Earth Hour

Let's celebrate Earth Hour...

Turn off your lights, electrical lights that is, for one hour tonight.... Starting from 830pm to 930pm.

Lend your supports to the initiatives to make our Earth, our home, a better one.

An hour of our time will go a long way....

Sent from Haza Hilmy's BlackBerry® device

UN rejects export ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna

By MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer Michael Casey, Ap Environmental Writer – Thu Mar 18, 2:24 pm ET
DOHA, Qatar – A U.S.-backed proposal to ban the export of Atlantic bluefin tuna prized in sushi was rejected Thursday by a U.N. wildlife meeting, with scores of developing nations joining Japan in opposing a measure they feared would devastate fishing economies.
It was a stunning setback for conservationists who had hoped the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, would give the iconic fish a lifeline. They joined the proposal's sponsor Monaco in arguing that extreme measures were necessary because the stocks have fallen by 75 percent due to widespread overfishing.
"Let's take science and throw it out the door," said Susan Lieberman, director of international policy with the Pew Environment Group in Washington. "It's pretty irresponsible of the governments to hear the science and ignore the science. Clearly, there was pressure from the fishing interests. The fish is too valuable for its own good."
As the debate opened, Monaco painted a dire picture for a once-abundant species that roams across vast stretched of the Atlantic Ocean and can grow to as big as 1,500 pounds.
It has been done in by the growing demand for raw tuna for traditional dishes such as sushi and sashimi. The bluefin variety — called "hon-maguro" in Japan — is particularly prized with a 200-kilogram (440-pound) Pacific bluefin tuna fetched a record 20.2 million yen ($220,000) last year.
"This exploitation is no longer exploitation by traditional fishing people to meet regional needs," Monaco's Patrick Van Klaveren told delegates. "Industrial fishing of species is having a severe effect on numbers of this species and its capacity to recover. We are facing a real ecosystem collapse."
But it became clear that the proposal had little support. Only the United States, Norway and Kenya supported the proposal outright. The European Union asked that implementation be delayed until May 2011 to give authorities time to respond to concerns about overfishing.
Fishing nations from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean complained any ban would damage their fishing communities and that fears of the stock's collapse were overstated. Libya, in a rambling defense of its position, went so far as accusing Monaco of lying and trying to mislead the delegates before calling for the snap vote.
Japan, which imports 80 percent of Atlantic bluefin and has led the opposition to the ban, acknowledged stocks were in trouble but echoed a growing consensus at the meeting that CITES should have no role in regulating tuna and other marine species. It expressed willingness to accept lower quotas for bluefin tuna but wanted those to come from the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT, which currently regulates the trade.
"Japan is very much concerned about the status of Atlantic bluefin tuna and Japan has been working so hard for many years to ensure recovery," Masanori Miyahara, chief counselor of the Fisheries Agency of Japan, told delegates. "But our position is very simple. Let us do this job in ICCAT, not in CITES. This position is shared by majority of Asian nations."
Afterward, Miyahara welcomed the decision but admitted the pressure would be on his country and others who depend on the Atlantic bluefin to abide by ICCAT. It ruled in November to reduce its quota from 22,000 tons to 13,500 tons for this year. The body has also vowed to rebuild the stock by 2022, which could include closing some fisheries if necessary.
"I feel more responsibly to work for the recovery of the species," Miyahara said. "So it's kind of a heavy decision for Japan too. The commitment is much heavier than before."
But the European Union's Gael de Rotalier said the vote set a worrying precedent and showed there was widespread mistrust about giving CITES any role in marine issues.
That could bode ill for several other proposals still pending, including several regulating the trade in sharks and one dealing with red and pink corals. If that would occur, a meeting that was expected to boost the protection of marine species wood be seen by many environmentalists as a failure.
"We were expecting to have a real debate but it was not possible," de Rotalier said. "There was a strong feeling in the room against any involvement of CITES in marine issues. They were making it a matter of principle and not looking at the merits of the case."
The tuna defeat came hours after delegates rejected a U.S. proposal to ban the international sale of polar bear skins and parts, suggesting that economic interests at this meeting were trumping conservation.
The Americans argued that the sale of polar bears skins is compounding the loss of the animals' sea ice habitat due to climate change. There are projections that the bear's numbers, which are estimated at 20,000 to 25,000, could decline by two-thirds due by 2050 due to habitat loss in the Arctic.
But Canada, Greenland and several indigenous communities argued the trade had little impact on the white bears' population and would adversely affect their economies.

More HERE

Plight of the tiger

There are less than 3,000 tigers left roaming the planet, a drastic decline from 100,000 tigers just a short century ago. There used to be nine tiger sub-species worldwide, but in the last 70 years, three have gone extinct - the Balinese, Caspian and Javan. Globally, the tiger has lost 93% of its habitat in the last 100 years.

The Malayan tiger Panthera tigris jacksoni found only in the Malay Peninsula, was recognized in 2004 as the ninth sub-species. In the 1950s, there were an estimated 3,000 tigers in Peninsular Malaysia. Today, only about 500 Malayan tigers are believed to remain, but no one knows for certain.

The initial decline in tiger numbers was primarily due to large-scale loss of habitat but in more recent times, the most urgent threat is poaching for its body parts, persecution by angry villagers, and starvation as their prey is over-harvested.

Threats to the survival of wild tigers are mounting and a world without wild tigers may become a reality in our lifetime unless drastic measures are taken.

The tiger is endangered. It is in trouble, and the time to save the tiger is now or never. The Malayan tiger needs greater interest, concern and action from the Malaysian public.

More Malaysians must join the fight to save the tiger. It may not take much to push our tiger closer to extinction, but Malaysia must act urgently if we are to save our national icon of strength, beauty and courage.

________________________

Tiger beer worth more than real tigers in Malaysia

12 February 2010

Kuala Lumpur – We are just a day shy of entering the Year of the Tiger, the year of hope for wild Malayan tigers.

While news of heightened awareness for tigers flood the media, articles about a tiger brutally killed in the Bukit Tapah Forest Reserve in Perak, Malaysia, speak of the harsh reality faced by our Malayan tigers.

Responding to reports that a tiger had attacked an Orang Asli, the Perak Department of Wildlife and National Parks made the gruesome find of a dead tiger with a wire snare still entwined around its severed left forelimb. The tiger was trapped in the snare for a few days, shot in the eyes and other parts of its body and attacked with spears fashioned out of hard palm stalks. It is also believed to have been poisoned.

Read more...

From HERE

Bluefin on the brink

Monday 15 Feb, 2010
Sushi craze is pushing one special tuna close to extinction, reports Ocean Correspondent Cheryl-Samantha Owen

Life without sushi…? Judging by the popularity of the fishy food across the world, one wonders if we could cope.

But the day those perfectly timed (not too slow for fashion conscious diners to lose patience - not too fast to dry out the fish) conveyor belts present little more than rice and seaweed could be just around the corner. The Japanese-born sushi trend has turned out to be as big a threat to our oceans as pollution and warming temperatures.

Tuna, especially bluefin tuna, crowns the menu for sushi lovers and forms the basis of many fisheries world-wide.

All seven commercially fished species are being unsustainably exploited and three are already listed on the IUCN’s Red List as threatened with extinction.

Though they may be the golden goose for the fishing industry today, these magnificent fish will soon become the dodos of the sea if they are not offered immediate protection.

More than half a century of overfishing is pushing the bluefin to the brink, and scientists estimate that stocks are within three years of total collapse.

The stock of Eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna has already dropped below 15 per cent of its pre-exploitation levels, qualifying it for a ban on trade under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Due to the rarity premium paid by diners, it is very possible that the bounty on their heads will ensure that bluefin are hunted to actual extinction.

Last month a single bluefin tuna sold at a Japanese auction for $175,000.

Perverse as it is, the faster the tuna population plummets, the higher the price of this fish soars.

Pound for pound, bluefin can be more valuable than ivory.

Most people find the idea of tucking into a plate of elephant, snow leopard, whale, dolphin, or any of the perceived “cuddly” creatures of our world hard to swallow, yet serving up slices of this marvellous apex predator is like dining on sashimi of African cheetah.

The name tuna stems from the Greek “to rush” and for good reason.

The bluefin tuna can reach bursts of speed of 90 kilometres per hour. Its extraordinary internal and external designs combine to ignite an explosive power that gives the fish its astonishing attack capability.

It is one of the most highly evolved of all fishes. Starting life as microscopic larvae they can reach 15-feet in length and grow to almost 700 kilogrammes.

It’s the widest ranging of the tunas - stretching from the tropics to the Arctic.

Once revered and traditionally fished in the Mediterranean for three millennia, today there is a scramble to catch the last bluefin. Gone are they days when bluefin the size of cows were landed and fishing was fair.

Today fishermen are catching fish a third of the size in massive purse-seine nets that can capture three hundred fish in a single haul of the net.

With spotter planes radioing to boat captains the location of schooling bluefin below and “super freezers” stockpiling thousands of tonnes for a time when they have emptied our seas - the bluefin and other shark species like it do not stand a chance.

They will lose the battle unless immediate action is taken.

Tuna farming or ranching is no panacea.

Tuna ranching relies on the capture of juveniles from the wild.

It removes immature bluefin before they have even had a chance to spawn.

In addition, almost 20 pounds of fish go into the feed that makes one pound of bluefin - a ratio even worse than prawn farming.

The end of wild stocks will be the end of ranching and the end of bluefin sashimi.

How you can help
• Avoid eating bluefin and bigeye tuna
• If you don’t know what the tuna is, where it came from and how it was caught - don’t eat it. (Tuna cans often omit this information).
• Boycott restaurants that serve endangered species, such as bluefin tuna.
• The CITES meets in March this year to debate the fate of tuna.

Encourage your government to ban the trade on bluefin tuna.

From HERE

SAVE OUR SEAS.... Visit HERE

UAE National Environment Day (4th Feb, 2010)

Introduction
The last year has been a phenomenal one for progress in the fields of environmental protection and wildlife management in the UAE. While much of the progress has taken place without fanfare or publicity it is clear that government commitment, corporate support and greatly enhanced awareness of the general public all factors that have received sustained attention over previous years have borne considerable fruit. The evidence for this progress is to be seen almost every where one looks in the Emirates, from the widespread improvements in environmental controls to the impressive wildlife breeding, conservation and public display projects. The fact that, after 10 years of careful study and habitat development, the greater flamingo finally bred successfully in Abu Dhabi during the winter of 1998–99, the first confirmed breeding of this species in the UAE and the first confirmed breeding anywhere on the mainland of the Arabian Peninsula, is much more than an ornithological triumph. It is also a reassuring confirmation that UAE policy on environment and species protection is actually working. As is well known in the UAE and among the world's leading conservationists, the role of Sheikh Zayed in protecting and rescuing Arabian wildlife has been crucial. He grew up close to nature and with a deep respect for the plants and animals that he encountered in the mountains, deserts, oases and coastal waters. While seeking to provide his people with the benefits of the modern world, he has never lost sight of the vital need to protect the natural one. Sheikh Zayed's government and the people have both been led by and, perhaps more importantly inspired by, his own appreciation for the environment and wildlife.

Over the years a number of government organizations have been established with the role of studying and protecting wildlife. Abu Dhabi’s Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA) has a major national role in this regard. In addition there are other regional departments which have their own programmes for environment protection, wildlife protection and, most importantly for increasing public awareness.

ENVIRONMENT DAY
The UAE's National Environment Day is by now a well established event that serves to focus the attention of government, the corporate sector and the general public on matters of environmental concern. On the occasion of the 1999 National Environment Day, Sheikh Zayed once again commented on the importance of the environment, calling it ‘a dear part of our heritage, civilizations and future’. This year's event focused on the particular needs of the marine environment, with the slogan: 'Together for the protection of our marine environment'. The President also announced that he had ordered there levant authorities to issue any new regulations they deemed necessary to ensure protection of the environment.

Read more HERE

Protecting The 'Malayan Tiger'

By Mazani Chan Yat Sin

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 (Bernama) -- English poet William Blake of the 17th century era became fascinated by the tiger to the extent that he wrote a poem entitled 'The Tyger' where the opening lines are:

"Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"

As the Chinese community in Malaysia and rest of the world await the countdown for the arrival of the Year Of The Tiger, experts on wildlife conservation are struggling in their efforts to prevent the Malayan tiger from becoming extinct.

Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department's Director for Biodiversity Conservation, Mohd Nawayai Yasak said the population of the Malayan tiger in the Peninsula now is about 500.(According to sources, the Malayan tiger is not found in the jungles of Sabah and Sarawak. As for its cousin, the Sumatran tiger which is found in Sumatra, is bigger in size and length as compared to the Malaysian species).

MALAYAN TIGER

The Malayan tiger, Panthera Tigris Jacksoni, can only be found in the Peninsula and most of these mammals are in the thick jungles of Perak, Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu.

"The population size of the Malayan tiger is getting smaller and we need to do something before this species become extinct," he told Bernama in Perhilitan's office at Jalan Cheras here recently.

Throughout 2008, Perhilitan's game rangers carried out 174 operations and destroyed some 1,000 tiger traps and snares.

"Most of the snares set up by poachers are of the wire type where it can endanger not only the big cats but other animals that pass through the spot," he said.

WILD AND BREED

The tiger population in the country dropped significantly from the some 3,000 in the 1950s to only about 300-400 in the 1990s.

"From 1989 to 2008, we have successfully bred 50 tiger cubs at the Melaka Zoo.

"We carried out two methods. The ex-situ breeding where the tiger born in the zoo is left to be with its group while the in-situ breeding involves the tiger that roam in the jungles and allowed to breed and move freely there," said Mohd Nawayai.

"However the cost for the ex-situ breeding is high as it incurs various expenditures like the tiger cub's upkeep, its food and the likes as a tiger is known to consume a lot of food," he said.

In the move to improve the conservation efforts, the authorities are reviewing the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 to enable stiffer fines to be imposed on poachers and wildlife smugglers.

NGO AND STATE GOVERNMENT

The cooperation from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and state governments is crucial towards protecting the tigers, he said.

"We cannot do this alone. That is why we are hoping for the collaboration from the NGOs like the WWF, the public and state governments."

"We welcome the effort of the state government to gazette the state forests and reserve jungles as the permanent place for the conservation of tigers in the country," he said.

Meanwhile the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia has created a unit known as 'Team Ronda' to curb activities that can lead to the extinction of the mammals.

"Team Ronda comprises 10 volunteers from WWF and will conduct patrols at spots that draw the presence of poachers," said the programme's officer Ahmad Zafir Abdul Wahab at WWF Malaysia office in Petaling Jaya.

"From early January 2009 until today, Team Ronda and Perhilitan have destroyed 114 tiger traps installed by poachers at the areas fringing Tasik Temenggor and Belum Forest Reserve," he said.

PUBLIC AWARENESS

Inconjunction with the arrival of the Year Of The Tiger, WWF has conducted a programme known as 'TX2' to double the population of the Malayan tiger.

WWF Malaysia corporate communications officer Sara Sukor said the programme is staged to boost public awareness on the importance of conserving the tigers.

"The programme is organised by the WWF and held worldwide. We want to deliver a message via this programme that the Malayan tiger is in danger of extinction," she said.

"The TX2 programme is not only to double the population of the tigers but also to ensure that the mammals are free from extinction," she said.

The programme uses the tiger as its mascot and contributions received from the public as well as the corporate and private sectors will be used to carry out protection and conservation efforts for these mammals.

From BERNAMA

Activist aims to fly around the world on solar power

Bertrand Piccard, 51 from Switzerland, plans to push the boundaries of solar power by flying around the world in a solar aircraft. Bertrand Piccard from Switzerland plans to push the boundaries of solar power by flying around the world in a solar aircraft. He will talk about the project during the forum.

Abu Dhabi: Renewable energy experts and enthusiasts will throng the capital this month for the World Future Energy Summit taking place from January 18.
Among them will be one man who plans to push the boundaries of solar power by flying around the world in a solar aircraft.
Bertrand Piccard, 51 from Switzerland, is the President of Solar Impulse and an internationally renowned lecturer. He is recorded, along with Brian Jones, to be the first to travel on a non-stop balloon flight around the globe.
While in Abu Dhabi he will present his current project to fly around the world in a solar aircraft.
Promise
"I came up with this idea following the first non-stop, around the world balloon flight in 1999. To achieve this success, we took off with almost four tonnes of liquid propane and landed with only 40 kilos," said Piccard, whose grandfather also set world records in gas balloons.
"Realising that the lack of fuel could have failed our expedition, I made a promise to myself. The next time I'd fly around the world, I'd do it without fuel."
Piccard will be among the speakers of a session titled Achieving the unachievable: around the world in a solar plane. Other panellists include Duncan Hedditch, Chief Executive Emal and Peter Gutman, Global Head, Renewable Energy and Environmental Finance, Standard Chartered Bank and or Katrina Landis, Group Vice-President, BP Alternative Energy. "I am looking forward to talking about the project…[I] hope that it helps to demonstrate the potential of renewable energies," said Piccard.
Solar Impulse's project and core challenge involves flying an aircraft while generating its own power, both day and night, by solar energy. To create this zero fuel aircraft Solar Impulse has been working on new aeronautical solutions. The focus is on reducing energy consumption by using new construction and aerodynamic features.
Daily lives
Other sessions will be taking place on examples of how renewable energy can and is being applied to people's daily lives, including e-mobility, green building and architecture, vehicles, fuels and power trains.
The third edition of the World Future Energy will gather world leaders, experts and investors from 100 countries. Over 600 exhibitors from 50 countries will be exhibiting at the event.
Fast facts: when and where
WHAT: World Future Energy Summit
WHEN: January 18-21
WHERE: Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Centre
For more information on the programme or to register, visit www.worldfutureenergysummit.com

By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter, Gulf News (HERE)

12 tips to prevent climate change

In light of the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, we look at 12 simple ways to help prevent the threat of climate change
Gulf News Report
Published: 15:38 December 7, 2009

Leave the car, take the Metro
Driving your car an average of 16,000km a year can release up to 2.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Try using public transport whenever you can especially now Dubai Metro is up and running, or carpool to work. You can also keep your car in good health with properly pumped tyres to minimise air pollution. Driving with under-inflated tyres can affect your vehicle's gas mileage by two to three percent. Over a year, this is like wasting an entire tank of petrol.

Go local
Did you know that the average food product travels about 1,500 miles to get to the supermarket? And that transporting food accounts for 30,800 tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year? Try to shop for locally produced fruits and vegetables whenever possible. You can even opt for organic produce once in a while which is grown with no pesticides or fertilisers that can pollute groundwater reserves.

Water waste
Making plastic water bottles for drinking water releases significant amounts of air pollutants that you should try to use multi-use bottles, like the one you'd use during exercise. The manufacture of one kilogram of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) - enough to make about 17 1.5-litre bottles - entails the release into the air of 40 grams of hydrocarbons, 25 grams of sulfur oxides, 18 grams of carbon monoxide, 20 grams of nitrogen oxides, and 2.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

Bin the burgers
Burgers not only harm your waistline but also the environment. From field to fork, growing animals to eat accounts for about 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions globally - more than emissions from transportation. Beef and lamb require by far the greatest amount of energy while poultry, dairy or pork requires far fewer energy inputs. For people who choose to eat meat and dairy products, reducing your consumption of animal foods is the most effective way to reduce your carbon "FoodPrint." According to a recent study, the fossil fuel requirements of an omnivorous diet were more than twice that of a vegetarian and seven times greater than a vegan. Every meal makes a difference, so you can begin by switching to a veggie option once a week.

Recycle, recycle, recycle
Despite the fact that bottled-drinking-water bottles can be totally recycled, of the 14 billion water bottles sold in the United States in 2002, 90 per cent wound up in landfills. There are recycling bins in the UAE so locate one immediately in a school or supermarket near your home. You can also recycle paper packaging and glass. It might take the extra effort of getting your valuable recyclable material to a bin rather than have someone pick it up, but it is well worth it in the long run.

Offset when you jet off
Going home or on holiday can put a serious amount of CO2 emissions into the air as you will most likely be flying out of the UAE. Dubai to Paris will emit around 1200 kgs of CO2 according to www.carbonfund.org which calculates the distance of your trip and offsets on your behalf by financing three projects based on renewable energy, methane, energy efficiency or reforestation and avoided deforestation. Offsetting that return flight to France will cost just Dh44. Try it with any destination.

Save water, save money
Save water to save money and save the environment. You might not realise it but the UAE is suffering from a serious water shortage. The water that comes out of your taps is essentially sea water that has gone through an expensive and energy-consuming process called desalination. All the salt is removed so the water meets international quality standards, but isn't it a waste to just let it run out the drain? Take shorter showers to reduce water use. It's precious. And make sure you have a faucet aerator on each faucet. These inexpensive appliances conserve heat and water, while keeping water pressure high.

Go easy on the A/C
Turn off the air conditioning. As temperatures drop around the region, open the window and let the breeze in. You should also use a drying rack to dry your clothes all year round - there's enough sunshine to dry it quickly. You could also set your thermostat a few degrees lower if you really need to have it on. In the summer set it a few degrees higher and you'll notice the savings you make on your bills. Behind the scenes, less energy will be consumed to create the electricity that powers your A/C.

Recycle your phone
Keep electronics out of the rubbish. You don't need to throw your mobile phone away, or your television because you can also recycle it. There is an ongoing phone recycling campaign going on with Nokia, who accept all phones. Drop-off points are listed here: http://mea.nokia.com/find-a-store-en/store-locator/application-container?storelocator_content_country=AE. Your local municipality should have information on where you can take your hazardous products. E-waste contains mercury and toxics that never degrade and can accumulate in soil and water bodies year after year to levels sufficient to contaminate the food chain.

Switch to energy saving lightbulbs
How many residents does it take to change a lightbulb? Change all your lightbulbs to energy saving bulbs which consume about one-fifth of the power of incandescent bulbs, last 10 times longer and emit 70 per cent less heat, thereby reducing the need for air conditioning. Lighting accounts for about 15 per cent of the electricity bill. The best way to reduce the bill is to reduce the cost of lighting by using energy-efficient LED light bulbs. When you reduce your bill you reduce your impact.

Turn it off
Don't leave your electrical equipment on. A third of household energy use is down to TVs, DVDs and computers being left on stand-by which uses almost as much electricity as it does when it's switched on. So to turn it off and unplug. In the UK it was found that gadgets left unnecessarily on standby or connected to chargers squander electricity worth £740m each year and are responsible for 4m tonnes of excess carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Say NO to plastic bags
Say NO to plastic bags and use one of your own made of cloth, jute or even a backpack. As long as you reuse it and even minimise the amount of plastic bags leaving the store, you are helping. Those 'free' bags are not really doing you any favours so pack your own shopping and use your own bags. Plastic bags are ugly, kill wildlife and pollute the environment as they are discarded of carelessly.

From HERE

Welcome to Hopenhagen

On December 7, leaders from 192 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to determine the fate of our planet.

Hopenhagen is a movement, a moment and a chance at a new beginning. The hope that in Copenhagen this December – during the United Nations Climate Change Conference – we can build a better future for our planet and a more sustainable way of life. It is the hope that we can create a global community that will lead our leaders into making the right decisions. The promise that by solving our environmental crisis, we can solve our economic crisis at the same time.

Hopenhagen is change – and that change will be powered by all of us.

OUR MISSION

To connect every person, every city, and every nation to Copenhagen. To give everyone hope, and a platform from which to act. To create a grassroots movement that’s powerful enough to influence change.

Sign up to be a citizen of Hopenhagen HERE

Save the Rain Forests

I was watching CNN in my hotel room in Tehran when a promo showing, among others, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford and Princes Charles, William and Harry appeared. It was about the Prince of Wales’ initiative to save the rain forest.... It's called The Prince's Rainforests Project.

Suddenly, the environmentalist in me came out.

I realized that we have been destroying and polluting our world, our home, with our activities (in the name of "Development") and we seemed to content that it will heal itself. Well, obviously, we were wrong.

How can we expect a fallen tree to grow back if we didn't plant a new one? I think most of the people associated with the environmental movement may have heard about the principles of Sustainable Development.

Sustainable Development has a lot of definition, depending upon from which perpective we are looking from. One of them is:

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." - Brundtland Commission, 1987

In layman's term, "we shouldn't take more than we can give back, for the sake of our future generations".

Let's look at the issue at hands.... the rain forests. If we keep destroying our rain forests, which is one of our natural heritages, our future generations will have to pay for it dearly.... to the very least. If nothing is done now, the Green Lungs of our World will be just a piece of history then. The whole world will be ecologically un-balanced. And the effect will definitely be devastating. It would be like a self-inflicted Armageddon, if I may say so.

So, let’s stop tropical deforestation, in fact all deforestations, and lend our hands in keeping our heritage intact. If not for us, let’s do it for our children, our grandchildren....and the future generations.

Please click HERE and send your message. Insya-Allah, your effort will not go in vain.

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Here are some important things to know about our rain forest.....

Rainforests wrap around the equator of the earth like a green belt. After millions of years of evolution, they are the most biologically rich ecosystems on our planet. Tropical rainforests contain a hugely rich diversity of species of plants and animals. They are also home to many different indigenous people, who have unique and treasured cultures.

Valuable resources for everyone
Rainforests are precious resources for all of us – not just for the nations in which they are found. They provide vital ecosystem benefits for the whole world. They store water, regulate rainfall and provide a home to over half the planet’s biodiversity. But more importantly, they also play a crucial role in climate change. And that’s why we’re worried.

When it comes to climate change, the destruction of rainforests has a double whammy effect for everyone. Rainforests absorb almost a fifth of the world’s man-made CO2 emissions every year. But tropical deforestation releases an extra 17% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. So if the rainforests are destroyed, it’s bad news on both counts.

Rapid deforestation
Rainforests around the world are being destroyed at an alarming rate. This is increasingly due to destructive logging operations and conversion of the land for farming use. Cutting down and burning tropical forests to clear the land in this way enables rainforest nations to provide globally traded commodities, such as timber, palm oil, beef and soy. The world’s population is likely to increase from 6 billion to 9 billion over the next 40 years. This population growth, combined with rising incomes, will lead to a continual increasing demand for food, animal feed and fuel. And this, in turn, will lead to more destruction of rainforests – with devastating effects for everyone.

The need for urgent action
The Prince’s Rainforests Project believes that emergency funding is needed to help protect rainforests and to encourage rainforest nations to continue to develop without the need for deforestation.

If we don’t take action, we could lose another 100 million hectares of tropical forests over the next 10 years – that’s an area the size of Egypt.

Saving the rainforests will give the world a better chance to achieve its goals of stabilising climate change, while also preserving important ecosystem benefits, not to mention the fact that over one billion of the poorest people on Earth depend on the rainforests for their livelihoods.

The need for action is urgent. Recent research shows that it will be impossible to avoid catastrophic climate change without it [1].

Sources
1 McKinsey & Company, ‘Global GHG Abatement Cost Curve v2' (2009); ClimateWorks Foundation / McKinsey & Company ‘Project Catalyst'

From HERE