1
August 2008
ECOLOGY ENQUIRER : W O R L D I N F O R M A T I O N T R A N S F E R , I N C
P R O M O T I N G H E A L T H A N D E N V I R O N M E N T A L L I T E R A C Y
Inside This Issue Note from the Editor 1
From Tangshan to Sichuan: 1
Earthquake PTSD Relief in China
―Dominican Chernobyl‖ 6
Arsenic Poisoning in Bangladesh 7
Myanmar‘s Government Response to
Cyclone Nargis 8
Hurricanes of Florida vs. Katrina:
The Main Differences 10
The Pisco Earthquake: Shaking the basis of 12
Disaster-management programs in Peru
Africa‘s Population Dilemna: A Hindrance
To Sustainable Development 14
Europe‘s Garbage 16
Sakhalin: The Energy Projects 18
The Invasion of the Cane Toad 19
Destruction of Olive Groves in Palestine: 21
―The Third Nakba‖
Concluding Remarks 23
Note from the Editor By Gloria Liu
At our current rate of development, a precarious future
awaits us with open arms. As an increasing number of
governments around the world recognize the truth
behind this deadly premonition, efforts have been made
to stymie this rate of decline. That the Economic and
Social Council would meet this year to discuss
sustainable development and a great amount of talk is
now circulating around the expiring Kyoto Protocol is
a testament to this recognition. Yet, the effects of
human negligence are not all tangibly manifested in
crises like the food and oil crisis; rather, this
negligence has been heralded as contributing to the
frequency of natural disasters. This month‘s Ecology
Enquirer examines government responses to both
natural disasters like the Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar
and human-induced disasters like garbage build-up in
Naples. Our examination offers case studies from all
regions of the world in an attempt to offer a global
comparative perspective to facilitate comprehensive
analyses. Human negligence has induced a volatile
threat and governments bear witness to this truth in the
increasing number of disasters and crises arising on
their agendas, therefore, in compiling this edition, we
hope to offer some insight on our contemporary
plagues and the efficacy or inefficacy of certain
approaches.
From Tangshan to Sichuan: Earthquake PTSD Relief in China By Emmy Chow, Greta Liao, Kent To and Lillian Tsang
In 1976, the second most lethal earthquake in
history, with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter
scale, quietly flattened a sleeping Tangshan on the
night of July 28th. The catastrophe diverted some
officials‘ attention from their political instability in
the ―Year of Curse‖. However, relief work was
criticized as insincere and inadequate. Rescue
efforts were conducted secretly behind the world
curtain when the Chinese government turned its
back against international aid from the United
Nations. The exact death toll, estimated from
242,000 to 650,000 still remains uncertain.
Gloria is a rising senior at Wellesley College and as
an International Relations major she recognizes the
importance of looking at government responses to
sustainable development issues. Hence, she chose to
compile this particular issue to fulfill that purpose.
2
Complete Destruction of the City of
Tangshan by the July 28, 1976 Earthquake
(Photo source: China Earthquake
Administration)
Lu Guilan, rescued by soldiers
after being trapped for 13 days. (Wang Wenlan, 1976).
Thirty-two
years later, on
May 12th,
another deadly
earthquake with
the same
magnitude hit
Wenchuan,
Sichuan.
Hundreds of
thousands of
buildings,
especially
schools, were leveled, claiming more than
69,000 lives. The Chinese government, in
this case, was highly praised by the
international community for its immediate
response. Two months later, the direction of
the aftermath relief gradually cast its light
on reconstruction and psychological
assessment. This article attempts to assess
the progress of government relief in
addressing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) victims from Tangshan to Sichuan.
PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a
psychiatric condition that can arise from any
traumatic and catastrophic life experience,
has been attracting increasing recognition
and concerns in the scope of natural disaster
relief. Normally it does not appear during
the catastrophe; instead, it gradually
emerges as the trauma endures. The most
vulnerable groups to PTSD include victims
and survivors from disasters as well as
rescuers.
The findings on the long-term impact of the
Tangshan Earthquake on human‘s physical
and mental health show that after 32 years,
PTSD has cast a shadow on the rest of the
victims and survivors‘ lives after the
earthquake and contributed to their suffering
from neurosis, anxiety and fear. The chance
of getting such a disorder among the
Tangshan population is approximately 3-5
times higher than normal. Those who have
experienced the trauma are more vulnerable
to high blood pressure and cerebral vascular
diseases. Many of them are suffering from
insomnia, emotional instability, and tension.
For instance, a man witnessed with shock
his wife‘s death from the Sichuan
Earthquake as a building suddenly collapsed
and buried his wife. He could not accept the
fact and kept blaming himself. This man‘s
case indicates what is termed ―survivor
syndrome‖ or survivor guilt.
Overall situation in China
China at that time was still closed under the
Cultural Revolution when the Tangshan
earthquake hit. Infrastructure was
underdeveloped and loose. Therefore, the
government's response was slow, ineffective
and unwilling as reflected in the flow of
information and the reluctance to foreign
help. Furthermore, the flow of information
was almost stagnant at the government level.
It took 12 hours for the central authorities in
Beijing to learn that Tangshan, the epicenter,
was completely leveled. It was discovered
only when a Tangshan coal miner, Li Yulin,
drove an ambulance for six hours along dirt
roads to reach Beijing to reveal the
information.1 The
common people were
almost ignorant about the
situation. Hu Chengxi
from Mianyang in
central China's Sichuan
province talked about his
parents' experience:
―during the Tangshan
earthquake,
telecommunications
weren't as developed as nowadays -- even
television wasn't very popular -- so my
parents could only get news from the radio.
They don't have many relatives or friends in
Tangshan, so at first they did not understand
the severity of the situation there. But they
were naturally shocked by the number of
casualties.‖1 All communications were cut
胡金喜.袁藝.楊洋. ―心理之療 靠好心人持之以恆‖ 6 June, 2008. www.People.com.cn . 5 July, 2008. <http://www.512gov.cn/BIG5/123054/7350350.html>
2Tyler, Patrick E. ―Tangshan Journal: After Eating Bitterness, 100 Flowers Blossom‖, 28 January, 1995. New York Times. 5 July 2008.
<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7D91F30F93BA15752C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all> 3 Björkell, Stina. ―Special report---Earthquake in China--- Hu Chengxi: Overseas Chinese struggle to cope with Sichuan tragedy‖ 23rd May 2008. Radio 86 All
about China. 5 July, 2008. <http://www.radio86.co.uk/node/6530>
4Szczepansk, Kallie. ―The Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976, the Natural Disaster That Ended China's Cultural Revolution‖ About.com. 5 July, 2008.
<http://asianhistory.about.com/od/china/a/TangshanQuake.htm>. 5Zhang, Hou can; Zhang, Yi zhong. (1991) Psychological consequences of earthquake disaster survivors. International Journal of Psychology Special Issue: The
psychological dimensions of global change, 26: 613-621. 1991.
6 Martinsen, Joel. « Why commemorate the Tangshan earthquake?" 28 July 2006. Danwei. 6 July, 2008.
<http://www.danwei.org/trends_and_buzz/why_commemorate_the_tangshan_e.php>
7史占彪, 王菁华. 四川省抗震救灾―安置安心‖心理援助德阳工作站成立. 23 June 2008. Institute of Psychology, CAS. 6 July, 2008.
<http://www.psych.ac.cn/CN/xwzx.html>
8 Anonymous. ―Company News: All-in-one Outpatient Insurance Introduces Clinical Surgery Coverage‖ Blue Cross (Asia-Pacific) Insurance Limited. 5 July, 2008 <http://www.bluecross.com.hk/eng/aboutus/press.htm>
9 Anonymous. ―Psychologists suggest long-term counseling for China quake victims‖19 May 2008. Xinhua. 6 July 2008. 12 赛迪网. ―第一视频1800万网络视频播放器直播赈灾现场 » 15 May 2008. CCID. 10 July 2008
<http://news.ccidnet.com/art/1032/20080515/1449653_1.html>
3
off from the outside. Foreign journalists
were not allowed into Tangshan until 1983,
after the opening up of China. Information at
the time was so tightly controlled that the
scale of destruction and the number of
casualties were not revealed until 1979,
when Xinhua released the data to the world.2
Rescue efforts
The rescuers encountered tremendous
difficulty in rescuing the victims. It took
another few days before the government
took action regarding the severe conditions
in Tangshan. The first relief operations were
56 medical teams from Shanghai sent to join
the survivors in Tangshan desperately
digging through the rubble of their homes by
hand and stacking the corpses of their loved
ones in the streets. Several days after the
earthquake, the first People's Liberation
Army (PLA) troops reached the devastated
area to aid in rescue and recovery efforts.
Although they finally arrived on scene, the
PLA lacked trucks, cranes, medicines,
masks and other necessary equipment. Many
of the soldiers marched or ran for miles to
the site because of the lack of passable roads
and rail-lines. Once there, they too dug
through the rubble with their bare hands,
lacking even the most basic of tools. 4
Denial of foreign aid to address PTSD
Concerning PTSD, some foreign countries
have started examining mental treatment
since the 1970s. China, however, embarked
in this field of study only in the 1990s. In
dealing with the aftermath of Tangshan,
China's leaders, forbade foreigners from
entering the area and rejected offers of aid
from international relief agencies like the
United Nations aid agencies and the
International Committees of the Red Cross.
Instead, they organized a lean recovery
operation called "Resist the Earthquake and
13 新浪财经. ―五叶神为灾区我要爱心理援助行动资助100万‖ 20 May 2008. Sina. 9 July 2008.
<http://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/b/20080520/17484890005.shtml>
<http://www.tcmadvisory.com/2008/5-23/200852383451.html> 15 AFP. ―China: no foreign rescue teams please‖ 13 May 2008. Asiaone News. 9 July 2008.
<http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20080513-64978.html>
16 Dasgupta, Saibal. ―China ready to accept foreign aid, not experts‖ 13 May 2008. The Times of India. 10 July 2008.
17 Alexandri, Maya. ―Supporting Caregivers‖ Mercy Corps. 10 July 2008. <http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/emergencies/2251>
Rescue Ourselves." 4 With no water and
only bags of biscuits dropped from airplanes
in the first few days, the people of this city
had little time to mourn the dead, whose
bodies were dumped in mass graves and
psychological relief was seriously
inadequate.
PTSD relief and aftermath
Unable to address PTSD in a timely and
effective manner, the victims of the
Tangshan earthquake showed serious and
long-term mental disorders. "No one cried,"
recalled Mr. Lu, "it was so big and so many
people died that the streets and alleys were
all piled up with corpses. People became
numb and didn't even think to cry." 2 Doctor
Yang Haimen who has been conducting
research on the psychological impact on the
Tangshan people for 30 years said that the
victims were still facing disorders 20 to 30
years after the earthquake. More than 75%
of victims tried to turn their faces away from
their psychological problems. They refused
to watch or hear anything about the
Tangshan earthquake. Although a few
mental health doctors provided medical
service for the victims of the Tangshan
earthquake, the problem was addressed 20
years after the earthquake. Nearly a
generation later, many older city residents
still cannot bear to talk about it.
Zhang & Zhang (1991) examined the long-
term psychological effects of the 1976
Tangshan earthquake in China. They
administered the 16PF, 2 attitude tests, and
individual interviews to 110 paraplegic
(aged 25-70) and 100 non-paraplegic
subjects (aged 20-70). Results suggested the
presence of long-term psychological effects.
They suggested that earthquakes should be
considered not only as physical disasters,
but also in conjunction with psychological
after-effects.3
The government response to the Tangshan
earthquake censored the world‘s knowledge
of this tragedy. Not much was known except
through the famous reportage literature---
4
The parents and relatives are mourning the
killed pupils.(photo source: Getty Images)
Premier Wen Jia-bao talks to the
orphans.(Photo Source: Xinhua)
The Great Tangshan Earthquake by Qian
Gang. There are some that even doubt the
earthquake‘s occurrence6. Throughout these
past 32 years however, the world witnessed
many changes and development in the
Chinese government and the country. The
Sichuan earthquake on May 12, 2008
reflects its more open attitude to the people.
The Sichuan Earthquake
Immediate action
The Chinese
government has
taken immediate
action since the
day of the Sichuan
earthquake. It has
received and
adopted eight
suggestions
regarding
psychological relief proposed by the
Institute of Psychology.7 The eight
suggestions include actions ranging from
immediate action to long-term strategies.
Two days after the disaster, May 14th 2008,
the first bundle of counselors including more
than 300 professional psychologists have
been sent by the Ministry of Health and
other institutions to the quake zone. By
June, the number of counselors had
increased to 50 teams numbering over 1,000
individuals in total to assist in psychological
counseling, but most of them did not have
proper training in post-disaster counseling.8
As China's psychological counseling service
has just developed in the past few years, the
number of psychologists that are specially
trained for treatment and intervention for
post-disaster psychological trauma is limited
and those having on-spot experience are
even fewer.9
Thousands of volunteers from around the
country have registered through local
psychological service stations to help
counsel victims. Before their frontline tasks,
they have joined training programs at the
local level. Even though many Chinese
citizens want to volunteer, there is a serious
shortage of professional psychologists to
teach them. In response to such shortages,
local governments have held workshops for
psychological experts to train volunteers on
how to provide support for the needy. Due
to the flood of unskilled volunteers, the
Central Government has adopted a policy
that only volunteers who have already
certified as psychological counselors at the
national level are qualified to join the
program. But they will receive
further training before heading to
the earthquake-hit areas to begin
their work.10
Apart from face-to-face
counseling, the ministry has
organized universities to launch
counseling hotlines and websites
for quake victims. Nine
universities including the Beijing
Normal University and Sichuan
Normal University have opened hotlines and
websites. For example, websites, such as
www.newssc.org and www.nen.com.cn,
have started operations to help young
Sichuan migrant students and employees.
Psychologists stay online to answer
questions concerning post-quake problems.11
The Chinese
government has
also initiated self-
help programs for
the victims,
distributing self-
help booklets and
posters. Mass
media informs the
public about the
resources being distributed for psychological
relief. Participating mass media corporations
include CCTV, Guangming Daily, Science
Times Daily, Hong Kong TaKungPao and
Vodone Broadcasting Production.12
Sixty thousand posters have been sent to
quake areas in a bid to help the
psychological counseling of traumatized
survivors.13
These posters, drawn and
printed under the organization of the Health
Premier Wen Jia-bao talks to the
orphans.(Photo Source: Xinhua)
5
“People became
numb and didn't
even think to cry”
Ministry, are targeted at adults, middle-
school students, and preschool and primary
school students. Consoling words have been
written into doggerel verses to make them
easier for people to understand and
remember.
On May 20, the first 50,000 books had been
sent to students in hard-hit Mianyang city in
the southwest Sichuan province, where
classes have resumed in tents. These books
were especially written by experts on child
psychology after the quake. More
psychological pamphlets are being
distributed to the victims, including one
covering the treatment for children,
particularly orphans, following a deadly
catastrophe.14
According to the Ministry of
Education, starting on May 27, 800,000
copies of this counseling book regarding
treatment of child victims were sent to
schools handling quake-affected children.
Another 10,000 psychological manuals have
been distributed to the general public of
Sichuan from Tianjin. The manuals
compiled by experts and students at Nankai
University, teach people how to comfort
themselves and help others to recover from
psychological trauma.11
Open for foreign aid
For the Sichuan Earthquake relief and
recovery, the Chinese government opened
their door to foreign aid and shared the
rescuing work burden with the international
community. Compared to the response to the
Tangshan earthquake, the Chinese
government eventually allowed foreign
relief workers access to the
region surrounding the epicenter
of the earthquake. Immediately
after the earthquake, the head of
China's Civil Affairs Ministry
had cited poor travel conditions in the
Sichuan area as the reason for not allowing
foreign rescue teams access. However, on
May 15th, three days after the earthquake,
the Foreign Ministry has changed their
stance and announced that a Japanese team
had been granted access. The Japanese
government, with their expertise on dealing
with earthquake aftermaths, had been one of
the first foreign governments to offer China
assistance following the initial earthquake.
Foreign rescue teams from Russia, the
Republic of Korea and Singapore were
subsequently allowed to assist in the search
for survivors.15
The authorities of China in charge of
disaster relief works and civil affairs have
now welcomed the aid from international
community and they have made contact with
the relevant countries and organizations. The
Chinese government has developed a
partnership with international organizations
in the relief work. Ministry of Water
Resources (MWR), along with the project
partners-- UNDP China, China International
Center for Economic and Technical
Exchange (CICETE) and The Coca-Cola
Company, provided urgent assistance with
tents, medicines, food and drinking water
valued at RMB 100,000 to the quake
affected areas under the joint Water Project
in Chongzhou city of Sichuan Province.
Without the relatively open policies and
humanitarian principles of the Chinese
government in both the rescue and post-
quake recovery, all these efforts from civil
societies and international community are
futile. Hence, the government‘s role in crisis
management and in the cooperation with
NGOs, civil society and the international
community are vital. The Chinese
government has made contrasting
responses to the two quakes. After
30 years, China now has enabled
people to mobilize and muster
resources at a time of great need;
the quick and active participation of NGOs
has marked the milestone in the
development of civil society in China. In the
coming future, reconstruction and recovery
are of equal importance as is relief from the
mental-health perspective.
6
“The Dominican Chernobyl” By Vanessa Matthews
Developing nations constantly face a barrage of
social, political, and environmental issues when
attempting to leap out of the sphere of
‗developing‘ and into that of ‗modern‘. The
Dominican Republic is no exception to this
notion and since its industrial boom in the 1970s
it has faced more challenges in reaching this
point. The region of Bajos de Haina, about 20
kilometers west of the capital of Santo
Domingo, is one of the biggest industrial ports
in the country and accounts for more than 60%
of the nation‘s industrial success. In 1997, Bajos
de Haina became one of the world‘s most
polluted cities and the catastrophe of the
Baterias Meteoro battery swelter left the
residents of Haina without much hope of
governmental help.
The automobile battery recycling plant,
Baterias Meteoro, was shut down in 1997
because of failing results. Problems arose,
however, when the plant did not do its part to
clean up the chemical and metal waste that it
produced from the battery acids. After five
years, it was evident that the abandoned factory
and its ill-disposed trash were having negative
repercussions for the residents of Bajos de Haina
because of the dangerously high levels of heavy
metal began seeping into the air, soil, and
drinking water of the region. According to the
2004 Blacksmith Institute‘s report on the most
polluted cities in the world, all of the factories in
the region annually release 457 tons of heavy
metals into the air, 577 tons of heavy metals into
the ground, and 89 tons of heavy metals into the
drinking water supply4. The health implications
of this careless disposal system have resulted in
almost an 80% lead poisoning rate, which is
highest among children. This data is superseded
by a multitude of other health implications,
which includes 93% of the residents having
asthma, 83% with bronchitis, 69% having flu
symptoms, and 68% having diarrheal infections.
Most of the 90,000 residents of Bajos de Haina
suffer from more than one, if not all, of these
ailments5. The D.R. Academy of the Sciences
also emphasized the effects of non-toxic waste
in the region, which is a result of the 85 tons of
garbage produced daily and disposed of in open-
air dumps. This leaves residents susceptible to
infection, disease, and poisoning because of the
―inappropriate means of disposal,‖ reported the
Academy.
The weak environmental protection laws
and the lack of government intervention in
clean-up and health-care only worsens the
situation in Bajos de Haina. In 2006, the Council
of Environmental Affairs of the CAFTA-DR
agreement established the Secretariat of
Environmental Affairs to enforce the weak
environmental laws of the country in order to
clean up the hazardous waste materials all over
by having the Secretariat report annually to the
Council on its activities.6 Unfortunately, this
legislation is still insufficient because the
environmental protection laws are still in the
beginning stages of enforcement and
enforcement is limited by a lack of fiscal
sources.7 Still, the government has established
organizations and training programs to promote
environmental protection awareness and
enforcement, but the underlying factor is money,
and without the proper funding, successful
protection can only go so far.
Although the CAFTA-DR treaty
enforces a healthier environment, few efforts
have been made on the government‘s behalf to
eradicate the health consequences of the people
in Bajos de Haina. Because it continues to be a
developing nation, the Dominican Republic
lacks the necessary funds to advance technology
4 The Blacksmith Institute. ―World‘s Worst Polluted Places.‖
http://www.blacksmithinstitute.org/search2.php?program=lead&industry=le
ad-all&flag=2. 5 Pina, Diogenes. ―Dominican Republic: Thick Smog on the Caribbean
Coast.‖ http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36404 6 Communique of the Environmental Affairs Council of the Dominican
Republic- Central America- United States Free Trade Agreement.
Guatemala City, Guatemala. May 2006. 7 Communique of the Environmental Affairs Council of the Dominican
Republic- Central America- United States Free Trade Agreement.
Guatemala City, Guatemala. May 2006.
This fall Vanessa enters her senior year as an
undergraduate at Rutgers University. As a double major in
Political Science and Spanish, she hopes to work for a
United Nations delegation or become the President of an
NGO in the future. Her decision to write about Bajos de
Haina reflects her family heritage as well as her overall
concern about poverty, the economy and the environment.
7
Two men from Bangladesh are pictured collecting water from a typical tube-well.
and social welfare as it pertains to healthcare.
Because of lack of national funding to hospitals
and clinics, residents are required to pay for
their health services prior to reception. In direct
correlation with the national poverty problem,
more than half of Bajos de Haina residents live
below the poverty line. This makes it near
impossible for any families to receive medical
treatment for the lead poisoning, asthma, and
other health problems caused by the deteriorated
environment in Bajos de Haina.
Ultimately, the poor health of the
Hainans makes it more difficult for a healthy
environment to exist and more difficult still for a
strong economy to grow. The crisis occurring in
the Dominican Republic speaks to all corners of
the globe concerned with either environmental,
economic, or health issues. Success on any of
these matters will never come to fruition without
applying a comprehensive approach that
includes them all with a focus on the vital role of
people and cooperation.
The world‘s largest mass poisoning, a blemish
on the face of public health officials, was a
simple lapse in judgment. In the 1970‘s,
UNICEF collaborated with the Department of
Public Health Engineering in a public health
campaign to create a tube-well system – a
system of underground water wells in
Bangladesh. They wanted to give the country
access to ―clean‖ water, as opposed to the
disease-infested, animal-shared water routed
from ponds and rivers. The new tube-well
system created an underground connection with
the pipes in the wells to the aquifers; aquifers
are water filled surfaces that transmit the water
to the pumps. The pump is the basic operating
mechanism of the tube-wells. Bangladeshi
people pumped the water from this system for
their every need from drinking, to bathing, to
cleaning. In 1997, UNICEF announced that
they reached their goal of supplying 80% of the
people of Bangladesh with ―clean‖ water, via
their tube-well system.8
However, the supposed purity of the
water became suspect in the early 1980s. In
1983, numerous hospital cases linked to arsenic
surfaced in West Bengal. As years passed, the
silent serial killer, arsenic poisoning, emerged,
hospitalizing victims with lesions, skin pigment
changes, and tumors. The lesions were traced to
water, initiating scientists to speculate about the
cleanliness of the water. Investigations found
that the water from the tube-well systems was
contaminated with inorganic arsenic. The
aquifers were the root of the problem because
they were never tested for arsenic.2 As a result,
many people developed illnesses, causing
physical deformities, which were passed from
generation to generation. The higher the
concentration of arsenic in a certain tube-well,
the faster the terminal diseases struck. When the
West Bengali population was exposed to lower
dosages of arsenic, they were infected anytime
within 20 years, and experienced slower deaths.
The crisis soon intertwined into the daily lives of
the Bangladeshi people.
The health crisis was somehow masked
from the media, and it did not make headlines
until twenty years later. Since then,
approximately 33 to 75 million out of the 125
million Bangladeshi people that encompass the
entire population have been at risk to arsenic
poisoning from the contaminated water.8
According to data reports, the concentration of
arsenic in the most toxic water well reached
4000 parts per billion. Relative to the maximum
permissible
standard
concentration in
the United
States, which is
50 parts per
billion,
Bangladeshi
waters are
perilous. The
severity of the
issue is captured
by Allan Smith,
a professor of
epidemiology at University of California at
Berkeley: ―…the scale of this environmental
disaster is greater than any seen before. It is
8http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-55.html
Arsenic Poisoning in Bangladesh By Anushka Chadha
Anushka is a rising senior at Millburn
High School in New Jersey. She is
interning at WIT because she is
interested to learn how
the United Nations works, and how
international bodies exchange
information. She chose the topic of
arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh
because she feels that public health
issues are a growing concern and
people should be provided with
accurate information about them
8
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/worl
d/asia/06myanmar.html?_r=5&em&ex=1
210305600&en=ac6f159a24c81fe2&ei=5
087%250A&oref=slogin&oref=sl&oref=l
ogin
beyond the accidents at Bhopal, India, in 1984,
and Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986.‖9
It took the Bangladesh government
about 10 years to investigate and acknowledge
the serious health problem. Meanwhile, other
countries and international agencies, such as the
British Geological Survey, felt the need to take
immediate action in the form of investigative
research.8 During the investigations, health
officials from the British survey made sure to
mark the well pumps, contaminated with arsenic
levels above the standard concentration, with red
paint. Concurrently, the few new pumps that
replaced contaminated ones are thoroughly
tested for arsenic before and after the
installation.
At the time of the incident, government
response was weak. The Bangladesh
government did not immediately respond to the
health crisis. 10
The former chief engineer for the
Bangladesh government provided the following
explanation: ‗‗ [we] were concerned about
creating a scare. If you tell people there is
arsenic in the water, they won't even use it for
bathing. They'll be afraid their hair will fall out.'' 11
But, eventually the government adopted an
agenda called Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation
Water Supply Project (BAMWSP) in 2005.
Donor countries such as the United States of
America funded the project. Recent reports,
however, criticize BAMWSP for its sluggish
exploits and minimal impact. The project
director of BAMWSP, Khoda Bux,
―…admitted…that lack of finances and
coordination between bureaucrats and people at
the grassroots, has prevented the government
from tackling the problem adequately.‖12
However, the Bangladesh Director General of
Health cajoled the public by announcing that the
government was training doctors in early
detection of arsenic poisoning, so that they can
implement treatment as soon as possible.12
The catastrophe in Bangladesh may not
be entirely resolved for years to come. However,
it is top priority on the United Nations agenda
because it is an element of Millennium
Development Goal number seven. This MDG
strives ―…to halve the proportion of people
without sustainable access to safe drinking water
and basic sanitation.‖ 13
It appears that the
international community is much more involved
9http://www.unesco.org/courier/2001_01/uk/planet.htm 10http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/international/asia/17arsenic.html 11http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD6113EF933A25
752C1A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all 12 http://us.oneworld.net/node/79978 13 http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/bangladesh_35701.html
in the calamity than the Bangladesh government.
That idea adds to the incongruity of the situation
because the source of the problem also helped
eliminate the problem. But, the fact that the
international community ignited the crisis
actually balances the fact that the international
community came to the rescue when the
Bangladesh government was weak. So, whether
the international community acted as a ―cure‖ or
a ―disease,‖ is not part of the equation. The
significance lies in the sense that the
international community banded together, to
help part of the human population in dire need
of assistance. And this gives life to the term
―United Nations.‖
On May 2nd
2008, Cyclone Nargis swept
through Myanmar, taking with it over 90,000
lives and leaving more than 50,000 people
missing. While acting witness to the destruction
and devastation, the world responded with a
clear voice of support, offering aid in all shapes
and forms to help the people of Myanmar
survive the
aftermath of the
storm. However,
the relief effort,
which could have
been a triumph of
international
cooperation and a
beacon of hope
for the survivors
of the Cyclone,
became an
exercise in
governmental negligence. The ruling military
junta of Myanmar stifled the aid efforts, clinging
to a false sense of national security and hiding
behind a long held distrust of foreign nations.
Myanmar’s Government Response to Cyclone Nargis By Peter John Davis
Myanmar’s Government Response to Cyclone Nargis By Peter John Davis
Peter Davis is a rising
senior at Cornell
University, majoring in
American Studies. He
finds the government‘s
reaction to Cyclone
Nargis extremely
important because it is a
great case study of how a
government‘s reaction to
a natural disaster can
directly impact the
aftermath of a crisis.
9
“Without such an
overwhelming,
organized response
at the local level, the
disaster could have
been much worse.”
Furthermore, the government of Myanmar had
put the survivors of the Cyclone in more danger
for political reasons. The aftermath of Cyclone
Nargis can serve as an excellent case study in
the dangers of government negligence and also
provide a blueprint for how, together; the world
community can act to ease the suffering of
people due to government failures.
The reaction of the ruling junta to hamper aid
efforts spurs from a long line of distrust of
foreign influence. Preceding the cyclone, the
junta had remained adamantly closed off to
outside influence, resisting economic sanctions
and dismissing public criticism of human rights
violations. However, with the cyclone‘s tragic
impact, the junta‘s position of isolation came
under immediate scrutiny because of the deadly
consequences that came from the government‘s
response to reject aid. Proofs of the
counterintuitive priorities held by the junta were
found in the constitutional referendum for which
a vote was held in the wake of the disaster. The
referendum sought to extend the Junta‘s power
and was alleged to be rigged by members of the
government.1 This stubborn isolationism led to
the impediment of much needed aid to the
survivors of the cyclone and collective criticism
of the Junta‘s actions. As pressure grew for the
Junta to lessen its restrictions on aid, various
deals were slowly negotiated to facilitate the
assistance for the survivors. Although food was
beginning to be permissible, the Junta remained
skeptical of foreign aid workers, specifically by
denying search and rescue teams. The ruling
junta denied the response of aid groups such as
UNICEF, Red Cross and Red Crescent by
denying these workers proper travel visas. The
consequences of this delay were significant, not
only because with every second that workers
with expertise in disaster response were denied
access, the chances of finding missing persons
decreased, but also because the
high amount of dead bodies were
contaminating the drinking water
and increasing the chances of
disease to spread. Many of the
survivors were left drinking from
puddles, fighting off dysentery
and diarrhea2. Despite all of the
public pressure on the junta
to lift aid restrictions, the junta maintained that it
provided a timely response by setting up refuge
camps and restoring electricity promptly.
However, it is clear the Junta‘s response
undoubtedly cost aid workers valuable time, and
still the amount of lives lost to this negligence
has yet to be determined.
With the United Nations declaring that only a
quarter of the two million people affected by the
cyclone received the required aid, the world
community has pressured the ruling junta to
loosen their aid restrictions.3 Led by Secretary
General, Ban Ki-Moon a wave of international
pressure ensued to counter the Junta‘s misguided
claims of isolation and open the doors to aid. In
the Group of 8 summit in Japan, world leaders
called upon Myanmar‘s government to lift all
remaining bans on aid. Following this pressure,
the government of Myanmar invited Secretary
General Ban Ki-Moon back to Myanmar to
further discuss how to proceed with aid relief. It
was this constant pressure that allowed aid to
flow more freely to the survivors. With aid
workers now in Myanmar, reports have
suggested that the people of Myanmar have
countered the lackluster response of their
government through their own will and
resourcefulness. Partly due to luck, with low
rates of serious injuries caused directly by the
cyclone, but mostly due to unbelievable local
organization, the people of Myanmar have
managed to avoid widespread disease outbreak
and starvation. This grassroots aid relief was an
amazing accomplishment in light of the junta‘s
response to the disaster. Without such an
overwhelming, organized response at the local
level, the disaster could have been much worse.
However, the effects on drinking water and food
supply leave the survivors in an unstable habitat
with incalculable consequences for their future
health.
The destruction and devastation of Cyclone
Nargis left the people of Myanmar in desperate
straits. Effects were only exacerbated by a
government stifling aid because of outdated
isolationist ideology. But the world responded
by rallying behind the basic principles of human
compassion and proved that this desire to help,
could mute differences between international
powers and take precedence over long held
rivalries.
The New York Times. "When It Comes to Politics, Burmese Say,
Government Is All Too Helpful ," New York Times 28 May 2008. 7 Jul
2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/world/asia/28delta.html>
"Burma 'to let in all aid workers' ," BBC News 23 May 2008. 7 Jul 2008
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7416143.stm>
"Burma 'to let in all aid workers' ," BBC News 23 May 2008. 7 Jul 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7416143.stml
10
Weather forecast of Florida Hurricane Season6
Hurricanes of Florida vs. Katrina: The Main Differences By: Natalie Miller
Throughout American history, natural
disasters have been a large factor in shaping
our country‘s environmental and
governmental policies. From tornados to ice
storms, nature has changed the way our
government acts when a crisis is thrust upon
it. Specifically in Florida, hurricanes have
become a great threat where just in the fall
of 2004 alone, with Charley, Frances and
Jeanne all came through
Daytona Beach. Although
F.E.M.A. (Federal
Emergency Management
Agency) was not actively
present during the
hurricane of 2004, many
Americans remember its
disappointing performance
during Hurricane Katrina in
the fall of 2005. The impact
of Hurricane Katrina was a
lot more damaging than the
three hurricanes that hit
Florida combined
respectably due to the
structure of the city of New
Orleans overall, even with
the similar emergency procedures in place.
Starting in August and lasting through
September, three category three and four
hurricanes pummeled through the state of
Florida, leaving about 20% homeless and
killing around 124 people.1 With the constant
weather updates and continuous press
coverage, the majority of Floridians had
ample time to prepare and possibly evacuate
with Hurricanes Charley, Francis and Jeanne
all becoming tropic storms then hurricanes
hundreds of miles of the Floridian coast.
Though the three hurricanes all came
through Florida within weeks of each other
and their courses were unpredictable, paths
were foreseen and safety and evacuation
plans were constantly televised. Many
citizens were able to board up their
windows, take special valuables and
evacuate to a safer area.
Florida is, for the most part, at either sea
level or below, and most of the land is only
60 miles from the coastline, leaving it
vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical
storms.1 But given proper warning and
preparations, lives can be saved and houses
can be preserved. Following Florida‘s
evacuation plan, the first step is to prepare
before hurricane season even begins, by
determining an evacuation plan, checking
emergency equipment (flashlights, extra
water, etc.), purchasing extra food and
supplies, and making sure the yard is secure
from low branches and shrubbery that could
become airborne during a high powered
Natalie Miller will be a senior this fall at the
University of Central Florida in Orlando Florida. She
studies Communications along with International and
Global Studies. Being a Florida native, the hurricane
season of 2004 directly affected her and her
hometown of Daytona Beach where Charley, Jeanne
and Francis all caused damage.
11
“five out of the eight top F.E.M.A officials had no
previous crisis management experience.”
Weather forecast for Hurrican Katrina7
storm.4 Moreover, it is important to listen to
the radio for updates, keep away from
windows, close all doors, and evacuate
when told.4 With the help of local news
channels, especially Channel 13, this
information was readily available to all
citizens of Florida, especially in those area
predicted to be hit by hurricanes.
Comparing to the Hurricanes Charley,
Francis and Jeanne, Hurricane Katrina was a
much more devastating attack of nature with
higher winds, killing more then 1,800
people with estimated damages cost more
than $81 billion dollars.2 Katrina was more
damaging and destructive because it hit east
of the city of New Orleans, which is on
average eight feet below sea level.2 The city
is maintained by water levees, which help
hold the water back from overflowing into
the city. When Hurricane Katrina hit in
August 2005, although 80% of the residence
were able to evacuate, many stayed behind.2
Many New Orleans citizens did not adhere
to the evacuation warnings because they
trusted the levees would hold back the water
that surged into the area. With the force of
the wind and water at a high of 140 mph, the
levees securing the city were no match and
broke, releasing the ocean‘s water into the
city.5 Many media
outlets, similar
during the fall of
2004 Hurricane
season in Florida,
constantly
informed the locals
of the evacuations
plans in their area
and the proper
materials to store, like water and canned
goods.5 Even with the warnings and media
coverage of the dangers of staying behind,
many citizens, especially in the lower
income part of town, stayed in their homes
during the storm.
Many F.E.M.A. employees shared their
concern of the upcoming brutal hurricane
with their supervisors.3 Days before the
storm hit, employees wrote about their
concerns for the low leveled city in daily
reports to Homeland Security.3 But these
letters were met with no response.3 One
particular employee, Leo Bosner, spoke out
when no one else would voice their
concerns.3 He said that the F.E.M.A.
director, Michael Brown, was not the
appropriate man for the job, with his only
experience being in law and not in
emergency management.3 It was later found
out that five out of the eight top F.E.M.A
officials had no previous crisis management
experience.3
With the inexperienced officers and the
delaying of the much needed aid, Hurricane
Katrina quickly became known as one of the
worst hurricanes to hit the United States.1
Once the levees broke, and the town was
soon flooded, the people left behind were
soon stranded on the tops of their homes,
which was highly televised. Days after the
brutal natural disaster, F.E.M.A. was still
nowhere in sight.
The storms that hit the state of Florida were
less powerful that Hurricane Katrina, with
the overall wind speed of 30 mph less.5
Taking this into consideration, and the
location of the storms, small cities at
sea level in Florida and the large city
of New Orleans eight feet under sea
level, the aftermath of the storms
were dramatically different.
F.E.M.A. was not present during the
Florida storms mainly because there
was no overall need for their help.
The state of Florida was very
prepared for the storms and many
evacuated before hand. In New Orleans,
although many were aware of the impending
storm and prepared with supplies and food,
the levees protecting them broke causing the
city to flood, leaving many people stranded
in their homes. With this unforeseen
aftermath of the storm, F.E.M.A. was
desperately needed to help rescue citizens.
12
Earthquake‘s epicenter and Impact Area (U. S. Geological Survey
)Website)
An emergency plan is just that, a plan of
action to take when disaster strikes. But
even though it was unexpected for the
impact of Hurricane Katrina was
unexpectedly great, F.E.M.A. is still the
organization for the assessment and
handling of crisis situations. When the
nation needed them the most, they were
nowhere to be found. This delay allowed
more lives to be most and more damage to
be wrought.
In conclusion, when comparing the Florida
Hurricanes of 2004 (Charley, Francis and
Jeanne) to Hurricane Katrina of 2005, there
is a substantial difference in the
management. With the hurricanes in Florida,
there was a lot of media coverage, with
many news outlets constantly reporting the
proper emergency preparedness needed to
stay in homes or evacuate. Many were able
to retreat to safe houses and many lives were
saved. With Hurricane Katrina, although
there was constant coverage of the possible
track of the storm, citizens were not as
prepared as they should have been for such a
powerful category three storm. The city was
not prepared for the levees to give way, and
the subsequent flooding. Moreover, the
absence of F.E.M.A. exacerbated the
situation.
In the management of hurricanes in Florida,
F.E.M.A. has become a crucial outlet for
assistance. Hurricane Katrina differed from
previous hurricanes because it hit a city with
a low sea level and attacked the levees
barricading the city from the ocean. But the
delay and inexperience of the workers of
F.E.M.A. resulted in more dramatic effects.
1.―Weather Safety: Hurricanes‖ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of
Commerce. 2002 13 July 2008
2.<http://www.weather.gov/os/hurricane/pdfs/hurricane_safety.pdf>
―The First Year After Hurricane Katrina: What the Federal Government Did‖ Homeland
Security. Feb. 2006 13 July 2008
3http://www.dhs.gov/xprepresp/programs/gc_1157649340100.shtm>
Foreman, Tom. ―A Disturbing View from Inside FEMA‖ CNN. Nov 2005 13 July 2008
4http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/17/katrina.response/index.html>
―The State of Florida: Family Preparedness Guide‖ The State of Florida. 2001 13 July
2008 5http://www.doh.state.fl.us/rw_webmaster/prepareenglish04.pdf>
Simmons, Lesly. ―Gulf Coast States Prepare for Hurricane Katrina‖ American Red Cross.
27 August, 2005 13 July 2008
http://www.redcross.org/article/0,1072,0_312_4467,00.html
6. https://firstclass.wellesley.edu/Login/FOV1-000CD99D/982E0C65-3B9ACA00-
1A125B1E.0/2004hurricanes.png?InAttach=1&U1U=/Login/FOV1-
000CD99D/&SAEO=/Login/FOV1-000CD99D/
7. https://firstclass.wellesley.edu/Login/FOV1-000CD99D/982E0C65-3B9ACA00-
1A125B1E.1/hurricane_katrina.jpg?InAttach=1&U1U=/Login/FOV1-
000CD99D/&SAEO=/Login/FOV1-000CD99D/
The Pisco Earthquake: Shaking the Basis of Disaster-Management Programs in Peru By Mariana Sentieri
Almost a year ago, on August 15 2007, an
earthquake of 8.0 magnitude14
hit the coast
of Peru. The Pisco earthquake, named after
the city that was hit the hardest by the
disaster, was neither the first, nor the last
natural
occurrence of this sort to strike Peru.
It was considered the most significant
earthquake in the past 100 years to occur in
the region of Ica, a coastal area southeast of
Lima15
.. In fact, after 11 months, Ica still
struggles to recover, regardless of all the
international support and the much promised
– but still insufficient, some claim – help of
the Peruvian Government. The Pisco event
resonates not only the importance of
sustainable development and good
14 Mooney, Walter. ―M8.0 Pisco Earthquake.‖ Video Clip. U.S. Geological Survey. 21
Sept. 2007. 12 July 2008
<http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/peru/pisco/>
15, 3Tavera, Hernando, ed. El terremoto de Pisco (Peru) del 15 de agosto de 2007 (7.9
Mw). Lima, Peru: Instituto Geofísico del Perú, 2008. 11 July 2008.
<http://khatati.igp.gob.pe/Webs/cns06/libro/indice.htm>
Mariana Sentieri is a rising junior at
Rutgers University pursuing a major in
Economics. Within the environmental
field, she is interested in the concept of
sustainable development and disaster
management programs. The choice of
her topic derived from her willingness to
combine such interests with her own
cultural background, Latin America.
13
government management on disaster
programs, but also the capacity of self-
preparedness of the population on a regional
level. In the light of the current international
scenario, where climate change can increase
the incidence and intensity of natural
disasters, Pisco not only serves as a lesson
for Peru, but for the entirety of the world
governments.
―Peru is a land of earthquakes. Its history
has shown us that it is only a matter of time;
so let‘s not close our eyes to reality. It‘s
time we begin to work and prepare
ourselves.‖16
It is with these words that
Hernando Tavera, current director of the
Instituto de Geofísica de Perú (Geophysics
Institute of Peru), introduces the recent
online report on the Pisco earthquake.
Indeed, the Lima newspaper ―El
Comercio‖17
claims that 191 earthquakes
have stricken Peru in 2007; Pisco‘s being
the most devastating of all4. According to
IGP, the seismologic process was particular
due to its uncommonly long duration, about
210 seconds, and the subsequent 4,500 after-
shocks that it produced. Also, a by-product
of the Pisco earthquake was a tsunami that
did not produce as much devastation as the
earthquake but nonetheless, the Peruvian
Government posted an alarm.
Although the mortality rate of this
disaster was relatively low, approximately
600 deaths, because most people were
outdoors when it occurred, more than a
thousand were injured, and 39, 741 houses
were destroyed. Almost 100 hospitals were
either destroyed or had their functioning
compromised by the earthquake. The
electricity and water were cut, and early
estimations18
believed 150,000 people were
deprived from those two basic resources2.
The earthquake of Pisco isolated each
community within their devastated locality,
without water supplies or electricity.
17 ―Peru fue sacudido por 191 sismos sensibles durante el 2007‖.El Comercio [Lima].
July 12 2008< http://www.elcomercio.com.pe/ediciononline/HTML/2008-01-02/el-peru-
fue-sacudido-191-sismos-sensibles-durante-2007-informo-igp.html>
18 UN News Center. 20 august 2007.―OPS responde en Perú a emergencia por
terremoto‖.13 July 2008.
http://www.un.org/spanish/News/fullstorynews.asp?NewsID=10168
Survivors still sleeping outside of their torn homes. (Photo: Ricardo
Mazalan/Associated Press, picture extracted from The New York Times
website)
Both international and domestic
responses to the disaster were made in a
matter of a couple of days. In a report made
by OCHA, from August 16, 200719
, the
Peruvian Government had declared a state
of emergency in the Department of Ica and
the province of Cañete. INDECI, Peru‘s
national defense organ, was working on a
response plan. Internationally, emergency
cash grants had been released by UNDP and
OCHA and help was being offered by
various different entities. In a matter of eight
days20
from the initial report, the
government of Peru declared that 800 tons
of humanitarian aid had been delivered in
Pisco, several shelter sites were set up in the
areas hit the hardest, and the humanitarian
aid had reached 95% of the affected
population. Internationally, the UN had
released an approved budget totaling $9,591
million dollars to Peru and many
governments and organizations were
sending supplies, personnel, and cash
donations. Nonetheless, regardless of all the
resources that were allocated to sooth the
disaster, help still arrived too slowly to some
areas and many Peruvians felt abandoned in
a time of hardship.
Indeed, many believe that,
immediately after the disaster, the relief was
organized neither quickly nor efficiently
enough. The local population insists that,
had help arrived faster, many deaths would
have been avoided. ―Families in the area say
they were left to sift the ruins for the dead
and the living‖, reported a journalist for The
New York Times eight days after the
19 OCHA-Geneva. ―OCHA Situation Report No. 1/ Earthquake- Peru‖.16 august 2007.
RedHum Website. < http://redhum.org/informes_documentos.php>
20 OCHA-Geneva. ―OCHA Situation Report No. 1/ Earthquake- Peru‖.24 august 2007.
RedHum Website. < http://redhum.org/informes_documentos.php>
14
disaster occurred21
. The government, on the
other hand, defended itself by blaming the
delays in distribution of aid on the scale of
the damage to infrastructure. ―No matter
what we do, people will complain‖, said
Women‘s Issues and Social Development
Minister, Virginia Borra22
.
But has the government done enough
after eleven months? Contradictory accounts
continue to arise. Early in February, a
Spanish newspaper published a story
explaining that, the lack of a registry had
hampered the beginning of the
reconstruction projects in the affected
region, and that life continued ―chaotic and
difficult‖23
for the local population. Some
affirmed that the help that was promised
never arrived. On the other hand, last June,
the UN released accounts on the continued
effort to promote recovery in the area in
partnership with the government24
.
Earthquakes, as Mr. Tavera has wisely
stated, will continue to be part of Peru; it is,
therefore, of uttermost importance that the
country devises an efficient plan on how to
respond to them.
Africa’s Population Dilemma: A Hindrance to Sustainable Development By Wing Yin (Maggie) Leung
21 Barrionuevo, Alexei. “Quake Orphan Reflects Peru’s Loss, and Anger”. The New York Times [New York] 23 August 2007. July 12 2008. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/25/world/americas/25peru.html>
22 Chauvin, Lucien O. “Government’s earthquake relief in Peru not enough, say experts.” Christian Science Monitor
99.185 (2007): 7. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO Host. Rutgers University Lib., 11 July 2008 <http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu>
23 “Los afectados por el sismo de Pisco todavía esperan.” Video clip. La Vanguardia. 15 February 2008. 11 July 2008.
<http://www.lavanguardia.es/premium/publica/publica?COMPID=53436663398&PAGINACIO=35&ID_PAGINA=1810082&ID_FORMATO=9&PARTICION=2006&SUBORDRE=3&SECCIO=51234268255&NAVEGACIO='SI'>
24 Sistema de Las Naciones Unidas en el Perú. UN. 13 July 2008. <http://www.onu.org.pe/Publico/OnuPeru/MenuPrincipalPeru.aspx>
The peril of Africa's explosive population
growth is often overshadowed by other
epidemics in the continent; ironically,
however, the threat posed by the growing
population is one of the greatest challenges
hampering Africa‘s development. As the
African population growth rate continues to
accelerate upward, it hinders the continent's
efforts to tackle poverty, reduce the spread
of diseases, and construct its economy.
These impediments propel the people to
exploit environmental resources for survival
and consequently, such actions present an
obstruction to progress and development in
Africa.
Africa is the second most-populated
continent in the world after Asia. In sub-
Saharan Africa alone, there are 788 million
people—approximately twelve percent of
the world's population1. Yet, according to
Mr. John May, a demographer at the World
Bank, Africa's population is growing at 2.5
percent per year--twice the rate of other
regions. At this rate, Africa's population
will double in twenty-eight years 2
.
Given these statistics, one may question why
population growth reduction is overlooked
by African leaders and not a priority in the
international arena. During the 1960s and
the 1970s, various international
organizations collaborated with
governments of developing countries to
establish effective family-planning programs
to control population growth. While African
leaders largely neglected and illegalized
such programs which were believed to
encourage immorality7, they were
successfully implemented in Asia and Latin
America. With the successes in the latter
continents, world population growth rate
stabilized and international funding was
shifted to tackle other urgent issues1. Yet, to
establish sustainable development in Africa,
the issue of population growth reduction
must be brought back to the forefront.
One of the major obstacles undermining
development in Africa is poverty—a factor
that is directly linked to population size. As
Maggie (Wing Yin) Leung is
a recent graduate from New
York University. Upon
graduation, she worked as a
pharmaceutical consultant at
IBM where she developed an
interest in health and policy.
In hopes to expose the often-
overlooked population crisis
in Africa, Maggie chose this
topic to discuss its
repercussions to the
continent's sustainable
development efforts.
15
“One of the major
obstacles
undermining
development in
Africa is poverty—
a factor that is
directly linked to
population size.”
The average desired number of children in African families is between
six to nine children per household—a number significantly greater than
most countries7
Mr. Joe Santangelo from Medical News
Today asserted, ―population growth
threatens food security in already
malnourished states, makes long-term
dependence on international assistance more
likely, and increases the pressure for
international migration.3‖
Instead of
focusing efforts to develop infrastructures,
African nations must provide basic
human needs to its growing population
and prevent massive illegal migration
in order to stop perpetuating the
existing destitution of the continent.
Moreover, as the population continues
to grow, conflicts over scarce
resources—such as arable land—will
intensify. In such dire conditions, the
African people are likely to live in
poverty for years to come.
Besides poverty, rapidly expanding human
populations also contribute to the spread of
diseases—another major challenge
undermining development in Africa. In both
past and recent history, dense population
and crowding conditions provided an ideal
environment for the spread of infectious
diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis (TB),
and HIV4—all of which plague Africa.
Infections can be spread quickly in
overcrowded regions as bacteria find
numerous hosts to thrive in. While there are
treatments and strategies to counter these
illnesses, the funding is very costly. As a
continent that is already facing severe health
challenges, development will
inevitably be hindered if more
funding is allocated to address
the outbreaks of other
infectious diseases.
Excessive population growth
also jeopardizes economic
development in Africa. With
a large number of people
living in poverty, African governments face
the daunting task of providing education—
an essential element for long-term
development—to their nations‘ youth.
Without education, African citizens are
likely to remain low-skilled workers. The
likelihood that the market can absorb an
overwhelming number of low-skilled job
seekers is very slim. As unemployment
rates climb, some unemployed individuals
may turn to criminal activities to survive. In
fact, as stated by Ms. Dorothea Schmidt
from the International Labour Organization
(IL0), ―there is a strong correlation…
between
high
unemployment rates and recruitment into
terror groups‖5.
Based on a research conducted by the World
Bank in 1994, the availability of family
planning programs and improvement in
contraceptive practices—two elements that
are often lacking in African nations—can
greatly reduce population growth. African
leaders should consider granting access to
such services and education for their people.
Furthermore, by increasing schooling and
improving economic opportunity for
women, the study revealed that the desire
for children could be significantly lowered.
Currently, the average number of desired
children in African families is between six
to nine children per household—a number
much greater than most countries6. Because
of women‘s lack of financial independence,
they feel that they must have a large number
of children to support them during old age.
Raising the status and bargaining power of
African women will reduce the demand for
children.
The immediate need to stem rapid
population growth in Africa is real and
urgent. The extent to which rapid
population growth will threaten the
development effort in Africa will largely
depend on the actions taken by the African
16
Garbage piled up in front of a school in
Naples. EPA/CIRO FUSCO at M&C Europe
leaders. A prompt implementation of a
practical and effective long-term population
policy is therefore vital to Africa‘s future. 1 May, John, and Jean-Pierre Guengant. ―Africa‘s greatest challenge is to reduce
fertility.‖ Financial Times. 13 Mar. 2008. 2 May, John. “Africa’s Population Growth: a Development Challenge.” The World
Bank. 1 April 2008. 3 Santangelo, Joe. “Reducing poverty in Africa, population growth may be bigger
hurdle than AIDS. Medical News Today. 29 Oct. 2005. 4 McMichael, Anthony J. Planetary Overload: Global Environmental Change and the
Health of the Human Species. Oct 1993. 5 Fowler, Jonathan. ―UN on Youth Unemployment and Crime.‖ 11 Aug. 2004. 6 Ainsworth, Martha. ―Population Policies for Sub-Saharan Africa‖ The World Bank.
Dec. 1994. 7 Mundell, Jonathan. ―Family Planning Integration: A Proven, but Highly Under-Utilised
Prevention Strategy.‖ Consultancy Africa Intelligence. May. 2008.
7http://www.ctcgiftshop.org/catalog/african%20yellow%20women%20children.jpg
Europe’s Garbage
By Hillary S. Kabach
People don‘t like to think about garbage. We
throw it in a bin, put it out on garbage day,
and then someone comes to take it away.
But what happens when no one comes to
collect it? It stays in the street, piling up and
stinking, as the residents of
Naples know. Since
December 2007, garbage
dumps in the Campania
region of southern Italy have
been overflowing, and as a
result garbage collectors
have stopped collection,
which has led to an
estimated 3,000 tons of
waste lining the streets of
Naples, and as much as
200,000 tons in the wider
Campania region.1
Further complicating
matters, the Camorra, the local version of
the Mafia, operates in every part of the
region‘s sanitation system, often bringing in
large quantities of industrial waste from the
north to dump in Campania‘s landfills, as
well as in the surrounding countryside.
Whether or not this industrial waste is the
cause, doctors say that cancer rates in the
area are much higher than the national
average, but the presence of organized crime
makes the situation almost impossible to
rectify locally.2 Consequently, and in
reaction to the ripening effects of summer
heat, residents have begun burning the piles
of rotting waste, the public health effects of
which have not been evaluated.3
The national government has spent over 1.3
bn euros over the past thirteen years trying
unsuccessfully to clean up the streets,4 and
now Berlusconi has two new plans. The first
is to add ten new landfills in the region. This
plan has been met with dissent by residents
who fear the effects on both their health and
that of the local environment.5 The second is
to treat the trash crisis as a natural disaster
and relinquish control to civil services
forces, such as the military.6
Up to four new
incinerators will also be added.7 Berlusconi
has declared that landfills, dump sites and
incinerators ―will become virtually military
zones and will be guarded by soldiers to
ensure that they can be cleared,‖ and that
they are ―areas of strategic national
interest.‖8 As such, any interference with
waste disposal or management is punishable
by a prison sentence.
Interestingly, on
July 10th
the Italian
parliament voted to grant
legal impunity to the four
highest ranking
government officials: the
President, the Presidents
of the Senate and the
House of
Representatives, and the
head of the government
(the Prime Minister).9
Garbage or no, this lack
of accountability is
unlikely to help the functioning of public
services in general and should call into
question the aims of the Italian government.
The European Union has taken note
of Italy‘s problem and in June sent the
Italian government a ―letter of formal
Hilary is a second-year
Masters student at
Columbia‘s School of
International and Public
Affairs. She is interested in
sustainable development,
social justice and cognitive
linguistics. She chose to
write about garbage in
Europe because it is a
significant development
issue that is often
overlooked until it reaches
crisis proportions.
17
notice‖ that it was violating the EU's Waste
Framework Directive.10
The European
Commission has also taken Italy to the
European Court of Justice, saying it does not
believe Italy has proposed an adequate
solution,11
and the EU‘s Environmental
Commissioner, Stavros Dimas, has called
for "concrete and immediate measures to
resolve the situation, keeping the needs of
public health and the environment in
mind.‖12
Punishments for not complying
with EU directives include imposition of
fines and withholding of regional funds, in
addition to national humiliation.
Although the Waste Framework
Directive encourages states to become self-
sufficient in waste-management and to
produce less waste and recycle more, as
much as 160,000 tons of waste is being
taken out of Italy altogether in an effort to
remedy the garbage crisis. It is being moved
to Germany, which has a much more
developed waste management system and
creates less waste in general. According to
Martin Mineur, technical director of two of
Hamburg's incinerators: ―We are doing this
because we were asked to provide
emergency aid, but we will do it only for a
few months, not years."13
It thus appears that a temporary
solution has been found, and cleanup has
begun. However, Naples is not the only
city—and Italy not the only country—in
Europe with a waste problem. Britain, for
example, Europe‘s most prolific trash-
producer, will have filled its garbage dumps
in nine years if current trends continue. As
landfills across the continent fill, the
European commission is issuing stronger
calls for waste reduction. By 2020, for
example, member states will be required to
have reduced the amount of waste sent to
landfills to a mere thirty-five percent of
what it was in 1995.14
Some of the schemes devoted to
reducing landfill waste include recycling
programs, waste-capping with fines for
exceeding the cap, and power-generating
incinerators. The UK is considering both
capping programs and increased ―bin taxes,‖
which make people pay for their garbage
output, as well as a charge for collection.
Meanwhile Germany appears to take the
lead in recycling programs, with separate
bins for glass, sorted by color, one for paper,
another for plastics, tins and composite
materials, one for biological waste and the
stuff of compost, and one for other things.
This program has the added benefit of
encouraging people to simply produce less
waste.
The lesson is that Europe‘s waste
output is unsustainable, and it needs to
produce garbage. While EU, national and
local authorities have the responsibility of
rolling out environmentally friendly
schemes to do so, ultimately private citizens
simply need to produce less waste.
―Clashes over Naples rubbish site.‖ BBC News. 24 May 2008. Site accessed
1 July 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7418558.stm
―Clashes over Naples rubbish site.‖
―Naples faces 'disaster measures.'‖ BBC News. 21 May 2008. Site accessed
1 July 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7412123.stm
―EU sues Italy over rubbish crisis.‖ BBC News. 6 May 2008. Site accessed
2 July 2008.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7385282.stm
―Clashes over Naples rubbish site.‖
―Naples faces 'disaster measures.'‖
―Naples garbage crisis to end.‖ UPI. Site Accessed July 5, 2008.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/07/02/Naples_garbage_crisis_to_end/
UPI-14591215004386/ ―Naples faces 'disaster measures.'‖
―Protégé par l'immunité pénale, Silvio Berlusconi pourrait échapper à la
justice.‖ Le Monde with AFP. 10 July 2008. Site accessed 11 July 2008.
http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2008/07/10/protege-par-l-immunite-
penale-silvio-berlusconi-pourrait-echapper-a-la-
justice_1068858_3214.html#ens_id=999907
―Q&A: Can the EU clean up Naples?‖ BBC News. 8 January 2008. Site
Accessed 2 July 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7175380.stm ―Clashes over Naples rubbish site.‖
―Q&A: Can the EU clean up Naples?‖
Rosenthal, Elizabeth. ―All of Europe getting a whiff of Naples
garbage problem.‖ International Herald Tribune. 8 June, 2008. Site
accessed 7 July 2008.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/08/europe/trash.php
―All of Europe getting a whiff of Naples garbage problem.‖
―All About Recycling.‖ How to Germany. Chuck Emerson Media Services:
2008. Site Accessed 07 July 2008.
http://www.howtogermany.com/pages/recycling.html
18
Sakhalin: The Energy
Projects
By Nickolai Belakovski
Projects to develop the natural resources
of Sakhalin Island assume a very muddled
environmental picture. For one thing, the
infrastructure they require is substantial,
and so affects many aspects of marine life
both in the Sea of Okhotsk where the
fields are being developed, and closer to
the coast where several hundred
kilometers of pipeline transport the oil and
gas from the frozen waters of the Sea to
transport terminals at the southern tip of
the island. The pipelines and other
components threaten to drive into extinction
the Western Gray Whale (of which only 100
remain) and damage wild salmon habitats.1
The project also threatens the livelihoods of
many local fishermen and the layout of the
pipelines is such that many spots are vulnerable
to damage significant enough to cause a major
oil leak, which would be an environmental
disaster.
The Western Gray Whale is believed to migrate
from eastern Russia to China2 and numbers only
around 100. While Shell, then-leader of the
development consortium, agreed to reroute the
pipelines away from the feeding grounds of the
WGW, it refused to move a drilling platform
adjacent to those grounds. With such a serious
disturbance nearby, the WGW population‘s
chances for survival are reduced, and NGOs and
environmentalists continue to call for the
relocation of the drilling platform.
The salmon population is facing a number of
difficulties as well due to the sedimentation
caused by construction of the pipeline. Scientific
research says salmon cannot spawn in water
with more than 220mg of suspended solids, and
while the report of Sakhalin Environment Watch
(an NGO monitoring the situation) does not
include the actual
level of suspended
solids, it contains
photographic evidence
showing water so
sediment-filled it is
opaque.3 In the photo
below, the company
claimed that the water
was cleared of all
suspended solids just
100 meters
downstream of the
river crossing, but the
photo is taken 14
kilometers downstream
and shows a clearly
dirty river.
Apart from the effects on WGWs and salmon,
the pipeline holds the potential for numerous
hazards. The 800km long pipes are at various
points vulnerable to volatile seismic activity,
land erosion, landslides, and at one point are
built only 300m away from an old military
ammunition depot. Russian law stipulates the
official prohibited zone around such areas at
The Others With growing attention paid to biodiversity, the growing consensus has
realized that the human population is not the only one affected by human
actions and damages done to other populations holds great repercussions for
the world as a whole
This is what the river looks like
14km downstream from the
upstream oil pipeline
Nickolai is a rising
sophomore at Purdue
University, where he is
double majoring in
Astronautical Engineering
and Applied
Mathematics. He has a
great interest in
international affairs and is
President of the Model
UN club at Purdue.
19
Stacy is a rising junior at
Tufts University,
majoring in International
Relations and Chinese.
She is interning at WIT
because she believes that
focusing on sustainable
development and
environmental and health
issues is crucial to
improving human
welfare. She became
interested in the problem
of cane toads through her
environmental biology
class last year.
“…The 800km long pipes are
at various points vulnerable
to volatile seismic activity,
land erosion, landslides, and
at one point are built only
300m away from an old
military ammunition
depot…”
400m, and construction projects must be placed
even further.
An investigation by the government of the
Russian Federation in mid-2006 revealed a large
number of violations of environmental
legislation by the consortium developing the
pipeline. Not only did they provide little or no
protective measures against erosion in many
areas, entire tributaries were covered with soil
due to the unauthorized construction of access
roads and little or no measures were put in place
to prevent mudslides in some of the most
vulnerable areas. Also, the pipeline route
deviated significantly from the original plan, and
now goes through a nature preserve. The
investigation prompted
Oleg Mitvol, the deputy
head of the Russian
Federal Service for the
Oversight of Natural
Resources, to, in
September 2006, order the
halt of all construction
works on the development
project and threatened to
revoke environmental authorization for pipeline
installation. Mitvol suggested that the
environmental damages could cost up to $50
billion to repair.4 After several months of
uncertainty, Gazprom, Russia‘s natural gas
giant, took control of 50% plus one share of the
consortium developing the island. Then-
President Vladimir Putin said the environmental
issues had been resolved. Finally, on March 29,
2007, Mitvol stated the government would not
be taking any action in the courts against Shell
for its environmental violations. The decision
was made on the basis that the consortium was
willing to solve the problems.5
At first, many independent analysts saw the
move by Russian government to halt pipeline
construction as a way to ―strengthen its position,
and increase its role in the project.‖6 The deal
struck in the 1990‘s between the Russian
government and Marathon, McDermott, and
Mitsui (Shell and Mitsubishi joined later on, and
Marathon and McDermott sold their stakes) was
very unfavorable for the government, and so the
move to halt construction was seen as a way of
rectifying the situation. The deal signed by
Gazprom and Shell signed in December 2006
gave little credence to the Russian government‘s
position on the environment. But in late 2007, a
report published by an independent firm of
consultants (commissioned by potential lenders
to the Sakhalin project) concluded that the
project was largely in compliance with all the
relevant environmental requirements.7
In spite of this independent assessment, the
murky waters of Sakhalin are not clear. Several
public banks are either still deciding whether to
give funds to the project, or have otherwise
decided against it. These banks have strict
environmental policies for the projects they
finance and groups like Sakhalin
Environment Watch claim the
decisions to withhold funds was due to
the consortium‘s failure to comply
with said policies. On the whole, it
would appear that the actions of
governments as well as government-
backed bodies such as the public
banks, have led a successful campaign
against the environmental degradation
of Sakhalin Island.
Sources:
1.Sakhalin Environment Watch. ―Sakhalin 2 still not rejected by EBRD in spite of
increased violations from Shell.‖ November 29, 3005.
http://www.sakhalin.environment.ru/en/
2. International Union for the Conservation of Nature. ―Western Gray Whale
Conservation Initiative.‖ 2007. http://www.iucn.org/themes/marine/sakhalin/
3. Dmitry Lisitsyn. ―Sakhalin Phase II: environmental and social problems: What‘s
new?‖ October 20, 2005. http://www.pacificenvironment.org/
4. Parfitt, Tom. ―Kremlin attack dog vows to take on Shell in the battle of Sakhalin.‖
October 4, 2006. http://www.guardian.co.uk/
5. Kommersant. ―Russian Authorities Pull Out of Dispute with Sakhalin Energy.‖ March
29, 2007. http://www.kommersant.com/
6. Sugiyama, Yoshikuni. ―Russia‘s economic roulette: Gazprom wants more than 50% of
Sakhalin II.‖ September 30, 2006. http://royaldutchshellplc.com/
7. ―Sakhalin‘s Phase 2 HSES Report Gets High Marks from AEA.‖ October 9, 2007.
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=51196
The Invasion of the Cane Toad
By Stacy Jen
20
The spread of cane toads throughout Australia
With its large build and dry, warty skin, the cane
toad is a seemingly mundane and innocuous
creature. However, the Bufo marinus is proving
to be a huge environmental problem for
Australia. One hundred of these toads were
shipped from Hawaii to northern Queensland in
1937 as a natural method to control the beetles,
which were devastating sugarcane crops. The
species of beetles found in Australia differed
from those found in Hawaii, and the toads,
unable to jump high enough, were not capable of
dealing with the pests. 1
Nevertheless, by
releasing these animals into the wild, a great
threat was unknowingly introduced to the
environment.
It is without a doubt that this invasive
species is wreaking havoc on the biodiversity of
Australia, ultimately compromising the
environment in terms of food security, pest
control, and water and soil quality. The cane
toad is a nocturnal, resilient animal, able to
survive in temperatures of 5° to 40° C and a
multitude of environments. A land-dweller, it
feeds on almost anything that it can swallow,
ranging from smaller frogs to petite mammals
and reptiles, and even food left out for pets.
Because of the toad‘s nonspecific diet, native
species are constantly being eaten by these
amphibians, endangering species that are already
marginalized. Populations of northern quoll,
goannas, snakes, and salt-water crocodiles have
been declining since the introduction of the
toad.2 Furthermore, these native animals are
forced to compete with the prolific toads for
food sources, especially insects, in addition to
the struggle to habitat space., Furthermore,
without any natural diseases or predators in the
region checking these growing populations, the
cane toad continues to consistently expand its
territory southward each year by an estimated
1.3 kilometers. 1
In all life stages, the cane toad
is fatally poisonous. In its adult form, both the
upper surface of its skin and the protruding
glands on its sides exude toxins. The poison is
absorbed through body tissue, and predators that
get their mouths around the toad die from
contact with the poison. The cane toad is also
known to eat feces, and in areas of poor
sanitation, they are able to transmit
bacteria and diseases, such as
salmonella. 1
The cane toad‘s massive
takeover of the continent can also be
attributed to its prolific reproductive
cycle. Although preferring to breed
during the wet season and in still waters,
the toad is capable of reproducing year
round. Females lay anywhere from
8,000 to 33,000 eggs in one spawning,
whereas native Australian frog species
lay only 1,000 to 2,000 eggs at a time.
The eggs of cane toads are also more
resistant to certain herbicides and
eutrophic waters, environments that are
uninhabitable to other frogs. Moreover,
these eggs quickly hatch into tadpoles,
which subsequently develop into adults
quicker than the natives, heightening the
level of competition between species for
available resources. 3
The cane toad is a declared pest in
certain regions of Australia, calling forth
government responses on a more local and
regional level. In Western Australia, the WA
Cane Toad Initiative was implemented as a
means to delay the encroachment of the toad.
Between 2006 and 2009, a 7 million dollar
survey across 20 Kimberley Islands is being
undertaken to gain a more accurate picture of the
biodiversity and the flora and fauna at risk, and
how to protect these species more efficiently. 4
21
Other state governments have invested millions
of dollars in genetic research. Peter Koopman,
the professor of Developmental Biology at the
University of Queensland, is currently
developing a gene that results in only the birth of
male toads. If successful, the numbers of toads
will plummet. 5
Biological methods are also effective at
controlling the cane toad. At the University of
Sydney, a lungworm parasite that is deadly to
the cane toad but not Australian frog species has
been discovered. In addition, when ―alarm
pheromones‖ are released from injured tadpoles,
it signals that danger is in the area, urging them
to flee. However, these pheromones stress out
the tadpoles to an extreme level, and as a result,
many of them die due to stress. Luckily, this
pheromone can be produced and can be used as
a means to control the population. Combined,
these biological methods are proving effective. 6
Governments are also relying on
organizations and volunteers to physically go
into the environment and humanely dispose of
the toads. Long strands of cane toad eggs can be
found in lakes and removed. Fine mesh fencing
is also useful in preventing toads from reaching
ponds to reproduce. 1
As cane toads continue their march
across Australia, both national and local
governments are stepping up to meet the ever
increasing environmental challenges posed by
these troublesome amphibians. This
decentralized approach is more efficient, able to
meet the challenges posed by the toads in the
various terrains of the country. Scientific
advances are also helping to mitigate the
problem, but the possibility of these methods
negatively impacting the environment still
exists. A more careful and thorough study and
testing should be undertaken to ensure its safety. 1 "The feral cane toad (Bufo marinus) - Invasive species fact sheet." Australian
Government - Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. 2004.
Australian Government - Department of the Environment, Water, Heritag. 09 Jul
2008 <http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/publications/cane-
toad/pubs/cane- toad.pdf>. 2 Cameron, Elizabeth. "Cane Toads, Giant Toads or Marine Toads." Australian Museum
Online. June 2002. Search & Discover. 10 Jul 2008
<http://www.austmus.gov.au/factsheets/canetoad.htm>. 3 "The Unwanted Amphibian." Cane Toads in Australia. 05 Oct 2005. 10 Jul 2008
<http://www.fdrproject.org/pages/toads.htm >. 4 ―Cane Toad Initiative.‖ Naturebase. 2007. 10 July. 2008.
<http://www.naturebase.net/content/view/2548/1371/> 5 "Gender bending could see cane toad's end." ABC News Online. 06 June 2006. ABC. 10
July 2008 <http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1656274.htm>. 6 Australian Academy of Science. "Biological Weapons To Control Cane Toad Invasion
In Australia." ScienceDaily 10 May 2008. 10 July 2008
<http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2008/05/080508131953.htm>.
Destruction of Olive groves in Palestine: “the third Nakba”
By Jennie Ellison
Since the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
territories in1967, Palestinians have lived under
Israeli restrictions on olive harvesting. In 2000,
these restrictions became harsher, making
harvesting extremely difficult, if not impossible,
for the farmers. The Israeli occupation
authorities‘ policies include curfews, permits,
confiscation of ID cards and equipment, fines,
and destruction of crops25
. Israeli settlers have
attacked and killed harvesters during the harvest
season and the military regularly shoots at
Palestinians outside after curfew.
Since 1967, Israel has been responsible for
destroying over 1 million olive trees in
Palestinian territory26
. Olive groves make up
4.6% of Palestine‘s GDP and serve as a main
source of income for over 100,000 families27
.
From 2000-2004 alone, the Palestinian Ministry
of Agriculture has reported the uprooting of
approximately 400,000 trees worth over 60
million US dollars28
. Besides the habitual
uprooting of olive trees, the Israeli construction
of the segregation wall, or Israeli West Bank
barrier, uprooted 45,000 olive trees29
. The wall
will affect more than 126 communities30
and
make about 1 million more trees inaccessible or
25 Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem. Monitoring Israel Colonization Activities in the
Palestinian Territories. ―Olive Harvest in Palestine. Another Season, Another Anguish‖.
Accessed 7 July 2008 at
<http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=455. 6 November 2004> 26 ibid 27 ibid 28 ibid 29 ibid 30 ibid
Jennie is a rising second year
Master's student, studying
International Community Health
at Steinhardt School of Culture,
Education, and Human
Development, New York
University. She is interested in
international communities and
the many social, economic,
political and behavioral
determinants that produce health
statuses. She chose this topic as it
is an example of how political
determinants affect people´s
livlihoods and health statuses.
22
An olive grove farmer surveys his land.
Photo: Palestine Monitor
restricted31
. It will also ―leave over 50% of
Palestinian land in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip in Israeli hands‖32
As any deforestation will have
environmental and economic consequences,
Palestinians have been affected in even greater
ways by the olive grove destruction. The olive
tree is also a historical, cultural, and religious
symbol for Palestinians. It has been grown in
the Middle East for thousands of years and
Palestinians see it as ―a symbol of their nation‖ 33
as well as a symbol of peace. It serves as a
religious symbol for both the Muslim and
Christian Palestinians, mentioned in the Qur‘an
and the Bible. In the destruction of olive trees,
Palestinians feel a direct attack on themselves,
their families and their nation. ―Uprooting the
tree is seen as a form of crushing the Palestinian
culture and eliminating their voices‖34
.
Both sides offer differing reasons for the
restrictions and destruction of olive
groves. In terms of restrictions,
Israel has stated that they want to
keep the harvesters safe from
attacks of Israeli settlers and the
restrictions allow them to provide a
safer environment for harvesting. In
regards to the destruction of olive
groves, the Israeli military has
stated that Palestinians use the trees
for shelter while throwing stones at
Israelis and therefore they are acting
to preemptively remove their ability
to attack the Israelis. The Israeli
Defense Force has also
acknowledged that they have
uprooted trees ―to build settlements, expand
roads, and lay infrastructure‖35
. Palestinians
argue that the restrictions and uprooting are
aimed to destroy this sector of the Palestinian
agriculture economy and slowly take more land
through the destruction of the groves.
31 ReliefWeb. ―The olive harvest in the West Bank and Gaza – Oct 2006‖. 31 October
2006. Accessed 7 July 2008 at
<http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6V7K9C?OpenDocument> 32 Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem. Monitoring Israel Colonization Activities in the
Palestinian Territories. ―Olive Harvest in Palestine. Another Season, Another Anguish‖.
Accessed 7 July 2008 at
<http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=455. 6 November 2004> 33
―Uprooting Olive Trees in Palestine.‖ Accessed 7 July 2008 at
<http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/olive-tree.htm. November 2002>
34 ibid
35 ibid
In its past and current policies and
actions concerning the Palestinian territories and
its people, Israel has been in violation of many
international laws. The United Nations called
for the withdrawal of Israel from Palestinian
territories after the 1967 war; however, Israel
has not relented. Israel is also in violation of the
Hague Convention of 1907 and the Fourth
Geneva Convention of 1949, the former
prohibiting the seizure or destruction of property
except during war and the latter prohibiting
collective penalties.
The responses of both governments are
couched in the continuing feuds and violent
attacks from both sides. There have been many
peacemaking attempts between Israel and
Palestine since 1967, the last of which was the
Annapolis conference of November 2007. The
content of those talks was confidential; however,
both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders have
spoken concerning its
progress. An Israeli
spokesman has stated that
the ―discussions are
continuing; we are
making progress‖, while
a Palestinian
spokesperson states that
negotiations ―are not
advancing at the required
pace or yielding the
progress necessary for us
to reach the agreed
objectives by the agreed
dates.‖36
. The destruction
of olive groves will not
be successfully brought to an end until the entire
peacemaking attempts are successful.
Several organizations are currently
involved in efforts to stop the uprooting of olive
trees. The United Nations provides Palestine
with $1 million each year to support the olive
economy37
. The International Solidarity
Movement, Rabbis for Human Rights, and
Grassroots International Protection for
36 New York Times. ―Palestinian Official Says Talks With Israelis Yield Little‖. 18
April 2008. Accessed 8 July 2008 at
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/world/middleeast/18mideast.html?scp=2&sq=anna
polis+convention&st=nyt> 37 ReliefWeb. ―The olive harvest in the West Bank and Gaza – Oct 2006‖. 31 October
2006. Accessed 7 July 2008 at
<http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6V7K9C?OpenDocument>
23
Palestinain People are a few of many non-
governmental organizations who are speaking
and acting out in regards to the olive grove
destruction.
Palestine experienced their first Nakba, or
catastrophe, in 1948 with the dispossession of
their land and the second in 1967 after the Six-
Day War. An olive grove owner in the village
of Ni´lin, Asad Amera, called the building of the
segregation wall ¨the third Nakba¨ or
catastrophe1. The building of the wall will mean
further destruction of olive groves and restricted
access to the existing groves for farmers. Only
with continued peacekeeping efforts from Israel
and Palestine will the economic, social, religious
and environmental consquences of olive grove
destruction be either mitigated or brought to an
end.
Concluding Comments By Alaya Levi Salley
As quoted from World Information Transfer
Inc.‘s homepage- ―We have not inherited the
world from our forefathers…we have borrowed
it from our children.‖ Our actions, if we be the
agitators, and our reactions, if we be the
government or identify as politically active,
must always consider the near and distant future
in combination with the urgent matters of the
present.
The exact price we will pay for negligence and
recklessness is immeasurable but will be
perniciously felt socially,
economically, politically and
environmentally for generations
to come. Furthermore, the
poor, minorities, tribal
communities, the environment,
animals and other
disenfranchised populations
will bear these costs at a
disproportionate rate.
Yes, our governments must
take the lead with initiatives to
mitigate and prevent disaster
but we as citizens have a greater
responsibility to hold ourselves
accountable. Citizens of the
world, whether they be
students, professionals,
government officials or civil
society must vehemently mold
the governments of the globe to
become the responsive and
effective bodies needed to
create a sustainable, healthy and
safe world.
On behalf of the WIT interns of
Summer 2008, we hope you
have thoroughly enjoyed this
edition of the Ecology Enquirer
and realized that disasters end
only when committed persons
mobilize resources to commit to
long-term change, prevention
and preparedness.
Thank You.
1 Palestine Monitor: Exposing Life Under Occupation. ¨¨The Nakba of Ni'lin: Landowners Losing
their Olive Trees to the Wall¨. 9 July 2008. Accessed 25 July 2008 at
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article496
Ecology
Enquirer World Information
Transfer Inc.
475 Park Avenue
South
22nd Floor
New York, NY
10016
Telephone:
(212)686-1996
Fax: (212)686-
2172
Email:
Editors: Gloria Liu
Alaya Levi Salley
Contributors: Emmy (Chow Yi
Tin)
Greta (Liao Jing
Hua)
Hilary Kaback
Jennie Ellison
Kent (To Kwok
Wai)
Lillian (Tsang Kai
Ni)
Maggie Leung
Mariana Sentieri
Natalie Miller
Nickolai Belakovski
Peter Davis
Stacy Jen
Vanessa Matthews
Anushka Chadha
Special Thanks:
Amy Williams
(Assistant Editor)
Alaya Levi Salley is a rising
junior at Wellesley College.
She plans on majoring in
Peace and Justice Studies and
Economics. She chose to edit
this issue of the Ecology
Enquirer because of its
relevance to her studies.