In a move that has conservationists talking worldwide, a Chinese philanthropist has announced a US$1.5 billion (that’s over R20-billion) donation to environmental and wildlife conservation projects.
Madame He Qiaonv, a Beijing based landscaper, has said that the record-breaking donation would be spread over seven years, but as a start she is putting US$20-million (about R280-million) into Panthera, the leading international wild cat conservation group, for projects that include the highly endangered Asian snow leopard.
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She has also promised that given her landscaping expertise, she is going to establish 100 ‘beautiful’ parks in 100 Chinese cities. Madame He’s care and concern about wildlife and conservation issues in general grew from her work as a landscaper, but it’s also part of what is clearly a new way of thinking in China.
Observers have said that Madame He (whose donation apparently represents about a third of her total capital) represents a new movement of Chinese philanthropists under the leadership of President Xi Jinping.
The vast Chinese elephant ivory trade will be totally banned by the end of this year and a new reserve for the critically endangered Amur tiger and the Amur leopard, has been established on the Russian border in the far east, the first of up to 50 new wildlife reserves promised by 2020.*
The recent pronouncement by President Donald Trump that among other extraordinary moves he intends pulling the United States out of the 2015 Paris accord on climate change, created a sense of despair about the future of efforts to curb global climate change.
However, a report released in Britain indicates that there is still hope that by concentrating on the major perpetrators of serious carbon emissions, the main driving force behind climate change, the goals of the Paris agreement may still be achieved.
The Carbon Majors 2017 report says that just 100 fossil fuel producers account for over 70 percent of industrial greenhouse gas emissions between 1988 and 2015. They include companies in the United States, Russia, China, India and surprisingly, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The United States (under President Trump), Russia and China have increased coal production, in the case of China coal production has tripled since 2000, representing half of global output. The report appeals to governments and private business investors to increase pressure on the 100 producers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.**
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And finally, the world’s first floating wind farm is about to be set up in the North Sea about 24km off Aberdeenshire in Scotland. The five windmill turbines, built in Norway, will be ‘anchored’ to buoys filled with sea water and their total of 30 megawatts will be able to supply 20 000 homes with power. The project is partly experimental, but if it operates according to plan it will mean that floating wind farms can be widely established, boosting the use of renewable energy.*** All good news.
*Save the Elephants News Service. **Third World Resurgence, magazine of the Malaysia-based Third World Alliance. ***The Week: The Best of the British and Foreign Media.
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