Earth Day 22nd April
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010by Editor 20100422.
About Earth Day Network
Powerful Owl chick (Brown Mountain, East Gippsland Australia)
[The following summary information has been extracted from the Earth Day website -editor]
‘Earth Day Network was founded on the premise that all people, regardless of race, gender, income, or geography, have a moral right to a healthy, sustainable environment.
Earth Day Network
1616 P Street NW, Suite 340
Washington, D.C., 20036
Tel: +1 202.518.0044 | Fax: +1 202.518.8794
Email general inquiries to: info@earthday.net.
Earth Day Mission
‘To broaden and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable environment.
Reach
‘We pursue our mission through a combination of education, public policy, and activism campaigns. Earth Day Network has a global reach with more than 20,000 partners and organizations in 190 countries. More than 1 billion people participate in Earth Day activities, making it the largest secular civic event in the world.
Goals
- To Promote Civic Engagement — EDN works with partner organizations to provide opportunities for all citizens to become active at the local, state, national and global levels.
- To Broaden the Meaning of “Environment” — EDN is committed to expanding the definition of “environment” to include all issues that affect our health, our communities and our environment, such as air and water pollution, climate change, green schools and environmental curriculum, access to green jobs, renewable energy, and a new green economy.
- To Mobilise Communities — For the past four years, Earth Day Network has helped create a solid environmental platform for the National Latino Congreso. In 2010, we partnered with the Congreso to pass a strong climate change resolution.
- To Implement Groundbreaking Environmental Education Programs — Earth Day Network’s GREEN Schools Campaign seeks to green all of America’s K-12 schools within a generation. Green schools save money, conserve energy and water, and have better performing and healthier students. The National Civic Education Project is empowering students to solve local environmental problems. .
- To Help Bring Clean Water and Sanitation to the World — Earth Day Network’s Global Water Network allows individuals, organizations, or businesses to help fund water projects in rural areas around the globe.
- To Inspire and engage college students to become environmental leaders — EDN’s campus outreach seeks to grow the size, diversity, and strength of the environmental community in colleges and universities around the world.
- To Support Earth Day Events and Actions around the World — From greening schools in post-Katrina New Orleans to improving water and sanitation services in a refugee community in Ghana, EDN supports and coordinates thousands of Earth Day events worldwide each year. Earth Day, April 22, is the largest secular holiday in the world, now celebrated by more than one billion people.
Core Issues
Advocacy
Earth Day Network seeks to bridge the gap between concerned citizens and their leaders. Action is needed between individuals and organizations with local elected officials to discuss environmental issues. In this way we can push for change in Congress and the White House.
Climate Change
The Earth’s climate is significantly changing at a faster than normal rate. One thing remains clear: mankind’s actions are behind these changes. Fortunately humans are presented with the opportunity to make changes necessary to fight this phenomenon.
Promoting a campaign for reducing consumption of energy at school and at home, and reducing the use of the cars as a way of transport.
Conservation & Biodiversity
Diversity is nature’s greatest gift, but it is threatened around the world by human expansion and activities. Action is needed to help conserve the world’s biodiversity.
5th Ecosystem Services Forum
Education
Earth Day Network is a globally recognized leader in the fields of environmental education and green schools. Our Education programs carry a successful history of providing educators, students and the general public with resources and solutions to create a healthier, more sustainable planet.
Adopt a Meter2 of Land
Anacostia River Environmental Education Fair
Energy
Americans are roughly 5 percent of the world’s population and consume 25 percent of the world’s resources. Almost 50 percent of the energy we produce comes from coal. The time to build a clean energy network is now. Action must be taken to develop renewable energy and we must begin a responsible transition off of coal and oil.
Food & Agriculture
It is important that humans begin supporting organic or small farms, local production and sustainable techniques while harvesting increased yields and protecting the topsoil. The time for action is now, before the world’s rich farmland washes into the sea, and before chemical pesticides and fertilizers cause any more harm to our drinking water and our oceans.
Green Economy
We believe that the choice between the economy and green energy is a necessity to expanding the green sector and opening up a vast trove of jobs. Green industries are the future, and will put Americans back to work, producing real, exportable goods.
Green Schools
Earth Day Network’s successful history of working with teachers, PTAs, students and school administrators has led us to develop a long term, national campaign on green schools. Our National GREEN Schools Campaign, in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and The Clinton Foundation, aims to green all of America’s K-12 schools within a generation!
A school becomes “green” through a variety of means. By having more sustainable, energy-efficient, low-resource-using school buildings and school yards, our nation saves energy, reduces carbon emissions, and saves money.
By integrating environmental and sustainability education into our K-12 curriculums, our school’s students are more equipped to be leaders in the emerging green economy. We are achieving our Green Schools Campaign goals through green school policy reform, green makeovers for schools nation-wide, teacher grant programs & resources available on our Educators’ Network…
Recycling & Waste Reduction
The garbage dumps and junkyards of the world are filling quickly, with goods that might have been reused, recycled or composted. The world’s first old computers rot in scrap yards overseas, leeching toxic chemicals into the ground. Action must be taken to reduce the amount of waste we produce.
Sustainable Development
As the world’s human population grows, so does our footprint. We must find ways of living and growing in harmony with nature, and with the earth’s finite resources. Action is needed to promote green building, organic agriculture and responsible environmental practices.
Water
Earth Day Advisory Committee
Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa Alaoui of Morocco: President, Mohammed VI Foundation for the Protection of the Environment
Debbie Allen: American Actress, Choreographer, Television Director, Television Producer; Member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities
Ford W. Bell, DVM: President, American Association of Museums
Antonio H. Benjamin: Justice, High Court of Brazil (STJ); Co-President of the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) and Deputy-Chair of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law
Sir Richard Branson: British Entrepreneur; Founder and Chairman, Virgin Group
Lester Brown: Founder, Earth Policy Institute; Founder, Worldwatch Institute
Beverly J. Camhe: Producer, Beverly Camhe Productions
Richard Cizik: Evangelical Leader
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Environmental Artists
Cerphe Colwell: Radio Legend
Phillipe Cousteau Jr.: Co-Founder, President and CEO, EarthEcho International; Ocean Environmentalist, Educator and Documentarian
Mia Couto: World-renowned Mozambican Writer and Biologist, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
Leonardo DiCaprio (Co-Chair): American Actor and Film Producer; Environmentalist; Founder, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation; Board of Trustees, National Resources Defense Council; Board Member, Global Green USA
S. Richard Fedrizzi: President, CEO and Founding Chairman, United States Green Building Council
Jose Maria Figueres: Former President of Costa Rica; Sustainable Development and Technology Expert
Oliver Fleurot: CEO of Public Relations, Corporate and Financial Communications and Events Management, Publicis
Al Gore: 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; 45th Vice President of the United States
Paul Hawken: Director, Natural Capital Institute (NCI)
Denis Hayes(Chair): President and CEO, Bullitt Foundation; Coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970
Joe Holland: United States Olympic Nordic Combined Skier and three-time National Nordic Combined Championship Winner
David L. Hunke: President and Publisher, USA Today
Benjamin T. Jealous: President and CEO, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Yolanda Kakabadse: President, Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano (FFLA)
Donna Karan: Fashion Designer and Creator, DKNY; Founder, Urban Zen Foundation
Katie Lee: Cookbook Author
Sheri Liao: President, Global Village of Beijing
Daniel Libeskind: Architect and Artist; Founder, Studio Daniel Libeskind
Maya Lin: Environmentalist, Artist, and Architect
Mindy S. Lubber: President, Ceres; Director and Investor, Network on Climate Risk
Dame Ellen MacArthur DBE: World Record Holder for solo sailing around the Earth and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Julia Marton-Lefèvre: Director General, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Bill McKibben: American Environmentalist and Writer; Founder, 350.org
Edward Miles: Senior Fellow, Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Oceans (JISAO); Co-Director,Center for Science in The Earth System, JISAO
Mrs. Gaylord Nelson: Wife of the late Senator Gaylord Nelson, the Founder of Earth Day
Shaquille O’Neal: Professional Basketball Player, National Basketball Association (NBA)
Raymond C. Offenheiser, Jr.: President, Oxfam America
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
John Podesta: President, Center for American Progress
Carl Pope: Executive Director, Sierra Club
David A. Randall: Recipient of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and the Meisinger Award of the American Meteorological Society
Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun: Ambassador, Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary General; Board Member, International Institute for Sustainable Development
U.S. Senator Bernard Sanders: United States Senator, from the State of Vermont
Larry Schweiger: President, National Wildlife Federation
Martin Scorsese: American Film Director, Screenwriter, Producer, and Actor, Sikelia Productions;
Founder and Chairman, World Cinema Foundation; President, Film Foundation
Pete Seeger: Environmental Activist; Performing Artist
Jigar Shah: CEO, Carbon War Room
Ben Silverman: Executive Producer, The Office; Creator, The Biggest Loser; Founder and CEO, Electus
James Gustave Speth: Professor, Vermont Law School; Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Co-Founder, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Eric A. Spiegel: President and CEO, Siemens Corporation; Member, Business Roundtable
Achim Steiner: Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Rabbi Warren Stone: Environmental Chair, Central Conference of Rabbis
Barbra Streisand (Co-Chair): American Singer, Composer, Film and Theatre Actress, Director, and Producer; Founder and President, The Streisand Foundation; Kennedy Center Honoree
Mark Tercek: President and CEO, The Nature Conservancy
Ted Turner: Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Turner Foundation; Founder and Chairman, United Nations Foundation; Founder, Turner Endangered Species Fund; Founder, Cable News Network (CNN)
James West: CEO, Alamy Limited
Keith Williams: President & CEO, Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
Edward O. Wilson: Harvard University Research Professor Emeritus; Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Scientist and Environmentalist
Abdelkbir Zahoud: Secretary of State, Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment of Morocco.
What are your national and local governments doing to contribute to the goals of Earth Day?
[The following summary information has been extracted from the Convention on Biological Diversity website -editor] http://www.cbd.int/countries/profile.shtml?country=au Note: this information is dated to 2005, so Australia is five years out of date.
In Australia:
Status and Trends of Biodiversity
Overview
‘As a large island continent Australia contains a diverse range of biogeographic regions. The arid interior occupies approximately 70% of the continent, with tropical monsoon areas to the north and a Mediterranean and temperate climate to the south. Australia’s marine habitats are just as diverse, ranging from extensive coral reefs to seagrass plains, giant kelp forests and the sand-bottomed habitats that cover much of the continental shelf. Australia is endowed with a unique and diverse biodiversity, with an estimated 80% of endemic wildlife, including flowering plants, fungi, mollusc, insects, fishes, frogs, reptiles and mammals. This high level of endemism has earned Australia its place among the world’s 12 megadiverse countries. A particularity of Australia is its marsupials, having evolved into a great diversity of species filling an extraordinary range of niches, which in other countries are largely occupied by placental mammals. As of February 2001, there were 1,478 species and 27 ecological communities listed as either endangered or vulnerable at the national level. Vegetation clearing remains a significant but diminishing threat to terrestrial biodiversity. Threats affecting Australia’s coral reefs include the effects of sediments, agricultural chemicals and nutrients, fishing and tourism, oil spills, and climate change.
Number and Extent of Protected Areas
‘Terrestrial protected areas covered 10.52% (80.89 million hectares) of the country in 2004 whereas marine protected areas, including ‘no take’ zones’, covered 64,600,000 hectares or 7% of Australia’s marine jurisdiction.
Percentage of Forest Cover
Of the estimated 33% forest cover of Australia at the time of European settlement, there is now 21% remaining.
National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan
Major features of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
‘The overall goal of the Strategy for the Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity (1996) is to protect biological diversity and maintain ecological processes and systems. There are 6 main objectives, with priorities covering the identification and description of: main ecosystems, existing knowledge about biodiversity, and threats. The strategy also provides the framework to develop a mechanism and management plans for: biodiversity in general, protected areas, information and support of conservation projects, major introduced pests, control of access to genetic resources, bioregional planning and management, private lands to complement the protection provided by the public estate in protected areas, and for local governments to assume a significant role in the conservation of biodiversity.
National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan National Strategy (English)
National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan (English)
Implementation of the Convention
Measures Taken to Achieve the 2010 Target
‘Australia has substantially moved towards specific, time bound and measurable outcomes in regional planning under the National Action Plan on Salinity and Water Quality (NAP) and the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT). Regional plans are playing an important role in protecting and enhancing Australia’s unique biodiversity, the viability of rural and regional communities and the future of agricultural industries. Resource Condition Indicators, coordinated by the Australian Government’s Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group (MEWG), are being developed primarily to measure the performance of investments made under funding programs and to contribute to overall assessments of resource condition. The EPBC Act provides for the identification and listing of threatened species and ecological communities, the development of recovery plans for listed species and communities, the recognition of key threatening processes, and where appropriate, reducing the impact of these processes through the development and implementation of threat abatement plans. The international movement of wildlife and wildlife products for commercial purposes is also regulated under the EPBC Act and legislation to meet CITES obligations. The threat of pollution on the conservation of biodiversity is being addressed through the National Pollutant Inventory, whose goals include the maintenance and improvement of ambient air quality as well as marine, estuarine and fresh water quality.
Initiatives in Protected Areas
‘Between 2002 and 2004, terrestrial protected areas increased by 0.44% of the total land area. Designation of marine protected areas has accelerated over the reporting period with one of the most significant increases occurring because of the rezoning of the entire Great Barrier Reef, which became law in July 2004. The proportion of the Marine Park protected under ‘no-take’ zones was increased from less than 5% to more than 33%, and now protects representative examples of each of the 70 broad habitat types identified across the Great Barrier Reef region. By the end of 2002 the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) covered approximately 64,600,000 hectares or 7% of Australia’s marine jurisdiction.
Initiatives for Article 8(j)
‘Several Australian initiatives address this article, such as the Indigenous Protected Areas Program, in which the Department of the Environment and Water Resources and indigenous communities work together to: develop management plans, and hold indigenous knowledge workshops through the Natural Heritage Trust. The Australian Government has also taken measures to engage indigenous people in the key goals of Australia’s Oceans Policy by involving them in the use, conservation and management of Australia’s marine jurisdictions. This led to the development of pilot ‘Sea Country’ Plans as a potential vehicle for indigenous involvement in marine resource use and management processes. There are currently six plans being developed, allowing indigenous people to consider their sea country management priorities, needs and interests. Finally an Indigenous Advisory Committee (IAC) has been established under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The Committee advises the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources on the operation of the Act, taking into account the significance of indigenous peoples’ knowledge of the management of land and the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.’
The Habitat Advocate supports the principles of the Earth Day Network.
© The Habitat Advocate Public Domain
