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| Meet the Editor |
| Swati,is an Organic Chemist and a Science Policy advisor by profession, trained in University of Mumbai & Georgia Tech respectively.
Currently she is associated with CSIR Lab Jammu, India. She has been contributing at the United Nations in it's Science & Technology, Youth and Young Professionals thematic issues for last decade. |
| Future Young Leaders we have highlighted are: Joan Baker and Rudy Gaskin; U.S. Andrew Muir, South Africa Joseph Miller Molina, Honduras; Melaine Giard, Paris
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| Articles Titles: *Vocie Over for Success *Biodiversity as a Resource for Adapting to Climate Change *Solutions for Water *The Bay Islands Investment Opportunity |
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| Dear Friends: MOSAICQUE EZINE Team wishes you all a Very Happy & Prosperous New Year.
In the January quaterly ezine, we are highlighting the following Future World Leaders: *Joan Baker, & Rudy Gaskins, Senior Vice President, Push Creative Advertising, United States, *Andrew Muir, Executive Director, Wilderness Foundation, South Africa, *Joseph R. Miller Molina, Bay Islands Trust Fund; Honduras and *Melaine Giard, Communications Officer, World Water Council, Paris. These dynamic young leaders have written articles on Voice Over Technology; Biodiversity as a means to adapt to climate change in South Africa; Bay Island Investment opportunity in the range of $50,000,00 to $200,000,000 to transform Honduras; and about the upcoming World Water Forum in Marseilles, France in March 2012. We also take this opportunity to introduce you to our Board of Directors. Please feel free to contact us if you need any contact details of the leaders or the articles authored by them. Please visit our blog Warm Regards, MOSAICQUE Team |
| Meet our Board of Directors MOSAICQUE has a very dynamic Board of Directors representing different regions of the world. They are Dr. Rakesh Kumar, India; Director, Scientist & Head of National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CSIR Zonal Center, Mumbai. Ph.D. MTech, IIT Bombay, Environment Science & Engineering. Dr. Oswaldo Lucon, Brasil; PhD (Energy), MSc (Clean Tech), Civ Eng, B. Law, is an author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Working for the Sao Paulo Environment Agency (Brazil), lectured in the Universities of São Paulo and of Texas at Austin.  Kyle Gracey, United States; see's the bigger picture and hidden connections. is interim Communications Manager, Global Footprint Network, Director - Board of Directors for Truman Scholars Association; Vice President and Secretary for Student Pugwash USA; Chair & Director - Board of Directors for SustainUS; Energy, Climate & Rio+20 Fellow for Worldwatch Institute; Dr.Olefemi Morakinyo, Nigeria; PhD Physiology, Lecturer at University of Lagos. James Law, Hongkong; is the pioneer of Cybertecture, an architect and an innovator as the Founder & Chief Cybertect - James Law Cybertecture International and a Young Global Leader - World Economic Forum".
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| Secrets of Voice Over for Success Joan Baker & Rudy Gaskins Senior Vice President & Founder, Push Creative Advertising New York, United States Joan Baker, and her husband Rudy Gaskins, took an ambitious mission to transform entertainment industry with Voice Over technology and started Push Creative Advertising, an innovative marketing and promotion company that includes training the voice in 2001. We're both grateful to be in business together. What's great about our careers is that it is part and parcel of the life we want to live. We are involved in everything from nuts to bolts and love to create for ourselves a powerful "present". And that is in voiceover acting and voice coaching, operating our own business in the entertainment industry and being in a position to create anything we dare to dream. What makes it possible to do all this is being open to opportunities for giving, sharing and receiving the positive feedback. The second is a cultivate a totally new awareness of our personal power and the impact we can have by simply committing ourselves to a mission that's bigger than ourselves - one that requires the energy and spirit of a community. To gain this awareness for your solve we recommend conferences such as Rio+20 to catapult you into another realm of living your life. Joan Baker is a Voice Actor, Voice coach, author of Secrets of Voiceover Success and spokesperson for Neumann Microphones. |
| Biodiversity as a Resource for Adapting to Climate Change Andrew Muir Executive Director, Wilderness Foundation South Africa South Africa has a wealth of natural resources that are key to our development as a nation. Our natural resources include our minerals, our soil, our water and our biodiversity - for example, fish stocks, medicinal plants and game. Natural resources are a form of capital, like infrastructure, land, labour or finance - we can call them "natural capital". As a nation, we need to invest in maintaining, restoring and building our natural capital, so that it can help support socio-economic development for all our people. Investing in looking after our biodiversity is a way of ensuring that it works for us, to fulfil our goals of: - Creating work and sustainable livelihoods
- Achieving rural development, food security and land reform
- Delivering water for the nation's needs
- Providing protection against climate change
South Africa is one of the most bio diverse countries in the world: with a land area of 1,2 million km2 - representing just 1.24% of the Earth's surface - South Africa contains almost 10% of the world's known bird, fish and plant species, and over 6% of mammal and reptile species. Under a "business as usual" scenario, global temperatures are predicted to increase by 4-6.4°C by 2099, and sea level to rise by 0.59m (IPCC, 2007). Impacts on Southern Africa are likely to be significant. Over the next 50 years scientists predict that the interior of our country will become warmer, and the western part of the country will become drier, with more intense and frequent fires. Rainfall patterns are expected to become less regular countrywide - with more sudden downpours and more flooding. Increased storm surges at sea may cause coastal erosion. Mitigation measures are interventions to reduce the sources of or enhance sinks for greenhouse gases. The South African government has committed itself to reducing our emissions by significantly more than the minimum required of developing countries by the Kyoto Protocol. Adaptation measures involve adjustments to human and natural systems in response to anticipated change. Creating landscape-level corridors of biodiversity helps a region become more resilient to climate change, e.g. by retaining water in catchments and creating corridors for species to move through. Although scientists' predictions vary, sea level could rise by up to a metre by the end of this century, with serious implications for low-lying areas along the coast of Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London. Risk assessment studies are currently underway to see which parts of coastal cities may become inundated with seawater. A study for Cape Town also predicts an 85 percent chance of extreme winds causing a 4.5 metre rise in the level of storm surges in the next five years, which could cause about R20 billion of damage to infrastructure. Storm surges along the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast in 2007 damaged roads and made a dent in tourism earnings. The Integrated Coastal Management Act will play an important role in establishing and managing set-back lines for future coastal development. Maintaining natural habitat along the coastline can protect human settlements against storm surges and coastal flooding. In South Africa, however, many of the natural buffers provided by functioning ecosystems have already been removed or damaged. This has occurred through land reclamation, removal of coastal dunes, removal of mangroves on the east coast, stabilisation of sand that historically replenished beaches, development of estuaries and mining of sand - all of which have made the coast more vulnerable to damage from increasingly variable and rising seas In some cases, engineering approaches to adaptation may be appropriate, such as sea walls, groynes, dolosse and gabions. More cost-effective, however, and less vulnerable to damage themselves, are "natural solutions" that maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functioning along the coast. Examples of this approach could be maintaining sand dunes along the coast that allow beaches to shift and reform, protecting coastal mangrove swamps that buffer storms, rehabilitating estuaries and wetlands to maintain the balance between seawater and freshwater resources, and conserving kelp beds that buffer tidal swells offshore. Sometimes a combination of natural and engineered methods may be best, for example, the Milnerton golf course in Cape Town might be saved by creating vegetation buffers along the coastal dunes.  The Overberg and Garden Route in the Southern Cape have seen a number of large flood events in the past few years, some due to inappropriate development of coastal resorts and holiday homes in low-lying coastal areas allowed by municipalities. In other cases of flooding, informal settlements were inappropriately located in river floodplains because residents had no other options. Maintaining indigenous vegetation along rivers can prevent the banks from being eroded when rivers swell during heavy rainfall. Erosion is bad because it means valuable soil resources are lost to agriculture, and also because it puts a large amount of sediment into rivers, which pollutes drinking water supplies further downstream and silts up river mouths where fish breed. Conservation agencies recommend that farmers keep a band of 20-30 metres of indigenous vegetation on either side of the river to enable this ecosystem service to be maintained. Keeping wetland ecosystems in a healthy state is also critical to preventing floods. About 115 000 wetlands covering 4.21 million hectares, or 3.5 % of our country's surface area, have been mapped in South Africa. These wetlands are part of our natural infrastructure for gathering, managing and delivering water - improving water quality, controlling erosion, sustaining river flows and reducing the impact of floods. Wetlands act like giant sponges, absorbing large amounts of water during wet periods and floods, and releasing water slowly during drier periods. The destruction of more than 50% of our original wetlands has left us vulnerable to floods in many areas, a situation made worse by climate change. The Working for Wetlands programmes is investing in protecting and restoring wetlands as a critical part of adaptation to climate change, as well as creating work opportunities for unemployed people in rural areas. Profile:Andrew Muir Executive Director of the Wilderness Foundation Described as an environmental activist, conservationist, and community leader, Andrew Muir has dedicated his life to conservation and social development. Andrew was mentored by conservation icon Dr Ian Player for 13 years, and took over his legacy in the management of the various organisations that Player had founded, including the world famous Wilderness Leadership School and Wilderness Foundation. As director of the Wilderness Foundation, Andrew is involved in a number of projects dedicated to social and environmental sustainability including the South African-based Umzi Wethu programme which he founded in 2006. The programme targets vulnerable youth that show resilience and ambition, but despair of opportunities to support their households, and gives them the skills and training to become highly employable young adults. The programme saw Andrew honoured as an International Rolex Awards Laureate in 2008 as well as the South African Conservationist of the Year in 2007. He was also the winner of the 2011 Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Awards Programme in the Social entrepreneur category. The award was won based on the large number of sustainable programmes that the Wilderness Foundation runs dedicated to social and environmental sustainability. Andrew has a Masters Degree in Environment and Development from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg and serves on a number of non-profit and conservation boards. |
| The Bay Islands: An Outstanding Opportunity for Investment in Honduras Joseph R. Miller Molina Bay Island Trust Fund General Partner Honduras Moving up the Development Curve: The Bay Islands of Honduras are undergoing a transformation. As a result of a number of emerging macro and regional economic trends, the region is evolving from an economy based on fishing and agriculture into one based primarily on tourism. This transformation is evident in the significant tourism growth the region has been experiencing over the past 5 years, growing. Comparitive Analysis of Tourist Destinations Across Market Maturity: Growing faster than it's counter parts: The Bay Islands have been capturing a disproportionate share of global tourism growth over the past 5 years. While global tourism has grown considerably between 2004 and 2008 at a growth rate of 20%, with Central American tourism growing more than twice as fast at 50% over the same period, tourism to the Bay Islands grew 60% over the same period. Source: Central American Tourism Integration System (SITCA), Honduras Institute of Tourism The number of tourists brought by cruise ships in Bay Islands grew to 430,000 in 2008 from 205,000 in 2006, an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46%.
 Number of tourists that visited the islands as part of a Cruise and Marina Port With its natural beauty and access to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the world's second longest coral barrier reef, Roatán, the largest of the Bay Islands, has become a popular destination for most of the major cruise ship companies. 1) Norwegian Cruise Line, 2) Holland American Cruise Line, 3) Royal Caribbean The number of hotel rooms currently available on Roatán is equivalent to the number of rooms available in Cancún approximately 30 years ago. FIDE, the Foundation for Investment and Development Exports, projects that Honduras will experience a deficit of 20,000 hotel rooms in the 10 years, much of which will spring from the Bay Islands. To support this growth, Bay Islands Trust (BIT) Capital is going to launch a US$ 200MM Bay Islands Growth Fund, organized in association with the Bay Islands Trust Company − the fastest growing local financial institution in the Bay Islands, to take advantage of favorable market dynamics in the Bay Islands of Honduras. There are ample opportunities for investment across multiple sectors including hotels, ports, transportation, healthcare, electricity, entertainment, and advertising. The GP, Joseph Miller, is a native to the Bay Islands with over 20 years of experience investing in the region. The Miller family has been active in the development of the Islands for generations, creating strong business relationships along the way. This network should give the fund preferential and early access to investment opportunities as well as an advantage in securing attractive terms. The Fund will follow a disciplined investment strategy, choosing investments supported by underlying regional economic trends to which the GP has preferential access, combined with a reasonable probability of exit and suitable collateral whenever possible. BIT, has proposed a macro-economic fund that will help the community through this transformation, building a sustainable, environmentally friendly system. Expected IRR is 25% - 30%.There is an opportunity to get early access to investments through this fund as the region undergoes an economic transformation to become a top tourist destination in the Caribbean. Primary Objective is long-term capital appreciation while endeavoring to minimize the risk of loss of capital. The Company will evaluate investment opportunities against the following criteria: 1. Is the investment case supported by underlying regional economic trends? 2. Does GP have preferential access to the opportunity? 3. Does the opportunity offer a reasonable probability of exit over the investment horizon? 4. What are the critical risks that could lead to a loss of capital and what are the Company's protections against such issues? Total offering size of investment is US$ 50,000,000 -US$ 200,000,000. Minimum investment size in the trust is US$ 1,000,000 (minimum subsequent investment of US$500,000). Taxation considerations for investors: The fund has been structured as a partnership for federal income tax purposes and will not be subjected to federal income tax. The fund will generally derive most of its gains from securities held for more than one year, so U.S. partners who are individuals are expected to be taxed on their share of the fund's gains at long-term capital gains rates. There will be no double taxation. The fund shall be investing by way of Equity and Debt; hence the fund shall mainly have dividend, interest, and long term capital tax treatment. Profile Joseph Molina Miller: *President of the Bay Islands Trust Company, the fastest growing local financial institution * Founder of BIT Capital Management, native to the Bay Islands of Honduras. * Over 20 years of international business experience -active investor in the Bay Islands, the greater Caribbean region, the United States, and parts of Latin America. * Experience in tourism, real estate, transportation, banking, and business development. * Excellent access to the major business, financial, and government leaders across the Caribbean. * The fund's investment program will draw substantially on Mr. Miller's business relationships, regional experience, and record of identifying promising opportunities. |
| "Solutions for Water" World Water Council Team Paris Every three years the World Water Council organizes a World Water Forum in close collaboration with the authorities of a host city and country. The World Water Forum is the largest international event in the field of water-over 20,000 participants from more than 190 countries attended the last edition. In 2012, the world water Forum will be organized in Marseilles, France. Prime Minister Gul, Turkey during 2009 World Water Council annual event in Istanbul
World Water Vision- At the 1st World Water Forum, Marrakech, 1997, the World Water Council received the mandate to develop the World Water Vision for Life and Environment for the 21st Century. Within two years, over 15,000 women and men at local, district, national, regional and international levels shared their aspirations and developed strategies for practical action towards the sustainable use and management of water resources. The Vision includes contributions from professionals and stakeholders in more than 15 geographic regions. It was presented by the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century at the Second World Water Forum in March 2000 in The Hague, the Netherlands.
World Water Actions - In continuity with the Vision, the World Water Council set-up an action-monitoring program after the 2nd World Water Forum (The Hague, 2000). This exercise was conducted by the Water Action Unit, focusing on field actions, and on leading processes. The "World Water Actions report" is an inventory of the thousands of worldwide actions which affect the way water is managed. It aims to raise awareness of solutions that are available to improve water resources management and anticipate emerging priorities which will serve as guidelines for future efforts. The accent is placed on actions that are significant at the national level, and/or that show innovation and new approaches to recurring challenges. Financing Water for All - The World Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure also called Camdessus Panel, was active over the 2001-2003 period, and presented its final report "Financing Water for All" at the 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto, 2003. The Panel's objective was to address ways and means of attracting new financial resources to the water field. It comprised 20 personalities with top-level experience in government, finance ministries, international development financial agencies, commercial banks, water companies, NGOs active in the water sector and a number of eminent independent professionals. The Task Force on Financing Water for All (or Gurria Task Force) has been formed at the end of 2005 as a follow-up of the Camdessus Panel to ensure that the financing issues related to water and sanitation receive the continuous attention they deserve. Under the chairmanship of Angel Gurria, former Mexican Minister of Finance and new Secretary General of the OECD, the Task Force members focused on local authorities' access to finance and water for agriculture. The report " This document requires cities to prepare action plans to analyse water-related challenges and implement strategies to cope with them, to set up a series of indicators and to report on the progress at the next World Water Forum. 250 Local and Regional Authorities from 43 countrieswere represented in Istanbul and more than 800 Mayors have already signed the IWC. Ten big cities like Vienna, Lausanne, Incheon, Paris and Buenos Aires have even committed to become "champion cities" of the IWC and will build on the momentum and coordinate the work carried out for specific subjects. The World Water Council was established in 1996 on the initiative of water specialists and international organizations. Following the Dublin Declaration in 1992 and in response to the decision of the Ministerial and Officials Conference on Drinking Water and Environmental Sanitation held in March 1994 in the Netherlands (and endorsed by the Commission on Sustainable Development and the General Assembly of the United Nations) to explore the concept of a World Water Forum, the International Water Resources Association meeting in Cairo in 1994 charged a committee to carry out the preparatory work to create a World Water Council. This Committee defined the mission and objectives of the World Water Council, formally established in Marseille on June 14, 1996, as set forth in its Constitution. The World Water Council's objectives, as stated in its Constitution, are: 1. To identify critical water issues of local, regional and global importance on the basis of ongoing assessments of the state of water; 2. To raise awareness about critical water issues at all levels of decision making, from the highest authorities to the general public; 3. To develop a common strategic vision on integrated water resources management on a sustainable basis, and to promote the implementation of effective policies and strategies worldwide; 4. To provide advice and relevant information to institutions and decision-makers on the development and implementation of policies and strategies for sustainable water resources management, with due respect for the environment and social and gender equity; and 5. To contribute to the resolution of issues related to transboundary waters. Aim of the Council is to: - Raise awareness with decision makers and the public at large on water issues and, subsequently, to generate action;
- Contribute to improving access to water supply and sanitation and report on progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals1;
- Provide opportunities to progressively develop shared visions on challenging water issues, to develop new partnerships and to pave the way for cooperation and action among a wide diversity of organisations and individuals;
- Encourage greater media attention for water issues and solutions.
Founded: 1996 Headquarters: Marseille, France Approx. 400 Members President: Loïc Fauchon Vice President: Benedito Braga |
Till date the world water council has organized following annual events,
| Location | Year | Approximate Total Number of Attendees (including fair and expo) | Theme |
| Marseille, France | 2012 | | "Solutions for Water" |
| Istanbul, Turkey | 2009 | over 20,0002 | "Bridging Divides for Water" |
| Mexico City, Mexico | 2006 | 27,50010 | "Local Actions for a Global Challenge" |
| Kyoto, Japan | 2003 | 25,000 | "A Forum with a Difference" |
| The Hague, The Netherlands | 2000 | 5700 | "From Vision to Action" |
| Marrakech, Morocco | 1997 | 500 | "Vision for Water, Life and the Environment" |
The World Water Council is comprised of over 400 member organisations based in over 60 countries and organised in 5 Colleges that represent the main groups of stakeholders: *1: Intergovernmental organisations *2: Government and governmental authorities *3: Enterprises and facilities *4: Civil society organisations and water user associations *5: Professional associations and academic institutions Membership of the World Water Council is open to any organisation with an interest in water issues that accepts the missions and objectives of the World Water Council, as defined in its Constitution and By-laws. Membership fees are calculated according to the country's GDP (PPP). A Membership Solidarity Fund has been established to offer the possibility for members from low-income countries and with limited resources to have their membership fees partly subsidized through donations from other members. Members constitute the ultimate authority of the Council. Through the General Assembly, they decide and vote on the Council's future orientation, budget and activities. All Council members enjoy the same rights and benefits; in particular each active member holds one vote. The list of members is available from the World Water Council website. Profile: Melanie Giard, Communications Officer, World Water Council. After 8 years of experience within her travel agency in Marseilles, France, Melanie joined the World Water Council in January 2002, initially as a translator and assistant. After handling logistics for various international events, she progressively took on greater responsibilities within the Communication Department. Her academic background includes both communications and languages: Following studies in Tourism & Geography, she acquired a master's degree in 2002 in Applied Foreign Languages and technical translation in both English and Russian at the University of Provence. She also obtained a master's degree in Information & Communication Sciences from the same University. In 2006, Melanie became Communication Officer at the WWC, in charge of overall communication activities, including publications, media and public relations, web development and coordination of projects such as the "Water & Film Event", amongst others. She is also responsible for coordinating the communication activities related to the 6th World Water Forum that will be held in Marseille in March 2012. |
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