Africa

I stumbled upon a list of environmental websites focused on Africa and thought I might share some of the stories from the sites with you.

AFROL news gives a thorough background to deforestation in Africa. Under 10% of primary forests are left and many stands are left unhealthy from selective logging. Poverty and foreign demand are large threats to the forests while local management through sustainable agriculture could be the savior.

Nigeria has been heavily impacted by the oil industry, in the Rivers State 80% of the area is classified as being heavily impacted by environmental pollution. Shell and Chevron are the main oil companies in Nigeria and find constant opposition to their destruction of livelihoods and environments. This link is an overview of Nigeria, its people and the history of oil. This is an overview of Chevron in Nigeria. And this is an overview of Shell's world wide operations, partially focusing on Ken Saro-Wiwa who was killed by the Nigerian government at the request of Shell due to his direct non-violent opposition to Shell.

Earthlife Africa gives a climate change report for 2009, much to learn.

Global Forest Watch has a great feature on its website that lets you generate maps on forest cover and deforestation around the world.

This is a review of UN climate change agreements and its use of the term 'sustainable forest management' that has been manipulated into allowing forest practices that degrade the environment. I am always surprised that companies that degrade the environment almost always have the ability to water down regulation that affects their business. It is called regulation and it is supposed to be crafted so that it does not ruin a business but too often business ruins us.