Conservation Eden seeks money
The threats posed by acid rain are insidious, exportable, long range and still largely unknown. At a joint Canada-United States Action Seminar on Acid Precipitation in Toronto on 1 November 1979, the focus was on setting up an adequate international monitoring system for the problem.
Speaking at the high-level, well attended seminar was Yusuf J. Ahmad, Deputy Asst Exec. Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. Acid rains, said Mr. Ahmad, "are increasingly becoming a crucial factor of pollution. Its major impact is to contaminate the hydrological cycle by substances that have not yet been fully assessed."
These substances include sulphur compounds, which travel several hundred kilometres to damage air quality in other regions and nations, according to a study by the Organisation for Economic and Co-operative Development. A case in point is Sweden, where more than 750000 tons of sulphur dioxide come to rest each year, most of it generated from abroad. Many Swedish lakes once well supplied with fish are now dying a slow death.
In response to this, the Swedish Society for the Conservation of Nature has published a leaflet in English and German containing facts on the acid rain problem. (For further information contact Mats Segnestam, Executive Director, Swedish Society for Conservation of Nature, Kungholms Strand 125, S-112 34 Stockholm.)
At the Toronto seminar, Mr. Ahmad said that global air pollution monitoring should be carried out on two levels: (1) measuring the impact of high concentrations in cities and industrial areas having a direct effect on human health and the environment; and (2) observing background pollutants in rural areas with low concentration levels that may build up over time.
The small island of Aldabra in the Seychelles hosts more than 200 000 giant tortoises and several rare species of animals. The Vallée de Mai, on Praslin Island -which contains the largest nut in the world, the coco de mer palm, which is found nowhere else in the world-is locally referred to as "The Garden of Eden".
Aldabra and the Valée de Mai are but two of the many national parks and forest preserves in the Seychelles, a country composed of 91 islands. In fact, more than half of the country's 280 square kilometres have already been set aside. This is a major reason why 55 000 people visit the islands annually.
Many special conservation programmes have also been put into effect. There is a temporary ban on killing green turtles; shell collecting is prohibited in some places; no spear-gun fishing is allowed; fish nets are not allowed in certain areas and there are minimum spacing requirements for them in places where they are.
But money is needed to run the nature reserves, train local people and initiate new programmes. Thus, the newly formed Seychelles Islands Foundation is launching an international campaign to raise $82 million to support its efforts.
