UNEP News Release

[David Mozer]

There is some irony in this press release.

The headquarters for the United Nations Environmental
Program (UNEP) / HABITAT is outside of Nairobi, Kenya.  The
sprawling office complex is about five miles from the
business center of Nairobi, in a rural area with very little
public transit.  While the UNEP presense contributes
substantially to the economy of the city, the UNEP felt that
they were not getting their due. They threatened to pull out
if roads and other conditions (i.e. telephone service,
security) weren't improved. However in their complaints
about access to their site the UNEP made no mention of
non-motorized facilities or transit. Of course the perferred
mean of travel for UNEP policy makers is gas sucking Sport
Utility Vehicles.  Eventually the Government of Kenya
succumbed: police patrols were increased, utilities upgraded
and the roads in all directions from the headquarters were
repaved.  None of the road work included lanes wide enough
for bicycles and cars to share the lane, there are no paved
shoulders and no improvements of any kind were provided for
pedestrians.  While local people walk and bicycle in the
area, the number walking or bicycling to UNEP is minuscule.

----- Original Message -----
From: Craig Townsend <townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au>
To: <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 5:31 PM
Subject: [sustran] UNEP News Release


UNEP News Release
For information only
Not an official record


Jointly issued by UNEP and Habitat


Habitat and UNEP welcome the weekend car ban in Italy

NAIROBI, 8 February 1999 - Klaus Toepfer, the Executive
Director of the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Acting
Executive Director
of UNCHS (Habitat), today welcomed the banning of private
cars in the city
centre of Rome and in over towns and cities across Italy.
In Rome, the
banning of private car use will last for 10 hours on Sundays
during which
time public transport, and entry into museums and
archaeological sites will
be free. Other cities are all set to make their own rules.
The ban is a
pilot project by the city authorities in Italy to reduce the
amount of air
pollution from cars.

According to research by the World Health Organisation (WHO)
the emissions
from car exhausts are responsible for more deaths than road
accidents. The
WHO study which looked at data from Austria, France and
Switzerland found
that exposure to pollution caused an estimated 21,000 deaths
a year in the
three countries. In addition, the researchers calculated
that car fumes
caused 300,000 extra cases of bronchitis in children and
15,000 extra
hospital admissions for heart disease made worse by
pollution.

Cars are needed," said Toepfer, "but the health of the
people in our cities
depends on balancing the demand for private vehicles with
other means of
public transport.  Also, innovative solutions are needed
that will reduce
the pollution from car emissions and minimise the congestion
caused by
cars, he said.

The rapid increase in the number of cars has only made the
problem worse.
In 1950, there were only 70 million vehicles in the world
and most of these
were in Europe and America. Today, there are over 500
million and in many
developing countries the annual growth rate is set to
continue. In the
1970s and 1980s Delhi's motor vehicle fleet grew at an
astounding average
of around 20 per cent. In China, the number of vehicles has
almost doubled
every five years.

According to UNEP's recently released Global Environment
Outlook 2000,
motor vehicles emit well over 900 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide
each year. These emissions account for more than 15 per cent
of global
fossil fuel carbon dioxide releases and represent a major
contribution to
global warming.

But the rapid expansion of private vehicles can be contained
through more
balanced transport policies and better land use planning.
For example,
since 1974 Curitiba in Brazil has managed to design an
integrated bus
system that has encouraged 25 per cent of its car commuters
back into
buses. With express and speedy buses operating mostly along
busways or
exclusive segregated tracks almost 75 per cent of the
commuters in Curitiba
now travel by public transport.

The car ban in Italy is the latest in a series of moves by
local
authorities all over the world to reduce vehicle pollution
and congestion.
Earlier in the new year, the city of Athens launched a metro
system which
city authorities were quoted as saying will cut choking
fumes in one of
Europe's most polluted capital cities by 30 per cent and
reduce traffic
volumes by 10 per cent. Similarly, in South East Asia,
Bangkok has a new
weapon in the war against congested streets and pollution.
Bangkok's
Skytrain began regular commercial service in December last
year.

"Well planned and integrated transport policies are the best
way to balance
the use of private vehicles with the need for public
transport," said
Toepfer. "In the case of Italy, the Ministry of Environment
must be
applauded for setting an important precedent. The Sunday car
ban gives the
city back to its citizens," he said.

For more information please contact: Tore J. Brevik, UNEP
Spokesman on tel:
+254-2-623292, fax: 623692, email:
tore.brevik at unep.org, Robert Bisset on +254-2-623084, email:
robert.bisset at unep.org, or Sharad Shankardass, Ag. Head,
Media and Press
Relations, Habitat, tel: 254-2-623153, fax: 624060, email:
habitat.press at unchs.org


UNEP News Release 2000/10

________________________________________________
Craig Townsend
Institute for Sustainability & Technology Policy
Murdoch University
South Street, Murdoch
Perth, Western Australia 6150

tel: (61 8) 9360 6293
fax: (61 8) 9360 6421
email: townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au