The Net Times

Friday, August 26, 2016

World Water Council: 28th August - 2nd September 2016: Interview opportunity with Professor Benedito Braga, President of World Water Council

WORLD WATER COUNCIL

AT STOCKHOLM WORLD WATER WEEK 2016

INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY

Professor Benedito Braga

President of the World Water Council

Secretary of State for Sanitation and Water Resources of the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

Stockholm, Sweden: Sunday 28th August– Friday 2nd September 2016

Professor Benedito Braga, President of the World Water Council (WWC) will be available for one on one media interviews from the World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden from Sunday 28th August to Friday 2nd September 2016.

The World Water Council is a leading organization focusing on the political dimensions of water security, adaptation, and sustainability, working to position water at the top of the global political agenda. Its mission is to mobilize action at all levels by engaging people in debate and challenging conventional thinking.

Some of topics that Professor Braga will be able to discuss with media representatives include:

Climate Change and water security: Climate change is a daunting challenge that poses major risks to our economies, societies, and ecosystems. These risks include: damage to coastal infrastructure, shifting patterns of infectious diseases, and loss of food security. Responding to these risks and the impacts of climate variability requires measures to increase resilience and capacity to adapt to the impacts that occur, along with long term measures in the energy sector. The World Water Council advocates that the strong connection between climate change and water requires water to be included in the COP agenda, now missing.
Disaster Risk Reduction (Prevention, Preparedness and Policy): Water infrastructure and management play a central role in reducing the risks of natural disasters. Water storage and infrastructure are vital to combating the effects of drought as well as flooding. Despite of the examples coming from developed countries in this area, natural disasters continue to impact the less developed world. Every year 100 to 200 million people are victims of floods, droughts and other water-related disasters.

Growing cities, growing challenges: Cities are faced with critical drivers: population growth, changing consumption patterns and uncertain changes in climate variability. In concert these drivers could lead to reduced water security, increased flood vulnerability, and more degraded and stressed natural systems. However, as the pace of urbanization increases cities will continue to be at the forefront of economic growth, and will consequently draw ever-growing levels of investment in infrastructure and services. Now, and even more so in the future, cities will have to interact much more with the hydrological cycle to provide the water security essential for sustained economic prosperity.
Financing water infrastructure: Economic development, finance, and investment are issues that are of keen interest to political audiences at all levels, from government ministers to local mayors. In the face of current challenges we are simply not doing nor investing enough. The World Water Council is committed to scaling up solutions, increasing investment, and adapting to more rapidly changing circumstances.
Water and food security: President Braga believes that agriculture has to follow the path of sustainability and not the one of immediate profitability. WWC calls for government policies and investments by the public and private sectors to ensure that crops, livestock and fish are sustainably produced in ways also aimed at safeguarding water resources. Such actions are essential in order to reduce poverty, increase incomes and ensure food security for many people living in rural and urban areas. Food and water security are inextricably linked. WWC believes that by developing local approaches and making the right investments, world leaders can ensure that there will sufficient water volume, quality and access to meet food security in 2050 and beyond. The essence of the challenge is to adopt programs that involve investments in longer-term returns, such as the rehabilitation of infrastructure.

ABOUT PROFESSOR BENEDITO BRAGA

President - World Water Council

Secretary of State for Sanitation and Water Resources of the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

Prof. Benedito Braga is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Escola Politecnica of University of São Paulo, Brazil. He holds a Ph.D. in water resources from Stanford University and is an Honorary Diplomate of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. He is the author of more than 200 papers and 25 books and chapters of books published internationally. Braga was member of the Board of Directors of the Brazilian National Water Agency (2000 – 2009). President of the Intergovernmental Council of International Hydrologic Program of UNESCO (2004-2005). He chaired the International Steering Committee of the 6th World Water Forum held in Marseille, France. He was the President of the International Water Resources Association (1998- 2000). He is the President of World Water Council responsible for the organization of the World Water Forums since 2012 and Secretary of State for Sanitation and Water Resources of the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

Prof. Braga is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT WATER

Water is key to all aspects of development: food security, health, and poverty reduction, as well as sustaining economic growth in agriculture, industry, and energy generation. However, water is seen as a low political priority, receives inadequate funding, and is invariably absent from economic development plans.

Water is a vital resource for which there is no substitute. In the vast majority of countries it is a public good. It is also an economic resource that produces local and global benefits; a social resource that is key to our wellbeing; and a cultural resource that nurtures our spirit. Its availability varies in time and space, it has both productive and destructive impacts, and it is a resource that moves around our planet constantly with no regard for man-made borders.

Water is at the nexus of energy, food and health; and water is the key to help humans adapt to most of the impacts of climate change. This unique and irreplaceable resource must be shared between many uses and users, each of whom wants security today. At the same time it must be managed sustainably, within its finite limits, to ensure water security tomorrow and to increase resilience of communities to water related disasters. If we are to achieve security, sustainability, and resilience we have a shared responsibility to adapt approaches to water management to meet often changing social needs. Cross sector approaches are needed to address the opportunities and threats relating to water security and sustainability in the context of global change, rapid urbanization, and burgeoning consumer demand. Many complex processes are involved, and consistency and long-term commitment is needed in order to succeed.

Success requires fundamental changes in values, beliefs, perceptions, and political positions, not just among water management institutions, but most importantly at the highest political level.

Globally 884 million people (one in eight) live without safe drinking water and 2.6 billion (two in five) do not have adequate sanitation
70% of all freshwater withdrawals are for irrigation and yet 870 million people suffer from chronic hunger
By 2050 food demand will increase by 60% and energy by 100% if current trends continue
80% of the world's wastewater flows untreated into the environment

3.5 million people die prematurely each year from water-related diseases

US$2.5 trillion economic losses from disasters so far this century – 70% relate to floods and droughts

More than 250 internationally shared watercourses contribute to the economic, social, and environmental well-being of 70 percent of the world's population
In 2015 water was ranked as the highest risk impacting global society by the World Economic Forum
The costs of climate change were estimated to total nearly one percent of global GDP in 2010, or nearly $700 billion and this is expected to double by 2030
New urban development between 2010 and 2030 is expected to equal what was built in all of human history
More than 1.3 billion people lack access to affordable, reliable electricity. At the same time, energy subsidies cost a staggering $2 trillion, when factoring in externalities
Over 1 billion people already face water scarcity, and this may triple by 2025
The global middle class will expand from 2 billion people today to 5 billion in 2030, fundamentally altering consumption patterns

ABOUT THE WORLD WATER COUNCIL

The World Water Council is an international multi-stakeholder platform organization, the founder and co-organizer of the World Water Forum. The World Water Council's mission is to mobilize action on critical water issues at all levels, including the highest decision-making level, by engaging people in debate and challenging conventional thinking. The Council focuses on the political dimensions of water security, adaptation, and sustainability, and works to position water at the top of the global political agenda. Headquartered in Marseille, France, and created in 1996, the World Water Council brings together almost 350 member organizations from more than 50 different countries.

For more information visit: www.worldwatercouncil.org/ @wwatercouncil

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Thursday, August 25, 2016

New cocktail fights mosquitoes in a more efficient and sustainable way

Mosquitoes continue to build resistance to existing pesticides. Research has now shown that the chemical substances emitted by one of the mosquito's natural enemies – the backswimmer – makes the biological pesticide Bti more deadly. These so-called predator cues also impair the mosquito's immune system. Scientists at KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Belgium, argue that a cocktail of biological pesticides and synthetic predator cues very well be the future of mosquito control.

Mosquitoes transmit quite a few deadly diseases, including West Nile Virus. Around the world, therefore, the fight against these insects is high on the agenda. Existing strategies for mosquito control often involve the use of pesticides that harm the environment. These pesticides are increasingly less effective as well, as insects can become resistant to existing products relatively quickly.

Biopesticides are a possible alternative. The most commonly used biological pesticide is the Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) bacteria. Unfortunately, mosquitoes are already developing a resistance to this pesticide as well. This means we have to keep increasing the dose of Bti to kill mosquitoes, so that this biological substance, too, is beginning to harm the environment.

Under the supervision of Professor Robby Stoks, KU Leuven doctoral student Lin Op de Beeck set out to find a new strategy in the fight against mosquitoes. "We already knew that chemical substances emitted by the backswimmer – a natural enemy of mosquito larvae in the water – trigger a stress response in mosquitoes. This stress response, in turn, suppresses the mosquito's immune system," says Op de Beeck. "Scientists have recently found a way to produce a synthetic version of these chemical substances known as predator cues. We discovered that this synthetic version triggers a stress response in the mosquitoes and impairs their immune system, just like the natural predator cues."

This gave the researchers the idea to combine these synthetic predator cues with the biological pesticide Bti. "We developed a cocktail of predator cues and a low, non-lethal dose of Bti," Lin Op de Beeck continues. "The predator cues trigger extra stress, so that the Bti had a strong impact despite its lower dose. As a result, the mortality rates among mosquitoes were high."

As the predator cues of the backswimmer also have an impact on their targets' immune system, the cocktail weakens the mosquitoes and larvae that it fails to kill. "The surviving mosquitoes and mosquito larvae will probably have a shorter lifespan, so that the parasites they transmit don't have the time to complete their incubation period," says Op de Beeck. "As a result, the mosquitoes will transmit less diseases."

An additional advantage of this combined strategy is that synthetic predator cues of the backswimmer are not so difficult to produce, making the production of the Bti cocktail relatively easy and cheap.

"This new cocktail holds potential for a more efficient and more sustainable mosquito control. We need less Bti, so the impact on the environment is reduced and mosquitoes will be slower to build resistance," the researcher concludes.

This research was conducted in a lab environment. In a next stage, the cocktail will be tested in a more natural setting.

Media contact: Lin Op De Beeck, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation Unit, tel.: +32 16 37 38 53, email: lin.opdebeeck@kuleuven.be.

Images (attached)

Backswimmer (© E. van Herk): The predator cues emitted by the backswimmer (above) trigger a stress response in the mosquitoes, which impairs their immune system.

Mosquito Larvae (© Boris Godfroid, godfroidbrothers.be): The backswimmer is one the natural enemies of mosquito larvae. A synthetic version of the chemical substances emitted by the backswimmer is relatively easy to produce, yielding an ingredient for a cocktail that fights mosquitoes in an efficient and sustainable way.

The images may be used with appropriate credit only.

Click here to read the study in Ecological Applications. You can request a press-review copy from the author.

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FLOWmagazine | nanoFlowcell MEDIA SERVICE: “The Spectre of High Voltage. Down with the Volts!”

Dear media colleague,
Dear nanoFlowcell follower,

In our FLOWmagazine summer-edition we are touching a subject most car manufacturers want to hush up: The danger of highvoltage in electric vehicles.

In the field of electric mobility there was previously no alternative to high-voltage traction systems. However, the nanoFlowcell low-voltage drive system enables a high-performance powertrain to operate at low voltages and shows that electric vehicles can be powerful, cost-efficient, and safe at the same time.

Go to http://emagazine.nanoflowcell.com/en/ to read "The Spectre of High Voltage. Down with the Volts!" in full.

If you like to share forthcoming articles from the FLOWmagazine with colleagues or friends, simply ask them to sign-up here: http://mediacenter.nanoflowcell.com/newsletter/register/.

If you choose not to receive our FLOWmagazine updates anymore, please reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

We are looking forward to receiving your feedback and comments!

Kind regards,

Your nanoFlowcell press team

Article "The Spectre of High Voltage"

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Friday, August 19, 2016

ThomasLloyd and IFC sign definitive loan agreements for USD 161 million for the financing of biomass power plants in the Philippines.

London, August 19, 2016. ThomasLloyd CTI Asia Holdings Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ThomasLloyd SICAV-SIF-Cleantech Infrastructure Fund, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, with support from the Government of Canada and the Clean Technology Fund, Bronzeoak Philippines Inc and WBE (Hong Kong) International Green Energy Limited today signed definitive loan agreements for USD 161 million for the 70 MW biomass portfolio on Negros Island in the Philippines. The project portfolio includes San Carlos Biopower Inc, South Negros Biopower Inc and North Negros Biopower Inc.

Funded by ThomasLloyd as the principal financial sponsor, the power plants in the towns of Manapla, San Carlos and La Carlota will convert sugarcane waste to electricity using a low carbon-emitting process called circulating fluidized bed boiler technology. Before it was identified as feedstock for biomass power plants, sugarcane waste was burned in the fields, a practice that contributed to air pollution.

Referring to this, Tony Coveney, Managing Director and Head of Project Finance at ThomasLloyd Group, said: "ThomasLloyd is delighted that IFC has chosen to participate in these investments. With its use of local sugar cane waste, this project is an exciting development for all the stakeholders and especially for the local community".

Michael Sieg, Chairman and Group CEO of the ThomasLloyd Group, added: "We have consistently expanded our investment programme for the Philippines over a number of years. The mandate with IFC provides us with additional resources we need to realise and implement our plans for the construction of further power plants in the Philippines. This will bring further economic growth and better standards of living particularly in rural areas of the region and contribute significantly to the protection of the environment".

IFC Country Manager, Yuan Xu said: "Energy is central to the country's development, and the Philippines needs to further diversify and secure its energy sources. Converting agricultural waste to biomass power is a sustainable way of creating economic value while caring for the environment".

The Clean Technology Fund as well as the Government of Canada's contribution to the project through the IFC-Canada Climate Change Program have helped make this investment viable. To date, Canada has provided CA$271 million to the program, to enable climate change investments that are generating significant environmental and economic benefits in developing countries.

"We are pleased to support innovative projects abroad that help reduce global greenhouse gases. Through our partnership with the IFC, the Government of Canada will deliver funds that will enable the growth of renewable energy while supporting the creation of green jobs", said Catherine McKenna, Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

In addition to loans from Canada and the Clean Technology Fund, IFC is also mobilizing funding from the Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program, a new syndications platform that offers institutional investors the ability to passively participate in IFC's future senior loan portfolio.

The three power plants are expected to qualify for the biomass feed-in-tariff of the Philippine Energy Regulatory Commission. The feed-in-tariff is available to energy producers with up to 250 megawatts of biomass generating capacity.

About the ThomasLloyd Group
ThomasLloyd Group is a leading global investment and advisory firm, solely dedicated to the infrastructure sector in Asia. The Company is based in London and Zurich, as well as 14 other locations in 9 countries in North America, Europe and Asia. The services it provides encompass capital raising, M&A and corporate finance for private and stock-market-listed companies, project financing and management for project developments, and investment consulting, wealth management and funds for private and institutional investors. The ThomasLloyd Group has 200 employees and currently manages assets worth more than three
billion US dollars. For more information visit: www.thomas-lloyd.com

About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, we use our six decades of experience to create opportunity where it's needed most. In FY16, our long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly $19 billion, leveraging our capital, expertise and influence to help the private sector end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

About the IFC-Canada Climate Change Program
The IFC-Canada Climate Change Program promotes private sector financing for clean energy projects. It receives funding under Canada's fast-start financing to catalyze investments in renewable, low-carbon technologies. The Government of Canada will provide $ 2.65 billion between 2015 and 2020 to support developing countries' transition to low carbon economies and adapt to the impact of climate change. For more information, visit www.climatechange.gc.ca/finance.

About the Clean Technology Fund
The Clean Technology Fund, a financing instrument under the Climate Investment Funds, provides developing countries with incentives to scale up the demonstration, deployment, and transfer of technologies that have high potential for long-term greenhouse gas emissions savings. The Climate Investment Funds are unique financing instruments that support low-carbon and climate-resilient development. For more information, visit www-cif.climateinvestmentfunds.org.

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Attachments

PR_ThomasLloyd_190816_IFC_EN.pdf

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