Archive for March, 2009
Madagascar, its rainforests and most recent coup d’etat
A little bit of background to Madagascar’s coup d’etat that took place just around 10 days ago or so.
In November 2008 the previous government of this country signed a deal with South Korean firm Daewoo for the lease of half (!) of its total arable land for 99 (!) years to grow food crops (ex., palm oil which is already a curse in South East Asia) for South Korea.
But that’s not all. Daewoo were not even planning to pay rent for it, they were planning to build $2 bln worth of infrastructure investment as a compensation. I don’t even want to go into detail re this compensation arrangement.
No surprise this deal has been called neo-colonialism by many commentators.
No surprise people rebeled against this state of affairs, staged a coupl d’etat and canceled this deal.
And no surprise, rainforests and animals have now become victims of this chaotic situation in the country.
Lemurs, these rare unique primates, are now at the mercy of illegal loggers who are taking advantage of this situation and looting Madagascar’s rainforests.
National Geographic is reporting on this in more detail in their blog.
Come visit it here for updates and please please help spread the word as much as you can:
Add comment March 24, 2009
Just ask the people of Kiribati if global warming really exists
It is impossible to miss opinions of the people who do not believe in global warming. I am not going to argue with them – no time to waste here.
But here is what I think.
If we continue emitting as much pollution into the atmosphere as we have done until now, I am afraid it may be too late to stem the effects of “runaway” global warming which can be devastating on a scale we may not yet predict.
There are already consequences that real people have to deal with as a matter of urgency.
You may never have heard about Kiribati, a nation of low-lying islands in the Pacific Ocean (to the north
Kiribati flooded
east of Australia) but this nation now faces a real threat of disappearance under water because of rising global sea levels. They have even started talking to other countries about a possibility of complete relocation of their citizens to safer places. So they effectively become “ecomigrants”.
The same story with the Maldives (a better known country for its tourism industry), an island nation in the Indian Ocean.
There are of course many other coastal locations throughout the world which are vulnerable to global warming effects. We will see more and more ecomigrants originating from these locations.
Take Hurricane Katrina which virtually wiped out New Orleans in 2005. Hurricanes form in warm climatic conditions. So the higher the temperature of the ocean water, the bigger the chance of a hurricane formation. This hurricane also caused a big migration of people to other places in the US.
Florida is another vulnerable location. I am sure it is a beautiful place with beautiful beaches but I just feel for the people who live there – they are truly exposed to the warming-induced climatic risks.
Some coastal big cities like New York may also disappear …
Where do I stop with this list of places?
Well, we live in Scotland. I guess we can always try to hide in the mountains, the Highlands … But that is an inappropriate joke, sorry!
Irina
Add comment March 6, 2009
