In Brief

RIO TINTO REVIEW TO IMPROVE ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPARENCY

The global mining group Rio Tinto has released its Social and Environment Review 2003, summarising the group's policies on, inter alia, communities, environment, human rights, land access and sustainable development. The report is one initiative to increase transparency and improve sustainable practices in the mining sector. According to the report Rio Tinto met several of its 2003 targets including finalising environmental standards and guidance documents, and increased water use efficiency. Targets not met include reducing energy used per tonne of product, reducing total greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of product and achievement of zero significant spills. For the future, Rio Tinto is also developing and implementing a biodiversity strategy and conducting partnerships with organisations such as Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Fauna and Flora International, BirdLife International, Earthwatch Institute and the Eden Project.

Environmental groups such as the Friends of the Earth recently criticised the multinational's plan to develop a mine in Madagascar. Friends of the Earth's Corporates Campaigner Hannah Griffiths commented, "Rio Tinto claims to have invested considerable sums in reducing the impact on the environment, but many questions still remain. Crucially, they have failed to show how they will replace precious habitat that has evolved over millions of years and how they will resolve long-term impacts." Although the company has revealed plans to protect the area by planting fast-growing trees, Friends of the Earth comments that this would not be adequate to protect endangered species or the sensitive ecosystem.

ICTSD reporting; "Mining giant rapped for Madagascar plan," GREEN CONSUMER GUIDE NEWS, 13 April 2004.

CONSERVATIONISTS CALL FOR STRATEGIC APPROACH ON PROTECTED AREAS

A group of 21 scientists representing 15 organisations have questioned the effectiveness of the global protected area network in representing species diversity. They note the inadequacy of setting uniform conservation targets based on percentage of area, such as the 10 percent target set by the IUCN Caracas Congress in 1992. "Protecting more than 10 percent of the planet's land surface is a major conservation achievement," said Gustavo Fonseca, Executive Vice President for Programs and Science at Conservation International (CI). "But this study proves that no matter how appealing arbitrary percentage targets might be from a political standpoint, we should focus specifically on those places with the greatest concentrations of threatened and endemic species." The study, which was published in the science journal Nature, points out that the current network of protected areas remains inadequate and skewed towards particular ecosystem, "often those that are less economically valuable". The scientists stressed the importance of parks as a highly cost-effective tool for protecting biodiversity, calling on planners to shift their focus from conserving each biome to conserving the specific locations where the endangered animals still survive.

"Rare species cling to existence in unprotected areas," ENS, 7 April 2004; "Effectiveness of the global protected area network in representing species diversity," NATURE, 8 April 2004.

EU GOVERNMENTS CRITICISED FOR ILLEGAL LOGGING

On 6 April WWF launched a new online report on the efforts of European governments to prevent illegal logging. The WWF report, entitled "Government Barometer", concludes that none of the twelve investigated European countries do enough to combat illegal logging. Although most EU governments support EU-wide efforts to prevent illegal logging, such as the Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) launched in May last year, they fail to implement domestic measures. The "Government Barometer" raises concerns that the amount of imported illegally logged timber might increase after the EU enlargement through imports from Russia, entering the EU via the accession countries. Half of the timber imported to the EU comes from Russia and Eastern Europe, a large proportion of which is likely to be illegally harvested. Europe's imports of illegally sourced timber are believed to be worth EUR 1.2 billion per year. The WWF online barometer can be used to follow both the domestic and EU-wide actions taken by individual governments to prevent illegal logging. The scoring on the website shows that the UK rates highest among the 12 countries. Denmark, Germany and Sweden are credited with moderate performance, while Austria, Finland, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Portugal are rated poorly.

SENSITIVE SEAS GRANTED SPECIAL PROTECTION FROM SHIPPING

At a meeting in London from 29 March to 2 April, the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) -- a UN agency concerned with the safety of shipping and cleaner oceans -- agreed to designate the Baltic sea, as well as the waters around the Galapagos Islands and the Canary Islands, as 'particularly sensitive sea areas' (PSSAs). The PSSA designation allows coastal states to adopt additional protective measures to deal with risks of international shipping. A majority of international trade is carried by ship; this traffic poses risks related to collisions, spills, and groundings. The Great Barrier Reef off Australia, Cuba's Sabana-Camaguey archipelago, Malpelo Island in Colombia and the Florida Keys in the US have already been designated PSSAs. Commenting on the IMO decision, Swedish Environment Minister Lena Sommestad said "this is an incredible success. This is a clear signal to the whole world that the Baltic Sea is a unique ecosystem with valuable wildlife" and its "sensitivity to the negative effects of shipping have been recognised". Sari Tolvanen of Greenpeace expressed regret that Russia, the only country bordering the Baltic Sea to oppose its PSSA designation, would be exempt from implementing special protective measures. She added that "the countries now have a big job to do, making sure that the framework is filled by a full set of appropriate specific measures". This process is expected to last two years.

"IMO declares Baltic Sea particularly sensitive," HELSINGIN SANOMAT, 5 April 2004; "Baltic Sea gets special protection, but Russia exempt," TERRADAILY, 2 April 2004; "IMO moves to protect Baltic," GREEN CONSUMER GUIDE, 6 April 2004.