Green Diary

Dare to tread the path at No Man’s Land? Hey, I am not intending at any path or land that is under dispute between countries or areas that aren’t being occupied because of fear or uncertainty. This is the most promising No Man’s Land that is designed to provide a remedy to an ecological crisis. And of course a solution to its basic political problem of the control of water. Located in the middle of the Dead Sea, a New York City architecture firm called Phu Hoang Office has come up with an resourceful proposal to turn the sea into a thriving center for tourism and eco-research. Hence came to life, a cluster of artificial islands called No Man’s Land that would house hotels, create energy, and harvest clean water from the atmosphere.

Sounds like US are venturing to jeopardize the balance of Nature and its possession. The US administration has given acquiescence to seven oil companies to drill oil in the Chuckchi Sea, which is the habitat of a large number of polar bears. Sounds like what President Bush told in his 2006 State of the Union address now finds the way to actuality. Bush had said,

we have a serious problem, America is addicted to oil.

Now this addiction becomes an obsession and is poised to destabilize the existence of polar bears. At this juncture, one point that comes first in mind is why the US companies are targeting the Chuckchi Sea? According to the Mineral Management Service, Chuckchi Sea is one of the few frontier areas where oil and gas deposits could amount to 15 billion barrels of oil (more than Prudhoe Bay).

The land which was the birth place of so many conquerors and warlords in the medieval world, is now a demure agrarian economy and is finding it hard even to continue with the traditional farming practices. Large tracts of arable lands are now covered with salt and they are almost uncultivable.

The problem lies in faulty farming practices. As cotton is a very important cash crop and Uzbekistan is suitable for its cultivation, it has been getting all the attention from the authority right from the USSR days. Rivers were diverted to help cotton farmers and thus made Aral Sea, the largest saltwater lake to lose half of its surface area. And now, due to rampant corruption and poor planning, even the irrigation system has fallen flat! It also has to be noted that water is a scarce resource in the region and after the disintegration of the USSR the natural sources were also divided among several countries thus worsening the problem. Look at the map given above to understand its difficult geography.

The much publicized United Nations Convention on climate change in Bonn that was attended by 170 countries ended recently without any concrete steps and with a common realization that the task ahead is “daunting”!

In fact, the issue has become a complex conundrum of deforestation, pollution, natural calamities, climatic changes, melting of icebergs and extinction of species, all controlled by political and economic vested interests. It involves so many facets that it can not be addressed by one single treaty or declaration. Not to forget about the infighting between the clusters of countries from various regions. Still it has been said that the meet has developed some amount of understanding between the nations and we can look for something concrete in the next summit to be held in Accra, Ghana in August. But the same sentiment is not echoed by everyone. The Indian representative was critical about the apathy of developed nations and he was definitely not the only one. The rich & poor or the developed & developing world’s conflict is becoming uglier with time and it seems no one understands how serious the matter is!

Forests are natures biggest recycle bins, recycling not only nutrients but also essential atmospheric gases. According to a paper published in the journal Science, forests could actually help reduce global warming by taking up excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that contributes to the green house effect. The authors – Dr Pep Canadell from CSIRO and the Global Carbon Project, and Dr Michael Raupach from CSIRO are of the opinion that ‘forests’ act as carbon sinks to remove large amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide created by human activities.

Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency has ranked China as the top global carbon dioxide emitter and it is the third western agency to do so in the recent past. This further increases the discomfort of the Chinese who are already under the scanner especially as they are organizing the summer Olympics this time. The study puts India at the 3rd spot of the same list.

China does have a poor record in environmental aspects. But at the same time we have to note a few things. Considering the sheer size and population of the countries like China and India, it is actually not fair to compare them with tiny European nations. In fact if we see the numbers on a per capita basis, it will still be higher for most of the developed nations. Also nations like China have started heavy industrialization only a couple of decades ago. The western nations went through the same phase several decades ago. But probably environment was not a big issue in those time and probably no such studies were done!

Fragile ecosystems like the Antarctic and Greenland are highly sensitive to climate change and respond most dramatically to it. Fresh evidence suggests what we were apprehensive about. Global warming is causing Greenland’s ice sheet to melt faster, and the sea level could rise faster than predicted.

Studies conducted by scientists at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks showed a doubling of freshwater runoff in the form of melting and breaking of iceberg, from Greenland by the end of this century, which will result in rise of sea levels greater than previously predicted. Studies have predicted that sea levels would rise 23 feet with the total melting of Greenland’s ice sheet. This would be catastrophic as majority of population lives along coastal areas and several island nations would simply disappear.The world map will have to be redrawn!

The innocent mute creatures have always been victims of human action. Directly we do a lot to harm them, but what we do unknowingly is really shocking. Look at these poor seabirds hooked by fishing boats. Thousands of seabirds die and get injured by the ocean longliners. Urgent measures are required to save the albatross and other seabirds from extinction. Generally these killings are not intentional; the birds get caught and injured by the several baited hooks carried by the longliners, than they are drawn underwater and drown. These fishing boats are meant for catching tuna and swordfish, but it becomes too cruel for the seabirds.

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission Meeting held in Muscat raised this issue and all the nations are thinking seriously to take some necessary steps. Some rules and regulations are made, that must be adopted by the fisheries in Indian Ocean. They have freedom to choose at least any two of the measures provided by the Commission.

- They should set the hooks with very negligible light at night, when the birds are less active.
- They should color the baits blue so that it would be invisible in water and will not attract birds.
- They should use a bird streamer keeping the bird away from the hooks.
Many endangered seabirds like Amsterdam albatross, Diomedea amsterdamensis, Thalassarche cauta and the black-browed albatross, Thalassarche melanophrys will be saved from death by this regulation. We, the human beings are gifted with mental power as well as physical power; so it’s our duty to save the rest who has come to live with us. The poor little creatures have some expectation for sympathy in their eyes.

Via: ens-newswire

Actually there is nothing strange in this observation by the United Nations where it says that the developed nations have failed to take lead in the recent climate talks in Bonn. Petty economic benefits have always been considered ahead of the bigger issues and still there is no sign of any improvement. In fact the developing nations like Mexico, India and South Africa have shown more interest in the issue despite their economic obligations. Most of the developed nations, led by the US are actually helpless in this regard. All the protective measures require some kind of restrictions towards the industry and these highly industrialized nations can’t really go against the big industrial houses. These are the ones who fund the electoral campaigns and so the governments think a hundred times before taking any decision that might hurt the influential business houses.

Whale hunt is a major environmental issue throughout the world. It’s a long time that Australia is leading a global effort in forcing Japan, to stop its annual whale hunt in the Antarctic Ocean. On the other hand, Japan has not yet shown a single sign, even about rethinking over the matter. For Japan, whaling is a cherished tradition and it allows only an annual “scientific” whale hunt. In spite of all these international pressure, this commercial whaling took home 551 minke whale this year.