Posts tagged africa.
The Cataracts by Andrew McConnell
Here in The Cataracts, Irish photographer Andrew McConnell braves the rapids of the Congo River to document the amazing Wagenia fishermen going about their daily catch—a livelihood that goes back centuries. Andrew takes the viewer into the midst of this drama: he is literally in the churning water, and in some pictures captures the perspective of the fish being caught.
For some of the shots I used a waterproof housing so that I could get low in the water and get a different perspective. I didn’t use the housing when I was on the tolimos because it made shooting very difficult. And after a while I didn’t use it in the pirogues (wooden canoes) either because, even though we were navigating some heavy white water, I found that the fishermen were so skillful at steering through the rapids that I never felt worried about capsizing—in fact, I barely got wet. Much to my astonishment a fisherman would sometimes dive into a raging torrent and just as I’d be thinking, my God we’ll never see that guy again, he would pop up beside a pirogue 30 yards away.
Andrew has traveled extensively, and his work covers a range of subjects. His enigmatic portraits, called The Last Colony,” document Sahrawi refugees and won the World Press Photo award for Portraits in 2011. Surf’s Up in Gaza ran in Newsweek International and won the Society of Publication Designers award in the category for Feature: News/Reportage.
For Andrew’s full account of shooting “The Cataracts,” read an interview here. And visit our Tumblr’s page to watch a wonderful short film he made about this project.This is so awesome. Tumblr exclusives, you guys! Do click that short film he made about the project. We love when photographers really take us inside the production process and tip their hand a tad.
A Potential Time Bomb of High Infection Rates and Drug Resistant Strains of Malaria
On April 25, the annual World Malaria Day, many health organizations will highlight important gains in fighting this deadly disease that claims more than one million lives every year. But despite notable progress in innovation and investment, MSF continues to see continuously high rates of malaria in several African countries. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), MSF has observed infection rates above emergency thresholds in several zones over the last six months, which can be largely attributed to a dysfunctional surveillance system, the failure of the health system to respond to elevated levels of malaria, poor organization, and lack of diagnostic testing and drugs.
DRC 2011 © Robin Meldrum
A mother and child in the pediatric ward of Niangara hospital.
It’s 2012.
Cameroon plans climate projects to protect elephants from poaching ›
“In response to the recent large-scale poaching of elephants in and near the Bouba Ndjida National Park, the Cameroon government has announced steps not only to improve security but also to mitigate the effects of climate change on the drought-stricken park, in an effort to prevent elephants moving out of the protected area into the hands of ivory hunters.
About 250 elephants were massacred in January and February this year, according to a report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which said that poachers entered the country illegally from neighbouring Sudan and Chad.
“The animals’ trunks were cut off and the tusks were removed with machetes,” the report said. “This latest massacre is massive and has no comparison to those of preceding years.”
The IFAW report said the number of elephants remaining in Cameroon was unclear, but a 2007 estimate put the figure at between 3,000 and 5,000. The North Region of Cameroon, where Bouba Ndjida National Park is located, accounts for 95 percent of the country’s population of savannah elephants, according to the Centre for Environment and Rural Transformation (CERUT), a local nongovernmental organisation.
TOURISM THREAT
The killing of the elephants is not only a blow to the endangered species, but also a challenge to the government’s efforts to encourage visitors to its national parks. Tourism has been growing in Cameroon, with a government target to increase the number of foreign visitors to 500,000 this year, up from the 350,000 who visited in 2006. The sector contributes over more than 4 percent of GDP, according to government figures, and provides over 14,000 jobs.”
via Trust.org
Unimaginable horror as helicopter-borne poachers massacre 22 elephants before hacking off their tusks and genitals
“In a scene of inconceivable horror, these slaughtered elephant carcasses show the barbaric lengths poachers will go to in their hunt for nature’s grim booty.
The bodies were among a herd of 22 animals massacred in a helicopter-borne attack by professionals who swooped over their quarry.”
The scene beneath the rotor blades would have been chilling - panicked mothers shielding their young, hair-raising screeches and a mad scramble through the blood-stained bush as bullets rained down from the sky.
When the shooting was over, all of the herd lay dead, one of the worst such killings in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in living memory.
‘It’s been a long time since we’ve seen something like this,’ said Dr Tshibasu Muamba, head of international cooperation for the Congolese state conservation agency, ICCN, as he surveyed the macarbre scene at Garamba National Park.”
via the Daily Mail
VIDEO REPORT: A UPS flight carrying 46,000 kg of life-saving UNICEF supplies has touched down in Mauritania.
Mauritania is afflicted by its worst lean season in years, part of the food crisis occurring throughout the Sahel region of Africa. Drought, rising food prices and failed harvests have left 700,000 people in Mauritania food insecure. Many children are now suffering from malnutrition, and many more are expected to be affected before the end of the lean season in late September.
Read the full story here: http://uni.cf/IzPLZP
Urban growth, Uganda (1974-2008)
Check out the delta, the water is highly eutrophic.
Via Climate Nasa
Easy to criticize / tougher to donate. I didn’t know Gomez is the UNICEF Ambassador. There’s a second video, way better than this one, that shows how Gomez works with UNICEF, here.
Selena Gomez calls for action on the Sahel crisis
Actress, recording artist and UNICEF Ambassador Selena Gomez delivers a public service announcement about the critical needs of children in the Sahel.
For more information about her work with UNICEF and the current situation in the Sahel, please visit: http://uni.cf/IRgDBu
‘Spanish King Juan Carlos slammed for £27,000 ($42k US) elephant hunting trip as his country drowns in debt and half of youngsters are jobless’
Update: Carlos has since apologized. Al Jazeera.
CNN busts open child slavery and chocolate growers with “The bitter truth about the chocolate bunnies.” 200,000 children are enslaved to work the cocoa trees, which provide 70% of the world’s beans.
I’m writing several chocolate and climate change pieces, which I hope to post in about a week. It’s crazy what’s happening in 2012. I’m not into solving problems by buying things. And I’m an utter cynic when it comes to the manic buffoonery called “recycling.”
But, with chocolate, I cannot think of a better reason to choose an organic product.
“Chocolate is one of life’s greatest pleasures, but for the children working in slavery conditions in cacao fields across West Africa’s Ivory Coast, the reality behind it is anything but sweet.
Some 70 to 75 percent of the world’s cocoa beans are grown on small farms in West Africa, including the Ivory Coast, according to the World Cocoa Foundation and the International Cocoa Initiative. The CNN Freedom Project reports that in the Ivory Coast alone, there are an estimated 200,000 children working the fields, many against their will, to satisfy the world’s hunger for chocolate.
The average American eats around 11 pounds of chocolate each year, and the weeks leading up to Easter show the second biggest United States sales spike of the year next to Halloween - 71 million pounds according to a 2009 Neilsen report. A recent press release from Kraft claims that worldwide, more consumers purchase chocolate during Easter than any other season.
So how does a chocolate lover ensure that the treats filling their family’s Easter baskets are not supporting a life of slavery for a child half a world away?
Opt for organicGene Tanski, a supply chain expert and CEO of Demand Foresight says that the most basic way to ensure that you don’t purchase chocolate that is made with slave labor is to insist on organic”
Read the rest at CNN’s Freedom Project, which aims to end child slavery.
Photos :
1. A White Rhino mother and calf in the landscape of iMfolozi Game Reserve in Natal, South Africa. It is the world’s largest repository of Rhino, home to an estimated 2,300. Rhino horn is now worth more than gold on the international market. South Africa alone has lost more than 400 rhino to illegal poaching incidents in 2011. The demand for Rhino horn is fueled by a wealthy Asian middle and upper class and used overwhelmingly as medication. (01 May 2011)
2. A female rhino in Natal, South Africa, that four months earlier survived a brutal dehorning by poachers who used a chainsaw to remove her horns and a large section of bone in this area of her skull. She survived the dehorning and has joined up with a male bull who now accompanies her. (09 November 2010)
3. A White Rhino cow is dehorned as a precautionary anti-poaching measure on a game farm outside of Klerksdorp, South Africa. A vet’s assistant holds the horns for an identity picture while the vet does a final check on the animal. (25 March 2011)
4. A Black Rhino in transit after being captured for security translocation at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa. The park is famous for its translocation programs that saved the Southern White Rhino from extinction. The Black Rhino remains critically endangered in Africa today, with less than 3,500 surviving. (07 November 2010)
5. A wealthy Vietnamese woman sits and grinds Rhino horn for her personal consumption in a roadside cafe in Baoloc, Vietnam. The dealer who sold her the horn sits next to her. Rhino Horn is an illegal substance in Vietnam yet both the woman and her dealer have no fear of the police, grinding the horn in a cafe in full view of the street. The woman says that ground Rhino horn has cured her kidney stones and she now takes it daily for her general health. Rhino horn is now worth more than gold on the international market. South Africa alone has lost more than 400 rhino to illegal poaching incidents in 2011. The demand for Rhino horn is fueled by a wealthy Asian middle and upper class and used overwhelmingly as medication. (06 October 2011)
[Credit : Brent Stirton/Reportage by Getty Images for National Geographic Magazine]
zing!
bump set spike.
Zing indeed! Hint, it’s borders South Sudan, the world’s newest country.
(via saltsmcds)
The aid industry has just been Biebered. Invisible Children’s hundreds of thousands of donor / activist – they were invisible to us. Kids. That’s the target and that’s the message. If you think the aid world depends on gray haired HNWIs (High Net Worth Individuals, aka rich folk), wait and see what IC does with its pubescent legions.
My advice to the aid industry? First, get over it. Then, get on the boat. Invisible Children has more than an audience, more than loyal donors. They’ve built a repository of faithusiasm that will make change happen.
“New Kids on the Block” - Humanicontrarian, on why the Kony 2012 viral video naysayers need to step-up or die of obsolescence.International Woman’s Day: Women Are The True Face of Climate Change ›
“The World Health Organization estimates that of the nearly 150,000 people already perishing around the world each year because of climate change, nearly 90% are children. And the threats for children, and thus for women, are continuing to mount. More frequent and longer droughts will lead to food shortages for millions, and particularly those in poverty. Similarly, extreme storms and rising sea levels threaten drinking water supplies for millions worldwide. For women, this means traveling further and working even harder to provide for the basic needs of their families and communities.
These climate-related pressures aren’t unique to poor women living in developing countries. Here in the United States, the same social dynamics apply and women are overwhelmingly responsible for caregiving. Here, too, the changing climate is a growing liability to our families’ health.
For example..”
Read the rest at Green Fudge
Climate Adaptation
by Michael Cote
I want to punch climate change in the face.
I'm an environmental consultant specializing in climate adaptation, land-use law, and urban planning. For "fun," I research, publish, and lecture on how cities can adapt to climate change. I've published in the Int'l Journal of Climate Change, GOOD.is, Berkeley Planning Journal, The New Planner, etc. I currently consult for the Association of Climate Change Officers (this tumblr is not affiliated).
What is "Climate Adaptation"? Adaptation is not about carbon, greenhouse gases, or energy. It's about lowering risks from environmental impacts caused by climate change. Adaptation is the sweet-spot between environmental policy, climate science, land-use, and engineering. When the sea-level rises, we build wall or move the buildings. We build levees to protect homes from floods; manage forests to prevent wildfires and droughts; build smarter, stronger infrastructure for long-term economic resilience; and prepare public health officials for increased rates of pests and diseases from rising temperatures. So, adaptation is less Al Gore "save the planet" and more Bob the Builder "fix all the things!".
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