global warming & the environment - "How The Environment Is Affecting Your Health"

The affects of our polluted environment and poor eating habits on our health can be disastrous or even deadly in some cases. For example, consider this:Due to deteriorating soil conditions, and poor eating habits, we are subjected to many of us are deficient in these vital nutrients. This results in insufficient vitamins, but also insufficient glyconutrients in the body and therefore a breakdown of the critical communication system within your body. This affects among other things the body’s ability to heal itself.All the hard water that we ingest and the chemicals that pollute our environment wreck havoc on our digestive system and destroy our health. We are sometimes not aware of what the cause is but know we are not feeling quite 100%. We tend to take our digestive system for granted and are seldom aware of the fine balance between all the mechanisms that help us digest our food and give our bodies the energy it needs to survive. Any one of these mechanisms can break down with serious consequences for us.Not only does our harsh environment impair our digestive system but our finely balanced immune system is also affected, leaving us wide open to serious diseases and infections. This leads to an insidious decline in our health. We often do not notice this until we are really sick and then it can be too late to reverse the process.What can you do to help your body strengthen it's own immune system?Think: Ambrotose!How can Ambrotose help reverse this process?Ambrotose, with its beneficial effects, can help our cells reverse all this and help you lead a healthier life. You will have more energy feel better and be able to live a fuller life. How does it do this?By taking the supplement Ambrotose you can supply the body with the necessary Glyconutrients that will help you reverse the downward spiral of ill health. Glyconutrients are very beneficial to the general health of your body they will not only aid in digestion but will actually help your body repair your digestive system. They will also help strengthen your immune system.Scientists discovered quite recently the presence of Glyconutriants in the body. They were observed with the electron microscope. Our cells are covered with fibers, which are called glycoforms. They are made up of proteins and fats. Sticking to these fibers are trillions of sugar molecules known as Glyconutrients. These molecules are vital to cell communication. They also play a critical role in helping our immune system function and strengthening our resistance to life threatening diseases.Our health is our most precious commodity. It is up to us to take care of our health and we can do this with the aid of supplements like Ambrotose. When we take steps to improve our health we can enjoy a better life and have more energy to do the things that matter to us in life.

global warming & the environment - "Lead Poisoning In Environment And Children's Exposure

Pollution is generallyy defined as the release of harmful environmental contaminants. Pollution can take two major forms: local pollution and global pollution. In the past, only local pollution was thought to be a problem. For example, coal burning produces smoke and in sufficient concentrations can be a health hazard. One slogan, taught in schools was "The solution to pollution is dilution". In recent decades, awareness has been rising that some forms of pollution pose a global problem.Traditionally, serious pollution sources include chemical plants, oil refineries, nuclear waste dumps, regular garbage dumps (many toxic substances are illegally dumped there), incinerators, PVC factories, car factories, plastics factories and corporate animal farms creating huge amounts of animal waste.Lead is still the single most important chemical toxin for children and is probably the best known example of a neurotoxin to which children are particularly vulnerable. Their special vulnerability to lead is related to their exposure (hand–mouth activity, ingestion of paint chips),the fact that upon exposure children absorb four times more lead than adults, and their susceptibility at a critical period of brain development.Children may be exposed to lead in leaded petrol from car emissions, water contaminated by lead pipes, old paint, emissions from factories, contaminated soil and food contaminated by environmental sources (including improperly glazed ceramic ware for cooking and food storage).Lead particles can move with water, soil, dust and wind. The neurotoxic effects of lead depend on the exposure level and the stage of nervous system development at the time of exposure. Studies have documented that developmental exposure to lead can adversely affects several specific brain functions, resulting in particular in learning disabilities, attention deficit, poor motor coordination, and inadequate language development. Do a thorough check of your home and always watch what your children are putting in their mouths

global warming & the environment - "Outdoor Fireplaces For Environment And Ambience

Although the summer season is coming, many people are looking towards their fireplace as a great place to spend time with friends and family in the warm months - not an indoor fireplace, but a semi-portable design often located on a back deck or in the backyard. These outdoor fireplaces provide ambience to any outdoor evening gathering, less expensively than many people think.The most common kind of outdoor fireplace is known as a chiminea, consisting of a concave base, a single opening through which to feed the fire, and a short chimney or smoke stack. These small outdoor fireplaces are often made of cast iron, aluminum, ceramic or terra cotta, and although they are intended mostly for small fires, there are larger and more durable units (generally cast iron) which are intended for a controlled but roaring bonfire in the safety of your own back yard.Chimineas and other outdoor fireplaces are designed for use in the summer with the intention of winter storage, since the clay or terra cotta based units can actually crack in extremely cold winter temperatures. Cast iron chimineas or outdoor fireplaces are not at risk for cracking, but snow and other precipitation will quickly cause them to rust. These outdoor fireplaces tend to range in price from $150 all the way up to well over $500 depending on the material, size, and the extra safety or comfort features that you happen to choose.Some have safety grills and pitched chimney stacks to keep hot embers or ash from floating away and creating a fire hazard, while others are no more than a firebox with an open stack. Regardless of the type of chiminea or outdoor fireplace, only firewood should be burned in it. Other substances may give off toxic chemicals that can ruin the atmosphere of your gathering both literally and figuratively, and some fuels may leave hard to clean deposits on the inside of the fireplace.Outdoor fireplaces are an increasingly popular way for people to gather together, experiencing the outdoors without traveling too far from home – in the evening when the air grows cooler and some brave souls venture past the air conditioning. If you think back towards childhood memories of open campfires, an outdoor woodstove might just be the thing to try.

global warming & the environment - "Ecology: 10 Ways To Fortify The Environment For Under $10"

America’s beautiful landscape represents the natural brilliance of a nation founded on truth, freedom, and the well-being of all its citizens.As technology progresses, America’s ecosystem has suffers the greatest toll. Automobiles, industrial parks, and consumer waste have grown in record numbers over the past twenty years. It is essential that we seek to ensure conditions favorable to the renewal of our country’s natural splendor.Here are ten ways you can fortify your local ecosystem for $10 or less:1. Don’t litter. It’s just one cigarette butt, pop can, or plastic wrapper out the window – but with over 200 million motorists in America, that can add up to a lot of litter. Repairing existing damage to the environment begins one piece of potential litter at a time.2. Recycle the basics. Many communities have recycling programs in place, yet some people find it too difficult or time consuming to make use of them. Basics such as aluminum cans or newspapers are easy to sort from the rest of the trash. To locate your community’s recycling pick-up schedule or drop-off locations, see below.3. Join the National Arbor Day Foundation. The Arbor Day Foundation promotes the preservation and growth of tress, both in national forests and residential settings. A membership is $10 and includes ten free tree seedlings sent by U.S. mail for planting in your yard or community. Donations are also accepted, used for planting trees in America’s national forests affected by fire or insect infestation. Visit the National Arbor Day Foundation web site.4. Conserve gasoline. Now more than ever, conserving gas should be an easy-to-implement method for both aiding the environment and saving money. Try running errands during a morning or afternoon stroll, or walking to your lunch spot. Not only are the health benefits significant, there is immense natural beauty to be experienced that oftentimes goes unnoticed in the car.5. Purchase ink-jet or toner refills for your printer. Instead of purchasing new printer cartridges, look for refill kits. Refilling printer cartridges can be significantly cheaper, and require less resources than new cartridges. When purchasing a new ink jet or laser printer, be sure cartridges accept biodegradable inks.6. Plant a garden. Growing your own fruits and vegetables can be a rewarding, inexpensive experience for yourself and your family. Gardening also saves money at the grocery store, offers fresher produce, and increases the nation’s food supply. If you live in an apartment, consider planting a windowsill herb garden.7. Participate in Internet banking. Internet banking (and on-line bill payment) is a great way to reduce the amount of monthly paperwork received by U.S. mail. With great progressions in on-line security, Internet banking is a safe, reliable way to review statements and make payments. A free service for many customers, visit your bank’s web site to find out if Internet banking/on-line bill payment is available.8. Install timers on outdoor lighting. Purchasing and installing timers for outdoor lighting fixtures is an effective, inexpensive way to conserve electricity. Dusk-to-dawn or motion timers will keep your lights from staying lit after daybreak. Timers are also great for indoor lighting and televisions.9. Replace furnace filters regularly. Although typically a home maintenance reminder, replacing furnace filters every six months can help maintain the efficiency of your furnace, conserving energy. Filters that aren’t changed regularly can become clogged with debris, causing your furnace to operate longer than necessary.10. Pass this list to a friend. The best way to fortify the environment is to spread of knowledge that will increase efforts to protect it. Share this helpful reminder list with a friend, or e-mail it to colleagues and friends. An increased awareness will ensure America’s future environment is healthy and strong.Jim D. Ray is a parapsychologist with a diverse background in multiple subject concentrations, including business, psychology and parapsychology, criminal justice, philosophy, education, internet technology, physics, and vocal performance arts.

the environment - "Select An Earth Friendly Product: Good For Your Health, Good For The Environment"

Our earth is everyone’s responsibility. We all want to have a healthy environment to pass on to our children, but it can often seem like eco-friendly behavior is difficult to attain. Environmentally conscious consumers will be happy to hear that more and more earth friendly product lines are being developed to make healthy living simple and convenient.Living an earth loving life is not just good for the environment in the long run, it is also good for your health immediately. The chemical products that have become so ubiquitous in our society’s day to day life are making people very sick. Research is now linking chemicals found in everyday household products to a prevalence of allergic reactions, occurrences of asthmatic attacks, and even the rise of cancer. An earth friendly product provides a healthy alternative that will work great and not make people sick.There are many harmful aspects of our homes that we have little control over. It is unfortunate, but many of us live in homes that were built in ways that are not ecologically friendly. Although many people are not aware of it, their homes are filled with pollutants in the form of paint, fabrics, and the very building materials that hold up the roof. These products emit fumes and gases that actually cause the air inside a house to be more polluted than the air outside.Although homeowners tend to start in an environmental deficit, this does not mean that they cannot make their houses healthy over time. Natural home products have been developed for all aspects of life, including home building materials, chemical free cleaning products, organic foods, natural beauty products, and environmentally friendly fabrics. By always selecting an earth friendly product, consumers can ensure that everything new entering the house will contribute to the overall good of the family’s health and the environment’s future.There is now no excuse for using chemical based products. First, it is easy to find retailers that carry natural products. Shoppers no longer have to go to specialty stores because the earth friendly product they desire is likely stocked on their local store’s shelf and can even be found online. Second, as the products gain strong fan bases, clear favorites are starting to stand out. Next time you are out shopping, look to see which products most people are reaching for. Finally, unlike before, natural products are very competitively priced, making them affordable for all budgets.

global warming & the environment - "A New Approach To Electricity Can Save Money And The Environment

Electricity used to be as simple as flicking a switch. Not any more. The markets have been liberated and the pie has been shared between 6 major suppliers - the ball is now in the customers' court. Not only that, global warming is making us think differently about the way we use energy. By partnering with an electricity supplier that understands their needs, small businesses are finding they can help the environment and save money.Electricity4Business, an electricity supplier dedicated to providing cheap energy to small and mid-sized companies, does not pretend to be a green company, but it does believe in helping businesses conserve energy. "We are not powered by windmills or solar power - there simply isn’t enough green energy produced yet. At present, the electricity we provide is made from burning fossil fuels just like everyone else's," says Graham Paul, Sales & Marketing Director of E4B. "But by encouraging our customers to cut unnecessary consumption, we can save them money and help protect the environment."So how do electricity costs mount up? Not so long ago, you could walk into a shop or small business and the only equipment you would find was a telephone, a cash register and possibly a computer. Now there are dozens of gadgets and appliances sucking up energy almost everywhere you look - printers, fax machines, air conditioning units, promotional pieces, laptop and mobile phone chargers, refrigerators, ventilators, modems and routers, coffee machines, power tools, machinery, and the list goes on and on. Many of them are never disconnected from the mains and buzz, whir and generate heat even when not in use. Now is the time to consider their cost to you, and to the environment.The good news is that there are many ways to conserve energy and not even notice it, except when you look at the bill at the end of the month. And with increasing awareness of the impact our actions have on the environment, staff may no longer dismiss the boss as a penny pinching miser for insisting on turning the lights out after work. All it takes to make a difference is a little awareness and some positive thinking.The most important way to reduce electricity consumption is to instil a culture of energy saving in your company. Typically, electricity is not so much used inefficiently as wasted, leaked and lost. Solving this problem begins by asking some simple questions about how equipment is used and maintained. Is the photocopier used often enough to justify it being on all day? Is the refrigerator door properly sealed and opened as rarely as possible? Are the computer's energy saving settings on? When was the last time that ventilator was cleaned? Why are the windows open if the heating is on?Then there is the equipment itself. Replacing 38mm (T12) fluorescent tubes with 26mm (T8) tubes uses around 8 per cent less energy, while compact fluorescent lamps use 80 per cent less energy than tungsten GLS lamps. And for office equipment, look for energy saving devices with stand-by features that bear the Energy Star logo. And if your employees are wearing T-shirts in November, remember that each extra degree can put up to 8% on your heating bill.There are many more ways of saving money on your electricity, whatever your line of business. Electricity 4 Business has compiled all the information you need to get started in a single document available for download absolutely free. The ten-page of Energy Efficiency Advice has everything on how to identify and rectify bad energy habits, where to get advice and how to claim energy related tax benefit and loans.

"The Environmental Movement Gaining Momentum"

It's a great time for those who have consistently fought to bring environmental concerns to the forefront in the news as well as in people's minds across the world.Finally, the green movement, the movement to help stop dangerous greenhouse gases from destroying the ozone layer and causing disastrous global warming, is gaining a ton of momentum thanks to the persistence of activism.The publicity this movement has received lately is astounding. First, we have Al Gore, our former Vice President, winning an Oscar (who'd a guessed it?) for a controversial yet thought provoking documentary on the iminent threat of global warming.We all know that anything that originates in Hollywood garners boatloads of media publicity, so this alone generated awareness and support where there was a relative lack thereof before, and motivated thousands if not millions out of complacency.Sure, there are critics of the documentary that say the iminence as stated by the former Vice President is overstated, but isn't it nonetheless a victory in the fight to reduce greenhouse gases through awareness?In addition to the Hollywood attention, there are organizations such as TerraPass gaining recognition and wide sponsorship for their efforts in reducing emissions from vehicles by a unique marketing strategy.TerraPass is an organization that funds research for alternative energy sources and promotes awareness about what is called your "carbon footprint", or how much you contribute to the buildup of carbon monoxide gases which destroy the earth's ozone layer and contribute to global warming.What you can do is go to their website, Terrapass.com, type in the year make and model of your vehicle, and it will calculate your contirbution based on that information.Your moneys are then donated to alternative, earth friendly, renewable energy projects such as windmill farms, which generate energy resources without damaging the environment.A simple concept, and yet it has taken off and become incredibly popular - especially in states like California, which is the leader in environmental awareness and proactive politics on environmental issues.The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is even getting into not only the promotion of green living, but he also lives by example.Two of his Hummers are now powered by alternative, earth friendly fuels, and he has signed landmark legislature which calls for the reduction of greenhouse gases by 25% - a huge endeavor - by the year 2020.The governor has indicated a strong stance in preventive measure against global warming, and has created a political culture of awareness on the subject by drawing public attention to his policies. This is great news for the green movement.You almost can't go a day without reading some sort of news about global warming nowadays, so this alone shows that it is now a public concern and of public interest, otherwise the newspapers wouldn't bother writing about it.The fact is, we all have a part in keeping our environment safe and people-friendly for thousands of years to come, and the publicity as of late has only reinforced the idea that if you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

global warming & the environment - "Plant A Billion Trees Campaign

A campaign to plant a billion new trees is being welcomed by environmentalists, but with a warning by some that in certain regions it could do more harm than good.While the campaign claims that each tree uses up 26 pounds of co2 emissions and in return produces enough oxygen for a family of four, planting the right trees is important to help the world improve her ecological and environment balance.In areas that historically have suffered from a lack of rain, and in areas where global warming could potentially produce deserts, new trees that use a lot of water could have a serious affect on their biodiversity.Eucalyptus trees can consume two thousand litres of water a day, and planting new ones in Africa would be a catalyst to disaster, and local campaigners for planting trees are urged to consider their area needs and decide carefully before deciding on which type of tree to plant.As well as individuals planting a tree, it is hoped that businesses will do the same and encourage employees to do the same, with government and civil servants also being asked to take active participation to reach the target of a billion trees by the end of this year.The patron of the campaign is Prince Albert of Monaco. Prince Albert has been campaigning for the environment since becoming Monaco's Sovereign two years ago, and one of his first acts was to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Previously, along with Australia and the USA, Monaco was one of a handful of countries not to ratify the treaty.MonacoPrince Albert's father, Prince Rainier, was Europe's longest reigning Monarch until his death in April 2005. Known affectionately as the 'builder prince' he transformed Monaco into the world's favourite tax haven and ensured the Monaco Grand Prix became one of the best known annual sporting events. The Principality Albert succeeded to was a country known throughout the world for money and glamour, and the Monte Carlo casino only added to its legendary status.Albert has continued in his father's footsteps with a plan to develop an island off Monte Carlo, and like his father with the reclaimed land in Fontvieille the map of Monaco will change again.In keeping with his stance on the environment, it is thought that a successful bid to build the island will need to be seen to be environmentally friendly, with the possibility of lower rise buildings than some parts of Monaco have endured to create more living space.Monte Carlo has long been associated with glamour, heightened throughout the world in 1956 when Prince Albert's father married his mother, US actress Grace Kelly.Speculation was rife earlier this year that Prince Albert would be announcing his own engagement to South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock.'Things have gone quiet recently on the Charlene front', comment a Monaco travel guide, 'Monaco is all about glitz and glamour and perhaps a surprise announcement will be made soon. But it's possible that Albert is more interested in environmental affairs than affairs of the heart'.Monaco has been making the news recently as Monte Carlo real estate prices have escalated, and are on a level with London and New York.Even the cheapest studios are edging towards the million Euro level according to Monaco estate agents.'Increasing taxes elsewhere in Europe, especially in the UK, have seen inquiries increase significantly over the last twelve months,' they say, 'and it's not the weather in Monte Carlo that's drawing buyers, but the income tax free status of being a resident, and the security that goes with living in Monaco. There's one policeman for every one hundred residents and has to be the safest country to live in Europe'.

global warming & the environment - "Harmful Effects of Deforestation"

Human beings always have been and probably always will be to some extent dependent on forests. Trees were their habitat, their environment, their source of food and their protection from enemies. Forests are very important to man, and other organisms, and one of the biggest problems the world is facing today is the threat of totally losing the forests due to massive deforestation and suffering the harmful effects of deforestation.Deforestation can be defined as the large scale removal of forests. Deforestation occurs when forests are converted to non-forest areas for urbanization, agriculture, and other reasons without sufficient reforestation. It is the permanent destruction of forests and woodlands. At present, forests are considered among the most endangered on the planet. Everyday at least 80,000 acres of forest vanish from Earth. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations show that the rates of deforestation has not abated and has actually increased by 8.5% from 2000-2005 compared during the 1990s. FAO has approximated that about 10.4 million hectares of tropical forest have been permanently destroyed from 2000-2005 compared to 10.14 million hectares in the period of 1990-2000. The process of deforestation is often a complex pattern of progressive fragmentation of the forests. Mistakes of this sort could lead to forest destruction. Along with this destruction is the extinction of many species, heavy soil erosion, greenhouse effect, silting of rivers and dams, flooding, landslides, denuded upland, degraded watershed, and even destruction of corals along the coast. Extinction of Thousands of Species - Destruction of the forests leads to a tragic loss of biodiversity. Millions of plants and animal species are in danger of disappearing as a result of deforestation. Tropical forests are much more biologically diverse than other forest and a very serious effect of deforestation in tropical countries is the loss of biodiversity.Heavy Soil Erosion - One function of the forest is that its roots hold the soil in place. Without trees soil erosion and landslides easily happen. When heavy rains and typhoons come, soil is easily carried to lower areas especially to communities at the foot of the mountains. Greenhouse Effect - Deforestation increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The conitnued degradation of our forest heightens the threat of global warming because the trees and other plants that takes up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to be used for photosynthesis are gone. The burning of wood or its decay contributes to the release of more carbon which combines with oxygen in the atmosphere thus increasing further the levels of carbon dioxide that causes greenhouse effect. Silting of Rivers and Dams - Deforestation results in the silting of rivers sediments deposit which shortens its life span and clogs irrigation system. As a result of deforestation, the reservoir behind many dams are filled with sediments more rapidly than expected. Flooding - One major importance of forest is that they absorb water quickly in great amount during heavy rains. But due to massive deforestation there are no trees to absorb the water thus resulting to the loss of many lives.Landslides - The roots of the trees bind soil to it and to the bedroock underlying it. That is how trees prevent soil from getting eroded by natural agents like wind or water. When trees are uprooted, there will be nothing to hold the soil together thus increasing the risk for landslides which can cause seriously threaten the safety of the people and damage their properties. Denuded Upland - After several harvests of the forest the cleared land is no longer suitable for planting trees. It has become a desert. The transformation of a forest to a semi-desert condition is called desertification.Degraded Watershed - When forest mountains are denuded, watersheds are degraded and this leads to the loss of sustained water supplies for lowland communities. This is because trees affect the hydrological cycle. They can change the amount of water in the soil, groundwater, and in the atmosphere. Destruction of Corals along the Coast - Coral areas are degraded and coral reefs are affected by siltation. As a result of deforestation there is an increase of flooding during the rainy seasons and decreased stream flow in dry seasons. The forest provides us with many products and important services. It stops soil erosion, refreshes the air, and protect us from typhoons and other calamities. But if rampant deforestation is not controlled it will result to several problems. In one way or another, the denuded forests will back fire and people will certainly lose to the harmful effects of deforestation.

global warming & the environment - "Saving the environment; every little steps count"

Saving energy and the overall environment is a topic that has gained public attention more recently. People are realizing that at the rate we are using earth's valuable resources, we will face serious shortage in a near future.Water is the first resource we have been wasting in the past. We have to be aware that everyday, people worldwide are dying from lack of drinkable water. Yet, in our "civilized" countries, we let purified water go to waste in many ways daily.Small steps a person can take to limit her consumption of water is: only wash the dishes or do the laundry when there is a full load to be done, do not let tap water run for long periods while brushing one's teeth. Other obvious drinkable water savings would be not to use sprinklers on rainy days or using a broom to sweep one's carport instead of the garden hose.Another valuable earth's resource we have been wasting is electricity. Again, in many developing countries, electricity could save hundreds of lives. Yet, we are openly wasting this valuable resource in western countries. Small steps that can be taken to limit the quantity of electricity consumed daily are: close all lights that are not being used, do not put the air conditioning on (or a heating system) if windows are opened, wash clothes that do not require special care with cold water instead of hot water.Forests and trees have also been overused by man and wasted in more ways than can be counted. Recycling paper is the very first step in limiting paper (and trees) waste. I have personally contacted all the magazines with which I am not subscribed and asked them to send me these hundreds of paper I did not read and wasted. It took time and patience but eventually, I evaluate I must have saved an entire small forest by that little step alone. Writing on both sides of paper is also a very good way to diminish one's consumption of paper and thus limiting deforestation.Quality air is also a resource we have wasted to the worst degree. By overusing cars and toxic emissions which affected the ozone layers, we have wasted our most valuable resource: the air we breathe. Small steps that can be taken are exactly this: taking small steps instead of using the car for any small trip to the corner store. In taking such action as walking to get to near places, a person will also gain physical benefits and enjoy a better health condition.Saving oxygen and the quality of the air that we breathe also means taking a strong stand and pressuring governments in place to adopt and apply strict rules and regulations to limit pollution and toxic gas emissions.Another valuable resource that we have been shamefully wasting is the wildlife. Many animals are now on the endangered species list or, worst, have disappeared because of man's careless actions. Reading and keeping up to date on the most recent developments and again taking action to limit the damages caused to animals are small steps a person can take to start making a difference.

World's corals face danger as global warming whips up powerful storms

A new scientific study
has found that as global warming whips up more powerful and frequent hurricanes and storms, the world's coral reefs face increased disruption to their ability to breed and recover from damage.
"We have found clear evidence that coral recruitment - the regrowth of young corals - drops sharply in the wake of a major bleaching event or a hurricane," said lead study author Dr Jennie Mallela of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Australian National University.
Using the island of Tobago in the Caribbean as their laboratory, Dr Mallela and colleague Professor James Crabbe of the University of Bedfordshire, UK, backtracked to 1980 to see what had happened to the corals in the wake of nine hurricanes, tropical storms and bleaching events.
"In every case, there was a sharp drop in coral recruitment following the event - often by as much as two thirds to three quarters. Not only were fewer new coral colonies formed, but also far fewer of the major reef building coral species recruited successfully," Jennie said.
"This finding mirrors our modelling studies on the fringing reefs of Jamaica, and on the Meso-American Barrier reef off the coast of Belize," said Professor Crabbe.
Tobago lies outside the main Caribbean hurricane belt and therefore is more typical of the circumstances of most coral reefs around the world.
Nevertheless, its corals are disrupted by a major storm or bleaching every three or four years - and the frequency of this may be growing.
"Climate researchers are seeing increasing evidence for a direct relationship between global warming and rising hurricane intensity as well as frequency," Jennie explained.
"Global warming produces significant increases in the frequency of high sea surface temperatures (SSTs), and hurricane winds are strengthened by warm surface waters," she said.
The high temperatures cause bleaching, while the storms inflict physical destruction on the corals as well as eroding the rocky platforms they need to grow on, or burying them in sand.
"Maintaining coral reef populations in the face of large-scale degradation depends critically on recruitment - the ability of the corals to breed successfully and settle on the reef to form new colonies. Our research suggests this process is severely disrupted after one of these major events," said Jennie.
According to Jennie, the concern is that if major storms and bleaching become more frequent as the climate warms, the ability of individual reefs to renew themselves may break down completely

Stagnant waters: Party manifestos offer little

Every year, as soaring temperatures of April and May scorch much of the country, newspapers start being dominated by stories of water shortages and water crisis. This time around, there is a competitor - the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha and a few state assemblies. While elections are a time for focussing on the key issues being faced by people, a counting of the columns and the sound bytes shows other stories - such as whether the Prime Minister is weak or not - hogging the headlines.
It is not that water is not an issue - stories of water problems do claim their share of space in the inside pages; and in states holding elections to the assemblies, water is a bigger concern. But at the national level, water does not seem to figure very high up in the considerations of major parties, at least as seen in their manifestoes.
BJP and the NDA
The 2004 manifesto of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP had three separate sections devoted to water under the headings of Agriculture, Rural Development and Infrastructure that detailed water related promises. In contrast, the BJP's manifesto for the current Lok Sabha elections (the NDA has not issued one) has no separate section for water. In the Agriculture section, the party promises creating additional irrigation facilities for 35 million hectares of land. It does not give any details about how this will be achieved. The manifesto also promises "Water, health, sanitation and hygiene for all families/habitations" under the section on Dalits, OBCs and economically weaker sections of society.
Though L K Advani has declared in election speeches that if elected back to power, the NDA would take up on a priority basis the ambitious river-linking scheme, it finds only a passing mention in the manifesto. It makes its appearance under the section on "Reviving the National Economy", where the party promises making "massive public sector investments in job generating infrastructure programmes, especially building of roads and highways, and linking of rivers."

There are some other scattered references to water. For example, under the North East section, it is promised that the flood control in Assam and river water management will receive special attention. Possibly the most significant declaration related to water is the promise by the BJP to "make access to clean drinking water a fundamental right for all citizens." (The Congress manifesto promises to enact a Right to Food law).
It is interesting that on 21 April 2009, after votes to 124 seats had already been cast and the day on which campaigning for 141 seats came to a close, the BJP released its Infrastructure Vision. The Press note announcing this vision says that the Vision "articulates, in far greater detail than was possible in the Party's Manifesto ... our broad perspectives and plans ..." Promises for various sectors are given in separate sections and the section on water now clearly pledges "speedy implementation of the river-linking project" and completion of major irrigation and drinking water projects. It also promises construction of at least one new water conservation facility (pond, check dam, etc.) in each of the six lakh villages in the country and universalisation of rainwater harvesting in urban India. It would be interesting to know why the BJP issued this vision document so late in the election process.
Indian National Congress
The Congress Manifesto is even more taciturn on the issues related to water. It makes a rather general remark at one place that "Water security is of paramount concern to the Indian National Congress and steps will be taken to enhance it measurably for local communities," but it is not elaborated how this would be done. The Manifesto also lists among the achievement of the UPA government the Bharat Nirman program that has provided irrigation and drinking water, and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) where "work amounting to over Rs.42,000 crores is in progress", covering areas that include water supply and sanitation.
The manifesto promises to consolidate and take forward these missions and programs. There is also a promise of stepping up public investment in agriculture and infrastructure and a faster and more inclusive growth. Presumably, this includes investment in the water sector.
New, but not significantly so
The greatest role that is possibly expected from the centre is a leadership role in setting out a vision of decentralised and participatory development of water resources. However, here the manifestoes disappoint. The BJP's promise of one rain water harvesting structure in each village is a far cry from a vision of a bottom-up water management based on the development of the local resources. It is also nothing new - programs of water harvesting, conservation and watershed management have been increasingly been promoted by both the NDA and UPA in various forms, but they still remain add-ons, with the main thrust based on large, centralised projects.
The same goes for urban rain water harvesting. BJP promises to make it universal. The UPA government's JNNURM and UIDSSMT programs already require states to revise bye-laws to make rain water harvesting mandatory in all buildings and adoption of water conservation measures. Yet, local water resources are still not an integral part of planning for urban water supply.
The BJP's promise to make drinking water a fundamental right is the only significant new promise in the manifestoes of the two major parties. Yet, here too, there is no word on how it will be realised, and no indications of how possible contradictions between this and the increased role to be given to the public-private-partnerships would be resolved.
Much that the Centre can do
Thus, it seems that the two major parties - and leaders of the two coalitions, NDA and UPA, that are the primary contenders for forming the Government - have not given due importance to water issues. One could argue that water is a state subject and hence the manifestoes for a national election would have only limited engagement with it. However, this is not correct. The Central Government has significant influence through financial and regulatory means and moreover, is expected to play a leadership role in several areas in water sector.
In case of water resources and water issues spanning states, the role of the Centre becomes very important. Interstate water disputes are of course, one such area where there has always been a clamour for the Centre to play a stronger role. There have been suggestions to shift water to the Central list of the Constitution to give more powers to the central government - though this would end up with even more centralisation in the water sector whereas decentralisation is the need of the hour. Even with the powers at its disposal today, the Centre can, and is expected to play a key role in resolving inter-state water issues. Important among these are the sharing of waters of interstate rivers, and floods extending across states (or floods whose causes lie in another state - for example, the floods last year in Assam suspected to be due to the releases of water from a dam in Arunachal Pradesh).


The massive 'inter-linking of rivers' scheme is another such interstate program where the centre is expected to play a key role. The UPA's Common Minimum Program had promised to carry out "a comprehensive assessment of the feasibility of linking the rivers of the country ... in a fully participatory manner". Not only has this not been done, but the promise seems to have been dropped from the Congress manifesto. The BJP of course wants to push the project ahead, but it would have been far better if it had also promised to re-assess it first, given the mounting evidence of its serious implications.
One would also expect the centre to play the main role in institutionalising the conservation, rejuvenation and restoration of rivers. In particular, there is an urgent need to address emerging concerns like minimum river flows. The Central Government would be the natural choice to take the initiative in establishing processes to determine what should be the limits of extraction from rivers and other water bodies and how much water needs to be maintained as assured environmental flows to keep the rivers flowing.
The Centre also has responsibility in areas where international dimensions are present. One such area is water resource planning in trans-boundary river basins like those that India shares with Nepal and Bangladesh. Another area is in the realm of international treaties and agreement. For example, the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services of the WTO), where there have been strong pressures from developed countries for India to open up its water services to international players. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) promises to keep water out of the purview of the GATS, though Congress and BJP are silent on this.
Another critical area where the Central government is expected to play a major role vis-à-vis the water sector is in assessing, combating and planning for adapting to climate change and its impact on water resources. It is critical that the implications of climate change for the viability of various projects - like the large number of hydropower dam projects planned for the Himalayan region - be evaluated urgently - a task that only the central government can carry out. Yet, neither the BJP nor Congress manifestoes mention this, though action on other aspects of climate change is promised.

You must be either very dumb or very rich if you fail to notice that development stinks", says Gustavo Esteva, a Mexican activist and development critic. A few days back I happened to read what Gustavo Esteva had to say. His quote was being used in a case study describing the devastation by the petrochemical industry in Nigeria - heralded by the multinational giant Shell - and its impacts on local cultures and lives. I had not even finished reflecting on the case when I received an anguished and angry missive from groups in Raigarh district of Chhatisgarh, about an industrial accident involving children. Esteva, I reminded myself once again, was not just relevant in faraway Mexico, but right here in India too.
The dictionary meaning of the word 'development' often does not match the corrupted reality of its use in India and elsewhere in the world, particularly in economies that are labeled 'developing'. At the same time, in the deeply embedded liberalised economies that one has been living in, the same word is read as a given paradigm, and the human and environment damage accompanying it - as they are in Raigarh - are regarded as necessary side effects.
The death of a child
To return to the letter I received - its contents spoke of one more incident in a by-now-familiar tale of woe over the operations of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) around Raigarh town. Ramesh Agrawal of Jan Chetana, an NGO in Raigarh, sent alerts to human rights and environmental groups, drawing attention to a sad but true industrial accident. On the afternoon of 17 April, 7-year-old Twinkle Thakur, daughter of a JSPL employee Sanjay Thakur, and her brother were inadvertently caught in an open live-burning ash dump near a nearby residential area, the Indira Awaas colony. While her brother escaped with burn injuries to his legs, Twinkle died the following day, after being hospitalised first.

Villagers living in the area say the incident took place around 3-4 PM on the 17th. There were delays in informing the police, lodging complaints and booking suspects, but that has become the norm in incidents like this across the country. Twinkle died at 11 AM the following day, whereupon the police registered a case against an unknown JSPL contractor under section 304 A of IPC alleging death due to negligence. However, this was done without a site inspection - or verifying whether a contractor or JSPL itself was responsible for dumping the hot ash in the residential area.
Local activists have reported for many months now that JSPL has allegedly illegally dumped ash around Indira Awaas, which has led to serious accidents involving children. In fact ash dumps can be seen all around the plant site without any protection or regard to safety measures.
Dousing out the memory
Immediately after the accident, the hot ash was cooled off by JSPL, by sprinkling water through water tankers. Industrial operations like JSPL have their own fire brigade. "Soon after the incident, the very next day on 18th all the ash was removed from the accident spot. Tire marks of heavy vehicles could be seen even 4-5 days after the incident." says Agrawal. He argues that this action by the company (either directly or through its contractors) amounts to tampering with the accident site before the investigation is complete, and will come in the way of a just and proper assessment to determine the real culprit. "This is can be understood as a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence of the accident." he says.

On 29 April, the regional Hindi newspaper Chattisgarh reported on the incident in great detail. The report also included a statement by JSPL's public relations department denying the allegation that the illegal dumping of flyash is by the company. Accordingly to the statement, JSPL has designated dumping sites and methods for operations there. However, several villagers including those from Kirodimal Nagar (close to where the incident occurred), take ash from the JSPL plant for land filling and land leveling purposes. The statement implied that the hot burning ash that took Twinkle Thakur's life was one such instance of the material being moved by villagers to a different location than the one where it was dumped by the company.
Reports from the area indicate that Twinkle's house is locked, and her parents have left for their home town in Bihar. There is little that the local groups can also get out of the hospital administration, who are choosing to be quiet about the incident and the happenings after that. A few villagers complained to the District Collector Manish Tyagi, but rather than an immediate and urgent inquiry in response to their complaint, what they have got is legal notices asking them to appear for testimony. Further, more than fifteen days have passed but not a single senior officer from the district administration has visited site of the accident. Nor has the State Pollution Control Board (there is a regional office of the Chhatisgarh State Environment Conservation Board in Raigarh) taken any action against illegal dumping of hot ash direct from kilns at unguarded open residential place.
What is important to understand, in all this, is that this accident and its aftermath are not simply an isolated instance - not in Raigarh, nor elsewhere in India and definitely not across the 'developing' world. The faces of the villains, victims and audiences are the only things that change. Whistle-blowers find varied degrees of success while seeking justice. But more often than not, the industrial face of such projects is able to quickly put a lid on the whole affair. While the odd mention is made in papers, especially when children like Twinkle die, it is quickly back to business as usual - endless frustration for those who question it, and a nightmare for those whose lives are shattered, but a forgotten past for those who choose not to engage with it.
The verb "develop" is often defined as 'to bring out the capabilities or possibilities of or bring to a more advanced or effective state'. When one stops to ponder how routinely this advanced or effective state has included horrible tragedies visited upon the poor and disenfranchised, it is easy to recognise Gustavo Esteva's criticism for what it is - a plain observation of the truth. Development, packaged in the language of GDP and 'necessary' choices, stinks. And as we debate, define, resurrect, and reclaim our definitions, the world's realities are throwing them back at our faces, until we can evade them no more.
Incidents such as this and the lack of any due action, are of routine occurance in the burgeoning Raigarh district. Industrial development is playing out to its worst, with blatant violations, disregard for life along with fear and corruption as marks of "development". For the last 4-5 years I have been regularly writing in India Together on issues related to rapid industrial expansion in Raigarh district. The most recent article was on the expansion of the Monnet Ispat Plant where in school children were being impacted by pollution of existing operations, and no action was taken despite repeated complaints by the Principal

Article by Kanchi Kohli
To see that JSPL is part of a larger pattern is easy; one has to just land at the Railway Station, breathe the air, and circle around the plant, and the evidence is everywhere

The empire flows again

Sir Arthur Cotton, deified by generations of engineers and technocrats - with his statues found almost everywhere in Andhra Pradesh's coastal districts - supervised construction of what is called the Cotton Barrage (the Godavari anicut) which was completed in 1852. Back then, he viewed it as something greater than a mere engineering effort.
As Cotton saw it, the barrage was something a "Christian government' should do for its subjects ... The emphasis of all this is to give them (the 'natives') entirely new ideas of what a Christian Government is and thus to prepare them to receive Christianity." [Col. Arthur Cotton, Profits upon British Capital Expended on Public Works in India as Shown by the Results of the Godavery Delta Works, of Irrigation and Navigation, London, 1856]
The British are long gone from India, but the language, and the metaphors used in British colonial times continue to be used today. "The river must be restrained from wandering" wrote Cotton; "and all its branches must be provided with artificial embankments to protect the country from being flooded ... It is necessary, by artificial means, to keep the water constantly at a level which shall command the country, and also by a multitude of channels to lead it to every acre of land." And, "The system of works now in progress in the Delta of the Godavery are intended to embrace these four object, viz - to restrain the river; to preserve the land from floods; to supply it constantly with water; and to pervade the tract thoroughly with means of very cheap transit." [Col. Arthur Cotton, London, 1856]
Theirs was a philosophy of obstructing ('taming') what we today call ecological (natural) flows, and also of economic exploitation to maximize profits. And constant irrigation was seen as the means to generate revenue, even if it changed the traditional cropping patterns and methods of irrigation. When the cultivable land was left to 'breathe' at timed intervals, it bothered the British no end. "The number of ploughs lying idle every khureef season (2,000) would cultivate about 8000 acres of rice land, assuming that people work no harder than they now do ..." if irrigation access was provided. [Glasfurd, 1868] "It is necessary to keep the water constantly at a level which shall command the country and also by a multitude of channels to lend it to every acre of land." [Col Arthur Cotton, 1856

Cotton's statistics post-anicut, in the Godavari Districts, proved the benefits of these works in economic terms to the Empire. "The revenue of the Delta including that part that is in Masulipatnam, has increased about 60,000 Pounds ... (and) the amount of money re-circulated in the district had increased to 100,000 Pounds, above the average in years preceding the works; the internal traffic is now estimated at 180,000 tons carried thirty miles ..." [Col Arthur Cotton, 1856]. For his part, Cotton foresaw a larger role for private enterprise on the Godavari in the immediate future, and was disappointed that the Government in Britain was not taking as much initiative in this as was needed.
The empire flows again
More than a hundred years later, not only in his legacy of exploiting the river alive in the form of numerous projects that are ongoing, even his unfulfilled dreams of adding private exploitation to publicly-funded ones are close at hand. Commercial tourist traffic, based on the navigation idea that Cotton so religiously defended, to begin with, has already established itself.
Within a month of the Congress government being re-elected in Andhra Pradesh, its Major Irrigation Minister has announced that the Government seeks "national" (project) status for five irrigation projects related to Godavari waters. These include the Polavaram dam (top on the list of priorities), the Dummugudem tail pond, and three other projects at Pranahita-Chevella, Sujala Sravanthi and Sripada Sagar.
Signalling the urgency, he informed that Rs.18,000 crores have been allocated for these, of which Rs.4000 crores would be spent to clear pending bills for these projects. Surprisingly, the enthusiasm for these projects was not evident before the elections. Indeed, neither the Polavaram dam nor Godavari waters in general were part of the electoral discourse, except for the seemingly sudden shift in the Congress' campaign strategy in the last lap of campaigning in coastal Andhra districts - where the party warned voters about possible lack of access to the Godavari waters if Telangana state was allowed to become a reality.

'Utilisation of the Godavari waters' as a slogan was not invoked very much this time, to the extent it was in the 2004 elections. Water resources had a far greater share in electoral debates in 2004 than in 2009. In a conversation at the time of the elections, the former engineer K Vidayasagara Rao said, "Nobody is bothered about water issues. TRS was never against water being given to farmers, nor against Polavaram per se, but only against it in its present design and form. We have been highlighting the need for several small structures - not a big dam - to minimise the extent of displacement."
Even the opportunity for such nuance (TRS has also called for a fortification study of Polavaram, and independent reviews of the projects) may now have passed. Now that TRS has been defeated and the Left has been routed, and even the few remaining voices of opposition within the Assembly have been silenced, the implications on the spate of irrigation projects lined up in the State are worrisome. Several legal violations and socio-economic dimensions of these pending projects (not to mention the long-term environmental impact of restraining natural flows to the sea) have been discussed outside the Assembly. But with the Congress achieving a comfortable majority in the house of the people, these will no longer be part of the Assembly debates. Nor are other parties showing much interest in water issues.
The second coming of the Congress government in the State thus has opened the doors for aggressive consolidation of a form of privatisation and total control of Godavari waters we have not seen before. Sir Arthur Cotton's legacy is likely to continue without critical examination despite concerns about environmental flows, displacement, and exploitation of nature and climate change across the globe at several platforms. Until the idea of exploiting for profit continues, these concerns will remain unaddressed.

By the skin of their teeth

Stephen Nash is a tall, burly Canadian, with a flowing white beard and a wry sense of humour. He introduces himself as someone who is often mistaken for Santa Claus. But he is a veteran wildlife specialist who has caught deadly snakes in his native country and has handled many other vicious creatures. As he notes, "I have been bitten, scratched and impaled over the past 32 years!" He once hosted our very own Romulus Whitaker, who started the Snake Park in Chennai and now runs a Crocodile Park outside it.
Nash heads the Capacity Building Unit at the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Geneva. The convention has been in operation for 33 years and fuses wildlife and trade issues with a legally binding instrument to achieve conservation and sustainable use. In other words, it tries to ensure that under no circumstances should smuggling endanger wild fauna and flora.
Tackling illegal trade at customs
At a workshop organised by the World Customs Organisation at the sprawling campus of the National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics (NACEN) in Faridabad (May 18-22), he briefed customs officials from several Asian countries on the objective of CITES, and how to handle threatened animals and plants. One can well imagine the consternation of customs officials who unsuspectingly open a consignment and have to deal with poisonous snakes, spiders and countless other pesky creatures

Endangered species are divided into three categories. Appendix I - this is a favourite category in UN parlance, since it also refers to industrialised countries in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change - are the most threatened, and international commercial trade in this category (as distinct presumably from exchange or research), is generally banned. This covers some 530 animals and 300 plants. Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but for which trade must be controlled to avoid any such denouement. This is obviously a bigger category, covering 4400 animals and more than 28,000 plants. The third and last category comprises some 255 animals and 7 plants which countries ask CITES to help them protect.
India is most interested in the enforcement of CITES to curb the smuggling of tiger parts to China and other countries in South-East Asia, where people believe that these have curative properties. Indeed, while there is a great deal of controversy over who is responsible for the disappearance of tigers in this country - whether poachers (foreign or national or both) and/or tribals living within national parks and sanctuaries - there is no doubt that, were there to be effective surveillance by the customs at land, sea and airports, the trade would be considerably curbed. Just the sharing of information and better monitoring and coordination by the customs authorities of countries in this region would work wonders.
UNEP has launched the Green Customs Initiative to control what it terms "environmental crimes", among which the turnover in the trade in flora and fauna is estimated to range from $5 to $20 million a year. However, two of the biggest traded items - timber and fish - aren't covered by the treaty because these are not on the endangered list. The Faridabad workshop was to inform and instruct top customs officials from the region about different environmental treaties, most of which deal with harmful chemicals, and how the customs has a major role to play in compliance and enforcement.
Protecting plants
Readers may look somewhat askance at the need to protect plants. However, one has only to consider the enormous value to humans of many plants - as food, fuel and fibre, among other uses. We derive all our foodgrains from five or six staple plants, but there is no telling how many more there are, undiscovered in the wild, which can feed millions across the world. The threat of such plants dying out before they are even identified is similar to precious libraries of original manuscripts being burnt before anyone has read them.
Even today, some 30 per cent of all pharmaceuticals are derived from plants, although genetic engineering may gradually lower the proportion. In India, ayurveda is under serious threat because species are disappearing. Conservationists refer to rare plants in West Africa from which a substance several times sweeter than sugar can be extracted, but scientists have not yet been able to commercially exploit it.
During the protracted controversy over the Silent Valley hydel plant in Kerala in the early 'seventies, wild varieties of rice were discovered in Palghat district which possessed genes to withstand attacks of the brown plant hopper, a deadly pest which was devastating tracts of the dwarf Taichung varieties of rice grown throughout South and South-East Asia. Rice geneticists "married" genes from these Palghat (and Sri Lankan) varieties to the new dwarfs and the new variety was able to withstand the pest. This provides a glimpse of the tremendous value of wild plants.
Cultural beliefs
The tiger is particularly problematic for India because it is an iconic animal - so much so that the celebrated BBC Indian wildlife TV series, hosted by Valmik Thapar a few years ago, was titled Land of the Tiger. The CITES website (www.cites.org) in fact has a photograph of a majestic tiger on the prowl. The problem is compounded by the fact that Thailand has started breeding tigers on farms in order to "harvest" them for medicinal purposes.
In 2002, the Sri Racha (a corruption of 'Raja') Tiger Zoo sold 100 tigers - originally bred from a Royal Bengal pair - to Sanya Love World in China. They were widely alleged to have been bred there in captivity and slaughtered from time to time to be sold for their meat in Love World's restaurant. The Chinese denied this, since it would have violated CITES which only permits exchange of animals between zoos or for scientific purposes. Customs officers in many parts of the world may in future have to decide whether a particular consignment is genuinely from a farmed animal or has been poached.
Many conservationists like Nash take a pragmatic view of such trade and believe it can help assuage the seemingly insatiable demand for such animal parts. However, this should in no way come in the way of proper education of people who hanker over such products for purely traditional and usually irrational reasons. There is an almost exact parallel when it comes to Indian wildlife with the whale shark, one of the largest fish in the world, whose fins were cut off by fishermen off the Gujarat coast and shipped to South-East Asia for the renowned delicacy, shark's fin soup, a favourite on auspicious occasions. The helpless beasts were left to die in the ocean after their fins were cut off.
Fortunately, after a furore by Indian conservationists, this senseless slaughter and trade has been banned. The irony is that the fins actually don't impart any flavour to soup, which has to be augmented by species like abalone, but consumers blindly follow tradition.
Regulating the trophy trade
Nash told India Together that certain countries in east and southern Africa have issued a restricted number of hunting permits to cull old black rhino males. This serves two purposes: first, it earns the country a considerable amount of foreign exchange because the heads of these magnificent beasts are highly valued as trophies all over the wealthy world. Second, according to Nash, it eliminates old males and thereby helps to improve the genes of the species - a modern-day variant of "survival of the fittest"! However, Kenya has objected to this on the ground that smugglers who poach such rhinos in that country can attempt to export them through neighbouring countries by producing fake hunting licences.
Closer home, Pakistan has issued a restricted number of hunting licences - around six a year - to hunt the markhor goat, its national animal, which exists in the high Himalaya. US customs, have however, once confiscated such a trophy, assuming that it was poached, which is understandable when it comes to any rare species. Such concessions will always enrage die-hard conservationists, even as others argue that it raises revenues to protect the goats, restricts the number of licences to a manageable limit and thereby cuts down, if not eliminates, poaching. The jury is still out, but the common sense approach would be devote sufficient manpower and resources on protecting such species, which will reinforced by much stricter customs vigilance.
It should be noted that the original treaty regarding wild trophies was the London Convention of 1903, which was to govern hunting game in Africa and India. Times have changed and no civilized person today should be flaunting the heads, tusks or skins of animals from exotic corners of the world as some form of conquest, or even a form of neo-colonialism.

CITES, however, doesn't govern only living animals and plants but tusks and skins of dead animals as well. India has two such items - one as an import and the other which was both and import and export.
Jewellery made from red coral has been in existence for 5000 years, but the trade has dropped as smuggling is under surveillance. In 1984, some 450 tonnes were seized, which went down to 40 tonnes in 1990. Between 1990 and 2005, only an estimated 28 to 54 tonnes in all have been seized. From the Middle Ages, coral found its way from Rome (presumably harvested in the Mediterranean) to India. From the 17th century, there was a flourishing trade between Naples and Marseilles to India and West Africa. However, it is extremely difficult for customs officers to distinguish between three types of red coral, of which only Corallium is very rare and expensive.
The other item, which goes back some aeons, is ivory. Contrary to popular belief, ivory doesn't only consist of elephant tusks but also those of the narwhal (a long-toothed Arctic whale), killer and sperm whale, warthog, hippos and walrus. Cave paintings from the Cro-Magnon era depict people hunting mammoths for their tusks. The first ivory masterpiece in historical records is an arch which dates back to 2000 BC in Egypt. Even more surprisingly, such tusks are being recovered from the icy wastes in the extremities of the globe. In Alaska, carvings out of fossilized walrus ivory are in fact permitted today. Tusks of mammoths, which became extinct 16,000 years ago, are sought after.
However, faced with the dire threat to herds of African elephants, which declined by a half between 1970 and 1985, 119 countries at a CITES meet in 1989 decided to ban hunting elephants. African elephants are more sought after than their Indian counterparts because their tusks are bigger (as, indeed, are the elephants themselves). Indian craftsmen were far more adept at carving such tusks and till the ban, used to import African ivory. Most of this trade is now prohibited. There is some unhappiness in East and southern Africa, where herds are in fact increasing and the ban is sometimes thought of as a western imposition, without any concession to the revenue it could earn for poor countries in that part of the continent.
Sometimes, even with endangered species, truth can be stranger than fiction. In the current crisis over climate change, the sight of a lone polar bear struggling to keep afloat on a tiny ice floe has become the iconic image that goads countries and individuals to take action before it is too late. According to Nash, however, of 27 polar bear populations in the Arctic, 26 are actually increasing

River basin studies: A half-hearted attempt

The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects of the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Government of India has recently approved the Terms of Reference for conducting basin level studies of the Bichom and Lohit river basins in Arunachal Pradesh. The EAC has been constituted under the EIA notification 2006 to examine projects that apply to the Ministry for environmental clearance.
According to the TOR, the basin studies envisage "providing optimum support for various natural processes and allowing sustainable activities undertaken by its inhabitants". The Bichom and Lohit basins are among the river basins in the Himalayas where massive plans for building large dams and developing hydropower are being rolled out. More than a hundred projects with installed capacities totalling to 54,000 MW are at various stages of planning and implementation just in the state of Arunachal itself.
Often, a large number of dams are planned on single rivers or in single basins. For example, in the Lohit basin, a cascade of six projects totalling to 7918 MW are being planned, all within a length of 86 kms.
The need for basin studies
Such cascade-type development or a number of dams in a single basin raise the critically important issue of cumulative impacts. Often, the impact of all projects taken together is much greater than the sum of impacts of individual projects. Unfortunately, cumulative impacts are hardly ever assessed, as individual projects are planned and evaluated separately. One of the strongest criticisms against the recent plans of dam building has been the complete lack of any assessment of the carrying capacity - what level of development, and in particular the number of dams a basin can sustain - and of the totality of impacts of the number of dams and projects in the basin.

Indeed, when the impact assessment of even individual projects is patchy at best and often farcical, it would be too much to expect a proper cumulative impact assessment.
Against this background, the decision to undertake basin level studies in the Lohit and Bichom are welcome steps in the right direction. The TORs of the basin studies indicate that wide-ranging and extensive examination has been called for, as is necessary for any such study. The TORs call for "inventorisation and analysis of the existing resource base and its production, consumption and conservation levels, determination of regional ecological fragility/sensitivity based on geo-physical, biological, socio-economic and cultural attributes, review of existing and planned developments as per various developmental plans, and evaluation of impacts on various facets of environment due to existing and planned development."
The studies are to then assess the stress/load due to various activities and suggest environmental action plans that can involve preclusion or modification any activity and measures. Unfortunately, the good part ends with this. The way the studies have been structured ends up defeating the very purpose of carrying them out.
A self-defeating exercise
First and foremost, the basin studies have been effectively de-linked from the implementation of the projects as there is no requirement that the projects be conditional to the findings of the basin studies. Neither is there any explicit stay on the consideration and implementation of any of the projects pending the studies.
Logically, the basin studies should suggest what level of development, including hydropower projects, the basin can sustain. The projects should be planned based on this. However, the current planning and decision making turns this on its head. The numbers, locations, capacities, types and other details of the projects have already been decided. Many of these projects have already been allotted to (mostly) private developers who already have or would soon be approaching the Ministry for environmental clearance. In Bichom basin, the 600 MW Bichom (or Kameng) project is already under construction.
It is clear that the Expert Appraisal Committee understood this issue. The Minutes of its meeting dated 15 and 16 December 2008 record that "The committee noted that the study will be completed in two years and M/s WAPCOS has been entrusted with the job. In case, any project on this basin is submitted during this study period for environmental clearance, how the outcome of the study will help to take a decision could not be clarified." The obvious solution is to put on hold the projects till the studies are done. However, what the Committee decided is that "the report may be submitted within six months by reducing the TOR and the study should focus only on hydroelectric projects."
Thus, studies that would need about two years are to be done in six months (later this was extended to nine) with reduced TORs. How the outcome of such truncated studies would help rational environmental decision making is a question. It is clear that the environmental objectives have been sidelined with an eye to build as many dams as possible.
The TOR for the studies does state that they can recommend the "preclusion of any activity", which presumably means that they can call for any or some of the hydropower plants not to be built. In reality, such an outcome is highly unlikely, as is seen from the reluctance to explicitly put on hold the projects in the basin pending the results of the study. While the Committee has from time to time discussed with concern the possible impacts of large number of projects in a single basin, it has fallen shy of taking the right, but hard decision when actually dealing with the problem

For example, the Lohit basin study was originally envisaged and put forward as a condition while granting clearance for pre-construction activities to the Upper and Lower Demwe projects in March 2008. But the Minutes of the EAC meeting of July 2008, while discussing the basin study note that "Environmental Clearance to Demwe Upper and Demwe Lower HE Project should not be linked up with the completion of basin study." These two projects add up to 3430 MW, a full 43 per cent of the total 7918 MW planned in the basin.
Further, considering that the studies are to be paid for by the project developers - in proportion to the size of the projects they have been allotted - the conflict of interest is clear.
An earlier such basin study - to determined the carrying capacity of the Teesta basin in Sikkim, initiated in 2001 - at least had a condition that no project will be considered for environmental clearance till the carrying study is completed. That study took over five years. However, the MoEF violated its own condition and accorded clearance to several projects even before the study was completed. On the other hand, based on the recommendations of the study, the MoEF has asked the Sikkim Government to drop five hydropower projects above Chungthang, and restrict the height of those below it. This shows that findings of such studies are likely to require significant rethinking of dam building plans in the river basins.
Neeraj Vagholikar, who is with the environmental organisation Kalpavriksh and has studied dam projects in the North-East since 2001 says about the Bichom and Lohit studies: "The reluctance to put on hold individual project clearances till comprehensive river basin studies are completed puts a question mark on the utility of the entire exercise. Moreover, the river basin studies will now be much shorter exercises instead of the comprehensive ones envisaged earlier, which are necessary for proper environmental decision-making. It appears that the Bichom and Lohit studies are more likely to be used to create a justification for the large scale hydropower development already planned than protect the ecological integrity of these river basins. One of the two key outcomes proposed for the studies - to provide sustainable and optimal ways of hydropower development - is a clear indication that the environmental objectives are of secondary importance."
The silver lining to this is that the second key outcome specified by the TOR is to "assess requirement of environmental flow during lean season with actual flow, depth and velocity at different level". It is significant that the Committee has recognised the importance of environmental flows, the flows necessary to maintain the ecological existence of the river, an issue that is increasingly being acknowledged as critical to sound river basin planning. One has to wait and see if the studies would have the independence to recommend preclusion or modifications to some of the hydropower projects if this is found necessary to maintain environmental flows, and if so, whether such recommendations could be implemented.
While there are several other important issues with the basin studies not discussed here, there is one that is essential to point out. The TORs for the basin studies lay out in detail many parameters that need to be studied, field data that needs to be collected, but fail to require that the local communities be consulted and involved in the process. This is a major shortcoming, and an indicator that the studies are reinforcing the technocratic approach instead of a participatory one that is the essence of environmental decision-making.
Conclusion
The basin studies for Bichom and Lohit are examples of a good initiative gone awry. The Committee's recognition of the need for basin studies is a welcome step. It is clear that this is an acknowledgement of issues of cumulative impacts and carrying capacity that activists, researchers, academics, dam affected people and others have been consistently raising for the last many years. At the same time, it does not go to the logical conclusion and hence has become self-defeating.
What the Committee needs to do is to re-define the TORs for the studies allowing them the two years that the committee itself feels are necessary, and redesigning them to require meaningful participation of local communities and civil society. Meanwhile it should put the projects in the basin on hold, and make them conditional to the findings of the study. If this is done, it will be a significant step in the direction of environmentally sustainable and holistic approach to development

Awarded in haste, withheld

Some things make no sense whatsoever. On 12-13 June 2009, Vedanta Alumina Ltd (VAL), a world metals and mining giant was to receive the 2009 Golden Peacock Environment Management Award at Palampur, Himachal Pradesh (see here for more). The World Environment Foundation (WEF) and Institute of Directors are the two institutions behind the award. There is no way to understand this except as disregard - knowing or otherwise - of Vedanta's reputation.
A little education, then, for the benefit of these two institutions. In 2007, the Norwegian Council of Ethics had assessed its parent company Vedanta Resources and its Indian subsidiaries Sterlite Industries, Madras Aluminium Company (MALCO), Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO), and Vedanta Alumina to judge whether the group was in breach of the council's Ethical Guidelines for investment. Following this, the Council had withdrawn its fundng, citing severe environmental damage and human rights violations linked to the group's operations in India.

While this was happening, a challenge to Vedanta's mining operations in Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa was pending before the Supreme Court of India before the forest bench. A monitoring body set up by this bench - as part of the T N Godavarman Thirumulpad v/s Union of India case - the Central Empowered Committee had recommended against the grant of approvals as the company had a history of irregularities in seeking both forest and environment clearances both for its refinery operations in Lanjigarh and proposed mining in Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa. Also critical was a strong movement against the mining by the Dongaria Kondh tribal community for whom Niyamgiri is a revered hill and deeply connected with their lives and livelihoods (see this earlier article).
The Supreme Court bench relied the Norwegian report even more than that of its own committee, and stated that it could not take the risk in handing over the mining operations to Vedanta. But the court, unexpectedly, had no qualms in allowing Sterlite Industries, Vedanta's subsidiary to work out a Special Purpose Vehicle with the Government of Orissa and Orissa Mining Corporation work out the best formula for mining. This was November 2007. (see here and here). All the modalities were discussed in court, and as an inexplicable formula the court granted its approval to Sterlite to mine in Niyamgiri Hills, subject to some conditions on 8 August 2008. It did not matter perhaps, that just about a month before in July 2008, the Martin Currie Scottish Trust Fund of Scotland also withdrew its 2.37-million-pound investment in Vedanta. This too was on the grounds of environmental and human rights violation by the company (see here).
Violations in other states
But Vedanta's stories don't start and end in the state of Orissa. Moving further to Tamilnadu there are two very stark and clear instances of the violations by Vedanta's subsidiaries. Sterlite's coppert smelter plant in Tuticorin is surrounded by fly ash and gypsum dumps. There are few villagers around who raise their voice against the air and water pollution being caused by the plant operations. There are days, says a local villager who did not want to be named, when they cannot open their windows due to the pollution, and some have chosen to live away due to the health hazards. This was verified around the site during inspection and discussions in May 2008 by Corporate Accountability Desk and Kalpavriksh members.
Official reports of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC) on Hazardous Waste Management in the years 2004 and 2005 respectively, also point to the violations by the plant. The SCMC report states amongst other things, "The industry, as reported to the SCMC during the visit, is also emitting sulphur dioxide far in excess of the permissible standards particularly when the sulphuric acid plant is not operating. "
In the Kolli Hills of Tamilnadu, Vedanta's subsidiary MALCO was pushed to suspend its illegal mining operations in November 2008. This was following a petition filed in the Madras High Court by Piyush Sethia of Speak Out Salem presenting evidence that its bauxite mines had no permission under various environmental laws. Kolli Hills are part of the extremely biodiverse Eastern Ghats ecoregion, also dominated by primitive tribal groups. The hills are said to be guarded by Kollipavai, the local deity. (see here).
In Chhatisgarh it is the turn of BALCO. There is photographic evidence of 2007 of the overflow of red mud over the embankment which has spread down the side of a rivulet nar the Balco-Vedanta aluminium complex . In the mines at Kawardha-Daldali (district Kawardha) bauxite mines, there are pictures of 2007 where trucks are running on dirt roads spreading huge amount of dust in and around the area.
There is more. A public hearing for the environmental clearance for the expansion of the Lanjigarh refinery in Orissa took place amidst stiff opposition at Belamba village on 24 April 2009. Locally affected people had highlighted that the existing plant was already polluting the area around and it was causing severe health problems to both humans and animals (See video at this link). The public hearing had to be left incomplete by the concerned authorities, due to strong protests.
Jurors challenged


Today, over 170 organisations and individuals have come together to highlight all of this and much more to the Golden Peacock jury members, what they did not see, or chose to ignore. (See list of Jury members here). A letter embedded with various weblinks or email attachments with research studies, photographs and videos has been sent to the jurors, officials of WEF as well as India's newly elected Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh.

In all, this submission is no less than a comprehensive dossier attempting to highlight various well researched reasons to withdraw the award to the company and at same time initiate strong action. Addressed to the jurors, the letter seeks, "As jurors, you would have to explain how you chose to award a company that in the words of the Norwegian Government's Council of Ethics is clearly involved in "human rights violations." The dossier lays out a torrid controversy of fraud and financial malpractices shrouding this company. We hope, as jurors and persons of eminence, you would have the good sense to preserve your integrity by dissociating yourselves from this company in particular, and the Golden Peacock Awards, in general."
On 12 June, the Himalaya Niti Abhiyan (HNA) and activists from different parts of the country organised a protest outside the awards ceremony at Palampur, in tandem with the submission to the jury member with signatories from across the country. HNA also sent a letter dated 9 June to the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh requesting him to refrain from participating in the award ceremony. The letter also clearly rejects the sanctity of the award and it being conferred to Vedanta.
Following the furore, the jury has withheld the announcement of the award. Its members now contend that the full facts about the company were not brought to their attention earlier. Pending a second examination of the facts, it was announced that the award would be held back. None of the Himachal State government officials who were to attend the award ceremony did so.