Wednesday June 11, 2008, 10:18 pm
"Africa is one of the regions least responsible for climate change, and is also least able to afford the costs of adaptation," said Marthinus Van Schalkwyk, South Africa's minister of environmental affairs and tourism.
Well, but only partially true. Record rainfalls in some areas inland have ripped the Zambezi basin apart this year and often nearly destroy Mozambique. The concept of wild rivers is a must though, so the damming of these magnificent rivers should be out of the question. That is one proposal quietly being driven by the big "alphabets" that want to control this continent. Africa has unique problems. Lack of effective irrigation systems that aren't breding grounds for its deadliest killer is just one.
And there is hope: "There are many places across Africa where people have taken action — where there are more trees than 30 years ago, where wetlands have sprung back, and where land degradation has been countered," Steiner said. "These are the beacons we need to follow to ensure the survival of Africa's people and their economically important nature-based assets."
Thanks for the post Karen.

Thursday June 12, 2008, 4:44 am

This is getting scary, but people still refuse to change their ways (especially politicians, as usual... sometimes I wonder why the hell we have politicians!).

Thursday June 12, 2008, 6:26 am
It is up to all mankind to fix this problem not a select few, we all need to come together as human beings of all nations and work as one. and be this Worlds Guardian that's what we were born to this Earth to do

Thursday June 12, 2008, 11:06 am
NOTED WITH THANKS! BY THE WAY: WISE WORDS MICK!

Thursday June 12, 2008, 12:33 pm
Africa has been subject to climate change for eons, just as has North America and Europe. Their problems are a result of the colonization that took place in the 19th Century. Read the history of the Belgian Congo under King Leopold.

It's not CO2 that did this. It is not CO2 that funds militarism and genocide.

Thursday June 12, 2008, 1:02 pm
One of the big threats caused by climate change is the water shortages that it is and will continue to cause - ripe conditions for resource wars...

Thanks for the information Karen -maybe it will wake some up :)

Thursday June 12, 2008, 7:20 pm
Many of our problems are caused by climate changes Judy. Just because this article reflects a current issue, it doesn't discount the years of drought and the years when the Sahara desert was a verdant landscape. Colonization is part but colonialism played a worse role. I assume thats what you were going for. People should read about it up north. Down here its still with us here in the DRC. Sorry Chris, but in this I respectfully disagree. Perhaps in the rest of the world, but I'm not convinced that is true here based on a presumption of where the comment is headed eg other discussions I've seen. Yes it is water but its because of the lack of effective irrigation and a very shallow aquaphor away from the Great Rift Valley. The Nile, Congo and Zambezi Rivers have adequate water supplies. Countries that currently lay fallow it is not because of drought in most cases.It's mankind's greed and stupidity. Africa's great deserts play a role in the issue too. If we assume the earth is a living organism, deserts are part of that and want to grow. In areas they dominate they do so. For me though the Namib needs to always stay the Namib.To the Sans the Kalahari needs to stay the Kalahari. In many paces droughts have always run for decades since recorded history. Where I live we may not see much ran for 10+ yrs at a time, going back in Sans history and Dogon history its been much drier at times. Global warming? That your's and Judy's argument. Our outlook is more narrow. Africa will figure it out for Africans if allowed to do so. Its already started in places like Malawi and others. Right now its small scale but it will grow. Get the EU and the WTO/WB/IMF out of it and it will grow faster.The major cause of famine here isn't because of a lack of water, poor soil or increased heat. It's because countries were told to grow maize only, no cassava, only certain types of squash etc. The EU through the WTO has dictated to Africa what it could grow for decades. That has depleted the soil especially in view of the lack of an ability to use fertilizer because of environmental standards capriciously employed by the alphabets.
Fun pictures to look at though. I wonder where the current ones are. And 400 pages of report? Distributed to how many people, nations,groups and other entities. Hope it's published on carbon neutral paper. :)

Friday June 13, 2008, 12:46 pm
Thanks, Karen. Noted.