It seems high fashion to blame all the world's problems, including bird
flue, on America. Allow science to determine the course of action.  These
highly charged and one-sided prejudicial articles contribute very little
other than hatred.

Abraham


-----Original Message-----
From: andamanicobar@...
[mailto:andamanicobar@...] On Behalf Of jency samuel
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 6:56 AM
To: andamanicobar@...
Subject: Re: [andamanicobar] Bird flu?

Hi everybody,
Ms. Gandhi had writtn a similar article in Dc 11th New Sunday Express
http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SEV20051208081327&eTitl
e=Focus&rLink=0

Fear factor
Thursday December 8 2005 17:39 IST

Maneka Gandhi

Money makes not just the world go around but turns it topsy-turvy all the
time. America needed a war to keep its armament companies happy - especially
since its Vice President Dick Cheney himself had headed one of the largest
government contracting companies. So they invented the bogey of Iraq. But
the most money in the world does not come from just armament sale. It comes
from creating scares of epidemics. Do you remember the scare created by the
Americans just seven years ago when they declared that all computers would
stop on New Year as the new millennium came and planes and trains would
crash and stock markets would fall, and the world would come to an end. Who
made money out of that? Those computer companies that were brought in to
''repair'' this looming disaster. Not a single computer stopped, nothing
happened.

Bird Flu is like that. It is the latest scam perpetrated by the American
Government and pharmaceutical companies. Let us look at the facts.

Avian Flu is a virus strain that is found only in birds in badly kept
poultry farms. It affects some birds that are already ill-fed, suffering
from lung and bone diseases and kept on a steady diet of hormones and
antibiotics, and other bird carcasses. It does not spread to human beings
and since the virus is already eight years old and has not mutated as yet,
there is no reason to believe it ever will. There are at least 15 different
types of avian influenza that routinely infect birds around the world. The
current outbreak is caused by a strain known as H5N1 and it has created a
worldwide panic.

What is the reality of avian flu? This ''global threat'' that has led so
many countries to kill their chickens, turkeys and other birds for no reason
(one Hong Kong member of Parliament has asked for each citizen of Hong Kong
to be given a gun so they can shoot any birds coming to Hong Kong). In eight
years since the H5 N1 virus was supposedly detected in poultry birds, 53
people have died - 37 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in
Cambodia. Seven thousand people die lightning-struck deaths every year. Have
you heard of a lightning epidemic? Are 54 deaths in eight years an epidemic
or even worse- a PANDEMIC?

Where did the panic generated by the media originate? The United States of
America. President Bush goes on television to say that between two lakh to
two crore people will die in America and he asks for billions of dollars to
be allocated for this pandemic. On October 28 the American Senate passes an
$8 billion emergency funding bill to address Avian Flu.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, during the debate on the
Senate bill, told the press, ''If it isn't the current H5N1 virus that leads
to an influenza pandemic, at some point in our nation's future, another
virus will.'' The United Nations catches on and declares they will ask for
500 million dollars from all the countries to stop this flu by sending a
vaccine to all the countries. What is 3.1 billion dollars spent on
immediately? To buy 80 million vials of Tamiflu at $100 per dose - a drug
that has no relationship with the virus.

According to the authors of the 'Total Health program', which looks into
scams perpetrated in the name of medicine, ''Tamiflu is a worthless drug
that in no way shape or form treats the avian flu, but only decreases the
amount of days one is sick ''.

Dig a little deeper and you will understand the reality of Avian flu.
Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) was developed and patented in 1996 by a
California biotech firm, Gilead Sciences Inc, a listed stock company in
California. Due to lacklustre sales for many years Gilead Sciences licensed
the marketing of oseltamivir to the Swiss-US pharmaceutical giant Roche
Holdings of Basle getting a royalty for each vial sold. Roche holds the sole
licence to manufacture the only medicine we are told which 'possibly' might
reduce symptoms of Avian Flu. Due to the media panic, the order books at
Roche today are filled to overflowing. Roche recently refused a request from
the US Congress to lift its exclusive patent rights to allow other drug
manufacturers to produce Tamiflu.

Gilead, which gave the marketing rights to its patented discovery to Roche,
makes as much money from its royalties. According to the Gilead website,
''Roche has worldwide commercial rights to Tamiflu, and Gilead receives
payments from Roche for the successful completion of program milestones and
royalties on product sales.''

In 1997, Donald H Rumsfeld was named Chairman of the Board of Gilead
Sciences, where he remained until early 2001 when he became Defence
Secretary in Bush's Cabinet. Rumsfeld had been on the board of Gilead since
1988. He is also a major, if not the largest, stockholder in Gilead Sciences
Inc. His 2004 financial disclosure indicates that he owned between 5 and 25
million dollars in equity in Gilead as of Dec 31, 2004. Since then he has
sold some of his holdings. Next year's disclosure will show the value range
of any remaining holdings Rumsfeld stands to make a fortune on royalties as
governments scramble to buy this company's drug.

Who else stands to benefit? Bush campaign-funders, Bilderberger spokesman
Etienne F Davignon and Reagan-Bush former Secretary of State George P
Shultz, both of whom are also on the board of directors of Gilead. Another
member of the Bush circle is Lodewijk JR de Vink, who sits on the board of
Hoffman-La Roche, Gilead's partner. In other words, 'Bird Flu' will generate
outrageous profits for insiders like Shultz, Rumsfeld, Davignon, and de
Vink.

(Incidentally, this is not the first time that Rumsfeld has been involved in
pharmaceutical scams. It was after all Rumsfeld, as chairman of GD Searle,
who pressured the Food and Drug Administration to get Aspartame approved.
The FDA blocked its approval for ten years, stating it was toxic, before
Rumsfeld twisted arms at the FDA.)

Now that the Bush government has bought all these vials, how many people
have been vaccinated? None. According to President Bush's national strategy,
he is protecting the American people by stockpiling vaccines in case there
is an outbreak! What does the American Centre for Disease Control say? ''A
specific vaccine for humans that is effective against avian influenza has
not yet been approved. Based upon LIMITED data, the Centers for Disease
Control have suggested that the anti-viral medication Oseltamavir (brand
name-Tamiflu) MAY be effective in treating avian influenza.''

Bush then announces the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic
Influenza during the UN General Assembly in September 2005, the goals of
which are to elevate the avian influenza issue on national agendas;
coordinate efforts among donor and affected nations; mobilise and leverage
resources; build local capacity to identify, contain and respond to an
influenza pandemic.

After Bush announces that he is going to give funds to any country that has
any signs of Avian flu ($251 million to detect and contain outbreaks before
they spread around the world) and starts off by giving 25 million dollars
for prevent the spread of Avian Flu in ''affected'' South Asian countries
and $13 million for technical assistance promising millions more, suddenly
each country that has a low GDP discovers strains of Avian Flu. Not in
poultry because then people will stop buying and eating chicken, but in wild
migratory birds.

Everyone wants a piece of the money. The Secretary-General of the World
Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Mt Jerraud has suggested that his
organisation be given more money to expand its studies to the correlation
between climate the spread of avian flu.

Where is the Avian flu? Simple - 53 people have died of it. However they
have not died of this virus as it cannot spread to humans - which every
scientist has admitted. So what have they died of? Look at the poultries in
these and any country. The chickens are overcrowded, kept in filthy
conditions and killed in the filthiest way possible. They regularly suffer
from cholera and most all of them get salmonella related bacterial diseases.
The victims are poultry workers - people who live amongst filth and disease
and work in the killing fields with their bare hands. How many people who
work in the poultries in any Asian country die of salmonella poisoning.
Thousands - including in India.

Our neighbours have it, say the Indian papers, regularly. Which neighbour?
Duh. Which is the one paper that has taken this the most seriously? The one
newspaper that sells every inch of its space - including the 'news'. Most
newspapers ignore this nonsense - occasionally putting it in as a space
filler. Why does India -- which sells the largest number of eggs in Asia and
exports the largest number of chickens all of which are kept in the same
conditions as anywhere in Asia - not have it? Because we don't have the
money to import the vaccines. Once they are locally made by Ranbaxy, no
doubt we will suddenly develop Avian Flu as well. It is to the credit of
India that we have not fallen prey to this scamming as yet.

Here is the actual truth. On October 28, the Chinese Ministry of Health and
Ministry of Agriculture reiterated that China has experienced no human bird
flu infection. The two children that fell sick on October 17 with symptoms
of fever and cough of which one died (and this led to the killing of
millions of birds) were later diagnosed with bronchial pneumonia. On January
24, 2005, newspapers in Vietnam reported that ''three brothers in northern
Vietnam who MAY have contracted bird flu all drank raw duck blood at a
family feast''. Raw duck blood could give any disease - try it.

Even World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Jong Woo Lee, urging the
world to prepare itself for the outbreak, betrays himself: ''The burning
question is, will there be a human influenza pandemic? I believe, on behalf
of WHO, that there will be. And right now the only one condition missing is
the virus that is rapidly transmitted from human to human.''

WHO warns of human flu pandemic. How many cases reported in Europe so far by
WHO? Not one. The only thing that is mutating is the propaganda line, and
the resulting fear factor.

Let us presume that flu, which has been in pandemic form for about several
hundred years, does the rounds again. Big deal. Flu (influenza) is a viral
infection that has a relatively short lifespan and causes problems for its
victim in the form of several minor effects (chills, high fever, aches and
pains, headaches, sore throat, mucosal irritation). Around 35,000 people get
flu daily. Some die anyway if they have other complications. The Great
Global Threat is closer to what Spain's Agriculture Minister describes it as
''science fiction''.

If Avian Flu is that serious and Tamiflu is the answer, why is Tamiflu only
been sold to governments and not to the public? The answer lies here: About
the time that President Bush was buying the ''vaccine'' he also announced
that the United States must approve liability protection for the makers of
lifesaving vaccines as American vaccine manufacturers had been hit with a
flood of lawsuits. So government not only buys the drugs but they protect
the manufacturers when the drugs are found to be useless.

Is there any other clue that this scam is mainly designed for pharmaceutical
companies at taxpayer expense?


----- Original Message -----
From: Pankaj <pankaj@...>
To: andamanicobar@...
Subject: [andamanicobar] Bird flu?
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:35:14 +0530

>
>
>
> Dear Friends,
> Over the last couple of months we have had some useful and
> interesting postings related to bird flu and the concerns about.
> Pasted below is a synopsis of a piece by Maneka Gandhi published in
> the latest issue of Tehelka. Unfortunately the entire piece is
> accessible only to subscribers of Tehelka...
> I am also posting another piece on the same issue published in the
> latest issue of Sanctuary Asia, by Maan Barua who is a prominent
> bird expert based in Assam.
> pankaj
>
>
>
> http://www.tehelka.com/story_main15.asp?filename=Ne121705Whose_Fluke.asp
>        Whose fluke is it anyway?
>
>        In a provocative essay, animal rights activist and Member of
> Parliament Maneka Gandhi calls the bluff on the avian flu
> 'pandemic', arguing that it is only the latest in a series of
> bogeys George Bush's neocons have invented to keep America Inc
> rolling
>
>        Money makes not just the world go around but turns it topsy
> turvy. America needed a war to keep its armament companies happy -
> especially since the Vice President, Dick Cheney, himself had
> headed one of the largest government contracting companies. So they
> invented the bogey of Iraq. They destroyed Afghanistan before that,
> complaining that there were not enough " targets" to shoot at from
> the air (so they bombed schools and hospitals).
>
>
>
>
>        Dec 17 , 2005
>
>
> Want to read more..
> This story is available to subscribers only. Please Subscribe now.
>
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
> Pune - 411004
> Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
> Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
> Pune - 411004
> Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
> Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


--
_______________________________________________

Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow
Pages

http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp
?SRC=lycos10




Yahoo! Groups Links

As I mentioned earlier, I am not a medical expert, but here are a few things
I do know to be questionable or incorrect in the following article by Maneka
Gandhi:

1)  The millennium bug did not prove to be a problem precisely because
everyone was forewarned and prepared for it accordingly. That is what would
ideally happen in the case of a bird flu outbreak.

2) Bush's announcement on bird flu was late. The talk about bird flu
originated at least a month or two earlier, in announcements by WHO and
others. Bush did not create the panic; he responded to it.

3) Tamiflu is not perfect. Children in Japan have experienced severe
complications after having received some doses. But the world's repertoire
of antiviral drugs is extremely limited. Right now Tamiflu seems to be the
best thing we have. Tamiflu needs to be acquired by the WHO and the UN so
that they can step in and stop outbreaks at the source, thus stopping an
epidemic.

4) Developing a vaccine and manufacturing it will require having the deadly
virus in hand, and many people will necessarily die before enough doses of
vaccine  can be made. There is no connection between the drug and the
vaccine. In the second-to-last paragraph, Gandhi conflates the two.

5) The virus can and has spread to humans. There are even one or two
instances in which it seems to have spread from one human to another.
Fortunately, the virus in this case was not very easily transmittible. The
virus will continue to adapt and mutate until it hits the right balance to
transmit between humans. An epidemic can be created only if and when the
virus is deadly and infectious, but does not kill very quickly, so that it
has time to spread from one person to others.

5) Tamiflu is being sold only to governments because some individuals in
western countries were stockpiling it for their own use. Since the supply is
extremely limited, it made sense to sell it only to governments.

I know nothing about who profits from Tamiflu; undoubtedly, someone does.
But I do believe the threat of bird flu is real.
Madhusree


    Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 06:56:09 -0500
    From: "jency samuel" <jencysamuel@...>
Subject: Re: Bird flu?

Hi everybody,
Ms. Gandhi had writtn a similar article in Dc 11th New Sunday Express
http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SEV20051208081327&eTitle=Fo\
cus&rLink=0

Fear factor
Thursday December 8 2005 17:39 IST

Maneka Gandhi

Money makes not just the world go around but turns it topsy-turvy all the
time. America needed a war to keep its armament companies happy - especially
since its Vice President Dick Cheney himself had headed one of the largest
government contracting companies. So they invented the bogey of Iraq. But
the most money in the world does not come from just armament sale. It comes
from creating scares of epidemics. Do you remember the scare created by the
Americans just seven years ago when they declared that all computers would
stop on New Year as the new millennium came and planes and trains would
crash and stock markets would fall, and the world would come to an end. Who
made money out of that? Those computer companies that were brought in to
''repair'' this looming disaster. Not a single computer stopped, nothing
happened.

Bird Flu is like that. It is the latest scam perpetrated by the American
Government and pharmaceutical companies. Let us look at the facts.

Avian Flu is a virus strain that is found only in birds in badly kept
poultry farms. It affects some birds that are already ill-fed, suffering
from lung and bone diseases and kept on a steady diet of hormones and
antibiotics, and other bird carcasses. It does not spread to human beings
and since the virus is already eight years old and has not mutated as yet,
there is no reason to believe it ever will. There are at least 15 different
types of avian influenza that routinely infect birds around the world. The
current outbreak is caused by a strain known as H5N1 and it has created a
worldwide panic.

What is the reality of avian flu? This ''global threat'' that has led so
many countries to kill their chickens, turkeys and other birds for no reason
(one Hong Kong member of Parliament has asked for each citizen of Hong Kong
to be given a gun so they can shoot any birds coming to Hong Kong). In eight
years since the H5 N1 virus was supposedly detected in poultry birds, 53
people have died - 37 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in
Cambodia. Seven thousand people die lightning-struck deaths every year. Have
you heard of a lightning epidemic? Are 54 deaths in eight years an epidemic
or even worse- a PANDEMIC?

Where did the panic generated by the media originate? The United States of
America. President Bush goes on television to say that between two lakh to
two crore people will die in America and he asks for billions of dollars to
be allocated for this pandemic. On October 28 the American Senate passes an
$8 billion emergency funding bill to address Avian Flu.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, during the debate on the
Senate bill, told the press, ''If it isn't the current H5N1 virus that leads
to an influenza pandemic, at some point in our nation's future, another
virus will.'' The United Nations catches on and declares they will ask for
500 million dollars from all the countries to stop this flu by sending a
vaccine to all the countries. What is 3.1 billion dollars spent on
immediately? To buy 80 million vials of Tamiflu at $100 per dose - a drug
that has no relationship with the virus.

According to the authors of the 'Total Health program', which looks into
scams perpetrated in the name of medicine, ''Tamiflu is a worthless drug
that in no way shape or form treats the avian flu, but only decreases the
amount of days one is sick ''.

Dig a little deeper and you will understand the reality of Avian flu.
Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) was developed and patented in 1996 by a
California biotech firm, Gilead Sciences Inc, a listed stock company in
California. Due to lacklustre sales for many years Gilead Sciences licensed
the marketing of oseltamivir to the Swiss-US pharmaceutical giant Roche
Holdings of Basle getting a royalty for each vial sold. Roche holds the sole
licence to manufacture the only medicine we are told which 'possibly' might
reduce symptoms of Avian Flu. Due to the media panic, the order books at
Roche today are filled to overflowing. Roche recently refused a request from
the US Congress to lift its exclusive patent rights to allow other drug
manufacturers to produce Tamiflu.

Gilead, which gave the marketing rights to its patented discovery to Roche,
makes as much money from its royalties. According to the Gilead website,
''Roche has worldwide commercial rights to Tamiflu, and Gilead receives
payments from Roche for the successful completion of program milestones and
royalties on product sales.''

In 1997, Donald H Rumsfeld was named Chairman of the Board of Gilead
Sciences, where he remained until early 2001 when he became Defence
Secretary in Bush's Cabinet. Rumsfeld had been on the board of Gilead since
1988. He is also a major, if not the largest, stockholder in Gilead Sciences
Inc. His 2004 financial disclosure indicates that he owned between 5 and 25
million dollars in equity in Gilead as of Dec 31, 2004. Since then he has
sold some of his holdings. Next year's disclosure will show the value range
of any remaining holdings Rumsfeld stands to make a fortune on royalties as
governments scramble to buy this company's drug.

Who else stands to benefit? Bush campaign-funders, Bilderberger spokesman
Etienne F Davignon and Reagan-Bush former Secretary of State George P
Shultz, both of whom are also on the board of directors of Gilead. Another
member of the Bush circle is Lodewijk JR de Vink, who sits on the board of
Hoffman-La Roche, Gilead's partner. In other words, 'Bird Flu' will generate
outrageous profits for insiders like Shultz, Rumsfeld, Davignon, and de
Vink.

(Incidentally, this is not the first time that Rumsfeld has been involved in
pharmaceutical scams. It was after all Rumsfeld, as chairman of GD Searle,
who pressured the Food and Drug Administration to get Aspartame approved.
The FDA blocked its approval for ten years, stating it was toxic, before
Rumsfeld twisted arms at the FDA.)

Now that the Bush government has bought all these vials, how many people
have been vaccinated? None. According to President Bush's national strategy,
he is protecting the American people by stockpiling vaccines in case there
is an outbreak! What does the American Centre for Disease Control say? ''A
specific vaccine for humans that is effective against avian influenza has
not yet been approved. Based upon LIMITED data, the Centers for Disease
Control have suggested that the anti-viral medication Oseltamavir (brand
name-Tamiflu) MAY be effective in treating avian influenza.''

Bush then announces the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic
Influenza during the UN General Assembly in September 2005, the goals of
which are to elevate the avian influenza issue on national agendas;
coordinate efforts among donor and affected nations; mobilise and leverage
resources; build local capacity to identify, contain and respond to an
influenza pandemic.

After Bush announces that he is going to give funds to any country that has
any signs of Avian flu ($251 million to detect and contain outbreaks before
they spread around the world) and starts off by giving 25 million dollars
for prevent the spread of Avian Flu in ''affected'' South Asian countries
and $13 million for technical assistance promising millions more, suddenly
each country that has a low GDP discovers strains of Avian Flu. Not in
poultry because then people will stop buying and eating chicken, but in wild
migratory birds.

Everyone wants a piece of the money. The Secretary-General of the World
Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Mt Jerraud has suggested that his
organisation be given more money to expand its studies to the correlation
between climate the spread of avian flu.

Where is the Avian flu? Simple - 53 people have died of it. However they
have not died of this virus as it cannot spread to humans - which every
scientist has admitted. So what have they died of? Look at the poultries in
these and any country. The chickens are overcrowded, kept in filthy
conditions and killed in the filthiest way possible. They regularly suffer
from cholera and most all of them get salmonella related bacterial diseases.
The victims are poultry workers - people who live amongst filth and disease
and work in the killing fields with their bare hands. How many people who
work in the poultries in any Asian country die of salmonella poisoning.
Thousands - including in India.

Our neighbours have it, say the Indian papers, regularly. Which neighbour?
Duh. Which is the one paper that has taken this the most seriously? The one
newspaper that sells every inch of its space - including the 'news'. Most
newspapers ignore this nonsense - occasionally putting it in as a space
filler. Why does India -- which sells the largest number of eggs in Asia and
exports the largest number of chickens all of which are kept in the same
conditions as anywhere in Asia - not have it? Because we don't have the
money to import the vaccines. Once they are locally made by Ranbaxy, no
doubt we will suddenly develop Avian Flu as well. It is to the credit of
India that we have not fallen prey to this scamming as yet.

Here is the actual truth. On October 28, the Chinese Ministry of Health and
Ministry of Agriculture reiterated that China has experienced no human bird
flu infection. The two children that fell sick on October 17 with symptoms
of fever and cough of which one died (and this led to the killing of
millions of birds) were later diagnosed with bronchial pneumonia. On January
24, 2005, newspapers in Vietnam reported that ''three brothers in northern
Vietnam who MAY have contracted bird flu all drank raw duck blood at a
family feast''. Raw duck blood could give any disease - try it.

Even World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Jong Woo Lee, urging the
world to prepare itself for the outbreak, betrays himself: ''The burning
question is, will there be a human influenza pandemic? I believe, on behalf
of WHO, that there will be. And right now the only one condition missing is
the virus that is rapidly transmitted from human to human.''

WHO warns of human flu pandemic. How many cases reported in Europe so far by
WHO? Not one. The only thing that is mutating is the propaganda line, and
the resulting fear factor.

Let us presume that flu, which has been in pandemic form for about several
hundred years, does the rounds again. Big deal. Flu (influenza) is a viral
infection that has a relatively short lifespan and causes problems for its
victim in the form of several minor effects (chills, high fever, aches and
pains, headaches, sore throat, mucosal irritation). Around 35,000 people get
flu daily. Some die anyway if they have other complications. The Great
Global Threat is closer to what Spain's Agriculture Minister describes it as
''science fiction''.

If Avian Flu is that serious and Tamiflu is the answer, why is Tamiflu only
been sold to governments and not to the public? The answer lies here: About
the time that President Bush was buying the ''vaccine'' he also announced
that the United States must approve liability protection for the makers of
lifesaving vaccines as American vaccine manufacturers had been hit with a
flood of lawsuits. So government not only buys the drugs but they protect
the manufacturers when the drugs are found to be useless.

Is there any other clue that this scam is mainly designed for pharmaceutical
companies at taxpayer expense?


----- Original Message -----
From: Pankaj <pankaj@...>
To: andamanicobar@...
Subject: [andamanicobar] Bird flu?
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:35:14 +0530

>
>
>
> Dear Friends,
> Over the last couple of months we have had some useful and
> interesting postings related to bird flu and the concerns about.
> Pasted below is a synopsis of a piece by Maneka Gandhi published in
> the latest issue of Tehelka. Unfortunately the entire piece is
> accessible only to subscribers of Tehelka...
> I am also posting another piece on the same issue published in the
> latest issue of Sanctuary Asia, by Maan Barua who is a prominent
> bird expert based in Assam.
> pankaj
>
>
>
> http://www.tehelka.com/story_main15.asp?filename=Ne121705Whose_Fluke.asp
>        Whose fluke is it anyway?
>
>        In a provocative essay, animal rights activist and Member of
> Parliament Maneka Gandhi calls the bluff on the avian flu
> 'pandemic', arguing that it is only the latest in a series of
> bogeys George Bush's neocons have invented to keep America Inc
> rolling
>
>        Money makes not just the world go around but turns it topsy
> turvy. America needed a war to keep its armament companies happy -
> especially since the Vice President, Dick Cheney, himself had
> headed one of the largest government contracting companies. So they
> invented the bogey of Iraq. They destroyed Afghanistan before that,
> complaining that there were not enough " targets" to shoot at from
> the air (so they bombed schools and hospitals).
>
>
>
>
>        Dec 17 , 2005
>
>
> Want to read more..
> This story is available to subscribers only. Please Subscribe now.
>
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
> Pune - 411004
> Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
> Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
> Pune - 411004
> Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
> Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


--
_______________________________________________

Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow
Pages

http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC\
=lycos10



________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________



------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links




------------------------------------------------------------------------

As one of those who have, arguably, hyped the bird flu threat, this might
look like I'm trying to defend myself. Frankly, I don't care how it looks,
but I feel that I have to protest a bunch of loosely connected facts being
strung together into a bizarre conspiracy theory. One only needs to look at
the quick spread of some newly minted and highly dangerous viruses--such as
HIV and SARS--to see that the danger from emerging viruses is real.

America didn't create the bird flu scare, because it was one of the last
countries to react to it. By the time the US got around to trying to place
orders for Tamiflu, it found that it would have to wait for years because
other countries had gotten in ahead. Europe reacted earliest because it is
more aware of what goes on in Asia, because it is physically connected to
Asia (so that an epidemic would arrive there sooner), and because it is
wealthy enough.

In fact the US dilemma is advantageous to India. If the US breaks the
Tamiflu patent held by the Swiss company Roche, or forces Roche to issue
production licenses to other companies, that sets a precedent allowing India
and other poor countries to do the same in case of life-threatening
diseases.

Apparently the genetic code of the current bird flu virus needs about eight
mutations to change into a form in which it can be transmitted between
humans. Since no one knows the rate at which mutations occur in this virus,
this means that the time span in which this change might happen is unknown.
It could be years. On the other hand, the virus could acquire the genetic
material it needs (for transmission between humans) from an ordinary flu
virus, which already has this capacity. This could happen when someone comes
down with bird flu and ordinary flu simultaneously. That is why it is
imperative to keep the number of human victims of bird flu down, so that the
virus doesn't get a chance to change into a deadlier form.

Currently the bird flu virus has killed thousands of migratory birds, and
many more chickens, but has proved not very infectious to humans. This could
be because those in SE Asia who routinely handle poultry have developed some
immunity to the disease. That is, the virus could be more deadly to people
who have never been exposed to it. Caution, awareness, close monitoring of
migratory birds and poultry, and rapid response to any outbreaks is
necessary. To suggest otherwise is irresponsible.

I wish we knew how to mitigate the dangers to the migratory birds
themselves.
Madhusree




  >      1. The Flaw in the Flu
>           From: "Pankaj" <pankaj@...>

  : The Flaw in the Flu
>
> The Flaw in the Flu
> http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/sanctmagazine/archivedetail.php?id=760
> by Maan Barua
>
>
>
>
> It is a pleasant November afternoon, and I am in Nameri Tiger Reserve,
> watching a flock of Amur Falcons 'milling' over sandbanks along the
> Bharelli
> river. Their movements seem like a set of changing alphabets against the
> clear blue Assam sky. The birds, we presume, are migrating from China
> through India to their wintering grounds in South Africa, and every year
> they continue to do so in flocks of thousands. But unlike the usual manner
> in which the arrival of these migrant birds are 'heralded' by the media,
> this year they are being seen as vicious 'outsiders' carrying with them
> the
> phantom of death.
>
> In the past month or so, the world has suddenly been whipped into a
> fear-frenzy over the 'bird flu' epidemic that could take on gargantuan
> proportions, and it has become almost mandatory to compare it to the 1918
> pandemic that is said to have killed 18 million people worldwide. This
> fear
> has spread from ostrich farmers in South Africa to observers of wildfowl
> in
> British Columbia, and in India, major centres for migrant birds such as
> Kaziranga and Bharatpur, that were once seen as great oases for birdlife,
> have overnight become 'red alert zones' where people "may contract the
> virus
> from the visiting birds!"
>
> But then how serious is this not-yet-occurred epidemic that we apparently
> need to be waging a war against? The most noticeable large-scale
> announcement on combating the 'war on flu' came from none other than
> George
> W. Bush, the President of the United States: "At this moment, there is no
> pandemic influenza in the United States or the world. But if history is
> our
> guide, there is reason to be concerned. In the last century, our country
> and
> the world have been hit by three influenza. The first, which struck in
> 1918,
> killed over half-a-million Americans and more than 20 million people
> across
> the globe..." Likewise, the British Government has publicly announced that
> more than 50,000 people are likely to die in Britain, but has 'privately'
> told the media (!) that it is preparing for up to 750,000 deaths.
> Irresponsible statements from health-care professionals have further
> fuelled
> the crisis, and 'experts' from the U.K. are saying that the British death
> toll could even reach two million!
>
> The current media-churning of 'breaking news' continues unabated, while
> vital voices that do not fuel the fear are ignored. In the October 29th
> editorial of the British Medical Journal, a senior scientist wrote, "avian
> influenza viruses do not usually infect humans, and hence there was grave
> concern when 18 human cases of influenza caused by bird-to-human
> transmission of AH5N1 avian influenza occurred in Hong Kong in May 1997
> with
> six deaths. Given the large number of infected chickens then in the Hong
> Kong markets, bird-to-human clinical infection was clearly rare. Public
> concern waned when culling of more than 1.5 million chickens halted the
> epidemic." It is hard to believe that science is being abandoned, for how
> do
> they make the giant leap of faith that 60 deaths will translate to two
> million? But then not that hard when we realise that such statements
> succeed
> in converting society into a huge market of fear-filled, anti-bird flu
> drug
> consumers!
>
> It may be interesting for readers to know President Bush went on to stress
> that "at this point, we do not have evidence that a pandemic is
> imminent...
> Even if the virus does eventually appear on our shores in birds, that does
> not mean people in our country will be infected. Avian flu is still
> primarily an animal disease. And as of now, unless people come into
> direct,
> sustained contact with infected birds, it is unlikely they will come down
> with avian flu." But then what made the President call on the Congress to
> immediately pass a new US $ 7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare
> for
> that not-so-imminent danger? That is when things start becoming
> suspicious.
> On October 28, 2005 the Senate passed an eight billion dollars emergency
> funding bill to address the growing avian flu panic. The World Bank has
> already proposed one billion dollars for the war against bird flu (of
> course, it spends much more than that to destroy the world's wetlands upon
> which migratory fowl are largely dependant).
>
> The only medicine, we are told, which reduces the symptoms of avian flu,
> is
> a branded drug called Tamiflu that features prominently among President
> Bush
> 's list of emergency measures. A purchase of 20 million doses of Tamiflu
> has
> already been made and the U.S. Congress is to appropriate another one
> billion dollars for this drug. What good news for the Swiss pharmaceutical
> giant Roche, which holds the sole license to manufacture Tamiflu. The drug
> was actually developed and patented in 1996 by a California-based biotech
> firm, Gilead Sciences Inc. It prefers to maintain a low profile in the
> current rush to Tamiflu, but this might be because of who is tied to
> Gilead.
> In 1997, before he became Pentagon chief, Donald Rumsfeld was named
> Chairman
> (research) of the Board of Gilead Sciences, where he remained until early
> 2001 when he became Defense Secretary. According to Fortune (October 31)
> Rumsfeld holds a Gilead stake valued at between five and 25 million
> dollars
> and the global rush to buy Tamiflu has amounted to a windfall of at least
> one million dollars for Rumsfeld. The Gilead board also includes Bechtel
> Corp. Director George Schultz. "I don't know of any biotech company that's
> so politically well-connected," says analyst Andrew McDonald of Think
> Equity
> Partners in San Francisco.
>
> Gilead now wants to regain control of the drug from Roche and accuses it
> of
> "not doing an adequate job in manufacturing and marketing," while the
> latter
> denies this, saying "Tamiflu is hard to make and it would take another
> company three years to 'get up to speed' in producing the drug." But what
> it
> is actually saying is that it does not want to share its profits with
> anyone
> else. Cipla, the Indian pharmaceutical firm, says it can start producing
> this drug by January and India, on its part, is taking initiatives that
> aim
> at the production of cheaper alternatives to Tamiflu. The World Bank,
> always
> an advocate on 'policies' for developing countries, has decided not to be
> part of the mission that is talking about licenses for the patent. Is this
> silence merely incidental?
>
> Another danger that is emerging is that the current 'war on flu', as it is
> being portrayed, is dissolving all borders between the military and social
> institutions. The Bush administration claims to be referring to this as a
> 'catastrophe' in which the "Pentagon would be the only agency with enough
> strength to respond." Behind all this lurks the fact that officials are
> rewriting the plan to designate "not just who cares for the sick but who
> will keep the country running amid the chaos," said an influenza
> specialist
> who is advising the British government on those decisions.
>
> Amongst the measures being taken in developing countries that could be
> potentially affected by bird flu is the culling of chickens. Close
> domestic
> proximity of fowl, pigs and people facilitates the transmission of the
> virus
> from animal or bird to man, a situation common in rural Asia. Recently,
> Margaret Say, Southeast Asian director for the U.S.A. Poultry and Egg
> Export
> Council, told Reuters that while some governments were working hard to
> fight
> the virus, others were "becoming a bit slack. We cannot control migratory
> birds but we can surely work hard to close down as many backyard farms as
> possible." Why is the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council so keen on
> closing
> down farms? It may interest readers to know that Laurence Tiley of
> Cambridge
> University and Helen Sang of the Roslin Institute in Scotland are involved
> in developing 'transgenic chickens' that would involve genetic material
> inserted into eggs to allegedly make the chickens H5N1-resistant. This
> would
> mean opening up of new markets for GMOs. The dangers of genetic monopoly
> of
> food-products are known to everyone, and it will be the poor rural farmers
> and the developing Asian countries that will lose out. As far as the flu
> goes, we're still waiting for Godot.
>
>
> What Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
> Avian influenza is a contagious disease affecting birds caused by type A
> strains of the influenza virus. Although 15 sub-types of the virus are
> known, the pathogenic outbreaks to date have been caused by sub-types H5
> and
> H7. Avian influenza could manifest itself as a mild illness or a fatal and
> contagious epidemic. Migratory waterfowl are the most common carriers of
> the
> flu, while domestic poultry are the most susceptible to it.
>
> It is difficult to develop vaccines against it because the virus is
> constantly 'shifting' and 'drifting' and a mild strain can mutate into a
> fatal one. 'Drifting' is when the imperfect replication of the virus
> alters
> its antigenic composition. 'Shifting' is when two differing sub-types
> exchange or rearrange genes and merge to become a completely different
> virus. If one of these has genes from a human strain of the influenza
> virus,
> the infection could rapidly affect humans as well. Shifting requires a
> 'mixing vessel' where both human and avian strains are present and can be
> reassembled. Pigs were considered to be the 'vessels' but recent research
> has shown that for some strains, humans themselves might be the 'mixing
> vessels'. This is what triggered fears of an influenza pandemic. The
> sub-type H5N1 is of particular concern because it mutates rapidly and has
> a
> tendency to pick up genes from animal influenza strains.
>
>
>
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
> Pune - 411004
> Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
> Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...
>
>
>

Hi everybody,
Ms. Gandhi had writtn a similar article in Dc 11th New Sunday Express
http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SEV20051208081327&eTitle=Fo\
cus&rLink=0

Fear factor
Thursday December 8 2005 17:39 IST

Maneka Gandhi

Money makes not just the world go around but turns it topsy-turvy all the time.
America needed a war to keep its armament companies happy — especially since its
Vice President Dick Cheney himself had headed one of the largest government
contracting companies. So they invented the bogey of Iraq. But the most money in
the world does not come from just armament sale. It comes from creating scares
of epidemics. Do you remember the scare created by the Americans just seven
years ago when they declared that all computers would stop on New Year as the
new millennium came and planes and trains would crash and stock markets would
fall, and the world would come to an end. Who made money out of that? Those
computer companies that were brought in to ‘‘repair’’ this looming disaster. Not
a single computer stopped, nothing happened.

Bird Flu is like that. It is the latest scam perpetrated by the American
Government and pharmaceutical companies. Let us look at the facts.

Avian Flu is a virus strain that is found only in birds in badly kept poultry
farms. It affects some birds that are already ill-fed, suffering from lung and
bone diseases and kept on a steady diet of hormones and antibiotics, and other
bird carcasses. It does not spread to human beings and since the virus is
already eight years old and has not mutated as yet, there is no reason to
believe it ever will. There are at least 15 different types of avian influenza
that routinely infect birds around the world. The current outbreak is caused by
a strain known as H5N1 and it has created a worldwide panic.

What is the reality of avian flu? This ‘‘global threat’’ that has led so many
countries to kill their chickens, turkeys and other birds for no reason (one
Hong Kong member of Parliament has asked for each citizen of Hong Kong to be
given a gun so they can shoot any birds coming to Hong Kong). In eight years
since the H5 N1 virus was supposedly detected in poultry birds, 53 people have
died - 37 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in Cambodia. Seven thousand
people die lightning-struck deaths every year. Have you heard of a lightning
epidemic? Are 54 deaths in eight years an epidemic or even worse— a PANDEMIC?

Where did the panic generated by the media originate? The United States of
America. President Bush goes on television to say that between two lakh to two
crore people will die in America and he asks for billions of dollars to be
allocated for this pandemic. On October 28 the American Senate passes an $8
billion emergency funding bill to address Avian Flu.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, during the debate on the
Senate bill, told the press, ‘‘If it isn’t the current H5N1 virus that leads to
an influenza pandemic, at some point in our nation’s future, another virus
will.’’ The United Nations catches on and declares they will ask for 500 million
dollars from all the countries to stop this flu by sending a vaccine to all the
countries. What is 3.1 billion dollars spent on immediately? To buy 80 million
vials of Tamiflu at $100 per dose — a drug that has no relationship with the
virus.

According to the authors of the ‘Total Health program’, which looks into scams
perpetrated in the name of medicine, ‘‘Tamiflu is a worthless drug that in no
way shape or form treats the avian flu, but only decreases the amount of days
one is sick ’’.

Dig a little deeper and you will understand the reality of Avian flu. Tamiflu
(oseltamivir phosphate) was developed and patented in 1996 by a California
biotech firm, Gilead Sciences Inc, a listed stock company in California. Due to
lacklustre sales for many years Gilead Sciences licensed the marketing of
oseltamivir to the Swiss-US pharmaceutical giant Roche Holdings of Basle getting
a royalty for each vial sold. Roche holds the sole licence to manufacture the
only medicine we are told which ‘possibly’ might reduce symptoms of Avian Flu.
Due to the media panic, the order books at Roche today are filled to
overflowing. Roche recently refused a request from the US Congress to lift its
exclusive patent rights to allow other drug manufacturers to produce Tamiflu.

Gilead, which gave the marketing rights to its patented discovery to Roche,
makes as much money from its royalties. According to the Gilead website, ‘‘Roche
has worldwide commercial rights to Tamiflu, and Gilead receives payments from
Roche for the successful completion of program milestones and royalties on
product sales.’’

In 1997, Donald H Rumsfeld was named Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences,
where he remained until early 2001 when he became Defence Secretary in Bush’s
Cabinet. Rumsfeld had been on the board of Gilead since 1988. He is also a
major, if not the largest, stockholder in Gilead Sciences Inc. His 2004
financial disclosure indicates that he owned between 5 and 25 million dollars in
equity in Gilead as of Dec 31, 2004. Since then he has sold some of his
holdings. Next year’s disclosure will show the value range of any remaining
holdings Rumsfeld stands to make a fortune on royalties as governments scramble
to buy this company's drug.

Who else stands to benefit? Bush campaign-funders, Bilderberger spokesman
Etienne F Davignon and Reagan-Bush former Secretary of State George P Shultz,
both of whom are also on the board of directors of Gilead. Another member of the
Bush circle is Lodewijk JR de Vink, who sits on the board of Hoffman-La Roche,
Gilead’s partner. In other words, ‘Bird Flu’ will generate outrageous profits
for insiders like Shultz, Rumsfeld, Davignon, and de Vink.

(Incidentally, this is not the first time that Rumsfeld has been involved in
pharmaceutical scams. It was after all Rumsfeld, as chairman of GD Searle, who
pressured the Food and Drug Administration to get Aspartame approved. The FDA
blocked its approval for ten years, stating it was toxic, before Rumsfeld
twisted arms at the FDA.)

Now that the Bush government has bought all these vials, how many people have
been vaccinated? None. According to President Bush’s national strategy, he is
protecting the American people by stockpiling vaccines in case there is an
outbreak! What does the American Centre for Disease Control say? ‘‘A specific
vaccine for humans that is effective against avian influenza has not yet been
approved. Based upon LIMITED data, the Centers for Disease Control have
suggested that the anti-viral medication Oseltamavir (brand name-Tamiflu) MAY be
effective in treating avian influenza.’’

Bush then announces the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic
Influenza during the UN General Assembly in September 2005, the goals of which
are to elevate the avian influenza issue on national agendas; coordinate efforts
among donor and affected nations; mobilise and leverage resources; build local
capacity to identify, contain and respond to an influenza pandemic.

After Bush announces that he is going to give funds to any country that has any
signs of Avian flu ($251 million to detect and contain outbreaks before they
spread around the world) and starts off by giving 25 million dollars for prevent
the spread of Avian Flu in ‘‘affected’’ South Asian countries and $13 million
for technical assistance promising millions more, suddenly each country that has
a low GDP discovers strains of Avian Flu. Not in poultry because then people
will stop buying and eating chicken, but in wild migratory birds.

Everyone wants a piece of the money. The Secretary-General of the World
Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Mt Jerraud has suggested that his
organisation be given more money to expand its studies to the correlation
between climate the spread of avian flu.

Where is the Avian flu? Simple — 53 people have died of it. However they have
not died of this virus as it cannot spread to humans — which every scientist has
admitted. So what have they died of? Look at the poultries in these and any
country. The chickens are overcrowded, kept in filthy conditions and killed in
the filthiest way possible. They regularly suffer from cholera and most all of
them get salmonella related bacterial diseases. The victims are poultry workers
— people who live amongst filth and disease and work in the killing fields with
their bare hands. How many people who work in the poultries in any Asian country
die of salmonella poisoning. Thousands — including in India.

Our neighbours have it, say the Indian papers, regularly. Which neighbour? Duh.
Which is the one paper that has taken this the most seriously? The one newspaper
that sells every inch of its space — including the ‘news’. Most newspapers
ignore this nonsense — occasionally putting it in as a space filler. Why does
India -— which sells the largest number of eggs in Asia and exports the largest
number of chickens all of which are kept in the same conditions as anywhere in
Asia — not have it? Because we don’t have the money to import the vaccines. Once
they are locally made by Ranbaxy, no doubt we will suddenly develop Avian Flu as
well. It is to the credit of India that we have not fallen prey to this scamming
as yet.

Here is the actual truth. On October 28, the Chinese Ministry of Health and
Ministry of Agriculture reiterated that China has experienced no human bird flu
infection. The two children that fell sick on October 17 with symptoms of fever
and cough of which one died (and this led to the killing of millions of birds)
were later diagnosed with bronchial pneumonia. On January 24, 2005, newspapers
in Vietnam reported that ‘‘three brothers in northern Vietnam who MAY have
contracted bird flu all drank raw duck blood at a family feast’’. Raw duck blood
could give any disease — try it.

Even World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Jong Woo Lee, urging the
world to prepare itself for the outbreak, betrays himself: ‘‘The burning
question is, will there be a human influenza pandemic? I believe, on behalf of
WHO, that there will be. And right now the only one condition missing is the
virus that is rapidly transmitted from human to human.’’

WHO warns of human flu pandemic. How many cases reported in Europe so far by
WHO? Not one. The only thing that is mutating is the propaganda line, and the
resulting fear factor.

Let us presume that flu, which has been in pandemic form for about several
hundred years, does the rounds again. Big deal. Flu (influenza) is a viral
infection that has a relatively short lifespan and causes problems for its
victim in the form of several minor effects (chills, high fever, aches and
pains, headaches, sore throat, mucosal irritation). Around 35,000 people get flu
daily. Some die anyway if they have other complications. The Great Global Threat
is closer to what Spain’s Agriculture Minister describes it as ‘‘science
fiction’’.

If Avian Flu is that serious and Tamiflu is the answer, why is Tamiflu only been
sold to governments and not to the public? The answer lies here: About the time
that President Bush was buying the ‘‘vaccine’’ he also announced that the United
States must approve liability protection for the makers of lifesaving vaccines
as American vaccine manufacturers had been hit with a flood of lawsuits. So
government not only buys the drugs but they protect the manufacturers when the
drugs are found to be useless.

Is there any other clue that this scam is mainly designed for pharmaceutical
companies at taxpayer expense?


----- Original Message -----
From: Pankaj <pankaj@...>
To: andamanicobar@...
Subject: [andamanicobar] Bird flu?
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:35:14 +0530

>
>
>
> Dear Friends,
> Over the last couple of months we have had some useful and
> interesting postings related to bird flu and the concerns about.
> Pasted below is a synopsis of a piece by Maneka Gandhi published in
> the latest issue of Tehelka. Unfortunately the entire piece is
> accessible only to subscribers of Tehelka...
> I am also posting another piece on the same issue published in the
> latest issue of Sanctuary Asia, by Maan Barua who is a prominent
> bird expert based in Assam.
> pankaj
>
>
>
> http://www.tehelka.com/story_main15.asp?filename=Ne121705Whose_Fluke.asp
>        Whose fluke is it anyway?
>
>        In a provocative essay, animal rights activist and Member of
> Parliament Maneka Gandhi calls the bluff on the avian flu
> 'pandemic', arguing that it is only the latest in a series of
> bogeys George Bush's neocons have invented to keep America Inc
> rolling
>
>        Money makes not just the world go around but turns it topsy
> turvy. America needed a war to keep its armament companies happy -
> especially since the Vice President, Dick Cheney, himself had
> headed one of the largest government contracting companies. So they
> invented the bogey of Iraq. They destroyed Afghanistan before that,
> complaining that there were not enough " targets" to shoot at from
> the air (so they bombed schools and hospitals).
>
>
>
>
>        Dec 17 , 2005
>
>
> Want to read more..
> This story is available to subscribers only. Please Subscribe now.
>
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
> Pune - 411004
> Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
> Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
> Pune - 411004
> Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
> Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


--
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THE DAILY TELEGRAMS
December 15, 2005
CASA's workshop on disaster preparedness commences
Port Blair, Dec. 14
  A five-day workshop on community based disaster preparedness for the
Nicobari community was formally inaugurated at the Youth Hostel here
organised under the aegis of Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA).
   Speaking as the chief guest, the Additional District Magistrate (ADM),
Shri Neerak Bharati explained the importance of the workshop, which teaches
people to be prepared whenever a disaster strikes. The A&N Administration
has chalked out a Disaster Management Plan for the islanders. Since there is
a scarcity of government servants who can train the people locally, it was
decided by the Administration to give the task to the NGOs who are
experienced in the field.
   Shri Alok Ghosh, resource person from CASA, Kolkata who is here to train
the selected trainees, briefed the gathering on disaster preparedness. He
said that in the next five days the group will be trained on community based
disaster preparedness. The trained youth will spread the education further
in their respective villages.
   In his welcome address Shri. Billy Graham of CASA explained that 15
candidates from different villages of Car Nicobar have been selected for the
workshop while four have been selected from Hut Bay, who will be joining in
a day or two. CASA's work in the disaster struck areas is acknowledged
worldwide, especially for the work done in Orissa. Their work is recognition
by the Indian Red Cross Society. It's indeed a privilege to have resource
persons who have practical experience to train the islanders, said Shri
Graham.
   At the end of the inaugural session Shri Prakash Thakur, Field Officer
CASA proposed the vote of thanks, a CASA communiqué said here today.

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...

Asia Pacific Ocean Newsletter - December 2005
----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Flynn Neeley
To: PACIFIC@...
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 10:25 PM
Subject: [PACIFIC] Asia Pacific Ocean Newsletter - December 2005


ASIA PACIFIC OCEAN NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 2005
SeaWeb

This newsletter is produced regularly and distributed free of charge by SeaWeb
to keep interested individuals informed of current news and events.  For more
information, please email apinfo@...


 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------------------------

CURRENT ISSUE:
(1) Working toward bycatch solutions
(2) Protecting Pacific Tuna Fisheries
(3) Giant jellyfish troubling Japan
(4) Noise pollution threatens marine mammals
(5) Carbon dioxide levels highest in 650,000 years
(6) Niue pursuing a sustainable future
(7) Upcoming events



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------------------------
(1) WORKING TOWARD BYCATCH SOLUTIONS

Unintentional bycatch is a concern to fishermen and a serious threat to marine
organisms.  A new report shows that in the U.S. alone, commercial fisheries
throw away 1.1 million tons of unwanted catch every year - more than a fifth of
their total haul by weight.  A spokeswoman from the National Fisheries Institute
says, "It's not advantageous. it just wastes time and money."  The fishing
industry is collaborating with groups such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to
enhance bycatch-reducing gear.

This month, WWF launched the second International Smart Gear Competition.  A
US$25,000 grand prize and two US$5000 prizes will be awarded to the best new
designs to reduce bycatch.  Last year's winner was Steve Beverly, a New
Caledonian fisheries development officer for the Secretariat of the Pacific
Community (SPC).  His winning design calls for setting longlines with baited
hooks deeper than 100 meters, to minimize seaturtle bycatch without reducing
tuna harvests. The judges explained that his design is "simple, inexpensive,
relies on basic ecological research and modifies existing gear so fishermen will
not have to buy or be trained on complicated new gear."  This year's competition
deadline is March 15, 2006.

SOURCES: The Associated Press, WWF, SPC, The Seattle Intelligencer
READ MORE:
http://www.smartgear.org
http://www.spc.org.nc/AC/art_grandprizewinner.htm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/250412_fish01.html



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------------------------
(2) PROTECTING PACIFIC TUNA FISHERIES

The status of Pacific tuna stocks is taking center stage at this week's Western
and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).  Representatives of 30
countries and territories will address the Scientific Committee's recent report
that bigeye and yellowfin species are being overfished and require a reduced
fishing effort.  Recommendations made last week by the WCPFC's Technical and
Compliance Committee include international vessel monitoring and fisheries
observer programs.

Bigeye tuna is harvested by longline vessels for the sashimi trade, and eighty
percent of the ships are registered by Japan or Taiwan.  Taiwan's tuna fishermen
will be watching the WCPFC meeting particularly carefully, since the
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) cut its
2006 big eye tuna catch quota from 14,900 to 4,600 tons.  This penalty for
persistent overfishing of Atlantic bigeye is equivalent to US$100 million.  The
Taiwan Tuna Association stated that they hope to avoid 'a domino effect' of
additional sanctions at the WCPFC meeting, and highlighted efforts cooperate
with prosecuting authorities by assigning observers on every ocean-going ship to
monitor fishing operations.

SOURCES: Pacific Magazine, Seafood.com News, Asia Pulse, Taipei Times
READ MORE:
http://www.wcpfc.org/
http://www.pacificislands.cc/pina/pinadefault2.php?urlpinaid=18849
http://www.cna.com.tw/eng/cepread.php?id=200511200016&pt=0&LArr=200511200016
<http://www.cna.com.tw/eng/cepread.php?id=200511200016&amp;pt=0&amp;LArr=2005112\
00016>
http://www.pacificislands.cc/pina/pinadefault2.php?urlpinaid=18407
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/11/27/2003281937
http://www.pacificislands.cc/pdf/1105WPRFMC.pdf



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------------------------
(3) GIANT JELLYFISH TROUBLING JAPAN

More than a meter in diameter and weighing 150kg, large numbers of Nomura's
jellyfish (Stomolophus nomurai) are disrupting coastal fisheries in Japan. 
Traditionally, sightings were sporadic and confined to the Sea of Japan. This
year, the jellies are widespread, abundant, and arriving on the Pacific coast of
the archipelago for the first time.  The giant jellyfish are fouling fishermen's
nets and ruining their catch.  The economic impact is so serious that regional
officials are planning a strategic "jellyfish summit" to deal with the problem. 
Experts at the Hiroshima University's Graduate School of Science attribute this
year's population explosion to many different factors, including changing
currents, warmer waters, nutrient enrichment along China's southern coast, and
overfishing.  Professor Shinichi Ue of Hiroshima University is pushing for
restoration of the coastal waters and fish stocks.  He warns, "If we leave
things this way, there is a possibility that the [jellyfish] outbreak will
become a yearly occurrence.''

SOURCES: The Economist, The Asahi Shimbun, The London Times, The Japan Times
READ MORE:
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200510170100.html
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5254955
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20021031b3.htm



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------------------------
(4) NOISE POLLUTION THREATENS MARINE MAMMALS

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has released a report detailing the
threat that manmade underwater noise poses to whales, dolphins, and other marine
species.  High-decibel sounds, such as military sonar, interfere with the
navigation, social communication, and predatory behavior of marine mammals.  The
scientific committee of the International Whaling Commission confirms that the
evidence linking sonar to strandings is overwhelming.  "There is no longer
serious scientific debate about whether marine mammals are dying from intense
ocean noise that originates from human activities", NRDC spokespeople state,
"Nations of the world need to work together now to reduce the impacts of ocean
noise before the problem becomes unmanageable and the harm to marine life
irreversible."

SOURCE: Environment News Service, National Resources Defense Council
READ MORE:
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2005/2005-11-22-01.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/marine/sonar.asp
http://www.oceanmammalinst.org/aboutunp.html



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------------------------
(5) CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS HIGHEST IN 650,000 YEARS

New data from East Antarctic ice cores prove that current levels of atmospheric
carbon dioxide are the highest in the past 650,000 years.  Two research papers
published in Science (Volume 310, Issue 5752) extend the existing greenhouse gas
record by 210,000 years.  By analyzing air samples trapped inside tiny bubbles
in the ice, researchers found that that current carbon dioxide levels (380 ppm
by volume) are 27 percent higher than the highest levels in the ice core. This
new expansion of our atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane records will help
pinpoint when humans began significantly altering greenhouse gases
concentrations, and should allow researchers to improve the accuracy of climate
change predictions.

SOURCES: Science magazine, AAAS, BBC News
READ MORE:
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2005/1128ice.shtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4467420.stm
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2005/2005-11-28-insmay.asp



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------------------------
(6)  NIUE PURSUING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Niue has announced that it signed an agreement with Greenpeace to explore the
possibilities for becoming one of the first countries in the world to rely
entirely on renewable energy sources.  The plan is still in its initial stages,
but the South Pacific Geoscience Commission is reported to have already been
assisting with policy planning.  Niue is dependent on foreign aid from New
Zealand and Australia.  A large percentage of this assistance funds the annual
import of some 3 million liters of fuel at a cost of roughly US$2.8 million. 
Eliminating petroleum imports holds the promise of significantly improving
Niue's economic base by reducing aid requirements and enhancing efforts to build
a sustainable ecotourism industry.

SOURCES: Radio Australia, Niue 2005 National Energy Policy Statement, Pacific
Magazine
READ MORE:
http://www.pacificislands.cc/pina/pinadefault2.php?urlpinaid=18909
http://www.sidsnet.org/latestarc/energy-newswire/msg00017.html
http://www.sopac.org/tiki/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=401



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------------------------
(7) UPCOMING EVENTS

Environmental Online Communication Mini-track at the 39th  Hawaii International
Conference on System Sciences.  January 4-7, 2006. Poipu Beach, Kauai, Hawaii. 
For more information:
http://www.ecoresearch.net/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=62

1st Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. 
Canberra, Australia.  January 16 - Jan 20, 2006. For more information:
http://www.sdgateway.net/events/default.asp?EventID=3458

The 13th Ocean Sciences Meeting.  February 20-24, 2006.  Honlulu, Hawaii. For
more information: http://www.agu.org/meetings/os06

Post-Disaster Assessment and Monitoring of Coastal Ecosystems and Biological and
Cultural Diversity in the Indian Ocean and Asian Waters.  February 20-24, 2006.
Phuket, Thailand.  For more information: http://westpac.unescobkk.org

3rd Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands.  January 23-28, 2006.
Paris, France.  For more information: http://www.sidsnet.org/calframe.html






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--------------------------------

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© 2005. Sections of this newsletter not cited to other sources may be reproduced
at no charge, with proper acknowledgment and citation as follows:

Source: Asia Pacific Ocean News, SeaWeb http://www.seaweb.org




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

THE DAILY TELEGRAMS, Dec. 12, 2005
IP&T Directorate invites photos
Port Blair, Dec 11
    The Directorate of IP&T plans to organize a photo exhibition on the topic
of tsunami, its affects and the rescue, relief and rehabilitation of the
affected persons and subsequent reconstruction and development activities.
The exhibition will be held around 30th December 2005 in Port Blair. Similar
exhibitions are also planned in the southern group of islands and in New
Delhi.
    Individuals or organizations that have collection of tsunami, relier,
rescue, rehabilitation, reconstruction and development related photographs
may submit the same to the Directorate of IP&T by 13th December 2005, along
with the negatives. The photographs displayed will mention the details of
the individuals providing photographs. The photographs may be sent to Shri
Rana Mathew, Public Relations Officer, 2nd Floor, Directorate of IP&T, Port
Blair (e-mail - rana_mathew@....

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...

Dear Friends,
Over the last couple of months we have had some useful and interesting postings
related to bird flu and the concerns about.
Pasted below is a synopsis of a piece by Maneka Gandhi published in the latest
issue of Tehelka. Unfortunately the entire piece is accessible only to
subscribers of Tehelka...
I am also posting another piece on the same issue published in the latest issue
of Sanctuary Asia, by Maan Barua who is a prominent bird expert based in Assam.
pankaj



http://www.tehelka.com/story_main15.asp?filename=Ne121705Whose_Fluke.asp
       Whose fluke is it anyway?

       In a provocative essay, animal rights activist and Member of Parliament
Maneka Gandhi calls the bluff on the avian flu 'pandemic', arguing that it is
only the latest in a series of bogeys George Bush's neocons have invented to
keep America Inc rolling

       Money makes not just the world go around but turns it topsy turvy. America
needed a war to keep its armament companies happy - especially since the Vice
President, Dick Cheney, himself had headed one of the largest government
contracting companies. So they invented the bogey of Iraq. They destroyed
Afghanistan before that, complaining that there were not enough " targets" to
shoot at from the air (so they bombed schools and hospitals).




       Dec 17 , 2005


Want to read more..
This story is available to subscribers only. Please Subscribe now.


C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Very  worthwhile information It is a strange world because Luc Hoffman the
boss of Roche is/was
the Vice President of IUCN and WWF and provided plenty of funds  to WWF
India   Regards
Zafar Futehally
----- Original Message -----
From: Pankaj <pankaj@...>
To: <andamanicobar@...>
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 3:35 PM
Subject: [andamanicobar] The Flaw in the Flu


> The Flaw in the Flu
> http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/sanctmagazine/archivedetail.php?id=760
> by Maan Barua
>
>
>
>
> It is a pleasant November afternoon, and I am in Nameri Tiger Reserve,
> watching a flock of Amur Falcons 'milling' over sandbanks along the
Bharelli
> river. Their movements seem like a set of changing alphabets against the
> clear blue Assam sky. The birds, we presume, are migrating from China
> through India to their wintering grounds in South Africa, and every year
> they continue to do so in flocks of thousands. But unlike the usual manner
> in which the arrival of these migrant birds are 'heralded' by the media,
> this year they are being seen as vicious 'outsiders' carrying with them
the
> phantom of death.
>
> In the past month or so, the world has suddenly been whipped into a
> fear-frenzy over the 'bird flu' epidemic that could take on gargantuan
> proportions, and it has become almost mandatory to compare it to the 1918
> pandemic that is said to have killed 18 million people worldwide. This
fear
> has spread from ostrich farmers in South Africa to observers of wildfowl
in
> British Columbia, and in India, major centres for migrant birds such as
> Kaziranga and Bharatpur, that were once seen as great oases for birdlife,
> have overnight become 'red alert zones' where people "may contract the
virus
> from the visiting birds!"
>
> But then how serious is this not-yet-occurred epidemic that we apparently
> need to be waging a war against? The most noticeable large-scale
> announcement on combating the 'war on flu' came from none other than
George
> W. Bush, the President of the United States: "At this moment, there is no
> pandemic influenza in the United States or the world. But if history is
our
> guide, there is reason to be concerned. In the last century, our country
and
> the world have been hit by three influenza. The first, which struck in
1918,
> killed over half-a-million Americans and more than 20 million people
across
> the globe..." Likewise, the British Government has publicly announced that
> more than 50,000 people are likely to die in Britain, but has 'privately'
> told the media (!) that it is preparing for up to 750,000 deaths.
> Irresponsible statements from health-care professionals have further
fuelled
> the crisis, and 'experts' from the U.K. are saying that the British death
> toll could even reach two million!
>
> The current media-churning of 'breaking news' continues unabated, while
> vital voices that do not fuel the fear are ignored. In the October 29th
> editorial of the British Medical Journal, a senior scientist wrote, "avian
> influenza viruses do not usually infect humans, and hence there was grave
> concern when 18 human cases of influenza caused by bird-to-human
> transmission of AH5N1 avian influenza occurred in Hong Kong in May 1997
with
> six deaths. Given the large number of infected chickens then in the Hong
> Kong markets, bird-to-human clinical infection was clearly rare. Public
> concern waned when culling of more than 1.5 million chickens halted the
> epidemic." It is hard to believe that science is being abandoned, for how
do
> they make the giant leap of faith that 60 deaths will translate to two
> million? But then not that hard when we realise that such statements
succeed
> in converting society into a huge market of fear-filled, anti-bird flu
drug
> consumers!
>
> It may be interesting for readers to know President Bush went on to stress
> that "at this point, we do not have evidence that a pandemic is
imminent...
> Even if the virus does eventually appear on our shores in birds, that does

> not mean people in our country will be infected. Avian flu is still
> primarily an animal disease. And as of now, unless people come into
direct,
> sustained contact with infected birds, it is unlikely they will come down
> with avian flu." But then what made the President call on the Congress to
> immediately pass a new US $ 7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare
for
> that not-so-imminent danger? That is when things start becoming
suspicious.
> On October 28, 2005 the Senate passed an eight billion dollars emergency
> funding bill to address the growing avian flu panic. The World Bank has
> already proposed one billion dollars for the war against bird flu (of
> course, it spends much more than that to destroy the world's wetlands upon
> which migratory fowl are largely dependant).
>
> The only medicine, we are told, which reduces the symptoms of avian flu,
is
> a branded drug called Tamiflu that features prominently among President
Bush
> 's list of emergency measures. A purchase of 20 million doses of Tamiflu
has
> already been made and the U.S. Congress is to appropriate another one
> billion dollars for this drug. What good news for the Swiss pharmaceutical
> giant Roche, which holds the sole license to manufacture Tamiflu. The drug
> was actually developed and patented in 1996 by a California-based biotech
> firm, Gilead Sciences Inc. It prefers to maintain a low profile in the
> current rush to Tamiflu, but this might be because of who is tied to
Gilead.
> In 1997, before he became Pentagon chief, Donald Rumsfeld was named
Chairman
> (research) of the Board of Gilead Sciences, where he remained until early
> 2001 when he became Defense Secretary. According to Fortune (October 31)
> Rumsfeld holds a Gilead stake valued at between five and 25 million
dollars
> and the global rush to buy Tamiflu has amounted to a windfall of at least
> one million dollars for Rumsfeld. The Gilead board also includes Bechtel
> Corp. Director George Schultz. "I don't know of any biotech company that's
> so politically well-connected," says analyst Andrew McDonald of Think
Equity
> Partners in San Francisco.
>
> Gilead now wants to regain control of the drug from Roche and accuses it
of
> "not doing an adequate job in manufacturing and marketing," while the
latter
> denies this, saying "Tamiflu is hard to make and it would take another
> company three years to 'get up to speed' in producing the drug." But what
it
> is actually saying is that it does not want to share its profits with
anyone
> else. Cipla, the Indian pharmaceutical firm, says it can start producing
> this drug by January and India, on its part, is taking initiatives that
aim
> at the production of cheaper alternatives to Tamiflu. The World Bank,
always
> an advocate on 'policies' for developing countries, has decided not to be
> part of the mission that is talking about licenses for the patent. Is this
> silence merely incidental?
>
> Another danger that is emerging is that the current 'war on flu', as it is
> being portrayed, is dissolving all borders between the military and social
> institutions. The Bush administration claims to be referring to this as a
> 'catastrophe' in which the "Pentagon would be the only agency with enough
> strength to respond." Behind all this lurks the fact that officials are
> rewriting the plan to designate "not just who cares for the sick but who
> will keep the country running amid the chaos," said an influenza
specialist
> who is advising the British government on those decisions.
>
> Amongst the measures being taken in developing countries that could be
> potentially affected by bird flu is the culling of chickens. Close
domestic
> proximity of fowl, pigs and people facilitates the transmission of the
virus
> from animal or bird to man, a situation common in rural Asia. Recently,
> Margaret Say, Southeast Asian director for the U.S.A. Poultry and Egg
Export
> Council, told Reuters that while some governments were working hard to
fight
> the virus, others were "becoming a bit slack. We cannot control migratory
> birds but we can surely work hard to close down as many backyard farms as
> possible." Why is the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council so keen on
closing
> down farms? It may interest readers to know that Laurence Tiley of
Cambridge
> University and Helen Sang of the Roslin Institute in Scotland are involved
> in developing 'transgenic chickens' that would involve genetic material
> inserted into eggs to allegedly make the chickens H5N1-resistant. This
would
> mean opening up of new markets for GMOs. The dangers of genetic monopoly
of
> food-products are known to everyone, and it will be the poor rural farmers
> and the developing Asian countries that will lose out. As far as the flu
> goes, we're still waiting for Godot.
>
>
> What Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
> Avian influenza is a contagious disease affecting birds caused by type A
> strains of the influenza virus. Although 15 sub-types of the virus are
> known, the pathogenic outbreaks to date have been caused by sub-types H5
and
> H7. Avian influenza could manifest itself as a mild illness or a fatal and
> contagious epidemic. Migratory waterfowl are the most common carriers of
the
> flu, while domestic poultry are the most susceptible to it.
>
> It is difficult to develop vaccines against it because the virus is
> constantly 'shifting' and 'drifting' and a mild strain can mutate into a
> fatal one. 'Drifting' is when the imperfect replication of the virus
alters
> its antigenic composition. 'Shifting' is when two differing sub-types
> exchange or rearrange genes and merge to become a completely different
> virus. If one of these has genes from a human strain of the influenza
virus,
> the infection could rapidly affect humans as well. Shifting requires a
> 'mixing vessel' where both human and avian strains are present and can be
> reassembled. Pigs were considered to be the 'vessels' but recent research
> has shown that for some strains, humans themselves might be the 'mixing
> vessels'. This is what triggered fears of an influenza pandemic. The
> sub-type H5N1 is of particular concern because it mutates rapidly and has
a
> tendency to pick up genes from animal influenza strains.
>
>
>
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
> Pune - 411004
> Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
> Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...
>
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
> Pune - 411004
> Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
> Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>

The Flaw in the Flu
http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/sanctmagazine/archivedetail.php?id=760
by Maan Barua




It is a pleasant November afternoon, and I am in Nameri Tiger Reserve,
watching a flock of Amur Falcons 'milling' over sandbanks along the Bharelli
river. Their movements seem like a set of changing alphabets against the
clear blue Assam sky. The birds, we presume, are migrating from China
through India to their wintering grounds in South Africa, and every year
they continue to do so in flocks of thousands. But unlike the usual manner
in which the arrival of these migrant birds are 'heralded' by the media,
this year they are being seen as vicious 'outsiders' carrying with them the
phantom of death.

In the past month or so, the world has suddenly been whipped into a
fear-frenzy over the 'bird flu' epidemic that could take on gargantuan
proportions, and it has become almost mandatory to compare it to the 1918
pandemic that is said to have killed 18 million people worldwide. This fear
has spread from ostrich farmers in South Africa to observers of wildfowl in
British Columbia, and in India, major centres for migrant birds such as
Kaziranga and Bharatpur, that were once seen as great oases for birdlife,
have overnight become 'red alert zones' where people "may contract the virus
from the visiting birds!"

But then how serious is this not-yet-occurred epidemic that we apparently
need to be waging a war against? The most noticeable large-scale
announcement on combating the 'war on flu' came from none other than George
W. Bush, the President of the United States: "At this moment, there is no
pandemic influenza in the United States or the world. But if history is our
guide, there is reason to be concerned. In the last century, our country and
the world have been hit by three influenza. The first, which struck in 1918,
killed over half-a-million Americans and more than 20 million people across
the globe..." Likewise, the British Government has publicly announced that
more than 50,000 people are likely to die in Britain, but has 'privately'
told the media (!) that it is preparing for up to 750,000 deaths.
Irresponsible statements from health-care professionals have further fuelled
the crisis, and 'experts' from the U.K. are saying that the British death
toll could even reach two million!

The current media-churning of 'breaking news' continues unabated, while
vital voices that do not fuel the fear are ignored. In the October 29th
editorial of the British Medical Journal, a senior scientist wrote, "avian
influenza viruses do not usually infect humans, and hence there was grave
concern when 18 human cases of influenza caused by bird-to-human
transmission of AH5N1 avian influenza occurred in Hong Kong in May 1997 with
six deaths. Given the large number of infected chickens then in the Hong
Kong markets, bird-to-human clinical infection was clearly rare. Public
concern waned when culling of more than 1.5 million chickens halted the
epidemic." It is hard to believe that science is being abandoned, for how do
they make the giant leap of faith that 60 deaths will translate to two
million? But then not that hard when we realise that such statements succeed
in converting society into a huge market of fear-filled, anti-bird flu drug
consumers!

It may be interesting for readers to know President Bush went on to stress
that "at this point, we do not have evidence that a pandemic is imminent...
Even if the virus does eventually appear on our shores in birds, that does
not mean people in our country will be infected. Avian flu is still
primarily an animal disease. And as of now, unless people come into direct,
sustained contact with infected birds, it is unlikely they will come down
with avian flu." But then what made the President call on the Congress to
immediately pass a new US $ 7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare for
that not-so-imminent danger? That is when things start becoming suspicious.
On October 28, 2005 the Senate passed an eight billion dollars emergency
funding bill to address the growing avian flu panic. The World Bank has
already proposed one billion dollars for the war against bird flu (of
course, it spends much more than that to destroy the world's wetlands upon
which migratory fowl are largely dependant).

The only medicine, we are told, which reduces the symptoms of avian flu, is
a branded drug called Tamiflu that features prominently among President Bush
's list of emergency measures. A purchase of 20 million doses of Tamiflu has
already been made and the U.S. Congress is to appropriate another one
billion dollars for this drug. What good news for the Swiss pharmaceutical
giant Roche, which holds the sole license to manufacture Tamiflu. The drug
was actually developed and patented in 1996 by a California-based biotech
firm, Gilead Sciences Inc. It prefers to maintain a low profile in the
current rush to Tamiflu, but this might be because of who is tied to Gilead.
In 1997, before he became Pentagon chief, Donald Rumsfeld was named Chairman
(research) of the Board of Gilead Sciences, where he remained until early
2001 when he became Defense Secretary. According to Fortune (October 31)
Rumsfeld holds a Gilead stake valued at between five and 25 million dollars
and the global rush to buy Tamiflu has amounted to a windfall of at least
one million dollars for Rumsfeld. The Gilead board also includes Bechtel
Corp. Director George Schultz. "I don't know of any biotech company that's
so politically well-connected," says analyst Andrew McDonald of Think Equity
Partners in San Francisco.

Gilead now wants to regain control of the drug from Roche and accuses it of
"not doing an adequate job in manufacturing and marketing," while the latter
denies this, saying "Tamiflu is hard to make and it would take another
company three years to 'get up to speed' in producing the drug." But what it
is actually saying is that it does not want to share its profits with anyone
else. Cipla, the Indian pharmaceutical firm, says it can start producing
this drug by January and India, on its part, is taking initiatives that aim
at the production of cheaper alternatives to Tamiflu. The World Bank, always
an advocate on 'policies' for developing countries, has decided not to be
part of the mission that is talking about licenses for the patent. Is this
silence merely incidental?

Another danger that is emerging is that the current 'war on flu', as it is
being portrayed, is dissolving all borders between the military and social
institutions. The Bush administration claims to be referring to this as a
'catastrophe' in which the "Pentagon would be the only agency with enough
strength to respond." Behind all this lurks the fact that officials are
rewriting the plan to designate "not just who cares for the sick but who
will keep the country running amid the chaos," said an influenza specialist
who is advising the British government on those decisions.

Amongst the measures being taken in developing countries that could be
potentially affected by bird flu is the culling of chickens. Close domestic
proximity of fowl, pigs and people facilitates the transmission of the virus
from animal or bird to man, a situation common in rural Asia. Recently,
Margaret Say, Southeast Asian director for the U.S.A. Poultry and Egg Export
Council, told Reuters that while some governments were working hard to fight
the virus, others were "becoming a bit slack. We cannot control migratory
birds but we can surely work hard to close down as many backyard farms as
possible." Why is the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council so keen on closing
down farms? It may interest readers to know that Laurence Tiley of Cambridge
University and Helen Sang of the Roslin Institute in Scotland are involved
in developing 'transgenic chickens' that would involve genetic material
inserted into eggs to allegedly make the chickens H5N1-resistant. This would
mean opening up of new markets for GMOs. The dangers of genetic monopoly of
food-products are known to everyone, and it will be the poor rural farmers
and the developing Asian countries that will lose out. As far as the flu
goes, we're still waiting for Godot.


What Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
Avian influenza is a contagious disease affecting birds caused by type A
strains of the influenza virus. Although 15 sub-types of the virus are
known, the pathogenic outbreaks to date have been caused by sub-types H5 and
H7. Avian influenza could manifest itself as a mild illness or a fatal and
contagious epidemic. Migratory waterfowl are the most common carriers of the
flu, while domestic poultry are the most susceptible to it.

It is difficult to develop vaccines against it because the virus is
constantly 'shifting' and 'drifting' and a mild strain can mutate into a
fatal one. 'Drifting' is when the imperfect replication of the virus alters
its antigenic composition. 'Shifting' is when two differing sub-types
exchange or rearrange genes and merge to become a completely different
virus. If one of these has genes from a human strain of the influenza virus,
the infection could rapidly affect humans as well. Shifting requires a
'mixing vessel' where both human and avian strains are present and can be
reassembled. Pigs were considered to be the 'vessels' but recent research
has shown that for some strains, humans themselves might be the 'mixing
vessels'. This is what triggered fears of an influenza pandemic. The
sub-type H5N1 is of particular concern because it mutates rapidly and has a
tendency to pick up genes from animal influenza strains.




C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...

THE DAILY TELEGRAMS, Dec. 12, 2005
IP&T Directorate invites photos
Port Blair, Dec 11
    The Directorate of IP&T plans to organize a photo exhibition on the topic
of tsunami, its affects and the rescue, relief and rehabilitation of the
affected persons and subsequent reconstruction and development activities.
The exhibition will be held around 30th December 2005 in Port Blair. Similar
exhibitions are also planned in the southern group of islands and in New
Delhi.
    Individuals or organizations that have collection of tsunami, relier,
rescue, rehabilitation, reconstruction and development related photographs
may submit the same to the Directorate of IP&T by 13th December 2005, along
with the negatives. The photographs displayed will mention the details of
the individuals providing photographs. The photographs may be sent to Shri
Rana Mathew, Public Relations Officer, 2nd Floor, Directorate of IP&T, Port
Blair (e-mail - rana_mathew@....

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Flaw in the Flu
http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/sanctmagazine/archivedetail.php?id=760
by Maan Barua




It is a pleasant November afternoon, and I am in Nameri Tiger Reserve,
watching a flock of Amur Falcons 'milling' over sandbanks along the Bharelli
river. Their movements seem like a set of changing alphabets against the
clear blue Assam sky. The birds, we presume, are migrating from China
through India to their wintering grounds in South Africa, and every year
they continue to do so in flocks of thousands. But unlike the usual manner
in which the arrival of these migrant birds are 'heralded' by the media,
this year they are being seen as vicious 'outsiders' carrying with them the
phantom of death.

In the past month or so, the world has suddenly been whipped into a
fear-frenzy over the 'bird flu' epidemic that could take on gargantuan
proportions, and it has become almost mandatory to compare it to the 1918
pandemic that is said to have killed 18 million people worldwide. This fear
has spread from ostrich farmers in South Africa to observers of wildfowl in
British Columbia, and in India, major centres for migrant birds such as
Kaziranga and Bharatpur, that were once seen as great oases for birdlife,
have overnight become 'red alert zones' where people "may contract the virus
from the visiting birds!"

But then how serious is this not-yet-occurred epidemic that we apparently
need to be waging a war against? The most noticeable large-scale
announcement on combating the 'war on flu' came from none other than George
W. Bush, the President of the United States: "At this moment, there is no
pandemic influenza in the United States or the world. But if history is our
guide, there is reason to be concerned. In the last century, our country and
the world have been hit by three influenza. The first, which struck in 1918,
killed over half-a-million Americans and more than 20 million people across
the globe..." Likewise, the British Government has publicly announced that
more than 50,000 people are likely to die in Britain, but has 'privately'
told the media (!) that it is preparing for up to 750,000 deaths.
Irresponsible statements from health-care professionals have further fuelled
the crisis, and 'experts' from the U.K. are saying that the British death
toll could even reach two million!

The current media-churning of 'breaking news' continues unabated, while
vital voices that do not fuel the fear are ignored. In the October 29th
editorial of the British Medical Journal, a senior scientist wrote, "avian
influenza viruses do not usually infect humans, and hence there was grave
concern when 18 human cases of influenza caused by bird-to-human
transmission of AH5N1 avian influenza occurred in Hong Kong in May 1997 with
six deaths. Given the large number of infected chickens then in the Hong
Kong markets, bird-to-human clinical infection was clearly rare. Public
concern waned when culling of more than 1.5 million chickens halted the
epidemic." It is hard to believe that science is being abandoned, for how do
they make the giant leap of faith that 60 deaths will translate to two
million? But then not that hard when we realise that such statements succeed
in converting society into a huge market of fear-filled, anti-bird flu drug
consumers!

It may be interesting for readers to know President Bush went on to stress
that "at this point, we do not have evidence that a pandemic is imminent...
Even if the virus does eventually appear on our shores in birds, that does
not mean people in our country will be infected. Avian flu is still
primarily an animal disease. And as of now, unless people come into direct,
sustained contact with infected birds, it is unlikely they will come down
with avian flu." But then what made the President call on the Congress to
immediately pass a new US $ 7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare for
that not-so-imminent danger? That is when things start becoming suspicious.
On October 28, 2005 the Senate passed an eight billion dollars emergency
funding bill to address the growing avian flu panic. The World Bank has
already proposed one billion dollars for the war against bird flu (of
course, it spends much more than that to destroy the world's wetlands upon
which migratory fowl are largely dependant).

The only medicine, we are told, which reduces the symptoms of avian flu, is
a branded drug called Tamiflu that features prominently among President Bush
's list of emergency measures. A purchase of 20 million doses of Tamiflu has
already been made and the U.S. Congress is to appropriate another one
billion dollars for this drug. What good news for the Swiss pharmaceutical
giant Roche, which holds the sole license to manufacture Tamiflu. The drug
was actually developed and patented in 1996 by a California-based biotech
firm, Gilead Sciences Inc. It prefers to maintain a low profile in the
current rush to Tamiflu, but this might be because of who is tied to Gilead.
In 1997, before he became Pentagon chief, Donald Rumsfeld was named Chairman
(research) of the Board of Gilead Sciences, where he remained until early
2001 when he became Defense Secretary. According to Fortune (October 31)
Rumsfeld holds a Gilead stake valued at between five and 25 million dollars
and the global rush to buy Tamiflu has amounted to a windfall of at least
one million dollars for Rumsfeld. The Gilead board also includes Bechtel
Corp. Director George Schultz. "I don't know of any biotech company that's
so politically well-connected," says analyst Andrew McDonald of Think Equity
Partners in San Francisco.

Gilead now wants to regain control of the drug from Roche and accuses it of
"not doing an adequate job in manufacturing and marketing," while the latter
denies this, saying "Tamiflu is hard to make and it would take another
company three years to 'get up to speed' in producing the drug." But what it
is actually saying is that it does not want to share its profits with anyone
else. Cipla, the Indian pharmaceutical firm, says it can start producing
this drug by January and India, on its part, is taking initiatives that aim
at the production of cheaper alternatives to Tamiflu. The World Bank, always
an advocate on 'policies' for developing countries, has decided not to be
part of the mission that is talking about licenses for the patent. Is this
silence merely incidental?

Another danger that is emerging is that the current 'war on flu', as it is
being portrayed, is dissolving all borders between the military and social
institutions. The Bush administration claims to be referring to this as a
'catastrophe' in which the "Pentagon would be the only agency with enough
strength to respond." Behind all this lurks the fact that officials are
rewriting the plan to designate "not just who cares for the sick but who
will keep the country running amid the chaos," said an influenza specialist
who is advising the British government on those decisions.

Amongst the measures being taken in developing countries that could be
potentially affected by bird flu is the culling of chickens. Close domestic
proximity of fowl, pigs and people facilitates the transmission of the virus
from animal or bird to man, a situation common in rural Asia. Recently,
Margaret Say, Southeast Asian director for the U.S.A. Poultry and Egg Export
Council, told Reuters that while some governments were working hard to fight
the virus, others were "becoming a bit slack. We cannot control migratory
birds but we can surely work hard to close down as many backyard farms as
possible." Why is the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council so keen on closing
down farms? It may interest readers to know that Laurence Tiley of Cambridge
University and Helen Sang of the Roslin Institute in Scotland are involved
in developing 'transgenic chickens' that would involve genetic material
inserted into eggs to allegedly make the chickens H5N1-resistant. This would
mean opening up of new markets for GMOs. The dangers of genetic monopoly of
food-products are known to everyone, and it will be the poor rural farmers
and the developing Asian countries that will lose out. As far as the flu
goes, we're still waiting for Godot.


What Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
Avian influenza is a contagious disease affecting birds caused by type A
strains of the influenza virus. Although 15 sub-types of the virus are
known, the pathogenic outbreaks to date have been caused by sub-types H5 and
H7. Avian influenza could manifest itself as a mild illness or a fatal and
contagious epidemic. Migratory waterfowl are the most common carriers of the
flu, while domestic poultry are the most susceptible to it.

It is difficult to develop vaccines against it because the virus is
constantly 'shifting' and 'drifting' and a mild strain can mutate into a
fatal one. 'Drifting' is when the imperfect replication of the virus alters
its antigenic composition. 'Shifting' is when two differing sub-types
exchange or rearrange genes and merge to become a completely different
virus. If one of these has genes from a human strain of the influenza virus,
the infection could rapidly affect humans as well. Shifting requires a
'mixing vessel' where both human and avian strains are present and can be
reassembled. Pigs were considered to be the 'vessels' but recent research
has shown that for some strains, humans themselves might be the 'mixing
vessels'. This is what triggered fears of an influenza pandemic. The
sub-type H5N1 is of particular concern because it mutates rapidly and has a
tendency to pick up genes from animal influenza strains.




C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...


C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hmm...quite an interesting concept given the rather lengthy history of
Indonesian military (including navy) in smuggling -- including timber
smuggling -- as well as providing explosives for dynamite fishing in
Indonesia.

Sounds almost as good as twinning with Phuket to promote sustainable
tourism...


-----Original Message-----
From: andamanicobar@...
[mailto:andamanicobar@...] On Behalf Of Pankaj
Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 8:40 PM
To: andamanicobar@...
Subject: [andamanicobar] Joint India Indonesia naval exercise in Andaman
waters

India Indonesia Naval Exercise Corpat -2005 concludes The Daily
Telegram, Dec. 9, 2005 Port Blair, Dec 08
     Indonesian Naval Ship KRI Memet Sastrawiria with Colonel Agus
Heryana, the Senior Officer TNI AL on board, arrived here today for the
closing ceremony of India-Indonesia Joint Coordination Patrol.
      The objective of coordinated patrol is to enhance mutual
understanding and inter-operability between the two navies and conduct
joint patrol to prevent smuggling, piracy, drug trafficking and illegal
fishing.
     The Senior Officer alongwith the Commanding Officer of the visiting
ship called on Rear Admiral Samir Chakravarty VSM, the Chief of Staff
Andaman & Nicobar Command and the Naval Component Commander and held
discussions on bilateral issues. Later the closing ceremony was held at
IN Jetty.
     The officers and men of the visiting ship are scheduled to visit the
places of tourist and historical importance at Port Blair, an ANC
release said here.

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...





Yahoo! Groups Links

Andaman and Nicobar Administration
Directorate of IP&T
Press Release

Port Blair, December 07, 2005

Sensitization programme for disaster preparedness,
management held

           The Andaman District Administration has been organizing
sensitization programmes for disaster preparedness and management at the
community level involving the PRIs members, NGOs and other agencies. As part
of month long campaign, a sensitization programme was held on 06.12.2005 at
Panchayat Samity in Ferrargunj Tehsil which was attended by the Panchayat
members of Ferrargunj, Tushnabad, Meethakhari, Humpherygunj and Panchayat
Pramukh Ferrargunj. Keeping in view of the vulnerability of the islands to
various natural hazards, the need of disaster preparedness at community
level was highlighted. Shri. K.S. Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Andaman while
addressing the gathering appealed the PRls members and village community to
involve the community in preparation of their village disaster management
plans as the community has adequate knowledge of their surroundings,
environment and hence can plan in better ways to reduce the impact of any
disaster.
           Shri Neeraj Bharati, ADM (DM) explained the various components of
village level Disaster Management Plan and the process of preparing such
participatory plans. On this occasion Miss Shivangi of SEEDS an
international NGO which has worked in earthquake affected areas of Gujarat
spoke on the need of training of stake holders and also screened film on
mock drill conducted by the village task force on receipt of cyclone warning
and on occurrence of cyclone.
           The Deputy Commissioner, Andaman also spoke about need of
rethinking on livelihood generation sources as part of our disaster
preparedness and mitigation strategies. He appealed to the community to
convert the problem of submergence of land as opportunity for alternate
livelihood by going for aquaculture and shrimp farming as the submerged area
in the South Andaman district is very suitable for such aquaculture
activities. He informed the gathering that for economic viability of such
aquaculture project, villagers/farmers may form self help groups or
co-operative societies. DC, Andaman assured that necessary technical
assistance would be provided by the Fisheries Department and by CARl and
other NGOs working in this field. PRIs may be of great help in motivating
farmers for adopting alternate livelihood measures. To facilitate farmers
workshop and training programmes could be organized by the Administration
and NGOs.
            The Director of Fisheries informed the gathering that the
submerged areas could be utilized for eco-friendly production of fish and
shell fish. The permits required for undertaking such activities would be
coordinated by the Department of Fisheries and all other necessary
assistance would also be extended. The Fisheries Department would also
coordinate with PRls for implementation of the programme.          Shri.
Nagesh Ram of CARl also spoke on some recent success stories of aquaculture
practices in areas of Rangat and Guptapara where brackish water aquaculture
has lead to great financial gains to the farmers who had switched to this
alternate livelihood mode.


C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...

India Indonesia Naval Exercise Corpat -2005 concludes
The Daily Telegram, Dec. 9, 2005
Port Blair, Dec 08
     Indonesian Naval Ship KRI Memet Sastrawiria with Colonel Agus Heryana,
the Senior Officer TNI AL on board, arrived here today for the closing
ceremony of India-Indonesia Joint Coordination Patrol.
      The objective of coordinated patrol is to enhance mutual understanding
and inter-operability between the two navies and conduct joint patrol to
prevent smuggling, piracy, drug trafficking and illegal fishing.
     The Senior Officer alongwith the Commanding Officer of the visiting ship
called on Rear Admiral Samir Chakravarty VSM, the Chief of Staff Andaman &
Nicobar Command and the Naval Component Commander and held discussions on
bilateral issues. Later the closing ceremony was held at IN Jetty.
     The officers and men of the visiting ship are scheduled to visit the
places of tourist and historical importance at Port Blair, an ANC release
said here.

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...

THE DAILY TELEGRAMS

High level delegation meets Sonia Gandhi
Demand for setting up of Assembly reiterated
Port Blair, Dec 04

    Formation of an Assembly for fulfilling the aspirations of the people of
these islands was highlighted by a delegation consisting the Member of
Parliament, Shri Manoranjan Bhakta, Adhyaksha, Zilla Parishad, Smt Bernadet
Soreng, Up-Adhyaksh, Shri Sudhir Biswas, Chairperson, PBMC, Smt Zubaida
Begum and the Senior Vice Chairperson when it met Smt Sonia Gandhi,
Chairperson of United Progressive Alliance in New Delhi recently.
   The delegation highlighted the need for setting up of an Assembly here on
the lines of Pondicherry and Delhi for better governance and all round
development of the islands. They also apprised her about the pace of
developmental work in the islands, a communication said here.
Isles team for Natnl. Integration camp

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...

Dear Sirs,

Attached, is the final english and spanish versions of the Bélem Declaration
on Isolated Indigenous Peoples elaborated during the I
International Symposium for Isolated Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon. For
the document to serve as an important instrument and reference for
policy-making and decision processes, it must be widely distribuited and
acknolowdged.

Thank you for your support,

Carolina Vilalva
Project Assistant

INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR THE
PROTECTION OF ISOLATED INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

BELEM DECLARATION ON ISOLATED INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

11 NOVEMBER, 2005

The institutions and individuals attending the First International Symposium
on Isolated Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon and the Gran Chaco region, held
in Belém, Pará (Brazil), 8 - 11 November 2005, created the International
Alliance for the Protection of Isolated Indigenous Peoples. Through this
declaration, the Alliance wishes to alert the governments of those countries
in which isolated indigenous peoples, or those in initial contact, subsist:

CONSIDERING THAT:

1.      Indigenous peoples or groups of such peoples continue to live in the
Amazon and Gran Chaco region and in other parts of the world, who, of their
own volition or because of various forms of aggression, have decided to
maintain themselves isolated from the rest of society.[1]

2.      The isolated indigenous peoples of Amazonia and the Gran Chaco are
located in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru[i].

3.      The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the original inhabitants
of and precede national States. Isolated indigenous peoples, in particular,
are living examples of the original indigenous population, as well as
survivors of historical and continuing genocide.

4.      During the past fifty years innumerable peoples in isolation (and
their cultures and languages) have disappeared, almost unnoticed by their
governments and national societies.

5.      Isolated indigenous peoples constitute a tangible and intangible
social and cultural patrimony of humanity.

6.      The interdependence of such peoples with their territories ensures
the integrity of the biodiversity of vast areas of the biosphere in a good
state of conservation.

7.      Such peoples cannot rapidly develop genetic defenses against alien
diseases, and they may suffer from malnutrition, which makes them extremely
vulnerable.

8.      Their condition of powerlessness, vulnerability, lack of protection,
and disadvantage in the face of national States and societies, all threaten
and undermine their rights.

9.      The absence of legal instruments, institutional structures, or
coherent, specific and effective public policies in the nations of Amazonia
and the Gran Chaco makes it difficult to adopt measures that guarantee the
physical, cultural and territorial integrity of isolated indigenous peoples.

10. There are many external threats caused by current development policies
(projects or megaprojects of hydrocarbon extraction, mining, gold
prospecting, road building, hydroelectric dams, forestry, cattle-ranching
and farming, water extraction, privatization of natural resources (such as
water, forests or biodiversity), illegal activities (logging, drug
trafficking, mineral prospecting, or extraction of endangered fauna and
flora), deforestation, colonization, and the presence of external agents
(missionaries, tourist or scientific organizations, film crews, adventurers,
and others)).

11. Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization, on Indigenous
and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, has been ratified by all these
nations that contain isolated indigenous peoples (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru), and is thus required to be implemented as
national law in every one of these countries.[2]

12. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948), The Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), UNESCO Universal
Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001), The Paris Convention to Safeguard
the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003), The Convention on Biological
Diversity (Rio, 1992),  Resolution 3056, on Indigenous Peoples Living in
Voluntary Isolation and the Conservation of Nature in the Amazon Region and
Chaco (Bangkok, 2004), are all documents to be respected, as are:

13. The recommendation on isolated indigenous peoples adopted in Session IV
of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues of the United Nations (2005),
paragraph 73[3]; the Proposal of the Working Group charged with drafting the
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Organization of
American States (in its last session, Guatemala, 2005).[4]

14. Some indigenous organizations, NGOs, civil-rights organizations and
others do significant work for the adoption and implementation of legal
instruments, public polices, territorial management, environmental
protection, the execution of programs of protection and defense, and public
information campaigns.

15. Isolated indigenous peoples and those in cross-border situations; the
Ayeréode in  Paraguay and Bolivia, the Tagaeri, Taromenane and other
Huaorani in Ecuador, isolated Awa-Guajá and those of the Pardo River in
Brazil, Nanti, Machiguenga, Nahua, Cacataibo, Mascho-Piro, Murunahua and
Yora from Peru,  Nukak-Makú of Colombia, and the Yanomami, among others,
currently face serious threats.


WE DEMAND AND REQUIRE:

1.      Official recognition by the governments of the nations of Amazonia
and the Gran Chaco of the existence of isolated indigenous peoples in their
territories and their responsibility to protect them.

2.      The recognition and protection of their decision to live in
isolation, as well as all human, individual, collective and environmental
rights that assist the men and women of isolated indigenous peoples.

3.      The lawful recognition of their original or traditional territories,
and their inalienable, inviolable, indivisible and non-proscriptive rights
over them, as a means of guaranteeing their physical and cultural
subsistence.

4.      That national States adopt, apply and effectively implement measures
for the direct protection of the lives and territories of isolated peoples
to
prevent the entry or activities of external agents who might violate their
rights.

5.      The effective implementation of Convention 169 on Indigenous
and Tribal Peoples in Independent Nations (ILO) - a legal instrument
specifically for the protection of these peoples - and the drafting,
adoption and execution of specific laws, public policies and administrative
measures for the protection of isolated indigenous peoples.

6.      The immediate cessation or modification of all projects that may
cause harm by means of deforestation or colonization, and illicit and
illegal activities, and other activities currently under way or planned in
the territories and surroundings of isolated indigenous peoples.

7.      The immediate suspension of financing by multilateral organisations
of projects that threaten the physical, cultural or territorial integrity of
isolated indigenous peoples.

8.      That national and international policies for the conservation of
biodiversity and for the creation of protected natural areas recognize the
precedence and primacy of the rights of isolated indigenous peoples.

9.      National policies that prioritize, administer and implement actions
in favor of these peoples.

10. The adoption of urgent public-health measures (including isolation of
areas and evaluation of risks - but always respecting the traditions of
these peoples) and, when contact is imminent, consideration of the above-
mentioned risks, that States apply adequate medical measures via the
responsible organs and authorities.

11. That all States, with the participation of appropriate indigenous
organizations and NGOs, assume responsibility for drafting, administering
and supervising governmental public polices for the protection of such
peoples.

12. The governments of Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and
Colombia take immediate and effective action to ensure the survival of
the following isolated indigenous peoples or segments thereof: Ayoreo,
Tagaeri, Taromenane and other Huaorani, of the Awa-Guajá, the isolated
peoples of the Pardo River, Nanti, Matsiguenka, Nahua, Mashco-Piro,
Cacataibo, Murunahua, Yora,  Nukak-Makú, and the Yanomami among others.

13. The promotion of efforts towards mutual understanding and bilateral or
multilateral agreements between States to implement policies and measures of
protection for isolated indigenous peoples who find themselves in
cross-border situations.

14. The inclusion of necessary measures in public policy-making to avoid,
prohibit and punish every non-authorized intrusion into the territories of
isolated indigenous peoples.

Approved in plenary session of the First International Symposium on Isolated
Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon Region and the Gran Chaco, Belem do Pará,
Brazil, 11 November 2005.






[1] Such indigenous peoples are also variously known as peoples in a state
of voluntary isolation, hidden peoples,
uncontacted peoples, or forest dwellers, among other descriptions. Others
find themselves in a state of initial contact.
[2] This Convention has the virtue of containing (Article 1, point b) a
disposition that specifically includes the rights of all
indigenous peoples, not excluding those in a state of isolation.

[3] Paragraph 73: The Forum recommends that States pay special attention to
the situation of uncontacted indigenous peoples, peoples in voluntary
isolation, and peoples in isolated and remote localities and displaced
persons from indigenous communities. The Forum recommends that the Special
Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous
peoples pays special attention in his annual reports to the situation of
these peoples. The Forum also considers that the situation of these peoples
should be the subject of a special international meeting during the Second
International Decade of the World's Indigenous People.

[4] Article XXVI:
1. Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation or in initial contact, have the
right to remain in such a condition and live freely according to their
cultures.
2. The States will adopt adequate measures and policies, with the knowledge
and participation of indigenous peoples and organization, to recognize,
respect and protect the lands, territories, environment and culture of these
peoples, as well as their life and individual or collective integrity.




[i] We confirm the presence, in addition to indigenous peoples in initial
contact, of isolated indigenous peoples or parts thereof in the following
areas:

Bolivia
·         Kaa Yya National Park(Chaco)
·         Madidi Nacional Park (La Paz)
As well as isolated areas of the departments of La Paz, Beni and Santa Cruz
along the frontiers between Brazil and Peru.

Brazil
·         Envira River
·         Upper Tarauacá River
·         Upper Iaco (Mamoadate)
·         Interfluvial zones between the Xingu and Fresco rivers
·         Upper and middle Purus River
·         Guaporé River in Mato Grosso
·         Tea River (Negro River basin)
·         Pardo River in Mato Grosso
·         Gurupi rivers and upper Guamá in the province of Maranhăo
·         Inauini River
·         Isolated peoples from the Buriticupu and Taruparu rivers
(Araribóia) in Maranhăo
·         Tumucumaque  Indigenous Park in the provinces of Pará and Amapá
·         Javari River Valley  (isolated peoples from the Jandiatuba river,
Upper Jutaí, Săo
·         José,  Quixito, Itaquaí, Rio Branco and middle Javari);
·         Isolated peoples from the Jaquirana/Amburus rivers (Javari Valley
Indiginous Land)
·         Igarapé and Muriru (Juruena and Aripuană river basins in Mato
Grosso).
·         Kayapó Pu´ro isolated peoples of the Curuá river.
·         Isolated peoples from Bararati in Apuí and Sucurundi in the
province of Amazonas.
·         Isolated peoples from the Tanaru river in Rondônia.
·         Isolated peoples from the head of the Jaminaua river (Kampa
Indigenous Lands and Isolated peoples of Envira)
·         Isolated peoples of the Săo Simăo river (Massaco Indigenous
Lands )
·         Isolados peoples from the head of the Muqui river and Cautário
(Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous Land)
·         Isolated peoples of igarapé Água Branca (Caru Indigenous Land)

Colombia
·         Purę National Park, along the State frontier with Brazil.

Ecuador
·         Yasuní National Park and Zona Intangible Tagaeri-Taromenane.
·         As well as other isolated regions along the Peruvian border with
the provinces of Orellana and Pastaza.

Paraguay
·         Amotocodie region and other  regions of the North of Chaco,
including border zones with Bolivia.

Perú
·         Napo Rivers - Tigre (Loreto)
·         Yavarí Mirim Rivers (Loreto)
·         Yavarí Rivers - Tapiche (Loreto)
·         Alto Callería Rivers -Aguablanca (Loreto)
·         Cordillera Azul (Loreto and Ucayali)
·         Alto Aguaytía River (Huánuco)
·         San Alejandro River (Ucayali)
·         Sungaruyacu River (Huánuco)
·         Cordillera Vilcabamba (Junín)
·         Isconahua Land Reserve (Ucayali)
·         Murunahua Land Reserve (Ucayali)
·         Alto Purús Land Reserve (also known as Mashco Piro, Ucayali)
·         Parque Nacional Alto Purús (Ucayali, Madre de Dios)
·         Madre de Dios State Land Reserve for indigenous peoples in
isolation (Madre de Dios)
·         Manu National Park (Madre de Dios)
·         Nahua Kugapakori State Land Reserve and Nanti (Cusco and Ucayali)









List of Participants and Guests
* No-Show

NAMEINSTITUTION

Alejandro Parellada* IWGIA - Ecuador
Alex Rivas ToledoCDES - Ecuador
Ana SuellyABRALIN - Brazil
Anders Krogh Rainforest Foundation Norway
Angela Kemper* DKA - Austria
Antonio Silveira R. SantosA Última Arca de Noé  - Judge - Brazil
Armstrong Wiggins* Indian Law Resource Center - USA
Arturo VillanuevaDefensoría del Pueblo - Bolívia
Azzurra CarpoLatinamerica Press - Perú/Itália - Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna
Beatriz HuertasAIDESEP - Perú
Benno GlauserIniciativa Amotocodie Paraguay
Bernardo FischermannAntropólogo de los Ayoreo Bolívia
Carolina VilalvaOIT
César Gamboa BalbínDerecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales - DAR
Christian Ramos VelozOIT
Christine Born* Brot-für-die-Welt - Germany
Cristina CarvalhoComissăo Européia/Brazil
Dalmo de Abreu Dallari* Jurista - Brazil
    Deborah Macedo Duprat de Britto
    Pereira* Procuradora/ 6Ş Câmara de Coord. e Revisăo - Índios e Minorias -
Brazil
    Denise Hamú*  WWF - Brazil
Diego AzquetaWATU Acción Indígena Espanha
Dirk EnglischMédico / Germany
EgbertoTabo Chupinabi* COICA - Ecuador
Eduardo Aguiar de AlmeidaForum Permanente sobre Cuestiones Indígenas de la
ONU
Eduardo PichilingueEcoCiencia - Ecuador
Eduardo R. N. Da GamaCTI - Centro de Trabalho Indigenista - Brazil
    Elisabeth Moder* Horizont3000 - Austria
Elizabeth Reichel-DolmatoffCEESP/ UICN
Enrique OrtizMOORE Foundation
Eric StonerUSAID
Erling SöderströmJornalista Internacional
Esther PrietoJurista - Paraguay
Fany RicardoInstituto Socioambiental ISA - Brazil
Fernando de NiemeyerFrente de Proteçăo Etno-ambiental - Brazil
    Fiona Watson* Survival International - Inglaterra
    Francisco Cali* International Indian Treaty Council
Francisco PL Couto RosaFrente de Proteçăo Etno-ambiental - Brazil
Francisco Ruiz* OTCA - Organizaçăo do Tratado de Coop. Amazônica
Gabriel Muyuy JacanamejoyDefensoría del Pueblo Colômbia
    Eduardo Dias da Costa Villas Bôas*  Comandante/CMA - Comando Militar da
Amazônia-Brazil
Genival Santos* COIAB - Brazil
Gilberto AzanhaCTI - Centro de Trabalho Indigenista - Brazil
Gladys ArmasConsul da Venezuela (Observadora)
    Gonzalo Oviedo* IUCN - The World Conservation Union -  Switzerland
Haroldo A. Salazar Rossi AIDESEP - Perú
    Kittisak Rattanakrajangsri * Int. Alliance of Ind. & Tribal Peoples of
the Tropics- UNFF
Joăo Carlos LobatoFrente de Proteçăo Etno-ambiental - Brazil
John HemmingHistoriador - Inglaterra
    Johnson Cerda* Amazon Alliance - USA
    Jonathan Wilkenfeld* Minorities at Risk Project (MAR) / CIDCM - USA
    Jorge Grandi* UNESCO - Brazil
    Jorge Uguillas* Indigenous Peoples and Sust. Dev. Program/World BanK
José Gregorio Mirabal* Curripacos/Amazonas - Venezuela
    José Miguel Vivanco* Human Rights Watch - HRW
Juliana SeverinoCGII/FUNAI - CTI Organizaçăo / Transporte
Klaus RummenhoellerAntropólogo - Peru
Lars LovoldRainforest Foundation Norway
    Lee Jong-Wook* World Health Organization (WHO) - Switzerland
Luis Alberto Anrango BonillaDefensoría del Pueblo Ecuador
Luis Jesús Bello* Defensoría del Pueblo Venezuela
Luis Miguel DomínguezExotarium / Avatar Producciones  Espanha
    Luis Toro* Attorney / Commission on Human Rights / OAS
Luiz Philippe VasconcellosEscola Paulista de Medicina Brazil
Manoela Mescia CostaCGII/FUNAI - CTI Organizaçăo / Financeiro
Marcelo PiedrafitaComissăo Pró-Índio do Acre - Brazil
    Marcus Colchester* Forest Peoples Programme - Inglaterra
    Mark Lattimer* Minority Rights Group International - Inglaterra
Margarita BenavidesInstituto del Bien Común - Peru
Margarita VaraInstituto del Bien Común - Peru
Maria Artola GonzalesFundación Biodiversidad Espanha
Maria da CunhaBID - Banco Inter-Americano para o Desenvolvimento
    Matilde Ribeiro*  Ministra Chefe da Sect. Especial para Políticas de
Promoçăo da Igualdade Racial - Brazil
    Martin Scurrah* Indigenous and Minority Rights / Oxfam - USA
Martín von HildebrandFundación Gaia - Colômbia
    Matthias BuckPolicy Officer /Biodiversity/European Commission-Belgica
Maurizio LeighebAssociaçăo Italiana para a Cięncia Etno-Antropológica
Maxwell da Silva VerpaFrente de Proteçăo Etno-ambiental - Brazil
    Mila Rosenthal* Business and Human Rights / Amnesty International -USA
    Miriam Anne Frank* International Human Rights and Environment - Holanda
    Nazaré Imbiriba* Amazon Paper - Brazil
Omar Silveira JuniorCTI - Centro de Trabalho Indigenista - Brazil
    Oraida Maria Machado de Abreu* Cons. Nacional de Promoçăo da Igualdade
Racial - Brazil
Orlando de M. PossueloFrente de Proteçăo Etno-ambiental - Brazil
Pablo De la CruzDefensoría del Pueblo del Perú
Patrícia R. C. N. Da GamaCTI - Centro de Trabalho Indigenista - Brazil
Patrick MengetEscola Prática de Altos Estudos/Survival France
    Peter Kostishak* Amazon Alliance - USA
Pilar Camero BerriosWWF - Perú
    Rebecca Adamson* First Peoples Worldwide - USA
    Roberto Antonio Busato* OAB - Ordem dos Advogados do Brazil
Rosa Cartagenes LobatoFrente de Proteçăo Etno-ambiental - Brazil
    Rudolph Ra˙ser* Center for World Indigenous Studies - CWIS
    Ruth Nogueron* Global Forest Watch - USA
Sita VenkateswarMassey University, Antropóloga - Nova Zelândia
Sonia Castańeda Rial (FB)* Fundación Biodiversidad - Espanha
Soraya ZaidenCaixa Econômica Federal - Brazil
    Stephan Shwartzman* Environmental Defense - USA
Steve BowlesInternational Film-maker
Sydney PossueloCGII/FUNAI - Coordenaçăo Geral de Índios Isolados
Vincent BrackelaireConsultor Regional p/ a Bacia Amazônica
Volver Von Bremen* Antropólogo - Germany
Wellington FigueiredoFUNAI - Fundaçăo Nacional do Índio - Brazil






C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...

Dear Friends,
You would recollect that a few days ago there were postings regarding the
complete confusion and panic in the islands following reports of the
prediction of an earthquake a tsunami.
Following is the clarification issued by the relevant govt. authority in
local newspaper on Nov. 22, 2005

No communication about major tremor received from GoI, says Admn.
Source: The Daily Telegrams

    22 November 2005


Prediction of earthquake not possible even with scientific advancement: S&T
Secy:

       The   Administration   has   not  received any communication from the
Govt. of India regarding the possible occurrence  of   any  major earthquake
or  tsunami  in the near future in Andaman and Nicobar region, said the
Science & Technology Secretary, Shri S R Mehta in a press release here
today.
     The  clarification from the Administration comes  in  the wake of  some
news  reports appearing in a section  of   the  local press,  predicting
the  occurrence  an  earthquake  of   big  magnitude  in  these islands,
which have created panic among the people in the archipelago.
      The  S&T Secretary made  it clear that  the natural  phenomenon  like
earthquake cannot be  predicted with certainty  with  the  level  of
scientific  advancement  available  today. However, the Govt. of India in
the post  tsunami  disaster  of Dec 26, 2004,  have initiated various
studies with ultimate aim of establishing early disaster warning system.
Various  scientific  institutions  under  the  Department of  Science  and
Technology, Govt. of  India   have    also   installed   Seismographs   and
Global   Positioning   System  (GPS)    in   the  islands   for
understanding the earthquakes and geo-dynamics of the region, he informed.
        Meanwhile, in view of the panic that gripped the islanders about a
major earthquake in the near future, the Up-Adhyaksh  of Zilla Parishad,
Shri  Sudhir  Biswas  has  urged  the  people no to worry about such
predictions, which are baseless.  He  said, some  unauthorized  persons
together  with a section of the media had published reports about  an
impending disaster without  any  evidential  proof from the Administration.
He has verified the matter  with  the Administration and found that it is
nothing but a rumour to spread wrong message for creating panic among the
islanders as so such prediction has been given by the scientists about the
earthquake.

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...

Report on the One day Workshop-cum-training programme on Dweep Bhoomi, the
Land Records Information System of A&N Islands, for the Revenue officials
http://www.and.nic.in/dwbworkshop.htm


             The NIC A&N Islands UT center has conducted a one day
workshop-cum- training programme on "Dweep Bhoomi" the  Land Records
Information System of A&N Islands, for the revenue officials consisting of
Teshildars, Surveyors, Revenue Inspectors & Patwaris on 30th Nov 2005.
           The programme was inaugurated by Sri K S Singh, the Dy
Commissioner Andaman District and on that occasion, he has released the User
Manual prepared by NIC, for use by the concerned officials to operate the
Dweep Bhoomi in the teshils and in District Head quarters.
             The first copy of the user Manual was received by Sri Sarbinder
Singh Parihar, the  Sub divisional Magistrate.
           A detailed presentation on the Dweep Bhoomi software was given by
Mr Manivannan SIO, NIC followed by the demo of the software by Mr J Shankar,
Technical Director NIC Chennai.
           The Dy Commissioner stressed the need for computerization of Land
records documents to deliver the information to the public on demand and
also to bring in transparency in the land mutation process. He added that
the district administration is committed to egovernance and asked the
officials to implement Dweep Bhoomi in all the 6 teshils by 31st March 2006.
           The Dy Commissioner has appreciated the efforts of NIC in helping
the Admn towards the development & the Implementation of the Software and
looked forward   the association to continue, in the future also, to achieve
the objectives of the Admn.
           He asked the officials to take all possible efforts to work
towards the successful implementation of the Dweep Bhoomi in all places in
the A&N Islands.
           The Officials were given hands on training in the operation of the
Dweep Bhoomi software subsequently after the presentation.

http://www.and.nic.in/newlgswear.htm



          Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Madan Mohan Lakhera, AVSM, PVSM, VSM was sworn in as
Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands 29/11/2005 by Mr. Justice V S
Sirpurkar, Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in a simple ceremony held at
Raj Niwas at 4.35pm.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

MAP News, 165th Ed. 2 of 2


MAP News, 16th Edition, Part 2 of 2
  US UPHOLDS ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES AGAINST THAI AND INDIAN SHRIMP
Exporters explore new options

STORIES/ ISSUES
Twenty percent of the world's mangroves  lost over the last 25 years:

AQUACULTURE CORNER
New facility aimed at ending fish farm woes
Blue fishers, blue genes: fishy undercurrents in post-tsunami Asia


US UPHOLDS ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES AGAINST THAI AND INDIAN SHRIMP
The US-based International Trade Commission (ITC) on 4 November decided
not to revoke its anti-dumping duty on shrimp imports from India and
Thailand. The Commission decided in April 2005 to review the 10 percent
duty imposed in January of this year to light of the impacts of the
December 2004 tsunami on the shrimp industries of the two countries (see
Bridges Trade BioRes, 21 January 2005,
http://www.ictsd.org/biores/05-01-21/story1.htm). In its final ruling,
however, the ITC found that revoking the antidumping duty on shrimp
imports from India and Thailand would likely injure the US shrimp
industry. This decision will be reviewed in February 2006.


==============

Exporters explore new options

To adjust to the loss in market access in the US, some of the producers
in countries affected by the antidumping duties are considering striking
a bilateral deal with the US, known as a "voluntary export restraint",
in which the exporting countries would voluntarily reduce their exports
to the US. Such a measure could address US concerns without the
uncertainty or unilateralism of anti-dumping or bond measures. At
present some of the countries are diverting their products through third
countries in order to circumvent anti-dumping levies, offering a
possible reason why US import volumes have thus far remained unaffected
by the duty. The US recently made a proposal in the WTO Negotiating
Group on Rules to toughen rules on such circumvention practices (see
Bridges Weekly, 2 November 2005,
http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/05-11-02/story7.htm).

Another way of circumventing the duty would be to move into value-added
finished products like ready-to cook, eat and fry material, which would
allow domestic producers to capture larger shares of the gains from
trade along the production chain. To do so successfully, however,
exporters would have to incur substantial marketing expenses by
developing the necessary brand name involved in value-added products.

From: "ben brown" yarl@...

======
Twenty percent of the world's mangroves  lost over the last 25 years:

Rate of deforestation slowing, but still a cause for alarm
9 November 2005, Rome - Around 20 percent of the world's mangrove forests have
disappeared during the past 25 years as a result of over-exploitation and
conversion to other uses, according to a new FAO study.

Mangroves today cover around 15 million hectares (ha) worldwide, down from 18.8
million ha in 1980, according to the study. Still, during the same time frame
the annual rate of mangrove deforestation dropped from around 185 000 ha per
year in the 1980s to 105 000 ha/yr during the 2000-2005 period, it added.

"More countries are now recognizing the importance of mangroves and are making
an effort to conserve and better manage them," said Mette Lřyche Wilkie, a
mangrove expert at FAO. "Yet the true value of mangroves and other wetlands is
still underestimated and much remains to be done to reduce the rate of loss,
which is significantly higher than for other forest types," she added.

Key findings of FAO report to be discussed at Uganda meeting on wetlands

The key findings of the report were presented today at the Conference of the
Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which began yesterday in Kampala,
Uganda (8-15 November 2005).

The report, to be published next January, will provide an overview on mangrove
vegetation and species, uses and threats in addition to information on mangrove
areas and area changes over time. It is prepared by FAO in collaboration with
mangrove specialists throughout the world and is co-funded by the International
Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO).

A misused resource

Because they are located in coastal zones, where population densities are
typically high, mangrove areas are frequently converted to other uses, including
fish and shrimp-farming, agriculture, salt production and urban development.

In the past, many governments actively encouraged such development of mangrove
areas in order to strengthen food security, boost national economies and improve
living standards.

Over the last few years, however, an increased awareness of the wider value of
mangrove ecosystems has led to new legislation, better protection and management
of mangrove resources and, in some countries, a re-expansion of mangrove areas,
according to FAO.

Mangroves are found in more than 120 countries and territories around the world,
but the UN agency noted that close to half of the total mangrove area is found
in just five countries: Indonesia, Australia, Brazil, Nigeria and Mexico. Asia
has the largest area of mangroves, followed by Africa and South America.

Mangroves provide wide range of benefits

Mangroves are salt-tolerant forest ecosystems commonly found along sheltered
coastlines, in deltas and along river banks in the tropics and sub-tropics.
Millions of fishermen, farmers and others depend on them as a source of wood,
medicinal plants, and food.

One important function of mangroves is to serve as spawning grounds and
nurseries for fish and shellfish and they play an important role in the marine
foodweb. When mangrove forests are destroyed, drops in local fish catches often
result.

These unique forest ecosystems provide a number of additional environmental
benefits, as well. Mangroves help prevent and reduce coastal erosion, providing
nearby communities with protection against the effects of wind, waves and water
currents. This was the case during the 2004 tsunami in Asia where evidence
indicates that where extensive areas of mangroves existed, coastal villages
suffered less damage.

From: "Elaine Corets" manglar@...

=========     =
Note from Editor; The following article brings up the very controversial issues
of genetically modified marine organisms coupled with an expanding aquaculture
industry that increasingly displaces (or replaces) the artisanal fishers with
fish farmers. This unfortunately seems to be the course being set by several
high ranking inter-governmental institutions, which are promoting the "Blue
Revolution" big time, even more so since the tsunami of 2004. Rather than repair
the injured oceans and support restoration of our planet's wild fisheries,
artificial means of farming fish are being sought which threaten to further
degrade and undermine the wild fisheries while eliminating the livelihoods of
millions of fisherfolk around the world.
===

Blue fishers, blue genes: fishy undercurrents in post-tsunami Asia
GRAIN
At the same time as Asia's fisherfolk are urging their governments to help
re-establish artisanal fisheries after last year's tsunami, an international
'tsunami-recovery' consortium is suggesting that they should abandon their
livelihoods and find employment elsewhere. The fisherfolk also face other
challenges - from growing pressures to switch over to industrial aquaculture and
fishering, and the introduction of genetically modified fish.
A new consortium is challenging the tsunami rehabilitation efforts to build
boats for local fisherfolk to reclaim their lost livelihoods. In its recent
policy brief 1, the Consortium to Restore Shattered Livelihoods in
Tsunami-Devastated Nations (CONSRN) argues that replacing lost boats and fishing
gear is over-simplistic and not a sustainable way of rebuilding devastated
communities. It cites Indonesia's severely depleted coastal fisheries resources
as the main impediment to successful rehabilitation efforts. The urgent need, it
seems to the group, is not to reinstate the fishermen but create employment
opportunities for them to do something else.
The consortium includes the Asia Pacific Fisheries Commission, the Bay of Bengal
Program, the Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific, the SouthEast Asian
Fisheries Development Centres, the WorldFish Center (formerly ICLARM) and the UN
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) through its Regional Office for
Asia-Pacific. The FAO was appointed as the technical lead in fisheries
rehabilitation.
The call is seemingly well-heeded - except by the fisherfolk, who have other
ideas. Several organisations of small-scale fisherfolk in Sri Lanka, India,
Thailand and Indonesia are demanding that relief efforts should focus on
re-establishing the artisanal fisheries sector as a priority. They are also
urging their own governments, as well as donors, to accompany it with a change
in approach and policies that will put a stop marginalising fisherfolk
communities.
Shrinking diversity
In Asia and throughout the globe, marine biodiversity has shrunk considerably
over the years. The question is whether driving fisherfolks away from their own
communities will bring back that lost diversity. A recently published map 2
which looks at the hot spots of marine diversity shows a 10-50% decline in
diversity between the 1960s and the 1990s - with the largest reduction of
species density in Atlantic and Indian oceans - corresponding to fishing
pressures. As early as 1997, FAO has acknowledged major declines in wild
fisheries due to overfishing and habitat destruction, but optimistically
suggested that the projected shortfalls in fish supply "will be met by expansion
within the aquaculture sector." 3
"The reason for the immense destruction of the coast was aquaculture,
development and tourism", according to Father Tom Kocherry, an Indian activist
priest who leads the 10 million-strong National Fishworkers Forum. 4 He was
furious at the suggestion of some European development charities who, just a
fortnight after the tsunami, were quick to suggest that it might not be
sustainable for all fishermen to return to the sea. "I am speaking for the 10
million traditional fishermen who go out in small boats and who practise
sustainable fishing, not the giant trawlers that ruin the fish and the
environment. My people have carried out this livelihood for centuries. Where are
they to go if not back to the sea?"
It is estimated that about 85% of the world's fishers are in Asia, led by China,
India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines. With shrinking land
for agriculture and continuing poverty in the cities, uprooting fisherfolk from
the shore looks misplaced. But given the kind of post-tsunami rehabilitation
that CONSRN wants for the affected communities, and with FAO and Worldfish
Center at the helm, the answer to Kocherry's question might well be inland
aquaculture.
A gift of fish
Aquaculture production accounts for about 20% of the total world seafood supply.
Asia contributes 25 million tonnes (valued at US$35 billion), or 82% of world
aquaculture production. 5 To meet the expected global increase in demand for
fish protein, more aquaqulturists are needed, as are "improved strains of fish
that are faster growing, resistant to disease, and suited to a variety of pond
farming conditions." 6
The WorldFish Center is one of the leading research centres focusing on such
research. From 1988 to 1997, it ran the Genetically Improved Farm Tilapia (GIFT)
Project, with funding from the United Nations Development Programme and the
Asian Development Bank. This collaborative project involving a Norwegian
research institute and three national fisheries agencies in the Philippines
worked on cross-breeding several different populations of wild African tilapia
"to produce new strains designed to mature quickly and adapt easily to
pond-farming conditions in Southeast Asia." 7
The project wrapped up with the establishment of the GIFT Foundation
International whose mandate, among other things, is to "provide the GIFT system
with brand development and marketing support." 8 WorldFish also gave birth to
the International Network on Genetics in Aquaculture (INGA) in 1993, a network
of 13 countries in Asia-Pacific and Africa, 11 advanced scientific institutions,
four regional or intern-ational organisations, and one private sector
institution. The network facilitates transfer of genetic material among member
countries and initiates regional resarch programmes for the genetic improvement
of carps and tilapias. Successes have been reported in Bangladesh, China, Sri
Lanka and Philippines in using commercial strains of tilapia that came from the
GIFT project. WorldFish and Malaysia's Department of Fisheries are continuing
with selective breeding work focusing on yield, flesh quality and growth rates.
The Blue Revolution begins
The application of biotechnology to aquaculture has sparked tremendous interest.
"The use of fish hatcheries to supply farms and enhance wild stocks is now
commonplace, and we are now well into the second stage of the revolution, namely
the use of genetic engineering - including splicing genes from one fish strain
or species into another - to produce desired characteristics" observe fisheries
specialists Brian Greer and David Harvey. 9
Close to 40 kinds of transgenic fish have been researched and developed in
several laboratories across the globe since the first transgenic fish was
reported in China 20 years ago. Interests range from studying gene flows in fish
to making novel aquarium fishes to rearing 'pharma-fish' useful to
pharmaceutical industries. But most research focuses on speeding up the growth
rate of commercially important species for the aquaculture industry, such as
salmon, trout, catfish, carp and especially tilapia. 10
Darwin in reverse
Introducing transgenic fish in aquaculture poses many risks. When the British
government decided in 2001 to provide funding for the development of transgenic
fish, some scientists immediately raised concerns about gene flow and the
possibility that these fish would outcompete with wild species for food and
other resources. They cautioned against the inevitability of novel traits from
genetically modified (GM) fish spreading into wild populations and seriously
harming the resilience of aquatic ecosystems.
Two scientists at Purdue University in the US went even further, indicating that
transgenic fish might even put Charles Darwin's theory of evolution (which
espouses the survival of the fittest) in reverse. William Muir and Richard
Howard investigated a Japanese madaka fish that had been genetically engineered
to produce human growth hormone so that it grows six times faster when it was
released into the wild. They found out that the release of 60 of this transgenic
fish into a wild population of 60,000 would be enough to extinguish the very
species in 40 generations! "You have the very strange situation where the least
fit individuals get all the matings", the researchers say. This is because the
fast growth of the transgenic fish makes it reach the right size for mating in a
short period of time without reaching sexual maturity. One result of this is an
increased mortality in the GM fish's offspring. But because of their size, they
get to compete more with the wild population as well as dominate the mating
process. This enhances the passing of such increased mortality trait to the wild
population. "Sexual selection drives the gene into the population and the
reduced viability drives the population to extinction" the authors observe.
The shape of things to come
Whether it's the drive to uproot fisherfolk from their livelihood to pave the
way for tourism and resort development, or to create a hostaged market for
transgenic fish, one thing is clear. The future looks bleak for the communities
affected by the tsunami. What the Consortium has might just be a policy brief,
but it probably reflects the shape of things to come. Fisherfolk communities
were marginalised before the tsunami, and rebuilding their lives after it is
enormously challenging. Now they have another fight on their hands on top of
everything else. It might just be a matter of time before another tsunami hits
Asia. This time, it won't be nature's wrath, but the fisherfolks'.
From: "Ben ABrown" yarl@...

======

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

MAP News, 165th Ed. 1 of 2

MAP News, 165th Edition, Part 1 of 2

Dear Friends,

This is the 165th Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News, brought to your
cyber-space door free of charge since 1998. Please consider supporting MAP's
work today, so we can continue the effort to conserve and restore the mangrove
forest wetlands, while working with the local and indigenous communities to help
create a healthier home for future generations. Our 2006 Children's Mangrove Art
Calendars are now available. End the old year right by starting the new year
supporting MAP with your calendar orders!

Towards Long-Term Planetary Solutions,

Alfredo Quarto,
Mangrove Action Project

MAP's Mission: Partnering with mangrove forest communities, grassroots NGOs,
researchers and local governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests and
related coastal ecosystems, while promoting community-based, sustainable
management of coastal resources.

   Note: The latest issues of the MAP News are available on MAP's Website:  
http://www.earthisland.org/map/map.html

       Contents for MAP NEWS, 165th Edition, Part 1 of 2

FEATURE STORIES
Ramsar delegates consider draft resolutions on conservation, sustainable
fisheries
NGOs  join together against the inclusion of the Code of conduct

  MANGROVE ACTION PROJECTíS SPIRIT OF THAILAND COASTAL RESOURCES PROGRAM

   Thailand
Remembering the tsunami: mangrove forest saves Phang Nga villages
Thai tsunami early warning system now working, says foreign minister

Indonesia
Coastal Community Resource Centers Burgeoning In Indonesia
Jakarta court dismisses Newmont civil suit
Indonesia Activates Tsunami Early Warning System

Malaysia
Malaysia to become major producer of organic fish

India
Indian shrimp industry expected to suffer huge losses
Violation of coastal rules led to many tsunami deaths
Valuing ecosystem functions
Bangladesh
Bangladesh's Rivers are Both Curse and Lifeline


FEATURE STORIES

Ramsar delegates consider draft resolutions on conservation, sustainable
fisheries

Delegates to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands Conference of the Parties (COP9)
convened in the Plenary throughout the day to consider draft resolutions and
recommendations. The Committee on Finance and a contact group on the Conceptual
Framework for the wise use of wetlands convened in the afternoon. The Asia
regional meeting resumed discussions in the morning, and informal consultations
on conservation and sustainable use of fish resources took place in the evening.

The Secretariat introduced COP9 DR4. The EU, Australia, Canada, Norway and New
Zealand supported the resolution but requested several amendments, particularly
concerning references to ecologically damaging fishing gear and practices.

Brazil, supported by Ecuador requested deleting references to the upcoming World
Bank report on management and sustainable use of mangroves. Egypt and El
salvador pointed to lack of accurate data on fisheries in wetland ecosystems,
with Thailand calling for greater involvement of International Organization
Partners in collecting such data. Uganda highlighted the role of rice fish
systems, and Saint Lucia urged addressing chemical pollution in Ramsar sites.
Delegates agreed to engage in informal consultations to consolidate regional
views.

Source: <http://www.iisd.ca/vol17/enb1722e.html>IISD

From: icsf@...

======================================================

Press Release     14/11/05

NGOs join together against the inclusion of the Code of conduct for Mangroves in
the RAMSAR Resolutions of COP9

Today, November 14th, 2005, were officially published the draft resolutions DR4
and DR2 with the amendments excluding any mention of the Code of Conduct for the
Sustainable Use of the Mangrove Ecosystem, promoted by the World Bank.

In prior days, the official delegates of Redmanglar Internacional (RMI) together
with delegates from the African Mangroves Network (AMN) present in Kampala,
Uganda agreed to make the necessary efforts to inform the delegates from the
governments of the Americas and Africa, the inconvenience to mention this code
of conduct for the use of the mangroves in some of the draft resolutions that
are in study in the RAMSAR's COP9.

On Saturday, November 12th met a large delegation of the social organizations
attending the COP9 and decided to sign a joint statement. Today, Monday 14th,
was read and discussed the draft of the final statement of the organizations. In
it, RMI remarked that hardly any actual participation of the social
organizations was possible in this COP9.

We hope that in the last plenary meeting that will take place tomorrow, November
15th, the DR2 and DR4 will be approved with the amendments made. If so, we will
consider it as an achievement of our participation in this RAMSAR meeting.

==============

15/11/05

Excluded Every Mention of the Code of Conduct for the Use of Mangroves from the
COP9 RAMSAR Resolutions

Today, November 15th 2005, the plenary session and ending of the 9th Conference
of the Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP9 - RAMSAR) excluded
every mention to the Code of conduct for the Sustainable Use of the Mangrove
Ecosystem that was promoted by the World Bank.

After long lobbying of the social organizations attending this COP9 headed by
the official delegation of Redmanglar Internacional (RMI) and after a long
analysis process carried in the member countries of this convention suggesting
that the code of conduct shall respond to the necessities of the local
communities towards the vulnerability of the mangrove ecosystem, the inclusion
of this un-consulted document was denied.

The official delegation of RMI showed satisfaction after the ending of the
plenary session and after obtaining positive results from their participation.
One of the objectives was to encourage the non-inclusion of this code of conduct
in the COP9 - RAMSAR resolutions. Another aim accomplished has been
consolidating relationships with other networks and NGOs, and to position
Redmanglar Internacional in the global framework.

While the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, highlighted threats to wetland
ecosystems in Uganda, the political situation of this African country turned
complex. From Kampala, Juan Jose Lopez spokesperson from the RMI delegation in
the COP9 said today: "For second consecutive day there are popular
demonstrations against the detention of the leader of the opposition. News are
very fragmented here and of course there is a lot of uneasiness in all the
delegations."

For Redmanglar Internacional it has been a real success that the official
delegations of the contracting parties understood the importance of the
community participation in the management of the natural resources, particularly
in the mangrove ecosystem.

Veronica Yepez, Communications officer -
<mailto:info@...>info@...

For past bulletins and information please visit:
<http://redmanglar.org/redmanglar.php?c=405>http://redmanglar.org/redmanglar.php\
?c=405
Verónica Yépez, Communication  - <mailto:info@...>info@...

===================================


MAP's IHOF#11 Restoration Workshop  Successfully Held Nov. 7-12 in India

Note: The Mangrove Restoration Workshop in India has successfully been
completed. We are hopeful that future such workshops will occur, so please watch
for further announcements if interested. More news on this latest effort to
train restoration practitioners in the methodology of ecological restoration of
mangroves will be forthcoming from MAP's SE Asia Coordinator, Jim Enright after
his return from India.

"MAP / S.E. Asia" <mapasia@...>

=======

Word From The Workshop!

I am one of the participants of "Mangrove Restoration Training Programme", which
is being held in Andhara Pradesh, India.

This training programme is very useful to learn and exchange ideas and meet
similar people who are working with mangrove conservation and restoration.  Mr.
Jim Enright (MAP) and Mr. Eliah (CCDP) are providing a great hospitality and
care throughout this programme.

Dr. Robin Lewis has explained about hydrological restoration, avoiding mistakes
while considering site selection for mangrove restoration, case studies, etc.,

Our field trip today to Krishna River mangroves let us see diverse mangroves and
fishbone canals and nursery maintenance, which have been maintained by the hard
work of CCDP people.

So, Let me express my Sincere thanks and deep sense of Gratitude for your help
to participate in this "Mangrove Restoration Training Programme".

We are interested to participate in such similar programmes.

yours truly
V.Balaji

From: vedharajan Balaji <marine_balaji@...>
=========================================

Hot Off The Press!

Please Order Your MAP's Children's Mangrove Art Calendars for 2006 Now!!!

MAP's new Children's Mangrove Art 2006 Calendars are now available. In addition
to these beautiful calendars, we are selling packets of 5 beautiful greeting
cards containing several mangrove images from Monica Gutierrez-Quarto's artwork.
to raise funds for MAP.

We are now requesting your help in selling both the calendars and card sets for
MAP. If interested, please let us know how many calendars and card sets you will
need.

Note: The following costs are based upon the numbers of calendars ordered:

The Calendars
1-49 Calendars @ $12 per calendar including postage in the US, $14 for outside
the US
50-99 @ $10 per calendar including postage $12 outside the US
100 or more at $8 per calendar including postage, $10 outside the US

The Card Sets
Each packet of 5 cards is being sold by MAP for $10. including postage.

The calendars and card sets are beautiful items, and will make wonderful gifts
for friends and family, as well as provide needed funding support for MAP at
this critical time! Any donation of $35 or more qualifies the donor for an
annual membership with a free calendar or card set! Please give generously
today!

PLEASE help MAP stay in this fight for the future by becoming a donating
subscriber today! Check our website for details (www.earthisland.org/map) or
contact: <mailto: mangroveap@...>mangroveap@...

=================================

MANGROVE ACTION PROJECT'S
SPIRIT OF THAILAND COASTAL RESOURCES PROGRAM

AN EXPERIENTIAL STUDY OF THAILAND'S COASTAL RESOURCES
AND THE PEOPLE WHO DEPEND ON THEM

A new two-week experiential ecology program will provide an opportunity to
experience first hand and learn about Thailand's mangrove forests and other
critical, often threatened coastal wetlands.   A group of up to 16 people will
be guided by Dr. Lamar Robert, a long term resident of Thailand with many years
of experience leading groups in experiential learning.  Your adventure begins
with a tour of the canals of Bangkok, the capital city, in the past referred to
as the Venice of the East, before visiting the Wildlife Fund of Thailand, the
national WWF affiliate.  The program is scheduled for 12-25
February 2006.

From Bangkok you travel to Thailand's first coastal national park, Khao Sam Roi
Yot (The Mountain with 300 Peaks) Marine National Park, on the Gulf of Thailand
to observe marine and freshwater wetlands of international importance as well as
see beautiful beaches.  Learn about the environmental and social impacts of
prawn farming.  The park also offers a good opportunity to view Water Birds,
Dusky Languor and Water Monitor Lizards.

By overnight sleeper train you continue south to Trang Province on the Andaman
Sea.  Here you will meet with representatives of two different types of NGOs:
the international organization, Mangrove Action Project (MAP), and the
grass-roots NGO Yadfon Association; Both which are working in different ways to
protect Thailand's coastal resources while improving the lives of the local
people who depend on coastal resources for their livelihood.

From Trang you travel by bus to the island province of Phuket, the historical
center of maritime activities in ancient Thailand.  Here you will visit the
aquarium of the Phuket Marine Biological Center and learn about the endangered
"Dugong" a close relative of the Manatee and the importance of seagrass from a
Thai marine biologist.

For the trip highlight you will spend three days on an island located in famous
Phang Nga Bay, populated by traditional fisherfolk.  You will actually live in
the villages with the local people as you learn about their ways of life and
their activities to conserve coastal resources on which their livelihood
intrinsically depends.   The program ends with a convenient departure from
Phuket's International Airport or you may choose to travel on independently.

Following the MAP program a special optional trip will be offered for those
interested in an amazing adventure.  This Eco-tourism trip in Phang Nga Bay
offers an outstanding opportunity to experience caves and mangroves from the
viewing platform of a sea kayak.   The award winning John Gray SeaCanoe will
make arrangements. http://www.johngray-seacanoe.com/

For more information contact: Dr. Lamar Robert lamar@...
Mangrove Action Project's web site: http://www.earthisland.org/map/map.html

==============================


Thailand

Remembering the tsunami: mangrove forest saves Phang Nga villages
PHANG-NGA, Nov 21 (TNA) - Over 1,000 lives in a tsunami-struck village in
Phang-nga province could have been lost had it not been for the environmental
protection provided by a natural mangrove forest which saved them from being
swept out to sea like thousands of others, said local survivors, reflecting on
the tragedy of nearly a year ago.

Bancha Phavijit, village headman of Ban Bangtip in Phang-nga's Kuraburi district
said that all 1,047 villagers living in an area of 6,000 rais survived the
tsunami because the village was surrounded by 200 rais of
mangrove forest--which protected the village from the huge tidal waves.

"Tightly-knit roots of mangroves stood like a wall protecting us from the giant
waves," he said. "Without it our whole village might have been swept away."

The headman noted that only the fish farming equipment -- floating cages and
baskets for fish, crabs, and mussels raised by some 20 families -- was damaged
by the tidal wave.

Meanwhile, a Bang Tip villager Somsak Tula whose 67 floating fish baskets were
wiped out said he was still frightened when he remembered  the tsunami incident
although almost a year has passed. However, he said, he was confident he would
be safe if it happened again, because the mangrove forest would be able to
protect him.

Mr. Somsak has received Bt20,000 of aid from the government but he said it's not
enough to compensate for his losses.

Phang-nga was among Thailand's six southern Andaman provinces hardest hit by
last year's tsunami.(TNA)-E009

From: icsf@...

==========================================

<http://www.forbes.com/finance/feeds/afx/2005/11/07/afx2320786.html>

Thai tsunami early warning system now working, says foreign minister

Thailand's tsunami early warning system is now up and running in cooperation
with the United States and neighboring countries, Foreign Minister Kantathi
Suphamongkhon said.

'The progress has been very satisfactory. We now have a working system in which
we will be able to provide adequate warning for those who may be living in or
visiting potentially dangerous areas,' Kantathi said in an interview with Agence
France-Presse.

Since the tsunami, which killed nearly 5,400 people in Thailand, Kantathi said
the government has been working closely with its neighbors and the Pacific
Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii to develop an early warning system.

'We have an early warning center in Thailand. We will continue to upgrade that
center. We are coordinating with our neighboring countries and also the center
in Hawaii,' he said.

The minister stressed it would take a few hours for any future waves to hit the
country as there are no earthquake fault lines near Thailand.

'So there is a warning period by nature already. But the (warning) system will
provide us with information. We will ensure safety,' Kantathi said.

For the first anniversary of the tsunami next month, Thailand plans to spend up
to 12 mln usd on events and accommodation. It expects at least 6,000 people --
2,000 foreigners and 4,000 Thais -- to attend the commemorations along six
southern beaches.

Source:
<http://www.forbes.com/finance/feeds/afx/2005/11/07/afx2320786.html>http://www.f\
orbes.com/finance/feeds/afx/005/11/07/afx2320786.html

From: icsf@...

===================================================

Indonesia

Coastal Community Resource Centers Burgeoning In Indonesia

From MAP Indonesia:
  It is an exciting time at MAP Indonesia, as Coastal Community Resource Centers
(CCRC's), built between 2002-2005 are fully operational in Java, Sulawesi and
Sumatera, with one coming on-line in independent Timor Leste this March. 
Educational, resource management and livelihood programs are in full swing at
the CCRC'sSreally providing such a myriad of offerings that it is difficult to
list here.

MAP Indonesia itself has been expanding as of late, adding several staff to
assist local communities and NGO's in CCRC management.  Ratna and Dodon will be
starting their second contract at the CCRC Sulawesi, running educational
programs with youth groups, women's groups, fishermen and farmers.  Jajang
Sonjaya, a Lecturer of Anthropology and Archeaology at the University of Gadjah
Mada has joined MAP as program manager of the CCRC - Java.  His years as part of
a multi-disciplinary participatory research team in three mangrove communities
across Indonesia have provided him with a bevy of experience with which to
coordinate educational and livelihood programs at the CCRC-Java.

In Sumatera, the focus is currently on mangrove rehabilitation.  An illustrated
manual highligting 5 critical steps to successful mangrove rehabilitation is
being field tested in this region, for later publication and dissemination
Asia-wide.  The manuals are available in PDF format in both English and Bahasa
Indonesia. These manuals will soon be made available for download on the MAP
website, hopefully before the next edition of MAP News hits the press. We
welcome comment and critique before these books go to press in the middle of
2006.

Ben Brown, MAP-Indonesia Program Coordinator
From "ben brown" yarl@...

===================================================
  Indonesia Activates Tsunami Early Warning System

Indonesia has activated the initial phase of a tsunami early warning system off
the coast of Sumatra to avoid a repeat of last December's huge quake-triggered
tsunami on the island, officials said Thursday.

Two sets of moored surface buoys and ocean-bottom pressure sensors were
activated off the coast of western Sumatra on Tuesday by Indonesian and German
scientists, said Edi Prihantoro of the Office of State Minister of Research and
Technology.

"The buoys will pick up and transmit data about sea tremors and pressure from
the ocean sensor devices. This is part of the government's tsunami early warning
system master plan (which runs) through early 2009," he told AFP.

The instruments, the first two sets of a total of 15 to be installed along the
coast of the vast archipelago nation could also be uplinked to a satellite and
information transmitted to a monitoring station near the West Sumatra provincial
capital ofPadang, said Prihantoro.

Some 217,000 people, including 131,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province on
Sumatra island, were killed by the Dec. 26 tsunami which hit 11 Indian Ocean
countries.

Source:
<http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051116133129&irec=0\
>AFP

From: icsf@...

===============================================

Malaysia

Malaysia to become major producer of organic fish
By Shahrum Sayuthi

Malaysia is set to become a major producer of organic fish with the start of a
pilot project in Bagan Lalang, Sepang, Selangor next year.

The RM5.85 mn (US$22.6 mn) project involves the setting up of a high-tech fish
farm in which a fully automated system would provide a controlled environment
for the breeding of selected species.

The fish will be free of antibiotic and other chemical elements. The Fisheries
Development Authority (LKIM), which runs the project, plans to turn it into a
training ground for entrepreneurs in the fish industry.

Source:
<http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/NewsBreak/20051120164126/Article/\
indexb_html>New Straits Times

From: icsf@...
  India

Indian shrimp industry expected to suffer huge losses

In addition to the 10 percent antidumping duty and regular tariffs on shrimp,
exporters to the US also have to give the US government a deposit or "bond" of
10 percent of the value of the year's export which the US government would hold
for three years. The bond requirement, which has been imposed by the US
Department of Commerce, has nonetheless been appealed by Indian seafood
exporters who expect a positive result.

Sources suggested that these three measures together could be devastating to an
industry already hard-hit by the tsunami. Statistics indicate that shrimp
exports from India to the US were 30 percent lower in September 2005 compared to
the year before, and that the number of
Indian shrimp exporters have been cut in half. The Seafood Exporters Association
of India (SEAI) has noted that the US market amounts to roughly 25 percent of
the countries' total shrimp exports.

From: "ben brown" yarl@...

===============================================


Home > News > India News _Posted on 17 Nov 2005 # IANS
Violation of coastal rules led to many tsunami deaths
New Delhi: Eleven months after last December's tsunami wreaked havoc, a detailed
impact assessment report says that violation of guidelines regulating building
construction along the sea coasts was responsible for the large number of deaths
and damage to property in India.__The report by the Wild Aid Programme of the
Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) says violations of the Coastal Regulation Zone
(CRZ) played a major role in the loss of human lives and property and called for
strict enforcement of the rules.__Titled "The Ground Beneath the Waves:
Post-Tsunami Impact Assessment of Wildlife and their Habitats in India", the
report was released here late Wednesday by Anil Baijal, secretary, urban
development ministry.__The two-volume report, made with support from the
International Fund for Animal welfare (IFAW), urges for caution on overt "human
interference" during the restoration of natural habitat like excessive
plantation of mangroves saying it could cause more damage.__The impact of the
Dec 26 tsunami on wildlife and habitats was assessed over six simultaneous
investigations and six teams led by eminent scientists spend months studying the
damage.__The report, which has a separate assessment on the havoc wrecked on the
islands of Andaman and Nicobar, says mangrove and coral reefs have been severely
affected impacting fishing activity on the islands.__Touching on the
post-tsunami impact on the tribal populations of the islands, some of which were
entirely wiped out by the deadly waves, scientist Ravi Sankaran, said the "most
imperative task now is that the displaced people be taken back to their own part
of the island". __Sankaran, who said a large contingent of researchers were now
on the island, recommended setting up of a knowledge database centre
there.__Jayshree Venkatesan, who also worked on the report, recalled how the
mammals ran to safety two hours before the tsunami struck the coastal areas and
said it explained the close affinity animals shared with nature.__Over 10,000
people died in India and around 300,000 across Southeast Asia due to the
tsunami, which rendered millions homeless.

From: icsf@...

===============================

From:  FAO's NWFP Programme

Badola, R., and Hussain, S.A. 2005. Valuing ecosystem functions: an empirical
study on the storm protection function of Bhitarkanika mangrove ecosystem,
India. Environ. Conserv. 32(1):85-92

Valuing ecosystem functions: an empirical study on the storm protection function
of Bhitarkanika mangrove ecosystem, India

RUCHI BADOLA a1<http://journals.cambridge.org/action/#c1>c1 and S.A. HUSSAIN a1
a1 Wildlife Institute of India, Post Box [num ] 18, Dehra Dun, 248001, India

  Abstract

The ecosystem services provided by mangroves are often ignored in the ongoing
process of mangrove conversion. Services provided by the Bhitarkanika mangrove
ecosystem in India and estimated cyclone damage avoided in three selected
villages, taking the cyclone of 1999 as a reference point, were valued by
assessing the socio-economic status of the villages, the cyclone damage to
houses, livestock, fisheries, trees and other assets owned by the people, and
the level and duration of flooding. Eleven variables were used to compare damage
in the villages, one protected by mangroves, one unprotected by mangroves, and
the third possessing an embankment on its seaward side. Attitude surveys were
carried out in 10% of the households in 35 villages located in the Bhitarkanika
Conservation Area to assess local people[apos ]s perceptions regarding the storm
protection function of mangroves and their attitude towards mangrove forests
generally. In the mangrove-protected village, variables had either the lowest
values for adverse factors (such as damage to houses), or the highest values for
positive factors (such as crop yield). The loss incurred per household was
greatest (US$ 153.74) in the village that was not sheltered by mangroves but had
an embankment, followed by the village that was neither in the shadow of
mangroves or the embankment (US$ 44.02) and the village that was protected by
mangrove forests (US$ 33.31). The local people were aware of and appreciated the
functions performed by the mangrove forests in protecting their lives and
property from cyclones, and were willing to cooperate with the forest department
in mangrove restoration.

Correspondence:
c1 Correspondence: Dr Ruchi Badola Tel: +91 135 2640112 Fax: +91 135 2640117
e-mail: <mailto:ruchi@...>ruchi@...

From: "MAP / S.E. Asia" mapasia@...
===================================

Bangladesh

Articles like this further endanger mangrove forests by failing to acknowledge
the role of freshwater and sediments in nourishing the mangroves at the mouths
of these same rivers which protect against the storm surges and winds from
typhoons, which cause as much misery and death, if not more, than the floods.
Just like as been noted for New Orleans. The answer is not more dams, just like
the answer for New Orleans is not higher and bigger levees. The natural marshes
around New Orleans need to be restored, and the natural mangroves in Bangladesh
preserved and restored and not starved for freshwater and sediments. Man seems
to never learn from his mistakes.    (Robin Lewis)

Bangladesh's Rivers are Both Curse and Lifeline

http://www.planetark.com/mail_dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=33513
<http://www.planetark.com/avantgo/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=33513>Printer
friendly version

BANGLADESH: November 17, 2005

GANGACHARA - The mighty Teesta river that has swept away farm labourer Mohammad
Taheruddin's home 10 times in the past five decades is now a picture of calm.

At the end of the monsoon season, the river that brings misery to thousands of
Bangladeshis almost every year looks more like a big canal, with people and
cattle walking across through knee-deep water.

Children cast nets for fish to add to their meagre food or sell them in the
nearby market.

But barely two months ago the Teesta, like many other rivers in the low-lying
South Asian country, was in full spate. It burst its banks, destroying flood
shelters the government built five years ago for people including Taheruddin,
65, and washing away a stretch of highway.

"The river has stripped me of everything, my home and land," said Taheruddin,
now camped out in the open on a raised stretch of highway in Gangachara, 370 km
(230 miles) north of the capital, Dhaka, along with his wife and three children.

The Teesta is one of more than 150 rivers that criss-cross densely populated
Bangladesh, affecting the lives of millions.

More than 50,000 people on average lose their homes every year by flooding of
the rivers, most of which flow from the Himalayas through India before emptying
in the Bay of Bengal.

But the rivers are also a lifeline for the impoverished nation of 140 million
people.

"We cannot live without the rivers," said Nasimun Nahar, 55. "They give us our
sources of living -- fishing, sailing and ferrying merchandise," she said.
"Otherwise, we wouldn't have even a single meal."

For most Bangladeshis, the rivers provide the only valid mode of transport
across the country, although this too is hazardous, as seen by the high rate of
ferry accidents.

TAMING THE RIVERS

In recent years, the government has been trying to tame the rivers by building
cross dams or dumping concrete slabs along the banks. Some $600 million has been
spent but it has barely made a dent in the problem.

"The currents in the rivers are often too strong," said one official in the
northern district of Rangpur, of which Gangachara is a part.

Authorities say they are planning to build a cross dam on the Teesta at
Gangachara that should help reduce the flood threat.

The government should also carry out extensive dredging of the river where it
has become silted, said Syed Ahmed, chief engineer of the Bangladesh Water
Development Board.

"But it depends on the availability of funds," he said.

Bangladesh's rivers carry a huge mass of soil and sand as they flow from the
Himalayas across India. While the waters eventually reach the Bay of Bengal,
most of the silt settles on the river beds.

"The rivers in our country are silted every year and they need to be dredged
every four or five years. But this is a very expensive and difficult process,"
said Selim Bhuiyan, an engineer at the government-run Flood Forecasting Centre.

WASTE, GARBAGE

The rivers are also choked with industrial waste and garbage.

Bhuiyan said dredging of the rivers would allow them to hold more water during
the monsoon season and reduce the intensity of floods. "But the problem is we
don't have enough money to do the job in one go or on all the rivers," he said.

Flood survivor Taheruddin blamed politicians, saying they had been promising for
years to save people like him from the rivers but it had made no difference in
their lives.

"Politicians come and visit us every time before an election and make lofty
promises to build us a heaven on earth," he said. "But they disappear once the
vote is over."

The administration had failed even to build proper flood shelters for the most
vulnerable, Taheruddin said. Several of the structures put up around Gangachara
were washed away in the recent floods because they were not built on higher
land.

"This is an unending cycle of destruction," he lamented.

Story by Anis Ahmed
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

From: LESrrl3@...

===========================


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

----- Original Message -----
From: Kartik Shanker
To: nathistory-india@...
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 12:45 PM
Subject: IOTN 2


Hi all,

The second issue of the Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter is now available online
(www.seaturtle.org/iotn). Please contact us if you would like a hard copy of the
issue or if you would like to be included on the mailing list.

The issue contains:

- Editorial: Surmounting the people vs. parks conundrum - conservation lessons
from marine resource management in India

- Second successive year of the Marine Turtle Conservation Project in Konkan,
Maharashtra

- Turtle conservation & community development - Activities of the TREE
Foundation

- Threats to sea turtles on the Rameswaram - Dhanushkhodi Coast

- Sighting of sea turtles in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal

- The OMRCC Update - news on India's first collaborative marine conservation
initiative

- Recent research on sea turtles

- A bibliography of literature on sea turtles in India

- The 26th International Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation
"Diverse Cultures, One Purpose" (Island of Crete, Greece, 2-8 April 2006) THIRD
ANNOUNCEMENT

- MTSG UPDATE: IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group Hosts the Second Burning
Issues Assessment Workshop

- Developments under the IOSEA Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding

Best
Kartik

Kartik Shanker, Ph.D.
Fellow and Associate Director
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------
Address: 659, 5th A Main Road, Hebbal, Bangalore 560024. India.
Phone: 91 80 23533942 / 23530069 / 23638771
Direct: 91 80 55356130
Mobile: 91 93419 66174
Fax: 91 80 23530070
Homepage: http://www.atree.org/kartikshanker.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------
Regional Vice Chair, Marine Turtle Specialist Group, IUCN SSC
Executive Editor, Conservation and Society


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

World Fisheries Day Celebration in A& N Islands

November 21st. Wandoor, an area comprising mostly of fishermen (which was
known as a tourist destination before the tsunami struck), came alive with a
teeming 1500 plus people's rally echoing slogans like, "samandar hamara
jeevan, kinara hamara adhikar" (sea our life, coast our right), and "hum sab
ek hain" (united we stand). The people's rally marched from the Wandoor
jetty area to the Panchayat hall, 4 kms away. The rally was followed by a 3
hour long programme. Participants came from neighbouring villages of South
Andaman, and also from Little Andaman. The occasion was celebration of World
Fisheries Day- which happened for the first time in the Islands! This
initiative was taken up by ActionAid by involving Wandoor Fishermen Welfare
Association. ActionAid had identified this association when the former
started its work in the area, and kept having regular interactions in order
to give leverage to the issues of the fisher folks.

The event, which was graced by Director of Fisheries, also had the Pradhan,
the President of the Association, the Regional Manager (ActionAid Andhra
Pradesh), the Team Leader (ActionAid, A & N Islands) as speakers- all of
whom highlighted the issues and concerns of the fisher folks in the changing
scenario, the significance of the Day, the interventions made, and of course
some ideas on the positives which can be added. The President of the
Association raised issues of concern which fisher folks are facing like,
pending compensations, the urgent need for a jetty, problems of storing fish
etc. He remarked- "We had celebrated several festivals and occasions
earlier, but had never known that there is a special day meant for us!"
Director of Fisheries highlighted the improvements made in the fishery
sphere, and also had some reassuring words for the fisher folks for
reconstructing the jetty in the area, and asked them to identify a suitable
place for the construction.

ActionAid believes in aligning with such associations and groups which deals
with issues concerned with people it works with, and always gives them the
required opportunity and platform to voice it. It has taken up this
empowering process in the islands to mobilize the fisher folks around their
issues and concerns, help them understand it amidst the changing global
scenario and assert for their rights. This effort will be increasingly
strengthened in the days to come.

FOR MORE Details contact

anupama: anupamam@...>

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...


C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

-----
From: TRINET
To: info.trinet@...
Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2005 5:05 PM
Subject: EXHIBITION IN CHENNAI


Important Announcement: Calling for Participation

An exhibition on the 19th and 20th of December is being organized at Chennai
to commemorate the first anniversary of the tsunami disaster. The exhibition
is planned to be organized on broad thematic lines including Livelihood,
Shelter Reconstruction, Disaster Preparedness, Social equity, Health and
sanitation etc. The exhibition is to showcase the ongoing activities in the
various sectors, best practices and achievements in the relief and rehab
process by various organizations involved.

Since time is limited, organizations are requested to write immediately to
Mr Tamil Kumar of TNTRC at tamil.kumar@... or to info.trinet@...
if interested in participating, latest by Wednesday 30th of November for
further details.

>
> From the TRINET NEWSLETTER
> December 2005
> TRINet, the Tsunami Rehabilitation Information NETwork was set up as a
> response to the broad information requirements in the state of Tamil
> Nadu for tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction phases to help in
> sharing information between different groups working on various aspects
> in the different districts of the state.
>
>
> THE GROUND BENEATH THE WAVES: Post-tsunami Impact Assessment of Wildlife
and
> their Habitats in India. The two
> volumes can be downloaded from
> http://www.wildlifetrustofindia.org/html/reports/reports.htm
> The focus has mostly been anthropocentric - how many
> people were affected, in what ways, and how are they to be
> rehabilitated - after the impact of the tsunami. Preliminary
> assessments have been made on the tsunami's impact on
> physical aspects of the coast (e.g. the report of June 2005
> report compiled by ICMAM, Chennai and the ZSI survey
> report, to name two). Now, a relatively detailed report to
> review the ground situation in the tsunami hit areas of both
> the mainland and the island territories has been prepared by
> The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the International Fund
> for Animal Welfare (IFAW), along with their collaborators. In
> general, it appears that the damage to habitats may not be
> as bad as feared - in fact natural habitats are likely to
> recover reasonably quickly, especially in places where they
> are still more or less intact and where not too much human
> impact is there.
> Damage has been more severe in the islands than in the
> mainland - the mangroves of Andaman and Nicobar islands
> have taken a beating. Much of the damage to habitat is more
> due to the accumulation of debris. While wood, thatch, bricks
> and other natural materials will degrade eventually, concern
> is quite rightly raised about the plastic bags, floats,
> abandoned fishing nets, and such materials that will only
> accumulate. The researchers found large sized marine
> catfish (Arius) struggling in such abandoned ghost nets in
> Pulicat. According to the report, the role of natural or man
> made barricades in protecting human lives and property has
> not emerged as anything direct or significant, which seems
> contrary to some other studies published recently. For
> instance, a study published in Science in October 2005 says
> that based on satellite photographic images, areas buffered
> by coastal forests, like mangroves, were strikingly less
> damaged by the 2004 tsunami than areas without tree
> vegetation.
> Nevertheless, the report has some useful detailed
> information on the damage to various habitats both on the
> mainland and on the islands. Volume 1 has five papers
> dealing about the effect on the mainland and Volume 2
> has two papers focusing on the Andaman and Nicobar
> islands. The executive summary is common for both
> volumes and it may be interesting to look more into details
> of some of the report's highlights as mentioned there such
> as:
> Planting of exotics have not shielded the coast from
> the effects of the tsunami. (Faulty use of species for
> plantation activities in the name of restoration has
> been a bane of coastal areas. Post-tsunami field
> surveys have suggested that villages that were
> cradled with dense coconut groves have felt the
> impact of the rising waves much less than those
> behind casuarina and other exotic shelterbelts.)
> Eco-restoration efforts are not required for
> mangroves and planting of casuarinas, as they
> cannot protect anything from the tsunami in
> Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Natural regeneration
> will take place and changes need to be monitored
> after this year's monsoons. (Instead, there is a need,
> in the Nicobars, for extensive planting of Pandanus
> nicobarensis, which occurs in the Nicobars, and
> grows very fast. As for Nypa fruticans, seeds and
> seedlings can be collected from the Andamans. This
> activity will also involve intensive surveys and
> assessments of islands and areas for planting should
> be fixed after due consultations with the Nicobarese.)
> Coastal areas have undergone severe damage and
> are ecologically highly unstable. (Erosion, leading to
> further loss of land is the principal ecological
> concern.)
> The choice of construction material for reconstruction
> is critical. (The use of concrete can only lead to sand
> mining, legal or otherwise, leading to erosion and a
> further loss of coastal land.)
> There needs to be a five year moratorium on the use
> of concrete. (This will pre-empt any possibility of
> legal or illicit sand mining.)
> TRINet is an initiative of SIFFS, ICSF and the Bhoomika Trust.
> Comments and feedback welcome! Write to us at info.trinet@...
> Mailing address: c/o Bhoomika Trust, #3A, 40-Murrays Gate Road, Alwarpet,
> Chennai 600018
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
> Pune - 411004
> Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
> Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...
>
>
>

From: <smallislandsvoice@...>
To: <notify@...>
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 9:12 PM
Subject: [SIV Global:] Choosing a simpler lifestyle


                        SMALL ISLANDS VOICE

                   Do you live in a small island?
                      Tell us what you think.


**************************************************************************

  Responses to the question about whether very small outer islands (with
  populations of less than 1,000 people) can be viable in the 21st century
were
  almost all positive. Here are some of the ideas.

  John Bungitak writes: You hit the nail on the head, so to speak! The
issues
  you mentioned are so scary, yet real, and all we need is great leadership
  among our leaders to steer our small islands to a course that is
sustainable
  and promising for our people. With very limited resources and a growing
  population, our small islands will soon reach their maximum carrying
capacity,
  and thus self-destruction of our fragile environment will be inevitable. I
  agree with the idea that leadership training and public awareness may
provide
  solutions, but I would also like to include "code of ethics" as part of
the
  leadership training.

  Ginny Nakamura from Palau (Pacific) suggests emigration as a way of
addressing
  the problems of so few job opportunities in very small outer islands:
Perhaps,
  we should follow what The Philippines is doing. The Philippines has over
80
  million people with few job opportunities for their people. Their
President is
  encouraging them to migrate to other countries to work and send money home
to
  help their families and the economic development of their country. Why are
we
  confining ourselves to our little island? Economic development could be
  attained like that of the Philippines. It is up to our leaders to
seriously
  put time and effort into economic development of our small islands rather
than
  putting funds into infrastructures that are not beneficial to the lives of
the
  people. It is also time for the young people to take their future into
their
  own hands and help the government in finding the most suitable solutions
to
  the problems. Tomorrow is not for the old (parents and grandparents),
tomorrow
  is for the young and the generations to come. Establish your group to be
part
  of the solutions for your country. Do not be a spectator, be a part of the
  solution. Small communities are much easier to work with. Take that
  opportunity and start a group to help address and seek solutions to your
  community issues. No man is an island and therefore, you need assistance
and
  cooperation from the community to make a difference.

  From the Seychelles (Indian Ocean) K.D. Pillay describes their situation
  regarding outer islands: Seychelles is a group of many islands (96) with a
  total population of about 80,000. Five to six islands have airstrips and
  communications connection with the main island, Mahe. Ten to fifteen
islands
  have a small workforce to maintain the islands. Most of the islands are
  uninhabited. At present, the problem we are facing with the world bodies
is
  that we are not recognised as an undeveloped country because our GDP
(Gross
  Domestic Product) ranks high in the international index. So we are not
getting
  the concessions, financial help, grants and other facilities given to the
  undeveloped countries. It is time to organise a conference to deal with
the
  issues faced by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as early as
possible.

  And finally some suggestions from Ioannis A. Economides from Cyprus
  (Mediterranean): I think that if small island communities have managed to
be
  viable in the 20th century there is no reason not to be able to be viable
in
  the 21st century. As a matter of fact, in this era of the information
  technology revolution and the internet, it is generally perceived that
  smallness is much less of a handicap than what it was during the
industrial
  revolution. The reasons can be attributed to the dramatic reduction of
some
  external transaction costs. It costs much less to do business and obtain
  information through the internet, than any other existing internal or
external
  channel today. As a result there are more opportunities for small
communities
  in the 21st century than any time before, as long as they are connected
with
  the rest of the world. Cell phone technology has become much better and
  cheaper than it used to be and could be the ideal solution for groups of
small
  islands. I think that if small island communities can manage to find
solutions
  for better education and telecommunication infrastructure, then they can
be
  more viable than any time before, even with smaller populations.
Emigration is
  not necessarily bad, if high population densities are perceived to be a
  problem. Better educated and connected islanders will make better leaders
as
  well as more successful emigrants. What I think is important is to ensure
that
  those that do stay on the islands do so out of choice for a simpler more
  natural lifestyle, not because they cannot do any better somewhere else. I
  think that the ultra-small island lifestyle will always be in demand and I
  hope I get the opportunity to someday experience it during my lifetime.

  Title:   Choosing a simpler lifestyle
  Author:  J. Bungitak, I. A. Economides, G. Nakamura, K.D. Pillay
  Date:    Wednesday, 30 November 2005


***************************************************************************
>
> Please send your comments to <mailto:smallislandsvoice@...>
>
> To see all the messages in this global forum, visit
> <http://www.sivglobal.org/>
>
> To find out more about Small Islands Voice, go to
> <http://www.smallislandsvoice.org/>
>
> If you wish to be removed from the mailing list, please email to
> <mailto:smallislandsvoice@...>



C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

From Down to Earth
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




    Reconciliation

Lessons from marine ecology


31/08/2005

KARTIK SHANKER



The Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005 has evoked heated
controversy. In short, the bill seeks to provide land to a landless section
among tribals. Wildlife conservationists who believe that critical forest
habitat will be destroyed oppose this. Like its colonial predecessor, the
government of India protects species' habitats by declaring them as national
parks and sanctuaries from which people are excluded entirely. This is a stark
contrast to the management of marine resources.

Much more densely inhabited than most forests, the coasts have been used by
numerous fishing communities. In the late 1970s, modern fishing methods
threatened the livelihoods of these communities and coastal ecosystems:
mechanised craft and gear, principally trawlers with bottom trawling methods,
severely impacted fishing stocks. By the early 1980s, many coastal states had
responded by introducing legislation. For example, the Orissa Marine Fisheries
Regulation Act, 1982 (omfra) prohibits all trawlers from fishing within 5
kilometre (km) of the shore. Laws such as omfra only proscribe activities; they
do not exclude people from any area. Trawl fisherfolk can, in principle, still
take their country craft out and fish in nearshore areas.

Marine conservation is widely believed to have lagged behind terrestrial
conservation. In fact, not enough enforcement, funding and attention is provided
to marine biodiversity. Only recent accounts of whale sharks, sea turtles and
cetaceans have highlighted the plight of endangered marine vertebrates. In
response, terrestrial style conservation has been introduced to five marine
areas: Gahirmatha, Orissa, Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat, Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu
and two parks in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Preliminary assessments,
however, suggest that exclusionary methods used for terrestrial areas may simply
not work in marine areas. In fact, one can even suggest that the marine paradigm
of merely proscribing activities might work in many terrestrial areas. The
standard argument against this method is that it requires strict enforcement.
But case studies show otherwise. Trawlers adhere to fishing limits in parts of
Tamil Nadu and Kerala because the traditional fishing communities here are
vigilant, organised and informed. No amount of state vigilance could have
enforced these regulations.

Empowerment: the key Better education and empowerment of communities have made
fishing regulations work in South India. In contrast is the case of olive ridley
conservation in Orissa. For the last few years, conservationists have been
trying in vain to prevent these turtles from being trapped in trawl fishing
nets. National and international efforts to introduce the turtle excluder device
have failed, due to the non-cooperation of the trawl fishing community.
Conservationists believe that enforcing omfra, which bans all mechanised fishing
within 5 km of the cost, would help, especially since research has shown that
most major turtle congregations occur within 5-6 km of the shore. But why hasn't
the omfra been enforced 20 years after it was enacted? While the apathy of the
Orissa fisheries department could be a part of the problem, perhaps the failure
has more to do with the lack of interest or involvement of Orissa's traditional
fishing communities .

The omfra could have succeeded if it was enforced to protect people's rights
rather than those of a single enigmatic species. The turtles would have been
protected, albeit inadvertently, if the law had been enforced for the reasons it
was originally instituted: managing fisheries. Today, conservationists and
fisherfolk have rallied under the banner of the Orissa Marine Resources
Conservation Consortium. This alliance is possible because our fisheries laws
only exclude certain activities rather than people. Not only can this form the
basis for marine conservation in future, but can also help improve terrestrial
conservation.

In 2003, the ecologist Michael Rosenzweig contended that only a small fraction
of the world's land area can be protected as parks or sanctuaries. So, the
biodiversity loss from the remaining area would still be very high, due to the
nature of the species-area relationship. Rosenzweig argued that we must must
reconcile people with biodiversity. The path to long-term biodiversity
conservation lies is in this learning.

The current methods of wildlife conservation in India barely acknowledge this.
But the state is slowly recognising the role of civil society in conservation:
the inclusion of community reserves in the latest amendment of the Wildlife
Protection Act, 1972 indicates this. Of course, state control over such reserves
and a homogeneous formulation of community reserves in a country with diverse
habitats, communities, cultures and needs has been strongly criticised. But it's
a start, nevertheless.

Let's assure the protectionists that extending the marine paradigm to
terrestrial areas does not meaning opening up all national parks. In fact, it
suggests that the strongest support for modern 'sacred groves' could come from
people who are dependent on these groves.

Kartik Shanker is fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment,
Bangalore, Karnataka
Story link


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C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune - 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239/25675450. Fax; 25654239
Email: pankajs@...; pankaj@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear All,

An article in current sciene on engineering lessons for diglipur

http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/nov252005/1681.pdf


Aarthi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aarthi Sridhar
Research Associate
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment
No/ 659, 5th A Main, Hebbal,
Bangalore 560024
Direct line: 080 - 55356130
Tel: (91) (80)  23533942, 23530069, 2368771
Fax: (91) (80) 23530070
e-mail: aarthi@... & aarthisridhar@...
website: www.atree.org


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Apologies for cross postings.
Regards,
Syed Liyakhat
Program Coordinator
Ecosystems, Communities & Tourism Program
EQUATIONS


_____________________________________________
From: Kavita Kanan, EQUATIONS
Sent: Friday, November 25, 2005 3:59 PM
To: Syed Liyakhat, EQUATIONS
Subject: FW: Urgent! Call for Action - WTO-GATS and Schedule V and VI Areas

Dear All,

This is to bring to your attention a matter of grave concern regarding the
Government of India's position on the World Trade Organisation's (WTO)
services agreement and its implications on rights of indigenous peoples in
the country.

Many of you will be aware that the Government of India (through the Ministry
of Commerce) is currently negotiating the country's position on trade
agreements administered by the WTO. These agreements cover different areas
like agriculture, services, industrial goods, textiles, intellectual
property and other vital sectors. The upcoming 6th WTO Ministerial
Conference, scheduled for December 2005 in Hong Kong will be a crucial
milestone to finalise negotiations in all sectors and force governments to
undertake legally binding commitments.

The GATS and Scheduled Areas in India

One such agreement is the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
which requires countries to progressively liberalise their domestic service
sectors including basic services like water, education, health, energy and
telecommunications. The GATS is an agreement pushed by corporate lobbies of
the rich North - especially the USA and European Union- and is an instrument
for forcing open service sectors in developing countries for "corporate
market access".

Recognising the need to protect sensitive areas in the country from
onslaught of GATS, the government had exempted Schedule V and VI Areas of
the country from applicability of GATS provisions in its position  submitted
to the WTO in January 2004. This position came after prolonged campaign by
many of us and served to protect our rights to basic services at the Cancun
Ministerial. However, in its latest commitments (12th of August 2005) to
WTO, this exemption of Schedule V and VI Areas has been removed.

Struggles of Indigenous Peoples and tribal communities in India

Most tribal societies in our country (and indeed the world over) have their
own customary laws, modes of living, traditions, cultural mores, and strong
community organisations. Often, formal state institutions have failed to
privilege and even recognize vibrant tribal communities which, guided by
tradition, have managed their affairs through the ages and effectively
meeting challenges coming their way. Attempts by state institutions to
impose their authority overriding tribal communities' needs and preferences
have led to several confrontations - often dismissed as law and order
problems.

In India, several indigenous groups, forest dwellers and tribal communities
living in the Scheduled Areas have been facing impacts of increasing
privatisation of their resources and violation of their basic rights. The
ongoing struggles of the Kue Kondhs community against forced
industrialization in Kashipur (Orissa) and in other states portray the
growing tendency of the state towards diluting the rights of these
communities.

More recently the attempts to introduce the Forest Rights Act has pitted
"people against forests". It has, yet again, exposed the stand of certain
sections of society, who hold that forests ecosystems need protection from
tribal communities, the very people who have been the guardians of these
systems for centuries.

Why Scheduled Areas must be EXCLUDED from the GATS

The exclusion of scheduled areas from India's GATS offers was clearly in
order to protect these communities and regions and came after concerted
campaign. It was in recognition of the long years of struggle that have led
to a set of constitutionally safeguarded provisions (like PESA1 - Provision
like Panchayat Extension in Scheduled Areas) protecting tribal communities,
their lands livelihoods traditions and way of life.

Therefore, the stealthy removal of the exemption in India's latest offer has
once again exposed Scheduled Areas to the jurisdiction of GATS and is cause
for alarm and strong condemnation by movements and civil society groups in
solidarity with the rights of indigenous people.

This move must be opposed on the following grounds:

* Peoples in Scheduled Areas covering states like Chattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and the Northeast are already suffering from the
adverse impacts of privatisation and engaging in a fierce battle for
survival and identity.
* The inclusion of these areas within the framework of an international
trade agreement like the GATS without prior consultation or consent from
affected peoples is in violation of their democratic and traditional rights
and is a travesty of democracy.
* The GATS places profit interests of multinational service
corporations over the rights of local people to access and use their natural
and traditional resources. GATS will only intensify
interests and unfettered access of corporate giants in the resource-rich
Scheduled Areas and aggravate issues of livelihood ecological sustainability
.

* Negotiations on GATS and other WTO Agreements are fundamentally
undemocratic and top-down in process. More importantly, the Government of
India has not adequately consulted with its elected representatives (at
national, state and local levels) before adopting such a position in the
WTO. The Constitution of India has granted indigenous communities and their
geographical areas a distinctive status, and inclusion of these areas within
the GATS is an attempt to supersede the Constitution itself.

Need for Campaign and Action

We must take immediate action to reclaim our democratic rights and ensure
that rights of indigenous peoples are not subverted by the GATS. Our
government has primary accountability to its people and not the WTO or
foreign corporations. As WTO negotiations increase in pace towards the
upcoming Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, it is crucial that our voices
of concern and protest are intensified. Following are a few suggestions on
actions that can be undertaken by us at different levels all over the
country:

* Write directly to the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India
stating your concerns on the GATS and demanding that Schedule V and VI Areas
continue to be  exempted from applicability of GATS. Statements and protest
letters should be addressed to Mr. Gopal Pillai (Additional Secretary,
Ministry of Commerce) and Mr. R. Gopalan (Joint Secretary, Ministry of
Commerce - also India's main negotiator on services)
* Write directly to the Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and
Shri Rajeev Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government
of India.
* Initiate signature campaigns at the local level and send the same to
the Ministry demanding for consultation
* Spread the message and call for action among concerned groups
individuals

With solidarity and joint action we can make change happen!

In solidarity

The EQUATIONS team

P.S. For your reference, the following documents are
attached:
* Complete list of Service Sectors included in the GATS
* Background note on campaign on GATS in India
* Latest commitment undertaken by GoI removing the exemption of
Schedule V and VI Areas ( refer page no. 3 & 4 , where deletion is in track
change mode)
* Explanatory Note on GATS principles and rules and the political challenge
for activists
* A recently drafted open letter seeking parliamentary scrutiny of India's
WTO position. Parties interesting in endorsing the letter can write in to
Benny Kuruvilla - Focus on the Global South - India at bennyk@...
<mailto:bennyk@...>

(Please write to Vidya Rangan (gats@...
<mailto:gats@...> ) and Kavita Kanan
(ecotourism@... <mailto:ecotourism@...> )
at EQUATIONS for more information or any support we can give you in taking
these issues forward)




  <<GATS_Classification_List3.doc>>  <<GATS immediate campaign
challenges1.doc>>  <<GATS POlitical challenge activists1.doc>>  <<GATS
commitments Aug 051.pdf>>  <<Open letter1.doc>>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]