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Volcanic Impacts
Volcanoes are sleeping giants
that can wake up at any time, renewing millennium-old
fears among human populations. Eruptions are accompanied
by telluric movement -- earthquakes -- and by the
massive production of gases, lava, steam, rocks and
ash.
A cloud
of ash covered the Ecuadorian capital earlier
this month, reviving an episode that had already caused
serious environmental, economic, social and health
problems in 1999. Just days earlier, settlements near
the slopes of Mount Aetna in Italy had to be evacuated
due to an eruption, which collapsed a school, killing
several children.
These volcanic events are a sharp
reminder of the force of the seemingly innocuous mountains,
and of the vulnerability of the populations living
near the sleeping giants, which are beautiful formations
-- until they become active
and dangerous.
The Pan-American Health Organization
(PAHO) has issued a special
warning on these dangers, reminding the public
that 10 percent of the world's population lives near
volcanoes. Even more shocking is that 76 percent of
the deaths caused by volcanic eruptions in the 20th
century occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Internet
is replete with information about volcanoes.
There are websites with detailed explanations about
their characteristics, the consequences of eruptions,
and maps of their locations, whether on land or on
the ocean floor.
Ecuador
is home to more than 40 volcanoes, many of which
are active. Since 1999, when Quito was covered by
ash, the capital's residents have been informed about
what
to do in case of another eruption.
It may seem that eruptions occur
only rarely, but some active volcanoes have more frequent
activity, as evidenced on some websites that maintain
ongoing
records of volcanic events.
Such movements are generated
for forces that are so great as to be incomprehensible,
and which originate in the depths of our planet Earth.
PAHO:
Volcanic eruptions in Ecuador 2002
U.S.
Geological Survey: Ecuador Volcanoes and Volcanics
USGS:
Preparing for Volcanic Emergencies
PAHO:
Health Planning for Volcanic Crisis
National
Geographic: Volcanoes a Sleeping Threat
Tierramérica
- Connect Yourself: Mountains of Fire
Volcanic
Eruptions
Volcanoworld.org
Whales Threatened
The largest living beings on
the planet, the whales, are constantly challenged
by a tenacious antagonist: humans. Each time there
is a global meeting on protected species, like the
one taking place Nov
3-15 in Chile, this conflictive relationship re-emerges
as a main topic of debate.
The 12th
meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Flora and Fauna (CITES) is no exception, as whales
have their place on the agenda.
Among the first
proposals presented to CITES for the Santiago
meeting, known as COP 12, there are two from Japan,
which seeks to soften the protection the Convention
grants for at least two whale species.
Japan and Norway stand out due
to their interest in more permissive rules on whale
hunting, and they are the constant target of criticisms
and denunciations by environmentalists for their continued
depredation of these giant marine mammals, which traverse
the world's oceans.
Most of the policy battles about
the whale occur in the context of the International
Whaling Commission, which is already preparing
for its 55th meeting in June 2003 in Berlin. In 1986,
the Commission declared a moratorium on the hunting
of these species for commercial ends. Limited "scientific"
whaling is still permitted, however, and Japan is
notorious for taking advantage of that stipulation.
The decisions of the IWC tend
to set the stage for the agreements reached by the
parties to CITES.
However, the International Fund
for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
has announced that at the CITES meeting under way
in Santiago the whale issue will be the source of
one of the most heated debates.
Whales belong to the Cetacean
order of species, which also includes other sea
mammals like dolphins. The exact status of the world's
whale populations is not known, but the IWC warns
that the 13 largest whale species have been hurt by
the excessive hunting that began centuries ago. But
in some cases, says the Commission, recovery of the
species has occurred thanks to international protection
measures.
Some countries promote more intense
protection by establishing whale "sanctuaries"
in their territorial waters. And many organizations
have joined the effort to defend the whales of the
world, most notably Greenpeace
and Save
the Whales.
CITES:
12th Conference of Parties
Chile's
Host Site for CITES Meet
CITES:
conference proposals
International
Whaling Commission
IFAW:
what's at stake at CITES COP 12
Greenpeace:
Whales
Connect
Yourself: Giants of the Sea
Savethewhales.org
Cetaceans
Climate Change
Predictions are now certain:
planet Earth is undergoing a climate change that could
have dire consequences for all forms of life. Thousands
of delegates are gathered in India to try to reach
agreements aimed at confronting this problem, debating
at the conference known as COP 8.
The 8th
Session of the Conference of Parties (COP 8) to
the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) was convened Oct 23 to Nov 1 in New Delhi.
Officials and environmentalists alike hope that it
will mark a shift towards a negotiating phase for
compliance with past agreements.
The
Framework Convention (pdf), which dates back to
1992, has been signed by 185 countries. For the last
decade, the world's governments have carried out intense
negotiations to define a strategy to halt climate
change, attributed to the so-called "greenhouse
effect", caused by the accumulation in the Earth's
atmosphere of gases emitted in the combustion of fossil
fuels like petroleum or coal.
The main outcome of the negotiations
was the Kyoto
Protocol in 1997. After the COP 8, the possibility
for this legal instrument entering into force should
become clear. The idea is to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions overall by 2008- 2012 to 5.2 percent less
than they were in 1990.
The Protocol will take effect
after being ratified by at least 55 countries whose
total greenhouse gas emissions made up at least 55
percent of total emissions in 1990.
When the COP 8 got under way,
the Protocol had been ratified
by 96 countries, but their total greenhouse gas
output is just 37 percent of the total. The situation
could change dramatically if industrialized countries
like Russia or Japan were to ratify the accord.
The United States, responsible
for a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions,
will not ratify the Protocol, as President George
W. Bush has repeated on several occasions.
Environmentalists, meanwhile,
say it is urgent to reach an agreement on how to immediately
begin reducing emissions. Climate
change is considered a perturbing factor in atmospheric
conditions, sea level and harvest timeframes.
To learn more about this
issue, there is plenty to peruse on the Internet,
where numerous websites explain the greenhouse
effect and climate change.
8th
Session of Conference of Parties
Secretariat
of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
Text
of the Framework Convention
Linkages:
special coverage of COP 8
Texts
of the Convention and Kyoto Protocol
Protocol
Thermometer: status of ratification
UNEP:
Climate change - vital climate graphics
Tierramérica:
Climate Change
BBC:
Global Warming
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