Reactions to story from Time

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  HRH - His Rainforest Highness - Prince Charles

  http://protectingourplanet.blogspot.com/2008/05/hrh-his-rain...
  201 days ago in Future Earth · Authority: 1

  Three Cheers for HRH, sticking his neck out on what the world needs to do for rainforests and why. He is using his convening power and passion to good effect. The "Prince's Rainforest Project" is an 18 month attempt to jump start a connection between finance and forests, aiming to " find ingenious, innovative ways of paying the appropriate price for the ecosystem services provided by the world’s remaining great forests.” Since the launch in November 2007, the project personnel have been going around talking to programmes, politicians, business people and policy wonks. They are not actually doing anything concrete but are trying to help those who are to get the right funds to the right place before it is too late. More power to their elbows (or, as they say in parts of west Africa, more grease to their arms). And while we are on conservation leadership, three more cheers for rainforest champions. Arjay's awards for: Excellent communication of the issues to another Charles... Charles Clover. Innovative action to Fauna & Flora International. Courageous activists who tackle the political challenges in their own rainforest nations - such as Brasil's Marina Silva. Worthies indeed, but what chance is there that all these efforts can succeed? HRH is suggesting 30 billion would halt forest loss. Maybe, but the devil is, as always, in the detail. The finance is already lining up, sniffing the next increasingly valued and diminishing commodity. The questions are also lining up... how much, when will it be paid, who to, how will accountability and incentive be linked....essentially who will benefit and when? My greatest concern is that short-termism will prevail and that people will be marginalised by both markets and the tortuous multi-lateral processes governing them. Those making the political decisions now will sell out for front-loaded funds and people will not be able to benefit from the increased value of ecosystem services that will emerge. The complexity of finance flows within communities that depend on natural resources, and effective environmental governance at all levels could so easily be underestimated. Pilot projects please - and well-funded pilots at that, so we can start working out the glitches.
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  Marina - A defensora da Amazônia

  http://agneloregis.com.br/?p=3448
  202 days ago in CABRESTO SEM NÓ · Authority: 10

  Toda mídia: A repercussão própria dos jornais, canais de notícias e redes demora alguns dias, como sempre, mas o site do britânico “Guardian” e outros já trazem a reportagem “defensora da Amazônia se demite de cargo ambiental do Brasil”, da Reuters; a americana Associated Press, no Google etc., destaca que a “renomada defensora da floresta tropical” saiu por “falta do necessário apoio político para proteger a Amazônia”; e o site da BBC fala em “firme defensora da floresta tropical”. Já o site do chinês “Diário do Povo” reproduz despacho da Xinhua que noticia o fim da “gestão muitas vezes controversa de seis anos”. PS - O mesmo “Guardian”, dos mais engajados na causa ambiental, correu e postou há pouco a reportagem “Temores pela floresta com a renúncia da ministra do Meio Ambiente”, do correspondente Tom Philips, sobre o futuro da Amazônia agora que os ambientalistas perderam um “aliado-chave na luta contra a destruição”.
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  Environmental and Health News

  http://globalissuesweb.com/wp/?p=5139
  202 days ago in Global Issues Web News: News, Commentary, and Analysis on World Issues · Authority: 5

  MIDEAST: Siege Hits Palestinians Before They Are Born GAZA CITY, May 14 (IPS) - The Israeli siege of Gaza that has restricted access to food, water and medicine is now beginning to hit unborn children and newborn babies. DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Bodies Under Fire for Food Crisis UNITED NATIONS, May 5 (IPS) - As the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) readies for a summit of world leaders next month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday defended the Rome-based U.N. agency, which has come under fire for its failure to help meet the growing challenges of hunger worldwide. Brazil’s environment minister resigns (AP via Yahoo! News) Environment Minister Marina Silva resigned Tuesday, ending an often stormy six-year term that put her in conflict with developers in the Amazon rain forest. CLIMATE CHANGE-CUBA: Prized Wetland in Danger CI?NAGA DE ZAPATA, Cuba, May 10 (Tierram?rica) - If the worst outcomes predicted for climate change in Cuba become reality, a large portion of the Ci?naga de Zapata, the largest and best preserved wetland in the islands of the Caribbean Sea, could disappear by the second half of this century. RIGHTS-US: Vets Await Verdict in Class Action Lawsuit SAN FRANCISCO, May 2 (IPS) - Arturo Gonzalez delivered his closing arguments inside a packed courtroom on the 17th floor of the Federal Building in downtown San Francisco. Q&A: Circumcision an "Opportunity To Take Great Strides Forward" Against HIV JOHANNESBURG, Apr 30 (IPS) - Results from trials in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda in 2006 showed that male circumcision reduced the transmission of HIV from women to men by up to 60 percent. On the basis of these results, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organisation have recommended that countries encourage men to be circumcised. ENVIRONMENT: “Doctor” Nature in Danger CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 3 (Tierram?rica) - “When we harm nature, we are harming ourselves,” says Aaron Bernstein, a doctor at Harvard Medical School and one of the authors of the upcoming book “Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity”. PERU: Preserving the Potato in Its Birthplace CUZCO, Peru, Apr 28 (IPS) - Thousands of varieties of potato (Solanum tuberosum), one of the most widely-eaten and well-known foods in the world, have been developed in the heart of South America?s Andes mountains, where the crop was domesticated more than 8,000 years ago. Brazil Environment Minister Resigns (Time Magazine) Renowned rain forest defender Marina Silva resigned as Brazil’s environment minister on Tuesday, saying she lacked the necessary political support to protect the Amazon Brazil’s environment minister quits (Financial Times) Brazil’s environment minister has resigned after becoming increasingly isolated within the government.
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  Environment Minister Of Brazil Resigns

  http://greenplanet1.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/environment-min...
  202 days ago in Green planet · Authority: 13

  Renowned rain forest defender Marina Silva resigned as Brazil’s environment minister on Tuesday, saying she lacked the necessary political support to protect the Amazon. Silva did not elaborate and did not blame President Luiz Inacio da Silva in excerpts of her resignation letter that were published by the government’s official Agencia Brasil news service. Marina Silva — who is not related to the president — said she was stepping down because of “the difficulties I have been facing to pursue the federal environmental agenda,” Agencia Brasil said. She said she would leave office and go back to her post in Brazil’s Senate to rebuild political support and push for Brazilian environmental causes. The president’s appointment of Marina Silva after he was elected in 2002 brought a universally renowned environmental star into his Cabinet. Her resignation ended a stormy six-year term during which she often clashed with Brazilian interests lobbying for development in the Amazon rain forest. Source

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