NTS Bulletin February 2010 (Issue 1)

Issues: HAITI EARTHQUAKE HEALTH SECURITY CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY AND NATURAL DISASTERS FOOD SECURITY ENERGY SECURITY Note: Please click on the respective titles or headers for the full report. Disclaimer: All links and news reports are correct at the time of publication.

MAIN HIGHLIGHT

Haiti Earthquake
Public Health Risk Assessment and Interventions, January 2010.

The public health risk assessment for Haiti is to provide health professionals in United Nations agencies, non-governmental organisations, donor agencies and local authorities currently working with populations affected by the post-earthquake emergency, with up-to-date technical guidance on the major public health threats faced by the earthquake-affected population. Public health threats represent a significant challenge to those providing healthcare services in this evolving situation. It is hoped that this risk assessment will facilitate the co-ordination of activities between all agencies working among the populations currently affected by the crisis.

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HEALTH SECURITY

News & Commentaries

• Martin Enserink, ‘Facing inquiry, WHO strikes back at “fake pandemic” swine flu criticism’, ScienceInsider, 14 January 2010.
• Tan Ee Lyn & Olivia Rondonuwu, ‘SEAsia to crack down on poultry smuggling to fight H5N1’, Reuters AlertNet, 15 January 2010.
• Emma Wilkinson, ‘Haiti children face ongoing disease and trauma’, BBC News, 15 January 2010.
• ‘Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 — update 84’, Disease Outbreak News (WHO), 21 January 2010.
• Patricia Zenegrie, ‘Haiti avoids disease outbreak but threat looms’, Reuters, 25 January 2010.
• Naomi Antony, ‘Don't sacrifice health in climate battle, warns Gates’, SciDev.net, 26 January 2010.
• Tom Hagler, ‘Gates says malaria vaccine may be ready in three years’, BBC News, 26 January 2010.
• Maubo Chang, ‘Taiwan needs vaccine-producing capability: Health official’, CNA/Focus Taiwan, 29 January 2010.

Papers & Reports

• ‘Dean's Message: H1N1 and Comprehensive Health Security — Health Reform in an Era of Pandemics’, Harvard Public Health Review, School of Public Health, Harvard University, Winter 2010.

The dean of the Harvard School of Health speaks about the evolution of health security threats such as H1N1 and how public health officials need to adopt a new concept of Health Security. The need for a comprehensive public health security for all is also advocated.

• Suerie Moon, Nicole A. Szlezák, Catherine M. Michaud, Dean T. Jamison, Gerald T. Keusch, William C. Clark & Barry R. Bloom, ‘The Global Health System: Lessons for a Stronger Institutional Framework’, PLOS Medicine, vol. 7, no. 1, 2010.

In the last in a series of four articles highlighting the changing nature of global health institutions, Suerie Moon and colleagues propose future actions to strengthen these institutions.

• Margaret Chan, Michel Kazatchkine, Julian Lob-Levyt, Thoraya Obaid, Julian Schweizer, Michel Sidibe, Ann Veneman & Tadataka Yamada, ‘Meeting the Demand for Results and Accountability: A Call for Action on Health Data from Eight Global Health Agencies’, PLOS Medicine, vol. 7, no. 1, 2010.

Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, and the heads of seven other global health agencies, call for a concerted global effort to collect better health data.

• Elizabeth Miller, Katja Hoschler, Pia Hardelid, Elaine Stanford, Nick Andrews & Maria Zambon, ‘Incidence of 2009 Pandemic
  Influenza A H1N1 Infection in England: A Cross-Sectional Serological Study’, The Lancet, 21 January 2010.

Blood samples, taken as part of the UK Health Protection Agency's regular annual monitoring programme, show that the proportion of children in high-risk areas in England infected with H1N1 influenza during the first pandemic wave was ten times higher than estimated from clinical surveillance. In addition, this latest study indicates that children have an important role in the transmission of influenza and would be a key target group for vaccination.

Events & Announcements

• The Fight Against Malaria in Africa: Progress Made and Challenges Remaining, Chatham House, London, UK, 17 February 2010.
  
• International Swine Flu Conference, London, UK, 10—11 March 2010.

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CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY AND NATURAL DISASTERS

• Toufiq Siddiqi, ‘China, India and the Copenhagen climate impasse’, East-West Center, 10 January 2010.
• Amy Heinzerling, ‘Past decade the hottest on record’, Earth Policy Institute, 14 January 2010.
• Mu'adz D'Fahmi, ‘Securitization of environmental degradation’, The Jakarta Post, 25 January 2010.
• ‘Climate NGOs want India to reject Copenhagen Accord’, Sify News, 27 January 2010.
• ‘UK's top scientist urges care in presenting results of climate change’, The Guardian, 27 January 2010.
• Lisa Friedman, ‘Nations take first steps on Copenhagen “Accord”’, The New York Times, 29 January 2010.
• R. Sean Randolph, ‘After Copenhagen: Climate action goes local’, YaleGlobal Online, 29 January 2010.
• Saleemul Huq, Achala Chandani & Simon Anderson, ‘COP 15 — Review and analysis’, International Institute for Environment and Development, January 2010.

Papers & Reports

• Michael P. Vandenbergh & Mark A. Cohen, ‘Climate Change Governance: Boundaries and Leakage’, Resources for the Future Discussion Paper 09-51, December 2009.

This article provides a critical missing piece to the global climate change governance puzzle: How to create incentives for the major developing countries to reduce carbon emissions. The major developing countries are projected to account for 80 per cent of global emissions growth over the next several decades, and substantial reductions in the risk of catastrophic climate change will not be possible without a change in this emissions path. Yet the global climate governance measures proposed to date have not succeeded and may be locking in disincentives as carbon-intensive production shifts from developed to developing countries. A multi-pronged governance approach will be necessary.

• Song Hong, Aaron Cosbey & Matthew Savage, ‘China’s Electrical Power Sector, Environmental Protection and Sustainable Trade’, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), 2010.

This paper considers China’s electrical power sector and asks what changes the country might consider as part of a broader strategy to advance toward a sustainable trade strategy for China. It is part of a larger set of papers, co-authored by IISD, various international experts and Chinese experts, devoted to achieving such a strategy. The paper first looks at the characteristics of the sector and the ways in which it relates to sustainable development. Energy — and electricity in particular — is an essential platform for successful development and for a strong export sector, but if it is generated inefficiently or in a polluting manner, it can also hamstring competitive export-based growth and cause environmental and human health problems. This paper surveys international experience with policy instruments to harness this sector for sustainable development, and seeks to apply that experience to the Chinese context. It finishes with a set of policy recommendations.

• ‘United Nations Development Programme & Climate Change Adaptation — A Quarterly Update of Activities’, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Issue 2, Dec 2009.

This bulletin provides the latest information on UNDP's support to countries on climate change adaptation at the national, sub-national and community levels. It includes updates on a range of topics including the status of ongoing projects, new project approvals, performance indicators, project impacts and results, policy and mainstreaming work, and noteworthy announcements.

• Hannah Reid, Joanna Phillips & Melanie Heath, ‘Natural Resilience: Healthy Ecosystems as Climate Shock Insurance’, IIED Briefing Paper, December 2009.

Resilience to climate change has many roots. A healthy, biodiverse environment is increasingly recognised as key to resilience, particularly in poor communities directly dependent on natural resources. Knowledge about ways of coping with climate variability is also essential, and for many of the poor who live in climate-vulnerable regions it is already an area of expertise. A look at the National Adaptation Programmes of Action of the Least Developed Countries shows that many of these nations recognise and prioritise the role that biodiversity, ecosystems and natural habitats play in adaptation. It is now up to policymakers to follow suit.

Latest Publication

•  A Transportation Research Program for Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change and Conserving Energy Special Report 299, National Academy of Sciences, 2009.

By Committee for Study on Transportation Research Programs to Address Energy and Climate Change, US Transportation Research Board 2009 Executive Committee.

In reviewing proposals for transportation research programmes as part of re-authorising the federal surface transportation programme, the US Transportation Research Board recognised a gap: no proposals explicitly addressed research to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption attributable to passenger and freight travel, or to adapt to climate change. This report is the product of a study to suggest research programmes to fill this and other perceived gaps.

Specifically, this book identifies research needs with regard to policies and strategies relating to the use of the transportation system and to assist infrastructure owners in adapting to climate change; focuses on research programmes that could provide guidance to officials at all levels responsible for policies that affect the use of surface transportation infrastructure and its operation, maintenance, and construction; and aims to help officials begin to adapt the infrastructure to climate changes that are already occurring or that are expected to occur in the next several decades.

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FOOD SECURITY

News & Commentaries

• John E. Peck, ‘Corporate agribusiness helps scuttle climate justice’, Institute for Food and Development Policy, 6 January 2010.
• ‘“Climate change resistant crops” move nearer after gene breakthrough’, The Telegraph, 8 January 2010.
• ‘Cold snaps cause sterility... in rice’, International Rice Research Institute, 12 January 2010.
• Bryony Taylor, ‘Is the world set for another rice crisis?’ Asia Sentinel, 14 January 2010.
• ‘FAO calls for $23 million to step-up farming in Haiti’, FAO Media Centre, 16 January 2010.  
• ‘Bangladesh: Pesticide poisoning takes its toll’, IRIN, 18 January 2010.
• Luzi Ann Javier, ‘Rice only Asian crop at risk from El Nino, DTN says (update 1)’, Bloomberg, 26 January 2010.
• Nistula Hebbar, ‘Prices push govt to launch food security bill’, DNA India, 26 January 2010.
  

Papers & Reports

• Yu Bingxin, You Liangzhi & Fan Shenggan, ‘Toward a Typology of Food Security in Developing Countries’, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Discussion Paper 00945, January 2010.

The recent global food and financial crises have reversed the last decade’s progress in reducing hunger and poverty. This paper conducts a factor and sequential typology analysis to identify groups of countries categorised according to five measures of food security — consumption, production, imports, distribution, and agricultural potential — by using indicators from 175 countries. The analysis first identifies five distinct food security groups, characterised by food intake, and then further splits these groups based on the various measures of food production, trade security, and agricultural potential. The results suggest that the general category of ‘developing countries’ is extremely heterogeneous and is not particularly useful if the focus is on issues of food security. The results also indicate that different responses are needed by different types of food-insecure countries to address the food and financial crises.

Latest Publications

• Food Security in Practice: Social Accounting Matrices and Multiplier Analysis — An Introduction with Exercises, IFPRI, December 2009.

By Clemens Breisinger, Marcelle Thomas & James Thurlow.

This training guide introduces development practitioners, policy analysts, and students to social accounting matrices (SAMs) and their use in policy analysis. There are already a number of books that explain the System of National Accounts and SAM multipliers - some of these are recommended at the end of this guide. However, most books tend to be quite technical and move quickly from an introduction to more complex applications. By contrast, this guidebook uses a series of hands-on exercises to gradually introduce SAMs and multiplier analysis. It therefore complements more theoretical SAM and multiplier literature and provides a first step for development practitioners and students wishing to understand the strengths and limitations of these economic tools. It is also useful for policy analysts and researchers embarking on more complex SAM-based methodologies. One such methodology is computable general equilibrium modelling, for which IFPRI has also developed a series of introductory exercises and a standard modelling framework.

• Global Change: Impacts on Water and Food Security, Water Resources Development and Management Book Series, Springer, 2010.

Edited by Claudia Ringler, Asit K. Biswas & Sarah Cline.

This volume examines the various drivers of global change, including climate change and the use of agricultural knowledge, science and technology, as well as the outcomes of global change processes, including impacts on water quality and human well-being. Several authors examine potential policy and institutional solutions afforded by globalisation to the challenges ahead, particularly the role of trade policy. Financing water development in a more globalized world and adapting to global warming are also examined.

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ENERGY SECURITY

News & Commentaries

• Noor Mohammad, ‘World Bank keen to aid solar mission’, The Financial Express, 7 January 2010.
• Vladimir Radyuhin, ‘Changing the rules of the energy game’, The Hindu, 12 January 2010.
• David Sheppard, ‘IEA sees world oil use in 2010 highest since 2007’, Reuters, 15 January 2010.
• Eadie Chen, ‘China top energy office launched to coordinate policy’, Reuters, 27 January 2010.
• ‘China will only shine briefly as net fuel exporter’, The Guardian/Reuters, 27 January 2010.
  
• Hai Minh, ‘Gov’t tightens supervision over atomic energy’, VGP News, 27 January 2010.
  
• Nashir Mansor, ‘West Kalimantan mulls nuclear power to generate electricity’, Bernama, 28 January 2010.
• Shamim Adam, ‘Singapore to consider nuclear power, fewer foreigners (update 1)’, Bloomberg, 1 February 2010.

Papers & Reports

• Aviel Verbruggen, Manfred Fischedick, William Moomaw, Tony Weir, Alain Nadai, Lars J. Nilsson, John Nyboer & Jayant Sathaye, ‘Renewable Energy Costs, Potentials, Barriers: Conceptual Issues’, Energy Policy, vol. 38, no. 2, February 2010, pp. 850–61.

This paper suggests that renewable energy (RE) can become the major energy supply option in low-carbon energy economies, through the alignment of technological innovation, costs and prices, as well as policies in order to achieve full RE potentials, while barriers impeding that growth need to be eradicated. The authors essentially focused on the inter-relationships among the drivers of RE development, and reviewed how the third and fourth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change cover mitigation potentials and also commented on the definitions of RE potentials in the literature. Finally, the authors proposed a consistent set of potentials of RE supplies, advocating action on all four dimensions of sustainable development: better governance, improved economics with full-cost pricing attaining spatial and temporal efficiency, less intensive resource utilisation and greater equity.       

• Kjell Aleklett, Mikael Höök , Kristofer Jakobsson, Michael Lardelli, Simon Snowden & Bengt Söderbergh, ‘The Peak of the Oil Age — Analyzing the World Oil Production Reference Scenario in World Energy Outlook 2008’, Energy Policy, vol. 38, no. 3, March 2010, pp. 1398–414.

Based on the World Energy Outlook 2008 (WEO 2008) published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), this study assessed future global oil production using the production parameter: depletion-rate-of-recoverable resources. The authors found that the crude oil production forecast for the Reference Scenario year 2030 had been significantly overstated, while analysis of the non-conventional oil and natural-gas-liquids fractions appeared lower than the expected production levels. In sum, the paper concluded that the world oil supply in the Reference Scenario year is lower than predicted in WEO 2008, and the authors found the production outlook made by IEA to be unrealistic in the light of historical experience and production patterns. Importantly, the authors suggest that the world appears most likely to have passed the peak of global oil production and to have entered the descent phase.

Events & Announcements

• International Oil, Gas and Energy Conference 2010, Berlin, Germany, 24—25 February 2010.
• Sussex Energy Group Conference on Energy Transitions in an Interdependent World: What and Where are the Future Social Science Research Agendas? Brighton, East Sussex, UK, 25—26 February 2010.
• 2010 International Conference on Electrical and Energy Systems, Singapore, 26—28 February 2010.
• International Conference on Renewable Energy: Generation and Applications, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, 8—10 March 2010.

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