Tag Archive: conservation


The world needs optimists. Optimists like Rob Stewart: writer, director and narrator of the new documentary Revolution about the state of the world’s environmental health.

Revolution premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012, and has been received well. In fact, it had the highest opening weekend of any Canadian documentary. Rob and his team are heading to Cannes in a few weeks to try to get wider international distribution.

They want the movie to be seen by at least 1 Billion people.

As opposed to just another droning eco-lecture, Revolution is a great travelogue, and thus adventurous and relatable. It still contains a lot of unique wildlife and marine life footage, along with powerful messages throughout.

It covers a lot of important topics: coral reef destruction, species extinction, the loss of biodiversity, ocean acidification, air and ocean pollution, and tar sand refining – all incredibly important and urgent matters. But is that enough? Don’t we have all the information we can take?

Of course, that’s not all there is. Rob founded an organization called United Conservationists, working to mobilize the public, and especially inform, educate and engage children and young people to take action and participate in conservation efforts on a number of issues, including overfishing, habitat loss, extinction, deforestation – basically, any leading destructive activities that are contributing to the environmental crisis of our generation.

The documentaries and the campaigns have had other positive effects, such as creating a positive and caring global community of people who are dedicated and focused on education, networking and activism. A community of the future. View full article »

“Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.

Life is an adventure, dare it.

Life is too precious, do not destroy it.”

Today is a good day, it’s Earth Day. Here’s my article on TravelCultureMag.

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All the predictions have materialized and there’s no escaping the realization that the face of the world is changing. The Earth is evolving and going through natural cycles, but it is more so apparent that the growth of population and our living habits are influencing this change.

You fly to your friend’s stag do, a quick weekend trip to the beach, you chuck your heavy laptop for a lighter ‘travel’ version, throw in an iPad too because it’s so hip, and that new digital SLR, you gear up for your camping trip with all the brand new items, while the old ones are hoarding the garage, or have met its fate in the garbage bin, you text and you talk on the phone all your waking hours, your Facebook is on 24/7, driving to the grocery store is just too convenient to reconsider, and that shark fin soup is too delicious to pass.

But before you start to cheer for noticeably less precipitation, warmer winters and scorching summers, think about adapting to extreme weather conditions: desertification and rising sea levels, droughts and floods, and the loss of biodiversity (because animal species are not as adaptable to these new patterns).

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Ok, maybe you don’t care about the animals. But what about us? We are blaming past generations for not considering the implications of their actions and burdening us with saving the planet, but we are exerting even more pressure on the environment, and the future generation, which doesn’t really have a future, the way things stand now. I envision my children’s children wearing gas masks and living in domed cities. View full article »

Acording to the studies conducted by researches at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, there is a strong link between disease control and biodiversity, stating that preserving tropical forests could help reduce the spread of malaria. Read more here.

I wrote the following article in tune with the Swiss Malaria Group Photo Contest, and it has been published on Photodox. Photos, entered in the contest, are by Goran Jovic from his trip to Tanzania.

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© Goran Jovic

Western travellers who go to malaria-infected countries are equipped with vaccines, tablets and all the information they could google prior to their journey. However, they may not be prepared for what they have to face once they get there, and I don’t mean the mosquitos.

Although very common and widely dispersed across all African nations, the disease is still somewhat a mystery to the common people. Its prevention, transmission and cure are virtually unknown to all but the medics.

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© Goran Jovic

View full article »

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I wrote this article for Living Green Mag. Scroll to the bottom for an amazing Save Water! infograph.

Clean water is the simplest and most urgent need for our planet and its growing population. World Water Day is established to help encourage conservation efforts so that clean, safe and healthy water is made available to everyone.

On days such as this we celebrate and appreciate the natural resources of our planet, but also use them as a tool for raising awareness, mobilizing action, and generating support for future projects.

It also serves to draw attention to the facts such as that 780 million people are still without access to an improved drinking water source, while 2.5 billion – which is over 1/4 of all people on the planet – are in need of improved sanitation.

View full article »

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I wrote this article for Living Green Magazine. Scroll down to the bottom for a comprehensive infograph on deforestation and GHG emissions.

Forests are rich ecosystems and significant pools of biodiversity – important breeding grounds for millions of species of flora and fauna.

Their role in maintaining climate functions regionally and globally, and the regulation of regional climate patterns through hydrological cycles is of immense importance.

The trees which absorb carbon dioxide are a great tool to combat global warming: stopping deforestation could cut global carbon emissions by as much as three billion tonnes a year – the equivalent of more than 1/3 of all fossil fuel emissions.

And yet, deforestation is currently responsible for 20% of all emissions, contributing twice as much to global warming as was thought.

Our goal should be to prevent greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation by raising awareness and taking whatever action we can.

View full article »

This post is in time for the CITES Conference of the Parties that commenced in Bangkok this week, convened to discuss wildlife crime. I decided to re-post this NGM feature that really jolted me, as it’s the perfectly crafted investigative report: a bit wry, grim, candid – and just powerful. And on a topic that deserves full attention.

Blood Ivory

~ Text: Bryan Christy. Photos: Brent Stirton. National Geographic, October 2012 ~

Elephant poaching levels are currently at their worst in a decade, and seizures of illegal ivory are at their highest level in years. from he air the scattered bodies present a senseless crime scene – the latest of the tens of thousands of elephants killed across Africa each year.

Each of the bloated elephant carcasses is a monument to human greed. From the vantage point of history, this killing field is not new at all.

It is timeless, and it is now.

CITES, as administrator of the 1989 global ivory ban, is the world’s official organization standing between the slaughter of the 1980s— in which Africa is said to have lost half its elephants, more than 600,000 in just those ten years —and the extermination of the elephant.

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My favourite part:

THE JAPAN EXPERIMENT

In 1989, after ten years during which at least one elephant died every ten minutes, President George H. W. Bush unilaterally banned ivory imports, Kenya burned its 13 tons of ivory stocks, and CITES announced the global ivory ban, which began in 1990. Not all countries agreed to the ban. Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Malawi entered “reservations,” exempting them from it on the grounds that their elephant populations were healthy enough to support trade.

In 1997 CITES held its main meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe declared that elephants took up a lot of space and drank a lot of water. They’d have to pay for their room and board with their ivory.

If Kenya’s Daniel arap Moi is the father of the ivory ban, then Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is the father of its first rupture.

View full article »

Is the Dead Sea dying?

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Last month, the World Bank released an environmental and social feasibility study of alternatives for the $10 billion USD Red Sea-Dead Sea water transfer project.

The aim of the project is to restore the depleted Dead Sea by piping 2 billion cubic meters of Red Sea marine water each year from the Gulf of Aqaba through hydroelectric stations and desalination plants and on to the Dead Sea. The by-product would be a much-needed supply of freshwater.

However, Israel, which shares the Dead Sea with Jordan – located on the border between the two – says it does not support the controversial conduit. Its reservations stem from uncertainties about the environmental impact of mixing Red Sea water with the Dead Sea, as the mixture could result in an outbreak of bacteria and algae and the release of hydrogen sulfide into the air, thus endangering the Dead Sea’s unique ecology and related tourism.

“The Dead Sea is a unique natural resource and a rare and hasty decision may destroy it completely, and with it the tourism.” It is shrinking annually due to the pumping of water from Jordan River that flows into the Sea and feeds it, while the demise of the Jordan River has been attributed to the diversion of water from its tributaries. Israel has already committed to a 10-year plan that allocates some 1.5-2 billion cubic meters of water to its rivers during the next decade in order to replenish them.

You know all those amazing beaches that you’ve always dreamt of visiting?  Well, you may have a chance, but it’s very doubtful that the next generation will, if the current trends continue.

The average 2 degrees Centigrade of predicted warming, that we probably won’t feel, still means a lot: the slight change will cause thermal expansion, causing the swelling of the water, and resulting in the rise in sea levels. Then, the same increase in temperature will lead to glacier and ice land masses to melt.

The rise in ocean levels is a threat to the natural and physical features, but also poses a risk of the overflow of waterways and flooding of coastal infrastructure and the populations which live along the coasts.

How many world metropolises can you think of that are situated on the coast? New York, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Lima, Tokyo, Jakarta, Shanghai, Manila, Mumbai, Karachi, Lagos – 10 of them in the top 20.

Their combined population is about 2.5 billion.

This year, the 20th anniversary of World Oceans Day, is intended to change our perspective and what the Big Blue provides for us, as well as change our ways in taking care of water resources.

View full article »

Living Green Magazine has one of my favourite by-lines: “where green is read”. Witty, ha?

Here’s my latest article there, thanks for the love, LGM!

Five new hydro-electric dams have been proposed in southern Chile, in the isolated region of Aysen close to Patagonia. The dams would be structured on the wild, raging Pascua and Baker rivers, which are some of the most bio-diverse waterways in the world.

They have the potential to generate enough energy to power Chile’s growing population and double the energy production in 10 years, which, in turn, makes this a highly controversial, large-scale unsustainable exploitation.

The $10-million project by multi-national developer HidroAysten would cause much environmental damage, on the rivers themselves, the nearby parks, as well as all along the 2,000 km-long transmission line which would transport that energy to the northern provinces.

The Chilean media here are reporting that the people are divided on the issue: they may favour the economic prospects, even though they are worried about the environment, but the growth of population has compromised the standards of living.

They say that the stability of the economy is at stake as much as the environment.
The motto, ‘Aysen: Reserve of Life’ is a predicament here: to prioritize the life for animals and nature, or the people who are trying to subsist there.

deforestation

Listen up: already today we are using 25% more resources than our planet can provide sustainably (source: WWF).

How are we supposed to build a future around that?

We have to be willing to take action, collectively and immediately.

We must reduce our ecological footprint, and keep it to an absolute minimum.

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Deforestation is currently responsible for 20% of all emissions, contributing twice as much to global warming as was thought. Our goal should be to prevent greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation by raising awareness and taking whatever action we can.

Forests are rich ecosystems and significant pools of biodiversity – important breeding grounds for millions of species of flora and fauna.

Their role in maintaining climate functions regionally and globally, and the regulation of regional climate patterns through hydrological cycles is of immense importance.

The trees which absorb carbon dioxide are a great tool to combat global warming: stopping deforestation could cut global carbon emissions by as much as three billion tonnes a year – the equivalent of more than 1/3 of all fossil fuel emissions.

The Amazon is the single largest remaining tropical rainforest in the world, housing at least 10% of the world’s known biodiversity, including endemic and endangered flora and fauna. The world depends on this rainforest basin for carbon storage: it has the capacity to sponge 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon (source: BBC).

Main deforestation threats are as follows: burning forests to create grasslands for cattle, mechanized agriculture expansion resulting in soil erosion, river siltation and aquatic contamination with agrochemicals, poorly planned transportation and energy infrastructure, oil and gas spills from hydrocarbon exploitation, and illegal logging.

Unfortunately, immediately after announcing that deforestation is down since conservation efforts began in 1988, the authorities in Brazil voted yesterday to approve a controversial legislation which will alleviate strict fines for some illegal forest clearance and ease overall rules on deforestation.

The reason is a necessity for arable land to feed the growing population and to meet the growing demand for food, stimulating economic development. Farmers are arguing that environmental protection harms their sector and the entire food production system.

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Leading environmental agencies are warning that the changes will spoil Brazil’s significant environmental achievements of recent years and dangerously impair global efforts to fight climate change, reduce carbon emissions, and speed up the loss of biodiversity.

The changes are also expected to expose native tribes and poorer regional settlements to larger risks from floods and droughts.

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