AUICK News

CONTENTS

1. Associate City (AAC) News
2. International News

1. Associate City (AAC) News

A roundtable in Bangladesh, "Earthquake risk in Bangladesh: Preparedness and limitations", declared the country at high risk of earthquakes but without capacities to combat them. Unplanned urbanization, over population, poor construction, lack of coordination between institutions concerned, inadequacy of recovery tools and lack of awareness are putting the nation at high risk. Suggestions included launching massive earthquake-related awareness campaigns, retrofitting existing buildings, strengthening building inspection systems, proper implementation of building codes and training for masons, architects and engineers. (dailystar.net)

To withstand natural calamities like cyclones and tidal upsurge, the government will build 67 more cyclone shelter-cum school buildings in coastal areas of Chittagong, taking the number in the entire district to 470. (dailystar.net)

Weihai Environmental Protection Monitoring Center reported improved air quality in the city all year round. De-sulfurization projects for six thermal power plants were upgraded, and six production lines for cement were closed to improve air quality. Weihai Municipal Environmental Protection Administration also promulgated regulations for automobile pollutants. The World Bank granted a RMB 5 million loan for pollutant reduction and control.

A wind power farm is also planned to be built with an installed capability of 1000MW constructed offshore and 100MW onshore. Construction is scheduled to be commenced in October of this year and be completed for operation by the end of September, 2009, when generated energy is expected to reach 80 million kwh per year. (AUICK Liaison Officer of Weihai City Government)

In Chennai, a massive campaign is underway to generate awareness among citizens about the need to segregate garbage at the household level into bio-degradable and non bio-degradable waste. Bio-degradable waste will be composted and non bio-degradable waste re-cycled with the ultimate goal of Chennai being a garbage free city.

Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission of the Government of India has sanctioned Rs 255 crore (aprox.　$80million) for solid waste management and power generation from refuse derived oil, based on an action plan developed during an AUICK workshop.

Schools run by Chennai Corporation will be provided with counselors to deal with emotional, psychological and behavioral issues that students face - especially important given that Chennai Corporation school students primarily come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Focusing on women's wellbeing, wellness camps will be held throughout the year in slums in the city, with special emphasis on detection of cervical cancer, breast cancer, osteoporosis etc.(AUICK Liaison Officer of Chennai Corporation)

A 2007 Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) project in Surabaya will extend piped water connections to 15,500 low-income households (77,500 people). (gpoba.org)

Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK) has set up a flood operation centre at one of its offices on Jalan Bukit Ubi to prepare for floods during the current monsoon season, working together with several technical agencies to streamline their efforts to ensure smooth operations. (thestar.com.my)

The Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco) has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Shakarganj Sugar Mill for the　round-the-year supply of seven megawatts of electricity per day, in return for low-cost loans for replacing existing boilers with high speed boilers. The surging demand and dwindling supply of electricity saw domestic and industrial consumers without power for up to eight hours a day from mid-December 2007 to mid-February 2008. (dawn.com)

In Olongapo, discarded foil juice packets are being collected by the poor and sold every Friday afternoon at the city’s rubbish dump to PREDA (Peoples Recovery Empowerment and Development Assistance) Waste Management and Purchasing Team. Also collected from ten schools, the pouches are washed and sanitized, and distributed to home-based sewers including abandoned wives with hungry children, survivors of sexual exploitation and out of work sewers. They are paid to make bags, sun hats, backpacks, wallets, belts and slippers from the pouches, which are shipped around the world, sold as fair trade products. (olongapo-subic.com)

Thailand’s first software industrial estate will be set up in Khon Kaen this year. The Municipality was chosen due to its manpower advantage. This will lead to collaboration between Khon Kaen University and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand. (nationmultimedia.com) 

A successful pilot project conducted at a school in Khon Kaen Province has led the Betterment of Life Foundation to provide clean, safe drinking water to more than 2,500 children attending 12 schools in remote areas of Thailand. Water tanks with pumps, filtering systems and taps will be installed at each school. (prweb.com)

According to participants at the Central Region Economic Forum in Danang, April 2008, policy makers and relevant authorities pledged to support the Vietnam central region’s socio-economic development by creating an open and flexible business environment for local companies’ favorable conditions to access capital sources to further their business.

Also in Danang, a waste recycling plant that would produce biogas from rubbish collected in a dump in the city has been approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The US$3 million plant would minimize the gas discharged into the environment and also increase the power supply to the local area.(vietnamnews.vnagency.com)

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2. AUICK International News

‘Deliver Now for Women and Children’ is a new global campaign to help draw attention to millions of deaths, preventable with greater political commitment, in order to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through better health care. (who.org)

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has stated that 'The MDGs are still achievable if we act now. This will require inclusive sound governance, increased public investment economic growth, enhanced productive capacity, and the creation of decent work … Rapid and large-scale progress towards the MDGs is feasible if we combine strong government leadership, good policies and practical strategies for scaling up public investments in vital areas with adequate financial and technical support from the international community’. (adb.org, developments.org.uk, mdgasiapacific.org)

As the first UN chief to visit Antarctica, Mr. Ban saw for himself the effects of climate change on the world's largest wilderness, and urged the world to do more to safeguard the future of the planet. He stated that "This is an emergency and for emergency situations we need emergency action”. He then attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference, from 3-14 December, 2007 in Bali. Ten thousand participants representing 180 countries saw their parliamentarians adopt the ‘Bali Road Map’. This was to launch negotiations toward a global, comprehensive agreement to address climate change. (unfcccbali.org)

Countdown to 2015, a three-day conference in Cape Town, South Africa, from 17-19 April 2008 called for scaled-up investments in basic health services and human resources to reduce the preventable deaths of over 10 million children and women each year, of which 97% are accounted for by 68 developing countries worldwide. (unfccc.int)

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) is coordinating the International Year of Sanitation 2008, to raise awareness and to accelerate progress on sanitation. An action plan prepared to outline the contributions and inputs of the United Nations agencies and partners includes activities to raise awareness, release new and updated publications, advocate, monitor access and commitments, advance implementation, strengthen capacities, and evaluate costs and benefits. (esa.un.org)

To reduce e-waste (globally at 50 million tons per year), companies are practicing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), for the environmental impacts of their products. E-waste recycling initiatives are also increasing, to stop the toxic damage caused by the discarding of items such as cell phones. The US Postal Service is also developing a free national collection program, and used cell phones are increasingly being bought by companies to be recycled or sold to developing countries for their re-use. (enn.com)

The world surpassed a U.N. goal of planting 1 billion trees in 2007 to help slow climate change, led by huge forestry projects in Ethiopia and Mexico, according to the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). The global tree-planting drive was inspired by Kenyan environmentalist and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathai, meant to counter deforestation from logging and the burning of forests to create farmland. An example at the local level, Ottawa tree program, distributes trees to be planted by homeowners, school groups and other volunteers, under a 4-year initiative to enhance the city’s urban and rural forests by 100,000 trees by 2010. (enn.com) (metronews.ca)