THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS

Thursday, 27 May 2004

UNEP and the Executive Director in the News

• New Era (Windhoek) - Namibia Takes Stand On DDT

• Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA) - 'Dead zones' threaten fisheries
• Associated Press Worldstream - Regional conference on ozone layer
organized in Bosnia
• The Associated Press - UN honors Michigan boy for horse-drawn lawn care
• Earth Times - Climate change: Nepalese perspective
• El Universo - Conferencias paralelas compiten en soluciones
medioambientales

Other Environment-related News

• USEPA News – EPA and NOAA;s Guidelines … dangerous UV rays
• IPS – Europe Sets Target to Save Biodiversity
• ENS - Sea Turtles Worth More Alive Than Dead

Environmental News from the UNEP Regions

• ROLAC
• ROWA

Other UN News
• U.N. Highlights of 26 May 2004
• S.G.'s Spokesman Daily Press Briefing of 26 May 2004

Communications and Public Information, P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: (254-2) 623292/93, Fax: [254-2] 62 3927/623692, Email:[email protected], http://www.unep.org
New Era (Windhoek)
Namibia Takes Stand On DDT

NEWS
May 24, 2004
Posted to the web May 26, 2004

By Wezi Tjaronda
Windhoek
NAMIBIA is not in a position to discard DDT as it is a lifesaving chemical, Deputy Minister
of Health and Social Services Richard Kamwi has said.
"We have taken a stand that we cannot abandon our DDT," he said in reaction to concerns
that the chemical, mostly used in developing countries to combat malaria, would be
outlawed in future.
The country uses DDT for killing malaria vectors in areas that are known to have a history
of the disease.
However, DDT is among 11 other pesticides, known as the "dirty dozen" that have been
served a notice under a new international agreement called the Stockholm Convention,
which came into force on May 17.
But DDT was given a stay of execution because of its importance in fighting the mosquito
that carries malaria.
Namibia is neither party nor signatory to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants, which are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods.
Kamwi told New Era this week that if DDT was not used, the country would end up having
outbreaks of the disease, leading to the death of thousands of people, as happened in 1990
and 1996.
Several countries including Swaziland, South Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar and
Namibia still use DDT specifically to control the disease, which is the leading cause of ill
health and death among adults and children in Caprivi, Oshana, Kavango, Omusati and
Ohangwena.
Environmentalists however say DDT suppresses immune systems and threatens bird
populations by thinning egg-shells.
They also say DDT and other persistent organic pollutants are built into the fatty tissues of
people of the Arctic and polar bears and seals.
Kamwi warned against listening to environmentalists at the expense of human life.
"We should not listen to the environmentalists and end up having more funerals. We have
the tools and we cannot afford people to keep on dying," he said.
Kamwi said according to findings of a survey carried out by a pathologist in a river in
Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, it was found that the chemical had no side effects.

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He cited another South African experience when the country switched from DDT to another
chemical. After two years, there was a resurgence of malaria vectors in places where they
had been eradicated.
A World Health Organiation/Afro summit has also resolved to look at alternatives but while
this is being done, the seven countries will still use DDT.
A press release from the Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental
Programme (UNEP) on the coming into force of the Stockholm Convention said
governments the world over have put their weight behind the elimination of nine pesticides
and two by-products of incineration and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
And some of the N$500 million pledged for eliminating the dirty dozen will go towards
financing safer alternatives for fighting malaria, including better insecticides as well as
treatments and vaccines.
"So future generations can look forward to a future where these chemicals and pesticides are
footnotes in the history books," he said.
When they meet in Uruguay in 2005 for the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the convention,
delegates will fast-tract efforts to, among others, assist countries in malarial regions to replace DDT with safe
and effective alternatives.
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_

Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA)

May 27, 2004, Thursday
'Dead zones' threaten fisheries

BYLINE: By Mark Clayton Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

BODY:
In midsummer, the northern Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi River empties into it, may shimmer like
any other swath of sea. But a few score feet below, bottom-dwelling fish and other creatures struggle just to
breathe.

This area - one of the world's biggest coastal "dead zones" - is rapidly being joined by a growing number of
"hypoxic," or oxygen-depleted areas around the world. At least 146 such zones have been documented through
2000 - from the northern Adriatic Sea to the Gulf of Thailand to the Yellow Sea, according to a United
Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report released in March. And their number has been doubling every
decade since 1960, it adds. At risk: coastal fisheries near the most populous regions.

A handful of efforts are under way that could mitigate the effects. But because of lag times involved, the
problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.

"I'm convinced this is going to be the biggest environmental issue in the aquatic marine realm in the 21st
century," says Robert Diaz, a marine biologist and professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who
coauthored the study undergirding the UNEP report. "It won't take too much for these annual lower-oxygen
events to expand throughout the year and actually eliminate fisheries."

Dead zones often grow where populations grow. But the real driver is the spread of nitrogen, many observers
say, caused by runoff of nitrogen-based fertilizers, sewage outflows, and nitrogen deposits from burning fossil
fuels. Some waters remain oxygen-depleted year-around. In other waters, the problem appears periodically.

In the northern Gulf of Mexico, one of the best-known and best-studied dead zones, hypoxia occurs seasonally
from April to September. The zone's size depends on the weather and how much flow the Mississippi brings
each year. Its waters are laden with fertilizer runoff from farms and lawns across the Midwest. Sewage and

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fossil-fuel emissions exhaust (from power plants and autos) are also factors, says a 1999 University of
Alabama study sponsored by the fertilizer industry.

Excess nitrogen combined with placid summer weather results in an oxygen-poor bottom layer of water. The
process works this way: In the top layer, the nitrogen and sun feed phytoplankton, which grow rapidly, then die
and fall to the bottom. As they decay, they consume oxygen. Called eutrophication, the cycle depletes oxygen
in isolated bottom waters. In 2002, one of the worst years since it was first documented in the 1970s, the
northern Gulf's hypoxic zone reached more than 7,700 square miles. Despite its size, the problem is largely
hidden from view, except to the trained eye.

"I see massive schools of stingrays, bottom dwellers, moving on the surface. Even shrimp come up 20 feet or
so off the bottom trying to get to oxygen," says Nancy Rabalais, a marine biologist at the Louisiana
Universities Marine Consortium in Chauvin, La. Only because they are desperate to breathe do such bottom-
dwelling creatures flee upward, risking becoming easy prey.

More mouths to feed

Such scenes will become more common worldwide, scientists predict. As populations grow, nitrogen and
phosphorous-caused eutrophication will more than double in coastal areas by 2050, predicts a 2001 study
published in Science magazine.

"There's been a big increase in these hypoxic zones that correlates strongly with increased use of nitrogen
fertilizers, particularly in the '60s and 1970s," says Robert Howarth, a coauthor of the Science study and
professor of environmental biology at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. "About half of the nitrogen fertilizer
used on Earth in all of history has been used in the last 15 years."

One positive trend: Total global fertilizer use seems to be growing more slowly than in the past few decades. It
plateaued in 1990 then declined after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the mid-'90s, global growth resumed,
but much more slowly. For the decade, nitrogen fertilizer rose only slightly from 79 million to 82 million tons.

Still, scientists say it takes time for a rise in fertilizer use to harm coastal ecosystems. In a 2002 study, Howarth
and other scientists found that falling levels of dissolved oxygen in coastal waters lagged 10 to 20 years behind
increased chemical fertilizer use beginning in the 1940s. That lag effect is worrisome, he says, because
fertilizer use has more than quadrupled globally since 1960.

The use of nitrogen has increased, too. Nitrogen fertilizers were 37 percent of all fertilizers used in 1961, but
grew to 60 percent by 2001, according to Fertilizer Institute data. "If you look globally at what humans are
doing to the nitrogen cycle, we're increasingly making nitrogen available to the environment," Dr. Howarth
says. "Almost 75 percent of the increase is through fertilizers."

The fertilizer industry in the US has been working with farmers to reduce fertilizer overuse and resulting
runoff since the 1960s. But pressure from the Environmental Protection Agency in the '90s also has pushed the
industry toward new technologies. Global positioning satellite technology, linked to fertilizer applicators on
tractors, permits "precision farming" in which each acre gets specific chemicals according to its soil condition.

"Applying more won't necessarily get more crop, and farmers understand that it's not good for their bottom
line," says Rino Maddalena of the Fertilizer Institute in Washington D.C.

Even so, several farm authorities say it is not uncommon for farmers to use more nitrogen and other fertilizers
than they need as a modest insurance policy. Better to slightly overfertilize than underfertilize and
underproduce, the thinking goes.

To address this concern, the American Farmland Trust (AFT), a nonprofit group that attempts to protect
cropland, has developed a new form of crop insurance. The risk-management program encourages farmers to
apply less nitrogen fertilizer. In this scheme, a farmer agrees to use a lesser amount of nitrogen fertilizer, based
on nutrient management advice. If the farmer's output falls below the output of a test plot on his land that has
the maximum nitrogen fertilizer applied to it, then he receives the difference in cash.

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So far, 27 pilot projects are under way in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Illinois, says Brian Brandt of the
AFT's Agricultural Conservation Innovation Center. In three years, the project has seen a 24 percent reduction
in nitrogen use among the farmers. Only a handful saw yields fall. They were paid the difference, about $ 6 per
acre.

It pays to use less

One participant, Burley Hall, a farmer with 2,100 acres north of Urbana, Ohio, now uses some 35 pounds less
nitrogen per acre of corn - a reduction of more than 20 percent. That reduction saves him money. And once,
when his crop came in a fraction of a bushel less than his test strip, he got reimbursed $ 900. But his
enthusiasm for the program runs deeper than economics.

"We've got creeks that run through our land," Mr. Hall says. "We live here and drink the water. If I'm buying
this stuff [nitrogen], I don't want to see how far down the stream I can run it. You've got to watch out for the
environment by all means and this is one way of doing it."

One high-tech idea in the works would take another big whack at nitrogen use - but from the other end of the
equation. Arcadia Biosciences in Davis, Calif., is working to make corn and other plants more efficient users
of nitrogen already in the soil. For example, using genetic engineering, it has modified canola with a gene
found in barley. The effect is to activate the plant's roots to absorb nitrogen more aggressively than before.

"We've grown the same yield as a conventional crop of canola using less than half as much nitrogen," says Eric
Rey, the firm's president.

Arcadia has conducted three years of tests for the US Department of Agriculture. But the first commercial
canola and rice seeds won't be ready until 2008 or 2009, Mr. Rey says. He acknowledges, too, current concerns
over genetic engineering. On the other hand, farmers cut costs and use less fertilizer, he adds. "So the
environment is improved by farmers making more money."

(c) Copyright 2004. The Christian Science Monitor

LOAD-DATE: May 26, 2004

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Associated Press Worldstream
May 26, 2004 Wednesday
Regional conference on ozone layer organized in Bosnia

DATELINE: SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina

BODY:
Representatives from 20 countries are taking part in a regional conference this week aimed at
streamlining efforts to preserve the Earth's protective ozone layer.

Bosnian Ozone Unit chief Ibro Cengic said the conference, which runs through Thursday, will enable
countries in Europe and Central Asia to improve cooperation and joint implementation of
international agreements and contracts on ozone protection.

Cengic said the gathering's goal was to unite the region in efforts to protect the ozone layer and to
create the largest network and organization for cooperation in the field.

Bosnia has raised about US$3 million for ozone protection, he said.

Leo Heilemann of the U.N. Environment Program said that by 2005, developing countries must
curb their output of methyl-bromide by 20 percent, carbon-chloride by 25 percent and methyl-
chloroform by 30 percent.

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Participants also were discussing how to crack down on the illicit trade in substances that damage
the ozone layer.

LOAD-DATE: May 27, 2004

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The Associated Press
UN honors Michigan boy for horse-drawn lawn care
5/26/2004, 8:02 a.m. ET
Six-hundred young people from 100 countries are expected to meet July 19-23 at Connecticut College in New
London, Conn., for the Tunza International Children's Conference on the Environment. Among its organizers
is Christian Birky.
Christian regularly has conference calls and Internet brainstorming sessions with children from Iran, Ghana
and Australia. Gov. Jennifer Granholm tentatively plans to meet with him Thursday evening to talk about his
work.

In 1997, parents Curtis Birky and Jean Veenema-Birky moved Christian and older sister Kathryn from South
Bend, Ind., to Glenn to bring their family closer to nature and to Lake Michigan, which is 300 yards away at a
public access where their dirt road ends.

They moved into a 100-year-old farmhouse nestled in a woods teeming with wildlife.

"Everything we do, we try to look at how it affects the environment," said Kathryn, a 16-year-old Saugatuck
High School student who tends to chickens and rabbits behind the garage.

"It makes it easy to be concerned about the environment, living here," said Curtis Birky, who shares a clinical
social work practice with his wife in an office above the family's garage. "It's been something we've been
trying to pay attention to."

Five years ago, Christian began lobbying his parents to help him begin mowing neighbors' lawns for cash.

Kathryn, meanwhile, was lobbying for a pony. Their parents decided to merge the two dreams.

They bought Clementine and an Amish-made lawn mower designed to be pulled by a horse.

"I liked the idea. Especially the pony part," Christian told the Detroit Free Press for a story Wednesday.

Thus was born Clementine's Lawn Mowing.

"Come and enjoy our alternative lawn mowing," says a color flyer that Christian and Kathryn passed out to
neighbors. "Let Clementine, Kathryn and Christian help protect the serenity of Glenn by mowing your lawn
the Earth-sensitive way."

The siblings have five clients this summer, charging up to $50, depending on the size of the lawn.

Clementine, 21, is a cross between pony and draft horse. She loves to be ridden down the Lake Michigan
shoreline, where she wallows in the surf and rolls in the moist sand.

At work, one sibling generally sits on the mower using reins to direct Clementine while the other does close-in
trimming work with a manual push mower.

The business gained international acclaim when the United Nations Environment Programme chose Christian
— based in part on his lawn-mowing service — to be among nine Junior Board members to coordinate the
international conference.

Christian, Kathryn and their mother attended the 2002 UN Tunza conference in Canada, where Christian had
been overwhelmed with stories of environmental damage from throughout the world.

"Tunza" means "to treat with care or affection" in Kiswahili, spoken in eastern Africa.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Earth Times

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Climate change: Nepalese perspective
Posted on : 2004-05-26 | Author : Anil K. Raut | Category : Environment

The effect of heat trapping due to the increasing presence of greenhouse gases (GHGs - i.e. carbon dioxide,
methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons) in the earth’s atmosphere is known as greenhouse effect.
This greenhouse effect causes global warming, a temperature increasing process due to the heat trapping by the
built up of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere and its main consequence is climate change. Studies
have shown that over the last few decades temperature of earth surface has been rising and this has caused
changes in weather patterns, rise in sea level and melting of glaciers. Meteorological measurement records
indicate that a warming of 0.3 - 0.6 degrees Celsius in global average temperature since 1860. Similarly, it is
also recorded that 1990s was the warmest decade and year 1998 was the warmest year.

In the context of Nepal, although, Nepal’s total GHG emission share is less than 0.01 percent of the global
GHG, it has already encountered some of the negative effects of global climate change. Fossil fuel
combustion, deforestation, and land-use changes are the main sources of GHGs in Nepal. Carbon dioxide
emission due to deforestation and land use change in Nepal was estimated to be 15.45X107 tonnes in 1999.
Similarly, annual emission of GHG from petroleum products was estimated to be 72,000 tonnes of Carbon and
1790 tonnes of Nitrogen between 1970 to 1990.

Studies done by Department of Hydrology and Meteorology show that average temperature in Nepal is
increasing at the rate of approximately 0.06 degrees Celsius per year. The temperature in the Himalayas,
however, is increasing at a faster rate, which is having serious impacts on the countries glacial lakes. The Rika
Samba glacier in the Dhaulagiri region is retreating at a rate of 10 m per year. This is very unusual as glacial
movement is usually measured in millimeters. Similarly the AX010 glacier of Shorong Himal will be extinct
by 2060 AD if the current global warming trend continues. Recently, United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) has warned that more than 44 Himalayan glacial lakes are dangerously close to bursting because of
the ice melt caused by global warming and out of them 20 glacial lakes are in Nepalese Himalayas. Rapidly
melting glaciers means more seasonal variation in river flow, which will in turn result in more floods and
droughts in the country. This will also result in more Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF), which can be
disastrous to communities and infrastructure along the rivers. Reduced agriculture production, loss of
biodiversity, increased desertification, increase in frequency of extreme weather events and changes in social
structure, are some of the impacts Nepal is or will soon be facing because of global warming.

Although Nepal signed the UNFCCC on 12 June 1992, it has not yet ratified the Kyoto Protocol nor taken any
concrete steps towards controlling greenhouse gas emissions or mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Recently, however some research work is being carried out on the impacts of climate change and some of the
organisations are being involved in raising awareness on this issue. The government has formed a committee
to enable the activities for the preparation of Initial National Communications, as required by the UNFCCC.

While Nepal does not have any policies particularly on climate change, it does have some policies and
programmes to promote clean energy and energy efficiency. The Alternative Energy Promotion Centre,
together with several NGOs and private companies, is promoting technologies such as biogas, micro-hydro
and solar through subsidies as well as technical assistance. These technologies are gaining popularity among
the rural communities in Nepal. In urban and semi-urban areas, however, the use of fossil fuel is increasing
rapidly, particularly in the transportation sector.

A promising alternative to the fossil fuel based vehicles is electric vehicles (EVs). Nepal is ideal for promotion
of electric vehicles because they use hydropower, a local and clean resource instead of imported fossil fuel,
and the driving conditions (short distances and relatively slow speeds) are suitable for EVs. Kathmandu now
has approximately 600 zero-emission electric vehicles and there is potential for a lot more, provided that the
government policies are favourable.

The fact that, Nepal does not produce significant amount of greenhouse gasses and it has huge potential for
promoting clean energy puts it in a very favourable position in international negotiations. Nepal can become a
model in climate change forums if it were to become a bit more aggressive in promoting clean energy. Besides
gaining political mileage, this would also lead the country towards sustainable development.

Nepal can also take advantage of the global climate change negotiations by using the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) as a source of new investment and technology. CDM allows developed countries to meet a
certain percent of their liability to cut down emissions by investing in emission-reducing projects in

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developing countries. Nepal can therefore be "paid" for its efforts in reducing greenhouse gases while at the
same time promote clean energy and sustainable development in the country.

A potential project for obtaining funding through the CDM can be the Ring Road Trolley Bus Project in
Kathmandu. Currently, operating electric buses in Ring Road is more expensive than operating diesel buses
because the trolley bus system requires additional infrastructure. A study done by Winrock International
however shows that the Ring Road Trolley Bus Project can save 547000 tons of CO2 or 149,000 tons of
carbon over the life time of the project. This amount of carbon can be traded in the global carbon market to
finance part of the cost of the project mainly additional infrastructure cost. Other potential CDM projects could
be subsidies for biogas and other forms of renewable energy and hydropower export to India. However, in
order to take advantage of CDM, Nepal needs to be prepared with studies, proposals and appropriate
institutional mechanisms.

While limiting its greenhouse gases, Nepal also has to take steps to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of
climate change. It is certain that the global temperatures will continue to rise even after the Kyoto
implementation. It is said that there needs to be reduction of at least 60 percent (from 1990 level) of the total
global GHG emission to stabilise the level in the atmosphere. It is very unlikely that this will happen anytime
soon. Nepal therefore needs to prepare itself for the impacts. This requires additional research and immediate
action.

However, Nepal’s role in the international negotiation is very minimal, Nepal can act as model country on use
of alternative energy to mitigate the global climate change. In the way ahead to be a model country Nepal
should first ratify the Kyoto Protocol and actively participate in the international dialogues. Similarly, more
research on the climate change issues and its likely impact is required. An independent institution to look after
these research and awareness programme on climate change has been crucial at this time.

Eighth Conference of Parties (COP 8) is being organised in New Delhi from 23 October to 1 November this
year. So, Nepal should be prepared for the convention with its clear vision to take part in the meeting. Ministry
of Population and Environment (MoPE), being the focal point on climate change issues in Nepal, should then
take the lead to prepare country’s position paper on climate change and utilise the international forum towards
the favourable condition for Nepal.

(The author is Programme Officer, Clean Energy Nepal (CEN)

About the Author

-----------------
Anil K. Raut
P. O. Box 8846
Kathmandu, NEPAL
E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
http://environmentnepal.com.np

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El Universo
Conferencias paralelas compiten en soluciones medioambientales COPENHAGUE | EFE
Copenhague acoge desde este domingo dos conferencias en la que expertos internacionales discuten sobre los
problemas medioambientales y sus soluciones: una, desde la visión puramente económica; otra, defendiendo el
desarrollo sostenible.

Como contrapeso a la conferencia denominada "Copenhagen consensus", organizada por el Instituto de

Análisis Medioambiental (IMV) y que reúne hasta el día 28 a nueve de los más prestigiosos economistas del
mundo, se inauguró hoy otra llamada "Responsabilidad global", promovida por ONGs danesas y con apoyo de
la ONU y la UE.

Esta última, que se clausura mañana, fue inaugurada por el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores danés, Per Stig
Moeller, y contó con la presencia, entre otros, del director ejecutivo del Programa de Naciones Unidas para el
Medio Ambiente (Pnuma), Klaus Topfer, y de la comisaria de Medio Ambiente de la UE, Margot Wallstroem.

Topfer defendió que los problemas medioambientales y la pobreza debían solucionarse a la vez en los países

8
en desarrollo, y resaltó que de nada servía mejorar la sanidad y el agua en éstos, si al mismo tiempo se
destruían ecosistemas como los bosques.

El director del Pnuma abogó por frenar los cambios climáticos, desarrollando nuevas tecnologías respetuosos
con el medio ambiente, y recordó que "la política medioambiental no se reduce a gastos, sino que trata siempre
de quién es el que debe pagar".

Wallstroem defendió el concepto de desarrollo sostenible, "que ha resistido a las críticas y los ataques durante
18 años", y apeló a la necesidad de afrontar estos problemas "desde una visión global, que muestre un nuevo
camino, donde el crecimiento económico y la política medioambiental creen nuevos puestos de trabajo".

La comisaria sueca destacó que la UE debía incrementar y optimizar su ayuda a los países en desarrollo y
apoyar las reformas en la ONU y otros organismos internacionales, porque "tenemos un deber moral y
medioambiental para combatir la pobreza".

Moeller vinculó también el medio ambiente con el desarrollo de la población, la economía, la democracia y los
derechos humanos, pero advirtió que "ni las conferencias de ONGs ni de economistas toman decisiones, sino
que son los políticos quienes lo hacen".

"Copenhagen consensus" reunirá, entre otros, a los premios Nobel de Economía Robert W. Fogel, James J.
Heckman, Douglass C. North y Vernon L. Smith, que deberán ordenar por importancia 38 soluciones para 10
problemas medioambientales urgentes, bajo el supuesto de contar con 50.000 millones de dólares.

"No es realista pensar que se pueden solucionar todos los problemas a la vez, hay que sentar prioridades, y los
economistas están adiestrados en priorizar recursos", aseguró Bjoern Lomborg, director del IMV, uno de los
100 hombres más influyentes del mundo según "Times" y autor del polémico libro "El ecologista escéptico".

Las tesis de Ljomborg fueron apoyadas en la inauguración por el primer ministro danés, Anders Fogh
Rasmussen, quien aseguró además que usaría los resultados de la conferencia en reuniones internacionales y
reuniones con jefes de gobierno extranjeros.

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USEPA NEWS

EPA and NOAA's National Weather Service Adopt New Global Ultraviolet Index Guidelines - Guidance helps
reduce overexposure to
dangerous UV rays

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Contact: John Millett, 202-564-7842 / [email protected]

Carmeyia Gillis, 301-763-8000 ext. 7163 / [email protected]

(Washington, D.C. - May 26, 2004) The EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
(NOAA's) National Weather
Service today announced the new Global Ultraviolet (UV) Index, which replaces the existing UV reporting
methods in the United
States.

Developed by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, and other
international organizations,
the Global UV Index is a set of guidelines designed to better help people understand which precautions to take
to protect
themselves from different levels of UV radiation. These guidelines will standardize reporting of surface UV
radiation levels

9
 in the United States with reporting in other nations. The Government of Canada also is adopting the guidelines
today.

"With summer around the corner and sun-drenched beaches beckoning, it's easy to forget that the sunlight that
feels so good
can be harmful," said EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt. "Our new UV index is a quick and easy way for
people to know when it's
important to use sunscreen and to avoid too much sun."

Retired Air Force Brig. General David L. Johnson, Director of NOAA's National Weather Service, agreed,
adding, "Each year more
than one million people are diagnosed with skin cancer in the United States, making it the most common form
of cancer in the
country. Clearly, there is a need for more guidance with UV index information, which we are providing
today."

The UV Index is a measure of the amount of skin-damaging UV radiation reaching the earth's surface.
Currently, UV Index
forecasts issued by the National Weather Service provide information about UV intensity during the solar
noon hour (1:00 p.m.
daylight saving time) of the following day. The UV Index informs people when rays will be strongest so that
they can take
action to protect themselves. Overexposure to UV radiation from the sun is a preventable contributor to
serious health
effects, particularly skin cancer. Incidence of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, has
more than doubled
in the United States in the last thirty years.

"We are excited that the US is adopting the Global UV Index," said Dr. James Spencer, Co-Chair of the
National Council on Skin
Cancer Prevention and Professor of Dermatology at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. "If people use the
Index to protect
themselves from the sun during peak UV intensity hours, their chances of UV-related health problems ? like
skin cancer ? will
decrease greatly."

The National Weather Service and EPA will provide daily UV forecasts for 58 major metropolitan areas, as
well as forecasts by
zip code. Information about the Global UV Index, including downloadable files and links to sites about UV
radiation, is
available on EPA's Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/uvilaunch.html .

R101 ###

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IPS
Europe Sets Target to Save Biodiversity
LONDON, May 25 (IPS)-- A new initiative was launched Tuesday to advance a campaign to protect
biodiversity in Europe by 2010. The initiative launched in Malahide in Ireland by the umbrella environmental
group 'IUCN The World Conservation Union' seeks to save several species under immediate threat from an
estimated total of around 200,000 in Europe. European environment ministers had signed a commitment in
Goteborg in 2001 under the Swedish presidency of the EU to halt loss of biodiversity by 2010. IUCN has now
taken up a new programme of action in an attempt to make that happen. The campaign has drawn widespread
support. The IUCN itself is an umbrella group with 357 organisations within Europe, Tim Christophersen,
European regional programme coordinator for IUCN told IPS after the launch. That includes 16 European
states and 241 non-governmental organisations.

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The Countdown 2010 initiative aims to get disparate interest groups and stakeholders working together to save
biodiversity, an all encompassing term to describe the variety of all life and natural processes. The initiative
will focus on protection of plant and animal species. The launch in Ireland was strongly supported by the Irish
government, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) for the first half of this
Continued on page 5

year. ''We have commitments of support also from the next four countries to head the EU — the Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Britain and Austria'', Christophersen said.
''We hope this commitment will also mean a budget'', he said. At present we do not have the money for all the
things we would like to do. On these resources and the Countdown 2010 efforts could depend the future of
many species facing extinction in Europe. These include the Iberian Lynx, of whom there are only an
estimated 115 remaining. The Mediterranean monk seal, species of the cod, the Baltic salmon and the
Corncrake bird are also endangered by growing urbanization and agriculture. A 'red list' drawn up by IUCN
suggests that 42 percent of mammals, 15 percent of birds, 45 percent of reptiles and butterflies, 30 percent of
amphibians and 52 percent freshwater fish in Europe are endangered. To an extent the extinction of some
species is natural but it is now a hundred to a thousand times higher than it should be, Christophersen said. The
initiatives over the next six years will include action focused on themes such as the relation of agriculture and
trade with biodiversity, fisheries and other such specific targets.''We will also work with the private sector
and set up awards for companies that make the best environment-friendly changes'', Christophersen said. The
campaign will include events to inform European citizens of what is happening to biodiversity. Lobbying with
governments that are already IUCN members will be extended to their industry, agriculture, transport and
energy departments where most of the decisions that affect biodiversity are taken, Christophersen said.
The Countdown 2010 project launched Tuesday ropes in major players such as the European Commission, the
European Investment Bank and the European Environment Agency. ''We have six years to make a difference'',
IUCN president and former Ecuadorian environment minister for the environment Yolanda Kakabadse said at
the Tuesday launch. Kakabadse outlined six strategic steps to be taken over the next six years. These include
encouraging the private sector to contribute more actively to conserving biodiversity and to integrate
environmental issues into EU development cooperation, thus making the environment a key component of
external policies. The third step proposed is to support more research on biodiversity, and the fourth to work
more intensely at implementing multilateral environmental agreements, starting with the Convention on
Biological Diversity.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
ENS
Sea Turtles Worth More Alive Than Dead
By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, May 26, 2004 (ENS) - The worldwide decline in sea turtle populations is not bad only
for sea turtles, conservationists say. An economic study by the conservation organization WWF finds that the
decline threatens jobs, tourism and coastal economies - particularly in developing countries, two thirds of
which have sea turtles. This is the first assessment of the economic value of sea turtles on a global scale.

"This study confirms what we have suspected all along - sea turtles are worth more to local communities alive
than dead," said Carlos Drews, WWF's regional coordinator for marine turtle conservation in Latin America
and the Caribbean.

Marine turtle tourism brings in almost three times as much money as the sale of turtle products such as meat,
leather and eggs, according to the new report "Money Talks: Economic Aspects of Marine Turtle Use and
Conservation."

Turtles are in steep decline in many areas, as nesting

beaches are converted to holiday resorts, turtles and their
eggs are over-harvested for food, and turtles are
accidentally caught and killed by commercial fishers.
Pacific leatherback turtles are considered critically
endangered. (Photo courtesy NMFS)
Six of the world's seven marine turtle species are
endangered or critically endangered.

11
The situation looks most desperate for the Pacific leatherback, a species that has been swimming the oceans
for more than 100 million years.
Fewer than 3,000 reproductive females remain, and recent scientific studies indicate the incidental killing of
the species must be reduced to zero for it to survive.
Scientists estimate the species could be extinct within the next 10 to 30 years.
All marine turtle species are currently listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species, which prohibits any international commercial trade by more than the 160 signatory
countries.
Even so, trade between non-signatory countries and illegal trade persist.
The WWF researchers found that sea turtle populations are declining in areas where they are exploited and
rising or stable where they are not.
"The continued decline of sea turtle populations will have serious economic consequences, particularly for
coastal communities in developing countries," said Dr. Susan Lieberman, director of WWF's Global Species
Program. "In addition to benefiting the species themselves, investments in their conservation are also
investments in people and their livelihoods."
Sea turtles can live for hundreds of years, but they
are being wiped out by human activities. (Photo
courtesy NOAA)
The international conservation group compared the
revenue generated from killing turtles or collecting
their eggs with that generated from tourism at a total
of 18 sites in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean.
At nine sites, where turtles are used for their meat,
eggs, and shells, the average annual income from
these products was $582,000.
By contrast, at nine locations where turtles are a
tourist attraction, the average annual income was some
$1.65 million.
The study finds that at the biggest and most established site in Costa Rica's Tortuguero National Park, marine
turtle tourism brought in $6.7 million a year.
This kind of ecotourism, which began to flourish in the late 1980s, is critical to the future of sea turtles, WWF
says.
Currently some 175,000 people take sea turtle tours annually to more than 90 sites in some 43 countries.
"Developers, politicians and community leaders should start to see marine turtles as a valuable asset,
generating revenue and jobs," Drews said. "Tourism and turtle protection may in fact increase their economic
value."
__________________________________________________________________________________________
ROLAC MEDIA UPDATE –26 May 2004

www.ips.org
ENVIRONMENT:
Central America and Caribbean Under Satellite's Eye

Jorge Alberto Grochembake*

GUATEMALA CITY, May 26 (Tierramérica) - Central America has been monitoring its natural
resources from outer space since the 1990s, through a project in conjunction with NASA. Now the aim is
to incorporate 15 Caribbean countries into the initiative.

Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama already have their first detailed
satellite images to detect environmental destruction or ecologically sensitive areas, helping them make
decisions, for example, about granting mining or oil drilling rights.

Now the challenge is to expand the project from seven to 21 countries, incorporating 15 Caribbean nations,
Mario Dary, head of the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD) and
Guatemala's environment minister, told Tierramérica.

12
”Natural resources know no borders, and to interpret the phenomena that affect Central America, from the
perspective of preventing natural disasters, it's important to have a broad and complete regional view,” he said.

In December 1998, the CCAD signed an agreement with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, NASA, to obtain satellite images of Central American territory -- free of charge.

The five-year agreement was extended for another five and is financed by the World Bank and by
the U.S. Agency for International Development, with the participating governments contributing a
portion as well.

The initial aim was to protect the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, which covers 589 protected
areas, 14 biospheres, eight UNESCO ”heritage of humanity” sites and 45 million inhabitants over
760,000 square km, extending from southern Mexico to Panama.

The project also provides information to help confront and curb damages caused by earthquakes,
hurricanes, drought or volcanic eruptions.

The programme's computers allow experts to ”navigate” over the region, based on the systems for
Mesoamerican environmental information and regional monitoring.

The petition to expand the project to the Caribbean was made by Dary and by Jorge Cabrera, World
Bank environmental consultant to the CCAD, during a visit to Japan last month.

”The initiative was presented and now we are working with the World Bank so that its Caribbean
division can help finance the expansion,” said Cabrera.

Meanwhile, the Central Americans are looking to flesh out information about their own resources so
that they can be seen on the computer screens, superimposed over the NASA satellite images, he
said.

The environmental consultant guided Tierramérica on a virtual tour of Central America using his
computer, making a stop at Guatemala's Tikal National Park, which holds important Maya ruins, and
is set in the department of El Petén, 550 km north of the capital.

The satellite images clearly show the ruins and the hotels in the park, the visitor centre and its
museum, restaurants, roads and even ”a bald spot”, an area cleared of trees that neighbours the
park ”but can't be seen from the highway,” Cabrera said.

Digital technology allowed the expert to determine that the deforested area is 500 square metres
and is just half a kilometre from the Maya ruins.

Cabrera explained that NASA provides raw data, and the Central American experts have added four
of the planned 18 ”layers” of detail from the regional atlas, put together from information from the
seven governments, uploaded in Panama, where the programme is based.

”The protected areas, political boundaries, highways and rivers are already marked,” while some of
the data yet to be added includes ports, airports, watersheds and bodies of water, he said.

So far, the information is only available on digital videodiscs, DVD, but, said Cabrera, ”We hope to
have it on the Internet soon for public and private use.”

”With an integrated view of the territory,” it is hoped that appropriate policy decisions can be made,
such as banning industry in tourist areas and keeping industry in certain zones, said the consultant.

But environmental activist Magalí Rey Sosa, director of the MadreSelva Collective, said in a
Tierramérica interview that the benefits of the programme ”will depend on whose hands the
technology is placed.”

13
”If the authorities know how to use it, it could help maintain a certain amount of control over territory
in a region where there is no money and no personnel to take care of our resources,” she said.

(* Jorge Alberto Grochembake is a Tierramérica contributor. Originally published May 22 by Latin

American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news
service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the
United Nations Environment Programme.)

www.tierramerica.net
Can Planting Trees Be Harmful?
By Diana Cariboni*

Environmentalists warn that monoculture of tree plantations threatens the Uruguayan

environment. But there are no studies available on the true impacts of commercial forestry,
which now covers more than 600,000 hectares, or four percent of productive land in this
South American country.

MONTEVIDEO - What's wrong with planting trees? ask the promoters of commercial forestry, which
is spreading throughout South America. In Uruguay, there are no definitive answers, but all signs
indicate that it is a problem of scale.

Orderly rows of eucalyptus and pine trees are proliferating in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay,
representing 40 percent of the 10 million hectares of rapid-growth tree plantations worldwide.

Unlike other forestry plantations, these are intended only to produce "fast wood" at low cost -- huge
quantities of narrow tree trunks that serve as raw material for cellulose used to manufacture paper.

The Latin American forestry policies, encouraged by multilateral institutions and international
cooperation agencies, "increasingly focus on promoting monoculture (of pines, eucalyptus or other
species) rather than on protecting native forests," Ricardo Carrere, coordinator of the World
Rainforest Movement, WRM, told Tierramérica.

"The reason is that the forest is seen as a mine to be exploited," he commented.

In Uruguay, Law 15.939 of 1987 led to "explosive growth of tree plantations between 1997 and
1998," forestry agronomist Ariel Rodríguez Yáñez, co-author of that bill and former professor at the
University of the Republic of Uruguay, told Tierramérica.

Subsidies, taxes that were never collected, soft credits and expenditures on road infrastructure total
some 400 million dollars to promote the industry, according to WRM.

Fast-wood plantations now cover more than 600,000 hectares in Uruguay, or four percent of its
productive land. The native temperate forests cover 810,000 hectares.

Rodríguez Yáñez, now working as an advisor to the forest product companies, says the policy was
good, but has been unsuccessful because of the lack of industrialization. "We continue to be
exporters of raw material, vulnerable to the fluctuations of the international market."

Uruguay's forestry exports totaled 86.5 million dollars in 2002, with 43 million dollars representing
raw wood, according to the national Forestry Directorate. The country's overall foreign sales that
year reached 2.2 billion dollars.

The forestry industry involves some 1,500 producers, and U.S. and European transnationals
predominate. The sector provides around 3,000 permanent jobs in this country of 3.4 million people,
according to the 2000 agricultural census.

Seasonal work -- planting, pruning and harvest -- is not included in the statistics. Workers are hired
through intermediaries and generally are not covered by Uruguayan labor legislation.

The initial boom hit the brakes due to a delay in subsidy payments, which is five years behind. After

14
the devaluation of the Uruguayan peso in 2002, even the subsidies failed to be attractive.

But the pines and eucalyptus are still there. The expectations for industrialization are focused on
plans of Spanish and Finnish companies to set up two cellulose factories in western Uruguay --
plans that have come under fire for their potential threat to the environment.

According to the forestry law, forests are areas "in which trees predominate, regardless of size,
exploited or not, and which are in conditions to produce wood or other forestry products or to
exercise influence in the conservation of soils, the watershed or climate, or which provide shelter or
other benefits of national interest."

But the only thing in common between forests and plantations are the trees, argue
environmentalists.

Forests contain a diversity of trees and bushes of different ages, other related species and provide
shelter, food and reproductive conditions for a variety of animal life. This biological diversity interacts
with the soil, the water, the solar energy and climate, ensuring regeneration and conservation.

In contrast, monoculture plantations involve one or a handful of species planted in plots and all are
the same age. They require the intensive use of agro-chemicals and very few native species are
able to grow in those areas.

But does that make tree plantations harmful to the environment? In Uruguay, there is no way of
knowing for sure. Legislation for evaluating environmental impacts excludes the forestry industry --
as if it were assumed that planting trees could never be detrimental.

Environmental groups are demanding independent environmental impact studies, and argue that the
big plantations of pines and eucalyptus lead to soil erosion and alter the natural water cycle, in
addition to threatening native forest and grassland ecosystems.

"For better or worse, forestation modifies the structural conditions of the soil due to the root system
of the trees," acknowledged Rodríguez Yáñez.

Uruguay is promoting commercial tree plantations in areas where there is lower output of the
country's emblematic products: beef and wool. In practice, this has meant plantations taking over
natural grasslands -- Uruguay's most extensive ecosystem and most diverse in plant life -- and in
areas where there used to be natural forests or remnants of them.

"Our greatest biodiversity of plants is not in the forests, where there are some 200 species of trees
and bushes," said WRM's Carrere. "There are thousands of plant species in our prairies that could
be hurt" by commercial forestry.

The forestry law prohibits logging of native forests but does allow the felling of isolated trees if they
stand in the way of a plantation.

In other regions of the world, the loss of biodiversity has been established as being related to
monoculture tree plantations.

At the end of 2001, Indonesia had 1.4 million hectares of tree plantations, half on land that was
previously natural forest, according to the study "Fast-Wood Forestry: Myths and Realities",
published in 2003 by four international institutions.

The report states that rapid-growth tree plantations are expanding by one million hectares a year.

The groups responsible for the study were the Center for International Forestry Research, financed
by multilateral agencies, governments and corporations; the World Conservation Union (IUCN); the
World Wildlife Fund; and Forest Trends, an advisory group for the forestry industry.

Authors Christian Cossalter and Charlie Pye-Smith are looking for a midway point between the
arguments of environmentalists and of industry, but acknowledge that commercial forestry has

15
caused social and environmental problems "in some situations."

They suggest that governments eliminate or drastically reduce subsidies for monoculture tree
plantations.

FACTBOX-Haiti and Dominican Republic prone to disasters

26 May 2004
LONDON (Reuters) - Following is a list of major natural disasters to hit the Dominican Republic and Haiti in
the past three decades.
1979 - Hurricane David kills 1,200 in the Dominican Republic and Florida in the United States.
1991 - Heavy rain cause a stream to overflow in the Dominican Republic, destroying shacks on the outskirts of
the eastern city of San Pedro de Macoris. 11 people are killed.
1994 – Heavy rains and flooding from Tropical Strom Gordon kill 829 and leave more than 10,000 homeless
in Haiti
1996 - Hurricane Hortense hits Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, killing 22. It is the third hurricane to
hit the region that month, following Hurricanes Edouard and Fran.
1998 - Hurricane Georges, the most powerful storm to strike the region in years, hammers the Caribbean,
killing 229 people on Haiti. 12 people on the crowded island of Hispaniola are killed and the Dominican
Republic suffers serious flooding.
2001 - Three people are killed as Hurricane Iris lashes the Dominican Republic.
2002 - At least 26 people die in Jamaica and Haiti in flooding and landslides caused by a powerful storm
system that swept across the northern Caribbean.
2003 - At least five people die in the Dominican Republic after days of torrential rain sends rivers over their
banks and forces some 12,000 people from their homes.
May 24, 2004 - Floods and mudslides kill more than 500 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, many of
them swept to their deaths when rain-swollen rivers burst their banks.
(Written by the Reuters Editorial Reference Unit)

WFP Sends Food Aid to Haiti, Dominican Republic

VOA News
26 May 2004, 19:07 UTC

Destroyed house in Jimani, Dominican Republic

The World Food Program has sent $200,000 in food aid to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where more than
500 people have been killed in floods.
The aid comes as rescue workers continue to search for survivors and victims of Monday's floods, triggered by
torrential rains on the

Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Hundreds of people have been displaced by the disaster.
An estimated 300 of the Haitian victims died in the border area with the Dominican
Republic. Officials report the death toll there has risen to more than 200. Hundreds of
people are reported missing in both countries.
Pope John Paul II has offered prayers for the families and victims of the disaster. He sent
sympathy telegrams to authorities in both Caribbean countries, assuring the homeless and
other survivors that he is spiritually with them.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan also has offered condolences saying he is
saddened by the heavy loss of life. He said U.N. teams in Haiti and the Dominican Republic
are currently assessing the extent of needs created by the flooding.

16
Interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue traveled to Fonds-Verrettes Tuesday to view
the devastation. A helicopter from the U.S.-led multinational force in Haiti also flew
emergency supplies to the area.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and R
Floods kill 500 in Haiti and Dominican Republic

26.05.2004
11.00am
FOND VERETTES, Haiti - Floods and mudslides have killed more than 500 people in the
Dominican Republic and Haiti, many of them swept to their deaths when rain-swollen rivers
burst their banks, authorities in the two neighbouring Caribbean countries said on Tuesday.
In the hard-hit Haitian town of Fond Verettes, floodwaters rose from a previously dry
riverbed and swept through the streets, washing away buildings or burying them under tons
of rock and gravel. At least 158 people were killed in the town of 40,000, local officials
said.
Margareth Martin, head of the civil protection office for the Southeast department, said at
least 200 people were killed in that part of the country.
The flooding followed days of torrential rain on the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti
and the Dominican Republic. Thousands were left homeless in the two countries.
Canadian troops and US Marines were flying helicopters with water and relief supplies to
the worst-hit part of Haiti, said a spokesman for a US-led peacekeeping force.
Some 135 people were killed in the Jimani area of western Dominican Republic, near the
border with Haiti, and more than 200 people were believed to be missing, officials at an
emergency operations centre said. Ten people died in other parts of the Dominican Republic.
In Fond Verettes, 16-year-old Joane Saint Fort returned from a trip to the capital to find her
home and family gone.
"I went to see my aunt in Port-au-Prince for the weekend. Now I came back and I cannot
find my house," she said. "It was right here but there is no house. My mother and two
younger brothers were living here."
The flooding scoured a section of town 0.8km long and 300m wide. It swept away the
town's tax office and courthouse. Only half of the police station remained.
"It appears there have been many victims that have been washed out of the village or may be
buried underneath the rubble," said Col. Glen Sachtleben, chief of staff for the multinational
task force in Haiti, as he stood among the rocks and gravel covering areas where buildings
once stood.
At least 540 houses were destroyed or buried, another 1500 were damaged and 3000 people
needed emergency aid, said a United Nations development official who toured the town.
In addition to those killed in Fond Verettes, about 40 people died in the southeastern part of
Haiti and 20 more were reported dead at the border near Jimani, according to government
sources and humanitarian officials.

17
"This is a disaster. We are calling on Haiti's friends to help," Haitian prime minister Gerard
Latortue said after being flown to the disaster site on a Canadian military helicopter.
The foreign peacekeepers, who number about 3500, are in Haiti to try to restore order after
an armed revolt ousted former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February.
Haiti, with a population of about eight million, is the poorest country in the Americas. The
Dominican Republic, 8.5 million people, is more prosperous, but parts of the country, such
as the Jimani area, are still grindingly poor.
The devastation in Jimani occurred when a river burst its banks early on Monday, sending
flood waters rushing through poor neighbourhoods and destroying hundreds of fragile
homes.
Several survivors told local media they had been asleep when the floods hit their homes.
"It was all very fast, I couldn't do anything," said Ramon Perez Feliz, who lost his sister and
two nephews. "I was saved because the current threw me away, out of the river bed."
Television stations showed scenes of dozens of bodies piled up in the morgue at Jimani,
many of them children and some caked with mud. Rescue workers said more dead could be
buried under the mud and debris.
"It has been a great tragedy," said Dominican President Hipolito Mejia, who sent army
doctors, medical supplies and food to shelters set up for people who lost their homes.
The Dominican weather service said that about 25cm of rain fell in the last 24 hours in the
Jimani area.
- REUTERS

Floods kill over 200 people in Haiti and Dominican Republic

A big storm has hit the Caribbean Island of the Dominican Republic killing at least 104
people.

More than 13,000 people are homeless, 250 people are missing and 122 people are injured.

Flooding followed days of torrential rain on the island of Hispaniola, shared with Haiti,
where up to 140 people have been killed in the southeast region of the country.

Peacekeeping force soldiers from Canada and US Marines are flying in relief supplies to the
worst hit part of Haiti.

Heavy flooding has destroyed villages in many areas of the Dominican Republic.

Emergency officials say the most affected area is in the country's southwest, along the
Haitian border, where the Soleil River burst its banks after a week of driving rains.

18
Floods kill 9 people in Dominican Republic

SANTO DOMINGO (AFP) May 24, 2004

At least nine people have died in floods after torrential rains

pelted the Dominican Republic, forcing hundreds of families to leave their homes, authorities said Monday.
The National Emergency Commission said six people died in Jimani, a town bordering Haiti
280 kilometers (174 miles) west of Santo Domingo, after a river overflowed during rains
that have hit the Caribbean nation in the last few days.
One person drowned and another was electrocuted in Santo Domingo, and a Haitian man
drowned in Duarte province, 135 kilometers (84 miles) northwest of the capital, the
commission said. Two people are reported missing.
The downpour has caused landslides and the isolation of communities.
Forecasters say the rain will continue for two more days.
"Right now there is moderate to strong precipitation, occasionally accompanied by wind
gusts over a large part of the national territory," commission spokesman Jose Luis German
said.
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OVER 100 KILLED IN DOMINICAN FLOODS
25.5.2004. 18:45:14

At least 100 people are reported to have died in floods after torrential rains lashed the
Dominican Republic, forcing hundreds of families to evacuate their homes.

Another 150 were reportedly injured.

Many of the dead perished in Jimani, a town bordering Haiti, 280 kilometres west of Santo
Domingo, after a river overflowed following days of rain that has hit the island of
Hispaniola, which the two countries share.

There are also reports of deaths in the capital Santo

Domingo and Duarte province, 135 kilometres to the
northwest, as well as several dozen in neighbouring
Haiti.

The downpour has caused landslides and the isolation

of communities.

Forecasters say the rain will continue for two more days.

"Right now there is moderate to strong precipitation, occasionally accompanied by wind

gusts over a large part of the national territory," a Dominican National Emergency
Commission spokesman said.

19
SOURCE: World News
S. Florida Dominicans rally with relief supplies for flood victims

By Sandra Hernandez
Staff Writer
Posted May 26 2004

Ausberto Hidalgo expected to walk into Radio Union's offices Tuesday to discuss the recent presidential elections
in the Dominican Republic. Instead, he spent most of the afternoon at the Spanish language radio station in Miami
talking about the deadly floods that killed hundreds in his homeland.

"Today the topic was supposed to be politics, but suddenly the topic is about the floods," said Hidalgo, president
of MOLE, Movimiento de Apoyo para Leonel, a Miami group that supported newly elected President Leonel
Fernandez's campaign in that country's recent elections and is now helping to coordinate aid to the island nation
of 8.5 million. "People want to know how they can help, what they can do."

On Monday, heavy rains caused rivers to flood and touched off mudslides that wiped out homes and roads along
the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Among the areas hardest hit were the small towns of
Jimani on the Dominican side of the island and Fond Verrettes in Haiti.

"Right now information is still limited, but we believe half of the victims are Dominican and half are Haitian,"
said Nelson Muñoz, a spokesman for the Dominican Consulate in Miami.

News of the tragedy spread quickly among South Florida's Dominican community, which numbers about 125,000
in the tri-county area.

"Last night people in the community started to see reports on the news, but we didn't really know about the
magnitude of the problem until this morning," Hidalgo said.

So far, about seven community groups have joined together as part of Project Jimani, an emergency relief effort
that is asking for donations of canned foods, bottled water and medicine.

Among those helping is Rhadames Peguero of the Dominican American National Foundation of Miami, one of
the oldest groups in the region.

"It was the images I saw of the bodies piled up like a photo from the Holocaust that made me say `I have to do
something,'" Peguero said.

Those images also moved Ramonita Mejia of Miami Lakes to act.

"My first reaction was to go to [the local] school because I know there are many Dominican families with
children at the school," said Mejia, whose son attends Graham Elementary School. "I know the community is so
worried. How can you not be after seeing the images on television? It is horrific."

She said she spent much of the day calling anyone who could help, including Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas'
father. "I told Don Luis Penelas, `Call your son and ask him to help us.' We need all Hispanics to help us," said
Mejia, who is also a member of MOLE.

For many Dominicans, this experience is all too familiar. In 1998 community groups joined to help victims of
Hurricane Georges, which left 602 dead in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. And they came together again in
2001 to help families of the 265 victims aboard the American Airlines plane that crashed after taking off from
New York en route to the Dominican Republic.

"People are bringing clothes and other help here," said German Santana, a Hollywood dentist who used his office
as a drop-off point for donations several years ago.

Even in newer communities such as West Palm Beach, where about 3,500 Dominicans live, the need to help those

20
 back home has prompted less formal efforts.

Here it is a bit harder because we are more spread out

in Palm Beach, so we have to rely on word of mouth
to let people know we need to help and get donations," said Carlos Andrickson of Boca Raton. "This is very
worrisome because you don't know how many are dead, and the number of missing simply seems to get bigger all
the time."

Sandra Hernandez can be reached at [email protected] or 954-356- 4514.

Government Pledges Assistance to Victims of Floods in the Caribbean

The Government has today pledged up to > EUR> 100,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance in response
to flooding and storms in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Torrential rains on the Caribbean island of
Hispaniola (shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic) have caused widespread devastation. Homes have
been swept away and transport and power lines cut.

Announcing the assistance Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights, Tom Kitt T.D.,
said:

"Reports are still coming in regarding casualty figures from the disaster. It appears that more than 500 people
have perished and there are still many families listed as being missing. More than 13,000 people have lost their
homes. The local authorities in the region are working closely with United Nations humanitarian agencies in
the rescue effort. "

The funding announced today comes on top of the > EUR> 500,000 already provided by the Government to
assist innocent victims of the civil conflict which occurred in Haiti last March.
At least 263 dead in Dominican and Haitian floods; trucks dump scores of corpses into
mass grave
JIMANI, Dominican Republic — Sobbing villagers tore through heaps of mud with their
bare hands Tuesday, searching for loved ones as the death toll from flooding in the
Dominican Republic and Haiti rose to at least 263. Trucks dumped scores of corpses into a
mass grave on the outskirts of this impoverished border town.

21
An Associated Press reporter counted at least 180 bodies on the Dominican side of
Hispaniola island, and 83 were confirmed dead in Haiti. But the toll was steadily rising, as
rescue workers and family members continued to pull corpses from the mud.
More than 250 people were unaccounted for in the Dominican Republic and 62 were
reportedly missing in Haiti, mostly in the town of Fond Verrette, near Jimani

City readies relief aid for flood victims

While rescue workers continued to search for victims buried in mud slides along the Dominican Republic-
Haiti border, Mayor Bloomberg and community leaders in New York were gearing up yesterday to
send relief aid to the region.
Alianza Dominicana, a Washington Heights-based organization, started a fund at JPMorgan
Chase and is asking for donations to help those who lost their homes and loved ones in the
Dominican farming town of Jimani, about 110 miles west of the capital, Santo Domingo.
So far, 363 people have been killed in the Dominican Republic and Haiti by flash floods and
mud slides brought on by rain-swollen rivers.
Bloomberg said he has directed Joe Bruno, the head of the Office of Emergency
Management, to examine how the city can help. "Sometimes, they can use equipment;
sometimes, they can use people to help. Sometimes, you just get in the way," Bloomberg
said. "And we want to make sure that we don't just respond where they don't need us."
The Dominican Republic's president-elect, Leonel Fernandez, also was scheduled to come
to the city today to appeal for assistance.

UN humanitarian team taking aid to area of flooded Haiti

26 May 2004 – A team of United Nations humanitarian agencies and
Food aid for Haiti non-governmental organizations (NGOs) today will carry aid to one of
the areas of Haiti worst affected by the raging floods that followed days of torrential rain,
killing nearly 400 people and injuring almost 1,000 in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
With many roads still impassable, the team was taking a helicopter owned by the US-led
Multinational Interim Force (MIF) to Haiti's Fond Verette, the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
Other areas devastated by the sudden flooding Monday night were Mapou, Grand Gosier
and Anse à Pitre, in the western part of Haiti, while in the Dominican Republic, Jimani
municipality in the southwest, near the Haitian border, was the worst affected.

22
OCHA said latest reports indicate that in Haiti, almost 350 people are dead or missing, while
over 800 have been injured. In Jimani, 45 people were killed, 120 injured and 200 are
missing. Some 7,000 Haitians urgently need aid.
Haiti suffered the loss of 2,400 houses and five schools destroyed or badly damaged by the
floods. Crops and livestock were also lost. MIF peacekeepers, who have ferried supplies in
by helicopter, were appealing for tents, blankets, plastic sheeting and food for those in need.

At least 634 dead in Caribbean floods

Rescuers are digging into mud-filled homes hoping to find some of the hundreds missing
from flash-floods in Haiti and the Dominican Republican as the official death toll rises to
634.
In Haiti, the toll rose to 375 dead, while in the Dominican Republic the number of
confirmed dead increased to 259, with 365 people missing.
The worst hit has been the Dominican town of Jimani, which was devastated after the Soleil
River burst its banks and swept away hundreds of people, many of them women and
children, from their homes.
The town accounts for nearly all the dead and missing on the Dominican side of the border.
Felix Dotel, a doctor with the local health department, says up to 1,000 people may have
died in Jimani because the local authorities did not have an accurate register of the
population.
As the rain kept falling, rescuers dug through the mud and local authorities buried many of
the dead in mass graves. About 100 unidentified bodies were buried in a grave in a forest
near the border town on Tuesday.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from Jimani, according to UN aid agencies.
Those left alive told of their miraculous survival as the Soleil turned into a torrent in the
early hours of Monday morning.

23
‫‪Bartolina Diaz, 65, clung to an iron door on her house that the waters could not drag away.‬‬
‫‪Dionisio Mendez, 86, who is blind, was swept a kilometre downstream before he grabbed a‬‬
‫‪tree.‬‬
‫‪A spokesman for the Dominican National Emergency Commission, Jose Luis German, says‬‬
‫‪250 died, 365 went missing and 122 were injured in Jimani and that the confirmed death toll‬‬
‫‪was rising regularly.‬‬
‫‪Dominican Republic and Haiti divide the mountainous island of Hispaniola, which has been‬‬
‫‪the main victim of more than 10 days of rain storms that lashed much of the Caribbean.‬‬
‫‪--AFP‬‬

‫‪ROWA NEWS BRIEFING‬‬

‫‪26 May 2004‬‬
‫‪ROWA MEDIA BRIEFING‬‬
‫________________________________________________________________________________________‬

‫‪BAHRAIN‬‬

‫المحافظة الجنوبية تقرر تشجير العديد من المناطق والمدارس‬

‫تشجير مدرسة عسكر البتدائية العدادية‬

‫‪Afforestation Projects in Bahrain Schools‬‬

‫بناءً على توجيهات سمو الشيخ عبدال بن حمد آل خليفة محافظ المحافظة الجنوبية رئيس الهيئة العامة لحماية الثروة البجرية والبيئة والحياة‬
‫الفطرية قامت المحافظة الجنوبية ممثلة بادارة الخدمات وبرامج التنمية بالتعاون مع شركة الخليج للبتروكيماويات بتشجير جزء من مدرسة‬
‫عسكر البتدائية العدادية للبنين وتزويدها بنظام التنقيط لري التربة‪ .‬وقد تم تشجير جزء ممتد من المدرسة بأشجار مظللة ومثمرة‪ ،‬وشارك‬
‫في التشجير كل من مدير المدرسة الستاذ عبدالعزيز عيسى الدوسري والمهندس محمد ابراهيم السيسي رئيس قسم الخدمات والبحوث‬
‫بالمحافظة‪ ،‬كما شارك في التشجير السيد رياض السرحان ممثل عن شركة الخليج للبتروكيماويات‪.‬‬

‫وصرح المهندس محمد ابراهيم السيسي بهذه المناسبة قائل‪ :‬ان المحافظة الجنوبية وبتوجيهات سمو المحافظ السديدة ستعمل على تشجير عدد‬
‫من المناطق العامة والمدارس وتغطية عدة مناطق في المحافظة بالمساحات الخضراء‪ ،‬ويأتي ذلك من حرص المحافظة على توفير البيئة‬
‫الصحية التي توفرها الشجار على اختلف أنواعها‪ ،‬كما أن المحافظة تشيد بالتعاون المشترك والمساندة التي تقدمها الشركات ومؤسسات‬
‫المجتمع بشكل عام وشركة الخليج للبتروكيماويات بشكل خاص‪.‬‬

‫‪http://www.akhbar-alkhaleej.com/Articles.asp?Article=92026&Sn=BNEW‬‬

‫‪UAE‬‬

‫‪24‬‬
Abu Dhabi to host Environment 2005 show

ABU DHABI - Over 400 exhibitors are expected to participate in the third Environment 2005
Exhibition & Conference that will held from January 30 to February 2, in the capital to
showcase Environment friendly technologies and discuss issues relating to Environmental
degradation.

The exhibition and conference which will take place at the Abu Dhabi International Exhibition
& Conference Center (ADIEC) has received huge response from the Environment industry
from around the world as this year there is a growth of 30 per cent growth in the participation
comparing with the previous edition held in 2003.

Environment 2005 will be the third event in a series of bi-annual events themed on the
Environment that the General Exhibitions Corporation (GEC) has been organising since
2001, jointly with the Environment Research & Development Agency (ERWDA). This year
the world's leading trade fair and exhibition service company IMAG GmbH is joining hands
with GEC and ERWDA as the International Organsing Partner, to market the show.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Displayarticle.asp?section=business&xfile=
data/business/2004/may/business_may569.xml

YEMEN
Finding new uses for old oil

SANA'A - The Municipality of Sana'a signed an agreement last week with the National
Environment Company to safely collect and reuse used engine oil in the capital region.

Mayor of Sana’a Ahmed Al-Kohlani explained that according to the agreement, the
company will collect all quantities of used oil from garages and workshops around Sana'a
for processing and reuse in other projects.

Mayor Al-Kohlani said the agreement came within the framework of scientific measures to
protect the environment, as used oil is considered a main source of environmental
pollution.

Used engine oil, when released into the environment, can have a very negative impact on
the underground water quality.

He said that the municipality would call owners of automotive shops to cooperate with the
company.

The company will distribute special barrels to the garage owners to collect used engine oil,
and the company will collect it for treatment in a special facility prior to reuse.

http://www.yobserver.com/news/article_700.html
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Prepared by News Services Section DH/4151
http://www.un.org/News/ 26 May 2004

W E D N E S DAY H I G H LI G H T S

25
 * Sudan: Annan hails endorsement of peace protocols, urges progress on Darfur

* Sudan’s cooperation, external funds for Darfur crisis needed now, UN says

* Security Council discusses draft resolution on Iraq

* UN-sponsored experts draw up blueprint to safeguard Iraq’s cultural heritage

* Annan intends to appoint senior relief official head of UN mission in Burundi

* UN agencies mount response to help thousands in Nigeria displaced by violence

* Member of UN mission in DR of Congo accused of sexual abuse sent home for trial

* UN humanitarian team taking aid to area of flooded Haiti

* Over 2,000 Palestinians left homeless in latest Israeli raid, UN reports

* Set of 30 mortal remains repatriated to Kosovo under UN auspices

* Peacekeeping best way to ensure long-term stability, Annan says

* UN says urgent action needed to prevent full-scale locust plague in northwest Africa

* Ocean resources play critical role in sustainable development worldwide – Annan

****
Sudan
26 May – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today hailed the endorsement of agreements
aimed at ending two decades of war between the Sudanese Government and rebels in the south, while urging
progress in resolving the crisis in Darfur, located in the western part of Africa’s largest country.

Meeting in Naivasha, Kenya, the Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army
(SPLM/A) initialled three protocols on political and power sharing issues. A spokesman for the Secretary-
General issued a statement calling this development “a major step forward” in the peace process.

“In welcoming the achievement of the IGAD Peace Process which paves the way for a
comprehensive settlement of the conflict in southern Sudan, the Secretary-General at the same time calls on
the Government of the Sudan and the armed opposition in Darfur to seize the momentum created in Naivasha
to reach a political solution in western Sudan, putting an end to the grave humanitarian and human rights
situations there,” spokesman Fred Eckhard added.

During the talks, which are being facilitated by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development
(IGAD), Mr. Annan has encouraged both Sudanese President Hassan Al-Bashir and SPLM/A Chairman John
Garang to seek a speedy conclusion. He also designated his Special Adviser, Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun,
to provide support to the mediation.

The Secretary-General commended Sudan’s First Vice-President, Ali Osman Taha, and Mr. Garang.
“He urges the two parties to sustain their commitment and persevere in reaching agreement on the remaining
issues, especially the ceasefire arrangements, the implementations modalities and international guarantees for a
future comprehensive peace agreement,” the spokesman said, stressing the UN’s “interest and readiness” to
support this process.

“The United Nations stands ready to contribute to the efforts of the international community to help
implement a peace agreement concluded by the Sudanese parties,” the statement said.

***
Sudan
26 May – Having lifted restrictions on humanitarian visits to the internally displaced people (IDPs)
under attack in its western Darfur area, the Sudanese Government has imposed other restraints which, along

26
with insufficient external funding, effectively impede timely assistance, the United Nations humanitarian
coordinator said today.

In a closed briefing of the Security Council on what he has called the biggest humanitarian disaster
today, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jan Egeland, said
time was running out.

“We are racing against the clock for three related reasons – the access restrictions that have severely
constrained our ability to operate, serious funding shortfalls and the slow build-up of our capacity and response
over the past moths by some organizations that were absorbed by the ongoing humanitarian challenges in
southern Sudan, the Upper Nile and other parts of the country,” he said according to the text of his briefing
made available afterwards.

On the day the new procedures were announced, 93 visas were outstanding, but with the reduction in
the time needed to get visas, OCHA, which had had no permits for two months, was able to send in six
additional staff members today, he said.

Several major non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were still waiting for visas for more than 60
relief workers, however, he said.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was told recently that its exemption to import drugs could be
revoked, making it liable to experience delays of several months while emergency medical supplies were
tested in Sudanese laboratories, he said.

“One NGO was told that its food shipment in Port Sudan was not covered by the new emergency
procedures because it had arrived by sea and not by air,” Mr. Egeland said.

Apparently based on a ministerial decree issued earlier this month, the UN World Food Programme
(WFP) was told that it had to use NGOs to distribute food supplies although the capacity of Sudanese NGOs
was almost non-existent in some needy areas, he said.

In addition, although local trucking capacity is insufficient for the vast quantities of food to be
distributed, the Sudanese Government was insisting that only Sudanese trucks be used, he said.

Meanwhile, the rainy season was fast approaching, which could make roads impassable for periods of
time and the appeal for funding to aid IDPs and Sudanese refugees in Chad has raised only $50 million of the
$171 million needed, Mr. Egeland said.

With the co-chairmanship of the European Union and the United States, he said, OCHA would
convene a high-level donors’ meeting in Geneva on 3 June.

“This funding is needed in cash and it is needed now – not in one, two or three months,” Mr. Egeland
said.

***
Iraq
26 May – The United Nations Security Council today met in closed session to discuss a draft
resolution on Iraq, while Special Adviser Lakhdar Brahimi continued contacts in Baghdad aimed at helping the
Iraqis set up a transitional government to receive sovereignty on 30 June.

Mr. Brahimi’s appointments included talks with French Representative Bernard Bajolet in the Iraqi
capital.

A spokesman for Mr. Brahimi said the UN envoy has not yet finalized his recommendations on any
positions in the new Iraqi government, “contrary to speculation otherwise.”

In a statement issued in Baghdad, spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said the process of consensus building
was still ongoing, but progress was being made. “[Mr. Brahimi] remains of the view that it needs to be – and
can be – brought to closure very soon, so that the new government will have sufficient time to prepare to
assume power and engage in meaningful consultations on the forthcoming Security Council resolution,” he
said.

27
 Mr. Brahimi was reluctant to provide more details “at this delicate stage” – including any
commentary on names – so as not to risk undermining the process or putting individuals in compromising
positions, the spokesman added.

“In this instance, however, in order to ensure that wrong conclusions are not drawn, Mr. Brahimi
confirms that he has met Mr. Hussain el-Shahrestani on a number of occasions,” Mr. Fawzi said. “He thinks
very highly of him, values his advice, and has not doubt that Mr. Shahrestani could serve his country well in a
number of positions in government.

“Mr. Shahrestani, however, has himself clarified that he would prefer to serve his country in other
ways.”

***
Iraq
26 May – Girding itself for the “immense and vital” challenge of safeguarding Iraq’s cultural heritage,
a United Nations-sponsored group of international experts today drew up a seven-point blueprint for
comprehensive conservation, rehabilitation, capacity building, training and coordination.

The International Coordination Committee for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of Iraq,
established under the joint auspices of the Iraqi authorities and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), concluded its first meeting today at the Organization’s Paris headquarters, chaired
by Iraqi Minister for Culture Moufid al Jazairi.

UNESCO became deeply involved in efforts to preserve Iraq’s cultural heritage, with priceless
antiquities stretching back 7,000 years, after last year’s war when looters laid waste to several museums,
libraries and archaeological sites throughout the country.

“Iraq’s entire culture, from its archaeological sites, museums and cultural institutions, libraries and
archives, intangible cultural heritage as well as the arts and cultural industries” has been affected by more than
10 years of embargo and conflict, UNESCO Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura told the two-day meeting.
“The challenge, therefore, is immense and vital.”

It is estimated that Iraq has over 10,000 archaeological sites, though only one-seventh of them have
been studied. Before it was pillaged in April 2003, the Museum of Baghdad included some 100,000 objects
bearing witness to the greatness of the civilizations that succeeded each other in Mesopotamia, the “land
between two rivers.”

The Committee, whose main task is to provide advice on measures to improve and reinforce
international cooperation, comprises 25 international experts including three Iraqis. Its members, proposed by
UNESCO Member States, are appointed in their personal capacity by Mr. Matsuura.

The objectives the meeting set include: assisting the Ministry of Culture in institutional reform,
capacity building and training; devising a comprehensive museum conservation plan; instituting a cooperation
mechanism and network of international partners to rehabilitate the National Library and archives; and
coordinating international action and channelling international aid, both bilateral and multilateral.

Other goals seek to enforce and strengthen national legislation on cultural heritage; devising a
national programme for recording and mapping archaeological sites; and sustaining and enhancing oral
traditions and performing arts.

***
Burundi
26 May – Secretary-General Kofi Annan today proposed appointing the United Nations Assistant
Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Carolyn McAskie, as his Special Representative for Burundi and
head of the UN operation in that country when it is launched on 1 June.

The Secretary-General stated his intention to name Ms. McAskie to the post in a letter to the
President of the Security Council, who then forwarded the nomination to the rest of the 15 members under the
“no-objection” rule.

28
 Ms. McAskie, a national of Canada, has also served since January 2003 as the Secretary-General’s
Humanitarian Envoy for the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire. She was previously involved in Burundi as a member of
the Burundi Peace Process, serving under the late ex-President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere.

Before joining the UN in 1999, Ms. McAskie spent most of her 32 years in the Canadian Government
with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), becoming Assistant Deputy Minister.

In her first 15 months with the UN, she served as interim Emergency Relief Coordinator and is now
deputy head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

***
Nigeria
26 May – Following a spate of sectarian clashes that have reportedly left 500 people dead and
displaced some 50,000 others in central Nigeria, United Nations humanitarian agencies are rushing aid to
terrified families that have sought safety in the Bauchi and Nassarawa State areas.

After a just-completed joint UN and Nigerian Government assessment revealed urgent needs for food,
water, health care, and grants for income-generating activities in and around Bauchi and Nassarawa, the UN
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has provided some health kits, medicines, food items and chlorine powder.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has mobilized $50,000 for supporting the humanitarian
operations. The assessment also revealed that internally displaced persons (IDPs) need enough tents for some
5,000 families, roofing supplies for temporary houses, blankets, mats and education programmes for displaced
children.

The Government’s emergency management agency has provided food, blankets and other supplies to
assist the Bauchi State government, while the Nigerian Red Cross Society has provided food, mats, blankets,
medical care, drugs, volunteers, and assisted with data collection.

***
DR of Congo
26 May – One member of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC) accused of sexual abuse is being repatriated early and will be prosecuted by his national
authorities, the UN spokesman said today.

The Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) had sent investigators to probe allegations into the
behaviour of military and non-military personnel with the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) in
Bunia and more investigators were expected to arrive next week. “So far about 30 cases are being
investigated,” spokesman Fred Eckhard said at the daily press briefing in New York.

“The investigation into one case of alleged abuse has already been completed and the person found
responsible is being disciplined by early repatriation and prosecution follow-up by his national authorities,” he
added, without identifying the perpetrator.

Earlier this month, Mr. Eckhard said MONUC was determined to enforce Secretary-General Kofi
Annan’s policy of zero tolerance of any sexual misconduct, in accordance with his bulletin of last October on
special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.

***
Hispaniola
26 May – A team of United Nations humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) today will carry aid to one of the areas of Haiti worst affected by the raging floods that followed days
of torrential rain, killing nearly 400 people and injuring almost 1,000 in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

With many roads still impassable, the team was taking a helicopter owned by the US-led
Multinational Interim Force (MIF) to Haiti’s Fond Verette, the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Other areas devastated by the sudden flooding Monday night were Mapou, Grand Gosier and Anse à
Pitre, in the western part of Haiti, while in the Dominican Republic, Jimani municipality in the southwest, near
the Haitian border, was the worst affected.

29
 OCHA said latest reports indicate that in Haiti, almost 350 people are dead or missing, while over 800
have been injured. In Jimani, 45 people were killed, 120 injured and 200 are missing. Some 7,000 Haitians
urgently need aid.

Haiti suffered the loss of 2,400 houses and five schools destroyed or badly damaged by the floods.
Crops and livestock were also lost. MIF peacekeepers, who have ferried supplies in by helicopter, were
appealing for tents, blankets, plastic sheeting and food for those in need.

***
Middle East
26 May – Israel’s recent weeklong military raid into the Gaza Strip town of Rafah left more than
2,000 Palestinians homeless, bringing to nearly 3,500 the total of those whose residences were demolished or
rendered uninhabitable since the beginning of the month, according to a full United Nations assessment
released today.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it had now
completed its evaluation of the raid from 18 to 24 May, in which 167 buildings housing 379 families, or 2,066
people, were destroyed or damaged beyond repair in the Tel Sultan, Brazil and Salam quarters of Rafah.

The latest destruction comes on top of what had already been one of the worst months in the
Palestinian uprising. Since 1 May, 277 buildings housing 641 families, or 3,451 people, have been demolished
in Rafah, the Agency said. Since the uprising started in September 2000, 1,476 buildings have been
demolished in Rafah, affecting 14,666 people.

Last week, the Security Council adopted a resolution voicing grave concern over the humanitarian
situation of Palestinians made homeless and calling for the provision of emergency assistance. It reminded
Israel that it must respect international humanitarian law, including its obligation not to destroy homes.
UNRWA has been working to provide shelter to homeless families in the area.

***
Kosovo
26 May – A third group of some 30 bodies exhumed from Batajnica, Serbia, and believed to be of
missing Kosovo Albanians were repatriated under United Nations auspices today.

The Office on Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF) of the UN Interim Administration Mission in
Kosovo (UNMIK) arranged the transfer in cooperation with the UN Civilian Police Missing Persons Unit
(MPU) and the Serbian authorities.

The mortal remains relate to cases exhumed from Batajnica. The remains were identified by DNA,
and once verification procedures were completed, they were transported to the Rahovec/Orahovac mortuary
where forensic inspections will then begin.

UNMIK said family members would be the first to be informed as soon as their loved ones are
identified. Teams consisting of an OMPF outreach officer and MPU identification officers will visit the
families affected by the transfer when forensic inspections are complete. The mortal remains will then be ready
for release to the families.

The first two groups of bodies exhumed from Serbia were repatriated to Kosovo in May and July of
2003.

***
UN peacekeeping
26 May – With United Nations peacekeeping set to expand as new missions are set up, Secretary-
General Kofi Annan has emphasized that these operations remain the best investment in ensuring that stability
endures.

“Peacekeeping missions can never end wars by themselves, but they do offer the best possible way of
ensuring there is a sustainable peace,” the Secretary-General said in a message marking the International Day
of UN Peacekeepers, observed annually on 29 May. “Let us remember that the most expensive peacekeeping
operation costs far less than the cheapest war.”

30
 Paying tribute to those who have lost their lives in the service of peace, he said, “We must continue to
strive, as those brave peacekeepers did, to make it possible for the community of nations to live in peace.”

More than 53,000 uniformed personnel and at least 11,000 civilian staff from 94 countries currently
serve in 15 missions across the globe. Those numbers are likely to increase as the Security Council this week
approved an operation for Burundi, while another is being planned for Sudan.

“The growth in missions is a welcome sign that many countries are choosing a healthier path as they
emerge from violent conflicts,” Mr. Annan said. But he noted that it places enormous strain on the UN’s
resources and urged countries to provide the additional troops and funds needed to achieve the tasks ahead.

UN peacekeeping has also moved beyond its traditional role as a monitor of ceasefires to engaging in
such tasks as assisting political transitions, building institutions and fostering the spread of the rule of law, the
Secretary-General noted. Missions are also supporting economic reconstruction, supervising elections,
disarming militias and former combatants, facilitating humanitarian aid programmes and re-settling refugees
and displaced persons.

The Day was inaugurated to commemorate more than 50 years of dedication and sacrifice by
peacekeepers serving under the UN’s flag to build confidence, reconcile warring parties and relieve suffering.

***
Locusts
26 May – Warning of an upsurge in locust proliferation in Northwest Africa, the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today appealed for immediate action from regional countries and
international donors in a race against time to prevent a possible full-scale plague of the crop-eating insect by
the end of the year.

“Locusts are breeding in thousands of spots over large areas south of the Atlas Mountains stretching
from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to western Libya,” the senior officer of the FAO locust group, Clive Elliot,
said. “Hoppers are forming bands and are at the last stage before they become adults. Swarms are likely to start
forming from the end of this month.”

With winds expected to carry a substantial number of swarms south by mid-June, the agency called
on Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal to immediately start preparing and equipping teams for field
surveillance and control operations. Resources for sprayers, vehicles, pesticides and training should be
mobilized.

Stressing that it had only received a partial response to an emergency appeal launched last month for
$17 million to assist countries in eliminating locust infestations and swarms, FAO warned that time is running
out.

“If these funds are not made available quickly, it is possible that the whole region will be subjected to
a full-scale plague by the end of 2004,” Mr. Elliot said. The last desert locust plague, in 1987-1989, took
several years and more than $300 million before it was brought to an end.

More than $40 million have been spent since last October on locust control, provided mainly by
locust-affected countries. Some 2.1 million hectares have been treated with insecticides since then in Algeria,
Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

“Despite intensive control operations on the ground and by air, it is very difficult to find and treat all
of the locust infestations in the vast and often remote desert areas,” Mr. Elliot said. “Control teams are doing
their best, but it is a race against time. In addition to the swarms that move south into the Sahel (sub-Sahara), it
is possible that some swarms could move east into western Sudan.”

***
Seabed authority
26 May – Ocean resources are vital for sustainable development and “the diligent and inspiring work”
of the International Seabed Authority proves “multilateral approaches to global challenges can be effective,
equitable and enduring,” United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told the body’s 10th anniversary
meeting.

31
 The Authority, an autonomous international organization set up under the 1982 UN Convention on the
Law of the Sea, is entrusted with organizing and controlling all mineral-related activities in the international
seabed area beyond national jurisdiction, an area designated as the common heritage of mankind.

The Authority “has played a key role” in guiding state behaviour, managing the diverse challenges
associated with ocean space and its uses, and settling the disputes that inevitably arise, Mr. Annan said in a
message delivered by Assistant Secretary General for Legal Affairs Ralph Zacklin to the meeting in Kingston,
Jamaica. The two-week long session opened on Monday.

The Authority was established on 16 November 1994 following the entry into force of the Convention
on the Law of the Sea. All parties to the Convention are automatically members of the Authority, now
numbering 145 – up from 143 at the last session in 2003. The newest parties are Canada and Lithuania.

* *** *
__________________________________________________________________________________________

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE

SECRETARY-GENERAL

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard,

Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon,

**Security Council - Consultations

The Security Council has scheduled two sets of consultations today.

At 10 a.m., Council members began consultations to hear a briefing on the work of

the monitoring group of the arms embargo on Somalia and then on the humanitarian
situation in Darfur, Sudan.

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, described what UN agencies

are doing to meet the urgent and overwhelming human needs in Darfur as they race against
time to deliver aid as the rainy season approaches. Egeland also outlined the obstacles
facing humanitarian groups in Darfur and what is required to overcome them.

He will come to the stakeout microphone following the Darfur discussion. And if
he gets out of the Council briefing during this briefing, he will come here to 226.

At 3:30 p.m., the Security Council has scheduled consultations on the draft
resolution on Iraq.

**Security Council – Yesterday

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 Early yesterday evening, the Security Council held back-to-back formal meetings
during which the Council President, Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, read out two
presidential statements, one on Côte d’Ivoire and another on Darfur, Sudan.

The Security Council strongly condemned the violations of human rights and
international humanitarian law committed in Côte d’Ivoire. It requested the Secretary-
General to establish, as soon as possible, the international commission of inquiry in order to
investigate all human rights violations committed in Côte d’Ivoire since 19 September 2002,
and to determine responsibility.

In a statement on Darfur, the Council expressed its grave concern over the
deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation there, and emphasized the urgent need
for all parties to observe the 8 April cease-fire agreement. The Council also called on the
Government of the Sudan to respect its commitments to ensure that the Janjaweed militias
were neutralized and disarmed.

**SRSG for Burundi

The Secretary-General has informed the Security Council of his intention to appoint
Carolyn McAskie, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, as his Special
Representative for Burundi.

The Council is expected to respond to that letter shortly. We have a biographical

note on her upstairs.

**Brahimi

The Secretary-General’s Special Advisor, Lakhdar Brahimi, is continuing his work

in Baghdad.

One meeting I can mention to you that he had today was with the French
Representative, Bernard Bajolet.

Available for you upstairs though, is a comprehensive list of all the people Brahimi
has met with since his return to Iraq on 6 May.

**Nigeria

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 In the wake of inter-communal violence that reportedly left hundreds dead and
some 50,000 displaced, UN humanitarian agencies are bringing aid to people in two
Nigerian states.

A joint UN and Nigerian Government assessment has revealed urgent needs for
food, water, health care, and grants for income-generating activities. In response, UNICEF
has provided some health kits, medicines and food items, and the UN Development
Programme has mobilized $50,000 for supporting the humanitarian operations. We have a
press release on that upstairs.

**DR CONGO – Allegations of Sexual Abuse in Bunia

From the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we have an update from the UN
Mission (MONUC) on the investigation into allegations of sexual abuses by UN personnel
deployed in Bunia, which we first reported to you on 7 May.

The UN Mission has initiated an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and
exploitation by UN military and non-military personnel in Bunia. So far, about 30 cases are
being investigated.

The UN Mission special investigative teams are comprised of security officers,

military personnel, civilian police, human rights and child protection officers, gender
specialists, and investigators.

The Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) has also deployed investigators to
Bunia. OIOS intends to assign more investigators to the case, and these are expected to
arrive early next week.

The investigation into one case of alleged abuse has already been completed, and
the person found responsible is being disciplined by early repatriation and prosecution
follow up by his national authorities.

**Haiti/Dominican Republic Floods

According to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

(OCHA), hundreds have been killed following floods in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

In Haiti, some 350 people are reported dead or missing, while over 800 have been
injured. Over 7,000 people in Haiti alone are in urgent need of assistance. Some 2,400
houses have been heavily damaged or destroyed, five schools were destroyed, and crops and
livestock have been lost.

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 Today, a joint team of UN agencies and non-governmental organizations is going to
assess the situation in Fond Verette in western Haiti in a helicopter provided by the
Multinational Interim Force.

In the Dominican Republic’s Jimani municipality in the southwest of the country,

initial reports indicate that 45 people were killed, 120 were injured and 200 are missing.
Ambulances, rescue personnel, medical supplies, food, and other needs are being mobilized.

**FAO/Locust Worry

Finally, the Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that the locust situation
in northwest Africa is very worrying -- despite intensive control activities.

FAO says a locust upsurge is underway in the region, and it’s called on Chad, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger and Senegal to prepare against the possibility of swarms arriving from the
north and invading crop-producing areas. We have more on this in a press release.

That’s all I have for you. Richard?

Questions and Answers

Question: You may or may not be able to tell us much. What is Mr. Fawzi and
others telling you? What about Brahimi’s schedule for announcing a new government? Or
are they telling you he will do it over there?

Spokesman: I don’t think a decision has been made on that. The timetable is what
the Secretary-General told you yesterday; that our target is to get this done by the end of the
month. But of course, it’s in the hands of the Iraqis. It’s when they can agree on a full slate
that Mr. Brahimi will be able to make the announcement. Yes, Philippe?

Question: On Bunia, could you be a bit more specific about the nature of the
allegations against these, you said 30 people?

Spokesman: Yes. Well, 30 cases are apparently currently being investigated.

Question: So, what is it about exactly and what is the nationality of the person who
was found guilty already; and what did he or she do?

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 Spokesman: I am not sure we’re able to give you those details. Let me double
check with OIOS. But the general thing being investigated is sexual abuse of minors. Yes?

Question: What... Sorry. Why are there so many people involved? Is there a
prostitution ring or anything? Thirty cases seem to be huge for a small mission like the one
in Bunia.

Spokesman: Again, we’ll have to see how much of this information we can release
to you now. In the cases that are under investigation, of course, we can’t say anything. But I
am not sure about this, what we might be able to say about the one case that was concluded.
And I’ll get back to you after the briefing. Mohamed?

Question: Fred, what is the aim of Mr. Brahimi’s meeting with the foreign
representatives such as France, China and Japan? And what topics has he discussed?

Spokesman: He, of course, is working closely with the Coalition Provisional

Authority led by the UK and the US. He has tried to keep the representatives of other
Council members, particularly permanent members of the Council, who are in Baghdad up
to date on his activities. So, I am sure that was the main purpose of his briefing.

What was the next part of your question?

Question: What topics has he discussed?

Spokesman: I am sure it was just updating the representatives on his activities in

trying to get agreement among Iraqis on members of an interim government. Yes?

Question: Fred, what is the Secretary-General’s understanding of whose command

the MNF (multinational force) will be under and what is his understanding of how much
political power the Iraqis will have? Not just in terms of any operations that the MNF may
conduct in future, but also in terms of how long they will be staying in Iraq.

Spokesman: But those are matters that are now being discussed among Council
members. So, his views are not to be shared publicly at this time.

Question: If I may ask one more. The Americans, I think, are saying that the
Iraqis will have some sort of political control over the police and other security, such as the
border and various institutions, but not the army. How does the SG feel about that?

Spokesman: Don’t keep trying to put the SG in the middle of things that are being
discussed by Council members. These are delicate and difficult issues that have to be sorted

36
out between the Iraqis, the Coalition Provisional Authority and members of the Security
Council as they go through revisions of the draft resolution that was put on the table on
Monday. So, it’s right plunk in the middle of a delicate process and the Secretary-General is
not going to comment publicly. Yes, Peter?

Question: Of course the name Shahristani is coming out of Baghdad, and I am

wondering, I presume his name is on the list that is in your office. Did you get any read out
from Mr. Fawzi as to the accuracy of any of these reports?

Spokesman: That is purely speculative. That kind of speculation is not helpful to

the process that’s under way and we shall not join in it. Yes, all the way in the back?

Question: I saw in the resolution that the interim government would have the
authority over the development fund, but that an oversight committee would still have
oversight. What exactly would that oversight entail?

Spokesman: You have to direct any questions regarding the draft resolution to
members of the Council, either the sponsors of the resolution who drafted it, or other
members who might be considering it. But you can’t ask the Secretariat to comment on
government texts. Yes?

Question: Factually though, can you tell us, before May, how many times has
Brahimi, if ever, met personally with the man whose name has surfaced? He’s living in
Toronto, linked with the post, because he has not been in Iraq. So, has Brahimi met him
elsewhere?

Spokesman: We’re not going to contribute to the speculation. The people that Mr.
Brahimi has met with in Baghdad are listed upstairs, and I will have nothing further to say
regarding any specific names. Nor will Mr. Brahimi.

Question: You’ve discussed this I know, but it is approaching the critical time.
Brahimi is described as a “facilitator”. But what happens when names that he likes are not
liked by the Iraqis? Just how much power does he have at this critical moment?

Spokesman: He’s trying to get names that the Iraqis themselves can agree on. He
is not imposing names. He’s picked up names from talking to a wide spectrum of Iraqi
opinion. He’s floating those names; he’s getting reactions from the various groups, factions
and individuals. So, it’s a process of weeding out a very large list of names to find the core
names that everyone can agree on. So, I would say that’s the role of a facilitator. He is not
exercising power. Yes, Abdurrahim?

Question: And a follow up, Fred. The names that Brahimi may be floating to the
Iraqis at the moment, is he choosing those names on an ethnic basis, on a religious basis or
just on the basis of competence?

37
 Spokesman: These are not names that he has chosen. These are names that have
emerged from his broad consultations. So, these are people that Iraqis feel they would like
to have as their leaders. And it’s now a question of getting a slate that all factions can agree
on; a consensus slate. He has always emphasized integrity and competence for this interim
government and a preference that those who serve on it not compete in the elections for
December or January. Preference; that is his advice to the Iraqis: to pick people who could
be focused exclusively on running the interim government for those six or seven months.

Question: And as far as he can make out, Fred, is he under any sort of pressure
whatsoever from the Shiites, Sunnis, the Kurds to facilitate the choosing of particular names
rather than others?

Spokesman: That would be the nature of the process, I suppose. They all have
their favourite candidates and he’s trying to come up with a list that they can all support.
Philippe?

Question: Do you have any update on the investigation on the black box?

Spokesman: Yes. The black box report is complete. It’s in the Secretary-General’s
office. He will be forwarding it to the General Assembly and you will be getting copies once
the Assembly members have received it. And Dileep Nair, the head of OIOS, has agreed to
come here to 226 to take your questions on it.

Question: When is that going to happen?

Spokesman: I mean, this is now a bureaucratic process. So, how quickly it can get
off the 38th floor and the translation for General Assembly distribution and completed, I don’t
know. It’s probably going to drag on a few more days.

Question: The leader of Yemen says he’s going to come here to meet with the
Secretary-General June 7th. Do you have any information on the timing of that session?

Spokesman: Normally we don’t have that kind of information so much in advance.

So, I’ll ask to see if anyone can give me; can confirm that. I cannot as of this minute. [He
later confirmed the 7 June date for that meeting.]

Okay, thank you very much.

* *** *

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