Boris Johnson demonstrated his neo-liberal credentials once again in his latest Daily Telegraph column by suggesting that the slogan for the G20 protestors (or “the G20 mob” as he prefers to call them) should be “What do we want? Free trade!” My response would be “Jobs, justice and climate” – the banner under which tomorrow’s G20 demonstration in London has been organised.

The dual challenge for the G20 Summit, the main thrust of which is a major fiscal stimulus and banking reform to counter the global recession, is to promote economic recovery without further damaging the environment and to limit the impact of the economic crisis on the developing world.

It is crucial that development assistance should be maintained, at a time when aid and Foreign Direct Investment have fallen and the populations of developing states increasingly rely on money transfers from migrants in the developed world.

Also, the developed world must keep to its commitments made at the 2007 Bali conference on climate change, in preparation for the negotiations over the post-Kyoto agreement in Copenhagen at the end of this year – that is, to trim our own lifestyles while allowing poorer countries to develop without strings and conditions, and assisting them with technology transfer and innovative finance.

As Nicholas Stern and his colleagues have recently pointed out (in An outline of the case for a ‘green’ stimulus), in the developed world the best way to boost employment during a recession while at the same time reducing carbon emissions is to invest in new green industries like renewable energy projects. We should put more money into energy efficiency rather than exporting our waste to the developing world.

Examples already exist. In the USA, Obama’s economic package proposes to put billions of dollars into green jobs. A third of China’s recovery programme is in creating green jobs. And Germany is directing 19 per cent of its recovery expenditure into new green industries.

London needs to show that we can do this as well. With just over 50 per cent of humanity now living in cities, which are responsible for 75 per cent of CO2 emissions, we could make a real difference. The commitment of our current Mayor to the ideology of neo-liberalism is of course a major obstacle here.

That said, the main show at the G20 will be Obama’s first meeting with the Chinese premier. At the end of the day, it’s the G2 who will determine what really happens to the world economy.

Londonwide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi, has slammed the Mayor’s decision to all but halve his Environment team at City Hall – thus undermining the Authority’s strategic role in combating climate change.   

Murad said:  "Today’s announcement shows the level of contempt with which the Mayor treats environmental issues.  He had his henchmen freeze recruitment last May, but now they’re making those cuts permanent – and deeper.  The Mayor has a legal duty to co-ordinate Londonwide measures to improve life for Londoners – that’s what he was elected to do, but he seems to think he can do it on the cheap by getting rid of his experts and farming out the difficult bits to consultants.

“He’s due to produce no fewer than five environment strategies this year, but with half the staff gone and the other half demoralised I have serious doubts that he’ll be able to fulfil that requirement.  Ken spent years getting the best people around him – City Hall was highly regarded by national government and internationally, but Boris is chasing his best people away.

“This is on top of the £12.9 million under-spend on LDA carbon reduction budgets that he’s decided to un-prioritise.”

Murad added: “Climate change is a huge ticking time-bomb – it’s the biggest problem facing the human race and London should be taking a lead in finding ways to deal with this, but Boris knows full well he’ll have moved on before the tsunami hits London and he is showing his true blue environmental colours – by leaving a bigger mess for someone else to clean up.”

Murad Qureshi, London’s Assembly Member argues that London has the venues and the capacity to support this key celebration in the world of cricket.

"While it is sad that it has been decided the games have to be moved this is a splendid opportunity for London to show that it is a great sports location, a great host and a centre for passionate cricket supporters.

"This would also play a significant part in relieving some of the economic pressures on London’s tourist industry, fill up hotel places, increase restaurant bookings and swell visits to other exciting destinations.

"This would be a substantial boost for London and a fabulous opportunity for our communities to welcome cricket enthusiasts and to celebrate the game."

Because of security concerns following the terror attack against the Sir Lankan cricket team in Lahore last month, one of the most lucrative sports franchises, the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Twenty20 cricket, is having to go abroad for this year’s competition. And the choice is a straight one between England or South Africa.

I am pretty certain that, for most of the viewing public in the Indian sub-continent, there can only be one place to host the event – and that is England, the home of cricket. Many of them will have grown up dreaming of playing or even just watching a game at Lords or the Oval. So, if this new form of league cricket taken from the street game has to go anywhere, it should be here in the United Kingdom.

In addition, we already have the facilities, organisational manpower and a passionate fan base that will generate a huge amount of interest here too.

With 59 matches scheduled between 10 April and 24 May, hosting the IPL would also greatly help the economy in London in the present downturn, by bringing in cricket fans to take up empty hotel rooms, increasing restaurant bookings and boosting visits to other tourist destinations. It would also enhance London’s status as a great sports location for future events. So hopefully a package can be offered to the IPL to make them feel happy to come over to England.

Last night l attended a showing of The Age of Stupid at the Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn. The film comes out at an important time – before the G20 Summit in London next month and the Copenhagen meeting of the post-Kyoto negotiations of the UN on climate change in December. It’s certainly worth seeing.

The Age of Stupid is very much in keeping with the times, with its lack of faith in markets and capitalism in its present form. It links its climate change analysis with political events in the Middle East. And it has some useful graphics of how London would look if it was flooded by the Thames (see below).

Because of its subject matter and its documentary format, there is an obvious comparison with An Inconvenient Truth. But The Age of Stupid is a much better film, as it gives far more emphasis to the role of people power rather than key individuals like Al Gore in changing the world.

We shouldn’t forget that for all his green talk, Gore failed to get the US to ratify the Kyoto agreement while getting the rest of the world to accept some tough medicine like tradable permits. So much for ecotoffs! This illustrates well that the campaign over climate change is not that dissimilar to the fight for universal suffrage or against apartheid. To be successful it requires a struggle organised at grassroots level.

Londonwide Assembly Member and London Assembly representative on the Heathrow Airport Consultative Committee (HACC) Murad Qureshi, has welcomed today’s announcement from the Competition Commission compelling BAA to sell off both Gatwick and Stansted airports to different purchasers, as well as either Edinburgh or Glasgow, thus breaking up an unhealthy private monopoly.

Murad said:  "Today’s announcement ending BAA’s monopoly on airports in and around London is long overdue.  BAA have been focussing their efforts on growing Heathrow for far too long – with disastrous consequences – but this will open up some healthy competition between airports and I believe we’ll see better service at London airports in the future as a result.

"BAA’s monopoly has till now effectively stifled any competition between the airports in the South East, and this has not been in the best interests of passengers or of Heathrow’s neighbours.

"Forcing BAA to sell off both Gatwick and Stansted airports will inevitably lead to passengers getting a better service at all our airports and to the people of west London getting a more responsive neighbour and I think this is good news for everyone.  Let’s hope whoever takes over Gatwick and Stansted give BAA a run for their money."

Painting by Lakshmi Shree, India

Asian countries have an important stake in this year’s climate change negotiations and, as a result, a critical part to play in the negotiations.

Climate change is hitting the Asian continent already and big global decisions will be made this year. An agreement to cut greenhouse gases emissions will hopefully exceed what the Kyoto agreement previously negotiated.

The negotiations over the rest of the year will culminate in the new Copenhagen Agreement in Denmark in December 2009 at the 15th conference of the parties (COP 15) on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The main focus, agreed just over a year ago at the 13th conference of the parties in Bali, Indonesia, consist of four building blocks, of which two – “Mitigation” and “Adaptation” – are considered major.

The former denotes actions by the major emitting countries to reduce their emissions and to prevent that future dangerous climate change. The latter seeks to ensure that countries vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change are duly assisted with technology and funding to cope. The other two building blocks include technology transfers for both mitigation and adaptation and innovative financing for mitigation and adaptation.

The most immediate concern for Asia is the issue of Adaptation and funding for it. Estimates of global adaptation funding range from tens to hundreds of billions of dollars a year. These funds will need to come from “new and additional” sources not from previously rolled out development assistance.

A number of proposals to raise such significant sums for adaptation already exist, including a proposal by Bangladesh and formally adopted by the least developed countries (LDC) group at the Poznan meeting to charge an “adaptation levy” on all international air passengers. Estimates put the total figure at more than $10 billion a year.

Even if the LDC proposal ultimately falls over, at least it gives the group a strong card to play against other countries. They will need to assure funding in the tens of billions of dollars for adaptation to be acceptable to the LDC group, as well as other vulnerable countries and Africa group.

Asian countries need to use their strong presence within the LDC Group to build bridges and establish a common negotiating position with these other groups of most vulnerable countries, and the African group.

The focus on adaptation, however, should not distract us from also paying attention to the other major building block, mitigation, and formulating a clear strategy on the issue.

At the moment the strategy of countries like Bangladesh, together with the LDC group, is to call for a target temperature rise of “well below two degrees centigrade”. While not avoiding some damage, this will enable the world to survive climate change. Such an ambitious global temperature target is still far from certain as it will require very strong mitigation actions to be undertaken first by the developed countries and then also by some of the major developing countries.

Published in China Daily, 17 March 2009

Mainland Asia has a common source of water – the Tibetan glacier

The London Assembly today expressed concern at Mayor Boris Johnson’s recent decision not to proceed with stage three of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ).

Assembly Members called on the Mayor to proceed with the plans in order to reduce air pollution and improve Londoners’ health, and help meet European air quality standards.

Proposing the motion, Darren Johnson AM, told the Assembly:

"Air pollution continues to be a really serious problem for London, causing 1,000 premature deaths every year.  We were very surprised that rather than announcing much-needed additional measures to tackle this problem, the Mayor made a reckless and irresponsible decision to backtrack on the plans. 
“Not only is he playing with the health of Londoners, but he is also undermining the government’s case to the EU that it is taking air quality seriously in a bid to avoid a £300m fine.  We must do everything possible to push forward with the LEZ."

Murad Qureshi AM, who seconded the motion, said:

"Air pollution causes almost five times the number of fatalities as road accidents, so it beggars belief that air quality is not given higher priority.  Poor air quality can significantly reduce the lung capacity of children, causes asthma and affects the quality of life of the elderly. Boris Johnson must take his public health responsibilities seriously and reinstate the third phase of the LEZ.”

The full text of the motion is as follows:

"This Assembly expresses its concern at the Mayor’s stated intention not to proceed with implementation of stage three of the Low Emission Zone in 2010. The Assembly calls on the Mayor to proceed with implementation of stage three in 2010 as originally planned, so as to improve London’s air quality and the health of Londoners, and help meet European air quality standards."

See London Assembly press release, 18 March 2009

Murad Qureshi AM, vice-chair of the London Assembly Environment Committee has called on Olympic officials to use bus lanes for their official vehicles during the Olympic games in 2012.

Speaking after the latest rumour suggested that the Olympic VIP road network will prevent Local authorities collecting Londoners’ rubbish, Murad called upon the ODA to be more open about their plans. He said: "The ODA should make it clear what restrictions exactly they intend to place on other traffic in the capital. We want the Games to be a success along the roads of London, but at the moment all we’re getting is a whole load of rumours as to what disruption these VIP routes are going to cause to the rest of us."

He added: "We simply don’t have the space in London that they had in Beijing, to allocate dedicated lanes for these privileged few – why not put them on the bus lanes and let the rest of London’s traffic get on as usual? For example, on the Marylebone Road, two lanes would be restricted for public buses and taxis and the IOC VIPS, which would leave only one lane for private traffic."

There are reports today that the government is planning to introduce rules to make it harder to sell playing fields to property developers. 

Deputy Chair of the London Assembly Environment Committee, Murad Qureshi AM, who led an investigation into the loss of the capital’s playing fields, comments:

"Almost three years ago the Assembly warned that London’s future generations could end up as couch potatoes if action was not taken to protect playing fields. 

"Our investigation called for an effective use of the planning framework to protect playing fields, so we are pleased the government has listened. 

"The Olympic Games are not far off, but they will not leave a legacy of sports participation for young people if playing fields disappear under a sea of concrete.  We have to take action now – before it’s too late."

See London Assembly press release, 11 March 2009