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Council afraid of legal action: But Brisbane Water and City
Business Committee chair John Campbell said swimming-pool and spa
owners had earned an exemption from increased water restrictions to
avoid causing damage to residents’ pools and subsequent litigation: “if
they don’t keep pools full of water, some of them can pop out or gain
significant structural damage from the pressure of the surrounding
ground, and that would have exposed councils to significant claims of
damage”, he said.

A “practical” decision: “I’m sure non-pool owners would question
why (they were not subject to harsher restrictions) but the councils
thought long and hard before they made this decision and it was purely
for a practical reason … for a very real financial reason,” he said.

Mayor takes different angle: But Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell
Newman said the move was designed to protect the assets of “normal
Queenslanders” and the pool industry. He urged pool owners to buy a
pool cover to reduce their water consumption.

The Courier Mail, 5/12/2005, p. 5

Source: Erisk – www.erisk.net 

Electricity consumption growth: The State Government said
Victoria’s average electricity consumption was growing by about 1.9 per
cent annually. Summer peak demand was growing at a rate of 2.8 per
cent, mainly because of increasing use of air-conditioners, whose sales
have trebled in recent years.

Annual warming: Paradoxically, the air-conditioner, particularly
the reverse-cycle type, has become a metaphor for the dilemma that
climate change posed. Figures released by the State Government showed
metropolitan Melbourne could anticipate annual warming of 0.2 to 1.4
degrees celsius over the next 25 years. The number of hot days was
expected to increase by up to 40 per cent as rainfall declined, sea
levels rose, wind and dust storms increased and droughts became more
frequent.

Bushfires and flooding: Bushfires were likely to increase in
frequency and intensity as a result of these changes. So, too, will
flash flooding and soil erosion.

Ocean currents study: A further sign, in the past few days, of
wide-scale climate change emerging could be drawn from a study of
powerful ocean currents, such as the Gulf Stream, that shifted heat
around the globe. British scientists using data from 1957 on have found
those currents weakening and, as a consequence, temperatures rising by
up to 10 degrees in some areas.

The Age, 5/12/2005, p. 14

Source: Erisk – www.erisk.net 

$436m in natural resources reform: The money came on top of the
$436m already provided by state and federal Governments to roll out
natural resources reform and establish the Catchment Management
Authorities (CMAs), and NSW had appealed to the Federal Government to
match the socio-economic package.

Up to $80,000 for landholders: Landholders could be eligible for
up to $80,000 (or half the cost) to develop new farming practices that
would benefit the environment and provide additional income. The
government could also buy properties made financially non-viable
because land clearing could not take place.

$12m in exit assistance: It had $12m set aside in the exit assistance component of the new package. Properties would be bought at pre-Native Vegetation Act 2003
prices and then sold under strict environmental management conditions
with the revenue generated from re-sale added to a revolving funding
pool. Under this part of the package farmers would be eligible for
funding to cover the cost of moving and advisory services.

Incentives to carry out environmental offsets: A further $10m
was earmarked for farmers who may be able to clear if they provided
conservation offsets, but could not afford to do the work. Under the
regulations, farmers would receive approval to clear if they agreed to
carry out environmental “offsets”, such as planting native vegetation
on another area.

Statewide offset pool: But if there was no opportunity for
on-farm offsets, or offsets on an adjoining property, and the CMA was
satisfied this would cause hardship (because farmers would not be able
to clear), they may apply for funding from a statewide offset pool.

The Land, 1/12/2005, p. 5

Logging would just move over the mountain: Bill Hare, of
Greenpeace, explained the reason for the objection. He said: “The key
loophole from the climate point of view was that people would say,
‘look, we won’t log this area of forest and we will gain the credits
from this avoided deforestation’; then you could not be sure that …
logging did not just move across the mountain range to another forest
and occur in an uncontrolled area.”

PNG proposal based on country’s total performance: The Papua New
Guinea proposal was that rather than earning emission credits from
individual projects, the system could be based on the performance of
entire countries in reducing the loss of their native forests.

Much-needed financial incentives: Kevin Conrad, director of the
Coalition for Rainforest Nations, said this approach would provide
much-needed financial incentives to slow the rate of tropical
deforestation.

Original decision a big mistake: John Niles of the Climate
Community and Biodiversity alliance, said many countries were starting
to realise that the decision to exclude forest conservation from Kyoto
funding was a big mistake. He believed the Papua New Guinea proposal
could put this right.

Greenpeace sees merit in new proposal: Greenpeace’s Hare
accepted that basing the carbon credit system on national deforestation
caps rather than individual projects would remove many of his original
concerns – although there was still the potential for the emissions to
“leak” across borders.

Nothing can be done until after 2012: The proposal being debated
in Montreal was only to start a negotiating process to look at these
incentives, to reward the services to the climate played by forests.
This was because it was too late to change the system covering the
first period of Kyoto targets between 2008 and 2012.

Serious anomaly in present situation: But it might eventually
end what many saw as a serious anomaly, and help rectify the bizarre
economics which placed a higher value on a scorched wasteland than a
richly diverse forest.

Reference: Digest of latest news reported on website of Climate
Change Secretariat of United Nations Framework on Climate Change
Control (UNFCCC). 28 November. Address: PO Box 260 124, D-53153 Bonn.
Germany. Phone: : (49-228) 815-1005, Fax: (49-228) 815-1999. Email: press@unfccc.int
http://www.unfccc.int

Erisk Net, 2/12/2005

Need to achieve 75 per cent more savings: “We must achieve 75
per cent more savings in half the time,” said the authors of the
report, which was eventually released to the public in mid-November, in
justifying their draconian recommendations.

UK looks likely to fall short of target: Like other developed nations, the United Kingdom appeared likely to fall short of its self-imposed emission reduction target.

One of a number of technical solutions: This proposal to use
heavy fines to cut speeding was one of a number of technical solutions
for dealing with global warming being discussed by politicians and
environmental experts at the World Climate Summit in Montreal.

Rising tendency in CO2 emissions: “To our great concern, we are
now seeing a rising tendency in CO2 emissions after years of
stagnation,” warned Richard Kinley, director of the United Nations
Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn.

Reference: Digest of latest news reported on website of Climate
Change Secretariat of United Nations Framework on Climate Change
Control (UNFCCC). 28 November. Address: PO Box 260 124, D-53153 Bonn.
Germany. Phone: (49-228) 815-1005, Fax: (49-228) 815-1999. Email: press@unfccc.int
http://www.unfccc.int

Erisk Net, 5/12/2005

National environmental ratings tools developed: Ten other
projects would be announced in the coming months, Ms Atkinson said. “We
have now developed four national comprehensive environmental rating
tools for office buildings under the Green Star system, for new
building design, existing building refurbishments and tenant fit-outs,
as well as a tool that rates existing buildings and their management
efficiency (to be released in early 2006).”

Other standards: Having finalised a suite of rating tools for
commercial offices, she said, work was under way on other building
classes, including:

• Green Star – Convention design.

• Green Star – Retail design and refurbishment.

• Green Star – Health construction.

• Green Star – Education construction.

The Council has appointed Craig Heaton to chairman at the annual meeting of the three-year group. Mr Heaton,
director of project management at ING Real Estate Development, succeeds
Australand’s managing director, Brendan Crotty, reported The Australian Financial Review (1/12/2005, p.52).

Mr Heaton, overseeing the
$1 billion Waterfront City development at Melbourne Docklands, said he
would focus on working with government and industry bodies “to ensure a
co-ordinated approach that will create incentives and remove barriers
to build green”.

The Australian Financial Review, 1/12/2005, p. 52

Source: Erisk – www.erisk.net