Cities pinpoint environmental goals at summit

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Facing an expected 40 percent population growth across the Asia-Pacific region by 2025, delegates from Lahore, Pakistan, to Tijuana, Mexico, are meeting in Waikiki to discuss ways to preserve natural resources and protect the environment.

Severn Cullis-Suzuki, 23, who has been active in environmental issues since she was 9, introduced the recipients of the commitment awards at the Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit yesterday at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

During the first two sessions of the three-day meeting, representatives from around the world gathered to talk about their successes and to look ahead to future challenges.

Harris painted a bleak picture of the environment across the region: More than a quarter of the farmland is degraded; forests and wetlands have been cleared and drained; more than half the region faces water shortages; solid waste is mounting; and air-pollution problems are staggering.

"Skyrocketing respiratory disease, acid rain, global warming ... all attributable to our addiction to fossil fuels," Harris said. "We must break that addiction. Our world must shift to renewable energy, and our cities must lead the way."

Severn Cullis-Suzuki, a 23-year-old Yale graduate who has been involved in environmental issues since she was 9, highlighted one of the goals of the summit. "We are protecting our land for future generations," she said. "If we are aware and care about the health and future of young people, how can we deplete our resources irreversibly? How can we damage biodiversity? How can we saddle them with issues, with problems past generations created like climate change? Each new generation deserves the planet as it was handed down to their parents."

For mayors of less-developed cities, traveling to Honolulu for the summit is an opportunity to network with other leaders to develop strategies for protecting and improving their environment.

Mayor James Capelle, of Likiep Atoll, Marshall Islands, said, "It's a way to see the culture and what other mayors are doing."

Likiep Atoll was one of 25 municipalities recognized for keeping environmental commitments made over the past two years. Honolulu was another, commended for investing $410 million in wastewater system upgrades, securing money for the bus rapid transit system and planting 10,000 trees.

Harris used Honolulu as an example of how good environmental policy can also be good economic policy. The city has lessened its reliance on fossil fuels by running city vehicles on bio-diesel fuel made from recycled cooking oil, converting solid waste into energy and converting the traffic signal system to low-energy, light-emitting diodes. In addition to saving money, "These and other innovations will allow us to cut the government's energy demand by more than 50 percent in the next seven years," he said.

The summit gives Harris the chance to show off some of the city's facilities, such as the Honolulu Traffic Control Center, the Honouliuli Recycling Facility and the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill and H-Power plant. He told delegates he was eager to show them the new ecotourism facility at Hanauma Bay and invited them to the Asia-Pacific Urban Institute.

City Energy Coordinator Steve Holmes said the summit allows cities to share their success stories and their challenges. One of the key issues for Honolulu is wastewater, he said. "We're still sinking a lot of money and financial resources into wastewater systems," he said.

Holmes is working on a way to convert biogas from wastewater into energy. "It flares off and becomes an environmental pollutant, and (we can) turn that into a resource and actually power our treatment plant."

Recognition for smaller cities is a really big deal, Holmes said.

Mayor Jamie Fresnedi of Muntinlupa City, Philippines, was honored for improving the water quality at the lake in his city by taking more integrated approaches to environmental management and shoreline protection, planting trees and constructing new toilet and waste-collection facilities.

He said the summits were a good opportunity to share experiences with other governments. "We are very much thankful for the support of mayors and senior officials of different local government," he said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at 525-8070 or tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.