Dead fish to power Norwegian cruise liners

Yahoo – AFP, November 26, 2018

Leftover dead fish from Norway's large fishing industry will be mixed with other
organic waste to make a liquified biogas to be used instead of heavy fuel oil, said
Hurtigruten, which runs cruises to the Arctic and Antarctica, among other locations.

Norwegian cruise operator Hurtigruten plans to use dead fish to power some of its ships, it said on Monday, as it seeks to reduce its pollution and climate change impact.

Leftover dead fish from Norway's large fishing industry will be mixed with other organic waste to make a liquified biogas to be used instead of heavy fuel oil, said Hurtigruten, which runs cruises to the Arctic and Antarctica, among other locations.

"What others see as a problem, we see as a resource and a solution," the company's chief executive Daniel Skjeldam said.

"By introducing biogas as fuel for cruise ships, Hurtigruten will be the first cruise company to power ships with fossil-free fuel," he added.

The first biogas ship could be ready as soon as the end of next year, according to spokesman Rune Thomas Ege.

The company aims to have six of its 17 ships capable of using a combination of biogas, batteries and liquified natural gas, the cleanest of fossil fuels, by 2021.

Norway, which already has buses that run on biogas, has large fishing and forestry industries which produce vast amounts of organic waste.

The announcement comes as the cruise sector faces heavy criticism for its climate footprint and its impact on air quality.

A large cruise ship powered by highly-polluting heavy fuel oil emits almost as many fine particles daily as one million cars, according to German environmental group Nabu.

On Monday, a French court fined cruise company P&O and its US captain 100,000 euros ($114,000) for knowingly using fuel with excessive sulphur levels, the first such ruling in France.

Norway has a "zero emission" target for cruise ships and ferries navigating its fjords listed as world heritage sites by UNESCO by 2026 at the latest.

Hurtigruten, which aims to become carbon neutral by 2050, has ordered three hybrid battery/diesel vessels which the company said will be "the first cruise ships in the world that will be able to operate completely emission free for periods of time".

The spokesman said that is "and something deemed almost impossible just a few years back".

The first of those three ships should enter into service in May 2019.

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World's rarest plants, vital crops can't be banked: study

Yahoo – AFP, Patrick GALEY, November 2, 2018

New research by botanists at Britain's Royal Botanic Gardens found that the
seeds of more than a third of 'critically endangered' plants and trees can't be
put into seed banks (AFP Photo/JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

Paris (AFP) - International efforts to save some of the world's rarest and economically important plants from climate change are doomed to fail because their seeds cannot be stored, researchers warned Friday.

As the planet heats and mankind continues to decimate natural habitats, scientists concede that the only way to save some types of vegetation is in seed banks -- giant repositories of thousands of species preserved for future generations.

Nations agreed a global strategy in 2002 to conserve at least three quarters of threatened plant species with the aim of recovering and restoring their stocks in nature at some point.

Scientists working in several seed banks around the world currently conserve seeds by drying them before freezing.

But new research by botanists at Britain's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, found that 36 percent of "critically endangered" plants and trees aren't bankable under the current method because their seeds die when dried and so cannot be preserved by freezing.

"You can't dry the seeds so you cannot conserve them in a conventional seed bank," John Dickie, head of collections at Kew, told AFP.

It was previously known that at least eight percent of plants -- including oak trees, mango, avocado and cacao -- produce "recalcitrant" seeds that die when dried.

But with seed banking a work in progress, only a small proportion of plants have had their suitability for freezing assessed.

Dickie and his team developed a model using data on the climate, species habitat and the known seed-storage behaviour of related vegetation that predicted how likely it was that a plant's seeds would be bankable.

Preservation goals 'impossible'

The analysis showed that the goal of conserving 75 percent of the world's threatened plant species outside their natural habitat by 2020 was "practically impossible".

In addition, even a proportion of seeds that survive drying and freezing have been shown to deteriorate while in storage, further complicating efforts to save their species.

Plants including avocado trees produce "recalcitrant" seeds that die when 

dried (AFP Photo/DAVID MCNEW)

Dickie said the team at Kew, which has been banking seeds for nearly 40 years, noticed "declines in viability" in some seed varieties over the decades, meaning they are less likely to be successfully planted and grown in future.

Other common food plants with problematic seeds include lychees, jack fruit and coconuts -- all from the tropics. Ebony, parana pine and myrtle trees also have "recalcitrant" seeds.

"It's looking very crudely like some sort of 80-20 rule: 80 percent of what we've got seems to be doing perfectly well but maybe 20 percent is living shorter under conventional conditions," he said.

One potential way of saving plants with hard-to-store seeds is, somewhat counter-intuitively, to freeze them at a much lower temperature using liquid nitrogen.

This avoids the drying stage and, according to the team behind the study published in Nature Plants, can preserve seeds better than the current method.

Dickie said it was vital that seeds were stored quickly after collection to boost their chances of survival.

He said there was a need for greater research on identifying at-risk species -- often grown in remote, tropical areas.

"Once you know where the population of plants is you can get in there and then it's really a matter of getting them to a facility fast," he said.

"As successful as seed banking is for some species, it is not suitable for all seed plants and we need to invest in other ways to safeguard these."

Minister looks into early closure of coal-fired power stations

DutchNews, November 1, 2018

Coal fired power stations could close earlier. Photo: Depositphotos.com 

Economic affairs minister Eric Wiebes may consider closing one or more coal fired power stations earlier than planned to comply with CO2 reduction goals, broadcaster NOS reported on Thursday. 

During a debate on Dutch plans to combat climate change late on Wednesday night, the minister admitted for the first time that the Netherlands is unlikely to reach the official target of cutting emissions by 25% compared to 1990 in two years time. 

Experts say the government’s present climate policy will not lower CO2 emissions by more than 23%. That means some 4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions remain unaccounted for. 

The early closure of, for example, the coal-fired power station in Amsterdam, which is planned for 2024, would be good for some 3 million tonnes. 

The closure would form part of a package of additional measures which the minister said would be put in place next year, depending on the results of a new report on emission levels by Netherlands environmental assessment agency PBL due in January. 

Five plants 

The Netherlands currently has five coal-fired power stations, of which the three biggest and most polluting are in Rotterdam and the Eemshaven. The cabinet will shortly come up with a proposal for the closure of all five by 2030.

Last month, appeal court judges ordered the Dutch state to step up efforts to cut CO2 emissions in a case brought by campaign group Urgenda. 

The state appealed against a decision three years ago that required it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% of 1990 levels by 2020. It was the first time a court had ruled that a national government was legally bound to follow through on promises made in international climate agreements.

IJmuiden may be home to new hydrogen plant

DutchNews, October 18, 2018

Storm clouds over Tata Steel in IJmuiden? Photo: Depositphotos.com

 Amsterdam’s port authority, Tata Steel and former AkzoNobel chemical division Nouryon are planning to build a hydrogen plant on the site of the Tata industrial complex in IJmuiden, Dutch media report. 

The final decision will be taken in 2021 and building will take another two to three years. 

The plant will produce 15,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year which Tata will use to produce steel in a cleaner and more sustainable way. 

The move would reduce CO2 emissions by Tata by 350,000 tonnes which equals the CO2 emissions of 40,000 households. At the moment, Tata produces 6 mega tonnes of CO2, which makes it one of the most polluting industrial complexes in the Netherlands, only topped by the coal-fired plant in the Eemshaven. 

Sustainable energy

The use of hydrogen is seen as another important part of efforts to develop sustainable energy sources, alongside solar and wind power, broadcaster NOS said. It will be used as a cleaner alternative for industry and may also be considered as a substitute for the present Dutch dependence on gas to heat homes. 

According to NOS, Nouryon has experience with the use of hydrogen in homes but on a much smaller scale than would be necessary. The government wants the use of gas to be phased out by 2030. 

The announcement comes ‘at an auspicious moment’, NH Nieuws writes. Locals living in the vicinity of the Tata complex mounted a vigorous protest against the steel producer on Wednesday because, they claim, it is responsible for the thick layer of graphite covering their homes.

'Hambi stays!': Thousands join German forest demo in anti-coal battle

Yahoo – AFP, Michelle FITZPATRICK, October 6, 2018

A banner reads "Hambi for Bambi" as thousands of demonstrators gather to celebrate
 the suspension of the planned razing of the forest in what they dubbed the region's
"biggest-ever anti-coal rally" (AFP Photo/SASCHA SCHUERMANN)

Buir (Germany) (AFP) - Thousands of anti-coal demonstrators descended on Germany's Hambach forest Saturday, celebrating an unexpected court victory that suspended an energy company's planned razing of the woodland to expand a giant open-cast mine.

The ancient forest near Cologne has been occupied by activists for the past six years and become a symbol of resistance against coal energy in Germany, a country that despite its green reputation remains heavily reliant on this dirtiest of fossil fuels.

Basking in early autumn sunshine, young people, families and pensioners flocked to a field next to Hambach forest, a day after a court in Muenster said it needed more time to consider an environmental complaint against RWE's upcoming clearing operations.

Organisers said 50,000 people had turned out for what they called the region's "biggest-ever anti-coal rally". Police however did not confirm the figure.

Chanting "Hambi bleibt!" (Hambi stays) and cheering loudly, the crowd listened to live music and speeches in a festival-like atmosphere.

Many held up banners and balloons demanding an immediate exit from coal energy.

"The mood is great," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Gesche Juergens, welcoming "the strong signal" sent by the court.

"But it's only a first step. The battle goes on to start phasing out coal."

The forest's days had appeared numbered after its owner RWE announced plans to clear half of the remaining 200 hectares (500 acres) from October 15 to expand its massive nearby open-pit coal mine.

Stop coal - RWE hands off Hambi" reads a poster close to the forest, whose days 

had appeared numbered before a court ruling which prompted a Greenpeace 

spokeswoman to hail what she termed a first step in the battle to phase out

coal (AFP Photo/SASCHA SCHUERMANN)

Police last month began dismantling activists' treehouses in a forced eviction that took nearly three weeks and fanned public sympathy for the activists' cause.

Tragedy struck when a freelance journalist covering the evictions died on September 19 after falling through a walkway suspended between two trees.

Demonstrators at the rally held a moment's silence in honour of the victim, Steffen Meyns.

Saved by a bat

RWE on Friday said it believed a final judgement in the court case could take until late 2020, sending its share price plunging -- the mention of which was greeted with loud applause at the demo.

The energy firm has long argued that the expansion of Hambach mine in Germany's industrial heartland of North Rhine-Westphalia state is necessary to fuel coal-fired power plants in the region -- which are among the most polluting in the European Union.

But judges said RWE had not sufficiently proved that renewed logging was urgently needed to ensure energy supply.

The plaintiffs in the case, environmental group BUND, meanwhile are arguing that the forest is home to rare species like Bechstein's bat and therefore qualifies as a protected area under EU legislation.

The fight has taken on fresh urgency as it comes just as a government-appointed coal committee is discussing an end-date for coal in a bid to combat climate change.

Germany gets around 40 percent of its energy from coal, contributing significantly to the country's carbon dioxide emissions and undermining Chancellor Angela Merkel's role as a leading advocate of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Activists have occupied the ancient forest for six years, their protest a symbol of 

opposition to dirty coal, and they had cause to celebrate -- the graffiti reads Hambi 

stays -- after a court suspended razing of the woodland (AFP Photo/Patrik STOLLARZ)

'They can't keep us down'

Buoyed by the court's temporary reprieve, demonstrators said they were hopeful Hambach forest could be saved.

"I have faith. So much can happen in two years' time, they'll have no choice but to keep the forest," said 43-year-old teacher Julia.

"I hope so," her son Arne, 10, chimed in.

But forest occupiers were more muted in their celebrations, saying it had been a bitter experience to watch police tear down more than 80 treehouses they had built with their bare hands.

"It's a double feeling," said Musel, a dreadlocked man in his early 50s who was twice dragged out of the trees by police and even wrapped himself in barbed wire.

"The court's decision is a step in the right direction... but the people who have lived here for years are traumatised."

But he added that the activists were unbowed, and that the rebuilding had already begun.

"The first hammocks are already back up," he smiled.

"They can't keep us down."

At the edge of the forest, demonstrators paused to take in the sweeping view of RWE's open-pit mine.

Two coal plants in the distance were belching clouds of smoke into the sky, while dozens of wind turbines dotted the horizon.

"One is the future, the other is the past," mused 40-year-old local resident Benjamin.

Anti-coal demonstrators gather at Hambach forest in Germany, celebrating an unexpected court decision that has temporarily suspended an energy company's plan to raze the woodland in search for coalhttps://t.co/p4OnBbcaVC pic.twitter.com/7m7WYj7aU8

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 6, 2018

Chernobyl begins new life as solar power park

Yahoo – AFP, October 5, 2018

New solar panels at the site of the closed Chernobyl power plant, scene of the
world's worst nuclear disaster (AFP Photo/Genya SAVILOV)

Chernobyl (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine launched Friday a park of photovoltaic panels at the former Chernobyl power plant as the country seeks to use solar power to give the scene of the world's worst nuclear disaster a new lease on life.

The 1 million-euro ($1.2-million), one-megawatt plant is located just a hundred metres (yards) from a giant metal dome sealing the remains of the the nuclear power plant which suffered a catastrophic meltdown in 1986.

"Today we are connecting the station to the power system of Ukraine," Yevgen Varyagin, the head of Solar Chernobyl, a Ukrainian-German company behind the project, said at the launch ceremony.

The facility, which is installed across an area of 1.6 hectares (4 acres), can power a medium-sized village, or about 2,000 households.

Plans are to eventually produce 100 megawatts at the site, which due to contamination from radiation cannot be used for farming.

Ukrainian authorities have offered investors nearly 2,500 hectares to construct solar panels, and beside the cheap price of the land the site is also attractive as it offers connections to the power grid.

Solar will give a new lease on life to the contaminated site, as well as diversify 

Ukraine's power sources (AFP Photo/Genya SAVILOV)

Foreign investors are attracted by the price at which Ukraine will buy the solar power, which exceeds the European average by 50 percent, according to experts.

Ukraine, which has stopped buying natural gas from Russia in the last few years, aims to diversify its electricity generation.

Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl plant exploded April 26, 1986 and the fallout contaminated up to three quarters of Europe, according to some estimates, especially hitting Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Following the disaster, Soviet authorities evacuated hundreds of thousands of people and the vast territory -- over 2,000 square kilometres wide -- has remained abandoned.

The other reactors were only gradually shut down, with the last closing in 2000, ending industrial activity in the area.

Humans cannot return to live in the zone for another 24,000 years, according to the Ukrainian authorities.

Canada relaunches pipeline talks with indigenous tribes

Yahoo – AFP, October 3, 2018

Harriet Prince (R) of the Canada's Anishinaabe tribe demonstrates in March 2018 with
 environmental activists opposed to the Trans Mountain pipeline project in Burnaby,
British Columbia, Canada (AFP Photo/Jason Redmond)

Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's resources minister said Wednesday Ottawa was relaunching consultations with indigenous groups on the Trans Mountain pipeline to the Pacific after a court ruled the tribes get a say in the multi-billion dollar project.

"We believe that we can and must move forward with engaging in a meaningful and focused consultation with indigenous groups on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project," Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi told a press conference.

And so the government, he said, will "reinitiate (those) consultations with indigenous groups impacted by the project."

The minister added that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government -- which has made reconciliation with Canada's indigenous peoples a priority -- would seek to "dialogue and listen carefully to the concerns of indigenous peoples and offer accommodation if accommodation is possible."

Sohi also said the government will not appeal the court ruling affirming the constitutional rights of indigenous peoples to be consulted on commercial projects on their traditional lands.

Trudeau, speaking to reporters outside parliament, said an appeal was off the table because it "would take another few years before we could begin construction."

"We feel the blueprint the court laid out for (Trans Mountain) will allow us to get things done quicker and get our resources to new markets other than the United States in a more rapid fashion," he said.

The 1,150-kilometer (715-mile) pipeline was to move 890,000 barrels of oil a day from landlocked Alberta province to the Pacific coast for export, replacing a smaller crumbling conduit built in 1953.

The Trudeau administration approved the project in 2016 after an environmental review, saying it was in the "national interest" as it would help ease Canada's reliance on the US market and get a better price for its crude oil.

But the planned pipeline has faced stiff opposition from environmentalists and indigenous tribes worried that increased shipping from a marine terminal at the end of the route in Vancouver would impede the recovery of killer whale populations in the area.

Ottawa stepped in to buy the project for Can$4.5 billion (US$3.5 billion), effectively nationalising it in a bid to bring a swift end to legal challenges and illegal protests at construction sites.

But the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the government must take a second look at the project, taking greater care to consult with indigenous tribes and consider marine traffic impacts.

Last month, Sohi sent the file back to the National Energy Board for reassessment, taking into account the impact of increased tanker traffic on endangered killer whales along the coast.

Once that review and indigenous consultations are concluded Trudeau's cabinet would have to decide again whether to greenlight the project.

Austrian fruit grower jailed over bee deaths

Yahoo – AFP, September 26, 2018

More than 50 colonies of bees perished when a 47-year-old man spread a powerful
 insecticide over his trees in the Lavanttal area of Carinthia province, at a time when
their blossoms were still attracting bees (AFP Photo/SYLVAIN THOMAS)

Vienna (AFP) - An Austria fruit grower was handed a rare prison sentence Wednesday for having illegally spread an insecticide which led to the deaths of dozens of neighbouring bee colonies.

The 47-year-old man had spread a powerful insecticide called chlorpyrifos over his trees in the Lavanttal area of Carinthia province, at a time when their blossoms were still attracting bees.

More than 50 colonies belonging to two neighbouring apiarists perished.

The court in the city of Klagenfurt found the fruit grower guilty of "deliberately damaging the environment", pointing to his experience and role in training others in his field as evidence that he knew the consequences of his actions.

He was sentenced to a year in prison, of which four months will be without probation. Ordeer to pay more than 20,000 euros ($23,500) in compensation, he said he will appeal.

The court said it hoped the sentence would serve as a deterrent and to remind others that the "use of pesticides needs to strike a balance between the environment and economics".

The widespread use of pesticides has been blamed for a steep rise in deaths among bees and other pollinating insects. In April the EU voted to outlaw the use of certain pesticides from the neonicotinoid family blamed for killing off bee populations.

Dutch firm to recycle babies’ nappies to produce sustainable energy

DutchNews, September 18, 2018 

Waste processing plant ARN is building a separate facility for recycling babies’ nappies in an initiative supported by 8 local councils in the Nijmegen region. 

Babies use around 5,000 nappies until they are potty trained, with half a million nappy wearing children each year, sustainability advisor Milieu Centraal has calculated. More elderly are people are using incontinence pads as well. 

The process involves placing the nappies in a reactor which reaches temperature of up to 250 degrees at high pressure. ‘The nappies, including their contents of urine and faecal matter, become liquid and separate into different materials,’ process developer and patent holder Willem Elsinga told broadcaster NOS. 

‘The high temperature gets rid of the bacteria, traces of medication and viruses so all the products we make from the diapers will be safe. Otherwise we couldn’t sell them,’ the broadcaster quotes him as saying. 

The plant will turn the diapers into four products: green gas, plastics, fertiliser and biomass, which Elsinga says, can be used as an alternative for coal to fire coal plants. 

An earlier initiative to recycle diapers in Arnhem ten years ago failed. According to Elsinga that experiment came too early. ‘Everything has to be right: enough diapers, affordable technology and a market that is ready for the products at the end of the line.’ 

But now local councils are trying to reduce the amount of left-over waste after traditional glass, paper and plastics recycling. ‘We are producing between 150 and 200 kilos of residual waste per head of the population and local councils are keen on separate waste collection. This sort of thing fits in perfectly,’ Elsinga told NOS. 

If all goes according to plan, the new plant will come into operation in December.

Fed-up with a growing mountain of stinking disposable nappies, a Dutch firm has started building the country's first recycling plant to turn poo into profit https://t.co/B7ettpjAZQ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 18, 2018

KLM-backed bio-kerosene plant may open in the Netherlands

DutchNews, September 18, 2018 

Aviation is a major source of carbon-dioxide emissions. Photo: DutchNews.nl 

The Netherlands is on the verge of getting its first factory to produce bio-kerosene, an alternative fuel to tradition kerosene and made out of biomass, the AD said on Tuesday. 

A location for the plant has not yet been confirmed but Groningen is on the shortlist, the paper said. 

The plans have been confirmed by Maarten van Dijk, director of SkyNRG, which will build the factory. ‘We are in the last phase of selecting the location and suppliers. I think that we will be able to reveal more at the end of this year or beginning of the next,’ he told the paper. 

Rotterdam and Amsterdam are being considered as alternative locations. 

Airline KLM is a important shareholder in SkyNRG and has also confirmed that plans for the factory are being made. The airline currently imports bio-kerosine from Los Angeles and it uses the fuel mainly on its fights to the American east coast. 

The AD says there are no other bio-kerosines plants in north-west Europe and that the investment will create a large number of jobs. 

Pollution 

Passenger air traffic is currently responsible for between 2% and 3% of global carbon-dioxide emissions, but in the Netherlands, the figure is 7%, the AD said. 

Bio-kerosine is made from leftovers from the timber and agricultural industries, as well as the food processing industry. Wageningen University said earlier this year that bio-kerosene is a potentially important option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector. 

However, the price is two to three times that of ordinary kerosene and ‘the direct and indirect effects… on the aviation sector and the Dutch economy as a whole depend to a large extent on how the additional costs of biokerosene will be funded,’ University researchers said.

Indigenous peoples, key to saving forests, catch a break

Yahoo – AFP, Marlowe HOOD, September 14, 2018

Up to now, native communities in the forests of Latin America, Africa and Asia have
seen their ancestral lands degraded and destroyed -- sometimes with the
blessing of local or national governments (AFP Photo/Apu Gomes)

San Francisco (AFP) - Proven masters at sustainably managing forests that protect against global warming, indigenous peoples got a place at the table, and some cash, at an international climate summit in San Francisco this week.

New "guiding principles" for collaboration endorsed by three dozen mostly tropical provinces and states across nine countries bolster indigenous rights to land, self-governance and finance earmarked for safeguarding forests.

"The partnership between governments and indigenous leaders marks a paradigm shift for tribal and indigenous engagement," Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said at the Global Climate Action Summit.

Up to now, native communities in the forests of Latin America, Africa and Asia have seen their ancestral lands degraded and destroyed -- sometimes with the blessing of local or national governments -- by extraction industries (oil, gold) and big agriculture (soy, palm oil, cattle).

Even UN-led efforts to involve indigenous peoples in preventing deforestation have unfolded "in a context of rights abuses, displacement and dispossession, threats and harassment over territories, and the repression and assassination of environmental activists by state and private forces," the non-profit Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) reported last year.

At least 207 environmental campaigners, half from indigenous tribes in tropical forests, were murdered in 2017, according to watchdog group Global Witness.

Deforestation -- responsible for about a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions -- intensifies global warming in two ways.

Losing a wooded area the size of Greece each year not only reduces Earth's capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, it releases huge amounts of the planet-warming gas into the atmosphere.

The principles were negotiated within the decade-old Governors' Climate and Forests Task Force, made up of state and provincial leaders from eight tropical countries and the governors of California, Illinois and Catalonia.

Keeping carbon in the trees

"Today we recognize the essential role of local communities and indigenous peoples for the conservation of forest territories and the development of effective climate change strategies," said Jorge Aristoteles Sandoval Diaz, governor of Jalisco, Mexico.

New "guiding principles" for collaboration endorsed by three dozen mostly tropical 

provinces and states across nine countries bolster indigenous rights to land, 

self-governance and finance earmarked for safeguarding forests (AFP Photo/Apu Gomes)

Tribal leaders, who helped forge the new charter, said it would make a difference.

"We live in, depend upon, and manage our forests -- and have done so for centuries," said Francisca Arara, leader of the Arara indigenous people in Acre, Brazil.

"These principals provide us with a stronger platform for negotiating equal ground with governments."

Experts described the charter as "an important step forward," but said more was needed.

"Recognizing the rights is really key to keeping the carbon in the trees and the soil," said Andy White, Coordinator of the Washington-based Rights and Resources Initiative, a research group.

"But the real question is how much money they put behind implementing these commitments."

Tropical forests provide livelihoods and anchor the cultural identities of tens of millions of indigenous people.

Research has shown that stewardship by local communities significantly slows the pace of deforestation.

"Thirty-seven percent of what is needed to stay below two degrees Celsius" -- the cornerstone goal of the 196-nation Paris Agreement -- "can be provided by land," said Andrew Steer, WRI President and CEO of the World Resources Institute in Washington DC.

"But only three percent of the public funding for mitigation goes to land and forest issues. That needs to change."

In a parallel announcement, nine foundations pledged nearly half-a-billion dollars over the next five years to boost indigenous management of carbon-rich forests.

"Solving climate change requires that forests, and land in general, be managed well," Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, told AFP. "Indigenous peoples are the key to unlocking that solution."

Bill Gates, Ban Ki-moon, World Bank chief to head up Dutch climate initiative

DutchNews, September 10, 2018

Demonstrators for climate change in Amsterdam 

Former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates and World Bank chief executive Kristalina Georgieva will head an international commission on climate change to launch next month, the Dutch government said on Monday. 

The Global Commission on Adaptation is a new international climate commission initiated by the Netherlands aimed at convincing countries worldwide to arm themselves against the effects of climate change. 

The commission will be housed in the Global Climate Adaptation Centre which has a base in both Groningen and Rotterdam. Georgieva will oversee the Rotterdam-based commission.

‘Climate change is not something that will take place in some far away future,’ said infrastructure minister Cora van Nieuwhuizen who sunk the first pile in the construction of the new floating office of the GCA in Rotterdam’s Rijnhaven. 

‘We are right in the middle of it. Large parts of Europe have been combating drought. With the commission we want to drive home the necessity of climate adaptation worldwide. I am very honoured that Georgieva, Ban Ki-Moon and Gates were prepared to lead this important commission.’ 

Ban Ki-Moon called the Dutch initiative ‘a critical step forward to set in motion more vigorous attention to and action around climate adaptation’ and said he looked forward to ‘worldwide mission to accelerate adaptation’. 

Ban Ki-Moon, Gates and Georgieva are coming to the Netherlands on October 16 to launch the new commission. Van Nieuwenhuizen will be one of the 20 commission members. 

In September 2019 the commission is expected to present an action programme which will show countries which short-term measures they can take to protect vulnerable areas from the effects of a changing climate.