Theme 2 - Largest offshore wind farm opens off Thanet in Kent

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-11395964

23 September 2010

The world's biggest offshore wind farm off Kent has been officially opened.

Swedish energy giant Vattenfall said the 100 turbines are expected to generate enough electricity to power 200,000 homes.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne is visiting the project, which has been built seven miles (12km) off Foreness Point in Thanet.

Construction work at the £780m wind farm began two years ago and was completed in June.

"We are an island nation and I firmly believe we should be harnessing our wind, wave and tidal resources to the maximum”

The 380ft (115m) tall turbines are spread over an area of more than 35 sq km and are visible from the shore on a clear day.

There are currently about 250 wind farms operating in the UK, with a further 12 offshore, with 2,909 turbines in operation in total.

Vattenfall also owns the 30-turbine Kentish Flats wind farm, off Herne Bay, which was one of the UK's first such projects when it opened five years ago.

A company spokesman said more than 3,600 people have worked on the Thanet wind farm, with 30% of workers from the UK.

Up to 20 technicians from the local area have now been employed to work there full time, he added.

The progress on wind power was welcomed by Mr Huhne at a ceremony to mark the launch of the new site.
'Island nation'
He said the government was focused on moving from the "frankly atrocious record" on green energy it had inherited.

"We are in a unique position to become a world leader in this industry," he said.

"We are an island nation and I firmly believe we should be harnessing our wind, wave and tidal resources to the maximum.

"I know that there is still more to do to bring forward the large sums of investment we want to see in low-carbon energy in the UK, and we as a government are committed to playing our part."

Environmental campaigners have urged the government to invest more in renewable energy.

Currently the UK sources just 3% of all its energy from renewables, against a target of 15% by 2020.

Craig Bennett, the campaigns and policy director for Friends of the Earth, said the Thanet wind farm was an "important stride forward" but warned the UK's record on renewable energy was "dismal".

The total capacity of the UK's onshore and offshore wind turbines now exceeds 5GW, enough to power all the homes in Scotland.

But Professor Ian Fells, an energy expert, said: "What worries me is the government seems to be obsessed with the option of wind farms and neglects other sources of renewable energy, which in may ways could be more important.

"The other problem is they are intermittent. You never know when the wind is going to blow."
'An eyesore'
Not all Kent residents have welcomed the wind farm's arrival.

One resident told BBC South East Today: "I don't like them. I look at the (turbines) and I think they're an eyesore quite honestly."

The opening came as research published by Oxford Economics suggests that as many as 34,000 direct permanent skilled jobs, and a further 24,000 permanent indirect jobs, could be created from operations and maintenance activities running wind farms.

These are additional to the temporary construction and manufacturing jobs and most would be generated in coastal communities around the UK.

Earlier this year, Vattenfall project manager Ole Nielsen said wind farms were getting bigger and bigger.

The London Array project in the Thames Estuary, for which energy firm E.ON is a major backer, will enter its offshore construction phase next year.

In all, up to 341 turbines will be installed over a four-year period.

Mr Nielsen said that in the future, offshore wind farms could have up to 1,000 turbines.

Human Development Report 2014: findings explained

Source: theguardian.com/uk

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/jul/24/human-development-report-2014-undp

What is it?

The Human Development Report (HDR) published by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is an annual report which measures of human development across the globe.

What are the key findings from 2014?

More than 2.2 billion people are either near or living in multidimensional poverty – that is exhibiting several factors that constitute deprivation such as poor health, lack of education, inadequate living standard, lack of income, disempowerment, poor quality of work and threat from violence.

Nearly 80% of the global population lack social protection, while 12% (842 million people) suffer from chronic hunger – and nearly half of all workers across the world are in informal or precarious employment.

The findings show youth unemployment is a growing problem for developing countries, particularly as more young people go to school. Khalid Malik, director of UNDP Human Development Report Office and lead author of the report, says: "When people are more educated, their relationship with citizenship changes, and they expect more from jobs. Our report shows gaps between people going into jobs and available jobs is going to widen substantially in Africa in the coming years."

Another finding was the effect of globalisation on economic vulnerability: "Globalisation has brought countries together and provided more opportunities, but it has also increased the risk of adverse events, like the recession, being transmitted more rapidly," says Malik.

What are the authors' recommendations?

Researchers from the report outline a principle to guide policy: universalism – the idea that everyone has the universal right to education and healthcare.

"We need a better balance between private and public interest. It is possible and cost-effective to push for universal access to basic social services in most developing countries," says Malik.

The closest to a silver bullet in human development is educating women, and particularly mothers, according to Malik. "Mothers influence the population of future countries, and this report shows that educating mothers helps eliminate poverty."

Because the world is more connected, collaborative action is also essential. Disease control, global recessions and climate change are all global obstacles, which can only be tackled with a global commitment between countries.

"We're all interconnected, we're no longer in a silo," says Malik.

Will the Human Development Report be of any use to you?

The background information the HDR provides can be used to inform development work and enable activists and policymakers to make useful comparisons. It detail is also of use to the development research community.

"We used the 2013 HDR to help frame and inform gender and equity analyses in international health. The HDR links to multiple reports at country, and state level and are helpful in informing and supporting the work of researchers, NGOs and stakeholders," says Sally Theobald, a reader in international health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

On its limitations Theobald says: "While the report contains largely quantifiable information, the detail of how a factor (eg gender) shapes human development in different contexts is sometimes lacking. But used alongside other resources the HDR provides a useful, holistic look at development."

According to Neil Squires, former head of Profession for Health at DFID, the theme for the 2014 report, 'Reducing vulnerabilities and Building Resilience', is one that will resonate and inform thinking on the post millennium development goals agenda.

"Making communities and countries more resilient to international shocks and climate change and protecting the most vulnerable will continue to be priorities post 2015 in poor, middle income and rich countries alike," says Squires.

Echoing Malik's words he adds: "We are all in this together."

Theme 2 - Brazil - The Miracle of the Cerrado

Intensive production of soybeans in Brazil - Picture from WWF

QUESTIONS

The miracle of the Cerrado

1.   “Huge resources” - What are the Brazilian main resources for farming mentioned in the text?

2.   How much land has been gained since 1996?

3.   What is the most important of the four changes in the agriculture developed in the Cerrado?

4.   What does Integration mean?

5.   According to the journalist, what are the positive aspects of this recent agricultural development?

3. FARMING IN THE CERRADO: ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

A. From www.guardian.co.uk 22 December 2011

Disappearing Cerrado: 'Brazil's great untold environmental disaster' - audio slideshow

B. Is Brazil's Cerrado the ''ugly duckling'' of conservation?

from http://www.earthtimes.org/   13 April 2011

30 years ago, Brazil's Cerrado, a savannah-like spread of land including vegetation, animal and insect life with many endemic species, covered over two million square kilometres.
Now, because of a generation of destroying the land to plant crops for European consumers, and eradication of wildlife and plant life at twice the rate of that in the Amazon Rainforest, conservationists fear it could disappear within two decades.

The plight of the Cerrado has long been seen as the poor relation of the Rainforest. While the latter receives international recognition leading to concerted campaigns, the Cerrado languishes with an uncertain future.

A renewed effort led by the Brazilian government and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is attempting to throw the media spotlight on what could be lost if continued farming and agriculture are allowed to continue to expand across the area unchecked. It includes a visit from the UK Government and an effort to make consumers see how their shopping habits could impact on the cerrado's ongoing destruction.
Covering land mass in Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, the Cerrado once stood at over two million square kilometres. It now stands at just under 450,000 measuring a loss of 20%. Its uniqueness comes from biodiversity. The Cerrado is home to over 10,000 species of plants, nearly half are endemic. Almost a thousand species of birds call it home, there are 780 species of freshwater fish, 113 of amphibians, 180 of reptiles and 300 mammal species. Over 14,000 species of insects have been catalogued.

Viewed by the Brazilian population as mere wasteland in the 60s, the Cerrado was used to build mechanized soy farms, cattle ranches and other crops to sell to the European markets. Much of the soy bean crop is used to feed pigs in Britain and France.
Between 2002 and 2008, almost 21,000 square kilometres of the land was lost annually. In the two decades between 1984 and 2004, the ecosystem in the Cerrado was declining at a rate of 1% a year.

In an attempt to halt the decline, the WWF launched a campaign to speak directly to supermarkets in the UK, encouraging them to buy soy beans from an approved scheme called the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS). RTRS is a global platform encouraging the responsible production of soy, limiting deforestation and the use of harsh chemicals which damage the environment. Only four UK supermarkets are signed up to the scheme.

A recent visit to the Cerrado by UK Environment Minister Caroline Spelman, shed light on the need for its plight to receive the same focus as that of the Amazon rainforest.
''The Cerrado is a huge area - as big as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK put together - it's too important to the whole world to leave its protection to chance.''
''We want to support Brazil's efforts to protect the Cerrado, and our countries are already working closely together to safeguard it through deforestation monitoring. But the rest of the world needs to get involved too, recognising that this is an immensely varied and vitally important ecosystem.''

In September, Brazil launched a £125 million plan to combat deforestation and protect wildlife in the Cerrado. Their new Cerrado Plan will see US$200 million of federal money invested over the next two years to protect the mixed woodland-savannah.

 C. "SAVE THE CERRADO"   
 http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/safeguarding_the_natural_world/forests/forest_conversion/cerrado.cfm?src=cerrado

Save the Cerrado from WWF-UK on Vimeo.

Theme 2 - Wets Raynham solar farm will power 11,000 homes

BBC.CO.UK

 

20 December 2013 Last updated at 12:29 GMT

Planning permission has been given for one of the biggest solar farms in the country.

The site, due to open next year on a disused RAF base at West Raynham, Norfolk, will produce enough power for more than 11,000 homes, developers claim.

 

Watch the video here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Theme 2 - Close up look at solar-powered home

BBC.CO.UK

 

31 January 2014 Last updated at 00:15 GMT

The number of roofs being used to generate solar power has recently reached more than 500,000 for the first time.

Keith Eggington lives in one of a cluster of houses all with solar panels generating electricity and solar heaters for their hot water in Rotherham.

He explained the benefits of having a solar-powered house to the BBC's John Maguire.

Watch the video here!