Christmas is coming!!!

Things are becoming fairly slow these days. Although several projects are still on the go most of them (at least the ones in my ToR) are at the stage where I have to wait for other people to contribute. Still, there are small projects such as work on the SNAP web tool and taking meeting minutes for different meetings.

From the sounds of the office I think a number of staff have already gone on holiday which only adds to a feeling that slowness. Even outside the office as a few of my friends have left for holidays one this week and one next, there is little to do on the weekends. As for myself, I’ll probably head to either Hua Hin again (third time for me) or maybe try Ko Samet which is west of Bangkok. I won’t be leaving though until after Monday of next week after a very important meeting with Delger. He will be away for at least a month so we need to go over how I will manage things in his absence and what he would like me to have ready for him when he returns. I have a feeling that January will be slow. In large part it will be because the template for documenting the PPP practices in Nepal will hopefully be in their hands for them to work on over that time, and with Marcia leaving for Geneva there won’t be anyone around to give me small day to day task. Who knows though I could be wrong. There was mention of me managing the programme while Delger is away which is probably still the case. If that is what happens I will most certainly be busy although I’m not sure what managing it for at least a month will entail. Part of the reason why I’ve been working on SNAP for the past two weeks is to provide an internet presences so that people who are looking into starting a PPP have somewhere to go to. Who knows what will happen really. If things do turn out to be slow I’ll work on fine tuning my resume and perhaps start applying to various job postings.

I’ve taken some pictures of the lights that are now up all over town. Very nice to look at.

On a bit of the interesting side I have learnt that many programmes that deal with climate change are actually intended to reduce the impact of climate change when it happens. The Bali Declaration is worth reading and is based on a nearly 800 page report by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Of the IPCC report I spoke with the team leader for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development and he mentioned to me that the part of most interest to me is AR4 which is interesting. It is easily found on google for those who would like to read parts of it. Below is the Bali Declaration which in itself is worth a quick read.

Bali Declaration

The 2007 IPCC report, compiled by several hundred climate scientists, has unequivocally concluded that our climate is warming rapidly, and that we are now at least 90% certain that this is mostly due to human activities. The amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere now far exceeds the natural range of the past 650,000 years, and it is rising very quickly due to human activity. If this trend is not halted soon, many millions of people will be at risk from extreme events such as heat waves, drought, floods and storms, our coasts and cities will be threatened by rising sea levels, and many ecosystems, plants and animal species will be in serious danger of extinction.

The next round of focused negotiations for a new global climate treaty (within the 1992 UNFCCC process) needs to begin in December 2007 and be completed by 2009. The prime goal of this new regime must be to limit global warming to no more than 2 ºC above the pre-industrial temperature, a limit that has already been formally adopted by the European Union and a number of other countries.

Based on current scientific understanding, this requires that global greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by at least 50% below their 1990 levels by the year 2050. In the long run, greenhouse gas concentrations need to be stabilised at a level well below 450 ppm (parts per million; measured in CO2-equivalent concentration). In order to stay below 2 ºC, global emissions must peak and decline in the next 10 to 15 years, so there is no time to lose.
As scientists, we urge the negotiators to reach an agreement that takes these targets as a minimum requirement for a fair and effective global climate agreement.

For Christmas I will be heading to Koh Samet which supposedly has some of the best beaches in Thailand. Can’t wait.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Andrew