Case Study of Congo

Congo has one of the most threatened rainforests in the world. Activities such as logging,

Subsistence Agriculture, Civil Strife, Mining and ‘Bushmeat’ Trade are the factors

for such a result. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

(FAO), Congo has lost approximately 91,000 km2 to deforestation in the 10 years

between 1990 and 2000. Not to mention, 65.8 percent, or 22,471,000 hectares, of

Congo’s land is covered with forests. Of this, 33.2 percent, or 7,464,000 hectares of the

forest is classified as primary forest, the most abundant and greatest form biodiversity

of a forest. During the 1990, for a decade, Congo has been loosing an average of

17,000 hectares of forests per year, around 0.07 percent. Between, 2000 and 2005,

deforestation activity as increased by 0.8 percent from the pass decade to 0.08 percent

yearly. Deforestation rates of have decreased 1.1% since the close of the 1990s. In

total, between 1990 and 2005, Congo lost 1.1% of its forest cover, or around 255,000

hectares and 84,000 hectares of its primary forest cover. Congo has also lost 1.1 percent

of its woodlands habitat. Congo’s forest houses some 970 different species of animals

according to figures from the World Conservation Monitoring Centre and 0.7 percent of

these animals are endemic, which means they can’t be found in any other country and 2

percent of the animals are threatened to extinction. Besides animals, Congo also house

6000 different kinds of vascular plants, where 20 percent of these plants are endemic.

Only 14.1 percent of the plants are under protection.

Logging: Logging is one of the reasons for deforestation in Congo. After the war,

when peace is back to the country, the rate of logging has increased significantly.

In 2004, Congo started logging commercially. The timber industries expanded

because of it. Many workers were employed. This helped Congo’s economy.

Many underpaid citizens tried to earn money through illegal logging opening

restricted areas to cutting. This created incentives which they add on with their

legal jobs and pay.

Agriculture: Agriculture also led to deforestation. Most of the forest cover has

been taken by poor farmers and villagers for agriculture and fuelwood collection.

Farmers use the slash-and-burn method for quick removal of trees and other

plants.

Civil Strife: Ever since the mid 20th century, Central Africa has been troubled by

violence amongst its own people. Civil Strife caused many people to flee from

their homes, away from the city, and into the forest for shelter. During their stay

in the forest, people took food and destroyed wildlife habitat. Animals were also

hunted and disturbed by the refugees. Destruction of the forest was evident after

they had left the forest.

Bushmeat: To date, visitors of Congo can purchase almost every kind of meat if

any animal that can be found in the forest. There is a huge demand for protein in

the market thus people started to hunt for animal’s meat. Different animal’s meat

contains different amount of protein and has its own purpose for consumption

thus every type of meat was on demand and none of the meat could substitute

another meat.

Mining: The Congo Basin, one of Congo’s forests, has some of the world’s

richest mineral deposits. Project works in the forest are poorly supervised; health

issues were not carefully monitored, not to mention environmental impact.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has stepped in and tried to help some of the

animal population to prevent them from going into extinction. Core protected areas

and strong anti-poaching efforts were increased. To continue the protection of these

animals, WCS is advocating that the US pass HR 4416 billion to support funding.

References:

1 . http://rainforests.mongabay.com/congo/deforestation.html

2 . http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Congo.htm

3 . http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/congo_basin_forests/

problems/deforestation/

4 . http://wrmbulletin.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/democratic-republic-of-the-congo-

deforestation-of-protected-areas-for-mining-operations-in-the-province-of-

katanga-the-case-of-the-basse-kando-reserve/

5 . http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51918

Case Study of Indonesia

Research has shown that on 1999-2000, Indonesia is ranked second for the most amount

of forest cover lost in the world. An overwhelming 5,065 square miles of forest cover

was lost within that year. Indonesia has had a huge and biodiverse forest since the

country was founded and its amazing forest has continued to grow until the 1950. After

the next 50 years of 1950, the forest has lost 40 percent of its forest cover. An estimated

fall from 162 million hectare to 98 million hectare of forest land was lost. And the trend

of such lost is not only continuing, but it is accelerating. A lost of 1 million hectare per

year increased to 1.7 million hectare per year from 1980s to the early 1990s. After 1996,

rate of forest lost has increased to 2 million hectare per year. Indonesia is at risks of

losing its rich timber resource and a great forest with all the organisms living in it if the

deforestation trend does not stop. Deforestation has already caused forests in Sulawesi

to be almost entirely cleared. Predictions are made for Sumatra to loss its entire forest in

2005 and Kalimantan in 2010 if the trend continues.

Causes:

Corrupt political and economical systems are the main causes for deforestation in

Indonesia. These systems regard resources, such as forests, as a source of revenue for

political and individual gains. Logging concessions covering more than half the country’s

total forest area were awarded by former President Suharto, many of them to his relatives

and political allies. Cronyism in the forestry sector left timber companies free to operate

with little regard for long-term sustainability of production.

Timber in the forest is a very valued resource thus companies are trying many ways to

get their hands on them for production of their products. Therefore a reward system is

created to favored companies. Companies could be rewarded to at least 16 hectare of

timber resource from the government. The land is also given to the company which gives

them right for timber or agriculture plantations.

An increase of paper and pulp products over the last few decades increased the demand

for wood fiber. The demand is too great for any current sustainable domestic forest

management regime.

Another cause would be farming in the country however this is not a dormant factor.

Illegal logging has become a main cause of deforestation in Indonesia. Although illegal

logging has not been properly documented but former senior official of the Ministry of

Forestry has claimed that theft and illegal logging have destroyed an estimated 10 million

ha of Indonesian forests. Due to the increasing demands for wood fiber, illegal logging

allows people to earn an income and selling the wood for wood fiber. Plus, the demand

for wood is too high for legal means to obtain. To increase production and resources,

companies uses illegal logging to close the differences between the wood they had

obtained legally and the demand for wood.

The increase in demand for wood is caused by subsidizes and promotion from Industrial

timber plantations. Thus in practice, millions of hectares of natural forest has been

cleared to make way for plantations that, in 75 percent of cases, are never actually

planted.

Not only did deforestation activities create threats of destroying the forest, reforestation

programs are not set up to try to revive the forest. Millions of hectares of land was

planned to be naturally development in allocated for development as industrial timber

plantations. Yet only fractions of what is allocated are used for reforestation and have

actually been planted with fast-growing species, mostly Acacia mangium, to produce

pulpwood. Millions hectare of lands are left idling, empty and not used.

The Indonesian government is trying to help by implementing policies for the protection

of the forest but with complications locally and internationally caused when actions

are taken stuns them from trying to do more. And the policies implemented are not

effective and efficient thus things are never totally curbed. Numerous forest-dependent

communities, sensing the weakening of central power, have erupted violently against

logging and plantation operations that they consider to be plundering their local

resources. Longstanding problems of unclear land tenure rights are the root cause of

many such conflicts. The government is no longer willing to protect corporate interests

as it once did, but neither does it appear to have any coordinated plan for dealing with the

problem.

References:

http://www.globalforestwatch.org/english/indonesia/forests.htm

http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/Asia/Indonesia.html

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2002/timber_mafia/resources/

resources_indonesia.htm

Case Study of Nigeria

Case Study of Nigeria

Base on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO), Nigeria has the world’s highest deforestation rate of primary forests. Primary forests are forests with no visible signs of past or present human activities. During the year 2000 and 2005, through Logging, subsistence agriculture, and the collection of fuel wood, the country has lost 55.7 percent of their primary forest. Deforestation activities have occurred near the Niger River delta. The delta is home to coastal rainforest, mangrove forest, and contains rich oil deposits. During 1958, Shell Oil company has already started to extract tens of billions worth of petroleum and natural gas. The country has received high revenues from Shell’s extraction but local tribes’ people in the area has experienced several problems such as pollution and deforestation. The tribesmen demanded Shell turn over more oil revenue to locals and clean up oil pollution. The locals started to be rebellious while Shell armed soldiers to cease the rebel. The chief of the tribes was executed and Shell continues their petroleum and gas extraction. Soon after the death of the tribes’ chief, Shell announced that they’d increase gas projects at the Delta. The locals learned that extortion pays, and started to sabotage oil installations. When there is an oil spill, the locals would receive compensations from Shell. Attacks and sabotages increased rapidly, and by 1999 the U.N. named the delta the most threatened in the world. Conditions were worsened in the early part of 2006. Kidnappings cases started and also an increase of attacks on the factories. Ransom is then asked for. These are the main activities locals do to earn enough money as incentives given by oil companies are not enough for their daily usage and shouldering environmental costs. Luckily, there is little evidence of oil contamination because the petroleum is light and evaporates quickly, thus pollution is not a big problem. However, oil production in Nigeria does contribute to global warming because the country flares more gas than any other country. (Flaring refers to the burning of excess gas that comes up with crude.) The methane produced has a much higher global-warming potential than carbon dioxide (64 times as active a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide).

Deforestation is a serious problem in Nigeria. Since 1990, the country has lost some 6.1 million hectares or 35.7 percent of its forest cover. And its primary forest has been reduced by an even faster pace. From 1990 to 2005, the primary forest has been reduced by 79 percent. Nigeria government has finally looked into the matter with its new and more accountable government. The government has been spending $6 billion every year, but it is still not enough to totally curb illegal logging. Timber concessions have been granted in national parks, and oil-palm plantations are replacing natural forest. Past governments have tried to stem forest loss through a ban on log exports, promoting of agroforestry and community-based conservation schemes, increasing energy and fuel efficiency, and encouraging plantations and reforestation programs to achieve a target of 25 percent forest cover. But the impact appears to be limited given Nigeria's astounding deforestation rate. Nigeria has seen a plummet of forest animals as deforestation activities are still continuing. A drop in the productivity of fisheries. The government is still trying many other ways to curb such a devastation. International communities have come together and discussed ways to solve it and providing technology and money for countries with similar problems. Government is also trying to educate the public on deforestation and its consequence. People must understand that what they are doing is hurting not only themselves, but the environment for the entire world.

References:

http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1117-forests.html

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20nigeria.htm

http://www1.american.edu/ted/projects/tedcross/xdefor21.htm

http://desertification.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/nigeria-deforestation-country-ranks-highest-in-africa-google-allafrica-daily-trust/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/10-countries-highest-deforestation-rates-world.php#ch03

Nuisance callers dial up 999 logjam

Nuisance callers dial up 999 logjam


This pranksters dial 999 for minor things or just for fun. During one morning, a Staff Sergeant received three prank calls within an hour. The caller of the first call just remained silent on the other line. The caller of the second call mumbled a vague excuse, apologised and hung up,. The caller of the third one complained about his neighbour confronting him about his blaring and he went on saying his nine month old child needed to listen to very loud music to sleep. The Staff Sergeant firmly told him that she would not send the police down and advised him to lower the volume of his music the next time. There are also some people who dial 999 to ask for the contact numbers of hotels, ministries and other agencies.


I feel that this 999 dial line is the reason Singapore is so safe. Whenever there is a criminal case, robbery, theft or kidnap this number is the number people use to contact the police and inform them. We should never take advantage of it or make fun of it. I shall show an example of how it will slow down our efficiency in catching criminals. If an old lady gets rob by some person and a passer-by calls the police, as there are too many prank calls in the headquarters and the staff took a longer time to res pond to the call. By the time the police arrived at the crime scene, the snatch-thief would have ran away. Now you see the outcome in making this prank calls, do you still want to make people suffer because of the sake of you having fun?Think about it.

ACE

Today, out principal gave us a talk about two subjects apart from just exams. He told us about our independent studies and oral communication. In the first term, I have done alot of ace but I talked very little during the fist term which caused my oral communication marks to not be so good. Overall I would prefer the older system of ace which is max ten per subject per year.

YOG torch

The Youth Olympic Games Torch came to our school on the 11th of May. We were told to stand in a straight line beside our school's road to wait for the Olympic flame to arrive. Many times, we clapped because we thought the runner has come, however after realising that it was a 'false alarm' we sat down in disappointment. Our long wait was repaid off when we saw a man holding the olympic lantern with a very small flame in side. Although the flame was as small as a candle flame, at least we caught a glimpse of it while the man was running up.:) I hope I was representing Singapore as a national paddler for table tennis. I would have made the school and my family proud. Now I can only train hard and maybe participate in competitions to win other people. Hope I will excel in my sport!!

Home Learning Task 2

Children in the Darkness

This shows how pitiful the children are and the seriousness of the problem

Steps in Analysis
	Point	Evidence	Elaboration
1.	Point of ViewThe poem's point of view is from a person who wants people to help these children.	Could we simply light a candle Could we give them half a chance Could we teach them how to read Could we teach them how to dance	This shows that the author wants to gain support from people to help the children in Vietnam
2.	Situation and Setting In war situation with alot of violence.	Or will a war consume them Their body and their soul Will their life and blood be poured Down some endless thirsty hole	There is war and the children will suffer by being kill as they are helpless
3	Language/ DictionThe language used is very solemn	There are children in the darkness
4	Personal ResponseThe author is trying to send a message that we should help	The whole poem	His words are trying to convince us