New Antarctic convention focuses on krill
Exploding cities
New nature reserves in Greece
Taming water hyacinths
The benefits of nature tourism
Community afforestation projects in Indonesia
China's environmental consciousness
The Antarctic treaty powers nations, meeting in Canberra, Australia, 20 May 1980, agreed on a final text for a new convention on conservation of Antarctic marine living resources
The convention applies to all living things in the seas between the Antarctic land mass and the Antarctic Convergence. However, it does not resolve the claims to sections of the Antarctic land mass made by certain treaty powers nations, namely Argentina, Australia, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. Nor does it solve the delicate problem of 200-mile fishery zones claimed by certain adjacent nations.
Strong conservation standards are included in the convention, but conservationists fear there may be insurmountable problems in trying to enforce them. In particular, the convention requires that both population levels of species being exploited and the ecosystem itself be maintained. The question of limiting the numbers of species to be harvested will open debates over sex, size, areas and quotas.. Ecosystem maintenance presents a wholly different problem in that little is known about the Antarctic ecosystem.
The primary focus of the debate will be Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), the tiny fish which provide the major food supply of five whale species, three seal species, 20 species of fish, three squid species and many species of birds. It is believed that even a. small increase in krill harvesting could endanger the survival of some of the great whales.
Population growth and migration from the countryside are producing what the Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C., calls "phenomenal urban growth" in developing countries. It predicts that by the year 2000, 12 of the world's 15 largest cities will be in the developing countries. The slums of these cities are likely to grow two to three times as fast as the cities as a whole.
Evidence continues to mount that the urban poor are far worse off than the rural poor. Studies in five countries-Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Tanzania and Tunisia - show that people in cities pay 10-30 percent more for their food than rural dwellers. The urban poor in most countries consume fewer calories than the rural poor and suffer more malnutrition.
The rapid growth of these cities means that they will be less and less able to depend on local sources for food and will be forced to import it from abroad. This, in turn, makes the urban poor more vulnerable than the rural poor to sudden price increases and disruptions of supply.
One of Europe's few remaining virgin forests has been protected as the result of a decision made by the Greek Government. The area, comprising 520 hectares, is located in northern Greece near the Bulgarian border.
Other areas were also given strict protection including a mountainous region in northeast Greece which is an important refuge for birds of prey. Nine wetland regions were protected, including the Louros and Aracthos river deltas, the lagoons west of Keramoti, Lake Mitrikou and Lake Kotyhi. Two reserves were created for the Mediterranean monk seal, one in the northern Sporades and the other on the southeastern coast of the island of Samos. Also protected were Marathonissi Island and two sites on Zakynthos Island critical for sea turtles of the genus Caretta caretta.
These actions were the result of a decision made in March 1980 by Greece's National Council for Physical Planning and the Environment and later endorsed by 13 government ministers responsible for environmental and related matters.
Water hyacinths may be pretty, blue flowers, but they are creating severe problems in countries such as Bangladesh, Egypt and the Sudan as well as in other tropical and semi-tropical areas of the world.
Scientists consider water hyacinths the world's worst water weed. Given the right conditions, they can double their size in four days; also they are extremely hard to eradicate. In a short time they c an easily cover lakes, rivers, reservoirs and irrigation canals, thereby disrupting boats, fishing, dams and irrigation projects. They also increase water loss through evaporation and can help increase the incidence of disease and pests.
A new approach is evolving: if you can't get rid of them, find a positive use for them. Since the root systems of water hyacinths absorb chemicals and pollutants, including mercury, lead and strontium 90, they are being considered for use as water purifiers. Other experiments are under way testing their suitability as fertilizer, animal feed or as a source for biogas or charcoal.
USAID World Development Newsletter
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), after completing a three-year survey, suggests that there are both opportunities and dangers for developing countries seeking to attract tourists.
Since foreign visitors are a source of both revenue and foreign exchange, they can be an important stimulant to developing economies. Because developing countries, in general, offer many scenic and cultural treasures without some of the crowding, litter and trampled country-sides that are prevalent in industrialized nations, the opportunity exists to lure the world's tourists, two thirds of whom go to Europe, to new places.
Tourism, according to the OECD report, can provide new jobs in developing countries in construction, road-building and communications. The problem is that this could attract local workers away from such traditional, and important, activities as farming. Moreover, the wrong kind of tourist development can result in the same kind of over-crowding that exists in developed countries.
The report concludes that developing nations should promote "nature tourism," emphasizing the need for the visitor to help preserve the place he is visiting. Environmental considerations, says the OECD, should be integrated into tourist promotion plans.
Numerous afforestation projects promoting local community development were completed this spring in Indonesia under the MA-LU programme. Under this programme, forest guards from nearby forest districts work with village heads to develop afforestation that the villagers understand and from which they will benefit. The villagers, particularly young people, normally do the planting themselves, using seeds and seedlings supplied by the forest districts.
A good example of how this works was the planting of Thailand papaya seedlings in Pancoran village and in several villages and community centres in the Paiton forest district. Before planting took place, papaya samples were given out free to the villagers. The fact that Thailand papaya is tastier and longer-lasting than most papaya varieties gives residents not only an incentive to plant them but also a reason for not cutting them down later, as they mature, for firewood-a recurring problem in many villages.
Some MA-LU afforestation projects were undertaken for environmental reasons. At Mount Grobogan in the Probolinggo forest district, for example, 56 hectares were afforested to rehabilitate soil fertility and to slow erosion. In the first phase of this effort, the fast-growing calliandra species was planted to achieve rapid ground cover. In the second phase more economical species, such as kapok, will be planted. Another planting for environmental purposes occurred at Watukebo village, where 10 hectares were afforested with four different species to prevent landslides along the sides of ravines and sloping land.
Another type of rural afforestation project concentrated on afforesting interconnecting roads between villages. Six kilometres of road between Purworejo and Kutcario were planted with seedlings on April 17 by 1500 scouts in conjunction with local forestry officials.
Many other projects were completed. Villagers in Windurojo and surrounding forest areas planted 8 000 coffee seedlings. In the Kedu Selatan forest district, where 214 hectares were afforested in 1979, numerous efforts were begun or finished toward the 1980 goal of 439.5 hectares. Sixty kilograms of lamtoro seeds were planted along roads at Campoan village. Twenty-five schools in the Purworejo Regency have each received 50 acacia and 50 Asam kranji seedlings for schoolyard plantings.
A continuing concern is firewood. In some instances, such as Maja-langu village, two hectares of calliandra seedlings were planted by MA-LU wives and the local Forestry Women's Association in hopes of fulfilling the village's firewood needs. Elsewhere, the village head in Pan-coran has directed that owners of tobacco ovens stop using firewood and switch to charcoal braziers. The long-term goal in many places in Indonesia is to see that firewood trees are available where they are needed so that trees needed for other purposes can be left standing.
According to Oryx, the journal of the Fauna Preservation Society, China is one of the few, if not the only, countries in the world to have increased their forests in recent decades. Compared with 30 years ago, China now has 66 percent more forest.
Forestry, however, is not the only area in which China has expanded its conservation efforts. The country is ready to join the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and to adhere to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Following a joint mission by IUCN and the World Wildlife Fund to China in October 1979, Sir Peter Scott said, "China means business. Senior government officials went out of their way to demonstrate their country's wish to be part of the world conservation movement."
