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Certainly it may not have helped in the furore that followed a UN CITES decision to allow Chinese access to Africa’s ivory that two Chinese women were caught in Kenya, a country opposed to the deal, trying to smuggle more that 36 pieces of ivory worth millions of dollars.

Stinking or controversial as it may have been, China now has the wonderful opportunity to stock “legally obtained” African ivory in the mix of those acquired illegally in a superbly coordinated international ring that continues to deplete Africa of its wildlife resources.

Chinese nationals have been implicated in illegal ivory seizures in more than 20 African nations in the last few years.

What’s worse, the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a 173-nation agreement charged with ensuring a sustainable international trade in wild animals and plants, has sanctioned it all.

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It was only yesterday that the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) - the ruling party in India - was negotiating the Nuclear Deal with the United States, in an attempt to boost the country’s Nuclear Power sector. And now that the deal is set and ready to be signed, the Government is itself struggling to stay in power. Energy and ‘Power’ have indeed been closely associated in the recent past and politics is known to be governed by the energy sector. But when the world’s largest democracy faces a political crisis over an energy policy, we can safely conclude that in the climate constrained world of today, the only way to stay in power is to get the energy policy right!

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Researchers turn to international cooperation to save Asia’s 7′th longest river.

Urbanization, growing slums, intensive farming, damming, and warring political ideologies are just a few of the hurdles that researchers from Helsinki University of Technology will need to overcome to protect the Mekong River, one of the most important water sources in Southeast Asia.

Luckily, they have a plan. To save the river, researchers have developed what they are calling the ‘3E principle’: the idea that “waters should be used to provide economic well-being to the people, without compromising social equity and environmental sustainability.”

Putting this principle into practice means working closely with each of the countries that benefits from the Mekong River (China and Tibet, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam) to safeguard the river’s life-giving water. Read the rest of this entry »

In continuing with its commitment to bring together and unite the youth from across India, to tackle the issue of climate change and demand stricter policy level interventions to mitigate the same, the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) – the youngest Indian coalition on the issue – has called for an Indian Youth Summit on Climate Change (IYSoCC). The summit will take place in the Indian cyber city of Hyderabad (now also known as Cyberabad) from 7th to 10th August, 2008 in the Infosys campus and will be the voice of young India, to secure and safeguard the future of the Nation and the Planet. The summit will also highlight the importance and need of youth representation in policy level decisions and push to ensure that the voice of the youth is heard for the fact that it is the future of the youth which is actually at stake.

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Pett Corby, the author of e-book, ‘How to Avoid Unplanned Pregnancy Every Time You Have Sex - WITHOUT Using Contraceptive Drugs’ has recently launched a web based awareness campaign on the subject.

Contraceptives Are Likely to Endanger the Health of Early Users

Reproductive health is recognized as a human right. According to the United Nations, it is part of an individual’s right to health. However, according to Pett Corby, hardly anyone knows to avoid unplanned pregnancy by using natural methods. Young women who fall pregnant routinely undergo abortions and resort to the use of contraceptive drugs with dangerous side-effects. According to a study of early contraceptive use conducted Sweden in 1991, the risk of developing breast cancer was 820% higher in women who started using the pill before the age of 20, than for healthy non-users of the same age. Early use of the contraceptive pill is also associated with a increased risk for cervical cancer.
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It is official, and the pronouncement was made by none other than the head of state himself: albinos in Tanzania are an endangered species and must be protected!

President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete recently ordered a massive police crackdown on witchdoctors who lure and kill albino people for body parts to be used in ritualistic healing sessions with their clients as a talisman for good luck.

Woe unto you if you are an albino in this poor east Africa nation of 39 million people. The government says 19 have been murdered in 2008, but activists claim the figure could be as high as 60, in a country where more than 160,000 are said to suffer the genetic condition in which the person lacks pigmentation in the eyes, skin and hair.

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US Presidential Candidate Barack Obama made it clear again this week that he would not have attended the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing because of concern over China’s policies in Tibet and Sudan. His statements came in response to President Bush’s contrasting decision to attend the opening ceremonies.

However, in recent months, Senator Obama has also expressed some mixed feelings about boycotting the Olympics.

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For pint-size designs, these electric cars seem to dream of a global revolution where many fear to tread, or have tried with not very impressive results. And think about it, these cars are 100% recyclable!

But Th!nk Global, yes, think with an exclamation mark, a Norwegian company buoyed by undisclosed funding injection by Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and RockPort Capital Partners, is rolling out the Ox, Open and City in North America within three years after a gallant start in Europe and I can’t stop to think when they’ll ever get to Africa.

Think cars are gas-free, city cars that will start selling in the US next year but the actual mass roll out is slated for sometime in 2011, and the company has recently opened its North American division to steer the promising mad drive from the gas pumps.

Which, I think, is good news for those who feel fuel prices are already over the top, with more pump shocks yet to come if the global crude price projection is anything to go by?

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There is no consensus among water analysts on whether there will be global wars over water ownership.

According to UNESCO, globally there are 262 international river basins: 59 in Africa, 52 in Asia, 73 in Europe, 61 in Latin America and the Caribbean and 17 in North America — overall, 145 countries have territories that include at least one shared river basin.

UNESCO states that between 1948 and 1999, there have been 1,831 “international interactions” recorded, including 507 conflicts, 96 neutral or non-significant events and, most importantly, 1,228 instances of cooperation around water-related issues.

As a result, some experts argue that the idea of water wars is rather farfetched given the precedent of water cooperation that has been exhibited by many of the countries around the world.

“Despite the potential problem, history has demonstrated that cooperation, rather than conflict, is likely in shared basins,” says UNESCO.
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You could be excused for thinking that Australia is on top of its environmental problems based on the amount of talk that business directs towards the issue. But our regulator’s recent swoop on tyre-manufacturer Goodyear’s inflated sales pitch shows that as green issues become mainstream, you have to be more wary of manufactures’ claims, not less.

It would be nice to think that as the world collectively wakes up to its immense environmental challenge that business could be relied on to direct its muscle and intelligence towards addressing these problems, authentically. Read the rest of this entry »