Zoë's Paradise Blog

Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil

2008-05-30T14:01:56Z

One of South America's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes has been spotted and photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru.

The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land.

The pictures, taken from an aeroplane, show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows.

More than half the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru, Survival International says.

Stephen Corry, the director of the group - which supports tribal people around the world - said such tribes would "soon be made extinct" if their land was not protected.

'Monumental crime'

Survival International said that although this particular group is increasing in number, others in the area are at risk from illegal logging.

The photos were taken during several flights over one of the most remote parts of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil's Acre region.

They show tribe members outside thatched huts, surrounded by the dense jungle, pointing bows and arrows up at the camera.

"We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist," the group quoted Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Junior, an official in the Brazilian government's Indian affairs department, as saying.

"This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence."

He described the threats to such tribes and their land as "a monumental crime against the natural world" and "further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the 'civilised' ones, treat the world".

Disease is also a risk, as members of tribal groups that have been contacted in the past have died of illnesses that they have no defence against, ranging from chicken pox to the common cold.

FOR MORE INFO OR TO SEE THE PICTURES PLEASE VISIT THE BBC NEWS WEBSITE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7426794.stm

Stop Global Warming Virtual March

2008-05-30T13:41:30Z

I signed up to join the Stop Global Warming Virtual March and I encourage you to add your voice as well. Global warming is the most urgent issue of our time and since we are all contributors to global warming pollution we must all be part of the solution. Joining the Virtual March is a first step to joining the movement to demand solutions now.

You can join by visiting: www.stopglobalwarming.org

StopGlobalWarming's mission is to use the strength of numbers to urge our government to address global warming, and urge businesses to start a new industrial revolution of clean energy that reduces our dependence on oil and helps stop global warming.

Together we can make a difference.

Thanks,

Sandra Wijnveldt

Important petition for a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary!

2008-05-27T10:04:29Z

Please sign this important petition to add your voice to those calling for a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary.

http://www.stopwhaling.org/site/c.foJNIZOyEnH/b.4124993/k.492B/Sign_the_Whale_Sanctuary_Petition/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?&msource=DR080502001

(please copy and paste the link or go to IFAW website or STOPWHALING.ORG for more information)

Whales are not saved. Although commercial whaling has been banned for more than two decades, Japan, Iceland and Norway continue to fire harpoons into these gentle creatures. More than 30,000 whales have been killed since the 1986 ban on whaling. You can help make the world a safer place for whales by protecting one of the largest whale habitats.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets on June 23rd, 2008, in Santiago, Chile. The Commission members will consider a proposal to create a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary that will extend across the South Atlantic, from the coast of South America to the coast of Africa, and on down towards Antarctica.

IFAW will be campaigning vigorously to convince IWC members to approve the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary. But they can’t do it alone.

Sign on to help animals and people

IFAW’s goal in every one of its campaigns is to try to find solutions that benefit animals and people. The South Atlantic is an important whale conservation area because it provides the bordering nations with opportunities to develop whale-watching operations. The tourism income would be especially helpful for these developing nations. In addition, the sanctuary would provide a safe area to conduct humane scientific research.

The vote on the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary provides a vital opportunity for the IWC to show that it is committed to whale conservation.

Avaaz members from 124 countries have donated $2 million (almost 1.3 million Euros)

2008-05-27T09:45:58Z

The cyclone that ripped through Burma killed over 100,000 people and left a million homeless -- a natural disaster made much worse by the failure of the military junta to warn or evacuate its people.

The government was slowing down the urgent process of providing humanitarian relief -- so Avaaz started raising funds for the International Burmese Monks Organization, which will transmit funds directly to monasteries in affected areas.

In many of the worst-hit areas, the monasteries are the only source of shelter and food for Burma's poorest people. They have been on the front lines of the aid effort since the storm struck. Other forms of aid could be delayed, diverted or manipulated by the Burmese government--but the monks are the most trusted and reliable institution in the country.

Avaaz members have already donated $2 million (almost 1.3 million Euros) to the aid effort. The Avaaz community has given more than many governments, and their aid hasn't been stopped at the border like theirs -- they've supported Burmese monks and other aid groups who have worked without their brutal government's permission. You can read a brief report below, or click this link to read the report on our website, see pictures, and donate or comment:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_aid_report/7.php?cl=90196394

As you most probably all know, the world rushed to deliver aid -- but Burma's rulers stopped relief workers at the border. Incompetent and suspicious, the ruling junta feared that a foreign presence could undermine their power by bringing greater awareness of their brutal rule. Three weeks later, a donors’ summit has been scheduled that may reach a compromise on some aid being brought in, but the needless delay heaped daily suffering on Burma's people.

Since last year, Avaaz has built a strong relationship with Burmese monks and civil society groups, building political pressure and raising funds during and after the democracy protests. After the cyclone, they worked with these groups -- the most respected and trusted institutions in Burmese society -- to do what their government would not: bring the people aid. Unlike governments, they didn't wait for the Burmese government's permission to send help. Avaaz members in 124 countries stood with the people of Burma, donating almost $2 million (1.3 million Euros) in a matter of days.

GETTING THE MONEY IN

It's been a challenge to get such a lot of money in. Most Burmese groups can safely move only a limited amount of money each day through informal networks. So far, Avaaz knows that $550,000 has arrived in Burma and been spent, and an additional $1,000,000 is en route and may have arrived. They are currently working with the International Burmese Monk Organization and 7 other Burmese organizations, including monk groups, educational groups, and medical clinics, who have asked not to be named for their own security.

The way the money moves is through informal transfers between bank accounts and by hand. Sometimes it is as simple as a deposit in one country that is then withdrawn inside Burma by the account holder and then carried to a monastery or aid group. Because many merchants do this, the Burmese government cannot tell the difference between commercial funds and aid money.

HOW THE MONEY IS SPEND

Once the money arrives and is distributed to aid groups and monasteries, it is used to purchase rice, medicine, fuel and other supplies required to rescue, house and feed the survivors of the cyclone. Even in many of the hardest-hit areas, local markets are still working, with merchants bringing goods from other regions. In other areas the monks and other groups are able to drive supplies in, or move them by foot. The map at left shows some key locations where their aid has reached survivors.

This work carries some dangers; Burmese junta has harassed and, in one case, attacked the groups we are working with. But in the vast majority of cases, soldiers simply arrive, warn the partners that their work must be authorized by the government, and leave. Once they are out of sight, the aid work continues.

It is a challenge in such circumstances to exercise complete oversight over how the money is used -- most of the work is in secret. But they have chosen to work only with the most universally respected institutions, and they have asked them to provide detailed lists of monasteries and groups who receive it. These details allow them to verify receipt of the funds.

PEOPLE POWER

Yesterday, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown predicted that global people power, organized through the internet, would be a major driver of change in Burma. Avaaz has shown many times how a global voice can impact the world, but with this campaign they put the money where their voice was -- they didn't just call on governments to act, they stood with the people of Burma and took direct action.

Their ability to rapidly pool the small amounts of money each of us can give into a large combined amount is a powerful way to make a difference in the world. If you are one of the 25,062 Avaaz members who donated, please know that Avaaz has heard many words of gratitude for your help from their Burmese partners. They still need our help -- please visit the Avaaz website if you would like to donate now or make a comment / give advise to the organization:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_aid_report/7.php?cl=90196394

Mangrove Destruction Put Myanmar at Risk

2008-05-30T14:29:07Z

Scientists search for clues to the underlying causes of the devastating destruction in Myanmar. Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, tells host Bruce Gellerman the loss of mangroves, cleared for wood and to make way for shrimp farms and tourist development, led to major flooding and the loss of lives.

ANNOUNCER: Support for Living on Earth comes from the National Science Foundation and Stonyfield Farm.

[RETURN THEME]

GELLERMAN: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios in Somerville, Massachusetts – this is Living on Earth. I'm Bruce Gellerman, in for Steve Curwood. The grim news from Myanmar gets even worse. A hundred thousand lives lost; a million without homes or basic necessities.

Most of the deaths and damage were the result of a 12-foot wall of water that flattened everything in the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta. But scientists say much of the destruction could have been prevented – if only the mangrove forests that protect the coast had not been cut down. Jeff McNeely is Chief Scientist for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. I want to thank you for joining us.

MCNEELY: My pleasure.

GELLERMAN: What role does the deforestation of mangroves play in the Burma disaster?

MCNEELY: I think it plays a very substantial role. Burma is an incredibly poor country, and they've been forced by desperation to clear the mangroves all the way to the edge of the Irrawaddy Delta. And the result of that has been to remove the buffer that had protected them from storms that periodically come shooting up the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea right into Burma.

GELLERMAN: Well, why clear the mangroves?

MCNEELY: Well, mangroves are worth money if you cut them down, you could make firewood out of them, construction materials, you can use the land for growing shrimp. But it's not really very economic and it's not something that is a long-term benefit. You get a very quick return from cutting down the forest, but you pay a long-term cost, as they're learning right now today.

But the mangroves typically are not owned by individuals; they're public land. And so people who are desperate, and certainly the general population in Burma is very desperate, and they've been forced to do something that they certainly traditionally would have not have done because they know the consequences.

GELLERMAN: Well, so, why did they do it?

MCNEELY: Out of sheer desperation in a country whose economy is tanking while many of their neighboring countries are prospering well.

GELLERMAN: How do mangroves protect a low-lying coastal area?

MCNEELY: Well, so you can imagine a river like the Irrawaddy with a huge watershed that drains most of Burma, and it brings down a lot of sediment. That sediment is deposited as the river slows down when it reaches the sea. The mangroves are what fix the soil as – before it can run out into the middle of the ocean. So along the whole coastal zone of Burma, from one part of the coast to the other, is mangroves because they're able to grow in salt water.

And because they grow in salt water, they're able to protect the coastal zone against further erosion when there are storms. So they fix the soil, they protect against further erosion, and they serve as a nursery for the fisheries that provides much of the protein that goes to feed the people of Burma.

GELLERMAN: So when a cyclone moves up into an area and hits the coastal area, these mangroves basically anchor the soil and help dissipate the energy from the waves?

MCNEELY: Exactly.

GELLERMAN: What do mangroves look like? Are those, those kind of trees, those evergreen trees that have the trunks growing high up into the water?

MCNEELY: Well, they have multiple trunks, you know, it's like a whole bunch of little fingers sticking out, reaching out into the soil. And that's what helps them to capture the sediments and to hold the sediments.

GELLERMAN: What about places like Bangladesh, which is not far from Burma, in the Bay of Bengal. 1991 they lost 140,000 people in a devastating cyclone there. How have they done with their mangroves?

MCNEELY: What they have done is establish a World Heritage Site called the Sunderbans, which is at the mouth of the Brahmaputra and Ganges Rivers, and it really is a bi-national site with India. So the most substantial mainland mangrove in all of Asia is there. And it's also one of the areas that is the best habitat for tigers.

So it's a place where the tigers are being conserved because the government of Bangladesh has recognized the multiple values of the mangroves: for fisheries, for storm protection, and for various minor forest products that can be harvested in a sustainable way. Improved management is basically the answer.

GELLERMAN: You studied Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. What did you learn there?

MCNEELY: The areas where there were solid mangroves, where the mangrove forests were healthy, suffered much less damage than places where the mangroves had been destroyed.

GELLERMAN: So what, if anything, can be done now about Burma and its mangrove forests. What should be done?

MCNEELY: Well I think our first concern has to be for the people. And so we've gotta find a way to get in there and help the people who are being damaged by this environmental destruction. And then as soon as we're able to stabilize the human tragedy, then we should start replanting the mangroves, implementing the legislation that's on the books but isn't being implemented, and putting it into practice to make sure that the mangroves are able to re-grow as quickly as possible. We can certainly help them to do that through the experience we've learned in working to recover the mangroves following the tsunami.

GELLERMAN: Well Mr. McNeely, thank you very much.

MCNEELY: It was my pleasure.

GELLERMAN: Jeff McNeely is the Chief Scientist for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Source: LIVING ON EARTH www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=08-P13-00019&segmentID=1

ON THEIR WEBSITE THEY HAVE SEVERAL INTERESTING LINKS RELATED TO THE STORY

Sharks swim closer to extinction

2008-05-30T13:57:41Z

Source: By Richard Black - Environment correspondent, BBC News website

More than half of the world's ocean-going sharks are at risk of extinction, a new analysis concludes.

Specialists with IUCN (formerly the World Conservation Union) found that 11 species are on the high-risk list, with five more showing signs of decline.

Sharks are particularly affected by over-fishing as they reproduce slowly.

The scientists are calling for global catch limits, an end to the practice of removing fins, and measures to minimise incidental catches (bycatch).

"There's this idea that because these are widely ranging species, they're more resilient to fishing pressure," said Sonja Fordham, deputy chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (SSG) and policy director for the Shark Alliance conservation group.

"In fact they're becoming species of serious concern because there are no international catch limits for sharks. There are intense fisheries on the oceans, and they remain pretty much unprotected."

New threats

The SSG assessed data on the 21 species of sharks and their close cousins, the rays, that swim in upper portions of the open ocean where they are exposed to fishing fleets.

Of the 21, one - the giant devilray - is assessed as Endangered, and 10 are Vulnerable.

A further five are listed as Near Threatened, which means the signs of decline are not serious enough yet to merit a full listing.

The classifications are based on a range of criteria that look at past or forecast declines in population size. For example, a population shrinking by 50% in 10 years would usually qualify as Endangered.

Some of these species have been assessed before; but for others, including the three species of thresher sharks with their spectacularly long tails, the dangerlisting is new.

Fin cuts

The main threat to sharks is fishing, both accidental and targeted.

"They used to be taken as bycatch by boats targeting tuna and swordfish," said Ms Fordham. "But now as those species are declining we're seeing more fishermen targeting sharks.

"Porbeagle and shortfin mako are targeted for fins and meat; species like blue shark are likely to be finned, but particularly in Europe we're seeing more blue shark being landed."

Several of the bodies that regulate fisheries in international waters - the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) - have set up measures to curb shark finning, but there are different standards in place, a situation that enables fishermen to work around the regulations.

As East Asian economies boom, conservation groups say the market for fins is increasing.

"Fishery managers and regional, national and international officials have a real obligation to improve this situation," commented Nicholas Dulvy from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, the report's lead author.

"But it doesn't have to be like this. With sufficient public support and resulting political will, we can turn the tide."

The report was released at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Bonn, and will be published in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems.

The new risk assessments will be included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species when it is published later this year.

Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia - WINS THREE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS!!

2008-05-21T11:56:06Z

THIS IS REALLY FANTASTIC NEWS!!

I WOULD LIKE TO FORWARD YOU THE EMAIL I RECEIVED FROM KARI, HER FAMILY AND THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS OF THE GRADY GROSSMAN SCHOOL, CHRAUK TIEK VILLAGE, CAMBODIA.

EMAIL:

Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia wins Three National Book Awards!

2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards - Outstanding Books of the Year

Peacemaker of the Year - Finalist

The “IPPY” Awards recognize and encourage the work of writers and publishers who exhibit the courage and creativity necessary to take chances, break new ground and bring about change, not only in the world of publishing, but also in society. The finalists for Outstanding Book categories were chosen from the regular entries of 3,100 new titles from around the globe in 64 national categories. Gold, silver or bronze designation will be awarded at Book Expo America in Los Angeles on May 29.

2008 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARDS
“Changing the World One Book at a Time”

GOLD AWARD – Memoir
SILVER AWARD – Multicultural

The Nautilus Book Awards were conceived to recognize and reward a group of world-changing books, and to celebrate how they contribute to positive social change, spiritual growth, conscious living, high-level wellness, and responsible leadership. Nautilus Book Award Winners and Finalists are carefully selected in a unique three-tier judging process by an experienced team of book reviewers, librarians, authors, editors, book store owners, and leaders in the publishing industry.

Be a Peaceful Warrior and Help Spread the Word!
We need exposure to succeed with our plans to make our education project in Cambodia SUSTAINABLE!

1.) WRITE TO OPRAH.
She and her staff have the book.....they need to hear from ALL OF YOU, Right now.
https://www.oprah.com/plugger/templates/BeOnTheShow.jhtml?action=respond%20plugId=B2100004

2.) SEND US YOUR THOUGHTS
If you have attended or hosted a speaking event, we need your testimonial.
http://www.bonesthatfloat.com/book/kari.php

3.) HOST AN EVENT
Would you like The Peacemaker of the Year Tour to come to your town? We'll send you a speaker's kit and all the fixin's to inspire your audience to BE THE CHANGE! Schedule an event for fall 2008

Sales of BONES THAT FLOAT, A Story of Adopting Cambodia by Kari Grady Grossman remain the bow of our fundraising ship. Buy an autographed copy today!

Upcoming EVENTS: “The Relationship Matters as Much as the Money” Tell your friends!

Wednesday, May 21: BOULDER, CO:
Huffaker Home, 801 Columbia Place, 6:00-8:00 PM
June 18 & 19: VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC

For complete information and driving directions for all events please visit our calendar on our website.

Gratefully Yours,
The Grossman Family and
The Students and Teachers of the Grady Grossman School, Chrauk Tiek village, Cambodia

................................................

IF YOU WISH TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE GRADY GROSSMAN SCHOOL IN CHRAUK TIEK VILLAGE, CAMBODIA, PLEASE VISIT KARI'S BLOG OR WEBSITE:

http://www.bonesthatfloat.com/index.php

http://www.gradygrossmanschool.org/wordpress/index.php (I highly recommend her travelogue of their different trips to Cambodia)

Thanks,

Sandra Wijnveldt

Why bats are so important for humans

2008-05-20T09:06:34Z

(Source: NaturalNews) Though bats are a bit spooky looking, inviting thoughts of Dracula, the real horror story is that bats are becoming sick and perishing. A massive bat die-off is happening. Their extinction in the United States is threatening -- and no one knows why.

Just as news of the massive bee die off is fading away -- though not actually ending -- the plight of bats in the United States is starting to come out. The loss of bats may be an even worse concern than the loss of bees, which are exclusively tame and mass-raised -- over-stressed, over-bred, and grown to be over-sized. They're used to pollinate crops, especially ones that are not natural to the areas in which they're grown, such as almonds in California. Wild bees are doing just fine.

In contrast, the lost bats are all wild. They are the world's greatest insect eaters. A single nursing bat can eat half its weight in insects every day. A small brown bat can eat as many as 600 mosquitoes in an hour. The implications for agriculture are enormous. The spread of severe communicable diseases could be devastating.

The epicenter of this annihilation is New York, but there are reports of die offs from as far away as Texas. Reports began trickling in last year. It started with hikers noticing dead and dying bats littered outside the caves where they hibernate. They do not normally fly during the winter or daytime, and it was quickly realized that bats flying when they should be hibernating do not survive. They are, therefore, being called "dead bats flying". The loss of bats has cascaded this winter to the point where researchers are expressing fear that an extinction is underway.

The cause is unknown, though there is a name for the phenomenon, White Nose Syndrome. It's the result of a fungus that's particularly obvious on the nose and face, though it's found dotted all over the bats' bodies. It is believed, though, to be only a symptom of an underlying problem, as yet unknown. There are theories, of course. Causes like virus and bacterial infections are possible. Many bats have been found to have pneumonia, but it is considered to be a secondary symptom, like the fungus.

A more likely cause of bat die off is the use of pesticides. Bats are known to be sensitive to the same toxins used to kill insects -- just as we humans are. The fact that there are newly-introduced pesticides, specifically designed to stop West Nile Virus, is suspicious. It may be that the bats are starving from lack of food as a result of the new pesticides' effectiveness. This could be the worst possible scenario, since the ultimate effect of all pesticides has been the development of pesticide-resistant insects. If the bats disappear because of starvation, then eventually, when the insects have become resistant, there will be nothing to control them.

There is reason to believe that starvation is the primary cause of death. Dead bats' fat reserves are depleted. Whether this is the result of infection, toxins, or loss of food is unknown.

The bats' behavior is severely disturbed. As previously noted, they never fly during the day or in winter. Only sick and dying bats have been emerging from their caves during the day in the winter, when they are normally hibernating. They are also noted to be hibernating close the the caves' entrances, in contrast with their usual inclination to go deeper inside. This might be the result of being forced to search for food, but may also be caused by another disturbance. Many diseases change the behavior of their victims. A well-known example of this is aggressiveness and fear of water in rabies victims.

What Bat Die-Off Means to Humanity

The first problem people note may be a profusion of mosquitoes this year. Bats are nature's primary means of controlling mosquito populations. Although it's possible that the excessive use of pesticides will keep this under control temporarily, the day must come when the piper will be paid, as new toxin-resistant mosquitoes develop. Ultimately, these diseases are likely to multiply aggressively -- but by then, the bats that keep them under control may be gone.

Major diseases borne by mosquitoes include West Nile Fever, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, Malaria, and Dengue Fever. All of them are severe and life-threatening.

Crops may be affected. Bats are significant controllers of many crop-destructive insects. As with diseases, the severity of the risk is dependent on how long it takes to manifest -- the longer, the worse the effects. If pesticide use results in crop loss occurring later, after the bats are gone, then it is likely to be devastating.

What the Experts Are Saying

The president of Bat Conservation International, Merlin Tuttle, has stated, "So far as we can tell at this point, this may be the most serious threat to North American bats we’ve experienced in recorded history."

A wildlife biologist with Vermont's Fish and Wildlife Department, Scott Darling says, "Logic dictates when you are potentially losing as many as a half a million bats in this region, there are going to be ramifications for insect abundance in the coming summer." "Ramifications for insect abundance" can be translated as massive mosquito outbreaks.

Unfortunately, there is much about bats that is unknown. Even how many exist is in question, as new hibernacula (caves where bats hibernate) are being discovered as bat bodies littered at previously unknown cave entrances are discovered. This means that the benefits of bats' voracious insect-eating habits have gone unrecorded, indicating that the cost of their loss may be even greater than realized. Elizabeth Buckles, an assistant professor at Cornell who coordinates bat research, has said, "We’re going to learn an awful lot about bats in a comprehensive way that very few animal species have been looked at. That’s good. But it’s unfortunate it has to be under these circumstances."

A study of the impact of Brazilian free-tailed bats of southwestern Texas has shown their economic value to cotton farmers to be worth between one-eighth and one-sixth of the commercial value of the crops.

Further complicating the issue is the fact that most bats can raise only one offspring a year. Thomas French, assistant director for natural heritage and endangered species of MassWildLife in Massachusetts, says, "High bat mortality is a major concern because bats have a low reproductive rate. Most bats raise one pup per year. It will take decades for bat populations to rebound after a large die-off."

Al Hicks, of New York's Environmental Conservation Department, was the first New Yorker to study the issue. Ironically, he came into this issue attempting to delist a species called pink-nosed bats. Now, though, he says, "If we assume only 50 percent decline at the new sites, we are talking hundreds of thousands of bats that could die." New York has seen at least one bat cave's population crash by 90% this winter.

Conclusion

Once again, we're seeing the results of arrogance in ignoring nature's balance. In thinking that we can do it better than nature, the result is devastation. Whether it's pesticides or something else wrought by behavior that results from short-term profit-oriented thinking, rather than concern for the planet that has nurtured us, the bats are under threat. Whether it's the loss of bees or bats or some other creature or plant, in the end, we lose, too. Ultimately, the lesson that Mother Nature cannot be fooled will be learned. Will it require the extinction of humans?

Author: Heidi Stevenson

Save the Children Reaches 50,000 People in Myanmar, Continuing Efforts to Assist Thousands Left Homeless by Cyclone Nargis

2008-05-18T18:04:17Z

Westport, Conn. (May 7, 2008) — As the death toll in Myanmar continues to rise as a result of Cyclone Nargis and as hardships for thousands of survivors left in its wake increase, Save the Children is mounting a rapid response to provide lifesaving relief to children and families in five regions hit hardest by the storm.

The cyclone, which struck Myanmar's southwestern coast early on Saturday, May 3, has killed more than 22,000 people and left more than 1 million people homeless, according to government sources. Save the Children staff in the area report that many villages are devastated, with some up to 90 percent destroyed. The low-lying Irawaddy Delta suffered the effects of a sizable storm surge and many areas remain underwater, hampering efforts to reach families in need. Much of the delta is reachable only by boat.

Since Monday, Save the Children has distributed two metric tons of food, plastic sheeting, water purification tablets, kitchen equipment, rehydration salts and other non-food items to over 50,000 children and families whose homes have been destroyed. Additional trucks left this morning for Pathein carrying food and non-food items.

"Save the Children is mobilizing its 500 employees in 35 offices across the affected region to assist vulnerable children and families who have lost their homes in this most recent disaster," said Ned Olney, Save the Children's vice president for international humanitarian response. "Shelter materials, clean water, mosquito nets and emergency health kits are critical needs at this time—and we are moving quickly to provide these lifesaving items."

Authorities have declared five regions with an estimated total population of 24 million to be in a state of emergency, including Yangon (Rangoon) Division, Pegu Division, Mon State, Karen State and the Irrawaddy Division. This delta is considered to be the country's rice basket and already, the cost of food has doubled in many markets.

"The impending rainy season is likely to complicate an already desperate situation," said Olney. "The current lack of clean water will directly impact the health of children and their parents. And standing water only increases the possibility of an outbreak of waterborne illness. We need to move aid quickly to alleviate current hardships and mitigate the potential for a greater crisis."

Save the Children currently operates programs in all five of the affected regions and has worked in Myanmar since 1995. As one of the largest nongovernmental organizations at work in Myanmar, the agency implements programs focused on early childhood care and development, child survival and child protection. All staff members are safe and accounted for, although their homes and families have been affected.

Source: Save the Children

If you want more information about this organization or if you wish to make a donation please visit their site:

http://www.savethechildren.org/newsroom/2008/cyclone-nargis-update.html

Thanks,

Sandra Wijnveldt

Myanmar children 'face starvation'

2008-05-18T17:41:38Z

Source: Al Jazeera.net

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D36408AA-5C8B-4E6E-B538-B573651A237F.htm

Thirty thousand children aged under five could starve to death within weeks in Myanmar unless emergency aid and food supplies can reach them, an international aid group has said.

The children, who may constitute up to 40 per cent of the victims of Cyclone Nargis, could starve "within two to three weeks", Save the Children said on Sunday.

"We are extremely worried that many children in the affected areas are now suffering from acute malnourishment," said Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK.

"When people reach this stage, they can die in a matter of days."

The cyclone struck southwest Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, earlier this month and the UN believes nearly 134,000 people have died or are missing, while 2.5 million survivors have been affected.

International pressure

Myanmar's military rulers are under growing pressure to accept a full-scale relief operation for cyclone survivors in need of immediate aid.

Thousands of tonnes of aid are being flown in to Myanmar, but relief efforts have been hampered by government restrictions.

In recent days, Myanmar's rulers have begun to let more foreign experts into the country, more than two weeks after the storm, but aid groups still want greater access to help supervise relief efforts.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN general secretary, has announced he will visit the country later this week.

General Than Shwe, Myanmar's military leader, visited cyclone relief camps on the outskirts of Yangon on Sunday.

His visit followed allegations he had shown "indifference" to the country's disaster.

Despite the government's insistence that the relief efforts are going well, witnesses who managed to slip the security cordon around the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta said the situation remains dire.

"It was horrible beyond description," said one foreign businessman.

"Most of the devastated huts looked like they were empty at first glance, but there were actually survivors inside.

"One hut with no roof was full of about 100 people, crouching in the rain. There was no food and no water. Each person had nothing more than the clothes on their bodies, shivering in the cold."

'Man-made catastrophe'

Britain's Asia minister said he thought efforts would soon pay off, with an agreement likely for a UN and Asian-led operation that could solve the impasse.

"I think we're potentially at a turning point, but like all turning points in Burma, the corner will have a few S-bends in it," Mark Malloch-Brown said.

But the minister's optimism follows comments by Gordon Brown, Britain's prime minister, who earlier labelled the military's holding back of aid as "inhuman" and said what had been a natural disaster was becoming "a man-made catastrophe".

John Holmes, the UN's emergency relief co-ordinator, was due to arrive in Myanmar late on Sunday to assess the situation and plead with Myanmar's military leaders for greater co-operation with relief agencies.

A day earlier, officials gave a guided tour of the country's cyclone-hit regions to foreign diplomats and aid workers based in Myanmar.

The diplomats were taken into an area which has been closed off to foreigners, but it was "not good enough to get a clear picture of the damage", according to one diplomat.

"What they showed us looked very good, but they are not showing us the whole picture," Chris Kaye, Myanmar director for the UN's World Food Programme, said.

As pressure mounts on Myanmar's allies to exercise their power, Southeast Asian foreign ministers are due to meet in Singapore on Monday for talks on how to deal with their neighbour.

The importance of mangroves - forests of the tide

2008-05-18T22:10:56Z

Forests of the Tide Source: National Geographic At the intersection of land and sea, mangrove forests support a wealth of life, from starfish to people, and may be more important to the health of the planet than we ever realized.

Mangroves live life on the edge. With one foot on land and one in the sea, these botanical amphibians occupy a zone of desiccating heat, choking mud, and salt levels that would kill an ordinary plant within hours. Yet the forests mangroves form are among the most productive and biologically complex ecosystems on Earth. Birds roost in the canopy, shellfish attach themselves to the roots, and snakes and crocodiles come to hunt. Mangroves provide nursery grounds for fish; a food source for monkeys, deer, tree-climbing crabs, even kangaroos; and a nectar source for bats and honeybees.

As a group, mangroves can't be defined too closely. There are some 70 species from two dozen families—among them palm, hibiscus, holly, plumbago, acanthus, legumes, and myrtle. They range from prostrate shrubs to 200-foot-high (60 meters) timber trees. Though most prolific in Southeast Asia, where they are thought to have originated, mangroves circle the globe. Most live within 30 degrees of the Equator, but a few hardy types have adapted to temperate climates, and one lives as far from the tropical sun as New Zealand. Wherever they live, they share one thing in common: They're brilliant adapters. Each mangrove has an ultrafiltration system to keep much of the salt out and a complex root system that allows it to survive in the intertidal zone. Some have snorkel-like roots called pneumatophores that stick out of the mud to help them take in air; others use prop roots or buttresses to keep their trunks upright in the soft sediments at tide's edge.

These plants are also landbuilders par excellence. Some Aborigines in northern Australia believe one mangrove species resembles their primal ancestor, Giyapara, who walked across the mudflats and brought the tree into existence. The plants' interlocking roots stop riverborne sediments from coursing out to sea, and their trunks and branches serve as a palisade that diminishes the erosive power of waves.

Despite their strategic importance, mangroves are under threat worldwide. They are sacrificed for salt pans, aquaculture ponds, housing developments, roads, port facilities, hotels, golf courses, and farms. And they die from a thousand indirect cuts: oil spills, chemical pollution, sediment overload, and disruption of their sensitive water and salinity balance. Calls for mangrove conservation gained a brief but significant hearing following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Where mangrove forests were intact, they served as natural breakwaters, dissipating the energy of the waves, mitigating property damage, perhaps saving lives. Post-tsunami, the logic of allowing a country's mangrove "bioshields" to be bulldozed looked not just flawed but reprehensible.

Bangladesh has not lost sight of that logic, putting a great premium on the ability of mangroves to stabilize shores and trap sediments. A low-lying country with a long, vulnerable coastline, Bangladesh is also land starved, with a crushing population density of 2,500 persons per square mile (2.6 square kilometers). By planting mangroves on delta sediments washed down from the Himalaya, it has gained over 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares) of new land on the Bay of Bengal. The plantings are relatively new, but there have been mangroves here for as long as the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers have been draining into the bay. The vast tidal woodland they form is known as the Sundarbans—literally "beautiful forest." Today, it's the largest surviving single tract of mangroves in the world.

Bangladesh has not lost sight of that logic, putting a great premium on the ability of mangroves to stabilize shores and trap sediments. A low-lying country with a long, vulnerable coastline, Bangladesh is also land starved, with a crushing population density of 2,500 persons per square mile (2.6 square kilometers). By planting mangroves on delta sediments washed down from the Himalaya, it has gained over 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares) of new land on the Bay of Bengal. The plantings are relatively new, but there have been mangroves here for as long as the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers have been draining into the bay. The vast tidal woodland they form is known as the Sundarbans—literally "beautiful forest." Today, it's the largest surviving single tract of mangroves in the world.

In the forest's most luxuriant sections a dozen mangrove species, from feathery golpata palms to the towering sundri tree, form labyrinthine stands up to 60 feet (18 meters) tall. Beneath the sundri, the glutinous mud bristles with the tree's breathing roots. Twelve inches high (30 centimeters) and as thick as deer antlers, they grow so tightly together there's barely room to squeeze a foot between them. In drier areas, groves of semi-deciduous mangroves blaze red in the months before the monsoon. Spotted deer glide through the filtered shade, stopping abruptly when a troop of macaques shriek an alarm call. Woodpeckers hammer in the high branches, while on the forest floor dry leaves rustle with the scuttling of mud crabs. A butterfly called the Sundarban crow—charcoal with splashes of white—rests on a twig, opening and closing its wings like a prayer book.

Evening falls with the junk junk junk sound of nightjars, then all is quiet. Night belongs to the tiger. These forests provide one of the last remaining haunts for the Bengal tiger and its only saltwater habitat. According to local tradition, the tiger's name, bagh, must never be uttered. To speak it is to summon it. So people talk of mamu, uncle. Uncle tiger, lord of the Sundarbans.

Half a million Bangladeshis risk mamu's displeasure by coming into the Sundarbans each year to harvest its products. They come as fishermen, woodcutters, palm-frond cutters, cutters of thatching grass, harvesters of wild honey. The workers spend weeks at a time in the forest, living off its bounty as they earn a few taka for their labor. Seafood, fruits, medicines, tea, sugar, even the raw materials for beer and cigarettes are to be found in the Sundarbans larder.

Throughout the tropical world it's the same: Mangrove forests are the supermarkets, lumberyards, fuel depots, and pharmacies of the coastal poor. Yet these forests are being destroyed daily. One of the greatest threats to mangrove survival comes from shrimp farming. At first glance, shrimp might seem the perfect export for a poor country in a hot climate. Rich countries have an insatiable appetite for it (shrimp has overtaken tuna to become America's favorite seafood), and the developing world has the available land and right climate to farm it.

A prime location for shrimp ponds, though, happens to be the shore zone occupied by mangroves, an unhappy conflict of interests that has a predictable outcome: The irresistible force of commerce trumps the all-too-removable mangrove. To compound matters, shrimp farmers typically abandon their ponds after a few crop cycles (to avoid disease outbreaks and declining productivity) and move to new sites, destroying more mangroves as they go.

Mangrove-rich Brazil was slow to stake its claim in the bonanza. By the time shrimp fever hit Brazil's northeastern states, around the turn of the millennium, shrimp-farming pioneers such as Thailand, the Philippines, and Ecuador had been uprooting their mangroves for decades. Today, in the Brazilian port city of Fortaleza ponds the size of football fields crowd the landscape like rice fields. Paddle wheel aerators froth the water, and workers in kayaks fill feeding trays with fish meal. Even where mangroves have been spared, access to them is often blocked by the shrimp farms.

At the riverside settlement of Porto do Céu— "the gates of paradise"—an electrified fence shuts out villagers from their traditional harvesting grounds. But there is worse. The shrimp ponds have no lining, so salt water has percolated through the sandy soil and contaminated the aquifer beneath. The villagers have been forced to abandon wells that until recently drew sweet fresh water to the surface. The water is no longer sweet; it is salgada, saline, undrinkable.

At Curral Velho, a community to the west of Fortaleza, people have been finding a voice to oppose Big Shrimp. Demonstrations have been organized, land deals challenged, a public education center set up. Sister Mary Alice McCabe, an American nun who is helping the community in its struggle, says that one of the difficulties in raising awareness about carcinicultura—shrimp farming—is that most Brazilians aren't aware of the environmental damage it causes. "'Where does it happen, out at sea?' they ask. 'No, no, no,' we tell them, 'they're digging up your mangroves, they're destroying your coastline.' "

As serious as the threat from shrimp farming is to the world's remaining mangroves, there looms a potentially more disastrous problem: rising sea levels. Standing as they do at the land's frontiers, mangroves will be the first terrestrial forests to face the encroaching tides.

Loss of mangrove forests could prove catastrophic in ways only now becoming apparent. For more than 25 years Jin Eong Ong, a retired professor of marine and coastal studies in Penang, Malaysia, has been exploring a less obvious mangrove contribution: What role might these forests play in climate change? Ong and his colleagues have been studying the carbon budget of mangroves—the balance sheet that compares all the carbon inputs and outputs of the mangrove ecosystem—and they've found that these forests are highly effective carbon sinks. They absorb carbon dioxide, taking carbon out of circulation and reducing the amount of greenhouse gas.

By measuring photosynthesis, sap flow, and other processes in the leaves of the forest canopy, Ong and his team can tell how much carbon is assimilated into mangrove leaves, how much is stored in living trees, and how much eventually makes its way into nearby waterways. The measurements suggest that mangroves may have the highest net productivity of carbon of any natural ecosystem (about a hundred pounds per acre [45 kilograms per 0.4 hectares] per day) and that as much as a third of this may be exported in the form of organic compounds to mudflats. Mangroves, it seems, are carbon factories, and their demolition robs the marine environment of a vital element.

Ong's team has also shown that a significant portion of the carbon ends up in forest sediments, remaining sequestered there for thousands of years. Conversion of a mangrove forest to a shrimp pond changes a carbon sink into a carbon source, liberating the accumulated carbon back into the atmosphere—but 50 times faster than it was sequestered.

If mangroves were to become recognized as carbon-storage assets, that could radically alter the way these forests are valued, says Ong. If carbon trading becomes a reality—that is, if forest-rich, carbon-absorbing countries are able to sell so-called emissions credits to more industrialized, carbon-emitting countries—it could, at the least, provide a stay of execution for mangroves.

But Ong notes that the financial incentives have to be great enough to make forest preservation economically viable. "Take Indonesia, which has the largest total area of mangroves of any country in the world. It can't afford to save them for nothing," he says. "But if the Indonesians could trade the carbon-storage potential of their mangroves as a commodity, that would create a great incentive to stop bulldozing them for shrimp ponds or chipping them for the production of rayon."

Countries that have squandered their mangroves could also replant them, gaining both a tradable asset and coastline protection. At Ong's research site small boys stuff their pockets with cigarillo-shaped mangrove seeds, or propagules. The boys will sell them for a few cents. Ong says that throughout Asia there's a run on propagules, as countries replant their mangrove defenses in the wake of the 2004 tsunami.

On the east coast of Africa, a very different kind of mangrove experimentation is going on. In Hirgigo, Eritrea, a few miles down the coast from the port of Massawa, two men sit on planks on the hot desert sand. With a knife for a chisel and a rock for a hammer, they knock the bottoms out of empty tomato sauce cans—discards from the Eritrean Navy. Nearby, on the shores of the Red Sea, a group of women push the hollow cans into the soft sediment, forming long alleys on the mudflats. Into each can, the women press mangrove propagules.

This is the planting of the Red Sea, the brainchild of cell biologist, cancer-drug pioneer, and humanitarian Gordon Sato. In the early 1980s, Sato's laboratory at the University of California at San Diego developed Erbitux, a breakthrough drug for colorectal cancer. These days 79-year-old Sato works to cure a different disease—poverty—attacking the problem not by culturing cells but by cultivating mangroves.

Eritrea was reeling from war and famine when Sato first traveled there in the mid-1980s. Since water is such a scarce resource in this arid country, Sato wondered if he could develop some form of salt water–based agriculture on Eritrea's long coastline, to help provide food for the hungry. Mangroves seemed a logical, if unconventional, choice. They occurred naturally, though patchily, along the Red Sea shore, they flourished in salt water, and camels were known to eat the leaves. If camels ate them, why not feed the foliage to sheep and goats? Grow enough mangroves, Sato reasoned, and you could provide food security for thousands.

So, like a maritime Johnny Appleseed, he began planting—and failed. All the saplings died. Undaunted, Sato looked closely at places on the Eritrean coast where mangroves were growing naturally, and he noticed they occurred only where fresh water was channeled during the brief rains that fall on this desert coast. Sato reasoned it was not fresh water the trees needed but minerals the water was bringing from inland—specifically nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron, elements in which seawater is deficient.

By conducting a few simple trials, Sato and a small team of helpers from the Eritrean Ministry of Fisheries assessed how much of the three elements mangrove seedlings needed and devised a low-tech method of supplying them. When the propagules are planted, a small piece of iron is buried alongside. So, too, is a small plastic bag with holes punched in it containing a fertilizer rich in nitrogen and phosphorus.

Now, six years on, 700,000 mangroves are growing on the formerly treeless shore of Hirgigo. Sato calls the project Manzanar, after the World War II internment camp in the California desert where, during his teens, he and his family were relocated, along with thousands of other Japanese Americans. It was the memory of older internees there coaxing crops from the arid soil that inspired him all these years later.

At Sato's Manzanar many of the mangrove trees are now well above head height, and the yellow-green coats of ripe propagules are beginning to split open, showing the plump green leaves within. The mangrove mud is sprouting pneumatophores, as if someone had sown a crop of pencils. Barnacles and oysters have started to settle on them, and crab and winkle trails crisscross the sediment. Plant a few trees, and you usher in an ecosystem. Build nature a house, and she makes it her home.

That home extends its influence out to sea. At the end of a long rock jetty, Ibrahim Moham-med Ibrahim peels off his shirt, winds it around his head, then steps into the water to check his net. He wades chest deep along it, feeling the mesh for fish and turning up a nice barracuda and a jack. He cleans them on the rocks, plunging them repeatedly, almost reverently, in the water.

Since planting began, Hirgigo's fishermen have started to catch small species such as mullet. Ibrahim put the equation simply: "No mangroves, no mullet." And the little fish that make the mangroves their home attract bigger, predatory fish—the kind that snag in Ibrahim's net and sell for good prices in the Massawa market.

In a pen on the outskirts of the village, a flock of sheep crunches mangrove propagules as if they were apples. Sato is using these animals to fine-tune the livestock-rearing side of the project. He has found that mangrove leaves and propagules, though highly nutritious, are not a complete stock food. Fish meal, which Sato is having made locally from fish processing, seems to provide the missing nutrients.

Outside the pen, donkeys nibble in the dust. The stubble of grass is so miserable and sparse it doesn't provide even the faintest green tinge to the parched earth. The nearby houses are nothing more than dusty improvisations of flattened iron, bits of cloth, and scraps of wood. Sato dreams of seeing a livestock pen beside every house. "In this country, a few goats can be the beginning of an empire," he says. "I want to give everyone this chance." Who would have imagined it: The mangrove, foundation of empires.

The town of Massawa recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of its liberation from Ethiopian forces—a David-and-Goliath struggle (as Eritreans tell it) in which the pride of the Ethiopian Navy was bested by a ragtag band of Eritreans in speedboats. A sign on a café shows a soldier in heroic pose and the slogan "Able to do what can't be done."

Out on the mudflats another old soldier is attempting the impossible: turning the tide of poverty by growing mangroves. The gardeners of Manzanar would be proud.

Killer cyclones and the importance of mangroves - Are Myanmar's Storm Victims Suffering Needlessly?

2008-05-20T09:08:56Z

Source: WorldChanging: Are Myanmar's Storm Victims Suffering Needlessly?

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008019.html

As the floodwaters of Cyclone Nargis began to recede from Myanmar's low-lying Irrawaddy Delta this week, at least one regional leader was quick to note that this devastating disaster could have been partially prevented through better coastal management.

Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), mentioned in an address in Singapore that expanding coastal populations and widespread mangrove degradation played key roles in worsening the cyclone's impact. Much of the damage from the cyclone was caused
by storm surge, powerful waves whipped up by the high winds.

"The mangrove forests, which used to serve as buffer between the rising tide, between big waves and storms and the residential area... all those lands have been destroyed," Agence France-Presse reported him saying. "Human beings are now direct victims of such natural forces."

Mangrove forests, salt-tolerant trees and shrubs found mainly in intertidal areas of the tropics, provide critical breeding grounds and habitat for many plants and animals, including several high-value fish species. Ever since the 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated parts of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Thailand, mangroves have received greater attention for their potential role in protecting coastlines against storm surges. But their role as coastal guardians - including in places like the Irrawaddy Delta - is still disputed within the scientific community.

Of the 100,000 people who Myanmar officials say have perished or face imminent death if they do not receive humanitarian aid in the wake of the May 2 cyclone, many had lived in areas once covered with mangrove forests. Myanmar is home to some of the largest remaining forested areas in Southeast Asia. However, the government junta often encourages citizens to convert mangrove forests into shrimp aquaculture facilities or rice fields. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that Myanmar lost about 9 percent of its mangrove forests - 48,500 hectares - between 1980 and 2005.

Mangrove roots hold together the shifting silt and other debris that flows down a delta and shapes coastal landscapes. By deterring erosion, mangroves prevent the debris from washing inland and damaging agricultural land. "It's pretty...clear, looking around the world, that it is generally accepted that mangroves help stop erosion and protect coastland," said Mark Spalding, a senior marine scientist with The Nature Conservancy.

Mangrove branches and roots may also reduce the surging energy of a massive storm wave as it approaches inland. "There are lots of structures that add friction to the movement of water through this fringing mangrove forest," said Ivan Valiela, a marine biologist with Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts.

But to effectively study the role of mangroves in slowing wave action, researchers need to compare a severely damaged mangrove coast with a similar mangrove coast that was not heavily affected. This has proven to be a major limitation and has prevented scientific consensus, said Valiela, editor of the journal Estuarine, Coastal, and Shelf Science.

Finn Danielsen, a senior ecologist with the Nordic Agency for Development and Ecology who researched the protective power of mangroves during the Asian tsunami, said computer simulations have accurately measured the effect of mangroves. "There is no doubt that mangroves could have absorbed some of the energy of Hurricane Nargis," he said. "It is true that other factors also play a role, but this does not mean that the role of coastal tree vegetation is smaller."

Tom Smith, a research ecologist with the US Geological Survey, considers himself one of the world's few researchers who challenges whether mangroves affect a wave's forces. Data on the subject is "scant and meager," Smith said. He considers studies that have relied upon computer simulations, satellite imagery, and field studies to be flawed.

Smith concedes that many researchers are uncomfortable with his conclusions, due to concerns that this may slow the momentum of ongoing mangrove conservation efforts. But, he said, more emphasis should instead be placed on relocating people farther inland, which would protect them from dangerous oceanic storms and also help preserve mangrove forests.

According to the United Nations, nearly half of the world's population lives within 150 kilometers of a coast, and more and more are projected to move there in coming years due to population growth and tourism. Myanmar is no exception to this trend. The recent cyclone flooded the city of Yangôn, home to more than 4 million people, as well as several other cities of between 100,000 and 500,000 people. "Poorly constructed homes in low-lying, incredibly exposed areas... It's just set-up for this sort of disaster," Smith said.

Ben Block is a staff writer with the Worldwatch Institute who covers everything environmental for Eye on Earth. He can be reached at bblock@worldwatch.org.

If you would like read more about the importance of mangrove forests, please read this very interesting article:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0702/feature5/index.html

Mangroves, Forests of the Tide

At the intersection of land and sea, mangrove forests support a wealth of life, from starfish to people, and may be more important to the health of the planet than we ever realized.

Why Myanmar's generals shun aid

2008-05-18T17:49:30Z

By Larry Jagan, Myanmar analyst for Al Jazeera

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3AFA2F83-5370-4A4A-B8F1-682253189809.htm

Bunkered away in the centre of the country, the secret and reclusive generals who rule Myanmar fear all foreigners.

A week after a deadly cyclone and facing huge pressure to open their country to international aid, they see everyone as a potential enemy intent on overthrowing their rule.

Rather than alleviating the suffering wrought by Cyclone Nargis, the top generals' primary concern at present is to preserve their power and protect their families' future position and wealth.

Their outlook is solely shaped by military considerations, looking at the world through soldiers' eyes. But their nationalist xenophobia also has its roots in the style and superstitions of General Ne Win, the country's first military dictator.

He seized power in a coup in 1962 and the military have ruled ever since.

Reclusive and eccentric, Ne Win shunned contact with the outside world, turning the country then known as Burma into the hermit of Asia.

The first few years of his rule saw pogroms against the Chinese and Indian communities, forcing tens of thousands to flee the country. He also banned the teaching of English in the schools.

Fear

"Burma's military regime is extraordinarily xenophobic," says Sean Turnell, a Myanmar expert at Australia's Macquarie University. "They are afraid of everything."

For years the generals' greatest fear has been that the US planned a strategic strike against them.

To prepare for that, they have built a rabbit-warren of bunkers around their new capital, Naypyidaw, in the hills some 400 kilometres north of Yangon.

They moved the seat of government and the military headquarters to the remote, purpose-built city abruptly in November 2005. Thousands of civil servants were only give a few hours' notice to pack up and move.

During the mass pro-democracy demonstrations in August 1988, which brought the country to a stand still for months, they feared a US invasion when ships of the US Pacific fleet moored off the country's southern coast.

Then they turned to Beijing for protection and today China remains Myanmar's most-important diplomatic ally.

The regime is also highly suspicious of the UN and other international aid agencies, fearing they are in cahoots with the West and only want to whip up opposition to military rule inside the country.

Even before the current cyclone disaster hit Myanmar, international aid workers found it hard to travel around the country and visit development projects.

Rejected

Last year the government expelled the United Nation's top representative in the country, Charles Petrie, on the grounds that he was interfering with government policy.

"We must get rid of all the white faces," Senior General Than Shwe told his cabinet several times, according to reliable military sources.

Since then the government has refused to accept several Western nominees as head of UN agencies.

An American candidate was rejected last year as head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees while two western nominees to replace the ousted UN representative were also recently turned down. Both posts have since been filled by an Asian from a developing country.

The restrictions on aid workers' movements are in part because the military regime fears that they will be gathering intelligence that might be used to undermine the government, but also because of the generals' paranoid obsession with being in total control of everything.

Given this mindset, there is no prospect the military regime will allow foreign aid workers to flood into the country, let alone allow foreign troops to enter.

"They're afraid that if foreign soldiers come in, they are the spearhead to overthrow the government," says Josef Silverstein, a retired Rutgers University professor and Myanmar expert.

From the generals' perspective, he says, "aid workers could be carrying weapons to give to the people, they could give them ideas of how to overthrow the government."

Subversive

For decades, the ruling military regimes have kept Myanmar isolated, fearing that opening the country up would impact both its businesses and culture, and still worse, foster subversive thoughts like freedom of speech and democracy.

Even tourists were not allowed access to the country until the 1970s, when visitors were given a strict, seven-day visa.

This changed a decade ago, when the lure of foreign currency spurred a relaxation of the rules. Nonetheless, all visitors are closely controlled and constantly monitored by military intelligence officers.

Meanwhile, there has been an almost total ban on journalists, with authorities granting media visas only for largely meaningless army-arranged ceremonies.

The generals' paranoia and distrust extends to all civilians – they believe that only the army has the ability to unite the country and protect it from foreign invaders.

From their perspective, only the military represents the nation as a whole, not the factional interests of political parties or business people.

Intimidation

The irony is, of course, that they have divided the country as never before – political parties are effectively banned, more than 2,000 political prisoners are languishing in jail, there is strict censorship of the press and the people are beaten into submission through a concerted campaign of harassment and intimidation.

Last year they alienated the country's revered Buddhist monks after they brutally cracked down on the saffron-led protests against rising food prices.

In the end, the real issue is one of control – the military government understands that it must remain united or perish.

Their greatest fear now is losing control, losing their wealth, and facing Nuremberg-style trials from a future civilian government bringing them to account.

The current military rulers, especially General Than Shwe and his family, have amassed vast fortunes through corruption and nepotism.

Little wonder then that, despite the overwhelming suffering caused by Cyclone Nargis, the generals seem so anxious to press ahead with their referendum and institutionalise their power.

Disease stalks cyclone survivors

2008-05-18T17:56:10Z

Source: Al Jazeera.net

Almost a week after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, survivors of the deadly storm are locked in a grim fight for survival, threatened by hunger and the outbreak of disease.

Relief agencies warn the official death toll of nearly 23,000 could rise much higher without urgent aid and medical supplies.

Already one-in-five children in the worst-hit areas of the Irrawaddy Delta is suffering from diarrhoea, according to estimates by Unicef, the United Nations' children's fund.

Large areas of the delta region are also covered by dirty water, raising fears of outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.

Meanwhile dead bodies and animal carcasses rotting across the disaster zone are further contaminating water supplies and raising the risk of typhoid.

"We're worried there might also be cholera and we've heard of skin infections because there is very limited clean water," Kyi Minn, a Yangon-based advisor to the charity World Vision, told Al Jazeera.

He said problems transporting medical aid into the delta region were adding to the growing health emergency, with flooded roads meaning many areas were only accessible by boats which are in short supply.

With tonnes of international aid still held up by bureaucratic delays, relief teams have managed to get only a trickle of aid into Yangon.

'Huge needs'

And it is proving difficult to get what little aid is available to the neediest areas

Paul Cawthorne, a nurse with global medical relief group Medecins Sans Frontieres, said teams already in the region were reporting "massive destruction [and] huge needs" across the Irrawaddy delta.

"We're beginning to see more diarrhoeal diseases and this is of real concern to us," he told Al Jazeera.

He said the flooding of large areas with sea water had created huge problems with salinated water supplies, as with the aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami.

"This is a major problem because if we can't get clean water in easily, it means shipping in large amounts of clean water which is really a nightmare scenario, especially with the destruction of bridges and roads which were already in poor repair before the cyclone," he said.

As survivors become increasingly desperate reports say that many have begun moving out of the worst-affected areas and congregating on higher ground.

But Cawthorne said such situations can prove a mixed-blessing in the aftermath of major disasters.

"On the one hand having people congregated together will ease the distribution of aid," he told Al Jazeera.

"But we are concerned that when large numbers of people congregate, for instance in a school or temple where there's no water supply or sanitation, then again that can really fuel outbreaks of diseases like diarrhoea."

PLEASE SIGN: “Help the Burmese People Receive Aid in Cyclone Aftermath” petition!

2008-05-15T08:42:08Z

The crisis in Myanmar is growing, and we need your voice today to help get international aid to the Burmese people.

In the aftermath of cyclone Nargis, it is believed that up to 100,000 people in Myanmar have been killed, and at least 1.5 million people "severely affected" or left homeless. The United Nations has landed an aid plane in Myanmar, bringing food and equipment to some of the country's population, but the military junta continues to resist offers of large-scale help by blocking most international aid.

We can't stand by and watch more people die because their government refuses to act.

I signed a petition on the Care2 petition site to urge the Embassies of Myanmar to do everything in their power to allow international aid to reach the Burmese people immediately.

Please sign too and tell others to do the same. We need to deliver as many signatures as we can quickly to make sure Myanmar's Embassies process visas for aid workers immediately and do everything in their power to make sure aid gets through to the Burmese people who desperately need it.

Here is the link to the Care2 petition site (you might need to copy and paste):

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/895141111?z00m=15117114

Thanks,

Sandra Wijnveldt

BURMA devasted: HELP NOW!

2008-05-15T08:58:37Z

THIS IS AN EMAIL I RECEIVED FROM AVAAZ.ORG - PLEASE READ IT, IT'S IMPORTANT.

THANKS,

SANDRA WIJNVELDT

EMAIL FROM AVAAZ.ORG:

In the wake of a massive cyclone, at least 22,000 Burmese are dead. More than 40,000 are missing. A million are homeless.

But what's happening in Burma is not just a natural disaster--it's also a catastrophe of bad leadership.

Burma's brutal and corrupt military junta failed to warn the people, failed to evacuate any areas, and suppressed freedom of communication so that Burmese people didn't know the storm was coming when the rest of the world did. Now the government is failing to respond to the disaster and obstructing international aid organizations.

Humanitarian relief is urgently needed, but Burma's government could easily delay, divert or misuse any aid. Today the International Burmese Monks Organization, including many leaders of the democracy protests last fall, launched a new effort to provide relief through Burma's powerful grass roots network of monasteries--the most trusted institutions in the country and currently the only source of housing and support in many devastated communities. Click below to help the Burmese people with a donation and see a video appeal to Avaaz from a leader of the monks:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/6.php?cl=86378126 (you may need to copy and paste)

In many of the worst-hit areas, the monasteries are the only source of shelter and food for Burma's poorest people. They have been on the front lines of the aid effort since the storm struck. So giving to the monks is a smart, fast way to get aid directly to Burma's people. Governments and international aid organizations are important, but face cahllenges--they may not be allowed into Burma, or they may be forced to provide aid according to the junta's rules. And most will have to spend large amounts of money just setting up operations in the country. The monks are already on the front lines of the aid effort--housing, feeding, and supporting the victims of the cyclone since the day it struck. The International Burmese Monks Organization will send money directly to each monastery through their own networks, bypassing regime controls.

Last year, more than 800,000 of us around the world stood with the Burmese people as they rose up against the military dictatorship. The government lost no time then in dispatching its armies to ruthlessly crush the nonviolent democracy movement--but now, as tens of thousands die, the junta's response is slow and threatens to divert precious aid into the corrupt regime's pockets.

The monks are unlikely to receive aid from governments or large humanitarian organizations, but they have a stronger presence and trust among the Burmese people than both. If we all chip in a little bit, we can help them to make a big difference.

Click here to donate:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/6.php?cl=86378126

With hope,

Ricken, Ben, Graziela, Paul, Iain, Veronique, Pascal, Galit and the whole Avaaz team

PS: Here are some links to more information:

For more information about Avaaz's work to support the Burmese people, click here:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_report_back/

For more information about the cyclone, the humanitarian crisis, and the political dimension, see these articles:

New York Times: "A Challenge Getting Relief to Myanmar's Remote Areas." 7 May 2008.

BBC: "Will Burma's leaders let aid in?" 6 May 2008.

India's Economic Times: Indian meteorological department advised junta 48 hours in advance, 6 May 2008.

BBC: "Disaster tests Burma's junta." 5 May 2008

Times Online: "Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000." 6 May 2008.

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ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

Petition - World food crisis

2008-04-29T08:39:25Z

I just signed a petition urging world leaders to tackle the food crisis now gripping the world. This is important and I thought you might like to sign it too:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/tf.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK
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Have you noticed food costing more when you shop? Here’s why -- we're plunging headlong into a world food crisis. Rocketing prices are squeezing billions and triggering food riots. In Sierra Leone alone the price of a bag of rice has doubled, now unaffordable for 90% of citizens. Fears of inflation stalk the whole world, and the worst could be yet to come.

We need to act now -- before it's too late. So Avaaz.org is launching an urgent campaign with African foreign minister and human rights campaigner Zainab Bangura. Click below to see Zainab's video message and add your name to the food crisis petition -- we need to raise 200,000 signatures by the end of this week to deliver a massive global outcry to leaders at the UN, G8 and EU:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/tf.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK (please copy and paste if link doesn't work)

Thanks,

Sandra Wijnveldt

FoST - briquette making workshop in Fulbari Resort & Spa in Pokhara

2008-05-12T10:20:08Z

HERE ARE SOME UPDATES FROM FoST

FoST has successfully organized a 3-day briquette making workshop in Fulbari Resort & Spa in Pokhara. They trained 20 Fulbari staff. They produced about 350 kg briquettes of different types (7 types) from the raw materials available in the hotel complex. They need to cook two meals a day for the 300 hotel staff and boil about 5000 liters of water for supplying hot water in the rooms. They need 5 gas cylinders (14 kg per cylinder) per day which costs about US$ 85 (a lot of money for Nepalese standards).

Their target is to reduce the gas consumption in the staff kitchen, then boiling of water, steaming, camp fires, spa etc. by using the briquettes. There are a lot of opportunities to reduce gas consumption.

During the workshop, Sanu Kaji Shrestha - founder of FoST, invited reporters/journalists from the local papers, TVs and FMs. About 15 representatives attended the workshop. Among them, local papers; JANAMAT, POKHARA HOTLINE, POKHARA AAWAJ have highlighted the news on front cover on April 24th and Kantipur TV on April 25th.

The title of the news in the papers are: "Hotel Fulbari introduces briquettes to replace LP gas", "Fuel production from the waste materials for cooking" and "Briquette making training from waste materials for cooking".

Sanu believes that the people in Pokhara have realized the necessity of the alternative fuel back up from their own wastes. Fulbari Resort & Spa have already received enquiries from different circles including hotels and Casino.

They also invited local leaders from neighboring villages and women groups outside of the hotel as observers.

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT FoST NEPAL AND THEIR IMPORTANT PROJECTS, PLEASE VISIT THEIR WEBSITE OR JUST TYPE FoST NEPAL IN GOOGLE.

WWW.FOST-NEPAL.ORG