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  Milestone tiger meeting set to create strong recovery agenda Bali, Indonesia – WWF Indonesia CEO Dr. Efransjah and WWF Tiger programme leader Michael Baltzer issued the following statement ahead of the pre-Tiger Summit meeting starting Monday in Bali.
  
  “Individual governments have come to Bali with strong national plans to help tigers recover in their countries, but they cannot do it by themselves,” Baltzer said. “These governments now must collectively lay the groundwork for a global plan to save wild tigers ahead of the Tiger Summit in Russia.”
  
  “They must come together with a cohesive strategy to ensure the survival of this iconic species.”
  
  Senior government officials from the 13 tiger range countries (TRCs) – Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam are attending the meeting.
  
  “Indonesia has seized the opportunity to further this process, showing a special commitment to saving wild tigers after President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed to the recent partnership with Norway to stem forest loss, which will also save critical tiger habitat”.
  
  “The Bali meeting is the perfect stage for Indonesia to make even stronger commitments to conservation,” Dr. Efransjah said. “WWF supports Indonesia bid to save tigers in the wild globally while preserving its own forests, which will reduce emissions and protect its natural heritage.”
  
  The Bali meeting is expected to produce a draft Global Tiger Recovery Programme and a “Leaders Declaration,” which will be discussed at the Tiger Summit in Russia.
  
  World tiger experts and representatives from other NGOs, including the Global Tiger Initiative, also are attending. The meeting is a prelude to the Heads of Government Tiger Summit, scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia from 15-18 Sept. 2010.
  
  The Bali meeting is a follow up to earlier governmental meetings on tiger conservation. The first in Kathmandu, Nepal in October 2009, recommended a series of 15 global actions that need to be taken to change the trajectory of tigers from extinction to recovery, as well as commitments from several tiger range countries. The Kathmandu meeting was followed by the first Asian ministerial conference on tiger conservation held in Hua Hin, Thailand in January 2010, and which adopted the goal of doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.
  
  Tigers are in a dire situation. The global wild population is reduced to an estimated 3,200 individuals. From nine tiger sub-species, only six exist today — the Sumatran, Bengal, Amur, Indochinese, South China and Malayan tiger. Threats to the tiger include massive habitat fragmentation and destruction, loss of prey, poaching and illegal trade. Tigers are also lost due to retaliatory killing when they come into conflict with villagers living around tiger habitat.
  
  With an estimated 400 Sumatran tigers left, or 12 percent of the global tiger population, Indonesia has a key role to play in the global tiger recovery programme.
  
  
  

  ~1 month on
  
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  New evidence on sea levels and fish behaviour underlines urgency of climate action Gland, Switzerland: New evidence suggesting sea levels will rise to double expected levels this century and that fewer baby fish will grow successfully to maturity in more acidified oceans underline the urgent need for decisive action on climate change, WWF said today.
  
  The Australian Earth Sciences Convention has heard that cores drilled up to two kilometers below the Antarctic ice have outlined an earth with a similar climate to the warmer earth projected in current climate assessments.
  
  The new evidence was presented by Professor Tim Naish, director of New Zealand’s Antarctic Research Centre, recently named a lead author for the next climate change assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
  
  It supports other recent modeling suggesting an average sea level rise this century of one metre or more – double the upper estimate issued by the IPCC.
  
  “Given many climate models predict the planet will warm by the same two to three degrees over the next 50 to 100 years, scientists need to urgently understand how temperature changes will affect the polar ice sheet and the speed of likely change,” Professor Naish said.
  
  “A couple of degrees of temperature change can lead to quite dramatic changes across the world.”
  
  Nemo wouldn’t be able to find way home in a carbonated ocean, study finds
  
  Some 150 million people live within a one metre elevation from sea level and much greater numbers would be vulnerable to impacts that include higher storm surges and saline intrusion into coastal aquifers supplying water and supporting food production..
  
  “New studies are all the time painting an ever-worsening picture of what we are facing with climate change,” said Gordon Shepherd, interim leader of WWF’s global climate deal. “And what we are facing is not just worse projections for impacts we know about but left fielders that we never anticipated.
  
  “For instance, the same conference has heard that baby fish will become more vulnerable to predators as oceans acidify in the process of absorbing excess CO2.”
  
  “This is another threat joining an already long list of climate change threats to our food supplies.”
  
  The ocean acidification study, conducted by Australia’s highly regarded Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, found that as carbon levels rise and ocean water acidifies, the behaviour of baby fish changes dramatically.
  
  The behaviours of concern include being attracted to predators rather than cautious of them and a decreased sense of smell. Early experiments using clown fish – the Nemo of the film – found them unable to find their way home in carbonated water.
  
  Overall, the behavioural changes decrease larval fish chances of survival by 50 to 80 per cent.
  
  
  

  ~1 month on
  
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  Bill to slash Amazon protection passes crucial vote Brasilia, Brazil:  Amendments to Brazil's Forest Code that could sanction dramatic increases in deforestation passed a crucial vote in the Congress's Special Committee on Forest Law Changes last night, an outcome lamented by scientists, environmental and social NGOs and indigenous groups.
  
  Gradual strengthening of the Forest Code and more recent improvements in enforcement have been credited with playing a major role in Brazil's success in winding back horrifying levels of deforestation in the Amazon and other areas over recent years.
  
  However, the new alternate bill threatens to open up an additional 85 million hectares for legal clearing in the Amazon, reduce the level of forest cover protecting river and stream banks and steep slopes, and pass much of the control of landclearing into the hands of regional and local authorities much more under the influence of large landowners and agribusiness interests.
  
  The bill also proposes amnesties on existing fines for illegal clearing, a measure some associate with the January establishmnet of an improved land registry that in combination with satellite imagery is making enforcement more effective.  Research presented at a seminar in May by scientists and NGOs including WWF showed clearing exceeding the legal requirements by over 40 per cent.
  
  The bill now goes to the Congress generally where it is expected to pass, following which it will be subject to Presidential assent or veto.  When this happens will largely be influenced by Brazil's elections, due in October.  While the bill threatens an informal understanding that controversial legislation generally takes a back seat in the immediate run-up to elections, there is also a tradition of sometimes outlandish legislative proposals being pushed through as the old parliament continues to sit for the remainder of the year.
  
  In WWF-Brazil's opinion, the changes were hardly debated and, if the bill is passed by the Lower House as is, it will nullify all the efforts that the Brazilian Government has been making to conserve Brazil's forests.
  
  While detractors of the Forest Law argue that the existing legislation is outdated, WWF-Brazil's Conservation Director Carlos Alberto de Mattos Scaramuzza underscores that this is a forward-looking law insofar as the existing Forest Law protects Brazil's agricultural production and huge biodiversity against the impacts of climate change by means of the ecological services provided by the so-called permanent protection areas (APPs) and legal reserves (RL).
  
  "The existing law not only seeks to ensure natural resources, fertile lands and high-quality, abundant water are available, but also to reduce risks associated with climate changes and the resulting increase in extreme climate events. Compliance with the Forest Law staves off soil erosion and landslides, and protects sources and rivers, which are vital for agriculture," said Carlos Alberto Mattos Scaramuzza, WWF-Brazil's Conservation Director.
  
  WWF-Brazil stressed that more adequate alternatives for balancing environment and development have been put forward by researchers, civil society, and the Ministério Público (Office of the Public Prosecutor), but a choice was made for a backward option without any consideration of the consequences.
  
  "It is up to WWF-Brazil to call on Brazilian Congressmen, NGOs, researchers, and farmers so that the very imperfections and redundancies in the alternate bill do not translate into real obstacles to Brazil's economic and social development as a result of degraded soils, water resources and natural resources," Scaramuzza said.
  
  Also under threat are Brazil's impressive commitments on climate change which mainly relay on continued reductions in deforestation, responsible for about 75 per cent of the country's emissions.
   
  
  
  

  2 months on
  
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  Indonesia to host crucial tiger meeting Jakarta, Indonesia – On 12-14 July 2010, Indonesia will host the Pre-Tiger Summit Partners’ Dialogue Meeting, a crucial meeting to be attended by senior government officials from the 13 tiger range countries (TRCs) – Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
  
  World tiger experts and representatives from NGOs, the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI)/World Bank, and donor agencies such as USAID, AUSAID and GEF, will also attend. Held in Bali, the meeting is a prelude to the Heads of Government Tiger Summit, scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia from 15-18 September 2010.
  
  The Bali meeting is expected to produce a draft Global Tiger Recovery Programme and a “Leaders Declaration” which will be discussed at the Tiger Summit in Russia. The Global Tiger Recovery Programme will be based on national plans developed by the TRCs. Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry has, with the support of partners, developed the country’s National Tiger Recovery Programme.
  
  “We hope the Bali meeting will generate a strong draft Global Tiger Recovery Programme,” said Ir. Darori, MM, Director General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation for Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry. “This will demonstrate our desire and resolve to come up with solutions to address the threats faced by the world’s remaining wild tiger population — including those faced by Indonesia’s Sumatran tiger — as well as double their population by 2022. We also hope we can map our partners’ commitments and financial support to protect this charismatic species.”
  
  This pre-Tiger Summit meeting in Bali is a follow up to earlier governmental meetings on tiger conservation. The first in Kathmandu, Nepal in October 2009, recommended a series of 15 global actions that need to be taken to change the trajectory of tigers from extinction to recovery, as well as commitments from several tiger range countries. The Kathmandu meeting was followed by the first Asian ministerial conference on tiger conservation held in Hua Hin, Thailand in January 2010, and which adopted the goal of doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.
  
  Tigers are in a dire situation. The global wild population is reduced to an estimated 3,200 individuals. From nine tiger sub-species, only six exist today — the Sumatran, Bengal, Amur, Indochinese, South China and Malayan tiger. Threats to the tiger include massive habitat fragmentation and destruction, loss of prey, poaching and illegal trade. Tigers are also lost due to retaliatory killing when they come into conflict with villagers living around tiger habitat.
  
  With 400 Sumatran tigers left, or 12 percent of the global tiger population, Indonesia has a key role to play in the global tiger recovery programme.
  
  The Sumatran tiger habitat has declined by 50 percent in the last 25 years. About 70 percent of the remaining habitat are located outside conservation areas, and in at least 20 patches of forests that are fragmented and isolated. This means that most of the remaining tiger population are not getting enough space to roam and also more highly exposed to threats.
  
  ”It is urgent for Indonesia to work together with other tiger range countries and partners, and to take concrete actions to save the Sumatran tiger, so that it will not go extinct as happened to the Bali and Javan tiger sub-species,” said Hariyo T. Wibisono, Chairman of Forum HarimauKita.
  
  “Conserving the remaining forest habitat, restoration of critical areas, and land-use planning to support sustainable development – which will provide the Sumatran tiger with sufficient range while at the same time minimizing potential conflicts with humans — should be undertaken jointly by all government agencies and partners,” said Dr. Efransjah, WWF-Indonesia’s CEO. “These efforts are also in line with the Indonesian government’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation as part of the global climate mitigation programme”.
  
  ”By saving tiger, we will save so much more,” said Darmawan Liswanto, Indonesian Programme Director of Fauna & Flora International. “A viable tiger population is a good indicator of a healthy forest. A healthy forest in Indonesia provides benefits and prosperity for millions of people in the surrounding area by supplying drinking water, food and medicine, and also contributes to mitigating global climate change and increasing knowledge of the world we live in.”
  
  “The 13 Tiger Range Countries alone cannot implement the global tiger recovery programme,” said Dr. Noviar Andayani, Director of WCS Indonesia. “They need the support of other countries, especially those who are destination or transit points for the illegal tiger trade. This meeting is therefore very important and strategic in creating opportunities for developing and strengthening international partnerships in addressing the decline of the tiger population, in Indonesia and other range countries.”
  
  ”The role of the ordinary citizen in conserving the Sumatran tiger through education and awareness is also important, in addition to their support on conservation of tiger habitat in the wild from deforestation, encroachment, loss of prey, and illegal poaching,” said Tony Sumampaw of Taman Safari Indonesia. ”Zoos can also help by providing a medium for education, awareness, research and rescue of captured tigers to ensure they stay alive after coming into conflict with humans.”
  
  
  

  2 months on
  
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  Russia to create new national parks and reserves nearly size of Switzerland Polar bears, walruses, sea otters, and other endangered species are all set to benefit from a Russian decision to boost its national protected areas to nearly 3 percent of its territory by 2020, a move which helps the country to meet its international obligations to protect biodiversity.
  
  The Russian government’s decision establishes 9 new nature reserves and 13 national parks covering a total area of over 3.8 million ha by 2020. Russia is also introducing marine buffer zones of over 1 million ha.
  
  “For the first time, development of protected areas in Russia will be based on the analysis of all available data on biological diversity of Russia”, said Vladimir Krever, WWF-Russia biodiversity coordinator.
  
  “The creation of protected areas is crucial to save Russia’s diverse and unique biodiversity,” he added.
  
  An existing 9 reserves and 1 national park will see their areas increased by 500 thousand ha.
  The decision was based on an analysis of WWF in cooperation with The Nature Coservancy and MAVA Foundation, carried out between 2006-2008, and is aimed at fulfilling Russia’s commitment under the Convention on Biodiversity to establish effective protected area systems that safeguard biodiversity.
  
  The UN has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity, culminating in October at the 10th Conference of the Parties in Nagoya. WWF is calling on governments in Nagoya to adopt a clear roadmap and allocate additional financing to halt biodiversity loss by 2020.
  
  Stopping the loss of the planet’s biodiversity should be given the highest priority by governments because it is the foundation for human life providing food, medicine and clean water as well as reducing the impact of natural disasters and climate change. Natural habitats and species underpin the global economy and directly supports billions of people who dependent on forests, fisheries and wetlands for their livelihoods.
  
  In 2002 governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 but despite individual conservation successes, such as in Russia, governments have not met their commitment and biodiversity continues to be lost at alarming rates, international studies show.
  
  “We need to understand that protecting biodiversity means not only protecting nature but also our economy and wellbeing. “ By allowing biodiversity loss to continue we are undermining our future ,” said Rolf Hogan, Biodiversity Manager at WWF International .
  
  Over 300 experts provided original data for the analysis and took part in the discussion. On the basis of this data WWF assessed representativeness of the existing system of federal protected areas and worked out a framework for its further development.
  
  As a result, WWF recommended the creation of 70 extra nature reserves and 71 national parks in Russia. Experience has shown that creating more than 2 federal protected areas a year is difficult, so implementation of WWF recommendations will be extended over a few decades. WWF through its members and corporate partners will raise funds to help the Ministry implement the framework.

  2 months on
  
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  Subsidise the mining, subsidise the burning - Spanish coal support plan earns WWF complaint

  Brussels, Belgium – WWF today lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission over a new Spanish regulation that would see state aid going to power stations burning already heavily subsidised domestically produced coal.
  
  Approving the regulation to apply subsidies on subsidies for the same coal runs directly counter to the European Union's support for a phase out of "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies, as a party to commitments made at the G20 meeting last year.
  
  The cost of the new subsidy to power stations to burn Spanish coal is estimated at €800M over three years according to the Spanish energy regulator.  Spain, which is pushing the European Union to extend subsidies on coal mining, spends about € 1 billion a year subsidising the mining of coal.
  
  ‘Faced with a recession, state aids for renewable energy growth and green jobs are the most sustainable option for meeting climate targets and developing a vibrant economy. Yet the Spanish government is going backwards by supporting new coal subsidies,’ said Mar Asunción, Head of Climate Change of WWF Spain.

  "Double subisides are just farcical"
  
  The purpose of the Spanish Royal Decree, adopted earlier this year to fix prices and prioritise dispatch at ten Spanish coal-fired power stations using domestic coal, is to deal with a backlog of stockpiled coal built up as as a result of plunging electricity demand due to the economic downturn and increasing supplies of renewable energy.
  
  Implementation of the plan has been delayed pending its clearance by the Spanish EU competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia.

  Spain is one of a handful of EU states pressing the European Commission to prolong subsidies for coal mining. The current 8-year derogation expires at the end of this year. Current annual aid levels are highest in Germany and Spain, €2bn and €1bn respectively. The Commission could propose a new coal derogation later this month.

  "Any subsidies that artificially boost the use of coal are incomprehensible," said Mark Johnston, Senior Policy Adviser at WWF in Brussels. "But double subsidies are just farcical. The European Commission must act decisively to ensure Spanish coal aid is phased out; Spain’s plans must not become a precedent for other EU member states."

  Spain is already not meeting its greenhouse gas emission targets. According to the European Environment Agency's latest annual inventory, emissions in the country in 2008 were 40 percent, or 116 million tonnes CO² equivalent, above its Kyoto base year and 22 percent, or 73 million tonnes CO² equivalent, above its 2012 compliance target.

  
   

  2 months on
  
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  Tiger conservation forum promises long term commitment New Delhi, India - At a meeting of the Global Tiger forum (GTF) this week, government representatives of GTF member tiger range countries and other member countries showed a greater desire to make stronger commitments to tiger conservation.
  
  There are 13 countries worldwide that still have tigers in the wild, although the numbers are very low. Without immediate strong action, the next few years will be catastrophic for wild tigers.
  
  GTF is the only inter-governmental body representing countries that still have wild tigers, and it is responsible for facilitating, coordinating and strengthening these governments’ commitments and actions towards saving tigers in the wild.
  
  The two day meeting in New Delhi focused on developing a new strategy for the GTF, learning from conservation approaches across range countries and focusing on issues that can be replicated and strengthened, in efforts to galvanize the political will needed to save the iconic species from extinction. Representatives from eight tiger range countries including India and renowned tiger experts from organizations such as Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), Wildlife Institute of India (WII) were present.
  
  “GTF can play a lead role through close collaboration with tiger range countries and other organizations to check international hotspots of tiger trafficking, besides evolving a regional roadmap to strengthen global tiger conservation through respective National Action Plans, said Indian Minister of Environment, Shri Jairam Ramesh in his message. “The commitment from Tiger Range Countries is important at this juncture to revitalize and strengthen the forum. I appeal to all Tiger Range Countries for their active participation in this regard,” he added.
  
  Standardizing the methodology of conservation approaches on monitoring and habitat management, increasing law enforcement, linking critical area systems and looking at the issue of habitat fragmentation are the common issues that the countries addressed at the meeting. Urgent points also discussed included the need for new awareness-raising campaigns, greater capacity and solutions to transboundary issues such as trade.
  
  “Development of a revised strategy for the GTF and a plan on governance and implementation are the two outcomes that will mark the success of this meeting,” said HE Shri Deepak Bohara, Chairperson of GTF and Minster for Forests and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal.
  
  WWF-India, an organization that has a long history of initiatives for tiger conservation, dating back to the launch of Project Tiger in 1973, welcomed these new commitments for tiger conservation.
  
  “The GTF being the only inter-governmental body for Tigers is ideally suited to offer a new paradigm for conserving this species among its range countries. We have no time to lose since the wild tiger population is at its tipping point,” said Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General and CEO, WWF-India. “WWF remains committed to supporting range state governments as they take on this challenging task.”
  
  The GTF was started in 1993 by tiger range states as a conduit for those countries to collaborate on a global plan for tiger conservation. Seven tiger range countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal and Vietnam) are members of the GTF as well as the UK along with non-governmental organizations, including WWF and TRAFFIC.
  
  Tigers are particularly in the spotlight during this year which also happens to be the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar. With possibly as few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild, WWF’s focus is on securing political commitments to double the wild tiger population by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022.
  
  
  

  2 months on
  
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  Vietnam’s Environmental Police dig their claws into illegal big cat trade Hanoi, Vietnam — Vietnam’s Environmental Police have confiscated two frozen tigers and a frozen panther in the central province of Nghe An.
  
  The animals, reportedly along with five kgs of suspected tiger bones, were confiscated from the home of a 53-year old man in Dien Chau district early last week. The suspect was placed under arrest.
  
  The confiscation resulted from a co-ordinated effort between enforcement authorities, including the recently established Environmental Police.
  
  TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, commended the authorities for their diligence in enforcing Vietnam’s wildlife laws. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of WWF and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
  
  “The Environmental Police have demonstrated once again their dedication to halting the illegal trade in protected species such as tigers,” said Thomas Osborn, Co-ordinator of TRAFFIC’s Greater Mekong Programme.
  
  Despite their protection under Vietnamese and international law, tigers and panthers continue to be illegally hunted and traded across Vietnam and Southeast Asia for their meat, as souvenirs, and for their bones, used in traditional medicine and to make tiger bone wine.
  
  In March this year, Lao Bao Border Guard Police seized a body of a tiger (95 kgs) and a black panther (27 kgs) being transported across the border to be sold in Vietnam. In October 2009, Vietnam Environmental Police seized two frozen tiger carcasses weighing a total of 130kgs and arrested five suspects in Hanoi.
  
  As few as 30 wild tigers are estimated to survive in Vietnam.
  
  “If we hope to save the country’s remaining tigers and other threatened species, it will take ever increasing vigilance from authorities and a strong commitment by the government to support and promote existing wildlife laws,” said Osborn.
  
  Tigers have become a global icon for species on the brink of extinction, especially during the current Chinese Year of the Tiger. There are as few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild around the world.
  
  WWF and TRAFFIC are working this year to secure political commitments that will double the number of tigers by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022.
  
  

  2 months on
  
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  Real emissions cuts in Europe preferable to dubious offsets elsewhere Brussels, Belgium– Europe should concentrate on making real emissions cuts in Europe, WWF said yesterday as it released an annual assessment highlighting worsening difficulties with the assessment of carbon offset projects in the developing world.
  
  The study found no improvement in the work of evaluators assessing greenhouse gas offset projects in developing countries within the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), noting that on a scale of A (best) to F (worst) the ‘best’ grade - achieved only by a single evaluator - was a D.
  
  The study analysed the reception by the CDM Executive Board of projects passed by evaluators. Once registered by the board, emissions saved by these projects are regarded as Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) that can be offset against emissions in industrial countries.
  
  However, this year’s study of more than 900 project proposals found that the board directly accepted only 36 per cent of proposals (2009, 41 per cent), demanded corrections to 57 percent of proposals (51 per cent), and dismissed 7 per cent (6 per cent).
  
  ‘Since our rating in 2009 discrepancies did not decrease – they increased’, said Juliette de Grandpre, climate policy officer at WWF Germany.
  
  In 2007 a study commissioned by WWF showed that many CDM projects are of questionable quality and do not lead to emission reductions. That report also called into question the role of the independent assessors.
  
  The key to certification is to verify whether CDM projects really need the additional revenues from CER’s to be carried out – the so-called additionality criteria. In most cases the projects are not registered automatically because the board disagreed with the evaluators’ assesments that CDM funding was necessary to the projects.
  
  ‘The CDM is based on the assumption that a project can not be carried out without the financial support gained by generating and selling CER’s. However, the ranking confirms that so far all attempts to prove additionality have failed’, said de Grandpre. ‘Rather than investing in this questionable offsetting, industrialized countries and companies would be better advised to focus on reducing their emissions at home.
  
  ‘Due to the shortcomings in project evaluation, large amounts of non-additional CO2 certificates might be awarded. This might lead to a boosting of global emissions, quite contrary to the intended reductions for which the system was put in place.’
  
  ‘Europe is driving the carbon market,’ said Jason Anderson, Head of European Climate and Energy Policy at WWF. ‘In fact, there’s so much credit around, it’s undermining the European emissions trading system and allowing the EU to keep emitting while still claiming to meet reduction targets. But even worse is that the offset credits are being generated by a system showing these kinds of lasting inadequacies – it could mean Europe is actively making climate change worse, not better.’
  
  It is certainly positive that the CDM Executive Board created a system of measurements and sanctions for the certification agencies, but this system is not operational after three years of development. Also, important information about the shortcomings of the UN assessments of assessors is not publicly accessible.
  
  Although this new system includes a plan of zero tolerance for compliance, the report found “that within current thresholds, an assessor could wrongly validate additionality in nearly two thirds of projects before a spot check would be triggered.”
  
  WWF is calling for clear rules and strict procedures to be established for climate project evaluators at the next CDM board meeting in Bonn in late July.
  
  
  Commissioned by WWF, the Öko-Institut analysed, for the second time, to what degree DOEs (Designed Operational Entities) fulfill the requirements of the UNFCCC CDM Executive Board (EB). More than 900 projects have been evaluated for this analysis. The rating is based on a statistical evaluation of decisions by the EB on projects that were validated positively by a DOE and which are later either registered, rejected, reviewed or requested for correction by the EB.
  
  
  

  2 months on
  
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  UNESCO to question Russia on pulp mill threat to Lake Baikal Paris, France: A Russian government decision to allow a pulp and paper mill to put polluting wastes into the world’s oldest and deepest lake has been placed on the agenda of the next UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting,
  
  A coalition of concerned organizations, including WWF and Greenpeace, presented a petition signed by 125 000 people from 52 countries to UNESCO today and were assured that the issue is due to be raised with Russian delegates to the meeting in late July.
  
  “UNESCO is worried by the situation with the World Heritage Site Lake Baikal, caused by Russian government’s decision to allow lake pollution by waste from Baikal pulp and paper mill. The open cycle work of the mill contradicts requirements of the World Heritage Convention”,
  
  UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture Francesco Bandarin told a meeting with WWF and Greenpeace today.
  
  “We will bring our opinion to the notice of the Russian government and hope that Russia as a bona fide member of the Convention will take all measures to avoid damaging the universal value of Lake Baikal as a result of its pollution by the mill waste,” he said.
  
  Mystery of how the seals arrived
  
  Lake Baikal’s World Heritage listing describes it as “the oldest (25 million years) and deepest (1,700 m) lake in the world, . It contains 20 per cent of the world's total unfrozen freshwater reserve. Known as the 'Galapagos of Russia', its age and isolation have produced one of the world's richest and most unusual freshwater faunas, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science.”
  
  Residents of the 3.15 million hectare lake in south east Siberia, the world’s sixth largest, include one of the world’s only three species of freshwater seals, it being a complete mystery how they arrived in the lake an estimated to million years ago.
  
  The NGOs provided UNESCO with research conducted by prominent scientists from the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences showing that the decision to reopen the paper mill is not well-founded and will both damage the lake and fail to solve the region’s socio-economic problems.
  
  For further information:
  Masha Vinokurova mvinokurova@wwf.ru +7 495 727 09 39 or +7 903 273 60 79 (mobile)
  
  
  
  

  2 months on
  
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  WWF welcomes bid for international agreement on oil spills Ottawa, Canada: As oil continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico more than two months after the explosion and fire from the site of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig, WWF has welcomed a Russian proposal for an international mechanism for preventing, dealing with and cleaning up oil spills.
  
  Although the proposal presented to the just-concluded G20 conference by Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev was short on specifics, WWF applauded the recognition that catastrophic oil spills were an international issue. A major oil spill is a growing possibility in many sensitive areas such as the Arctic and a daily reality in the Niger delta.
  
  Following Medvedev’s call, the summit participants ordered experts to prepare materials dealing with international spill responses. The experts are to report back on progress at the next G20 summit, in Seoul, South Korea, later this year.
  
  But while the proposal is welcome, measures under it are likely to take months or years to take effect. In the meantime, said Alexei Knizhnikov, oil and gas spokesperson for WWF-Russia, issuing new licences for offshore drilling is unsafe.
  
  Temporary moratorium on all new drilling
  
  "We believe it is important to state the need for a temporary moratorium on all new drilling to exploit oil on the shelf,” he said. “This is particularly urgent for Arctic waters, where the capacity just does not exist to deal with major spills, and clean-up is complicated by ice and severe weather conditions."
  
  While the experts consider an international solution to offshore spills, President Medvedev says Russia does not intend to wait to take action.
  
  He says Russia "will show an example" to other countries and the Russian government will consider a special bill on protection of the marine environment from oil pollution.
  
  The concept of the Federal Law "On Protection of the seas of the Russian Federation from Oil Pollution" was developed by WWF-Russia, the Institute of environmental and legal problems "Ecojuris" and supported by many other environmental organizations.
  
  Media contact:
  Clive Tesar, Head of Communications
  WWF Arctic Initiative
  (+1) 613 232 2535
  (+1) 613 883 3110 (Mobile)
  

  2 months on