Our glorious President, Jose Ramos-Horta has this week given a message to the UN on climate change. Clearly this is an important issue in a country whose capital city is just a couple of metres above sea level.
Two interesting comments stand out:
1) "As for bio-diversity, a number of communities say some native trees are already gone."
Mmm. I think you may find that even when climate change really gets under way over the next 20 years I doubt we will witness the phenomenon of trees simply vanishing into thin air. I wonder if there was any correlation between the mysterious disappearance of the valuable sandalwood (cendana) tree and 350 years of Portuguese occupation and natural resource extraction? Could Indonesia also have been complicit in the selective cutting of this species? One wonders if continuing corruption by civil servants could be responsible for the felling and export of this wood since independence?
No, much easier to blame it on climate change.
2) "We do not believe in a grow first, clean up later approach...In this, I am quite proud of my countrys foresight in mainstreaming environment into policy development and national planning, at such an early stage of our development"
Well in that case, your Excellency, why on earth are you proceeding with the dubious plan to install a heavy-oil power station in Hera and Manatuto? These plants use 100-year-old technology to burn residual fuel oil: the sludge left over after other more valuable fractions have been removed in the refining process. Also called 'No.6' oil, it is so viscous it needs to be heated before it can be pumped or burned, and releases a number of pollutants on combustion, principally sulpher dioxide.
Could the enthusiasm for these plants (which at $375m will cost 80% of the state infrastructure budget from 2008-2011), have anything to do with the rather peculiar tendering process which was won by the wonderfully named 'Chinese Nuclear Industry 22nd Construction Company'? And could the involvement of a Chinese company have anything to do with:
a) The construction by The People's Republic of China of the massive new Presidential Palace and Ministry for Foreign Affairs
b) The second-hand engines and generators, alreadyused by a Chinese plant for 20 years, and now basically worthless as their installation would breach environmental regulations in most countries.
Perhaps our glorious President is hoping that developed countries will pay Timor-Leste NOT to install the power plant, as a sort of enormous carbon offset scheme? In which case, he is being very canny indeed…
(All facts about the power plant culled from the excellent La'o Hamutuk Bulletin, Timor-Leste's most effective civil society organisation)
Any connection with the above and the 'white elephant' being installed in Afghanistan (and under the protection of British troops)?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/04/afghanistan.military
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