WORLD ENVIRONMENT NEWS

Rich countries paying too little towards environmental 'war'

The World Bank has criticised the world's richest countries for failing to fund global environmental protection.
In its annual Environment Matters report the bank also describes progress towards meeting world environmental targets as 'alarmingly slow'.
The bank says aid for the environmental projects has averaged around $2 billion a year throughout the last decade, well below what was agreed at Rio in 1992.
World Bank president James Wolfensohn said: "If the war on environmental degradation is to be won, we need a major turnaround."
He added: "Rich countries' larger contribution to environmental damage means they must shoulder greater responsibility for fixing the problem."
The report says that protecting the environment in developing countries costs rich countries just $2.50 per person a year.
www.worldbank.org

The 15 pre-2004 European Union states are well on their way to deliver greenhouse gas targets, says the European Environment Agency.
And, the EEA argues that the EU should aspire to emission cuts above those agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol.
The EEA's projection shows the 15 members should reduce their total emissions to 7.7 per cent below 1990 levels by 2010 if all promises are kept.
Different targets apply to the 10 states that joined the EU in May. Most have Kyoto targets of eight per cent below 1990 levels. Hungary and Poland have a six per cent target, while Cyprus and Malta have no targets at all.
www.eea.eu.int

A proposed toll road across the Gwent Levels to ease congestion on the M4 has come in for criticism from environment campaigners.
Green bodies including Friends of the Earth Cymru, RSPB Cymru, wildlife organizations and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW) have all raised concerns.
Julian Rosser, director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, said Wales urgently needs a transport policy re-think. "Instead, we see a plan which will increase traffic growth, fuel climate change and destroy the countryside," he said.

Nine out of 10 of the hottest years on record happened during the last decade, according to new research by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia.
The study, for the World Meteorological Organisation, rates 2004 as the fourth warmest year the world has experienced since records began in 1861.
The experts predict that 2005 will be hotter still and they are certain that human activity is the main cause of warming. 
www.wmo.ch

The energy regulator Ofgem says it plans to let electricity transmission companies spend more on power infrastructure so renewable energy projects can be hooked up to the network.
Changes in funding will allow more money to be spent in Scotland and the North of England, linking remote windfarms to population centres in the rest of England and in Wales. Ofgem says it wants the extra money invested wisely, but in the long-run charges will be passed on to consumers.
www.ofgem.gov.uk