International
Climate Initiative (IKI)

Tourism, one of Thailand's key industries, uses vast amounts of energy. In recent years, a project supported by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) succeeded in establishing a pilot region as a model for sustainable tourism on the Thai island of Kho Khao and the Andaman coast. It focused on energy efficiency in hotels and the use of renewable energy. The project worked closely with local hotel owners and used individually tailored solutions to demonstrate the benefits of efficient energy technology. 

The hot topics of climate change and environmental protection don't cool down when it comes to holidays - the demand for sustainable tourism is growing rapidly. This will be also evident at this year's International Tourism Exchange (ITB), which is being held from 9 to 13 March 2011 in Berlin. One of the featured projects is supported by the IKI and promotes climate-friendly tourism on the Thai island of Ko Chang.

The Galapagos Islands are famous for their vast wealth of species. These islands are protected as a National Park and recognised by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve, and yet they are having to contend with major environmental pressures. 

Climate change is making its mark on weather worldwide: many regions are having to contend with increasingly frequent extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and tropical storms.

2 February is annual World Wetlands Day. The ecological importance of wetlands for climate protection is being increasingly recognised. So far, the Federal Environment Ministry has provided more than € 27 million from the International Climate Initiative (ICI) for wetland conservation projects.

Thailand ranks 31st in the world in terms of CO2 emissions. Measured against the country's per-capita income, this is a high ranking.

At the conference, representatives of German and Chinese governmental and research institutions discussed strategies for achieving a sustainable economy.

On December 21st, 2010, Chile's government announced the start of an international tender for state owned lands in the Atacama region in the north of the country. The two areas which are being made available for the development of wind energy projects have a size of 3.048 and 2.688 hectares respectively, and were identified within a joint project of Chile´s Energy Ministry and the German Technical Cooperation GTZ.

The Danish government will contribute around 5 million euros to the risk tranche of the Global Climate Partnership Fund established in 2009. Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen expressed his delight in Cancún to the Danish Climate and Energy Minister Lykke Friis about Denmark's willingness to support this pilot project on mobilising private capital for climate protection.

The African Carbon Asset Development Facility (ACAD) announced at the second African Bankers' Carbon Finance and Investment Forum on 4 November 2010 in Johannesburg that it would be supporting seven climate protection projects. The event was co-sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the European Commission and the World Bank.