seen from United States
seen from Italy
seen from Italy
seen from Argentina
seen from Russia
seen from Argentina
seen from Russia
seen from Argentina
seen from Argentina
seen from China
seen from Argentina
seen from Italy
seen from United States
seen from Cambodia
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from Italy
seen from China
A Prayer for God’s Blessings on Families, Nations, and the World, Day 16, Antarctica
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for today. Thank you for what you do for me each and every day and for that which I fail to notice. Thank you for taking care of my family, friends, and acquaintances. I ask that you shield and protect them and guide them in this life. Bring them safely home to you. Let them know that you are there for them. Never let me forget your presence in my life and guide…
Chris Hedges | Humans on a RAMPAGE
Chris Hedges | Humans on a RAMPAGE
End of Humanity? Chris Hedges | Humans on a RAMPAGE December 14, 2022 Chris Hedges Fan Club The Real News Network Christopher Lynn Hedges (born September 18, 1956) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Presbyterian minister, author and television host. His books include War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for…
View On WordPress
This story is a reporting partnership between Mongabay Latam and La Barra Espaciadora. Balsa wood is a hot commodity in Ecuador, with the co
Balsa wood is a hot commodity in Ecuador, with the country exporting $402 million worth of the timber in 2020 alone, according to data from the central bank. But the lucrative trade has reportedly come at a cost to communities living in the country’s Amazon region, who allege they have suffered from the impacts the industry is having on the land where balsa trees are harvested.
Wood from the balsa tree (Ochroma pyramidale) is soft and lightweight, and is used to make goods like rafts, surfboards and musical instruments, as well as packing materials.
Ecuador established itself as the top balsa exporter in 2015. By 2017, the country had doubled the value of its annual exports to $150 million. China is the biggest market for Amazonian balsa, accounting for 85% of the 77,140 tons Ecuador exported in 2020. In the first quarter of 2021, Ecuador exported $28.7 million worth of balsa, $18.4 million of which went to China.
The Pastaza River Basin is one of the areas most affected by the balsa industry. There, the Pastaza, Bobonaza, Curaray, Villano, Copataza and other rivers are used as logging access routes, with satellite imagery showing their banks increasingly pockmarked by deforestation. Sources tell Mongabay Latam that the logging has been so intense that balsa has been completely removed from some areas.
[...] Belén Páez, the director of Fundación Pachamama, which advocates for Indigenous and environmental rights, is working with other researchers on a balsa management plan to address the impacts the trade is having on the Ecuadoran Amazon. She said loggers are starting to harvest other timber species in areas that have been denuded of balsa.
“The same loggers and traders that one year ago arrived from [the cities of] Quevedo, Esmeraldas or Guayaquil are now arriving to look at what else is there,” Páez said.
“There is an ongoing process of deforestation of valuable tree species in Indigenous territories” with no monitoring by the authorities, she added.
[...] Mashienta expressed concern that the balsa industry may be leading to increased drug use in Indigenous communities. She alleged that after logging commercially valuable tree species, the loggers plant illegal crops like coca and marijuana.
Allegations have also surfaced connecting the industry to human trafficking. On May 4 this year, a 6-year-old girl, Rubí Pujupat Achampash, disappeared from her community in the Wampis Indigenous Territory in neighboring Peru. The Wampis Nation’s communication team wrote in a report that “the only option is that it was balsa loggers because it happened at a time when balsa loggers invaded from Ecuador.” As of the time this story was published, the child was still missing.
On June 5, a group of Wampis people traveled to Tiwintza, just across the border in Ecuador, to meet with local authorities. Josefina Tunki, the president of the Shuar Arutam community, announced a joint communal effort to oversee the legal process and search for Rubí.
Atilio Noningo, technical undersecretary with the Wampis Nation’s government, reported that Ecuadorans had entered their territory illegally, and demanded the government of Ecuador take responsibility for Rubí’s search.
“There is no territorial control by [our] Ecuadoran neighbors, there are many intrusions to extract the natural resources that are in the Wampis Nation territories,” Noningo said. He added that binational “articulated work” is needed to stop the illegal extraction of resources.
I Dare You to Read Jane Mayer's 'Dark Money' -- and Feel the Fury
I Dare You to Read Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money’ — and Feel the Fury
The wealth inequality and environmental exploitation we have today did not happen by accident. They are the result of a patient libertarian/free-market activist campaign that began decades ago, stealthily funded and directed by wealthy capitalists. Jane Mayer outlines the entire endeavor in her 2016-2017 book, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical…
View On WordPress
Save Chrissi
Last week we visited Chrissi Island near Creta, Greece. Chrissi Island (also called Gaidouronisi, literally meaning Donkey Island) is located 7.5 nautical miles from Ierapetra in Creta, and you can easily go there in the period May-September from Ierapetra port by getting a ferry. Chrissi Island is an island covered with white sand & wild ceder trees, creating a majestic landscape, a perfect…
View On WordPress
Happy World Water Day!
Here’s a gentle United Nations video-reminder to multinational corporations that they should not abuse the human rights of their workers. Allow me to say it more plainly: Exploiting people and/or the environment for profit is shameful; it’s stealing.
Happy World Water Day! was originally published on Aware & Fair
Ecologically-friendlier ranching
Something positive this week.
Here is an article about ranchers turning towards managing their cattle in ways that more closely mimic how wild herbivores would move across landscape, with benefits to the plant communities – which leads to economic benefits to the ranchers, because the food their cattle depend on doesn’t get overgrazed and become an insufficient food source.
“In the beginning, I…
View On WordPress
