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DAILY NATION – Unep conference: Nuclear energy not green, say NGOs

Unep conference: Nuclear energy not green, say Non Government Orgainisations

DAILY NATION (Kenya) By DAVE OPIYO , February 18 2009

A group of foreign non-governmental organisations on Wednesday caused a stir at the Unep headquarters when their representatives protested at the inclusion of nuclear power as “green energy”.

They urged delegates attending the ongoing Global Environment Ministers’ Conference in Gigiri, Nairobi, to keep nuclear power “out of the Clean Development Mechanism”. The NGOs said that this form of energy should not be allowed because it had severe health effects.

Kyoto Protocol

Clean Development Mechanism is under the Kyoto Protocol and allows industrialised countries with a greenhouse gas reduction commitment to invest in projects that reduce emissions in developing countries as an alternative to more expensive emission reductions in their own countries.

The demonstrators’ plea comes ahead of a meeting of world governments to decide whether this form of energy is eligible as clean. Mrs Kaisha Atakhanova, the chair of the Eco-Forum (Kazakhstan) said that her country had had Soviet nuclear activity for over 50 years.

“Grandchildren of women who were exposed to radiation have severe defects, worse than the generation that was directly exposed,” she said.

Her sentiments were echoed by Mrs Sabine Bock, the director of Women in Europe for a Common Future, who, quoting previous studies, said: “Even a four-fold expansion of nuclear power by 2050 would provide only marginal reductions in green house gas emissions.”

DAILY NATION – Unep conference: Nuclear energy not green, say NGOs

February 19, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics