A Carbon Neutral HIV Response

Joe Thomas.

[Dr. Joe Thomas is the editor of AIDS ASIA and AIDS INDIA e FORUMs.
This is his personal opinion.]

A Carbon Neutral HIV Response must be on the agenda of the next
Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) of the UNAIDS. The 22nd Meeting of
the PCB meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on 23 - 25 April 2008,
should request UNAIDS to develop a time bound program to make the
agency a carbon neutral entity.

The cost of inaction over man's harmful effect on the environment
would be costly. According to the new OECD report, if current
environmental policies prevail, by 2030 ozone pollution alone is
likely to cause four times more premature deaths, per head of
population, than it did in 2000 (when there were 42,000 such deaths
around the world).

The Kyoto Protocol is an inter governmental agreement, to reduce
human made impact on the global environment, made under the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Kyoto
Protocol now covers more than 170 countries globally and more than
60% of countries in terms of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions
of carbon dioxide or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or
increase emissions of these gases.

Being Carbon Neutral is becoming desirable a core value, of nations,
institutions, communities and individuals. HIV response – a community
of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, researchers, advocates,
and a range of institutions- can any more be insulted from the
challenges of environmental degradation.

Many forward looking corporate houses and members of civil society
have already developed policies and programs to reduce their carbon
footprint and to become their actions carbon Neutral

Annual mammoth international conferences which brings a large number
people across continents together and extensive air travel by an
elite group of HIV response leaders are a source of large amount of
carbon dioxide being added to the environment. There is an urgent
need to look into ways in which, HIV response's harmful impact on the
environment is reduced.

Carbon Neutral HIV response, is important in many ways. Most
importantly it is a signal, that HIV response is maturing and being
connected to other cotemporary social challenges which threatens
human survival.

It appears that such a willingness to connect with other core global
challenges such as addressing poverty, human security, health for
all, need to strengthen the health care systems in developing
countries and environmental degradations is awfully lacking among
the key opinion makes and leaders of HIV response.

Some of the key challenges of a Carbon Neutral HIV response will be
reflected on individual, institutional, policy and program level.

A massive greening initiative (even a carbon trading initiative) to
mitigate the carbon impact of HIV response could easily be integrated
into any HIV response. A carbon mitigation project could contribute
to poverty reduction objectives and reducing economic insecurity of
people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

A call for a Carbon Neutral HIV response must be on the agenda of
the 22nd Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board of the UNAIDS
meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The PCB should request UNAIDS to
develop a time bound program to make the agency carbon neutral. Under
this initiative UNAIDS must be asked to do an auditing of its carbon
print urgently and ways in which such an impact could be mitigated.