A blog maintained by Tevita Kete, PGR Officer

Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji Islands

 

   

This weblog documents the activities of Pacific Agricultural Genetic Resources Network (PAPGREN), along with other information on plant genetic resources (PGR) in the Pacific.

The myriad varieties found within cultivated plants are fundamental to the present and future productivity of agriculture. PAPGREN, which is coordinated by the Land Resources Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), helps Pacific countries and territories to conserve their crop genetic diversity sustainably, with technical assistance from the Bioversity International (BI) and support from NZAID and ACIAR.

SPC also hosts the Centre of Pacific Crops and Trees (CEPaCT). The CEPaCT maintains regional in vitro collections of crops important to the Pacific and carries out research on tissue culture technology. The CEPaCT Adviser is Dr Mary Taylor (MaryT@spc.int), the CEPaCT Curator is Ms Valerie Tuia (ValerieT@spc.int).

 

 

mere


PAPGREN coordination and support

  • IPGRI
  • ACIAR
  • NZAID
  • CTA
  • SPC
  • PAPGREN
  • CEPaCT

     genebank locations
    Click on the thumbnail to see a map of the locations of Pacific genebanks. Click here to download a regional directory of genebanks in the Pacific, including information on their location, contact details and holdings.

    PAPGREN partners


    Mr William Wigmore
    Director of Research
    Ministry of Agriculture
    Department of Resources & Development
    P.O. Box 96
    Rarotonga
    Cook Islands
    Tel: (682) 28711-29720
    Fax: (682) 21881
    Email: cimoa@oyster.net.ck

    Mr Adelino S. Lorens
    Chief
    Agriculture Pohnpei
    Office of Economic Affairs
    P.O. Box 1028
    Kolonia
    Pohnpei 96941
    Federated States of Micronesia
    Tel: (691) 3202400
    Fax: (691) 3202127
    Email: pniagriculture@mail.fm

    Dr Lois Englberger
    Island Food Community of Pohnpei
    Research Advisor
    P.O. Box 2299
    Kolonia
    Pohnpei 96941
    Federated States of Micronesia
    Email: nutrition@mail.fm

    Mr Apisai Ucuboi
    Director of Research
    Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forest
    Koronivia Research Station
    P.O. Box 77
    Nausori
    Fiji Islands
    Tel: (679) 3477044
    Fax: (679) 3477546-400262
    Email: apisainu@yahoo.com

    Dr Maurice Wong
    Service du Developpement Rural
    B.P. 100
    Papeete
    Tahiti 98713
    French Polynesia
    Tel: (689) 42 81 44
    Fax: (689) 42 08 31
    Email: maurice.wong@rural.gov.pf

    Mr Tianeti Beenna Ioane
    Head, Research Section
    Division of Agriculture
    Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development
    P.O. Box 267
    Tarawa
    Kiribati
    Tel: (686) 28096-28108-28080
    Fax: (686) 28121
    Email : agriculture@tskl.net.ki; Beenna_ti@yahoo.com

    Mr Frederick Muller
    Secretary
    Ministry of Resources & Development
    P.O. Box 1727
    Majuro 96960
    Marshall Islands
    Tel: (692) 6253206
    Fax: (692) 6257471
    Email: rndsec@ntamar.net

    Mr Herman Francisco
    Director
    Bureau of Agriculture
    Ministry of Resources & Development
    P.O. Box 460
    Koror 96940
    Palau
    Tel: (680) 4881517
    Fax: (680) 4881725
    Email: bnrd@pnccwg.palaunet.com

    Ms Rosa Kambuou
    Principal Scientist PGR
    NARI Dry Lowlands Programme
    Laloki Agricultural Research Station
    P.O. Box 1828
    Boroko
    National Capital District
    Papua New Guinea
    Tel: (675) 3235511
    Fax: (675) 3234733
    Email: kambuou@global.net.pg

    Ms Laisene Samuelu
    Principal Crop Development Officer
    Crops Division
    Ministry of Agriculture, Forests, Fisheries & Meteorology
    P.O. Box 1874
    Apia
    Samoa
    Tel: (685) 23416-20605
    Fax: (685) 20607-23996
    Email: lsamuelu@lesamoa.net

    Mr Jimi Saelea
    Director of Research
    Department of Agriculture and Livestock
    P.O. Box G13
    Honiara
    Guadalcanal
    Solomon Islands
    Tel: (677) 27987

    Mr Tony Jansen
    Planting Materials Network
    Kastom Gaden Association
    Burns Creek, Honiara
    P.O. Box 742
    Honiara
    Solomon Islands
    Tel: (677) 39551
    Email: kastomgaden@solomon.com.sb

    Mr Finao Pole
    Head of Research
    Ministry of Agriculture & Forests
    P.O. Box 14
    Nuku'alofa
    Tonga
    Tel: (676) 23038
    Fax: (676) 24271
    Email: thaangana@hotmail.com

    Mr Frazer Bule Lehi
    Head of Research
    Department of Agriculture & Rural Development
    Private Mail Bag 040
    Port Vila
    Vanuatu
    Tel: (678) 22525
    Fax: (678) 25265
    Email: flehi@hotmail.com

    Other links

    Other CROP agencies
    Forum Secretariat
    University of the South Pacific
    SPREP

    Pacific biodiversity
    Biodiversity hotspots
    Breadfruit Institute
    Hawaiian native plants
    Intellectual property rights
    Nature Conservancy
    PBIF
    PestNet
    SIDS
    WWF South Pacific Program

    Other Pacific organizations
    Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific
    Micronesian Seminar
    Te Puna web directory

    Pacific news
    Cafe Pacific
    CocoNET Wireless
    Island Directory
    Pacific Islands News
    Pacific Islands Report
    Pacific Islands Travel
    Pacific Time
    South Pacific travel
    Time Pacific

    Interested in GIS?
    DIVA-GIS

     

  •  

    Sunday, August 19, 2007


    Climate Change

    News & Broadcast - World Bank

    AT A GLANCE:

    • Climate change is both a development and environmental issue. A global consensus is emerging that climate change is an issue that cannot wait and needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
    • Today there is a double challenge: how to reduce damaging carbon emissions and still meet the energy demands of the world’s poor. The World Bank focuses on the additional economic and social opportunities that a low carbon path creates.
    • Countries trying to escape from poverty should not be penalized for the consequences of fossil fuel dependent growth patterns in the rich countries. Their development aspirations should be at the center.
    • A global regulatory framework, which would provide the necessary financial flows to developing countries, is needed. This framework should match the long-term need for energy for development with the necessary technical innovation and financial incentives to move consistently towards a low carbon economy.

    The Poor Are Disproportionately Affected


    Developing countries are more vulnerable to climate change than rich countries, with poor people being the most at risk from the increased impacts of volatility in weather patterns (i.e., floods and droughts). Human-induced climate change is expected to negatively impact agricultural productivity throughout the tropics and sub-tropics, decrease water quantity and quality in most arid and semi-arid regions, increase the incidence of malaria, dengue and other vector borne diseases in the tropics and sub-tropics, and harm ecological systems and their biodiversity. In addition, the sea level rise associated with expected increases in temperature could displace tens of millions of people living in low-lying areas, such as the Ganges and the Nile deltas, and could threaten the very existence of small island states.


    The Clean Energy Investment Framework (CEIF)


    The G8 Gleneagles Summit in Scotland two years ago asked the World Bank to produce a roadmap for accelerating investments in clean energy for the developing world, in cooperation with the other international financial institutions.


    The Clean Energy Investment Framework (CEIF) identifies the scale of investments needed to:

    • increase access to energy, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa;
    • accelerate transition to a low carbon economy; and
    • adapt to climate variability and change.

    According to the Framework, the power sector needs $165 billion in investments each year this decade. Only about half of that is financed. Tens of billions of US $ per year are also required to cover the incremental costs of transitioning to a low carbon economy. The added costs of climate proofing projects associated with aid and concessionary finance to developing countries will amount to a few billion a year, while the total costs born by developing country public and private sectors is likely to be some tens of billions per year.


    A Clean Energy for Development Investment Framework: Making a Difference on Climate Change - Progress Report, which provides an update of work undertaken to date as well as actions planned by the World Bank Group in support of the CEIF, will be a background paper for discussion in the Development Committee at the World Bank - IMF Annual Meetings in October 2007.


    Towards a Low Carbon Development Path


    Moving to a low carbon path will require a long-term equitable global regulatory framework to reduce greenhouse emissions - a framework:

    • in which rich countries show leadership by supporting developing countries in exchange for the global benefit of greener, smarter growth;
    • that provides certainty to stimulate research and development in transformational technologies; and
    • that allows carbon markets to thrive and bring financial flows to developing countries to the tune of $100 billion within a few decades.1 According to Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), these financial flows could go a very long way towards addressing climate change in developing countries.2


    The World Bank's Approach to Clean Energy & Climate Change


    The World Bank Group is focusing its efforts on four fronts.

    • Helping developing countries to move to a lower carbon path by exploiting renewable energy resources, supporting energy conservation, and increasing efficiency. The World Bank's energy commitments for fiscal years 2006-2008 are expected to exceed $10 billion over the three year period, an increase of about 40 percent as compared to the previous three year period. The Bank committed $668 million in fiscal year 2006 to new renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. This is an increase of 45 percent when compared to 2005 commitments.
    • Promoting new technologies. Some of those, like carbon capture and storage (CCS), address the need to reduce the carbon impact of fossil fuels. They are essential in countries like India and China that still depend heavily on coal. As part of its broader work on bio-energy, the Bank is looking at the feasibility and economic viability of bio-fuel programs in developing countries.
    • Preventing deforestation. Around 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions result from poor land management, especially deforestation, which not only threatens the environment it also destroys wildlife and erodes the natural wealth of the poor. Together with its partners, the World Bank is developing a forest carbon partnership facility that will help countries combat deforestation and be rewarded with carbon finance credits.
    • Adaptation to climate risks. Developing countries and particularly the world poorest people would be the ones most harmed by changes of climate and extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heat waves, and rising sea levels. The World Bank was among the leaders in addressing adaptation to climate risk through technical analysis of risk management and by pioneering insurance work in the Caribbean, in Latin America, and in South Asia. The challenge now is to replicate these lessons more widely, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Islands.


    Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GGFR)

    Through the Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GGFR) partnership, the World Bank is helping oil producing countries and companies to increase the utilization of natural gas, which will otherwise be flared or burned and thus will harm the environment. The GGFR partnership estimates that about 150 billion cubic meters of gas is flared every year (equivalent to about 30 per cent of EU's annual consumption of gas and 25 per cent of US's consumption), releasing about 400 million tonnes of CO2. In today's context of sustainable development, gas flaring reduction efforts are thus not only relevant but also viable and desirable.


    Carbon Finance at the World Bank


    The World Bank was a pioneer in the carbon market. The Bank's operational engagement in carbon finance started with the establishment of the $180 million Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) in 1999. This was rapidly followed by the establishment of other funds and facilities as the Kyoto Protocol was ratified. Today, the World Bank manages just over $2 billion across 10 carbon funds and facilities. Sixteen governments and 65 private companies from various sectors have made financial contributions to these funds.


    The funds and facilities include the PCF; the Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF), which extends carbon finance to small poorer countries and communities; the BioCarbon Fund (BioCF), which applies carbon finance to forestry and land use projects; the Netherlands (Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) (*) Facilities; the Italian Carbon Fund; The Spanish Carbon Fund; the Danish Carbon Fund; the Umbrella Carbon Facility; and the Carbon Fund for Europe, launched in March 2007.
    While the Bank's initial role was to catalyze the global market for carbon emission reductions, carbon finance is now emerging into the mainstream of the Bank's lending program. In December 2005, the Executive Directors endorsed the Bank's approach for further engagement in carbon finance, focusing on three clear objectives - to:

    • ensure that carbon finance contributes to sustainable development;
    • assist in building, sustaining, and expanding the international market for carbon emission reductions; and
    • further strengthen the capacity of developing countries to benefit from the emerging market for emission reduction credits.

    Operationally, the carbon finance program essentially supports the objectives of the second pillar of the Investment Framework for Clean Energy and Development, by providing incentives for transitioning to a low-carbon economy in the Bank's client countries.


    (*) The Clean Development Mechanism, (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) are flexible mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol that allow OECD countries to fulfill some of their greenhouse gas emission-reduction commitments through projects in the developing world (CDM) and countries with economies in transition (JI) . .

    * Comments:

    Post a Comment

     
    Archive

    October 2002

    November 2002

    December 2002

    January 2003

    February 2003

    March 2003

    April 2003

    May 2003

    June 2003

    July 2003

    August 2003

    September 2003

    October 2003

    November 2003

    December 2003

    January 2004

    February 2004

    March 2004

    April 2004

    May 2004

    June 2004

    July 2004

    August 2004

    September 2004

    October 2004

    November 2004

    December 2004

    January 2005

    February 2005

    March 2005

    April 2005

    May 2005

    June 2005

    July 2005

    August 2005

    September 2005

    October 2005

    November 2005

    December 2005

    January 2006

    February 2006

    March 2006

    April 2006

    May 2006

    June 2006

    July 2006

    August 2006

    September 2006

    October 2006

    November 2006

    December 2006

    January 2007

    February 2007

    March 2007

    April 2007

    May 2007

    June 2007

    July 2007

    August 2007

    September 2007

    October 2007

    November 2007

    December 2007

    January 2008

    February 2008

    March 2008

    April 2008

    May 2008

    June 2008

    July 2008

    August 2008

    September 2008

    October 2008

    November 2008

    December 2008

    January 2009

    February 2009

    March 2009

    April 2009

    May 2009

    June 2009

    July 2009

    August 2009

    September 2009

    October 2009

    November 2009

    January 2010


    RSS Feed
    Alternative feed
    Contact Tevita
     

     

    Something new:


    Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives.  

    PestNet: For on-line information, advice and pest identification for the Pacific and beyond. Contact: Grahame Jackson.

     

     

    Pacific Mapper: For on-line mapping of point data over satellite images of the Pacific provided by Google Maps.

     

     

    DIVA-GIS: For free, easy-to-use software for the spatial analysis of biodiversity data.
      

     

    Locations of visitors to this page