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February 2006, Volume 2, Number 2

Monitoring performance of legislators -- the African context

In late January, WRI held a meeting with partners from six African nations to discuss the development and implementation of a system to monitor the activity of Members of Parliament (MPs) in Africa. WRI and its partners hope that an independent monitoring system will result in increased accountability of MPs and strengthened representation of the environmental concerns of their constituents in national legislatures across the continent. Several U.S. organizations shared their experiences in monitoring the environmental performance of members of the United States Congress. WRI's partners have returned to their home countries to design monitoring systems appropriate to their respective countries. WRI is looking forward to their implementation, which should produce results by the fall of this year. (more here)

The African partners also attended a training and strategy session for regional activities of The Access Initiative (TAI), an effort to track and accelerate implementation of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration. WRI held a training on the new version of the TAI software, set to be launched in April, and participated in discussions among the African partners on strategies to work together in giving a greater voice to citizens in national decision-making in Africa. (more here)

Human side of making urban transport and planning work

In late January, EMBARQ - The WRI Center for Transport and the Environment hosted hundreds of transport experts from around the world for two days of discussion on successes and challenges in making urban transport sustainable. (agenda and select presentations here)

Waking the sustainable office talk

The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design, Second Edition has been released. As in the first edition, one of the case studies describes WRI's office space, named one of the "Top 10 Green Projects" of 2000 by the American Institute of Architects. The book's foreword by Paul Hawken of the Natural Capital Institute also notes the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report. (HOK case study here)

UNEP report cites WRI reef analysis

A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme cites WRI analysis on the value of coral reefs.In the Front Line: Shoreline Protection and other Ecosystem Services from Mangroves and Coral Reefs explains the the economic value and life-saving function of coral reefs and mangroves. The report highlights the role these natural features play in tourism, stemming coastal erosion and acting as nurseries for fish. The report recognises that corals and mangroves absorb up to 90 per cent of the energy of wind-generated waves. It also underlines that conserving them is a small price to pay when set against the costs of destroying them or substituting man-made structures. (more here)

The four technical volumes or "foundation" reports of the landmark Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) were released last month. These are the products of the four MA working groups and examine Current State and Trends; Scenarios; Policy Responses; and Multi-Scale Assessments. A Summary for Decisionmakers compiled from the four volumes was also released. The longer reports contain the detailed scientific assessment (including literature citations) on which the shorter MA synthesis reports are based. (more here)

Global ecosystem assessment reports launched
WRI partner receives EPA award

The United States Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that Interface Flooring Systems, a member of WRI's Green Power Market Development Group, is the recipient of the Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) "Energy Partner of the Year" award. It is given in recognition of the company's role in identifying an opportunity for the City of LaGrange, Georgia, Interface and other businesses to convert methane from a local landfill into renewable energy. (more here)


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