Chairman’s Address IDEA Annual General Meeting 21st Feb 2009

One of the great privileges of the chairman is the chairman’s address, with which I have complete discretion. This year I want to reflect on the NGOs in general and IDEA in particular. Why are we here, what is our purpose?

NGOs exist because there is a perception by ‘the man in the street’ that there are issues in society that are not being adequately addressed by governments or their agencies, due to either poor governance or, more usually, a combination of poor governance and adverse corporate influence. NGOs were initially formed as pressure groups, but increasingly they are undertaking independent work and research and increasingly are being funded by governments, the EU and the UN. This suggests that they are seen by officialdom to be performing a useful function within society. IDEA was formed 11 years ago because the perception was that there was a requirement to highlight the health effects of all forms of environmental degradation, with a view to try to prevent these effects, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality and thus reducing health system costs.

I do not wish to dwell on IDEAs role over the past 11 years, but suffice to say that most people would acknowledge that we have ‘punched beyond our weight’. Highlights of the past year will be contained in the secretary’s report which will be available at the AGM and on our website (www.ideaireland.org) in due course.

When we started IDEA I rather naively thought that it would merely be a question of highlighting the various threats and that the official agencies would then take up the running and put things to rights, when IDEA would become more or less redundant.
However that has not happened and at the risk of being classed as a pessimist I would like briefly to give a summary of some of the major problems facing humanity in the hope that it will encourage you all to join, if not IDEA than some other NGO.

Despite our best efforts and the efforts of millions of thinking people around the world, our environment continues to deteriorate.

I am indebted to my wife who on a recent trip abroad due to a family tragedy, came upon a book from which I am extracting these headlines [ "Investing in a Sustainable World Why Green is the New Colour of Money on Wall Street" by Dr. Mathew Kiernan, Pub AMACOM 2009. (He is ex Director of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development]. I didn’t think I would ever be quoting a banker for any remarks I would make, particularly in present circumstances, but he has set out the problems neatly and concisely and as far as I can tell, accurately - which exactly suits my purpose. Sustainability is the buzzword, and these are some of the main issues facing us all, in no particular order.

I have tried to keep figures to a minimum, but only figures can give a true idea of the scale of the problems.

1) CLIMATE CHANGE: Whether manmade or not it is happening, and I personally and IDEA believe that we are responsible for most of it. CO2 is known to be a ‘greenhouse gas’. The pre-industrial concentration in air was 280 ppm. Our activities are adding 17 billion tons/year and the current concentration is 380 ppm (up from 315 ppm in 1960 - 8ppm per year) The economic downtown is slowing the rate of increase in Ireland and it seems now that we might achieve our Kyoto target for 2012, which apart from doing our bit to help save the planet, will also save us millions of Euro.

2) WATER - Scarcity/Quality: Demand has increased x 6 even though population growth has only increased threefold since 1900. Water contamination affects 3.3 billion people. It requires 3000 gals to produce a single semiconductor and 39,000 gals to produce a single car.

3) AIR POLLUTION: Globally 200,000 - 570,000 die p.a. due to outdoor air pollution and 2.8 million from indoor air pollution. In the US the annual cost is 14 - 55 billion dollars.

4) WASTE: EU 1.3 billion tons p.a. (1200 lbs per person), with 45 million tons of ‘hazardous’ waste.
Methane from landfills represents 4% of EU GHG emissions.
14 billion tons p.a. is dumped in the oceans.

5) SOIL DEGREDATION AND LOSS: It affects 25% of all arable land and the rate is increasing . Productivity is declining in 16% of agricultural land. Degredation/desertification accounts for 30% world GHG releases

6) DEFORESTATION: 37 million acres being cut p.a. Carbon sink eradication and land use changes add to carbon emissions.

7) BIODIVERSITY LOSS: due to habitat destruction, land use changes and deforestation. World Conservation Union (WCU) - extinction rate is 50 times the natural rate. WWF - Global biodiversity is reduced by one third in the past 35 years. Two thirds of the world fisheries are "depleted, overexploited or fully explointed".

I have not even mentioned poverty, social inequality or human rights. Other issues with which IDEA has been engaged on are:

Chemical contamination of the biosphere [intended or accidental].
GM foods
EMR

ALL of the above are inter-related

ALL of the above have impacts on health.

ALL are dependent to a greater or lesser extent on population growth.

8) POPULATION GROWTH: - growing by 75 million per year - projected to increase from 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050. Gross world product has increased by 8 times since 1950. In China in next 15 years 300 million are expected to migrate to cities causing energy consumption to triple. Energy consumption in China is already 9 times greater per unit of GDP than that of Japan.

Population and income increase in China has meant that meat consumption has soared causing soy bean importation from Brazil to increase, causing Amazon deforestation to increase, causing climate change increase, causing agricultural production to decrease.

In China only 18 per 1000 own a car, up by 350% since 2000.

NONE of the above are sustainable, you cannot have infinite growth in a finite system.

So what can we do? I don’t subscribe to James Lovelock’s theory that it is too late to do anything. As individuals we should strive to be part of the solution ie. Reduce our own ecological footprint. ? carbon calculator www.change.ie

By joining a group we multiply our effect many times over be it in national or international organisations, the choice is endless, depending on your personal interest. To do nothing should not be an option. Life as we know it cannot continue but to have an orderly transition to what I believe will be a better life, we need to act now and with vigour. The EU Commissioner for the Environment has said that we should be on a war footing. Just this week I have information about the launch of ‘the Transatlantic Dialogue on CC & Security’ by the International Institute for Strategic Studies [IISS] - "to explore ways in which a warming climate will affect regional and global security". So the bankers are taking note and the military are taking note. Therefore I urge you to take positive action for your children and your grand children’s sake.

Dr Philip Michael
21 Feb 2009