Tenth NC General Convention
Many Challenges Ahead

By Prem N. Kakkar

THERE is no doubt that the 10th Nepali Congress general convention is being looked upon with great interest from all sectors of the country. Even there is keen interest abroad as to what the discussions and deliberations that are to be the part of the meet. This is all the more so as Nepali Congress is the largest democratic force in the country and commands a majority in the House of Representatives.

Privilege

This has been all the matter of interest as the Nepali Congress has got the mandate of the people for the second time to form a majority government within a span of ten years since the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1990 was promulgated. It is a privilege that NC has enjoyed since 2007 B.S. when democracy was first ushered into the country with the party leading the movement.

The same situation arose when the thirty year old partyless system was dismantled and multi-party polity came into existence over a decade back. Nepali Congress with its long history for the reinstatement of democracy and its struggle for it merits great focus from all quarters.

Now that the party is in power and has a great role to play for the overall development of the country, the intra-party wrangling naturally comes into the limelight though there are matters that need to be resolved within and not made a matter of great public discussion. There are controversies within the party but with the adherence to the democratic culture and practice that exists within the party optimism exists that they will be resolved with the general convention taking place soon.

There always has been interest as to the leadership of the party. For the present, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is also the President of the Nepali Congress party. His leadership, in fact, led to the party gaining majority in the 1999 elections with Krishna Prasad Bhattarai becoming the prime minister. This itself is evidence that the Congress party has endeared itself so that the general people feel that it is one party that can play a role in not only strengthening democracy in the country but also work for the better welfare of the people.

This obviously brings to the forefront as to what the outcome of the general convention will be especially regarding the choice of the president that will lead the party in the years to come. This is particularly true when we visualise that the present economic condition of the country is very fluid and the people need relief in every sphere. There is another factor that plays a role and that is the political climate that persists in the country.

The Nepali Congress government has to overcome the problems that exists not within its party but also take into account the series of protests resorted by the opposition parties. This is a matter that deserves special attention as there is a great deal of emphasis on consensus on matters of national interest. In fact, it is the nature of the opposition to take to the streets just for the sake of opposition but the matter now is of great interest as the prices of petroleum products and chemical fertiliser has been considerably raised. There is all the more clamour over the price hike of kerosene which is leading the agenda.

The government by itself cannot control the spot price of petroleum but it can do something to lessen the burden on the common man. And this is the plank on which the opposition has been leaning on. The two price system with the coupon for the heavily subsidised kerosene may be a point but to divert a chunk of the public money only on one item may not seem reasonable as it diverts a great part of the revenue from development activities.

But it must be realised by all that giving stress on subsidies alone cannot help the nation as a whole. The government is aware to the situation but it cannot do much as the buying price of POL products is quite high at the moment. If it had been within its control, the government would not have given the green signal for the price rise of POL products. The opposition too must realise this and going for publicity on this issue alone cannot make them popular.

In this context, the 10th general convention of the Nepali Congress holds great significance. Including the Prime Minister himself, former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Shailaja Acharya have declared that they would be contesting for the post of the president of the Nepali Congress party. This shows that the democratic culture exists within the party now as it was earlier.

The ninth NC general convention must also be remembered in the sense that Koirala was elected and those who clamour for one man one post may not be right. It is not the will of one person but the general will of the members of the Central Working Committee who decide. Elections are a part and parcel of any democratic system and the same is true for the majority party. So it is appropriate that party members wanting to stand for the post of the president have every right to do so.

Qualities

Herein comes the question of handing over the powers to the second generation. It is true that leadership qualities are essential to lead a party of such a big stature and in this regard it is an election that decides. For this the 10th general convention of the Nepali Congress party will be of great interest to watch.

Fragile Coral Reefs In Grave Danger

By Henrylito D. Tacio

ALL over the world, coral reefs are under assault from a multitude of sources. Depending on their location, "the marine equivalent of rainforests" are under serious threats from four broad categories of human activity, according to a study undertaken by the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM).

These are: coastal development, overexploitation and destructive fishing practices (including the "muro-ami" and cyanide fishing), land-based pollution (especially sediment) from deforestation and agriculture, and marine pollution from oil spills and the discharge of oily ballast water.

Study

ICLARM undertook the study, Reefs at Risk: A Map-Based Indicator of Threats to the World’s Coral Reefs, along with the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC).

According to the study, released in 1998, a quarter of the world’s mapped reefs are found in Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. In the Philippines, the study revealed that at least 85 per cent of reefs are under serious threat from destructive fishing practices and overfishing.

"Nowhere else in the world are coral reefs abused as much as the reefs in the Philippines," commented marine scientist Don McAllister, who once studied the cost of coral reef destruction in the country.

Significant regional differences exist regarding the degree of risk that coral reefs face. The reefs of Southeast Asia, which are the most species-diverse in the world, are also the most threatened, with more than 80 per cent at risk, including 55 per cent at high or very high risk.

On the other hand, the reefs in the Pacific regions, which contains more reef area than any other region, face comparatively less risk. Forty-one percent of Pacific reefs were classified as threatened, and just 10 per cent face a high risk.

Other key findings of the assessment based on reliable data from 14 international databases around the world include:

** Globally, 58 per cent of the world reefs are at risk from human activities, with about 27 per cent of reefs at high or very high risk.

** At least 11 per cent of the world’s coral reefs contain a high level of reef fish biodiversity and are under high threat from human activities. These "hot spots" include almost all Philippine reefs, and coral communities off the coast of Indonesia, Tanzania, the Comorros, the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean.

** Of the identified 12 most threatened coral reefs, five are located in Asia: Hikkaduwa Reefs in Sri Lanka, Reefs of Southern Islands in Singapore, Bolinao Reef Complex in the Philippines, Scarborough Reef in South China Sea, and Seribu Island Reefs in Indonesia.

"This ongoing assessment suggests that overexploitation (overfishing and destructive fishing practices) and coastal development pose the greatest potential threat to reefs, with each of these threats affecting about one third of all reefs" said the Washington-based WRI in a statement.

But in recent years, unforeseen threats have also taken its toll. "Spectacular epidemics" that erupted as "black band disease," first in Caribbean corals, and much of the world thereafter, have taken marine scientists by surprise.

Within a decade, coral diseases in Florida bolted from 6 to 13. Infected species tripled. Spreading outbreaks have since been documented in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. "The scale of these epidemics has no clear precedent," notes State of the World 2000 report.

Mass coral "bleaching" is yet another major contributing factor to decline of coral reefs in recent years, according Dr. Thomas Goreau of the New York-based Global Coral Reef Alliance.

Coral bleaching occurs when corals are under stress because of extreme sea temperature (over 29.5 degrees Celsius) or pollution. Corals evict their algal tenants and turn brilliant white as a result. "Corals tend to die in great numbers immediately following coral bleaching events, which may stretch across thousands of square kilometres of ocean," explained Prof. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the Coral Reef Research Institute at the University of Sydney.

Six major episodes of coral bleaching have occurred since 1979, with massive deaths of coral reefs in every part of the world. "Entire reef systems have died following bleaching events," the Sydney university professor reported.

"Bleaching and diseases have certainly killed more coral in the last two years than all previous human damage," writes Dr. Goreau in a recent report. "Unless they are controlled, all efforts at reef protection will be futile."

Coral reefs flourish in shallow, tropical seas, in a broad band straddling the equator. Most are found between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn - in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf and around island nations in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. Reefs also thrive where warm currents are found off Florida, Bermuda, southern Japan and Australia.

Coral reefs contain an immense variety of life. Although occupying just 0.17 per cent of the ocean floor, they are home to one-quarter of all marine species. A single reef can support as many as 3,000 species of marine life. As fishing grounds, they are thought to be 10 to 100 times as productive per unit area as the open sea.

Reefs also provide essential services like coastal protection, buffering adjacent shorelines from erosive wave action and storm impacts. They also yield tourist dollars as well. Caribbean countries. which attract million of visitors annually to their beaches and reefs, derive one half of their gross national product from the tourist industry.

Realisation

The realisation that reefs and their many benefits are increasingly in jeopardy has begun to prompt action at many levels. The International Coral Reef Initiative, started in 1995. stresses the need integrated coastal management to minimize the detrimental effects of coastal development.

At the national level and local levels, a number of governments and communities have taken steps to protect and restore coral reefs. In general, these examples of good stewardship involve a combination of planning, management law enforcement, environmental education, and legal protection. — (DEPTHnews)

Global Warming Spawns A New Breed Of Businessman

By Arthur Max

IN CANADA, a utilities company spews heat-trapping gas from its smokestack. In Finland, a power company switches from coal to biomass, producing fewer greenhouse gases. Thus, the stage is set for a deal - not of power, but of pollution credits.

Efforts to check global warming have created a new commodity: pollution - or the lack of it - that is being traded on the market like sugar or equities. And it is producing a new breed of businessman, the pollution trader.

As negotiators from 175 countries continued talks in The Hague on Tuesday on how to curb greenhouse gases, emissions trading is standing out among the most contentious issues. Some parties denounce it as a huge loophole that will let major polluters go unrestrained.

A small group of professional traders are circulating among the delegates, holding workshops and explaining how trades can be structured, monitored, verified and regulated.

"We are telling them, ‘This is how it works, you don’t have to be afraid of it,"’ said Garth Edward, of the New York-based trading company Natsource.

Natsource put together the deal last week for EPCOR Utilities Inc., of Edmonton, Canada, to buy 50,000 tons of carbon credits from Fortum, owner of the Finnish power plant that converted to biomass. The price was not disclosed, but credits normally sell for dlrs 1.00-3.00 per ton, said Edward.

EPCOR can bank those 50,000 credits, cashing them in later if it overshoots the emissions allowance set by the Canadian authorities.

So far, such deals have been small and experimental. But if trading become widely accepted, the price of credits could rise phenomenally, developing into a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Eventually, they could be traded in a bourse like soya futures.

Emissions trading was enshrined in the agreement concluded in Kyoto, Japan, three years ago, that set reduction targets for the industrial world, but the negotiators could not agree on how much trading should be allowed.

The United States, Japan, Canada and some other industrialized countries want a free and unlimited market. They argue it will lower the cost of meeting the Kyoto target of trimming emissions globally by 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012.

"We reject quantitative restrictions and artificial limits," said Undersecretary of State David Sandalow, heading the U.S. delegation. Open trading "will promote innovation and reduce cost. We don’t have the luxury of wasting dollars, euros or yen."

Environmentalists and the European Union say trading dilutes the incentive of industrialized countries to curb their own pollution, letting them buy their way out of their commitments rather than take painful steps to reduce pollution.

The United States has been singled out by the Europeans and many environmentalists for trying to evade its commitments to cut pollution by using emissions trading and other methods.

The most glaring example of a pollution scam, they say, is the "hot air" trade with Russia and the Ukraine.

After their economies collapsed in the 1990s, the closure of factories led to a drastic drop in carbon emissions - to just 37 percent what they were in 1990 in Russia, and 55 percent in the Ukraine. That left both countries with plenty of credits to sell on the open market.

Environmentalists call that gap "hot air," because the lower emissions were not achieved through greater efficiency or switching to renewable energy. Some delegates want to review the Russian benchmark, and so far no one has purchased any of the so-called hot air credits.

Emissions trading is not new. American companies have been trading for several years in the industrial pollutants sulfur and nitrogen oxide. The World Wildlife Fund acknowledges the trade has helped meet targets and sharply reduce costs.

But the worldwide trade in carbon equivalents, which is being discussed in The Hague, might be much different, said Mark Kenber, of the WWF. The sulfur trade was transparent, tightly regulated, easy to monitor and subject to sever sanctions. Falsifying emission results could lead to a jail sentence, he said.

"These are the lessons we can learn," Kenber said. And the pollution traders will help. "Finding loopholes will only bring down the price of credits - and their commissions," he said. "Traders are an essential part of the system." (AP)