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Deforestattion
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And now that the economically developed world has cut most of its woods and polluted the earth, it warns developing countries not to make the same mistake............

amigo we need that tree

but they do......................

Pakistan flood maps 2010  

Deforestation behind Pakistan catastrophe in 2010

 

 

Read the full article:
A land left to drown by the ‘timber mafia’
Herald Scotland
29 Aug 2010

 

The Wikipedia article "2010 Pakistan floods" (d.d. June 19th 2012) confirms that this mega-flood was due to extreme, but certainly not unprecedented, precipitation in excess of 87%. No mention is made of the effects of deforestation outlined in the article below.

Pakistan’s horrendous floods were a disaster waiting to happen, when the destructive effects of intense - but not unprecedented - rains were magnified by a deforested landscape and huge stockpiles of illegally-felled logs.
Deforestation and other actions of the country’s ‘timber mafia’ were ticking time bombs detonated by monsoon rains, it is argued in a feature article in the Herald Scotland:
“This year’s monsoon lashing northern Pakistan with unusual intensity would historically have been absorbed by extensive forests, much like multiple layers of blotting paper, allowing the rains to run off more sedately than in modern times.
“But this month the mud and water deluge cascaded off the tree-bare mountains and hills with exceptional force and barrelled down towards the plains in mammoth fury … Trees felled by so-called illegal loggers – an infamous “timber mafia” that has representatives in the Pakistan Parliament in Islamabad and connections right to the top of government and the military – are stacked in the innumerable nullahs [steep narrow valleys], gorges and ravines leading into the main rivers.
“Propelled by the force of the run-off, the logs turned into instruments of destruction, smashing all in their wake. Rivers and dams turned black with timber. Relief workers said bridges, homes and people were destroyed and swept away by the hurtling and swirling logs before the waters spread on to the plains below, engulfing an area of more than 60,000 square miles, more than twice the land area of Scotland…”

Alarm bells ring over activist death toll
(By Jonathan Watts : June 19th 2012)
A new Global Witness report has revealed that environmental activists were killed at the rate of more than two a week in 2011

deforestation  

The death toll of campaigners, community leaders and journalists involved in the protection of forests, rivers and land has risen dramatically in the past three years, said Global Witness.

Brazil – the host of the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development – has the worst record for danger in a decade that has seen the deaths of more than 737 defenders, said the briefing, which was released on the eve of the high-level segment of the Earth Summit.


The group called on the leaders at Rio to set up systems to monitor and counter the rising violence, which - in many cases - involves governments and foreign corporations, and to reduce the consumption pressures that are driving development into remote areas.

“This trend points to the increasingly fierce global battle for resources, and represents the sharpest of wake-up calls for delegates in Rio,” said Billy Kyte, campaigner at Global Witness.
The group acknowledged that their results were incomplete and skewed towards certain countries because information is fragmented and often missing.
This meant the toll was likely higher than their findings, which did not include deaths related to cross-border conflicts prompted by competition for natural resources, and fighting over gas and oil.
‘Wild west’
Brazil recorded almost half of the killings worldwide, the majority of which were connected to illegal forest clearance by loggers and farmers in the Amazon and other remote areas, often described as the “wild west”. Among the recent high-profile cases were the murders last year of two high-profile Amazon activists, José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo. Such are the risks that dozens of other activists and informers are now under state protection.
Unlike most countries on the list, the number of killings in Brazil declined slightly last year, perhaps because the government is making a greater effort to intervene in deforestation cases.
The reverse trend is apparent in the Philippines, where four activists were killed last month, prompting the Kalikasan People’s Network for Environment to talk of “bloody May”.
Though Brazil, Peru and Colombia have reported high rates of killing in the past 10 years, this is partly because they are relatively transparent about the problem thanks to strong civil society groups, media organisations and church groups – notably the Catholic Land Commission in Brazil – which can monitor such crimes.Under-reporting is thought likely in China and Central Asia, which have more closed systems, said the report.
Last December, 2011, the UN special rapporteur on human rights noted: “Defenders working on land and environmental issues in connection with extractive industries and construction and development projects in the Americas ... face the highest risk of death as result of their human rights activities.” – © Guardian News and Media 2012

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Copyright 2010 f(f): Dr. Hugo H. van der Molen (editor)

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