Vietnam urged to ensure support for wind energy

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has instructed the Ministry of Industry and Trade to complete policies to support wind power projects in Vietnam and set up favourable conditions for investors in wind turbines.

At a meeting of the ministry in Ha Noi yesterday, Hai said the application of wind power in Viet Nam was in the early stage. He said the installed wind power capacity in Viet Nam was estimated to be 9 Megawatt (MW), 7.5MW of which had been connected to the national grid. The remainder were household wind turbines.

He said the wind potential in Viet Nam had not been fully tapped due to difficulties in geographical conditions, technology and high and fluctuating development costs.

The highest level of development costs was US$2.77 million per MW while the lowest was only $1.77 million per MW; the average investment to produce 1MW was US$2.2 million.

To date, there were 21 wind farm projects under way that could produce enough electricity to connect to the grid. Those wind farm projects were centred in the central provinces of Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Lam Dong. Hai said the licence granting procedure was still spontaneous and unplanned.

Hai requested that the new policy mechanisms had to clearly specify preferential treatment to help investors develop feasible wind farm projects. There should be policies to subsidise electricity, tax and land fees, notably the establishment of a renewable energies support fund.

A new mechanism should create a consistent legal framework for wind power in particular and renewable energy in general to act as a foundation for localities to refer to when faced with new wind farm project proposals.

Source: http://www.evwind.es/noticias.php?id_not=10543

Study says India most vulnerable to tiger skin, parts trade

NAGPUR: From 40,000 tigers hundred years ago, today India is down to just 1,411. No wonder. Latest study by Traffic International, the wildlife trade network in 11 of the 13 tiger range countries, reveals that India is most vulnerable when it comes to tiger skin and body parts trade.

The study 'Reduced to skin and bones', an analysis of tiger seizures from 11 tiger range countries in a decade (2000-2010), reveals that in addition to habitat loss and degradation, human encroachment, excessive poaching of key prey species and illegal trade in tiger parts were greatly contributing to the rapid decline of tigers in the wild.


"The study included all seizure information available from January 2000 to April 30, 2010. No data were recorded from Cambodia and Bhutan and hence these countries were omitted," said Samir Sinha, head, Traffic India. A total of 481 seizures were analysed, suggesting a minimum of 1,069 (annual average 104.2) and maximum of 1,220 (annual average 118.9) tigers killed for their parts and derivatives. The vast majority of these seizures took place in India (276), followed by China (40), Nepal (39), Indonesia (36) and Vietnam (28).


"Owing to the illicit nature of the trade, it must be assumed that the 1069-1220 tigers implicated in this analysis are fewer than the actual number of tigers killed and their parts trafficked around the world," the study says. Parts seized in tiger range countries were most commonly in the form of skins (480), bones and skeletons (1253.53 kg), dead individuals (197) and claws (1,313).

Source :- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Study-says-India-most-vulnerable-to-tiger-skin-parts-trade/articleshow/7331229.cms