrestrial systems, and secondly, it combines detailed regional studies with a global, comparative perspective. GLP takes as its points of departure ecosystem services and human decision making for the terrestrial environment. These topics are at the interface of the societal and the environmental domains, and serve as conceptual lenses …

This guide describes the various operations and activities of the Global Environment Facility partnership.

The effects of global climate change from greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are diverse and potentially very large, and probably constitute the most serious long-term environmental issue currently facing the world. This paper is prepared as task 1 of the project 'Modelling support for Future Actions - Benefits and Cost of Climate Change Policies and Measures', ENV.C.2/2004/0088, led by K.U.Leuven, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The paper provides a rapid review and analysis of the impacts and economic costs from climate change. The objective is to provide estimates of the benefits of climate change policy, i.e. from avoided impacts, for support to the Commission in considering the benefits and costs of mitigation efforts, and to support DG Environment in its report to the Spring Council 2005 and in future international negotiations on climate change.

In the context of this agenda item discussion took place on the management plan for the AR4 SYR. The Panel agreed that further consideration will be given by the Bureau to aspects of arrangements for management of the AR4 SYR, and progress reported to the Panel.

The meeting highlighted recent progress in the work of the IPCC, in particular the completion of the two Special Reports on Safeguarding the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System (SROC), and on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (SRCCS) and the preparations for the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Among other speakers, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Mr Klaus Töpfer addressed the Session on the linkages between science and climate change policy and the increasing need for information from the IPCC. He reaffirmed UNEP's commitment to the IPCC and supported early planning for the period beyond AR4. The Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), also addressed the Panel on the importance of the principles of impartiality, transparency, scientific authority and integrity for the past success of the IPCC, the linkages of WMO programmes and IPCC assessments, and WMO's commitment to the IPCC.

This report summarizes a workshop which investigated the possible roles that the IPCC could play in developing and assessing new emission scenarios.

Negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was completed on December 11, 1997, committing the industrialized nations to specified, legally binding reductions in emissions of six “greenhouse gases.” The Protocol entered into force on February 16, 2005, and its emissions reduction requirements are binding on the 35 industrialized countries that have ratified it; the United States disengaged from the Protocol in 2001 and has not ratified it.

This report presents the international developments related to Long-Term Targets for controlling climate change, the significance of establishing Long-Term Targets, the conditions precedent to debating Long-Term Targets, temperature increases and related impacts due to climate change, the approaches to establishing Long-Term Targets, and the agenda for the future.

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Water plays a key role in the development and functioning of society by serving as a basic resource for activities such as irrigation, livestock production, fisheries, aquaculture, and hydroelectric power. Adequate water use in house-holds, businesses and manufacturing is a prerequisite of economic growth. Since many of the world's diseases are waterborne, we need clean water and sanitation for reducing the incidence of these diseases. And, most significantly, water provides habitat and sustenance for a rich diversity of plant and animal species that make up aquatic and riparian ecosystems, providing the basis for many of the goods and services received by society. Society is forcing unprecedented changes on global water resources through worldwide abstraction and pollution of water. Society also has a pervasive indirect impact because anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are causing long-term global changes in weather extremes and climate. Changes in the global water system are difficult to understand with simple cause-effect relationships because of the intense and complex linkages and feedbacks between different parts of the system. These changes and linkages also sometimes lead to abrupt changes in water systems such as the eutrophication of coastal aquatic systems, loss of biodiversity, the exceedance of safe water supply in …

The Energy Policy Act (EPA) addresses energy production in the United States, including: (1) energy efficiency; (2) renewable energy; (3) oil and gas; (4) coal; (5) Tribal energy; (6) nuclear matters and security; (7) vehicles and motor fuels, including ethanol; (8) hydrogen; (9) electricity; (10) energy tax incentives; (11) hydropower and geothermal energy; and (12) climate change technology. For example, the Act provides loan guarantees for entities that develop or use innovative technologies that avoid the by-production of greenhouse gases. Another provision of the Act increases the amount of biofuel that must be mixed with gasoline sold in the United States.

This document is part of Technical Report (ref: EUR 21758 EN) from the Joint Research Centre and presents part of the modelling work conducted by DG JRC/IPTS as a contribution to the DG ENV Communication on post-2012 climate policy analysis (June 2005). The analyses with the POLES and GEM-E3 models show that the costs of abatement policies, both in marginal terms and total terms, can be significantly reduced if emissions trading and project based mechanisms are used.

The annual report includes an overview of the diffusion of environmentalism in Japan and the world during FY 2003. The report details the environmental issues and the environmental conservation measures by the Japanese government in FY 2003.