Environment

$250m needed for renewable goal
Illegal dumping the problem
Betela sand mine brings tears
SPREP launches new Clean Pacific campaign

The Cook Islands conversion to renewable energies is expected to cost up to $250 million to realise, the roundtable meeting of donor and development groups was told yesterday.

And while some of the less-costly projects in the outer islands have found their funding through various governments and groups, much of the bill is still needing support.

Tangi Tereapii, the director of the Office of the Prime Ministers renewable energy development division, said the Cook Islands was anticipating it would need $244.5 million for its full transition from near-complete reliance on fossil fuels for electricity to renewable sources.

Every island from the northern group, except Penrhyn, has found sources of funding for their conversions.

In the southern group only Mitiaro has secured funding for its conversion with Rarotonga seeing some funding for specific projects already announced.

Tereapii said the capital island was unsurprisingly the most expensive and challenging conversion, taking up about $208 million of the $244.5 million total for the Cook Islands.

The next expensive will be Aitutaki at $16.9 million.

Tereapii said the cost of energy was enormous for the people of the Cook Islands, often their largest expense. This is especially the case for the people of the outer islands, he added.

The rising costs of fossil fuels was making the need to convert to an alternative all the more pressing, Tereapii said, which is why the government set targets of becoming 50 per cent reliant on renewable energy by 2015 and 100 per cent reliant on the technologies by 2020.

But the Cook Islands government cannot achieve those goals on its own, he told the room of development and donor partners to the Cook Islands.

We cannot achieve our target without the support of our team and our donors, Tereapii said

We need the private sector, we need donor partners, we need the community to come aboard.

New Zealands Vicki Poole said the Cook Islands southern partner was happy with the funding it had provided to its renewable conversion.

But she also described the governments plans as very ambitious.

Its a huge amount of money particularly alongside the water and sanitation project the Cook Islands government is undertaking, Poole said, adding that New Zealand was looking for more support from other funding sources to join the Cook Islands renewable push.

Her hopes would have been buoyed by the next speakers comments.

The European Investment Banks regional head Jean-Philippe de Jong said the EIB was disappointed to not see the European Unions flag alongside those of other renewable energy backers.

He said it was looking at ways it can help the Cook Islands realise its renewable goals.

• Eric Parnis

Dora Evans on the edge of a pit where rubbish is collecting next door to her family property in Betela. 12012776

Computer parts, a fridge and television screens can be seen in the dump hole. Story and photos, pages 8 and 9. 12012781

The rubbish collecting at a Betela sand mine underlines a persistent problem plaguing contractors at Rarotonga, says Robert Wichman of G&S Contractors.

Wichman said that since the company excavated sand from a Betela property in Arorangi about five months ago, members of the public have been illegally dumping their rubbish at the site.

Wichman said G&S Contractors completed the dig at the request of the lands owners.

He said the company was working with a 12-month timeframe to return the land to its original state, using recycled material from the Avatiu harbour project as its main filling material.

Although some of the site has been partially refilled, some of it remains open and uncovered.

It now contains a mixture of green and inorganic dumped waste that includes old fridges, televisions and computer parts.

Wichman said unknown people had used the site to dump their waste, causing headaches for everyone else involved.

And he said it was a problem all too common for Rarotongas contractors.

Its not the first time weve seen this happen to our sites and to others. It wont be the last, he said.

We need to investigate how to stop it... Who gives them the right to go dumping their rubbish at the site?

Wichman said the job was made more difficult because people came at all hours of the night to dump at the sites, even those that appear to be well hidden.

You dont know when these people are coming, he said.

Wichman said the company was committed to returning the land to its original state.

Cook Islands News was given a tour of the site by neighbours Dora and Glynne Evans late last week.

The couple was devastated to see the neighbouring property, which belongs to a cousin of Dora, in the state it was in.

The couple contacted the National Environmental Service to lodge a complaint.

The service is currently investigating the issue and was not willing to publicly discuss the topic when CINews made contact last week.

Yesterday, operations manager Vavia Tangatataia said he was meeting with contractors and landowners at the site today to determine the future course of action the service may take.

Wichman said he would have been happy to discuss the issue with the Evans before they came to the media.

He said their land was not at threat of slipping into the neighbouring property and G&S Contractors was still working towards its 12-month timetable to refill the block.

• Eric Parnis

Five metres deep and filling with rubbish – without a permit or National Environment Service authorisation. 12012779

An Arorangi couple says plans to have their grandchildren and great-grandchildren build homes on their family property have been trashed by workers who mined sand and replaced it with a dumping ground for rubbish.

Great-grandparents Glynne and Dora Evans were left heartbroken after a visit to their Betela property two weeks ago, when they discovered that neighbouring land had been mined of all its sand. The five-metre deep hole left behind was being used as a dumping ground for rubbish.

Where there was land, a large, stinking pile of rubbish is now growing.

Included in the debris being dumped at the site are fridges, televisions, computer hardware and monitors, gas bottles, building material, green waste including a number of ripped-up tree stumps, and other general waste.

Glynne and Dora said they were shocked and dismayed to see that the sand had been mined from the property bordering their segment, which combined are called Titokotoko.

They had planned to start building homes for the grandchildren and great-grandchild at the property, but now fear their plans will be left in ruins.

The sand mine reaches about five metres deep and extends all the way to the Evanss fence line.

The excavation comes within centimetres of the hedge fence, so close, in fact, that it is dying and collapsing into the hole.

Glynne fears the rest of the property will follow.

The National Environmental Service (NES) and Cook Islands Police have been contacted on the issue.

NES operations manager Vavia Tangatataia confirmed the sand mine had not gone through the required approval process before work commenced.

He said officers had visited the site and investigations were continuing.

In wider terms, Tangatataia said sand mines needed NESs approval before any work could begin.

Applications given to NES for sand mines needed to cover the work and plans to return the land to a similar state that it was originally found.

NES had a number of requirements covering sand mines, including the distance between pits and neighbouring properties and what would be used as replacement fill.

One main problem were finding is that once the sand mining is done, people think they can put anything they want inside, Tangatataia said.

People have to use approved fill and not any other material, he said.

Glynne and Dora said they will be awaiting NESs decision on the matter with a heavy heart, not just for the future of their land but for that of the lagoon.

Glynne said he was concerned the lagoon and the areas water sources would be polluted from the waste being collected at the site.

Dora said she was upset to see the work of her parents being ruined.

It is very upsetting. Ive lost sleep over this and cried for my mothers and fathers hedge, she said.

And Ive cried for the marine life, Glynne finished.

• Eric Parnis

12012550

The Clean Pacific 2012 campaign will be launched in partnership with the World Wetlands Day celebrations in Apia, Samoa on February 2.

The relationship between proper waste disposal practices, management and pollution prevention and healthy wetlands is a critical one.

The Clean Pacific campaign will aim to promote a clean and healthy environment for Pacific peoples through improved waste management practices.

The World Wetlands Day theme for 2012 is Wetlands and Tourism. As tourism is a major income earner for the Pacific Islands, it is naturally set to grow over the coming years. While there are many examples of environmentally sustainable tourism, there are also a number of unsustainable examples of tourism, which generate waste and pollution and cause damage to our wetlands.

The Clean Pacific campaign is a regional waste management and pollution control campaign coordinated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in partnership with its member countries.

The campaign will galvanise action at all levels to improve the management of wastes and pollution through promotion of a range of activities, which contribute to a healthy environment, including wetlands.

SPREP will support relevant grass roots activities for waste reduction and management, pollution prevention, and hazardous chemical management during the campaign year.

There are major problems on the management and disposal of solid waste throughout the Pacific, so the programme is focusing on raising awareness and building capacity in this important area, said David Sheppard, SPREPs director general.

SPREP is pleased to embark on this campaign and we look forward to good work to come as we all unite on our Clean Pacific campaign.

In the Pacific region, isolated populations and remote locations are challenges beyond our control and often make sustainable waste management and pollution control difficult. At the same time they underscore the need to focus on local solutions that can be sustained regardless of external factors such as fuel prices and shipping costs.

Recognising these and other challenges, the Clean Pacific campaign focuses on ensuring that the right practices and policies are adopted by Pacific countries to support sustainable management of waste and prevention and control of pollution.

The campaign will also show that a clean Pacific relies on everyone from the most senior politician to the smallest family taking immediate and responsible action to solve the dual problems of waste and pollution.

• Release