AUICK News

CONTENTS

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

1. Associate City (AAC) News

Chittagong – According to Bangladesh news sources, over 50,000 people, living on hillside slums in the city, are at risk from landslides. The Landslide Rehabilitation and Management Committee has called for agencies such as the Department of Environment, Chittagong City Corporation, Chittagong Development Authority, Public Works Department, Bangladesh Railway, Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA) and the police department to work together to solve the issue. (thedailystar.net) (banglanews.evergreenbanga.com) 

A Chittagong WASA project supported by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will install three water reservoirs, one booster station, and transmission and distribution pipeline to increase water treatment for the city. Project completion is scheduled for 2011. (bangladesheconomy.wordpress.com) 

Weihai - Since the beginning of the 11th Five-Year Plan in 2006, pollutants have been reduced in Weihai over three consecutive years, due government building of several sewage treatment plants and adopting of advanced desulphurization projects in the coal-fired power plants. COD and SO2 levels in the city were reduced by 5.92% and 2.13% respectively between 2007 and 2008. (Contributed by Chenggong Sun, AUICK Liaison Officer for Weihai) 

Chennai - With the notified dumping yards in the city running out of space, Chennai City Corporation is attempting to find alternate means of technology to attain zero waste management. It has planned to set up a pilot one-ton capacity bio-gas plant for reduction of waste. The company will produce energy through RDF technology, manufacture manure, and set up a recycling plant and a sanitary landfill site in the allotted 30 acres. 

The city will soon have Asia’s largest blood bank, with storage space for more than 200,000 units of blood. It will be constructed with assistance from central government funds. A facility to extract protein from blood plasma will provide life-saving treatment for pregnant women, and patients with nerve disorders, liver cirrhosis, cancer and hepatitis. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

Surabaya - The Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) has signed a grant agreement administered by the World Bank for US$2.4 million to increase piped water networks for poor households in Surabaya. As many as 15,500 households or 77,500 people should benefit from the scheme through new connections, supporting poor, dense or informal communities not otherwise eligible for household supply. At present, only 17% of households in Indonesia have access to piped water. (gpoba.org)

Kuantan – As part of a mission to maintain a sustainable environment, Kuantan Municipal Council has arranged a number of programs since November 2008 to educate citizens and coordinate the relevant agencies to play a role in increasing environmental awareness. These include the Sustainability Friendship Program promoting recycling activities; Indah Water Open Day, a recycling, waste and environmental campaign; the Glass Collection Centre Launching Ceremony, to raise youth awareness on environmental issues; Beach Cleaning Programs involving NGOs, private companies and the community; and Recycling Programs for 16 schools, the community and government / private sectors. (Contributed by Suris Bin Mihat, AUICK Liaison Officer for Kuantan)

Faisalabad - A Rs.207 million Faisalabad Garment City Project is to be launched as part of a federal government plan for the Export Investment Support Fund. The fund incorporates textile investment fund, human research development and public private partnership schemes. (dawn.com)

Olongapo - A low-cost mass housing project will be implemented in the outskirts of Olongapo City to provide cheap housing units to government employees such as public school teachers, firemen and policemen. Under the name ‘Fiesta Communities-Olongapo’, it is the first such project in the city’s history. (mb.com.ph) 

Olongapo’s province of Zambales is undertaking a multi-department implemented ‘Ready’ project, involving multi-hazard identification and disaster risk assessment on floods, landslides, storm surges, earthquakes and related hazards. This will help build up community preparedness in dealing with these hazards to prevent disasters from occurring, such as through fcommunity-member run flood early warning systems. (manilatimes.net)

Khon Kaen -Khon Kaen University co-hosted an international conference on the health impact assessment (HIA) of development projects in Chiang Mai from 22-24 April, attended by some 300 representatives from 20 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The conference’s ‘Chiang Mai Declaration’, a joint commitment by all relevant working agencies and international organizations, pledges to support HIA as a tool to enable public policy and joint development projects in the region to be determined in a manner which will protect both public health and the environment. (news.kku.th)

Danang - The first hospital for needy women in Viet Nam has opened in Danang City. Located in the Hai Chau District of the city, the 630m² hospital was built with funding from domestic and foreign organizations and individuals, including the Danang People’s Committee. Fees are exempt to women registered as living in constant poverty, and subsidized to women with a low income. (vietnamnews.vnagency.com)

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2. AUICK International News

WHO Report on MDG targets - Progress toward achieving health related Millennium Development Goals is mixed, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) published World Health Statistics 2009. The report finds that deaths of children aged under five years have dropped by 27% since 1990; an estimated 1.2 billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases; the availability of essential medicines at public health facilities is often poor and prices remain high; there are now more than 3 million people in developing countries receiving antiretroviral therapy, meaning complex treatment for chronic disease is possible in low-income settings; adolescent pregnancy rates have only dropped by 3 per 1000 women since 2000; and the proportion of deaths from noncommunicable diseases is increasing, which means that action needs to be taken now to implement preventive interventions to reduce tobacco use, overweight and obesity, and high blood pressure. (who.int/mediacentre/news)

World Water Day - In March, 2009, 127 events had been held in 27 countries to celebrate World Water Day 2009. One quarter of the events were arranged in developing countries, and most raised awareness through local group activity events such as walking, music, poetry, painting and fund raising. World Water Day started as an initiative of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, and is designated for 22 March each year. Each country is invited to devote the day to implement the UN recommendations and arrange locally appropriate activities. (worldwaterday.org)

ICPD at 15 - 2009 marks the 15th anniversary of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The conference created a consensus on the relationship between population growth and other areas of development, among industrialized and developing countries, a ‘blueprint for 20 years of action’. UNFPA has taken the lead in implementing the consensus which puts people (especially women and children) at the heart of the development process with the affirmation of their human rights and the need to empower women. It addresses interrelationships between population, economic growth and sustainable development, population distribution, climate change, urbanization, migration, and data collection and analysis. Such scope and depth requires the participation of grass-roots non-governmental organizations, governments, research institutions, regional associations, parliamentarians and international agencies. Various aspects of the ICPD will be addressed at forums and events throughout 2009. (unfpa.org/icpd/15/)

MDG Achievement in an Economic Downturn - At an Asian Development Bank 42nd Annual Meeting seminar titled Towards Inclusive Growth: Achieving the Millennium Goals in Asia and the Pacific, policymakers, economists and development agency officials discussed the impacts of the economic downturn on progress towards achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, and appropriate steps to be taken. Many countries in Asia are expected to achieve the halving of extreme poverty (goal no.1), but the other goals for child and maternal mortality rates, primary education, water, nutrition, sanitation and the eradication of slums look less achievable. The seminar also discussed how governments should use fiscal stimulus and policy reforms to address these issues, and the need to address institutional weaknesses which prevent the delivery of services to vulnerable groups. (adb.org)

Update on the Billion Tree Campaign - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign, is encouraging the planting of 7 billion trees by the end of 2009. The campaign invites people, communities, business and industry, civil society organizations and governments around the world to pledge online to plant indigenous trees, and trees appropriate to their local environment. As of 1 July 2009, 6,214,963,766 had been pledged, of which 4,120,113,324 had been planted.
(unep.org/billiontreecampaign/)