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OCTOBER  2 0 0 8Issue 21
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Several hurricanes this past month have caused extensive environmental damage and the loss of human life in the Dominican Republic and particularly in Haiti, which has been ravaged. Many of our readers have asked for an update and wonder how to help.....we are publishing a letter from the founders of the Haiti Education Foundation, with email contact and website - so if you wish to volunteer any form of assistance, please contact them. You can also read more about this incredible non-profit organization in our May, 2008 issue . Dear Friends of HEF (Haiti Education Foundation) I am sure that you have seen and read about the severe flooding and destruction in Haiti following the hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike. Reports from our priests and OCDES board members are grim. There is wide spread hunger and devastation from loss of crops, livestock and shelter. The following is a letter written by Pere Michaud, priest in charge of one of schools in the mountains: Please accept my excuses for not having already responded to your email, but we have not had any signal in most parts of Haiti, including Trouin, because of the hurricanes, both Gustav and Hanna. Their destruction, especially in Trouin, but also in other areas of the country, has been enormously sinister. The people in Trouin are truly victims from the water and wind which penetrated the houses of hundreds of People in this area. Many houses were completely destroyed as roof tiles and whole roofs were blown away by the horrible winds, not to mention the relentless water and mud running everywhere. The livestock is gone. Many gardens producing food were washed away by the unceasing water. Fruit trees (oranges, mangoes, bananas, avocados) were blown to the ground before the fruit was ready for harvesting. So, in the face of these hurricanes, people living in the Trouin area, have become even poorer, truly the victims of grave misfortune. With all this, what they need is food and a new means for daily lodging and shelter. This is but one of the 40 villages where our schools are located. As Pere Michaud said, we believe that we must send help for food and shelter most immediately. The Haiti Education Foundation would like to request your help. No amount is too large or too small. Together, we can do big things to help our Haitian friends in this perilous time. Our estimates to help each family recover is as follows: Seeds for replanting.............$30Food for a family..................$50 Goat...................................$20 Cow.....................................$50 Chickens..............................$10 Shelter.................................$100 These funds will be distributed by our priests and OCDES board members to those most in need. As you might well imagine, many of our schools have also been damaged or destroyed. Please continue to pray for all who are suffering. We will have an update as information becomes available. Thank you for your help. Frances and Mike Landers Founders of HEF Email for Frances Landers: franland17@sbcglobal.net Website  AES LOOKING TO DEVELOP WIND POWER IN PANAMA The production of wind power has a high cost. AES Company wants to buy wind power generation projects whose owners cannot finance the costs. In particular they are seeking projects that are in the development process and which can receive licenses for construction Currently AES is building a hydroelectric project, Changuinola I, located in the province of Bocas del Toro. "Previously, AES started the evaluation process for the Barrigón project, in Chiriquí province, for the production of wind power, but the location did not meet required conditions for things such as wind speeds, among others, and it did not receive approval from the Public Services Authority," said Javier Giorgio, the manager of AES Panama. "Now we are negotiating with the owners of projects that might be viable to buy them and to develop them as an alternative source of energy," said Giorgio. What happens is that these projects are very expensive and many companies start to develop them and although they are viable, they soon discover that they can not handle the required investment, he added. According to Giorgio, bringing a wind power generation project on line can cost as much as $250 million dollars. He added that due to the confidentiality of the negotiations he could not reveal the names of the projects that AES is interested in. At the moment there are 24 licenses being processed for the development of wind powered generation projects according to the ASEP. The projects are concentrated in the provinces of Colon, Coclé, Chiriquí, Veraguas and the western part of the Panama province. ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE Environmentalists have long said the world should concentrate on preventing climate change, not adapting to it. That is changing. For years, greens said adaptation - coping with climate change, rather than stopping it - was a bit like putting out a fire on the Titanic: desirable, no doubt, but the main thing was to change course. In July, however, a committee of America's Senate set aside $20m for international adaptation efforts. Two things have changed attitudes. One is evidence that global warming is happening faster than expected. Manish Bapna of the World Resources Institute, a think-tank in Washington, D.C., believes "it is already too late to avert dangerous consequences, so we must learn to adapt." Second, evidence is growing that climate change hits two specific groups of people disproportionately and unfairly. They are the poorest of the poor and those living in island states: 1 billion people in 100 countries. Angus Friday, Grenada's ambassador to the UN who speaks for island states there, says the state's most vulnerable to climate change are least able to participate effectively in climate-change talks. Mary Robinson, a former president of Ireland and UN high commissioner for human rights, says that there should be a "rights-based" approach to climate change, meaning poor countries should have some redress under international law for the environmental costs they suffer. As the costs of climate change bear down on the poor, so their demands grow that rich countries, which caused most of the problems, should help them cope. | ||
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LAWSUIT SEEKS ENDANGERED STATUS FOR TWO VIRGIN ISLANDS PLANTS Two plants native to the Virgin Islands are at the heart of a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The Center for Biological Diversity, headquartered in Tucson, Ariz., filed the suit in federal court in Atlanta challenging the service's 2006 decision not to place the two plants on the Endangered Species List. The plants are the Agave eggersiana and Solanum conocarpum. Both are almost extinct in the wild, but the Fish & Wildlife Service chose two years ago not to list them as endangered. Agave eggersiana is a robust, perennial herb native only to hillsides and plains in the eastern dry districts of St. Croix. It has large funnel- or tubular-shaped flowers and can grow from 16 to 23 feet tall. Solanum conocarpum is a thornless, flowering shrub with delicate purple flowers. The plant may reach more than nine feet in height in dry, deciduous forest on the island of St. John. In 1998, Fish and Wildlife agreed that credible scientific information supported the listing, and agency officials committed to issuing a final finding within nine months. Six years later, the Service still had not done anything on the issue. In 2004 the Tucson-based center filed a lawsuit. The suit resulted in a settlement agreement requiring the wildlife service to submit a final finding by February 2006. At the time of the agreement, government officials indicated that, based on the scientific evidence, the service would likely choose to list the two plants, said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate with the center. "Then they did an about-face," he said Thursday. The service changed its position, disregarded the opinions of its own experts, and published a finding that stated neither species should be listed. "We are going to court seeking a ruling that their decision was arbitrary, illegal, and not based on the best available science," Miller said. Habitat for both plant species has disappeared due to intense deforestation. Now, residential and tourism-related development and grazing by feral animals also threaten the plants' habitats. Much of the suitable habitat for A. eggersiana is found on privately owned land slated for residential development. The suitable habitat includes dry scrub thicket, most of which has been severely degraded by feral goats grazing and the practice of burning off vegetation. There are only about 220 S. conocarpum plants left in the wild in two areas on St. John: 156 plants at Nanny Point on land recently donated to the Virgin Islands National Park and 60 plants on private land. But the plants are threatened by management practices such as trail and facility maintenance, as well as feral pigs, feral goats, Key deer, and donkeys. The plants on private land are at risk from residential and tourism development. NEW REPORT AVAILABLE ON ECOSYSTEMS AND CLIMATE CHANGE The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released a report that can help reduce the potential impacts of climate change on estuaries, forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and other sensitive ecosystems. The report, entitled Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources, identifies strategies to protect the environment as these changes occur. Managing our natural resources in the face of climate change "People always say 'Don't just tell us what will happen - tell us what we can do about it,'" said Dr. George Gray, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development. "By using the strategies outlined in this document, we can help managers protect our parks, rivers, and forests from possible future impacts of a changing climate." To develop this assessment, scientists studied national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers, national estuaries, and marine protected areas - all protected by the federal government. The report takes a unique approach by using the management goals set for each protected area to understand what strategies will increase the resilience of each ecosystem - in other words, increase the amount of change or disturbance that an ecosystem can absorb before it shifts to a different ecosystem. Using these strategies, managers can maintain the original goals set for these ecosystems under changing climatic conditions. The strategies will be useful to federal agencies and can also be broadly applied to lands and waters managed by other government or nongovernmental organizations. Key report findings The report finds that climate change can increase the impact of traditional stressors (such as pollution or habitat destruction) on ecosystems, and that many existing best management practices to reduce these stressors can also be applied to reduce the impacts of climate change. For example, current efforts to reverse habitat destruction by restoring vegetation along streams also increase ecosystem resilience to climate change impacts, such as greater amounts of pollutants and sediments from more intense rainfall. Our country's ability to adapt to climate change will depend on a variety of factors including recognizing the barriers to implementing new strategies, expanding collaboration among ecosystem managers, creatively re-examining program goals and authorities, and being flexible in setting priorities and managing for change. Contribution to the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) The Global Change Research Program in EPA's Office of Research and Development led the development of the report. It is one of 21 synthesis and assessment products commissioned by the CCSP. The peer-reviewed report provides the best-available science to date on management adaptations for ecosystems and resources. The CCSP was established in 2002 to provide the Nation with science-based knowledge to manage the risks and opportunities of changes in the climate and related environmental systems. The program is responsible for coordinating and integrating the research of 13 federal agencies on climate and global change. How to get the report To view online or obtain copies of Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources. For more information on the report. | ||
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