Environmental Policy
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EcoHealth 2010 Environmental Policy
As a scientist and as a citizen, I have always had a major concern for environmental sustainability and protection of the earth´s ecosystem – both for human well-being and for our fellow species. In very different settings, we find the most diverse and amazing ecosystems. I work and have a home in London – an enormous, ancient urban settlement, home to 7 million humans and a huge diversity of urban ecosystems. I have been organising Ecohealth 2010 from Argentina, where I now live and work in an experimental reserve in the Yungas (mountain cloud forest) of Tucumán – one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world.
As Chair of Ecohealth 2010, and a member of the Board of the IAEH, I want to ensure we keep the negative environmental impacts of the IAEH Ecohealth 2010 conference to a minimum, and to support all positive environmental aspects of the conference. You will see our approach on site at the LSHTM in terms of food, drink, conference materials and links to local initiatives in London.
I am also concerned that we have an accurate record of our environmental impacts and will be encouraging all participants to evaluate the “carbon footprint” of their attendance as part of an environmental evaluation of the conference. This will help us in the IAEH to develop a long term strategic environmental vision for future events.
And as part of a new initiative of Ecohealth 2010, which we hope to extend to future conferences, we are also offering participants the chance to positively “offset” their environmental impacts, through voluntary support of an Ecohealth 2010 Climate and Biodiversity Consciousness Project in the Yungas.
Why care about Conferences and Environmental impacts?
International conferences imply international travel and significant consumption of environmental resources. There is now considerable evidence that travel to international conferences – both overland and by air - generates a significant environmental impact: specifically measured by what is known as a “carbon footprint”. Hotels, food and drink, and conference materials create an additional environmental impact.
To illustrate this with air travel alone, let’s take the possible carbon footprint of flying to the conference. Each participant taking a short-haul flight of 1.5 hours within Europe generates approximately 121 kg CO2 per passenger and travelling hour; each participant travelling on a long haul flight of 8 hours from outside Europe to Europe generates approximately 250 kg CO2 per passenger and travelling hour (https://www.atmosfair.de/en/home/). Based on these averages, a conference of 300 people with a third travelling from outside Europe, a third within Europe and a third locally, might generate up to and beyond 440,000 kg of CO2 from flights alone. This is without considering the carbon footprint of conference food, conference materials or the conference site itself.
Climate and Environment Consciousness at the Conference Site
Ecohealth 2010 will host scientists and students from all over the world, many of whom, will have taken short, medium or long haul flights to reach London, and many of whom will have used motor vehicles to get to their airports.
In the conference, we will be discussing the major ecological challenges facing us on the planet, including climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, and urbanisation. We will be discussing this in a global city with a massive carbon footprint. As scientists working on these issues we have a special responsibility to be as environmentally coherent as possible.
Ecohealth 2010 has a strong emphasis on environmental sustainability, both on site, and internationally. On site, LSHTM already has an environmental policy, and we will be the first conference held at LSHTM to develop this further. Internationally we want to create a bridge between our approach on site and our support to environmental projects in critical ecosystems.
During Ecohealth 2010, we will have the following approach:
Food and Drink: Daily food will be prepared with a mix of locally sourced, seasonal, organic and fair trade ingredients. The LSHTM has a wide range of Fair Trade products, including coffee, tea, juices, soft drinks and snacks. These will be served at the conference and will be available for sale from our canteen throughout. We will also give participants a map of local fair trade and organic outlets close to the conference site, and provide the opportunity for participants to visit local farmers markets.
Conference materials: we will avoid printing materials for the conference to the maximum extent possible. All participants are encouraged to do the same. We will provide pen-drives with conference materials and the programme. We would encourage participants to think carefully about how they wish to present and distribute their work to colleagues. Conference materials will be sourced through fair trade and recycled materials.
Evaluating the environmental impacts of the conference: We will be asking all participants to measure their carbon footprint as part of a conference evaluation that will include all aspects of environmental impacts of the meeting. This will help the IAEH to develop a strategic environmental vision for our conferences in the future. The conference encourages all participants to assess their carbon footprint, linked with a European Commission campaign to encourage carbon consciousness
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/campaign/index_en.htm
Links to local initiatives in London: We will be linking with many local initiatives in London, which are trying to reduce London’s environmental impacts and make her a sustainable city. These range from city-wide initiatives to local community groups and environmental NGOs. Participants will have a chance to meet local people working on these initiatives and visit local projects in London.
Links to an international project to give participants an opportunity to “offset” and support an Ecohealth2010 initiative: For participants who are interested in actively offsetting their environmental impacts of travel to the conference we have developed a collaborative initiative with the National University of Tucumán in Argentina. This is described below.
Ecohealth 2010 Offset: Supporting a Climate and Biodiversity Consciousness project in the Yungas (Cloud Forest) of Argentina
As international scientists in the IAEH, we work across disciplines to produce vital evidence on the state of the world´s ecosystems and links of ecosystem change to human well-being. Our conferences bring together some of the world´s top scientists and policymakers to discuss our major challenges and advances.
For Ecohealth 2010, we want to initiate a process where we link each of our conferences to support an on-the-ground initiative that is close to the mission of the IAEH, and located in a critical eco-zone. In this way we go some way to offset the environmental impacts of our conference, but as importantly we contribute to positive change on the ground in some of the world´s most critical ecosystems.
In 2010 we are starting this process by offering participants a chance to voluntarily offset their environmental impacts, by supporting a local education and tree-planting project in primary schools in the poor communities which live alongside the Yungas of Argentina.
Why the Yungas, why Tucumán and why Ecohealth 2010?
Specifically designed for participants of Ecohealth 2010, we have developed a Climate and Biodiversity Consciousness project in collaboration with the National University of Tucumán (UNT) in Northern Argentina. We chose this project as the Yungas are one of the most bio-diverse and important ecosystems in the world and children are perhaps the most important group of citizens to involve in the protection of the ecosystem.
The Yungas represent only 5% of the size of the Amazon but contain the same numbers of species and diversity as the huge Amazon region. The Latin American Yungas contain 50% of the world´s neotropical biodiversity in huge density, but the forest ecosystem is under major threat from deforestation, resource exploitation and climate change.
Tucumán is one of the poorest provinces of Argentina, but environmentally it is also home to one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems: the Yungas (or cloud forest) that span Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru. The UNT hosts a major research institute on biodiversity and ecohealth in the Yungas, and has a unique role as administrator and protector of a 14000 hectare reserve of the Yungas: the UNT Reserva Horco Mole, Parque Biológico Sierras de San Javier.
In addition, the UNT has a major social development and outreach programme, PUEDES, working with schools and communities in the poorest communities of the province.
Slowing the pattern of destruction of the Yungas is of major importance and it depends on local action as well as major changes at national and international level. Children in the poorest schools of Tucumán often have no access to trees or gardens in their school settings, and no discussions about the importance of the Yungas all around them. The schools themselves have few resources for basic things like books and have no money for trees, or teachers to talk with the children about the trees and ecosystem of the Yungas. They have little or no education about climate change or biodiversity.
These children will grow up to be the destroyers or the guardians of the Yungas, and helping them understand the value of their Yungas is a key to changing the pattern of destruction.
What we will do with your help
To support offsetting of the conference, we will run a tree planting and educational project for children in the poorest schools of Tucumán, working with the UNT forest guards of the Parque Biológico, the UNT outreach programme and with the tree nurseries of the Province and the UNT.
The Parque Biológico Sierras de San Javier is protected by highly trained park guards and a site for major studies of biodiversity. It also hosts a Sanctuary and Reserve for birds and animals rescued from illegal hunters in the Yungas. The Outreach programme of the University, PUEDES, works with primary and secondary schools in the province, in a range of projects to help children improve their lives and homes, and to increase their access to the university. Both the Parque Biológico Sierras de San Javier and PUEDES are run by the Secretariat for Outreach of the UNT, and we are building on their collaboration in the past for this Ecohealth 2010 initiative. The Minister for Education and Minister of Natural Resources of the Province have given their support to the project and will jointly open the project to time with the opening of the conference.
The approach
We have selected 30 primary schools, in the poorest communities bordering the Yungas, on the basis of need and of teachers who are interested in the idea and want their schools to participate.
The Forest Nursery of Parque Biológico Sierras San Javier will provide free autoctonous Yungas tree specimens for the schools (one or 2 per school depending on space). The UNT will provide vehicles, and staff time. Students of the UNT Faculties of Biology, Zoology and Agriculture will act as volunteers. The park guards, student volunteers will work with the communication team of PUEDES to design and run workshops in the schools and provide teachers and the children with educational teaching materials, including a brochure on the Yungas and a CD with a short film on the Yungas.
The PUEDES-Parque team will visit each school 4 times: there will be two initial interactive workshops with the children, a workshop and tree-planting ceremony in the third visit, and a follow-up visit to support the children in the care of their tree. We will put an Ecohealth2010 plaque in each school to show the support of the IAEH and Ecohealth 2010. We will report an update on the trees and the project at Ecohealth 2012.
How you can help
The UNT will provide all the infrastructure, staff time, materials and trees for this project. Ecohealth participants can help the project by supporting the costs of producing the educational materials, the video, and transport costs for the 4 visits and to carry the tree.
You can help with any size of donation. You can either link this to your carbon footprint, or simply donate what you feel you can to help this project. If you are able, you could sponsor a whole school. Or share sponsorship between a group of participants. If you are a student, you could join with friends to sponsor a school. If you do decide to sponsor a school we will give you a personalised update from the school and the children with a map to locate the school you are sponsoring. You can decide to donate to this as part of your “offsetting” when you register for the conference or at the conference itself. To give you an idea of the kind of donation you could consider:
Sponsor a school £200
Part sponsor a school £20
Prof Carolyn Stephens, Conference Chair
Reader in International Environmental Health, LSHTM
Professor of International Environmental and Indigenous Health, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina
