INTEREST IN NUCLEAR POWER CONTINUES TO GROW, UN REPORTS

Global interest in introducing nuclear power is on the rise, with ground being broken for the largest number of reactors in decades last year, the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported.

According to the IAEA's Year in Review 2008, while no new reactors came online last year, construction started on 10 new sites, the largest number in any one year since 1985, bringing the total number being built to 44.

At the end of last year, 438 nuclear power reactors were supplying roughly 14 per cent of the world's electricity.

Expansion prospects continue to be centred in Asia, with over half of the reactors under construction in the region, especially in China.

"India's planned 15-fold expansion of its civilian nuclear power programme over the next two decades is expected to be facilitated by the removal by suppliers in 2008 of restrictions on the supply of nuclear technology that were previously imposed on it," the report, which will be discussed by member States at the IAEA's annual General Conference this September, said.

"While every country has the right to use nuclear power as an energy source, it also has the responsibility to ensure that this energy source is employed in a safe and secure manner," the agency said, adding that it received a large number of requests last year from States considering the nuclear energy option for assistance in analyzing energy options.
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NEW UN REPORT SAYS 50 MILLION WOMEN IN ASIA AT RISK OF HIV FROM THEIR PARTNERS

An estimated 50 million women in Asia, who are either married or in long-term relationships with men who engage in high-risk sexual behaviours, are at risk of becoming infected with HIV from their partners, according to a new report published by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

"HIV Transmission in Intimate Partner Relationships in Asia," produced by UNAIDS and its partners, was today in Bali at the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

According to the agency, the HIV epidemics in Asia vary between countries in the region, but are fuelled by unprotected paid sex, the sharing of contaminated injecting equipment by injecting drug users, and unprotected sex among men who have sex with men.

Men who buy sex constitute the largest infected population group – and most of them are either married or will get married. "This puts a significant number of women, often perceived as 'low-risk' because they only have sex with their husbands or long-term partners, at risk of HIV infection," it stated in a news release.

UNAIDS estimated that more than 90 per cent of the 1.7 million women living with HIV in Asia became infected from their husbands or partners while in long-term relationships. In Cambodia, India and Thailand, the largest number of new HIV infections occur among married women.

"HIV prevention programmes focused on the female partners of men with high-risk behaviours still have not found a place in national HIV plans and priorities in Asian countries" said Dr. Prasada Rao, Director, UNAIDS Regional Support Team Asia and the Pacific, speaking at the launch of the report.

The report pointed out that the strong patriarchal culture in Asian countries severely limits a woman's ability to negotiate sex in intimate partner relationships. While society tolerates extramarital sex and multiple partners for men, women are generally expected to refrain from sex until marriage and remain monogamous afterwards.

"Discrimination and violence against women and girls, endemic to our social fabric, are both the cause and consequence of AIDS," said Dr. Jean D'Cunha, South Asia Regional Director for the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). "Striking at the root of gender inequalities and striving to transform male behaviours are key to effectively addressing the pandemic."

The report makes a number of recommendations, including that HIV prevention interventions be scaled-up for men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and clients of female sex workers and should emphasize the importance of protecting their regular female partners.

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TOP UN ASIA-PACIFIC OFFICIAL PUSHES FOR POOLING OF FISCAL RESOURCES TO BEAT RECESSION

Large-scale government stimulus packages are closed off to many nations across Asia and the Pacific, the top United Nations official for the region told a gathering of senior finance and central bank representatives, promoting a cooperative approach to jump-starting economies out of the global recession.

"We need to recognize that not all countries have the fiscal space to implement counter-cyclical measures at significant scales due to budget constraints," Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said yesterday.

Shrinking resources and other fiscal issues have left several countries in the region with little room to manoeuvre in their efforts to reignite suffering economies, Ms. Heyzer said in a message to the regional high-level workshop on the role of monetary, fiscal and external debt policies in responding to the financial crisis.

In her address, Ms. Heyzer pointed to the international community's response to the crisis and noted that the Asia-Pacific region, with over $4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, can work together to spur recovery and restore economic growth.

Ms. Heyzer added that ESCAP can bring countries together to share experiences and coordinate their development activities for greater regional results, as exemplified by the high-level meeting in December 2008 in Bali, Indonesia, on the food and fuel hike, financial market meltdown and climate change crisis.

"The huge scale of government spending in the pipeline in many countries offers an unprecedented opportunity to design policies that will bring about more inclusive and sustainable development," she told participants at the four-day workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The ESCAP workshop looking into various economic policies used by governments in the region to deal with the global financial crisis, hosted by the Bangladesh Bank, has brought together top officials from the finance ministries and central banks of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Also attending are experts from international organizations, including those from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank and civil society organizations.
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ECONOMIC CRISIS ROLLING BACK ASIA’S DEVELOPMENT GAINS – UN OFFICIAL

The economic crisis is rolling back the significant progress made to date in Asia and the Pacific in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – according to a senior United Nations official.

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said her organization has responded to the crisis by encouraging policies that include social programmes such as health coverage, pensions, education and agricultural extension services, as well as investment in small and medium scale enterprises.

"The huge scale of government spending in the pipeline in many countries offers an unprecedented opportunity to design development policies that will bring about more inclusive and sustainable development," Ms. Heyzer said during the course of the substantive session of the UN Economic and Social Council, which is currently taking place in Geneva.

"Pro-poor policies aimed at strengthening social protection systems not only create the social foundations for more inclusive societies, they free up spending of consumers. In other words social protection systems also make good economic sense."

She added that financial stimulus packages and reforms could help create a more integrated and coordinated Asia and the Pacific that builds upon collective regional strengths and resources.

In addition, she highlighted the need for appropriate investments in infrastructure to create economic corridors that link less developed countries to economic centres in the region, thereby increasing intra-regional trade.

As a result, the recovery of larger economies like China, India and the Republic of Korea will have "greater reciprocal positive spin offs" for their smaller neighbours.

Ms. Heyzer noted that ESCAP has sought to provide its member States with the necessary strategic analysis, policy options and technical assistance.

"Our flagship publication, the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2009, provides a compelling analytical basis for the policy reforms that the region will need to collectively implement in response to the economic crisis," she said.

The report predicts that developing nations in the region will see their growth drop from 5.8 per cent last year to 3 per cent this year, with as many as 23 million people – particularly women in the manufacturing sector – potentially losing their jobs.

For its part, the Asian Development Bank estimates that the number of poor people in Asia and the Pacific could climb by 60 million in 2009 and approach 100 million by 2010, thwarting the region's achievement of the MDGs.
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UN-BACKED TRANS-ASIAN RAIL AGREEMENT GOES INTO EFFECT

A railroad agreement aimed at linking 28 countries in Asia and Europe went into effect today, the United Nations announced in Bangkok.

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network became operative 90 days after China became the eighth country to have ratified it. The other parties to the agreement – developed with UN assistance – are Cambodia, India, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Thailand.

The network comprises 114,000 kilometres of rail routes linking 28 countries in the region. The aim is to offer efficient rail transport services for the movement of goods and passengers within the region and between Asia and Europe, ESCAP said.

The network will also provide improved access for landlocked countries to major ports, ESCAP said.

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of ESCAP, told an inaugural ceremony in ESCAP's Bangkok headquarters, "Modern economies cannot generate long-term growth and employment without highly efficient transport networks that are developed with a high level of integration.

"The timing of this agreement is particularly significant as leaders from our region promote intra-regional trade to stimulate recovery from the economic crisis. It will provide a more cost effective way of doing business and ensure the benefits of trade are more evenly distributed across the region," Ms. Heyzer said.

"Countries worldwide are now realizing that rising demand for transport services can no longer be met by roads alone," said Ms. Heyzer. "The recent fluctuation in the oil price, growing concern over energy-dependency and the environmental impact of the transport industry are pushing policy-makers to promote more environmentally-friendly and sustainable rail transport solutions."
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UN-BACKED INITIATIVE WILL GET POWERFUL MALARIA DRUGS TO THE POOR

Anti-malaria drugs much more powerful than previous versions will be put within reach of millions more people in Africa and Asia due to an initiative launched today by the
United Nations-backed fund that fights major epidemics.

"There is no reason any child should die of malaria anymore," said Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is managing the new $225 million partnership to reduce the price of the drugs.

"We have insecticide-impregnated bed nets to protect families from mosquitoes and effective drugs to treat those who do fall ill. Now we only need to ensure that all who need these things get them," he added

The combination of bed nets and drugs that cure malaria quickly has reduced malaria deaths by between 50 per cent and 90 per cent in areas where both are widely available, according to the Fund.

Malaria is a potentially deadly disease that is transmitted through mosquito bites and kills more than 2,000 children every day. Children make up nearly 90 per cent of the nearly 1 million people who die from malaria every year, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia.

The new drugs, known as "artemisinin combination therapies" or ACTs, are currently 10 - 40 times more expensive when sold over the counter than the old drugs which have lost their effectiveness because the malaria parasite has developed resistance to them.

As a result of the high cost, many still buy these cheaper less effective drugs and currently, only one in every five patients treated for malaria has access to ACTs, the Fund said.

The new initiative, known as the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria, will reduce the price of effective malaria drugs so they can drive older, ineffective drugs out of the market.

The initiative was developed through Roll-Back Malaria – a broad partnership of public and private institutions that includes the Global Fund along with the World Bank, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Dutch Government, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Foundation.

The initial costs of $225-233 million for medicines in the first two years will be shared by the Government of the United Kingdom and UNITAID, an international mechanism to finance quality-assured medicines and diagnostics against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, created by France and supported by Norway and 26 other nations.

Several other organizations and Governments have indicated willingness to contribute additional funding to the initiative, the Fund said.

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BIOENERGY BOOSTS RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN POOR NATIONS, UN-BACKED STUDY FINDS

Bioenergy production reaps benefits for rural communities in poor countries, according to a new United Nations-backed report that examined projects in one dozen countries spanning the globe.

Although the bioenergy debate has centered on liquid fuels used for transport, over 80 per cent of bioenergy used involves other sources, mainly wood, that are used for household cooking and heating in the world's poorest areas, the study – published jointly by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) – said.

Concern over the impact of transporting the biofuels on the environment, water resources and food security has obscured bioenergy's many positive benefits for poor people in rural areas.

Among the benefits of bioenergy cited by the study are increased natural resource efficiency because energy can be created from waste that would otherwise be burned or left to rot and the creation of useful by-products such as cheap fertilizer.

In the 15 'start-up' bioenergy projects in 12 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia assessed by the report, "the local community benefited from improved energy access both for domestic and business use," said Oliver Dubois, a bioenergy expert in FAO's Natural Resources Department.

He said that "virtuous cycles" have developed where people have access to the energy needed for development without funds flowing out of communities or depleting local natural resources.
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OVERFISHING THREATENING STOCKS OF SEA CUMBERS, WARNS UN REPORT

Stocks of sea cucumbers, found on the ocean bed worldwide and a staple in diets across Asia, are increasingly in trouble from overfishing, according to a new United Nations report released today.

Sea cucumbers, known as bêche-de-mer in French, have long been a popular ingredient in Asian cuisine and are fast gaining recognition among European chefs, helping countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines export large quantities to China and other markets.

Asia and the Pacific are the top sea cucumber producing regions, generating some 20,000 to 40,000 tons per year. However, Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean and Newfoundland in Canada are also hotspots for the undersea animal.

"The fast pace of development of sea cucumber fisheries to supply growing international demand is placing most fisheries and many sea cucumber species at risk," said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study.

The Sea Cucumbers: a global review of fisheries and trade report warned that sea cumber stocks are under intense fishing pressure throughout the world, depleting most high value commercial species.

The FAO report underscored the need for the development of sea cumber management plans specific to local circumstances, including measures which establish catch quotas and minimum size limits, ban fishing during breeding seasons, and improve the monitoring of stocks.

Limiting overfishing is difficult, however, as effective management plans for sea cucumber fisheries are uncommon, noted the report, despite the substantial contribution they make to the export economies of many coastal regions.

The FAO report also identified other threats to sea cucumber populations, such as global warming, habitat destruction and illegal fishing.
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