Double-edged DDT
The tropical person’s traditional foe. |
The Ugandan government is planning to use DDT to kill mosquitos that
carry malaria, a disease afflicting two million people globally, 90
percent of them in Africa.
If the chemical which numerous studies
have indicated is carcinogenic, and catastrophic to wildlife
populations is sprayed, the European Union is considering suspending
the purchase of Ugandas fruit and vegetable exports because consumers
in Western countries want organic produce. A representative of Ugandas
agriculture ministry said this could mean losses of up to $23 million
annually.
Many anti-malaria activists insist DDT is necessary to
save lives. In an April 2004 New York Times article, Renato Gusmao, who
headed anti-malaria programs at the Pan American Health Organization,
said, I cannot envision the possibility of rolling back malaria
without the power of DDT. In tropical Africa, if you dont use DDT,
forget it. South Africa is one of six countries currently relying on
the controversial chemical for routine malaria control.
New Vision, 12/1
No power to the people
Nigerians are facing a potential nationwide blackout. The power supply
is 66 percent short of total national requirements, prompting National
Electric Power Authority (NEPA) employees to ask the Federal Government
to build ten new power generating plants. After power generation fell
41 percent in two weeks, Nigerians resorted to rationing. Most
businesses have had to run generators at full power as the price of
diesel increases.
NEPA attributes the shortages to the gap
between supply and demand. A $400 million thermal plant was not
completed as scheduled last September, and all three of Nigerias
hydropower stations are shut due to a significant reduction in water
levels. NEPA blamed the Nigerian Meteorological Department for
inaccurately forecasting flooding on the Niger River.
The
National Union of Electricity Employees spokesman, Comrade Joe Ajaero,
said the nations output is less than 4,000 megawatts (MW), grossly
inadequate for a country of nearly 1.5 million citizens. In contrast,
Egypt produces almost 25,000 MW for a population one-fifth the size,
and South Africa has about 35 million people but generates 45,000 MW.
This Day, 11/24
To be young, green, and black
Reserved for whites only? |
Another vestige of South Africas apartheid era is ending as government
officials, teachers, wildlife protection groups, and private safari
operators campaign to promote wildlife conservation among black South
Africans, particularly youth.
Conservation efforts in South
Africa have long been the province of affluent white South Africans.
Most of South Africas national parks were created during colonial
rule, often by displacing black farmers. Black South Africans were
barred from entering the parks during the countrys 40-year apartheid
rule.
But this is changing. South Africas national parks system
is actively promoting game reserves to black visitors, and is working
with South African schools to include conservation education in the
core curriculum. As part of the campaign, wildlife protection groups
take cheetahs and other wild cats into black schools as ambassadors;
private wildlife tourism operators host camps for local children; and
international conservation groups provide scholarships to educate young
black conservationists.
Many South Africans regard parks as
meaningless or even costly, warned former South African President
Nelson Mandela at the World Parks Congress meeting in Durban, South
Africa last year. It is time to break with this legacy.
Chicago Tribune, 11/28
Berg-trippin
Construction of a US-backed 1,020-mile ice highway from McMurdo Sound
to the South Pole is continuing in its third season, with completion
slated for the end of the 2006 polar summer.
The man who made the
first motorized crossing to the South Pole an 81-day journey by
tractor in 1957 called the US National Science Foundations highway
project terrible. Sir Edmund Hillary, 85, said it will ruin the wild
continents environment, currently protected from commercial
development and mineral exploration under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty.
All 30 Antarctic Treaty signatories agreed that the road is
environmentally acceptable. Foreign Minister Phil Goff said ecological
destruction was considered but ultimately offset by the convenience of
fewer airplane flights. Cargo planes currently fly scientists and
hundreds of tons of supplies during the summer into the Amundsen-Scott
Base, a US research station housing 240 people at the South Pole.
Associated Press, 11/29
RIP Nesiota elliptica, et al.
In the past two decades, 15 species have vanished. Another 15,589 face
the same fate. Current extinction rates are at least one hundred to one
thousand times higher than natural patterns.
One in three amphibian species is in danger of extinction. |
The most comprehensive global biodiversity study ever conducted the
2004 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and Global Species
Assessment was unveiled at the worlds largest conservation gathering
in Bangkok.
Although the total number of at-risk species increased
by 3,330 from last years Red List, todays figure almost certainly
remains a gross underestimation. There is still much to be discovered
about key species-rich habitats, such as tropical forests, marine and
freshwater systems, or particular groups, such as invertebrates, plants
and fungi, which make up the majority of biodiversity, said IUCNs
Craig Hilton-Taylor.
One in three amphibian species is likely to
croak, significant because this was the first complete assessment of
all existing amphibians, considered harbingers of other species
extinction. Forty-two percent of turtles and tortoises are in danger,
as are one in eight birds and almost a quarter of all mammals.
The Assessment cites habitat destruction and degradation as the leading
causes, but says climate change is an increasingly grave threat.
Additionally, these dwindling species are usually concentrated in
heavily human-populated regions, especially in parts of Asia and
Africa. Because many of these nations have a low Gross National Income,
the Assessment highlights the necessity of international support in
conserving biodiversity.
iucn.org, 11/17
Indias biodiesel future?
Jatropha curcas is a tough, drought-resistant plant that may help meet
Indias burgeoning energy demands. India needs to grow jatropha to
tackle dry land and generate biodiesel, says Indias president Dr. A.
P. J. Abdul Kalam. The scientist-turned-statesman is touting Jatrophas
virtues as a fast-growing, high- yielding, cheap source of biodiesel
fuel.
Advocates say Jatropha is well suited to Indias
drought-ravaged landscape because it can flourish in marginal arid land
unsuitable for crops and requires little water or maintenance. India
has an estimated 50 to 130 million hectares of barren saline wastelands
degraded by mining, deforestation, and overfarming. For a nation with a
large rural agrarian population and a petroleum bill second only to its
military budget, proponents say conversion to biodiesel makes economic
sense.
Indias Union government plans to plant Jatropha trees on
50,000 hectares. But thats just a drop in the bucket, biodiesel
advocates say. If Jatropha were cultivated on 10 million hectares it
would produce at least four million tons of biodiesel, meeting
one-tenth of the countrys annual energy needs.
Foreign companies
are keen to invest in Indias biodiesel potential. The German
Development Corporation (GTZ) and Southern Biofuels Pvt. Ltd. have
proposed a $2.5 million pilot project in Hyderabad which could produce
10 million tons of biodiesel a day.
www.ecoworld.org
Going, going, dugong
Indigenous communities around northern Australias Gulf of Carpentaria
have received $2 million from the Federal government to help rid their
shores of fishing nets. The ghost nets entangle hundreds of large
marine mammals annually, particularly threatening turtle populations.
Gulf communities have been urging action for the past decade, said
Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corp. spokesman Djawa Yunupingu.
The project will work locally to remove washed-up nets from beaches.
On nearby Torres Strait Island, hunting of the dugong an herbivorous
marine mammal closely related to the manatee is driving the species
towards extinction, a study reported. According to the reports author,
Dr. Helene Marsh, a thousand of the animals are killed each year, ten
times the sustainable level.
Indigenous communities kill the
dugong mainly for traditional feasts. Ten years ago, the Giru Dala
Council of Elders stopped hunting the dugong after noting the decline.
But 200 residents near Bundaberg, further down Australias eastern
coast, have signed a petition asking the Federal Government to make
dugong and turtle hunting illegal. One signer, Heather Brown,
complained the hunting is not being done in a traditional manner. She
said many turtles were left to rot on beaches and that motorized boats
and modern fishing gear stack the odds against the animals.
The Australian, 11/30
Le pauvre petit ours
In an arguable case of self-defense, a single mother was shot dead at
close range, leaving an orphan to wander the western Pyrenees. The
mother, a 15-year old brown bear affectionately named Cannelle
(Cinnamon) by game wardens, was the last female bear indigenous to
the Pyrenees. The group of six hunters claimed the bear attacked their
dogs. One hunter shot her in response. Badly injured, Cannelle fell to
her death in a ravine.
France temporarily suspended hunting and
dog walking in the area the week following the November 1 incident,
hoping to protect the orphaned cub. Officials say it has a reasonable
chance of survival, but animal protection groups are not so optimistic,
worried the barely weaned cub may not survive. Food drops have been
arranged.
The French are mourning Cannelle and the extinction of
her line. Environmental Minister Serge Lepeltier called the killing an
ecological catastrophe. President Jacques Chirac told cabinet members
that the loss of a species is always a serious loss for biodiversity.
Though about fifteen other brown bears roam the region, two are
males of the native strain and the others were imported from Slovenia
in 1990.
Reuters, 11/5
Sea change in mapping
Cartographers may face a boom in employment. At a Berlin conference on
climate change, Britains chief scientific advisor, Sir David King,
warned, Maps of the world will have to be redrawn as global warming
melts the Greenland ice cap, inundating coasts and major cities.
Cities and coastlines are hardly the only geography affected by rising
global temperatures. Many well-known mountaineers signed a petition
calling for Nepals Sagarmatha National Park around Mount Everest to be
placed on UNESCOs World Heritage Danger List. If listed, its glaciers
and lakes would be monitored and stabilized.
This is the first
instance of climate change motivating a World Heritage Danger Site
nomination. With an estimated 58 percent of coral reefs at risk and
Perus Quelccaya ice cap melting at an unprecedented speed, it may not
be the last.
In other global warming news, millions of thirsty
people and countless other species may become dependent on rainfall and
unpredictable river flows as mountain glaciers shrink increasingly
quickly, said Martin Price of the UK-based Centre for Mountain Studies.
Around 75 percent of the worlds fresh water is stored in glacial ice,
which releases water gradually throughout dry months.
The Independent, 11/6; Reuters, 11/18
The Inuit may lose their traditional life ways to climate change. |
Endangered Ice
At a four-day conference on Arctic climate in Reykjavik, Iceland,
indigenous groups urged the US to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.
Global warming is dangerous to native people such as the Inuit, whose
hunters have fallen through melting ice. Theyre increasingly observing
exotic animals for which their language has no names that have
migrated north as the climate changes.
Predictably, the US was the lone naysayer of the eight Arctic nations, in opposing caps on emissions.
With the Arctic heating twice as fast as the rest of the earth,
alternative sea routes may be created, the report noted. Surveyors
predicted the Northern Sea Route along the Russian Coast could be
navigable 120 days by 2100 compared with 30 in 2000.
Experts say
such legendary shortcuts between the Atlantic and Pacific will not
become a main shipping thoroughfare because of dangerous icebergs
created by melting glaciers, more fog, and high costs.
New Zealand Herald, 11/18
Same (g)old story
The worlds largest gold producer, the Newmont Mining Corporation, is
charged with polluting Indonesias Buyat Bay with 5.5 million tons of
arsenic- and mercury-laced waste. Three villagers filed a $543 million
lawsuit against the Denver-based company, claiming the tailings caused
illnesses with symptoms such as tremors and skin tumors among the 200
residents, and destroyed their marine-dependent livelihood. Indonesian
authorities plan to go ahead with the suit.
Newmont denied
polluting the bay during its eight-year operation, instead attributing
the illnesses to poor sanitation and nutrition, and blaming the
pollution on the thousands of illegal miners working near the mine.
Though a governmental report found mercury and arsenic in bay sediment
at ten times US allowable standards, the water quality met Indonesian
safety levels.
The suit further diminishes the gold producers
internationally tarnished reputation. Following two weeks of protests
in September, the Peruvian government revoked a permit to allow a
Newmont-owned gold mine Latin Americas largest to expand its
operations. Last summer, the companys Ovacik mine in Turkey closed
over concerns about cyanide use. And Nevada environmentalists worry a
proposed expansion of Newmonts Phoenix mine near Battle Mountain will
contaminate groundwater.
In Indonesia, dozens of lawsuits
accusing Newmont of stealing land from villagers to construct a $180
million open-pit mine operation were unsuccessful. The environment
minister said the government will not directly prohibit submarine
tailing disposal, but will make it difficult, a decision that could
still allow dumping tailings in deep waters far from shore.
New York Times, 12/2
Energy vampires
According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average new
home occupies 2,230 square feet, up from 1,500 square feet in 1970.
Indicating a general SUVing of American houses, utility bills are
rising at a similarly impressive rate. Middle-class homes are
increasingly equipped with multiple refrigerators, plasma TVs, and
swimming pools. And with the addition of each new appliance and gadget,
the phantom load (current drawn by unused, but plugged-in electronic
devices) adds up on the utility bill as well. DVD players, cell phone
chargers and microwave ovens all use wattage as they sit turned off.
After a while, said Neal Elliot, of the American Council for Energy
Efficient Economy (ACEEE), they all add up to be as big a load factor
as the refrigerator.
New York and California both faced electricity crises in 2001, prompting a return to conservation, said Elliott.
We know we can affect behavior if we commit to it, he said. But so
far we havent seen any leadership on the state and national level.
Christian Science Monitor, 10/28
Glen Canyon comeback
Long drowned under the mammoth Lake Powell, Glen Canyon is beginning to
re-emerge as a result of severe drought. Heralded as the living heart
of the Colorado river by Edward Abbey, Glen Canyon was lost under water
with the completion of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. Over the following
17 years, water backed up for 186 miles, forming Lake Powell.
Today, during what is reputed to be the worst Western drought in 500
years, Lake Powell is shrinking at a rapid rate of about a foot every
four days. Nature is accomplishing what environmental activists have
been unable to do for the past forty-one years.
Dr. Richard
Ingebretsen is founder of the Glen Canyon Institute in Salt Lake City,
an organization dedicated to draining Lake Powell and restoring Glen
Canyon to its natural state. He is thrilled that Lake Powell is
diminishing.
The drought is a Godsend, he said. Now is the
chance for us to have the national debate we didnt have 40 years ago.
With the lake so low, people can see what was lost the life cycles,
the ecosystem. There is a powerful beauty that can change peoples
minds.
New York Times, 11/2
Ready, aim, double-click!
Killing animals for fun just got easier. John Underwood, an auto body
estimator from San Antonio, Texas, said his entrepreneurial epiphany
for online game hunting came while viewing a website where cameras
placed in the wild photograph animals. We were looking at a beautiful
white-tail buck and my friend said, If you just had a gun for that. A
little light bulb went off in my head, he told Reuters.
Underwood has invested $10,000 for a rifle and camera that can be
remotely aimed on his 330-acre ranch by anyone with Internet access.
Eager armchair hunters can already visit www.live-shot.com to get in
some cyber-target practice with a .22 caliber rifle.
Real live
moving animals are as yet unavailable. Texas wildlife officials are
unprepared to legislate against Underwoods unprecedented proposal, but
said they may mold existing laws to regulate Internet hunting. Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department director Mike Berger said the government
cannot prevent Underwood from offering unregulated animals that are
not native to the state. Some of the animals Underwood plans to stock
on the ranch include wild pigs, Barbary sheep native to North Africa,
and Indian blackbuck antelopes.
Underwood said the site will be
completed when he gets a speedy enough Internet connection to enable
hunters to aim the rifle, use the keyboard or mouse to shoot the
trigger, and hit a passing animal before it moves to safety.
Reuters, 11/18
Forest cops
Federal Police Agent Delano Lopes said Brazilian law enforcement has a
mandate to protect the nations wealth: the environment. Lopes is a
recruit to the Amazons new and Latin Americas biggest
environmental police academy.
Spread across 135 square miles
hidden in the boonies of the rainforest, the eco-cops are learning how
to raid illegal mining and logging squats and apprehend thieves
stealing plants and animals. Environment minister Marina Silva said
that even though Brazil has some of the Global Souths most stringent
environmental laws, enforcement is weak.
Reuters, 11/18
Real eco-terrorism
Though the US continues its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol and
funnels resources into fighting the war on terror, 48 of the worlds
least developed nations have different priorities.
For our
countries, climate change is more catastophic than terrorism, said the
Tanzanian delegate to the 10th Conference of Parties of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-10) in Buenos Aires.
A
bloc of the least developed countries, small island states, and China
formed the Group of 77 (G-77). Together, they urged the international
community to adhere to an earlier promise to transfer resources to
offset the effects of global warming.
The delegation from Tuvalu,
a country of coral atolls in the eastern Pacific Ocean situated a
precarious five meters above sea level, said small island states are
disappointed with the United States and Australia, both of which remain
uncommitted to reducing emissions under the Kyoto Accord.
Though
there was a 6.6 percent worldwide reduction in man-made emissions of
carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide between 1990 and 2000, it
occurred as transition economies switched from socialist to
market-based systems. The industrialized countries, in contrast,
contributed to a seven percent jump in emissions over the same period.
Inter Press Service, 12/6
OFF-PLANET
Yosemite too touristy?
Mars is no longer just our neighboring planet, but is an essential part
of our environment requiring conservation and protection, according to
British microbiologist Charles Cockell and German astrobiologist Gerda
Horneck. Cockell and Horneck are proposing the establishment of at
least seven planetary conservation parks on Mars, each including
uniquely Martian landscape features such as the Martian ice cap and the
largest volcano in our entire solar system. It is the right of every
person to stand and stare across the beautiful barrenness and
desolation of the Martian surface without having to endure the eyesore
pieces of crashed spacecraft scattered across the landscape, they
wrote in Space Policy Journal.
If Cockell and Hornecks
wish is granted, then these seven conservation parks will be
administered by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, and earthfolk
will have the luxury of staring at unobstructed natural features of the
red planet. The protected conservation parks would be open to
exploration, but littering of spacecraft parts or any other
paraphernalia would be prohibited, and specific trails would be
designated for humans and their robots.
Some critics are calling
the proposal far-fetched, arguing that more pressing issues exist on
Earth, and that a conservation agenda for Mars is unlikely until
scientists learn more about the planet.
CNN.com, 12/14
Around the world was compiled by interns Katherine Elizabeth Renz, Chris Keyser, Lisa Katayama and Sara Knight.
We don’t have a paywall because, as a nonprofit publication, our mission is to inform, educate and inspire action to protect our living world. Which is why we rely on readers like you for support. If you believe in the work we do, please consider making a tax-deductible year-end donation to our Green Journalism Fund.
DonateGet four issues of the magazine at the discounted rate of $20.