CHINESE WATERWAYS ARE DISAPPEARING: STUDY REVEALS THAT AS MANY AS 28,000 RIVERS HAVE VANISHED.

 About 28,000 rivers in China have disappeared in the past 60 years.  Most researchers have reason to believe that the cause is the frenetic pace of industrialization the country has experienced.

The Chinese authority have released a report of its first and only national census of waterways and rivers.  

The data in the report point to a startling conclusion: that in the past 60 years more than 100 square kilometers of waterways have vanished into thin air.  

The study which was a massive endeavor undertaken by more than 800.000 surveyors, said there were no more than 22,909 waterways in China that had catchment areas of at least 100 square kilometers.  That's half its original estimate of more than 50,000.

The loss of water and the soil erosion it engenders are very dangerous and if the pace of economic development is not slowed or preventive measures taken, China could virtually run dry.  

Recent news have already highlighted the severe pollution of some of China's most important waterways.  From dead pigs and ducks, to pollution that is causing the creation of 'cancer villages', there is a general concern about what the future of China's water supply will be if there is not a very strong re-direction of current environmental practices.  

Some experts contend that the picture might not be so bleak, and that the initial estimates might be too high to reflect the true pace of loss.  And they also cite climate change as a contributing factor.  

Incredibly enough, even though the water supply is shrinking, wide areas of China are increasingly prone to flooding.  Flooding is nothing new in China: their history reflects a long trend of deadly flooding and rains.  But some point to the fact that there are not sufficient safeguards from rivers overflowing, and that the people in general are not protected from the devastating floods.  

But experts say that the trend is unmistakable:  400 out of 600 major cities in China will experience water shortages and deadly pollution.  In the north the soil is drying up due to the fact that there has been overpumping of underground aquifers.     

Such a destructive pace is not sustainable, and plans must be made to face the double onslaught of climate change and industrialization.

Source: The Times UK 3.30.13      

THE DYING EASTER BUNNY: RABBITS AND HARES DYING IN THE LONG COLD SPRING DUE TO FARMING PRACTICES

 

photo; spiegelonline

Some scientists are saying that the cold Spring of 2012 is due to excessive glacier melting in the North Pole.  The colder water from the melt is making the northern Atlantic and Baltic waters colder and that in turn is making the Spring longer colder than usual.  What they are also saying is that the glaciers are melting at a rate that will not enable refreezing for a good portion of it, signaling a precipitation of the melting trend caused by global warming.

One of the smaller victims of the cold spring are hares and rabbits in the German territory.  Farmers have reported that they are finding numerous dead bunnies in the open fields.  

But what is killing them might not just be the snow cover and extended winter, but farming practices.  

In fact they are not dying because of the cold weather because they can tolerate dry snow and the chill, but, although the cold is not a threat to the small animals, the slushy wet snow is fatal.  

Their habitat has also been changed by farming practices which makes finding refuge from the heavy wet snow impossible.  

Modern farming eliminates hedging, a crucial part of the field where the critters find refuge. The hedges also protect them from predators.  

What is also worrisome is that this is the season when rabbits and hares have their leverets. In desperation, some of these animals are venturing into towns, in the hope to find some food.  If anyone finds leverets, they are asked to not pick them up. They are not being abandoned.  They are left so that the mother can forage and so that the mother does not in the daylight give clues as to where her babies are.

Source: Spiegel online 3.30.13          

SONG OF THE DAY : GRAM PARSON - SHE

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE SINAI PENSINSULA UNABATED DUE TO EGYPT'S INACTION

 

photo: spiegelonline

A trade as ancient as slavery has not yet been wiped out.  One of the places where it is alive and well is the Sinai peninsula.  

Information about human trafficking trade in the Sinai is trickling in, and it appears that no one in the area is willing to stop the illegal activity.  

These are people that are 'stolen' from their villages somewhere in Africa, chained and brought to the Sinai area, where they are held for ransom.  

Some if not all of the kidnap victims are beaten, tortured and raped.  

The Sinai Peninsula, the bridge between Egypt and Israel, is the area where most of the victims are brought, after they are taken from their villages in countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia or Sudan.   They are at first lured with the promise of work in Europe or other similar wealthier countries.  

They are brought to the Sinai because since Egypt's civil unrest and deposition of the old regime, there is no one patrolling the area any more.  It has become a place where criminals and terrorists are making their home.  And one of the way they get money is to exploit human trafficking victims.  The murder rate in the area is out of control.  And the kidnapped victims are kept even after the ransom is paid, and continue to be beated and tortured. 

The problem also is exacerbated by the fact that the indigenous bedouin tribes cannot interfere with the affairs of other tribes. They can only step in and help if the prisoners are able to escape their captors.  

Some of the escapees tell horror stories of being kept awake 24/7 and if any of them nodded off they would be burned with cigarettes or lighters.  Of the 22 prisoners kept in the desert in one location alone, 11 of them died during their time in captivity.  If there are any women captured, they are used as sex slaves by the captors and raped repeatedly night after night.  

An estimate of the prisoners recently kept in these conditions in the area goes as high as 7,000, with about 4,000 estimated to have died from the torture received.  The bodies of the dead prisoners are often tossed in the desert, where the locals find the bodies of the mostly African prisoners.  

Many in the muslim communities condemn the traffickers and some of them are shunned from society.  But in many cases, their excuse for working in the human trafficking trade,  is that it is the only work available to them.  

In a new and disturbing trend, a number of these refugees end up in Israel after being kidnapped from the Sudan and brought to the Sinai.  There are reports that the Sudanese police in some cases are in on the trade, probably due to bribes, and that they cooperate in the transfer of the victims across the Sudanese border.  Once the ransom is paid, and if they are released, they are sometimes dropped off near the Israeli border, where they can be easily shot if they wander across the Israeli border.  

The Egyptian government, which should be the nation overseeing the Sinai area, is refusing access to the UNCHR who want to visit the prison camps where the abducted prisoner are held.  They contend that the prisoners are in the Sinai illegaly and have no right to asylum.  

Egypt is basically breaking its own laws, which forbid human trafficking.  If someone smuggles produce in Egypt they are sent to jail, but if they traffic human beings in the Sinai they are protected by Egypt's acquiescence.  

And many point the finger at the outwardly clear racism that is inherent in this problem. That Egypt is not interested in protecting the abductee because most of them are African black and not muslim.  They are considered migrants who are roaming willingly the Sinai to usurp work for the existing citizens.  

At this time, watchdog agencies believe that there are as many as 1,000 human trafficking prisoners in the Sinai.  

For those who have escaped their captors, their hope is still to reach Europe and find work, where they can repay their family the ransom money they gave their captors.  

Source: Spiegelonline 3.30.13