[Springboard] Ch 13 of Hot, Flat and Crowded

Richard West rwestica at gmail.com
Tue Feb 3 08:17:53 EST 2009


CH 13, A MILLION NOAHS, A MILLION ARKS


Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the
circumference is everywhere, by Pascal


A 297 - 301

* Indonesia exports raw labor, not  brains... should be educating people
better so they could get better jobs at home (Maids from Indonesia taking
home consumer goods from the Middle East)

* Indonesia - $10,000 worth of products from one tree rather than 100 trees
at $100 each

* Trees, maids, education, governance, economic development - all
interconnected

* Strategies for generation and preservation go together

* Indonesia is the 2nd richest country in the world in terms of terrestial
biodiversity (after Brazil)

* Borneo island has 1% of land surface and 6% of worlds bird, mammal and
flowering plant species

* Indonesia has the fastest rate of deforestation in the world/3rd largest
source of greenhouse gas emissions (after the US and China)

* Yr 2000, 8% of fish around Indonesian islands were baby fish, by 2004, up
to 34%, coral reefs going also

* Plan to protect mangrove forests off Indonesian coasts, not implemented,
development instead


B 302 - 304

* Need to redefine our relationship to the natural world

* Losses of forests and other natural habitats make us more vulnerable as
humans

* Each ecosystem for preservation will be different - Friedman calls each
one an ark, need a million arks

* Five components for each ark

1 Govt policy to set aside protected areas

2 Economic opportunities for local communities -enables good living without
harming biodiversity

3 Private sector investors who balance development and protection

4 Local government able and willing to preserve protected areas

5 Local/intl experts who know biodiversity assessment and land use planning

6 Initiatives to improve primary and secondary education

* For each ark, you need a Noah, able to pull together this coalition, this
ecosystem, based on self-interest

* All conservation is local


C 304 - 312

* Conservation International - "If the orangutan was to survive, the
tropical forest had to survive" - need to understand how villagers and whole
world benefits from the forest

* Indonesia- We are the ones disturbing nature, need to know the biology,
but it's also about dealing with people

* Working through a local Islamic school to resist a proposed gold mine
which would pollute the water - kids - parents-1st time the bupati (district
head) had ever seen a bottom up environmental movement.

* Coalitions are like a sandwich with so many layers; government,
communities, scientists and private sector

* The most sustainable way to save the forest is to create knowledge jobs


D 312 - 316

* Global financing is critical (money for exploitation is huge)

* All conservation is local, but all locals are increasingly connected

* Healthy ecosystems and healthy economics have to go together - otherwise
growth will be undermined

* No child left indoors - greater awareness among children and their
families of the web of nature

* Pay attention...  When you really see it, you'll want to save it.

* Without an ethic of conservation we will lose that which is priceless but
has no price tag

-- 
Richard West, ICA Taiwan
3F, No. 12, Lane 5, Tien Mou W Rd
Taipei, Taiwan 111
Ph) 8862-2871-3150
email) rwestica at gmail.com
Skype) rwestica
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